{"collection":"Theosophy","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/archive_org_vol.301932/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/archive_org_vol.301932","id":"archive_org_vol.301932","license":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","rights_basis":"archive_org_open:open_license:http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","source":"archive_org","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/vol.301932","summary":"","tags":["Theosophy"],"text":"AflDOVKR-iliHOi. 117 \n\nTHBOlDGlCAL uARaM \n\n\nPUBLISHED BY \n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly \n\n\nTheosophical Quarterly \n\n\nSubscription price, $ 2.00 per annum; single copies, 50 cents \n\nPublished by The Theosophical Society \nat 64 Washington Mews, New York, N. Y. \n\nJuly; October; January; April \n\nAddress all communications to P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York \n\n\nVOLUME XXX \n\n\n-April, \n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOL. XXX, NO. 1 \nJuly, 1932 \n\n\nPAGE \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS. \n\nFRAGMENTS. \n\nMADAME BLAVATSKY\u2019S FORBEARS. \n\nCHUANG-TZE, II. \n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, V. \n\nWAR MEMORIES, XVI. \n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME. \n\nCONVENTION, 1922 (Reprint). \n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES: Convention Report; Letters of Greeting \n\nREVIEWS. \n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. \n\n\nPUBLISHED BY \n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\nNEW YORK \n\n\nsecond-glass matter September 5, 1923. at the Post Office at IS \n179 \n\nCopyright, 1932, by The Theosophical Society \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u2666 \n\nANDOVfifi-fl^aVASD \n\nTheological Lerari \n\nCAMBRIDGE, MASS. \n\nft ?L. Ic 13 \n\na IQ35. \n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly \n\n\nSubscription price, $2.00 per annum; single copies, 50 cents \n\nPublished by The Theosophical Society \nat 64 Washington Mews, New York, N. Y. \n\nJuly; October; January; April \n\nAddress all communications to P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York \n\n\nIn Europe, single copies may be obtained from and subscriptions may be sent to John \nM. Watkins, 21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, London, W. C. 2, England; or to \nMr. E. H. Lincoln, 9 Beaconsfield Road, Low Fell, Gateshead-on-Tyne, England, from \nwhom all back numbers may be obtained. Annual subscription price, $2.00, postpaid. \n\n\n* \n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nThe principal aim and object of this Society is to form the nucleus of a \nUniversal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, \ncaste or colour. The subsidiary objects are: The study of ancient and modern \nreligions, philosophies and sciences, and the demonstration of the importance \nof such study; and the investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and \nthe psychical powers latent in man. \n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly is the official organ of the original \nTheosophical Society founded in New York by II. P. Blavatshy, \nW. Q. Judge and others , in 1875. \n\nWe have no connection whatsoever with any other organization \ncalling itself Theosophical, headed by Mrs. Besant or others , nor \nwith similar bodies , the purposes and methods of which are wholly \nforeign to our own. \n\nEditors, The Theosophical Quarterly. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI, \n\n\n\ni \n\n\ni * \n\nI * \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration \nin this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document. \n\n\nA Deluded Cock and a Very False Dawn \n\n\nT WO books were recently recommended to us, by one who firmly be\u00ac \nlieves in his ability to speak for the intelligentsia of the day, as being \nso penetrating and profound as to herald the dawn of a better under\u00ac \nstanding of human nature and the inauguration of a new and truer sociology. \nTo watch the coming of the dawn, on whatever plane it is witnessed, is an \nexperience whose appeal and wonder never lessens; but we had heard too \nmany heralded, both at midnight and full noon, to be much impressed or par\u00ac \nticularly hopeful, especially as the two authors in question were very well \nknown and did not seem to us at all likely to have departed so far from their \nregular orbits as to have become bright stars of the morning. Nevertheless, \nsince we aspire (from a safe distance) to keep a watchful eye on the intelli\u00ac \ngentsia, we bought the books: Mr. Aldous Huxley\u2019s novel, Brave New W orld, \nand Mr. H. G. Wells\u2019s The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. We are \nmoved to warn others against a like folly. \n\n\n\u201cBrave New World\u201d \n\nThe ostensible purpose, and we imagine the origin, of Mr. Huxley\u2019s book is \nsuch as to command the sympathy of students of Theosophy, who have long \nfound reason to dread what the world desires. He takes as a text a quotation \nfrom the French of Nicholas Berdiaeff, which points out that Utopias now appe \nmuch more realizable than has heretofore been thought, so that we find our\u00ac \nselves faced with the agonizing question as to how their descent upon us may \nbe avoided. They are altogether too realizable; and as the world presses toward \nthem we are perhaps drawing near to an age when the intellectual and cu 1- \nvated will no longer dream of Utopias, but of means of evading them and of \nreturning to a society \u201cless perfect but more free\u201d. It is of such an age and of \nsuch dreams that Mr. Huxley purports to wnte, the jacket of the book tel mg \nus that it is \u201cA witty and wickedly satirical novel about the impending Model T \n\n\nS \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nUtopia that does fantastic things to such old-fashioned ideas as motherhood, \ndeath, fear, love, and happiness.\u201d \n\nPerhaps, as we have begun with the jacket, we can also end with it. It is \npatently intended to present the reviewer with usable quotations; and we shall \nourselves feel the cleaner if we do not again have to open the book\u2019s pages. \nThere are extracts from reviews: \u201cA challenge and a warning to the world\u201d. \n\u201cA healthily provocative book.\u201d \u2018\u2018Slashing and wicked.\u201d \u2018\u2018Excellent reading \nfor those not too easily shocked\u201d. There is a rather extended quotation from \nthe book itself, part of a talk to some students by \u2018\u2018His Fordship Mustapha \nMond, Resident Controller for Western Europe\u201d. \n\n\u2018\u201cTry to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother. . . .\u2019 \n\n\u2018\u201cTry to imagine what \u2018\u2018living with one\u2019s family\u201d meant\u2019. \n\n\u2018\u2018They tried; but obviously without the smallest success. \n\n\u2018\u201cAnd do you know what a \u2018\u2018home\u201d was?\u2019 \n\n\u2018\u2018They shook their heads. \n\n\u2018\u201cYes\u2019, said Mustapha Mond, nodding his head, \u2018You may well shudder\u2019. \n\n\u2018\u201cOur Ford\u2014or Our Freud as, for some inscrutable reason, he chose to call \nhimself whenever he spoke of psychological matters\u2014Our Freud had been the \nfirst to reveal the appalling dangers of family life. The World was full of fathers \n\u2014was therefore full of misery; full of mothers\u2014therefore of every kind of \nperversion; . . . full of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts\u2014full of madness and \nsuicide.\u2019 \n\n\u201c\u2018Fortunate boys!\u2019 said the Controller. \u2018No pains have been spared to make \nyour lives emotionally easy\u2014to preserve you, so far as that is possible, from \nhaving emotions at all.\u2019 \n\n\u201c \u2018Ford\u2019s in his flivver\u2019, murmured the D. H. C. \u2018All\u2019s well with the world\u2019 \u201d. \n\nOur abridgment is much expurgated, but it will serve. \n\nWe should not ourselves have called such writing \u201cwitty\u201d; but it is un\u00ac \ndeniably rather \u201cclever\u201d, and of all literary qualities \u201ccleverness\u201d seems the \nmost sought and enjoyed to-day. Mr. Huxley\u2019s \u201ccleverness\u201d is made manifest \non every page. It has enabled him to see, with clarity, that the Utopian dreams, \nin which our age indulges, are the reflections of its appetites, and crave a social \norder where sensual desires might be gratified unrestrained, and unavenged by \naftermaths of pain. It has enabled him to depict, in vivid colours, the loath\u00ac \nsome degradation of all human things and relationships that would result, \ncould such a Utopia be achieved. It has barbed his satire, and shown him on \nevery side a mark at which it can be sped. But with all of this, his cleverness \nhas not been able to furnish him with any safeguard against the dangers that \ninhere within itself, and which have so defeated whatever purpose he may at \nfirst have had, as to make his book an offence to decent minds. \n\nWe have little doubt that Mr. Huxley and his admirers would feel that he \nhad been complimented were his reviewers to class him with Bernard Shaw or \nAnatole France; but to the student of Theosophy, or to any mature experience \nwhich, reaching out to the wholeness of life, has touched its realities, the pur\u00ac \nsuit of cleverness for its own sake must appear degrading. The names which \n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n7 \n\n\nexemplify such pursuit do not stand for an enviable order of intelligence, nor \nfor a comprehension of human nature such as may be gained by rising above it \nin self-conquest. Rather do they tell of something immature, or sub-human, in \ntheir possessors, something which as yet belongs to the mere raw stuff from \nwhich human nature may be formed, and which bores and penetrates into its \ningredients from below. Their view is the \u201cworm\u2019s eye\u201d view. It is as though \nthey had not yet learned to live upon the wholesome bread of life, but must, \nlike maggots, turn for food to mouldy flour. We all know that there is a satire \nthat can make for righteousness, piercing the joints of armoured wrong, or \nscourging evil in defence of right. But satire that so relishes itself as to have \nlost all thought or memory of moral purpose, and which is directed indifferently \nto good and bad, sparing nothing and defiling all it touches, such mocking has \nwithin it the malice of sub-human things,\u2014of elementals or imps of hell, or of \nthe street gamin, \u201cshowing off\u201d. Behind it, using it, is the Essence of Evil, \nbut it itself scarcely reaches to the moral plane. The writer of the blurb on the \njacket dignifies the book too much when he (three times) calls it \u201cwicked\u201d: \n\u201cwickedly satirical\u201d, \u201cwickedly fantastic\u201d, \u201cslashing and wicked\u201d. It is just \nthe small boy being \u201csmart\u201d and trying to shock,\u2014the very nasty little boy, \nwith his uncanny ability, wherever he goes, to find and exhibit something \nhideous and unclean. Yet whether \u201cwicked\u201d or \u201cnasty\u201d, the fact remains that \nMr. Huxley is not a pleasant companion; we close the book no wiser than we \nopened it, but with a sense of having waded in filth and of badly needing a \nbath. He is typical of the \u201cclever\u201d man, whose cleverness goes to his head \nlike wine, and, like wine, uncorfeciously to himself reveals his nature. There are \nthousands like him, who think that wit can excuse all, disinfect all,\u2014and who \nare very sure that they are witty. So Anatole France and Shaw and their \nlegion of little imitators. So Mr. John Erskine, smearing the vulgarity of his \nown mind and approach to life over the sweet and beautiful stories that are \nthe heritage of our race; so Mr. Aldous Huxley bathing his readers in the \nindecencies of his imagination; and the reviewers crying out \u201cHow clever\u201d, \n\u201cHow amusingly horrifying\u201d, \u201cHow penetrating and revealing\u201d. \n\nFaugh! The very thought of them brings the stench from the open setfdR \nin which they fish. But doubtless, in the course of aeons, they, and others, \nwill grow up. \n\n\u201cA New Education for a New Time\u201d \n\nWe turn from Mr. Huxley to Mr. Wells with a sigh of relief. Mr. Wells is \nwhat he has always been,\u2014only a little more so with each new book, as he \ngrows older and hardens in the grooves of mental and emotional habit. His \nname trails adjectives like a comet\u2019s tail; but \u201cindecent\u201d is not among them, \nand one can at least keep one\u2019s self-respect by disagreeing with him, and not \nhave to scrub him off one\u2019s mind with antiseptic soap. Fertile, ingenious, \nimaginative, provocative and provoking, perverse and superficial, illogical, \ndogmatic and conceited; sentimentalist, socialist, theorist, materialist, with an \nunequalled gift for misrepresentation and false simplification, for drawing \n\n\n8 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nrealistic pictures of what has no reality, and projecting the image of himself \nupon the screen of his surroundings, so partisan and prejudiced, so narrow and \nbigoted, that he has made himself definitely blind to all he does not wish to see, \non the wrong side of nearly every important question,\u2014he presents his thought \nso glamorously as to make it rival the limpid light of truth itself. It has been \nsuggested that it might be truth if applied to something else\u2014if the titles of \nthe books were changed\u2014if Mr. Wells would only be explicit in telling his read\u00ac \ners that, whatever title he may have chosen, he is still always writing about \nhimself. So the author of A Subaltern's War remarks of Mr. Britling Sees It \nThrough that it ought to have been called Mr. Wells Does Not See It Through , \n\u201csince it reflected nothing but the weakening of the author\u2019s resolution\u201d; and \ndoubtless even The Outline of History , which is neither outline nor history, \ncould be made accurate if it were entitled merely Mr. Wells's Notions upon the \nSubjects Treated. We should select the same title for the present work, which \nMr. Wells himself finally decided to call The Work , Wealth and Happiness of \nMankind. \n\nHe considers it \u201cslighter \u2018and even more provisional\u201d than The Outline of \nHistory , but adds that, \u201cIts claims are enormous; let there be no mistake about \nthat. It represents all current human activities and motives\u2014all and nothing \nless. ... It will have failed of its object so far as any particular reader goes \nif that reader does not find his own niche clearly indicated in this descriptive \nfabric\u201d (p. 25). \n\nIt is not probable that many students of Theosophy will feel that their own \nactivities and mqtives are at all accurately represented by what Mr. Wells has \nto say,\u2014though they may indeed find their outer occupations as \u201cbutchers or \nbakers or candlestick makers\u201d touched upon in his encyclopaedic pages. His \napproach to life is the very opposite of ours. Though he makes it clear that \nhe considers himself of the true priestly class, his god is only immanent in him, \nnever transcendent. It is, in effect, himself that he worships: his own image, in \nhimself and in mankind. In the whole universe he sees nothing higher than \nman; and argues that even should there be such, it is of no practical concern \nto him or to the theme of his book. He sees everything as arising from the \nslime; nothing as descending from above. \u201cThe one mind, common to all indi\u00ac \nvidual men\u201d, \u201cthe oversoul, in which all souls are one\u201d, \u201cthe possessions\u201d that \nare \u201cpossessed by all pure souls equally . . . the special property of the whole \nonly when united\u201d,\u2014all in which mysticism and religion have found the true \n\u201cwork, wealth and happiness of mankind\u201d to lie, Mr. Wells rejects wholly from \nhis thought. He grants that mystery exists; but he grants it only to dismiss \nit, not from life, but from thought. \n\n\u201cIt is impossible to dismiss mystery from life. Being is altogether mys\u00ac \nterious. Mystery is all about us and in us, the Inconceivable permeates us, it \nis \u2018closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.\u2019 For all we know, \nthat which we are may rise at death from living, as an intent player wakes up \nfrom his absorption when a game comes to an end, or as a spectator turns his \neyes from the stage as the curtain falls, to look at the auditorium he has for a \n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n9 \n\n\ntime forgotten. These are pretty metaphors, that have nothing to do with the \ngame or the drama of space and time. Ultimately the mystery may be the \nonly thing that matters, but within the rules and limits of the game of life , when \nyou are catching trains or paying bills or earning a living, the mystery does \nnot matter at all\u201d (p. 83). \n\nTo us it seems that it is precisely when one is confronted with the paying \nof bills\u201d and the \u2018\u2018earning a living\u201d, that one is forced to realize how profoundly \nthe \u201cmystery\u201d of what lies behind life, and such comprehension as we may \nhave of it, do matter to us. Why does one pay one\u2019s bills? Why earn a living? \nIs there anything more determinative of a man\u2019s nature than whether his \nanswer to such questions points to an outer police force, or to loyalty to an \ninner sense of right? Is not a man\u2019s philosophy of life of very special moment \nto his creditors and employer? Yet one gathers from Mr. Wells\u2019s pages that \nthere can be only one practical answer. To him it all comes back to the outer \npolice force; for even where he sees the inner sense of right to be the compelling \nmotive, he explains it as but the memory of the policeman\u2019s club,\u2014a racial \nmemory of primitive \u201ctaboos\u201d. That is the essential evil in all of Mr. Wells\u2019s \nlater work\u2014since he abandoned his purely and frankly imaginative fiction. He \nis capable of seeing the good; capable even of helping you to see it more clearly, \nbut only to explain it away; only to present it so that it will appear the foolish \n\n\nand the outworn. \n\nAs was to be expected, the postulate of the \u201cprimitive man is given a very \nprominent place. The effort is to trace everything from him. For the origin \nof human society: \u201cThis taboo . . . may have been the foundation of real \nhuman society. It made it possible for father and sons and sons-in-law to \nendure each other\u201d (p. 50). Of morality: \u201cThe psychoanalysts trace the \nmoral conflict in our minds back to its roots in these primordial prohibitions \nand suppressions, without which social life could not have existed (p. 5 1 )* \nOf religion: \u201cThe prestige of some old men outlived them; they haunted the \ndreams of the tribe; their strength and their influence were invoked; medicine \nmen saw them in visions, undertook to speak for them, and the first tribal gods \nwere evolved\u201d (p. 51). Of industry: \u201cThe dawn of economic history shows us \nhumanity already busy upon the job of putting the work on to someone else\u201d \n\n\nOn the jacket of the book, in letters only less large than those of title \nand author, it is described as \u201cA New Education for New Times\u201d. How wi \nthis new education fit the new time to deal with the age-old conflict betwe \nthe good and the evil? between the hungers of the animal and the aspiration \nof the spirit? To ask that question is to see Mr. Wells as an instrument in one \nof the most sinister movements of the age. Behind the common little cockney, \nthe sentimental socialist, the tired pacifist and superficial theorist, behind the \nbrilliant imagination and gift of persuasive writing, works the mocking, men\u00ac \nacing figure that symbolizes sin; and it matters not at all that Mr. Wells him\u00ac \nself does not see him there, nor know what it is that is using him. It matters \nno more with Mr. Wells than with Mr. Huxley. There is no being neutral in \n\n\nitle \n\n\u00a7 \n\n\n\n\n10 THE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nthe warfare of life; and as the Christ warned men long ago, \u201cHe who is not with \nme is against me.\u201d \n\nWe wish to be done with Mr. Wells; but we cannot dismiss his work without \npointing out that for all these assertions regarding \u201ctaboos\u201d and \u201cprimitive \nman,\u201d for all the explaining away of man\u2019s recognition of the laws of his own \nsoul, there is not one least shred of evidence. It is all assumption\u2014and most \nof it very silly assumption. Consider this for example: \u201cChildren of three or \nfour will say quite confidently [because they have been told it] that the world \nis round and that the year goes from summer to winter and from winter to \nsummer; and it is hard to purge these ideas from one\u2019s consciousness and imagine \nan adult mind without these particular assumptions. But the world of the \nearly men was flat and went on for ever, and the weather changed, grew hotter \nand colder, snowy or rainy, sere or green, and it was only the very oldest and most \nobservant who could have had a chance oj noting any established rhythm in these \nphases \u201d (pp. 46 and 47). The italics are ours. If these words mean anything \nat all, they mean that Mr. Wells is supposing that man became man while \nstill shorter lived or less intelligent than a squirrel, or the beaver, or any of the \nhost of animals that make provision for the winter season. Such supposition is \nsheer nonsense; yet is no worse, only more obvious, than the rest. \n\nAnd at the end, what does Mr. Wells offer us, or what has he gained for him\u00ac \nself? \u201cWhat have we to put into the scale against this presentation of the \nwhole human adventure, as nothing better than a freak of chance, flung up in \nthe incomprehensible play of forces for ever outside our understanding, and \ndestined to be reversed as casually and wiped out of being altogether? So far \nas our powers and knowledge go, we have nothing. We are forced back upon \nsomething more fundamental than knowledge or reason; the innate inevitable \nfaith in itself that every healthy conscious being must necessarily possess\u201d \n(p. 894). \n\nThe italics are again ours. In all the wide universe there is nothing in which \nhe can have faith save in himself. He himself (and while he is in health) is the \nonly evidence he can see that good may endure: \u201cWe are unable to believe \nthat the universe that has evoked the will to live in us can be without will. \nWe can no more believe the universe insane by our measure of sanity and \naltogether indifferent to our urgencies than we can prove it sane\u201d (p. 894). \nThis is from the next to last page of the work\u2014the summary with which he \nleaves us\u2014the doubt that is given us as our only ground of hope. \n\nMr. Wells has disclaimed any desire for life beyond death. He has said \nthat he strutted to no such immortality. But not even Mr. Wells has said \nthat he does not strut. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nFRAGMENTS \n\n\nA GAIN I heard the Voice, which said: Lift up thine eyes and see: and I \nr\\ saw, through mist and semi-darkness, a sullen, oily sea heaving from \nits depths; and as, in increasing volume, it gathered to the shore, short \nwaves curled white an instant, like the flashing teeth of an attacking beast. \n\nA murmur of sound came out of the sea, the murmur of an angry mob bent on \ndestruction. It was a sound from far away, as of long past ages, gathering \nmomentum from these periods of time,\u2014the forces of unregenerate, wilful man, \nurged on by the Dark Powers who were preparing to unleash them. \n\nWe stood, a handful, on the shore to resist them. \n\nThe Voice said: God gave men peace and they died of it, gutted out like \ndripping candle-ends in the gusts of their own desires. So God gave them war, \nand they rose, briefly, to heights of heroism in the flames of sacrifice, only to \nsink back into unspeakable degradation of cowardice,\u2014their own ashes. Now, \nsaith the Lord, let the dogs of hell devour them. Open the iron gates, and set \nthe minions of Pluto free, that the world at last may know that I am ruler over \nhell and heaven, and hold those who deride me in the hollow of my hand. \n\nWe stood, a handful, on the shore to resist them: and one of us said in answer \nto the Voice: Even so, we stand; for are we not the Battalion of Death, and \nhaving died already many deaths, in agony and flame, what have we to fear? \n\nAnd still we stand, 0 Masters of life, of death and of eternity, 0 glorious \nBrotherhood of the Great Lodge,\u2014we, dust and nothingness in your great Pres\u00ac \nences, stand and shall stand, though the sea engulf us and the lightning fall and \nthe fiends of hell devour us: and when the seas have receded in their appointed \ntime, and the stars shine once more in serenity above us, you shall find us stand\u00ac \ning as before, eyes front, heads erect, hearts unshaken! \n\nAgain I heard the Voice, which said: Lift up thine eyes and see: and agaitr \nI saw the Armies of heaven marching across the sky and the great Saint Michael \nleading; and as they marched, with paeans of martial music, I saw their banners \ndip and the flash of swords, as the Battalion of Life saluted the Battalion of \nDeath in passing. \n\n\nCave. \n\n\n\nMADAME BLAVATSKY\u2019S FORBEARS \n\n\n\niHROUGH her grandmother, Princess Dolgoruki, Madame Blavatsky \n\n\nwas descended from Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, that is, Yuri the Long- \n\n\narmed, who founded the city of Moscow in the year 1147, and was \nits first Tsar. Yuri Dolgoruki claimed descent from the Varangian Viking \nRurik, who was invited by the Slavs to come to Russia with his kindred in \nthe ninth century, and who, accepting this invitation, established in Russia \nlaw and order and a strong line of rulers. For centuries after the founding \nof Moscow the Dolgorukis played a great part in Russian history. Under \nthat furious reformer, Peter the Great, a Prince Dolgoruki was the leader of \nthose who opposed the Western innovations which the Emperor imposed \non his subjects; this Dolgoruki was exiled for his recalcitrancy, and particularly \nbecause he refused to shave his patriarchal beard in conformity with Peter\u2019s \nfashion. Another Prince Dolgoruki held the rank of Major-General under \nKatherine the Great; another of the line, also a direct ancestor of Madame \nBlavatsky, was Ambassador to the Court of St. James\u2019s. \n\nMadame Blavatsky\u2019s grandmother, Princess Dolgoruki, was the last descen\u00ac \ndant of the elder line. She was a remarkable woman, tall, and with a magnifi\u00ac \ncently formed head. She was a student of natural science, and especially of \ngeology and botany. When the famous English naturalist and traveller, Sir \nRoderick Murchison, travelled in Russia and the Caucasus, he was her guest, \nand, if the memory of the writer be not at fault, Sir Roderick named in her \nhonour a fossil shell which he discovered in the deposits of the Perm district, \nwhich gave its name to the Permian period of geology. Princess Dolgoruki \nmarried General Andrei Fadeyev, for many years Governor of the Saratov \ndistrict on the lower Volga. This frontier territory was largely inhabited \nby sectarians who refused to acknowledge the Russian Orthodox Church, \nand by Kalmyks, who were dependents of Buddhist Tibet. The sectarians \nrefused to accept the potato, then something of a novelty in eastern Russia, \nalleging that the \u201caccursed root\u2019\u2019 must be evil because it is nowhere men\u00ac \ntioned in the Bible. Wishing to introduce the heretical but useful tuber, \nGeneral Fadeyev had recourse to guile. He had potatoes planted in an \nenclosed garden and proclaimed the sternest penalties for whoever should \ntouch even one potato. As with their first ancestor, the lure of forbidden \nfruit was not to be resisted by the sectaries, and potatoes were soon spread far \nand wide through southeastern Russia. The former Princess Dolgoruki \nlived to a great age. In her later years she suffered a stroke of paralysis \nwhich deprived her of the use of her right arm. She was in the midst of a \nseries of botanical studies and, undeterred, she learned not only to write \nwith her left hand, but also drew and painted admirable studies of botanical \nspecimens. A few years ago, several volumes of this manuscript botany \n\n\n12 \n\n\n\n\nMADAME BLAVATSKY\u2019S FORBEARS \n\n\n13 \n\n\nwere still extant. The future Madame Blavatsky, while she was still Helena \nPetrovna Hahn, paid childhood visits to the majestic grandfather and the \nbenign, learned grandmother, with her parents and her younger sister, Vera \nPetrovna, who has recorded these visits in her charming book for children, \nWhen I was Little. \n\nGeneral Fadeyev and his wife had four children. A son, Rostvaslav \nAndreivitch, won fame in the wars of the Caucasus, gaining the rank of \nGeneral, and later earned renown as a distinguished military writer. He was \nfor some years military adviser to the Khedive Ismail of Egypt. There were \nthree daughters, Helena Andreyevna, Ekaterina Andreyevna and Nadyejda \nAndreyevna, to give the Russian style of patronymic following the Christian \nname, the latter being almost invariably the name of a saint. It was the \ncustom to celebrate the saint\u2019s day of translation with ceremonies and gifts, \nas a more important birthday for the child. Helena Andreyevna Fadeyev \nand her daughter were thus named in honour of Saint Helena, mother of \nConstantine. According to Eusebius, Helena visited Palestine after her con\u00ac \nversion, building a church at the traditional site of the Ascension, and another \nat Bethlehem; she was later said to have recovered the True Cross, whose \nauthenticity was vindicated by a miracle of healing. \n\nHelena Andreyevna Fadeyev married Colonel Peter Hahn, a distinguished \nartillery officer, and had three children. The eldest, Helena Petrovna\u2014once \nmore to give the Christian name and patronymic\u2014was later to become \nMadame Blavatsky. The second daughter, Vera Petrovna, became a popular \nRussian author, one of whose many books has already been mentioned. \nThe third child, several years younger than the two sisters, was Leonid \nPetrovitch. \n\nHelena Andreyevna Hahn was a distinguished writer of stories, so that the \ngreat Russian critic Belinski called her the \u201cGeorge Sand of Russia.\u201d She \ndied in her twenty-ninth year, in the summer of 1842. She was, therefore, \nonly twenty-six when, in 1840, she wrote two stories, The World's Verdict , \nand The Judgment of God , from which are taken the two following passages \nwhich describe the life of the inner self, and the golden threads of Karma \nrunning through human lives. When these passages were written, the future \nauthor of The Secret Doctrine was a child of nine, but it is not difficult to see \nthat she was profoundly influenced by the thought and character of her gifted^ \nmother. \n\nIn The World's Verdict , the hero of the story, after a great moral upheaval, \nthus records his experience: \n\n\u201c. . . The fog which, up to that time, had lain heavy on my intelligence, \nwas dispersed. . . . Like one who had been blind, and from whose eyes a \ngreat physician had removed a cataract, I was beginning to see. The world \ngradually opened before me, new, unexpected: the world, not of. phantasies, \nbut of beautiful truths, of exalted fervour, of refinement, of poetry, of all that \nmakes the soul of man nobler and happier. How reverently I entered into \nits mysteries. How proudly I rose from the oppression of my own insignifi- \n\n\n14 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ncance, until at last, like a man reborn, I looked on the world of God. Every\u00ac \nthing within me and around me was transformed. For the first time I became \nconscious of the beneficent and active intelligence within me, of the power of \nmy will and the sense of beauty, and, in my rapture, I bowed down in the dust \nbefore the Almighty, having come to understand the wonderful perfection of \nour creation, the problem of our being, and the supreme destiny of man. . . . \nIt almost seemed as if my soul, freshly born into being, illumined the whole \nworld with the beauty of its own rays, and the world, warmed by the warmth \nof my soul, answered to the touch of its first ray by heavenly harmonies, \nlike Memnon\u2019s statue. \n\n\u201cFormerly, I had been ignorant of the just pride of the consciousness of \nself, and, in spite of my self-love, and of what I called my independent ways, \nI was a perfect slave to what men thought of me. Many a time I acted \nagainst my own conviction, from a pitiful rivalry with my comrades. . . . \nFormerly, I had not even suspected the existence of that comfort which the \nLord grants to us in our inner, ever wakeful self;\u2014not in that self which is \nthe vain caterer to man\u2019s desires, the restless glorifier of his achievements, \nreal and imaginary, which, in its everlasting discord with conscience, has no \nexistence except on the tongue, deafening the ears of everyone with stories \nin which it alone can find delight; but in the stern Argus and judge which is \nsubject neither to the rule of the world nor to the decrees of fate; in the un\u00ac \nswerving, incorruptible guardian of the seed from heaven, God\u2019s parting gift \nas we enter life, which, if not smothered by tares, or devoured by birds of \nthe air, is to grow and ripen in the heart of man until it becomes his support in \ndepression, his peace and contentment in the midst of bitterest calamity. . . \n\nThe World's Verdict is not connected in plot or construction with The Judg\u00ac \nment of God , nor were they, as their titles might suggest, designed as com\u00ac \nplementary to each other. Their unity comes from the inner spirit of the \nauthor, and both describe the mighty, invisible things of the interior life in \nthe same sincere and inspiring way, because both truly record the author\u2019s \nspiritual experience. Here is a brief passage from The Judgment of God: \n\n\u201cCertain events impressing themselves on my mind when I was but a little \nchild, left in me a leaning toward the supernatural. I do not mean the super\u00ac \nnatural of concrete, material nature, but the inner feeling of our spiritual \nexistence. It is not that I have superstitious beliefs; it is more correct to say \nthat I believe in realities that can only be felt. A visitor from beyond the \ntomb could not frighten me, and I do not think that I should grow pale at \nmysterious groans or laughter in the small hours of the night. But I do \nbelieve in the secret Providence which binds together the lives of human \nbeings and guides their perceptions; I believe in the stirring of unaccountable \nloves and hatreds, as the invisible threads which stretch and stretch, some\u00ac \ntimes winding themselves into wonderful network, but always leading man to \nthe inevitable goal marked for him by supreme predestination. And if the \nLord said that not a hair of our heads should fall without His will, are we to \nsuppose that the activities of our spirits, strong and potent as they are, were \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMADAME BLAVATSKY\u2019S FORBEARS \n\n\ni 5 \n\n\nnot calculated, distributed and directed toward something our weak intellects \ncannot foresee?\u201d \n\nIt may well be that there is, in these passages, an echo of the philosophical \nmysticism of France, for tradition records that among the forbears of Madame \nBlavatsky\u2019s family there were French ancestors also, of the ancient and dis\u00ac \ntinguished house of Duplessis. Belinski may have been right in suggesting \na French element in Helena Hahn\u2019s writings. Madame Blavatsky\u2019s younger \nsister has given, in the book already mentioned, a very attractive picture of \ntheir gifted mother: \n\n\u201cI can no longer remember how we left our grandmother [the former Prin\u00ac \ncess Dolgoruki] and made the return journey. I can only recall that we were \nin a different place, where my grandmother and our other relations were no \nlonger with us. Officers were always coming, whom I did not know. One of \nthem, very tall and with a red, pointed moustache, claimed to be my father. \nBut I was unwilling to recognize him as my father, and rebuffed him. . . . \n\n\u201cI remember also that my mother was a great sufferer, but that she spent \nlong hours writing, behind a partition covered with green cloth. The little \nnook behind this green barrier was called mother\u2019s work room, and never \ndid either my elder sister Lyolya [diminutive of Helena], nor I, venture to touch \nanything in that room, which only a curtain separated from our own. At \nthat time, we did not in the least understand what our mother could be occu\u00ac \npied with, in this retreat in which she passed whole days. We only knew that \nshe was writing at her table, but we did not in the least suspect that she was \nworking there to earn money to pay our tutors and governesses. . . . \n\n\u201cWhen the weather was bad, I took my station near a window, and happily \ngazed out at the great square on which were taking place the military exercises \nwhich my father directed, with several officers under his orders. I immensely \nenjoyed watching the soldiers manoeuvring to the sound of drum and trum\u00ac \npets, and seeing the big guns hurried about on wheels which thundered as \nthey moved, while my father galloped on his fine horse, giving orders, with \nanimated gestures. . . . \n\n\u201c During the following winter our mother suffered still more. The doctor \nforbade her to give much time to her writing, and she spent her evenings with \nus. She seated herself at the piano, and my young governess, Antonia, under\u00ac \ntook to teach my sister to dance. . . . \n\n\u201c Then, suddenly, I do not remember how, we went to a large and beautiful \ncity. ... I learned later that this city was called Odessa, and that my \nmother had gone there for medical care. . . . \n\n\u201c My elder sister, four years older than I, was already studying industriously \nunder the guidance of two governesses, and was also studying music with \nour mother. But that poor mother was daily losing strength, though she \nstill worked as hard as before. At last she had to yield to the insistence of \nour grandmother, who invited us to come to her, to Saratov, to seek a more \nthorough treatment. The expectation of this journey caused my sister Lyolya \nand me the greatest delight. \n\n\n\n\n\ni6 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cIt was night. Our closed coach swung gently from side to side. Worn \nout by the long journey and weary of looking for a city which never appeared, \nwe were all half asleep. My sister and I were lulled to sleep by our smooth \nprogress over the snow, by the whistling of the wind, and by the monotonous \ncries of the coachman encouraging his horses. My mother alone was not \nasleep. She held me on her knee, her well-beloved little one, with one hand \nholding my head pressed against her breast, seeking to protect me against the \njolting of the coach. . . . \n\n\u201cAll at once I was wakened by a more vigorous jolt, and an intense ray of \nlight, shining in my face, made me blink my eyes. . . . \n\n\u201cOur coach passed through a great stone gateway, and stopped before \nthe brilliantly lit steps. ... A lady, tall and stately, with an expression \nof kindness and sweetness, clasped my mother in her arms; only later did I \nrecognize her as my grandmother. . . . The tall, thin gentleman in the gray \nfrock-coat came toward me, took me in his arms, and, kissing me several \ntimes, put me into my grandmother\u2019s arms. It was only then that I knew he \nwas our grandfather. . . . With intense enjoyment I drank my hot tea and \nattentively studied the big portraits of gentlemen and ladies that hung on \nthe wall opposite me . . .\u201d\u2014portraits of the forbears of Madame Blavatsky. \n\nCharles Johnston. \n\n\nHeroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh , that is to say over fear; \nfear of poverty , of suffering , of calumny , of illness , of loneliness , and of death. \n\nThere is no real piety without heroism. Heroism is the dazzling and glorious \nconcentration of courage .\u2014 Amiel. \n\n\nThe Buddha said: \u201cIt is not 7 , 0 Bhikklius } who quarrel with the world , but \nthe world which quarrels with me . n \u2014 Samyutta Nikaya. \n\n\n\n\nCHUANO=TZE \n\n0 \n\n\nII \n\nThe Way of Man and the Way of Liberation 1 \n\n\nWithout going forth , one can understand all that takes place under the sky; without \nlooking out of the window , one can see the Way of Heaven. The farther one goes out \nfrom the Self , the less one knows .\u2014 Lao-Tze. \n\nHE Tao does not reward men for their own accomplishments\u201d, said \n\n\n\nChuang-Tze, \u201cbut for what Heaven accomplishes through them\u201d \n\n\n(XXXII, 2). This sentence points to the difference between the two \n\u201cWays\u201d of Taoism, the Way of Man and the Way of Heaven. \n\nThe Way of Heaven is \u201cthe great submission to the course of Nature\u201d. By \nNature is meant the principle and purpose underlying the manifestation of the \nUniverse, the law of ordered, cyclic growth which is said to be obeyed by all \ncreatures, with one exception. Unregenerate man alone has tried to fabricate \nan independent existence outside the course of Nature. He has invented a \nlittle private world of his own, raising a barrier of self-will between it and the \ngreat world beyond. It is this malformation of elemental human consciousness \nwhich the Taoists call the Way of Man. \n\n\u201cIt is the Way of Heaven which is the Lord; the Way of Man is the servant.\u201d \nNature works slowly but without intermission for the regeneration of the human \nrace. When such a regeneration occurs in a human life, a Master of the Tao is \nborn and a new measure of individuality is added to the immortal consciousness \nof the Universal Spirit. The Sage works with Nature and not against her, for in \nhis being the powers of Nature attain a perfect expression and fulfilment. \u201cThe \nMaster is a companion of God and seeks his enjoyment in the formless condition \nof Heaven and Earth. . . He finds happiness in the business of doing nothing \non his own behalf. . . He stands aloof from other men, but he is in accord with \nHeaven. Hence it is said: \u2018The small man of Heaven is the superior man \namong men; the superior man among men is the small man of Heaven\u2019 \u201d (VI, 11). \n\nThe Taoists had no respect for what is generally called civilization, which they \nregarded as the blind alley into which the Way of Man leads its victims. What \nthey denounced was the false civilization which isolates man from Nature and \nperverts his sense of values. Doubtless, our modern world, with its concerns \nand shibboleths, would appear to them as nothing but the manifestation of a \nvain and rebellious spirit. It could scarcely be otherwise, for they defined true \ncivilization as the refinement of consciousness. \n\nThis explains Chuang-Tze\u2019s hostility to the Confucianist scholars. The \nessence of Confucianism may be described as the cultivation of loyalty and of \nthe sense of duty, but many Confucianists had confused loyalty with outward \n\ntCf. Theosophical Quarterly, April, 1932, pp. 303-312, art. \u201cChuang-Tze: The Way of Heaven.\u201d \n\n\n17 \n\n\n\n\n\n\ni8 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nconformity, and duty with ritualism. Chuang-Tze had no sympathy for a \ncivilization which he believed to be saturated with the idea that man can be \nmade perfect by rites and ceremonies and moral pronouncements. Moreover, \nhe could not tolerate the self-complacency of the Confucianist Literati , who \nassumed that they had exhausted the possibilities of spiritual evolution when \nthey had learned by heart the Five Classics and the Four Books. It seemed to \nhim an outrage against the Divinity latent in the human being, that men should \nthus deliberately stultify themselves. \n\nHowever, Chuang-Tze was tremendously impressed by the figure of Confucius. \nHe found it hard to reconcile the bigotry and scholasticism of the Confucianists \nwith the evidence that Confucius himself was a sage. Only one conclusion \nappeared possible,\u2014that the real Confucius was never known by his disciples. \n\u201cWhen Confucius was in his sixtieth year, his views changed. What he formerly \nheld to be right, he then concluded to be wrong; and the things which he then \nheld to be right were those which for fifty-nine years he had regarded as wrong\u201d \n(XXVII, 2). According to a Taoist tradition, Confucius in his old age became \na mystic, a devotee of the Way of Heaven and tried to teach the Way of Libera\u00ac \ntion from the Way of Man; but he failed, for his disciples did not understand \nhim and preserved for posterity only the dead-letter of his teaching. \n\nChuang-Tze has recorded an incident which may have marked a turning-point \nin Confucius\u2019 life. It is contained in Book XXXI which bears the title of \u201cThe \nOld Fisherman\u201d. The story has such poignancy and charm, quite apart from its \npertinence to our subject, that we repeat it here at some length. \n\nWandering in the forest of Tze-Wei, Confucius and his disciples came to a \npleasant terrace beneath which flowed a stream. They stopped to rest beneath \nsome apricot trees near a shrine, while Confucius took his lute and sang to them. \nAn old fisherman hearing the chant came towards them from the bank and stood \nwatching Confucius. His beard and eyebrows were turning white; his hair was \nuncombed and his cloak dishevelled. He waited until Confucius had finished \nhis song; then beckoning to two of the disciples and pointing to the Teacher, he \nasked: \u201cWho is he?\u201d One of the disciples replied: \u201cThat is the Superior Man \nof Lu.\u201d \u201cOf what family is he?\u201d \u201cOf the Rung family\u201d. \u201cAnd what is the \noccupation of this Mr. Kung?\u201d The other disciple then spoke: \u201cIn his conduct \nhe manifests benevolence and righteousness; he cultivates the ornaments of \nceremonies and music; he pays special attention to the relationships of the \npeople; he seeks the transformation and uplift of all classes of the people, his \nobject being, to benefit the kingdom.\u201d \u201cI understand\u201d, said the stranger. \n\u201cHe must be a great ruler possessed of territory, or a prime minister\u201d. \u201cNo\u201d> \nreplied the disciple. \u201cHe is neither a ruler nor a prime minister\u201d. Then the \nold man began to laugh and said: \u201cIn that case, he is embittering his mind and \nwearing out his body to no purpose\u201d. \n\nThe disciples returned and repeated the conversation to Confucius who was \nastounded, and rose, saying: \u201cThis man must be a Sage\u201d; and he hastened after \nthe old fisherman who had returned to the shore and was loosing his boat from its \n\n\nCHUANG-TZE \n\n\n19 \n\n\nmoorings. When he saw Confucius, he waited; and Confucius, coming forward, \nbowed twice to him. \u201cWhat do you want with me, Sir\u201d? asked the stranger. \nConfucius replied: \u201cI am inferior to you, my Master. I have ventured here to \nwait for your instructions, and I shall call myself fortunate if I may but hear \nthe sound of your voice\u201d. \u201cAh!\u201d responded the fisherman, \u201cHow great is your \nlove of learning!\u201d Confucius again bowed twice and said: \u201cAll my life I have \ncultivated learning; but I have not had an opportunity of hearing the perfect \nteaching. In humbleness of heart and without prejudice, I take the liberty \nof requesting you to speak.\u201d \n\nThe stranger said: \u201cBirds of the same note respond to one another,\u2014such \nis the ordinance of Heaven. . . You occupy yourself with the affairs of men. \nNow, Sir, you are neither a monarch nor a feudal lord nor a prime minister nor \neven a petty official, and yet you take it upon yourself to regulate ceremonies \nand music, and to give special attention to the relationships of society, with the \nobject of transforming and uplifting the various classes of the people. Is this \nnot an excessive multiplication of your business? To assume the duties of others \nis one of the eight defects of human nature. When one has put away the eight \ndefects, then, and then only, is he capable of being taught. . . Very difficult, \n\nSir, is it to make you understand. There was once a man who was afraid of \nhis shadow, so that he ran to escape from it; but the shadow ran after him. \n\nHe ran on and on without stopping, until his strength left him and he dropped \ndead from exhaustion. Alas! Had he but stayed in a shady place, his shadow \nwould have disappeared. And you, Sir, use your mind all the time as that \npoor man used his body. You think and think and think about benevolence and \nrighteousness. If you had earnestly cultivated your inner nature and had \ncarefully guarded from defilement your proper truth, you would have escaped so \nmany entanglements and external concerns. And what is a man\u2019s proper truth ? \n\nIt is sincerity, in the highest degree;\u2014without the purest sincerity, how can one \nexpect really to move others? If a man must force himself to weep, it is not \nreal sorrow; if he must force himself to show affection, it is not true love. True \ngrief, though it be soundless, is yet sorrowful; true love, though unsmiling, is \nyet affectionate. When there is truth in the heart, it acts outwardly as a \nspiritual potency; and this is why we deem it so precious. . . As regards rites^B \nand ceremonies, these are rightly prescribed for the common people; but the^^ \nproper truth of a man is a gift from Heaven, and its operation in his nature is \nspontaneous and incessant. Therefore, the Sages do what is necessary, for this \nis their duty, but they do not subject their inner natures to the restrictions of \nman-made customs, nor do they change their will as these customs change; \nfor they receive their law from Heaven and keep clear the paths of spiritual \nvision. They are complete and individual. Alas, for you, Sir, that you have \nbeen steeped in the hypocrisies of men, and have been so late in hearing of the \nGreat Way!\u201d \n\nOnce again, Confucius bowed twice, and said: \u2018\u2018That I have met you to-day, \nMaster, is as if I had the happiness of going to Heaven! If you be not too \nashamed of me, but will let me be as your servant and will continue to teach \n\n\n20 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nme, tell me, I pray, where your dwelling is.\u201d But the stranger was saddened \nand replied: \u2018\u2018There is the saying: \u2018If it be one who can walk with you, enter \nwith him into the most subtile mysteries of the Tao. If it be one who cannot \nwalk with you, take care that you do not try to lead him, and you will incur \nno responsibility.\u2019 Do your utmost, Sir! Now, I must leave you, I must leave \nyou.\u201d With these words, he shoved off his boat and went away among the green \nreeds. \n\nConfucius remained standing on the bank, waiting until the wavelets were \nstilled and he could no longer hear the sound of the fisherman\u2019s pole. Then he \nreturned to his disciples. And one of them was scandalized by what he had \nseen. \u2018\u2018For many years, Master,\u201d he said, \u2018\u2018I have been your servant, but never \nhave I seen you treat another with the awe and reverence which you have just \nshown. I have seen you in the presence of a Lord of ten thousand chariots, and \nalways your manner towards him was reserved and proud; but to-day this old \nfisherman stood erect before you with his pole in his hand, while you bowed your \nhead before him, as if you were a suppliant and an inferior. Was not such \nreverence excessive? Your disciples will all think it strange.\u201d \n\nConfucius turned to the disciple and sighed: \u2018\u2018Difficult, indeed, is it to change \nyou! For years you have been trained in propriety and righteousness, and yet \nyour mean and servile heart has not been taken from you. Do you not know \nthat if you meet one older than yourself and do not show him respect, you fail in \npropriety? If you see a man of superior wisdom and goodness, and do not \nhonour him, you lack the true characteristic of humanity. Because that fisher\u00ac \nman is, in truth, such a man, we should reverence him. If our reverence be \ninsincere, we shall not attain the truth, and shall inflict a lasting injury upon \nourselves. Moreover, the Tao is the course by which all things should proceed. \nTo obey it is life. Therefore, wherever the wise man finds the Tao, he honours it. \nThat old fisherman surely possesses it;\u2014how could I presume not to show him \nreverence?\u201d \n\nThis story illustrates, better than any disquisition, the fundamental differences \nbetween orthodox Confucianism and primitive Taoism. The Confucianists \nargued that one can acquire any quality by persistently acting as if one already \npossessed it;\u2014hence, their insistence upon the careful performance of rites and \nceremonies which have been tested by the long usage of the centuries, by the \nimmemorial experience of mankind. Thus, a son might feel no spontaneous \ngrief, when his father died, but if he faithfully carried out the funeral ritual, it \nwas assumed that the ritual itself would awaken in him the appropriate senti\u00ac \nments which it symbolized. The Taoists, also reasoning from experience, \nasserted that Confucianism reversed the true process, that unless the qualities \nof the heart be first awakened by inward means, rites and ceremonies serve only \nto conceal their absence. When his inner nature is awakened, they said, the son\u2019s \ngrief will be as spontaneous as any of the movements of Nature, and the appro\u00ac \npriate rites for his father\u2019s death will merely provide an objective form or vehicle \nthrough which he can decorously express this grief. \n\n\n\n\nCHUANG-TZE \n\n\n21 \n\n\nOne might suggest that in their polemics the Confucianists and the Taoists \nwere both right and both wrong. The point is that their respective doctrines \nare not really contradictory but complementary. Confucius was preeminently \na moralist, building upon the safe and sound basis of ordinary human experience \nand tradition; and Lao-Tze was a mystic, testifying to the intuitional powers and \ncreative ardours of the soul. A student of Theosophy ventures to believe that \nthese two men of such diverse genius were both agents of the Great Lodge and \nthat they were expected to cooperate. If we accept Chuang-Tze\u2019s interpre\u00ac \ntation, Confucius did cooperate with Lao-Tze. According to this interpretation, \nConfucius\u2019 system of ethical discipline was primarily intended to prepare his \ndisciples for the reception of the Taoist doctrine, and on several occasions, he \ntried to instruct his disciples in the rudiments of pure Taoism. . . Chuang- \nTze says that the disciple Tze-Kung once asked Confucius why he professed \npreference for the Way of Heaven and yet followed the Way of Man. Confucius \nreplied: \u201cI am under the condemning sentence of Heaven\u201d (VI, n). Did \nConfucius mean that he had been definitely commissioned to refrain from \nmystical teaching, or as Chuang-Tze hints, do these words imply that Con\u00ac \nfucius blamed himself for the failure of his disciples to respond to his higher \ninstruction? \n\nOne cannot properly understand the Taoist method of liberation, unless its \ncomplementary relation to the Confucian system be appreciated. The Taoist \nview of purification and self-discipline was necessarily valid only for the man \nwho had already accomplished the measure of self-control which Confucius \nprescribed. In other words, only decent people could hope to make any prog\u00ac \nress upon the Way of Heaven. Other qualities were equally essential, but \ndecency was a sine qua non. Taoism bears no resemblance whatsoever to the \n\u201cimmoralism\u201d of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. What may be called the real or eso\u00ac \nteric doctrine of Taoism could only be received by a disciple from a Master \nwho had authority to give instruction,\u2014an authority not derived from any \nhuman appointment but from the actual quality of his consciousness. As the \nOld Fisherman told Confucius, \u2018\u2018birds of the same note respond to one another\u201d. \nThe Master of the Tao would not and could not teach anyone whose nature was \nnot, in a definite degree, conformed to his own. \n\nTherefore, the Taoist Way of Liberation often seems to be the reverse of prac\u00ac \ntical, just as the virtues of the Taoist Master appear strange and superhuman \nto the man of the world. The language of normal human intercourse is ill- \nadapted to describe such things, and it is no wonder that Lao-Tze and Chuang- \nTze, like other great mystics, were forced to resort constantly to paradox and \ncircumlocution. \n\nWe read in the sixty-seventh chapter of the Tao-Teh-King: \u2018\u2018I have three \nprecious jewels which I prize and hold fast. The first is gentleness; the second \nis economy; the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others. With \nthat gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal; shrinking from \ntaking precedence of others, I can become a vessel of the highest honour. But \nin this age men give up gentleness and try vainly to be bold; economy, and try \n\n\n22 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nvainly to be liberal; the hindmost place, and try vainly to be foremost;\u2014of all \nwhich the end is death.\u201d \n\nThere are obvious analogies between this passage and many sayings of Christ. \nBoth the Western Master and the Eastern Sage regarded humility as the most \nfundamental of the virtues. Chuang-Tze\u2019s commentaries upon the Tao-Teli- \nKing, therefore, have an immediate, practical interest for the Christian, for by \nmeditation upon them the Christian may discover unsuspected depths of mean\u00ac \ning in the teaching of his own Master. There is no reason why the doctrine \nof correspondences should not be applied with profit to the study of \u201ccomparative \nreligions\u201d. \n\nChuang-Tze represents humility as the key-note of the consciousness of the \nSage. The man of the world automatically thinks of his personal self as the \ncentral reality of his universe. In his more generous moods, he is inclined to \nattribute equal reality to the personal selves of others; but in one form or another, \nthe general notion of \u201cpersonality\u201d as a thing in itself is always present in his \nthought. On the contrary, the Master of the Tao thinks of all personalities, \nincluding his own, as unreal, or\u2014more accurately\u2014as non-existent on the \nplane of Reality. He does not deny the fact that he has a personality as he \nhas a physical body, but he regards both personality and body as instruments \nto be used by his Real Self which is distinct from them. They are as distinct \nfrom this Self as the garments which he wears or the house where he dwells. \nChuang-Tze\u2019s conception of the Real Self has frequently been compared to the \ndoctrine of the Higher Self in the Upanishads and the Mahayana Buddhist scrip\u00ac \ntures, especially as regards his insistence that the individual Self on its own plane \nis not a separate entity but an undivided fragment of the Tao, the Universal Self. \nThe influence of Buddhism seems also to be apparent in his definition of the \nunreal as the transitory and the changing. But though the forms in which he \ncast his thought may have been derived from Indian sources, he tinctured them \ndeeply with the colour of his own genius. So he may have used the magnificent \nconcepts of Indian metaphysics to make clear his own view of what is meant by \nthe humility of a Master. No one else has ever expressed more emphatically \nthe connection between humility and the power of discernment between the \nReal and the unreal. Thus, the aspect of humility which he stresses most often, \nis not self-abasement or self-effacement, as these are commonly understood, \nbut the positive recognition of the non-existence of the lower personality beyond \nthe boundaries of human fancy. \n\n\u201cAs fishes breed and grow in the water, so man develops and grows in the Tao. \nThe fishes, staying quietly in the pool where they were born, are fed by Nature; \nso, developing in the Tao, men do nothing for themselves, and Nature secures \ntheir happiness. Hence, it is said: \u2018Fishes forget one another in the rivers and \nlakes; men forget their personal selves in the arts of the Tao\u2019 \u201d (VI, n). \n\n\u201cA disciple asked a Master: \u2018Can I get the Tao and hold it as my own?\u2019 \nThe Master replied: \u2018Your body is not your own to hold; how then can you get \nand hold the Tao?\u2019 The disciple asked: \u2018If my body be not mine, who possesses \nit?\u2019 The Master said: \u2018Your body is the substantial form entrusted to you by \n\n\n\n\n\nCHUANG-TZE \n\n\n23 \n\n\nHeaven and Earth. Also, life is not yours to hold. It is the blended harmony \nof the Yang and the Yin [the positive and negative forces in Nature] entrusted \nto you by Heaven and Earth. Your animal soul is not yours to hold. It is \nentrusted to you by Heaven and Earth, and its actions are not your actions. . . \nTherefore, when we walk, we should not know where we are going; when we \nstop and rest, we should not be aware of it; when we eat we should not know the \ntaste of our food;\u2014for all these things are brought to pass by the strong activity \nof differentiated energy upon the various planes. If you can hold neither your \nbody nor your life nor your animal soul, how can you get and hold the Tao \n(which is the Universe)?\u201d (XXII, 4). \n\n\u2018\u2018The strong activity of differentiated energy upon the various planes\u201d recalls \nthe Trigunas of the Sankhya philosophy in India,\u2014 Sattva, Rajas and Tanias , \n\u2018\u2018the inherent qualities of differentiated matter\u201d, the interaction of which pro\u00ac \nduces all phenomena. Like the Sankhya theory of manifestation, Chuang- \nTze\u2019s view of causation is open to a materialistic misinterpretation. He did \nnot mean that the bodily life and the personality are incidental effects of the \ninterplay of inanimate forces. Differentiated energies, from one point of view, \nare phases of the Yin, the negative, Prakritic aspect of the Tao. They bear the \nimprint and reflect the states of consciousness, the will and desire and wisdom, \nof the Yang, the positive, creative power of the Tao which corresponds to the \nPurusha of the Sankhya School. The free action of the differentiated energies \nwas regarded by the Taoists as absolutely essential to the adequate development \nof the vehicles through which consciousness expresses itself. The most that \neven the Sage can do is not to interfere with that free action. Positively af\u00ac \nfirming the union of his spirit with the Great Tao, he detaches his sense of identity \nfrom each vehicle as it is evolved. It is in this sense that he is said to hold \nnothing as his own. \n\nWith characteristic humour, Chuang-Tze suggested that we are most likely \nto be acting conformably to Nature when we do not know what we are doing. \nThe context shows his meaning clearly enough. He believed that our instincts, \nour powers of perception and action which are intended to translate the general \nwill of Nature, have been perverted, because for aeons we have used them self\u00ac \nconsciously for the gratification of personal desires. We must get rid of the \nnotion that these instincts and powers really belong to us. As Chuang-Tze. \nwas always saying, men forget that they do not own Nature, for Nature own( \nthem, and their efforts to improve upon Nature are as ineffectual and as con\u00ac \nfusing as would be the efforts of a disciple to instruct his Master. The actions \nof the Sage are sure and proper, because he uses his powers in accord with the \npurpose for which they have been entrusted to him. He has purged his con\u00ac \nsciousness of all personal desires, save one,\u2014the desire to cooperate with Nature. \n\nLike St. Francis of Assisi, Chuang-Tze had no patience with those who make \na profession of \u2018\u2018knowledge\u201d. He was as certain as it is possible to be, that \nunregenerate man can never truly know anything. Many of his arguments have \na modem sound, recalling the pragmatism of William James and the intu\u00ac \nitionalism of Bergson. The mind, he asserted, is an instrument that pilots \n\n\n24 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe body around the world with considerable success, when it is left alone, but \nwhen used for purposes alien to its nature, it is an incubator of illusions. Self- \nsatisfaction and egotism are continuously reenforced by the tendency of the un\u00ac \nregenerate man to regard his mind as a receptacle of ultimate truth. Chuang- \nTze was convinced that even though a man may have all the virtues ever im\u00ac \nagined by moralists, nothing can be done for him until he admits his mental \nhelplessness in the presence of Reality. Chuang-Tze would have delighted in \nSocrates\u2019 remark: \u201cOne thing I know, that I know nothing.\u201d Not only in \nChina, but elsewhere, men cling to the notion that if they can describe the \nappearance of a thing and give it a name, they have somehow discovered its \nessence. It is not necessary to be a Taoist to sympathize with Chuang-Tze\u2019s \ndenunciation of this fallacy. Knowledge of the essence of things is attained, \nhe said, by those who follow the Way of Heaven, but this true knowledge is \nfounded upon mystical experience and not upon a course of intellectual gym\u00ac \nnastics. \n\n\u201cBy inward fasting and vigil, you must clean and purge your mind, wash your \nsoul white as snow, and sternly repress the idea that you know anything. The \nsubject of the Tao is deep and can hardly be described. . . Those who seek the \nTao are strong in their limbs, sincere and far-reaching in their thought, acute \nin their hearing, clear in their seeing. They exercise their minds without be\u00ac \ncoming weary; they respond to everything aright without regard to place or \ncircumstance. The most extensive knowledge does not embrace the Tao; \nreasoning will not make men wise in it,\u2014the Sages have decided against both \nthese methods. . . Even the most clear-sighted do not meet with the Tao,\u2014 \nit is better to be silent than to reason about it. The Tao cannot be heard with \nthe ears,\u2014it is better to shut the ears than to try to hear it. This is what is \ncalled the Great Attainment\u201d (XXII, 5). \u201cHe who uses only the sight of his \neyes is acted upon by what he sees; it is the Spirit that gives the assurance of \ncertainty. Yet people stupidly rely on what they see, and will have it to be the \ntruth. Therefore, all their calculations pertain only to what is external\u201d \n(XXXII, 14). \u201cThe Sages have no knowledge of\u2018first principles\u2019. They occupy \nthemselves \u2018ignorantly and vaguely\u2019 with those things which lie outside the dust \nand dirt of this world\u201d (VI, 11). \n\n\u201cThere came a time when the Sages who ruled the first races of men no longer \nshed their light upon the world. Then the Tao and its characteristics ceased \nto be regarded as uniform. Men in different places got glimpses of it, and each \nboasted of seeing it as a whole. Thus there were many schools and teachers. \nEvery school had its peculiar excellence and served its purpose; but none covered \nthe whole range of truth. Each school was as limited in its vision as a scholar \nwho offers his explanation of all the beauties of Heaven and Earth, and professes \nto understand the principles underlying all things and to explain the virtues of \nthe great Ancients. Seldom is it that such a one can embrace the essence of \ntrue beauty or can rightly estimate the ways of those who are spiritual and \nintelligent. The students who succeeded the Sages no longer saw the un\u00ac \ndivided purity of Heaven and Earth. The great scheme of Truth possessed \n\n\n\nCHUANG-TZE \n\n\n25 \n\n\nby the Ancients, the system of the Tao, has been tom in fragments which lie \nscattered under the sky\u201d (XXXIII, 1). \n\nThe seeker for Truth, like the lover of Beauty, never rests content with any \nform, however perfect, for he knows that this form is only the sheath of that \nwhich is more perfect still. Always, \u2018\u2018the Luminous is produced from the Ob\u00ac \nscure; the Multiform from the Unembodied; the Spiritual from the Tao; and \nevery body from the invisible essence within a seed. . . How deep is the Tao, \nlike the sea! How invincible is the Tao, ever beginning anew when it has come \nto an end!\u201d (XXII, 5). \n\nChuang-Tze compared the life of the aspirant to the state of waking from \nsleep. Most men dream their lives away; only the Sage is fully awake. \u2018\u2018Those \nwho dream of pleasure may weep in the morning; those who dream of sorrow \nmay in the morning be going forth to hunt. When they were dreaming, they \ndid not know that it was a dream; only in the morning did they know this. \nEven so, there is the Great Awakening when we shall know that this life was \nnothing but a great dream. All the while, the stupid think that they are awake, \nand with nice discrimination insist on their knowledge; now playing the parts of \nrulers and now of grooms. You are all dreamers; Confucius was a dreamer; \nand I who say this am dreaming myself. These words seem very strange; but if \nafter ten thousand ages we meet the Master who can interpret them, it will be \nas if we chanced to meet a friend in the morning after we have risen from sleep\u201d \n(II, 9 ). \n\nHow is the Great Awakening accomplished? First of all, said Chuang-Tze, \nthere must be the \u2018\u2018fasting of the mind\u201d. \u2018\u2018Maintain a perfect unity in every \nmovement of the will. You will not wait until you hear with the physical ear, \nbut will seek to hear with your mind. You will not wait until you hear with \nyour mind, but will seek to hear with the spirit. Let physical hearing rest in \nits place. Let the mind\u2019s function be the verification of what is proposed by \nthe will. The spirit alone is free from all preoccupation and awaits cajmly the \norderly succession of events in Nature. Where the Tao is, there is this freedom \nfrom all preoccupation and strain. Such freedom is called the fasting of the \nmind. . . In acting after the manner of men, it is easy to fall into hypocrisy; \nin acting after the manner of Heaven it is hard, indeed, to play the hypocrite. \nTo follow the Way of Man is to try to fly without wings. I have heard of the \nknowledge of the wise; I have not heard of the knowledge of the unwise. Behold \nthat window\u2014through it the chamber is filled with light. Even so, in th^ \nwindowed mind felicitous influences come to rest, as in their proper dwelling \nplace. What rest can there be for the man whose body alone is in repose while \nhis mind is galloping everywhere? When the information that comes through \nthe senses is comprehended inwardly, and at the same time the Self views the \nmind as an external thing,\u2014then the Spiritual Intelligences will make their \nabode with us. Thus we shall exercise a transforming influence upon all things. \nThis was the procedure of the first Emperors\u201d (IV, 2). \n\nThe elevation of the centre of self-consciousness above the mind is accom\u00ac \nplished by an inward \u2018\u2018movement of the will\u201d. To be effective, however, this \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n26 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ninward movement must be accompanied by an outward movement directed \ntowards the control of action. To use Mr. Judge\u2019s phrase, the seeker of the \nTao trains himself to \u201cdo nothing for the lower self alone\u201d. \n\n\u201cThe life of the Master is like the action of Heaven. He responds to the \nheavenly influences and moves as he feels the pressure. The spirit of man \ngoes forth in all directions, flowing on without limit, reaching to Heaven above \nand wreathing the Earth beneath. Its name is the Divinity in man. When the \npath of pure simplicity is followed, he who treads that path becomes one in \nconsciousness with the Divinity in man\u201d (XV, 2, 3). \u201cThe Sage regards what \nmen call necessary acts as really unnecessary. Therefore, he is not at war \nwith himself. The unregenerate man is perpetually at war with himself, because \nhe does not discriminate between the necessary and the unnecessary. His \ndesires mislead him and so his plans end in ruin\u201d (XXXII, 6). \n\n\u201cAs it is said: \u2018Those who know the Tao do not speak of it; those who speak \nof it do not know it. Hence the Sage conveys his instructions without the use \nof speech.\u2019 The Tao cannot be made ours by constraint; it will not come at \nour call. When the Tao was lost, its Characteristics appeared. When its \nCharacteristics were lost, Benevolence appeared. When Benevolence was lost, \nRighteousness appeared. When Righteousness was lost, Ceremonies appeared. \nCeremonies are but the dregs of the Tao, and the commencement of disorder. \nTherefore, he who practises the Tao, daily diminishes his doing. He diminishes \nit and again diminishes it, till he finally acquires the difficult art of doing nothing. \nBut when he really does nothing , in reality there is nothing which he does not do\" \n(XXII, 1). \n\nPerhaps the following may illumine somewhat the mystery of the great \nparadox that the spirit is most active when it appears most still and most re\u00ac \nluctant to act. \u201cWhen Khao-fu, the Correct, received the first grade of official \nrank, he walked with head bowed down; on receiving the second, with bent back; \non receiving the third, stooping low, he hurried along where none might see him, \nin the shadow of a great wall. Who would presume not to take this great minis\u00ac \nter for a model? But the ordinary man, on receiving his first appointment, \npuffs out his chest; on receiving the second, he surveys the world from a chariot; \non receiving the third, he calls his uncles by their \u2018first names\u2019 \u201d (XXXII, 11). \nChuang-Tze\u2019s comment upon this little study in contrasts is significant. \u201cWhen \none practises virtue, he should never think of himself as being virtuous. He \nwho thinks of himself as being virtuous loses the power of true self-examination. \nHe does not love the good but only his own opinion of himself.\u201d The Taoist \ndoctrine of \u201cdoing nothing\u201d is equivalent to the ideal of disinterested action \nwhich is set forth by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. \n\nTo be selfless and to practise good with detachment were the great objectives \nheld before the seeker of the Tao. At a certain stage in the process of his \u201cSelf\u00ac \ncreation\u201d, the aspirant was said to awaken from the dream of psychic life. Then \nhe had the right to demand instruction from a Master. \n\n\nStanley V. LaDow. \n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\nV \n\nT HE next outer event of consequence, following the attacks of the London \nWestminster Gazette in the autumn of 1894 (see the Theosophical \nQuarterly, January, 1932, pages 238-247), was the Adyar Convention, \nat the end of December, 1894. It was a disgraceful performance, but served \na useful purpose in so far as it helped to convince Judge\u2019s friends that to have \nany relations of any sort with people who could sponsor such a travesty of \nTheosophy, would be fatal to the work of H.P.B. and to the Society which her \nMasters had founded. Olcott had occupied the Chair, and, as the published \nreports show, had permitted Judge, who still was Vice-President of the Society, \nto be called every bad name that his excited enemies could extemporize. He \nwas a \u201cfraud\u201d, a \u201cdeceiver\u201d, a \u201ccommon impostor\u201d, a \u201cvillain\u201d and so forth. \nNot a word of protest from Olcott, as Chairman, or from Mrs. Besant as par\u00ac \nticipant. Without a single exception, everyone present seems to have been \ndelighted. Much of it was mere screeching, Miss Henrietta Muller\u2014who \nhad accompanied Chakravarti and Mrs. Besant from London to the Parliament \nof Religions in Chicago in 1893 \u2014supplying a good share of it; and she was \nwell qualified, being a \u201cwild woman\u201d by nature and selection, who, like Mrs. \nBesant, had \u201cgone native\u201d in India, and who used to travel with Hindu youths \nwhom she had adopted. Bertram Keightley did his best, but his vocabulary \nwas insignificant in comparison. Even the Countess Wachtmeister, whose \npsychism made her peculiarly susceptible to contagion of that kind\u2014to mob \nhysteria\u2014joined in the general chorus . 1 \n\nIt was Mrs. Besant herself, however, who, on this occasion, did more than \nanyone to fill us with down-right disgust; and it was not because she was abusive \n\u2014she was not abusive; she displayed, and loudly displayed, all the resignation \nof a Christian martyr. Having attacked Judge publicly, having done her \nutmost to bring dishonour on his good name, and having succeeded in that to a \nconsiderable extent so far as the general public were concerned,\u2014she now, \nthough the direct cause of that dishonouring, paraded it as a grievance against \nher victim! \u201cI am bound to tell you\u201d, she informed her audience, \u201cthat on \nevery platform on which I shall stand, I shall be met with this difficulty as to \ndishonour.\u201d Then she went on (and it was this that finished us): \u201cI will bear \nit, I will face it, and stand by the Society despite the difficulty\u201d. Having pillo\u00ac \nried her \u201cbrother\u201d, she was prepared to endure, nobly, heroically, the shame \nof having a \u201cbrother\u201d in the pillory! \n\n1 In an earlier instalment of these Letters, I said that \"I never heard that she [the Countess Wachtmeister] \nattacked Judge\u201d. It would have been more accurate to say that anything I may have heard or known of that \nsort at the time, made no lasting impression on me, one way or the other. This was because, in comparison with \nothers, she was innocuous, and, though deplorably misled, was sincere. The fact is that she issued several pamph\u00ac \nlets and circulars, the intention of which was to injure Judge's theosophical reputation. In later years, she repu\u00ac \ndiated Mrs. Besant and resigned from the Adyar Society. \n\n\n27 \n\n\n\n\n28 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nAs a result of all this oratory, the Indian Convention passed a resolution \n\u201cThat the President-Founder be and is hereby requested to at once call upon \nMr. W. Q. Judge, Vice-President, Theosophical Society, to resign the office \nof Vice-President.\u201d Not long afterwards, when she had returned to London, \nMrs. Besant announced, jointly with G. R. S. Mead, that \u201cIf some definite \naction with regard to Mr. Judge shall not have been taken by the European \nSection before the meeting of its Annual Convention in July, we, the under\u00ac \nsigned\u201d, shall then move that the Convention unite \u201cwith the Indian and \n[specially created] Australasian Sections in demanding his expulsion from the \nSociety.\u201d The alternative was an \u201cexplanation\u201d by Judge, such as Mrs. \nBesant might consider \u201cfull and satisfactory\u201d, of her charges against him, \n\u201cor his voluntary secession from the Society.\u201d \n\nAfter this came the Convention of the American Section, which was held at \nBoston on April 28th and 29th, 1895. I was not present, as it was clearly my \nduty to remain in London while Dr. and Mrs. Keightley were absent in America, \nrepresenting a number of European Branches at the Convention. It is evident, \nhowever, from the published report of the proceedings, fully confirmed at the \ntime by the reports of friends who were participants, that the spirit and tone \nof the speeches were in marked contrast to the vulgarity and licence of the \nexhibition at Adyar. This, of course, was due to Judge\u2019s influence and example \nof many years. As he says in his letter to me of May 2nd, Mrs. Besant was \nignored. But the Theosophical principles she had violated were not ignored; \nneither were her political manoeuvres. The American members had had \nenough; besides which they realized that the salvation of the Movement de\u00ac \npended upon ridding the Society of those who, for nearly two years, had con\u00ac \nsistently proved their contempt for H.P.B., and for the essentials of all that \nH.P.B. valued, taught, and loved. Hence, when Clement A. Griscom, at \nthe first morning\u2019s session, presented the report of the Committee on Reso\u00ac \nlutions declaring the autonomy of the American Branches under the name of \n\u201cThe Theosophical Society in America\u201d, the whole roomful of delegates and \nmembers rose and cheered to the echo. The enthusiasm was not only intense \nbut passionate. This was partly because all those present knew that they \nwere defending and vindicating Judge, as well as defending and preserving the \nSociety. \n\nThe resolutions as read and passed can be found in The Path magazine of \nMay, 1895, on page 66. Based in part upon historical and legal premises, the \nreason immediately preceding the major resolution was: \u201cWhereas, conditions \ncontrary to the principle of Universal Brotherhood have arisen within the \nTheosophical Society which would prove fatal to the continued existence of \nsaid Movement; therefore be it Resolved\u201d\u2014that the American Section T. S. \nthen and there declare its entire autonomy. \n\nThose of us who, with any degree of understanding, favoured this action in \n1895, and who have followed the history of \u201cresidue\u201d societies, including that of \nAdyar, from that time to this, could not adequately express our thankfulness \nthat Judge had the courage and wisdom to consent to the elimination of the \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE 29 \n\ngangrened elements before it was too late. The Movement, and we personally, \nowe our lives, in the real sense, to the action taken at that Boston Convention. \n\nThe resolutions, which were lengthy, were passed by 191 votes (of delegates) \nagainst 10, at the first afternoon session. The only personal reference they \ncontained (except the appointment of Judge as President for life, \u201cwith power \nto nominate his successor \u201d) was extraordinarily generous, and shows how loyally \nJudge clung to the hope that Olcott, at the eleventh hour, might rise to the \noccasion: \u201cResolved, that the Theosophical Society in America hereby recog\u00ac \nnizes the long and efficient services rendered to the Theosophical Movement by \nCol. H. S. Olcott, and that to him belongs the unique and honorary title of \nPresident-Founder of the Theosophical Society, and that, as in the case of \nH.P.B. as Corresponding Secretary, he can have no successor in that office.\u201d \nThat Olcott, instead of rising to the occasion, sank to it, and kept on sinking, \ndistressed Judge greatly. \n\nFor the benefit of those who think they know all about Mrs. Tingley, even \nat that time\u2014and they are many, some of them denouncing her as already a \n\u201clittle dugpa\u201d, and Judge as being \u201cunder her thumb\u201d; some of them exalting \nher to the rank of H.P.B. or higher\u2014it is worth noting that she attended the \nBoston Convention; made a short speech; that Judge glared at her with deep \ndispleasure while she spoke and after she resumed her seat; and that at the \nend of the session he called her to him and rebuked her so severely that she \nwept. . . . And now for their proponents to fit that fact into either of the two \n\u201cfinal conclusions\u201d, \u201cinner lights\u201d or \u201coccult revelations,\u201d which I have specified! \n\nAfter the Convention had adjourned, the delegates and members again \nassembled (April 29th, at 3.30 p. m.) \u201cto listen to a written explanation of \nthe charges against William Q. Judge of forging \u2018Mahatma messages\u2019.\u201d Judge \nsaid his health would not permit him to read the paper himself, but that Dr. \nKeightley would do it for him, adding that the explanation had been purposely \nkept back until the final action of the Convention should be known. Dr. \nKeightley then read the paper, which occupied one hour and a half, to an audience \nwhich paid the deepest attention. The six charges made by Mrs. Besant were \ngiven in full and answered seriatim. At the conclusion of the reading there wjf \nlong and loud applause, after which it was moved and carried: \n\n\u201cThat the meeting considered the explanation perfectly satisfactory, but that, \nso far as those present were concerned, it was entirely unnecessary.\u201d \n\nThis explanation was printed in pamphlet form as soon as possible, and \nwas distributed to members throughout the world, whose names and addresses \nwere known at Headquarters in New York. \n\nAll eyes were now fixed on the Convention of the European Section to be held \nin London on July 4th, 1895. Judge\u2019s friends knew, by this time, that in \nEurope they would be outnumbered by about three to one. Those of us who \nhad been members of the Blavatsky Lodge in London, had realized this some \ntime before, when resolutions had been passed, in spite of our vehement protests, \ncalling upon Judge to resign. Our answer then had been to withdraw, and to \nform a new Branch, called the H.P.B. Lodge, which met at 62 Queen Anne \n\n\n\n30 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nStreet under the Presidency of Dr. A. Keightley. It seemed likely that our \nonly recourse at the coming Convention would be to take similar action. We \nwere determined, however, to fight to the last ditch for the principles of The\u00ac \nosophy which Judge was so splendidly upholding. This involved making it as \nclear as we knew how, first, that he was upholding them, and, second, that \nhis accusers were dragging them in the mud. As it turned out, the attitude \nadopted by Olcott and Mrs. Besant when the Convention met, made our task \nrelatively easy; for Judge, as President of the Theosophical Society in America, \nhad addressed a Letter of Greeting to the European Theosophists, in which, \nafter referring to the action taken by the American Theosophists at Boston, he \nsaid that while autonomy would have been brought about in any case before \nlong \u201cas an inevitable and logical development\u201d, it had been hastened \u201cby \nreason of what we considered to be strife, bitterness and anger existing in other \nSections of the Theosophical world which were preventing us from doing our \nbest work in the field assigned us by Karma\u201d. The last paragraph read as \nfollows: \n\n\u201cLet us then press forward together in the great work of the real \nTheosophical Movement which is aided by working organizations, \nbut is above them all. Together we can devise more and better \nways for spreading the light of truth through all the earth. Mu\u00ac \ntually assisting and encouraging one another, we may learn how to \nput Theosophy into practice so as to be able to teach and enforce \nit by example before others. We shall then each and all be mem\u00ac \nbers of that Universal Lodge of Free and Independent Theosophists \nwhich embraces every friend of the human race. And to all this we \nbeg your corporate official answer for our more definite and certain \ninformation, and to the end that this and your favourable reply \nmay remain as evidence and monuments between us.\u201d \n\nIt was a challenge. When the Convention met, Olcott as Chairman, informed \nthe delegates that this Letter of Greeting had been received (there was no \nconcealing the fact, as many of us had copies in our possession), but that he \nwould not read it. \u201cI declare the thing out of order and not admissible\u201d, he \nsaid. \n\nSeveral of us jumped to oiir feet to protest against the chair\u2019s ruling, pointing \nout that it was untheosophical, unreasonable, and illegal. Mrs. Besant realized \nthat a tactical blunder had been made, and, while referring to her ally\u2019s ruling \nas \u201cperfectly just and legal\u201d, suggested that he allow the letter to be read, \n\u201cand then let it lie on the table, passing it over in absolute silence so to speak\u201d! \nThe letter was then read, after which F. J. Dick of the Dublin Lodge quickly \nmoved: \u201cThat this Convention do receive the communication with pleasure \nand do draft a reply thereto\u201d. More speeches. The plan had been to silence \nus, but it was not our purpose to be silenced. Mrs. Besant moved as an amend\u00ac \nment: \u201cThat the letter do lie upon the table\u201d. This was carried by 39 votes \nagainst 13 (only delegates voting). There was but one step left to us, and that \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE \n\n\n33 \n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE 31 \n\nwas to raise a \u201cquestion of privilege\u201d, which I now did (and still have the little \nbook on \u201cRules of Order\u201d from which this useful idea had been gleaned). Asking \nJudge\u2019s friends to speak with me by rising from their seats, which they did, \nwe protested against the action of the Convention in rejecting the address \npresented to us by the Theosophical Society in America, thus declining to \naccept the hand of brotherhood which had been held out to us,\u2014this action \nsignifying \u201cthe final abandonment by the majority of this Section of the funda\u00ac \nmental basis upon which we are working\u201d, which made it a farce to continue \ntogether, \u201csince we are not working for the same object.\u201d \u201cWe protest, and I \nbelieve for the last time. We shall now leave the meeting.\u201d Whereupon a \nnumber of members marched out, headed by Dr. Keightley. We assembled \nagain promptly at the home of Lady Malcolm of Poltalloch, an old member, \nand a fearless and loyal soul, whose sense of justice had been outraged by the \nway Judge had been treated. There we organized \u201cThe Theosophical Society \nin Europe\u201d, electing Judge its President,\u2014and at once cabled to him a sum\u00ac \nmary of what had happened. \n\n\nJudge died on March 21st, 1896, about fourteen months after he wrote the \nfollowing letter. During all that time he was fighting consciously for his life, \ndetermined to complete, if he could, certain things he had begun,\u2014the develop\u00ac \nment of certain individuals, included. The disease which ostensibly killed him \nwas tuberculosis of the lungs. In 1881, and again in the summer of 1882, he \nhad spent some time in Carupano, Venezuela, on business, and had suffered \nseverely from Chagres fever, a malignant type of malarial fever which often \nleaves a predisposition to tuberculosis in its trail; but he could have continued \nto repel that physical attack with ease, as he had done for years, if it had not been \nfor a far worse strain on his vitality, namely, the strain of his resistance to the \nefforts of the Dark Powers to kill him,\u2014the venomous hatred of his persecutors \nand slanderers, once his close associates , supplying the lines of contact for the \nmajor onslaught. These efforts culminated during the winter preceding the \nBoston Convention. \n\nNew York, January 18th, 1895. \n\nDear E.T.H., \n\nI am so sick just now that I cannot send any letters. Take it all for granted. \n\nMy Chicago trip was all right and useful, but this is my ordinary death year, \nand hence I am just waiting until the Rubicon is passed. \n\nSo good-bye. \n\nWilliam Q. Judge. \n\nI have done nothing yet about Chew Y.-T. \n\n\nWith the following letter, Judge enclosed a long clipping from the New York \nSun , quoting The Path , and making good-natured fun of him on account of \n\u201cMahatma messages.\u201d \n\n\n\n\n\n\n32 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nNew York, January 21st, 1895. \n\nDear Mr. Keejid n6 Chewsan, \n\nA heap of yours are unanswered and I fear will not be, for I am too over\u00ac \nwhelmed with things and correspondence. If there are any matters I must \nreply to, or on which you want a short indication of my idea, please adopt this \nplan following. When I have a lot of letters to read I get it mixed. Plan: on \na piece of paper put the points, separate slip from letter, and mark it Ques. \nor \u201cFor Reply\u201d. I need just that sort of thing. Ask the others to do the same. \nNeedn\u2019t leave room. I\u2019ll fix it to answer. \n\nLook here. When I write I mean what I say, and not what may be inferred. \nSo do your part to prevent inferences. I haven\u2019t had a thought of condemning \nanyone at 62, nor of dampening ardour. That\u2019s all inference and imagination; \ndo all you can to arouse the idea of taking me as I write, and not by assumption. \n\nOtherwise I shall be continually bothered. -has gone to a lot of trouble to \n\nshow me that-didn\u2019t do this and that. I don\u2019t need this. I never infer; I \n\ngo on what I know. I\u2019ve trusted everything to you people, and what greater \nproof can I give of entire confidence and reliance? This really is my only gloom,\u2014 \nthat an incorrect notion such as the above should be there. But I assume it is \neffect of reaction and strain, and hope it will pass. \n\nI altered the current Screen of Time and rewrote it, affixing the Chew Yu \nletter. \n\nTo Julius I have given the reasons and the new plan. You had better see \nthat, so as to get the idea for all it may be worth. \n\nWe shall now have to explain and make clear about West and East, and \nWestern Occultism\u2014the Western wave etc.\u2014so as to destroy the idea A.B. \n[Mrs. Annie Besant] is spreading that I wish to create disunion. I will try \nto send an advance letter about this for all. Gradually the truth as to India \nmust come out. Plenty of stuff in K.H. .\\ and H.P.B. papers for it. So all \ngood explanations will be wise. India is not to be \u201cdowned\u201d, but we must \nshow the actual evolutionary importance of the Western wave. \n\nYou are all doing well and I thank you all. You must all be patient for I \nam walled in and have but slim cash and time. Later we will get into some real \ngood system. \n\nGood-bye, good love and good luck, as ever, \n\nWilliam Q. J. \n\n\nOn this plane, Judge was the Guardian of the whole Society, and felt deeply \nresponsible for all its parts. He had inherited that responsibility directly from \nH.P.B., and it had become greater with his own continued inner growth. It \nwas, therefore, both his duty and desire to avoid what we then referred to \ncolloquially as \u201ca split\u201d, so long as there was a ray of hope for his enemies. \nThat they were his enemies, as well as enemies of the Society, complicated his \ntask. If they had attacked and persecuted some other member of the Society, \ninstead of himself, he could and would have acted against them, drastically, \nfrom the beginning. As it was, the initiative, under occult law, could not come \n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE \n\n\n33 \n\n\nfrom him. He had to be \u201cordered\u201d\u2014one might almost say \u201cpushed \u201d\u2014by \nother members of the Great Lodge before consenting to cut off the gangrened \nmembership. Further, \u201corders\u201d received by him directly, had to be confirmed \nby similar \u201corders\u201d, from the same source, sent to him through others. None of \nthis has been understood or taken into account by those who have attempted to \ncriticize his procedure at that time. They have revealed nothing except their \nown ignorance,\u2014including their ignorance of the truth that to be bound by \noccult law is equivalent to being bound by the finer shades of honour. \n\nJudge\u2019s friends were not bound as he was. Their duty was entirely different. \nThose among them who had any real insight knew well that Judge was the \nSociety , just as H.P.B. had been the Society during her lifetime; they knew \nthat to save him would save the Society, and that it could not be saved in any \nother way. \n\nSome people find this principle difficult to understand. I have heard Chris\u00ac \ntians say: \u201cChrist is Christianity\u201d, and other Christians object on the ground \nthat this ignored the Church. A student of Theosophy ought to know that it \ntakes only one real Christian to make a Church, and that, in the same way, it \ntakes only one real Theosophist (which implies a great deal) to make a The- \nosophical Society,\u2014and that without the reality, the organism is a danger and \na snare. \n\nIt followed that several of Judge\u2019s friends had advocated a \u201csplit\u201d, long before \nhe was willing to entertain the idea. His letter of March ioth, which follows, \nwas the first intimation we, in London, received, that he had consented finally \nto an \u201coperation\u201d on the body entrusted to his care. \n\n\nMarch ioth, 1895. \n\nA.K., J.C.K., E.T.H. (and others). \n\nI have changed my plans because of information and instructions from A \nin regard to an American split; and that information is being confirmed not only \nby reflection but also by facts. The fact J.C.K. gives about the insane prop\u00ac \nosition of Sturdy and Co. confirms. They are all mixed up and incapable of \nleading, and to remain tied to them means years of strife and bitterness. A.B. \n[Mrs. Annie Besant] is determined to destroy me, and hence we must get apart, \nfor U.S. is the real T.S., and their rot and rioting over there under A.B. is some\u00ac \nthing we must separate from. So, I am now in the split party, though I have \nnot as yet said so openly. I have told a few only. Previously I was against \ntalk of split, proposing that April Convention should stand for unity, after \npassing certain resolutions, and then see what the other two [Sections of the \nT.S.] would do. \n\nThis is what .'. says: Write London and tell them to write to, or see, the \ndifferent parts, and ask what steps they (such places or Lodges) are prepared to \ntake in reference to the U.S. April Convention, not only on the question of \nseparation and affiliation, but as well on sending delegate or delegates to America. \nGive them directions if they do not know. \n\nWell, I don\u2019t think you need instructions. The more resolutions you can bring \n\n\n34 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwith you, the stronger we shall be. If Europe will not delegate you\u2014and \nof course you would not accept if determined to go a way it [the European Sec\u00ac \ntion] would not sanction\u2014you can get some Lodge or Lodges or centres to dele\u00ac \ngate you specially to represent them. Ireland of course; Sweden and others \nI of course do not know about, but you will know. I suppose the form of reso\u00ac \nlution on the special point can only be that if U.S. splits, they will affiliate. \nBut you are competent to draw that up. \n\nThe chief reason some will have for \u201cno split\u201d is sentimental,\u2014a desire not \nto split the T.S. But it is already split, and the Sturdy thing shows what it \nwill come to for certain. So you must meet that the best way you can. If \nyou meet one or two safe persons who say that J. [Judge] was against it, you \ncan say you have reason to believe I changed my mind. \n\nAs ever, \n\n\nWilliam \n\n\nThe memorandum dated April ist, 1895, was enclosed with a letter addressed \neither to Dr. A. Keightley or to me: I do not remember which. In any case, \nI have the original, which is in Judge\u2019s handwriting, though with occasional \nmodifications. \n\n\nApril 1 st, 1895 \u2014 A For letter to-. \n\nTell him that you have watched events, have waited, have given the perse\u00ac \ncutors, the destroyers of Theosophy every chance, and now the hour has come \nwhen it is no longer possible for you to remain with them. To what are you \npledged? For what through centimes have you worked? For the Theosoph- \nical Movement, or, the spiritualizing of the race. That movement is now \nendangered by the state of the T.S., which cannot be # cured by any further \ntemporizing. The only part of the T.S. that has any theosophical vitality \nis the group of American Branches. It is their duty to cut themselves off, or \nlike good apples in a barrel with rotten ones, they will be rotted. Remember \nthe picture of the T.S. as a tree tom by the roots and cast upon an arid plain. \nQuite true you may keep alive this organization for some three years, but it \nwould be a period full of bitterness and strife, ending in the ruin of the The\u00ac \nosophical Movement. Even now, as you know, they are trying to undermine \nyou in your own place. By striking at you, the centre, they are striking at \nTheosophy. This the Dark ones know, and are pushing that poor woman \n[Mrs. Besant] on, while she and her friends are working for their own self- \nrighteous ends as they suppose. The Dark ones know that such as they can\u00ac \nnot head nor carry on a real movement. Waste no more thoughts on them; \ndevote all your helpful thoughts to those brave souls who have stood, who have \nworked for Theosophy and not for themselves, who have seen through those \nillusions, who have not mistaken hypocrisy for truth. The others will have \nto be left to learn the lessons of their experience so that those may profit them \nin other lives under similar temptations. \n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE \n\n\n35 \n\n\nNew York, April 25th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nOff tomorrow to Boston with A.K. and J.C.K., and so will not be able to \nwrite you much yet. \n\nFullerton leaves us for good on Monday and, until we get in good running \norder, Claude [Wright] will sit at the seat of the Recording Angel with me to \nsupervise him. It does not seem that A.F. will ever get back. He is the victim \nof (a) narrow mind ( b ) worship of A.B. (c) messages received through sources \nunauthorized, etc. ad inf. The London crowd [Avenue Road] will gloat and \nhug themselves, but, first, it is a distinct gain for the American work, and, \nsecond, they will not (later) relish the fish they have caught. God help them \nboth. \n\n\nIf Arch will remember we will devise a plan for the relief of Lucknow (62 \nQ. A. Street) by some alteration. Sound out carefully and see how it will go if \nthe Council has to report direct to me. That, by increasing expense here, \nwould take some of the funds there to here. It is but tentative. \n\nWell, I must go. You do not need more. I am with you daily in thought. \n\nAs ever, \n\n\nWilliam Q. Judge. \n\n\nAlexander Fullerton had been a thorn in Judge\u2019s flesh for some years, though \nhe had done useful routine work in the T.S. office. Self-assertive and invariably \n\u201coff-side\u201d, Fullerton\u2019s \u201cworship\u201d of Mrs. Besant led him to distrust Judge, and \nto seek other sources of occult information. He made contact with psychics, \nwho, like all psychics, occasionally got things straight, and occasionally crooked, \nand, being himself unable to discriminate, he was left in a state of hopeless \nconfusion. The \u201cmessages\u201d referred to by Judge in his letter of May 2nd, \nand in the earlier letter of April 25th, had been received by Fullerton through \nthese sources. \n\nAs to \u201cthe proposition\u201d to which Judge refers: during all this period, I had \nbecome more anxious than ever to work for Theosophy under Judge in America. \n\nI knew, however, that my family would disapprove, and as I dreaded telling \nthem that I wanted to leave home permanently for this purpose, I imagined all \nsorts of expedients, submitting my various plans to Judge for his approval. \\ \nJudge did not approve, and although, as I discovered later, he had been anxious \nfor me to \u201ctake root\u201d in America with as little delay as possible, he discounte\u00ac \nnanced any form of \u201cshort cut\u201d, and waited for Time to show me what to do. \n\nThere is a valuable lesson in this connection in his letter of June 14th: the \nman who jumps overboard in order, as he hopes, to serve the Lodge, must jump \non his own initiative. He will never be told to jump. He must assume entire \nresponsibility for all consequences, both to himself, and to those he loves or to \nwhom he is indebted. No man yet has ever been asked to sacrifice anything\u2014 \nposition, career, money, leisure, friendships\u2014for the Work, by any representative \nof the Lodge. Only a pseudo-occultist would be capable of that. More: if \nthe aspirant be conscious of making any sacrifice at the time, or if ever there- \n\n\n\n36 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nafter he should look back and regret what he had done, or should come to re\u00ac \ngard his decision as having been a sacrifice,\u2014his act would necessarily be re\u00ac \njected as nullifying itself, and he would be written down as a failure. He must \ngive himself and his all as the one thing in the universe he desires to do; and \neven \u201cgive\u201d is misleading, for the man takes. \n\nNew York, May 2nd, 1895. \n\nMy dear Ernest, \n\nI have your letter of the 17th of April. \n\nOf course Fullerton\u2019s second message is \u201crot\u201d, as he has found out for himself. \nHe is all broken up, has withdrawn from his first message, opposed our pro\u00ac \nceedings in Boston, spoken against me and left this office for good\u2014I say \u201cfor \ngood\u201d, because I will not let him come back. \n\nI read at the Convention my reply to the charges, which will be printed as \nsoon as I can get them going on it. I have no copy to send to you, but I will \ntry to send you a copy of the resolutions adopted at Boston. \n\nI wish you would say to those people, or any one else, not to start around \nattacking A.B. If she comes to their Lodge, let them do what they wish, but \nthey ought not to go out of their way to attack her, or to defend me against her. \nIf she could be thoroughly ignored, it would be better, but that is hardly possible. \nAt Boston Convention she was ignored, and her name came up so little that we \ncan\u2019t remember it at all. \n\nAs ever yours, \n\nWilliam Q. Judge. \n\nJust got your reply to the proposition. Let it wait. I do not think your plan \nof an offer from here is good. It will be a boomerang later. Better to act \nquite bluntly than to make an obstacle. Don\u2019t be in a hurry yet. Time will \nshow you what to do. \n\nDon\u2019t you think that if some Englishman were to circulate the historical \nsketch, or the idea of autonomy in England, there would be some fun in July? \nOlcott\u2019s office is really open; he was never elected for life, and it\u2019s his duty to \ncall for election of himself or someone else. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%. \n\n\nThe following letter was postmarked: Cincinnati, Ohio. \n\nJune 14th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nThere was no need for me to write you because we communicate other ways. \n\nBut-wrote me now and then as if I should tell you one way or the other if \n\nyou should come here. At least it read that way to me. No such responsibility \nshould be put on me as that I must tell you to come, or be the active compeller, \nso to say. Each must decide such a thing for himself. And I think you know \nthat as well as I do. I do not assume, mind you, that you have any such idea, \nbut write about it because of what was said. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE \n\n\n37 \n\n\nClaude [Wright] is now running the T.S. office in my absence, as it appears \nI shall have to stay away a considerable time. I am on the move like a pilgrim. \nBut I am better a little each day. Been with Dr. Buck for a month. Don\u2019t \ngive away the address. Address will remain 144 Madison Avenue for all. \n\nWhat you report about the spread of ideas there on the points of autonomy etc. \nis good. I thought something must come of it, for all Englishmen are not \nlike those idiots we know. It would be monstrous if no one there took up such \nmanifestly right notions. Perhaps the July current may carry them where \nthey didn\u2019t expect. I send an address to them [for the Convention of the \nEuropean Section: see the introduction to this instalment] which will react \nwhether accepted or rejected; and I have seen to it that Olcott is well peppered- \nHe may do the right thing, but no one can tell, as he lives solely for his own skin \nand no more. Independent Sections is an idea that has been in his brain, and \nmay revive. Let us hope so. He will dislike our [illegible word] but the fact \nis that he and I are the sole remaining legal officers of T.S., and both are \u201chold\u00ac \ning over\u2019\u2019. \n\nDon\u2019t fret my dear. It is a crescendo demand in the case of A.B. which she \nwill never be able to fill. \n\nLet us forget the devils as often as possible in between the periods when it is \nnecessary to fight them. \n\nThat sentence in N.T. [Northern Theosophist], \u201cThe Unity of the Theosoph- \nical Movement\u201d etc., taken from the Historical Sketch, is from .*. How many \nsuspect it I wonder. \n\nI decided not to notice the lies of that traitor Fullerton. People are tiring \nhere of circulars and proofs. What are really wanted now, are time and work. \nNothing else will accomplish much. \n\nSay, don\u2019t use such poor ribbon on your typewriter, and don\u2019t put black deep \nink on other side. It prevents comprehension of text, and it backs up one \nagainst the other when they sink through. \n\nI hope Sweden will stick. July 5th get A.K. to cable to New York a few \ndescriptive words. Buck and a lot of us are going to be anxious to know. \n\nNo, the Americans don\u2019t know the situation with you, and they don\u2019t want to. \nNo time. They couldn\u2019t understand the mind at work any more than Spencer \ndoes, much as he thinks he perceives. He will have done good anyway. \n\nWell, good-bye my dear boy. \n\nAs ever \n\n\u201d 4 . \n\n\nOn July 20th I had written Judge that I had taken the plunge, had arranged \nmatters with my parents, and was sailing for New York at an early date. \n\nColorado Springs, Colo., August 5th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nToday, at noon, I received here yours from Barmouth of July 20th. Hence \nyou can see you will hardly get this. It will leave tomorrow and take fourteen \n\n\n\n\n38 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ndays to go, which will take it to August 20th. So I will send to 144 Madison \nAvenue, N. Y., a letter to be held, and delivered to you on arrival. \n\nYour questions. Dear Boy you\u2019re funny,\u2014you make me \u201cluff\u201d. I do not \napprove of such an idiotic thing as for you to stop a couple of days in New \nYork, and then rush off 2000 miles to see me. It is right good to want to do \nthis, and I fully feel it, but my boy it is not wise , and hence not duty. There is \ntoo much to be done and we must use the time well. It would waste a lot of \nspace to come right after me. For the territory is large and you should do some \nof it. And quite two weeks should be spent in New York and Brooklyn. Inter\u00ac \nviews have to be managed etc. Then you should go up to Boston, if they want \nyou after writing them, because I detached Harding from there to go to Central \nStates. You have to renew old and make new acquaintances. If Boston \ndoesn\u2019t want you, then there are Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati to \nbe taken in, and from there to Chicago etc. I cannot now tell what is best \nbeyond the above, and there\u2019s a good deal of work in it. After Chicago and \nvicinity, it may be well to make a trip to Minneapolis and St. Paul and down \nfrom there vi& Sioux City. C.F.W. [Claude Wright] knows that route. It \nwould take you to Omaha and could go on to Kansas City or to Salt Lake. \nPlans for Colorado come later. If at that time I am out here, you could easily \narrange it. Dismiss all precipitancy, which is \u201cbad hurry\u201d, even though we \nhurry in proper cases. \n\nBefore arrival, if you get this in London, or at once on arrival in New York, \nyou should write, with C.F.W., to Boston etc., so as to lay pipe and have your \nregal presence known. And of course at once to me so I may know plans. \nLecture fund assists in these things. \n\nWhat I want to work at is a Napoleonic propaganda at which I hoped to, \nbut can\u2019t, assist. But Harding and Griffiths are doing part. We have to fill \nthe air with Theosophy and T.S. in America, so that the others will wake up to \nfind themselves nil. And I quite forgot. It is essential that before you go \nWest you should go to Toronto to help, and as you are so really English! you \nwould do good! This would cut off part of New York and Boston stay. We \nhave to pour in force at those points where there are splits. Then on way back \nfrom there, are some places (see map). \n\nWhen you get to U. S. you will probably find lots of work and invitations \nwaiting you. \n\nWell, au re voir, \n\nBest love, \n\n%. \n\n\n(To be continued) \n\n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\nXVI \n\n\nThose Last Days \n\n\nI look back over that memorable autumn of 1918, and especially to \n\n\n\nthe weeks just before the Armistice, I seem to remember that everything \n\n\n\u25a0*\u201c moved with lightning rapidity, and changes came about almost over\u00ac \nnight. That, at any rate, is what happened to our unit. One morning our \ndoctor received notice that she was to be transferred to quite another part of the \ncountry, and before noon she had left us. A few hours later, the nurse was also \ntransferred, being sent to a district now more in need than ours, while the other \naid and I were told to report at our headquarters in Nancy, for a new field of \nduty. So, within the space of one short day, each of us packed her kit bag, \nmade a hasty farewell to the good village friends, and life on our hilltop came \nprecipitately to an end. I never saw any of my co-workers again; I never \neven heard what became of them\u2014such\u2014are the fortunes of war. \n\nMy new work, which was with another automobile-dispensary unit, was to be \ntemporary; it was not at all arduous, and, contrary to my expectations, it proved \nin many ways to be vastly entertaining. I was appointed interpreter for an \nAmerican doctor (a woman), who stood high in her profession, but whose knowl\u00ac \nedge of French left many things to be desired. She had known practically \nnone when she arrived in the War-zone (nothing whatever to be ashamed of \nabout that!), but, being slightly deaf, she had found it peculiarly difficult to ac\u00ac \nquire any. Yet, plucky woman that she was, she refused to be daunted, and \ninsisting upon talking regardless of consequences or of a superfluous interpreter, \nI would hear her whispering sweet nothings to some frightened child, whose \nwounds she might be dressing: \u201c N'avez pour, riavez pour,\" she would murmur \nreassuringly, meaning thereby: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid\u201d; or if she saw tears trickling \ndown some little face, in a soothing voice: \u201cNe pluie pas, tie pluie pas\" She \nmight just as well have said outright, \u201cDon\u2019t cry\u201d, in good, plain English\u2014the \nunfortunate youngster would have been spared a certain amount of astonishment, \nand would probably have understood equally well. \n\nWhen, however, it was not so much a matter of offering human consolation, \nas of giving concrete, medical advice, I had to keep very much on the alert, \nfor the few words which she thought she had managed to capture were generally \nwrong, like a poultice misapplied, and they often got themselves into an almost \nunbelievable tangle, so that our dispensary was sometimes in danger of becoming \na kind of side-show in a circus. \n\nWhen matters took their normal and proper course, the doctor, sitting gravely \nat her medicine-bottle-and-ointment-box-covered table, with my humble self, in \nthe capacity of interpreter, at her side, would, through me, interview the patient \n\n\n39 \n\n\n\n40 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u2014perhaps a stout peasant woman\u2014who would have been placed in a chair fac\u00ac \ning us. The interview would then begin. \n\nThe doctor, in an undertone to me: \u201cAsk her what the matter is.\u201d \n\nI, addressing the patient with a smile which was intended to be ingratiating: \n\u201c Qu'avez-vous , madame?\" \n\nThe patient, appearing to address her answer to me, but with her weather-eye \non the doctor: \u201cAh, madame , que j'ai mal d'oreille! Toujours\u2014sans cesse\u2014jour \net nuit \u2014 ah! \u2014 ah!\u201d \n\nI, turning to the doctor: \u201cShe says she has an earache\u2014all the time\u2014day and \nnight.\u201d And so it would go on. \n\nNow, while the doctor knew the individual meaning of the more common \nwords, because of her difficulty in hearing and therefore in catching their accu\u00ac \nrate pronunciation, together with the natural difficulty which many of us experi\u00ac \nence when forcing our Anglo-Saxon tongues into the finer cadences of the Latin \nshadings, she was capable of creating the most ludicrous situations. For to \nher, the words ceufs, yeux and oreilles sounded exactly the same, and she pro\u00ac \nnounced them all like ceufs , the most trained ear being quite unable to detect the \nleast difference. It was not surprising that she made the first two sound alike, \nbut how she managed to get the third involved, I never could guess, all I know \nis that she did. Being a great believer in eggs as a diet, she was constantly recom\u00ac \nmending them, and as ear and eye affections were matters of common complaint, \nthere was plenty of room for inextricable confusion. Had she made an invari\u00ac \nable rule of passing on her medical advice regarding egg diets, earaches or in\u00ac \nflamed eyes through her interpreter, all would have been well, for the interpreter \n(myself) had become accustomed within the first twenty-four hours to some of \nthe doctor\u2019s idiosyncrasies in French. But refusing to allow her limitations to \nlimit her, she would, when she felt inclined, ignore all intermediaries, and plunge \nheadlong into the giving of her professional opinion on her own account, telling \nthe bewildered patient that it would afford her immediate relief if she would \nput boric acid on her eggs, or stuff her eggs full of cotton soaked in hot oil. The \nlook of stupefaction which I used to watch creeping over the faces of some of \nthose old peasant women was often too much for me, and \u201cfor the honour of the \nregiment\u201d I found it necessary to cultivate sudden and violent sneezing fits, in \norder to cover my uncontrollable amusement. \n\n\u201cI think these Lorraine peasants are a very stupid lot,\u201d she used to say dis\u00ac \npassionately, \u201cthey never seem to understand what anyone says to them,\u201d\u2014 \nand to this day I have no idea whether this was pure effrontery or a childlike \nabsence of self-consciousness. \n\nMy life as interpreter did not last long. I do not think I actually disgraced \nmyself\u2014though I skated on very thin ice many a time\u2014but I was really not \nmuch good; anyone could fill that rdle, and I sent out an S.O.S. call for a pucka \n\u201cman\u2019s job\u201d. Everything seemed in a state of fermentation, however\u2014a fer\u00ac \nmentation of uncertainty. Rumours of an approaching Armistice had already \nbegun to spread. These rumours were still vague enough, but they signalled a \npossible beginning of the end; no one could plan ahead with any assurance that \n\n\n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n4 r \n\n\nconditions would make the carrying out of those plans feasible when the time \ncame, and arrangements made one day, would be unmade the next. Early in \nSeptember, my organization had talked of opening a supply depot at Besan^on, \nand I was to have charge of it, but as the days went on, with the Germans \nretreating, faster and ever faster, Besangon became rather too remote to con\u00ac \nsider as a useful centre for supplies. Then other places came up as possibilities, \nbut no decision was reached. So my organization suggested \u201codd jobs\u201d for me \nwhich, with the rapidly changing conditions, suited me admirably, and as it \nturned out, gave me many interesting if rather kaleidoscopic and fleeting experi\u00ac \nences, for which I have always been glad. \n\nI was living in Nancy at this time, and I had a tiny room in a small hotel where \nI left such things during my brief absences as I did not want to take with me. \nOf course we got air raids at first-hand here, and something was always hit\u2014 \none night it was the actual automobile in which I had happened to be driving \nthat very day; again it was something less seemingly personal, like the railway \nstation, or a corner house which I often passed. All really wise townsfolk \nwere off the streets before couvre fen , but some of us had night duties, and we \nwent stumbling through the dark thoroughfares when our work took us abroad. \nThere was always a certain pleasure in this, for Nancy itself was attractive by \nnight as well as by day, and the beautiful Place Stanislas, with its ancient palaces, \nits encircling line of arches and its incomparable great gateways, had a mysterious \nloveliness which was wholly enchanting. But the town was literally packed \nwith American troops (you had to go to Lun\u00a3ville if you wanted to feel that \nyou were still in France), though as a matter of fact I came very little into con\u00ac \ntact with them save outwardly, as I was officially and actually working only for \nthe French. Nancy, however, like the Place de la Concorde in Paris, appeared \nto have become quite Americanized; American troops swarmed in and out, and \nlong lines of American artillery passed through it, ceaselessly. Nancy was at \nfever-heat in khaki; Lun^ville was serene in horizon-blue, and there was the \ngreatest possible difference in the atmosphere of these two towns. No matter \nin which one you might be, however, you felt that something special was in the \nair; something more immediate than a future, problematical Armistice, because \nthere had for some weeks been rumours that the civilian population around might \nsoon be evacuated. Many, in fact probably most of us, did not know at the time \njust what it was all about, though we sat quite comfortably on our pins and \nneedles awaiting events with composure; but, considering it in retrospect, L \nsuppose it was the St. Mihiel offensive about to be launched, which gave this- \nimpression, and no doubt also, the foreshadowing of the great Metz drive, which \nas a matter of fact never came off, because of the Armistice. I had a number \nof friends in Lundville, French officers and their families, and if I could not get \nthere in a better way, I used to \u201clorry hop\u201d over as often as I could. I liked to \ntalk to these men\u2014or rather, I liked to listen to them as, together, they discussed \nthe situation, events present and future, all of them plainly on the qui vive. \nAnd if anyone were so mistaken as to introduce the subject of a possible Armis\u00ac \ntice, everyone promptly had the \u201cdumps\u201d. No one could bear the idea. They \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n42 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhad not fought for four whole years and more, to lay down their arms tamely \nnow! That prospective Metz drive had got into their blood, and nothing but a \nmarch through the \u201clost provinces\u201d and on into Germany, and so to Berlin would \never satisfy them. \n\nIn the early part of the War, Lun\u00a3ville had been occupied for three weeks or \nthereabouts, while Nancy was never entered\u2014 Nancy I'Inviotte it was called, \nproudly. The people of Lun^ville never forgot this occupation; it made an \nindelible mark, and they were as eager as the Army for that forward drive into \nenemy territory. Yet they were calm, and the streets outwardly rather quiet \n(far quieter than in palpitating Nancy), though overhead you would often see \nan enemy plane sailing high in the pale azure, with the darting \u201c guepes \u201d in \npursuit, ready to \u201csting\u201d it when they got near enough. Few people in the town \nbelow seemed to pay much heed to these aerial intruders, except with a shrug \nand a jest, and one day as I hurried along, I came upon a poilu, evidently a \npermissionnaire , out for a stroll with his wife. I saw them standing on the curb, \nlike children looking skyward, and I heard the man say, with a gay exaggeration: \n\n\u201cQue diable! II y en a au moins cinqnante!\" \n\n\u201cZut /\u201d was all his wife deigned by way of answer, but the degree of scorn \nwhich that indefinable but expressive monosyllable managed to convey, must \nhave sent an electric current all the way to German Headquarters. \n\nDreadful things did of course happen, however, and one evening, not far \nfrom where I was walking, a bomb found its victim in an old, old man, as he \nwas quietly crossing the street. I passed just as they were picking him up\u2014all \nthat was left of him\u2014and as they called me, I heard his poor old voice quavering, \n\u201c Douccment , doucemcnt ,\u201d involuntarily, despite himself. No doubt \u201chis time\u201d \nhad come in any case (he must have been nearly eighty), but like many another \nquiet soul, he had probably dreamed of dying peacefully in his bed at home, \nwith his wife and children and grandchildren around him. I ahvays experienced \na feeling of wild rebellion at the futility of things like this, when they happened \nto the very old or the very young among the simple civilians. What good did \nsuch wanton killing do the Germans, I thought ? Then almost immediately there \ncame a saner breath\u2014a breath of the real War\u2014for down the street swung a \nregiment of French troops, mistily blue in the waning light, the men singing in \nclear, strong voices to the rhythmic beating of their feet, that famous marching \nsong \u201cMadelon\u201d, so reminiscent of the glory of Verdun, and the equilibrium \nwas instantly restored, for in a strange way, the memory of great and noble \ndeeds seems to transmute even futility, giving it a meaning and a purpose. \n\nA few days before the big St. Mihiel push, it was \u201cofficially\u201d arranged that I \nshould be sent northwards, some distance on the road toward Pont- 4 -Mousson, \nto investigate a possible centre of future work. Unofficially it was arranged for \nme to be taken on to Pont-a-Mousson itself\u2014a favour which I did not expect. \nA friend in Lun^ville had pulled a wire on my behalf, knowing my desire to visit \nthat heroic and martyred little town. It was, of course, quite \u201cout of bounds\u201d \nto an errant civilian like myself, for it was constantly subjected to bombardment, \nand some of the German trenches were so close that, if you sped too far or too \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n43 \n\n\nfast along a certain street, you were likely to pitch head over heels into them. \n\nI had no ambition to pay an impromptu visit of this nature \u201con\u201d the Hun, but \nI did very much like the idea that I could actually glare at him across No Man\u2019s \nLand, and from a shorter distance than had been my lot since I left Belgium. \nSo I felt greatly obliged to Lun^ville, and to that wire which had allowed itself \nto be pulled, and I lost no time in making my modest preparations, for we were \nto start the following day. Of course we (there were two of us beside our escorts) \nhad to take our tin hats and our gas masks, and the evening before, we had an \namateur gas drill\u2014chiefly on my account, because it was well known that I was \nnot to be trusted when it came to getting my mask on expeditiously. When a \ngas alarm sounds, you may have only six seconds in which to adjust your mask \n(if it is to do you any good at all!), and the kind that we had been issued was my \ndespair\u2014an out-of-date model, I insisted. I was the most unpardonable \nblunderer over the wretched business; all my fingers became thumbs, my head \nseemed suddenly out of all proportion to the size of the mask, so that it stuck \nwhen it was only half way on, and nothing short of a miracle would have saved \nme from immediate asphyxiation were I really to be exposed to a severe gas \nattack. This weakness of mine being recognized, my companions were taking no \nchances, and we had our informal drill on the rather deserted, tree-bordered \nesplanade in front of my little hotel in Nancy. Six seconds indeed! It took \nme nearer six minutes, and no one would give me any assurance that the Germans \nwould be so accommodating as to wait my convenience, in case I proved too \nslow. The young French sous-lieutenant , one of our escort of the morrow, and \nthe member appointed to officiate at the \u201cdrill\u201d, was far too courteous to be \notherwise than encouraging, but he must really have felt on the brink of insanity, \nfor I seemed to make no progress whatever, and we all got into gales of laughter, \nout there on the darkening esplanade. \n\n\u201cI\u2019ll never be able to manage this in a hurry\u201d, I exclaimed idiotically, aloud \nto myself. \u201cIf a gas alarm does go off, what shall I do?\u201d \n\n\u201cBeat it!\u201d I heard in low answer at my elbow, and turning, I saw a tall, \ngaunt, khaki-clad Kentuckian (that mountain type is unmistakable) who added \nwith a broad, good-natured grin, \u201cI reckon it\u2019s about all you ken do.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhere in the world did you drop down from?\u201d I asked, surprised. \u201cYou \nweren\u2019t here a second ago.\u201d \n\n\u201cNo\u201d, he drawled, with cryptic brevity, \u201cI reckon I wa\u2019n\u2019t\u2014well, so long!\u201d \nand with vast, long-legged strides, as though he had on the seven-league boots, \nhe disappeared into the twilight. \n\nI turned to the young sous-lieutenant. I did not know how to say \u201cbeat it\u201d \nin French, but I told him in words which were equivalent what my intentions \nwere in case of trouble, and the \u201cdrill\u201d came to an end. \n\nThe next day we started in a four-seated, grey, service militaire car. Pont-&- \nMousson is not much more than twenty or twenty-five kilometres, as the crow \nflies, north of Nancy, and the road runs close to the banks of the dear, sleepy \nMoselle, at the foot of the long range of the high, wooded hills known as the \nGrand-Couronn6\u2014that line of hills which sweeps south-eastward toward Lun\u00a3- \n\n\n\n\n\n44 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nville, and against which the on-rushing tide of the German advance was checked- \nIt was, in fact, at a particular high spot seen from the road below, that the \nSeptember invasion of 1914 came finally to an abrupt end; it was here that the \nFrench turned and formed themselves into as impassable a wall as the Grand- \nCouronnd itself, upon which they stood. In those early days, the country\u00ac \nside must have worn a very different look from that which it now had, for none \nof the later insignia of war had yet come into being, and the shell-swept road \nwhich we were passing over with comparative safety, must have been clearly \nopen to view, running as it did, through the low-lying meadowlands\u2014an easy \nmark from the hilltops. But now, as we got farther north, this road was so \nheavily camouflaged that, while I had seen many \u201ccurtained roads\u201d before, \nthis one seemed to out-curtain them all. Miles and miles of loose-flapping, \nsagging, greyish canvas, draped dismally on tall poles set up at intervals along \nthe roadside, and overhead, transverse lines of the same greyish canvas stretched \nbanner-like, yet how unlike festivity! We moved through endless reaches of \nthe grey unsightliness, a kind of dismal nightmare. And the dust of that much- \ntravelled road! Clouds of dust, greyer than the flapping canvas. We passed \ndetachments of troops, from time to time, the men with hair and caps and \nshoulders powdered white, even their eyelashes a heavy grey with it. Grey, \ngrey\u2014everything was grey within those curtained walls, and I began to feel \nthat I was dreaming, that I was somewhere in \u201ca land east of the moon\u201d. \n\nIn the villages we passed through, life was struggling on courageously; the \nwomen still did their now ragged washing at the village fountain; a few pale \nchildren made a pretence of playing in the streets, where ruined houses gave a \nprecarious shelter; a dog or two wandered aimlessly about. At Dieulouard we \nstopped, and I made a few necessary enquiries about prospective work in the \nneighbourhood, and had a look in at some of the houses; then on we dashed, into \nthe unofficial lap of our journey. The country seemed to get sadder, the farther \nwe went, though all the time I knew that it was really beautiful. Perhaps it \nwas the feeling of aching suspense that must have been in the very air\u2014the \nsuspense of all those years; the burning desire to push forward, the galling \nnecessity to sit still, merely holding on. About five miles out of Pont-^-Mousson \nwe came to a large sign: \u201cEteignez les Lumieres \"\u2014this was about as close as \nlights could be used safely, and it told us that we were getting nearer to the \nactual front line. \n\nWe reached Pont-^-Mousson at last\u2014that old garrison town with the great \nbridge which the French had destroyed, but which had once joined the two \nhalves lying on opposite banks of the river, the temporary, wooden construction \nwhich now replaced the solid masonry, looking like a flimsy cobweb. The poor, \nshattered houses and tom streets, told of the countless bombardments which, \nfor four long years, had played such havoc here. High on the hill overlooking \nthe town from the east, stood the ancient hill-fortress\u2014Mousson. And how \nmany wars it had looked down upon through the centuries! To the north-west \nwas the crest of Bois-le-Pretre, that far-famed hill with its many thousands of \nheroic French dead lying buried there. Just across the river I was shown where \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n45 \n\n\na section of the German lines lay. I could not see this, but I was told that \nsometimes when a shell fell short and landed in the river itself instead of on \nsome house in the town, quantities of fish would be killed and would come \nfloating up to the surface, and that the old men and women of the town, \nregardless of danger, would row out into the open and gather them up, in full \nsight of the enemy. \n\nTwenty minutes was to be the limit of our stay, for although our visit was \nunofficial, it was under strict surveillance, so we had to move quickly in order \nto see all we could in that short time. Of course, we kept as much in the shadow \nas possible\u2014uniforms are excellent targets when trenches are near\u2014and we spoke \nlittle, and in low voices. Turning a corner suddenly, we came upon a strange- \nlooking mechanism, above which was written, both in French and in English: \n\n\u201c \u2018Ware gas\u2019 alarm. Put on your respirators,\u201d or something like that, and I \nfelt three pairs of eyes smilingly fixed on me. But I remembered the advice of \nmy tall Kentuckian, and smiled back, defiantly. One or two shells went \nshrieking over our heads as we wandered around, and I think our escorts were \nwishing that the twenty minutes were over and their responsibilities finished; \nbut their chief promise had not yet been fulfilled. The officer in whose charge \nwe were knew this, and he also knew that I was not going to let him off! So at \nlast he made a sign to an N. C. 0 . whom I had already noticed waiting about as it \nwere in the offing. The man saluting, came forward instantly and, in answer \nto a few low words: \u201cOm, mon colonel ,\u201d I heard him say, and he disappeared. \nA few moments later I saw him reappear and salute again. \n\n\u201cCome!\u201d said Colonel de B\u2014. \u2018\u2018We are going to cross an open place; please \nfollow me closely and rapidly; do not linger, do not speak, but look to your \nleft as you get well into the open\u2014not far off you will see the German trenches, \nand if your eyes are sharp you might see some sign of movement in them. But \nI beseech you, do not speak, do not linger. Come!\u201d \n\nWe went silently forward, at first in the shadow of a kind of arcade, which \nturned suddenly into a small, open square. Colonel de B\u2014 looked round at us \nonce more, to impose complete silence, and for the first time I saw, by the look \nin his face, that this trip which was giving us so much pleasure, was costing him \nsomething. He had, of course, a sense of responsibility which we did not have\u2014 \nthis piloting womenfolk about within the range of gun-fire was not to his liking, \nand I knew he would be glad when he had got us both safely out of Pont-^ \nMousson. \n\nFollowing him we advanced rapidly, quietly, single-file, and when we were \nfree of the walls, I looked to the left, and there they were\u2014they seemed within \na stone\u2019s throw\u2014the German front line trenches. The fact that I could not \nactually distinguish the enemy which peopled that long, thin trench, made little \ndifference; I knew the Germans were there. I suppose it would not have been \nconsidered much of a sight to those who had lived always in close touch with the \nfront line, but I had not been so near since the Belgian days when the advancing \nGermans seemed all-conquering; now, we knew them to be as good as beaten, \nand I was looking at them again! Had I known that within the space of one short \n\n\n\n\n\n\n46 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nweek they would be gone from that particular spot altogether, I should have \nthought even more of that fleeting sight than I did. \n\nWe got safely to the other side of the small square and under the lee of the \nopposite protecting arcade, and we rapidly turned a comer, and moved down \na side street. But evidently we had been sighted, for we heard the crack of \nrifle fire, and immediately several shells came screaming again over our heads, \nand this time Colonel de B\u2014 said we must leave at once. The twenty minutes \nwas not quite up, but he had fulfilled his promise, and I was not going to be so \nmiserly as to exact the full pound of flesh, so we followed obediently, got quickly \ninto the waiting car, shot forward to the accompaniment of another bursting \nshell, somewhere to the rear of us, and in a few minutes were safely out of Pont- \n4 -Mousson, and speeding south again along the highroad, back to Nancy. \n\nColonel de B\u2014, who had been rather more than usually stiff and military \nfor the last quarter of an hour, now began to unbend a little, and, leaning back \nagainst the cushion of the car, he smilingly turned to me. \n\nlt Enfin!\" he laughed; but when I protested that that one little word was \ncapable of many interpretations, and asked him to explain, he only laughed at \nme again\u2014and that was all I could ever get out of him! \n\nA few days later came the St. Mihiel offensive and I spent a couple of days \nin Toul doing canteen work. How well I remember the drive over there, late in \nthe evening (it must have been September 12th or 13th I suppose), with other \nworkers at Nancy who had been asked to lend a helping hand in that seething \ncauldron. For some reason there was bad traffic congestion that night, and as \nour camion was held up by the roadside for a time, some of us got out to see \nwhat there was to be seen. The roar of distant artillery thundered over and \naround us in the semi-darkness, the great guns flinging their lightning flashes \nfar out across the sky. Off somewhere to the north was the hot glare of burning \nvillages, and I remember how the strange, shifting light with the stealthily \nmoving shadows, gave a sense of unreality to what seemed like whole armies of \ndim figures which came and went, weaving rhythmically in and out, as though \nthey were taking their part in a vast Danse Macabre. In Toul, for those few \nnoisy, hectic hours, there were plenty of odd jobs for us all, if it were nothing \nmore than washing plates or slicing bread, but, while I remember few details, \nI brought away with me a bewildered feeling of jumble and tumult and chaos \nwhich I have never really understood. It was not at all the same impression \nas that which I got at Verdun, for instance, where there was, of course, terrific \ncongestion but never the least confusion\u2014at least I never saw any. I think \nsomething must have gone much awry, temporarily in any case, with the Trans\u00ac \nport Branch of the American Army. But whatever the cause or the explanation, \nI shall always associate Toul with a frightful jumble of commissariat lorries, \nambulances filled with wounded, ammunition wagons, limbers and mules, in \na solid jam. We all know what a fine piece of work the American Army ac\u00ac \ncomplished in demolishing that seemingly indestructible St. Mihiel salient, a \nrelic of the early German successes, and what an important factor it was to \nFrance to have the great railway system which had been tied up for so long, \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n47 \n\n\nfreed at last; but I have often wished that I could have an explanation of the un\u00ac \nimaginable traffic confusion that night, especially in view of the fact that the \nSt. Mihiel offensive was not the result of an instant necessity, but was supposedly \na well thought-out military plan. I am the more inclined to speak of this be\u00ac \ncause so many books written by Americans (particularly by American women) \nat that time, take every occasion to run down the French in Lorraine and to \nextol the Americans,\u2014to such an extent that it is quite exasperating. The \nFrench never did anything; it was always the Americans who led the way, \nshowing them how things should be done! As a matter of fact, I was by no \nmeans the only American in Toul who knew that something went dreadfully \nwrong that night. \n\nI went on working for another month at all kinds of things\u2014dispensary units, \ncanteens, anythings that came along. But always there was that growing \nfeeling of change, of uncertainty, of a rapid breaking up, and I was glad that \nmy work remained fluid, so that I might be ready for the unexpected, should it \narrive. I had, of course, never forgotten my early hope that I might see King \nAlbert come riding back into his own again; that I might manage in some way \nto get to Brussels at the time of his entry. I could never forget all I had seen \nthat little country suffer during the first terrible year, and I longed to take part \nin its reinstatement; to see for myself the streets of Brussels freed from the \nhated grey-green uniforms. But the time was not yet ripe. \n\nSo those last few weeks flew by, and I found myself less and less in Nancy, \nand more and more in Lundville, till at last I moved over there altogether. That \nis how it happened that I was a witness of what was to me one of the most un\u00ac \nforgettable episodes of the whole War\u2014the unlooked-for, sudden appearance, \nafter long years of captivity, of a small group of British prisoners. \n\nIt must have been about the third week in October, and it was late one after\u00ac \nnoon; the days were short, and a chill dusk was closing in, bringing a certain \ncreeping melancholy. A few of us were returning from our work, and as we \npassed along a somewhat empty street, we came suddenly upon them\u2014that \nphantom-like, small group\u2014half standing, half leaning, hardly able to do even \nthat; feebly chattering with a death-grip exhaustion; starved until they were \nlittle more than shadows; emaciated beyond belief, some almost naked\u2014a group \nof six, all told. They did not know where they were; almost they did not care, \nthey were so spent; yet pride of race, or sheer grit, had sustained them all through { \nthat ghastly ordeal. They, with many others, had been unofficially kicked out \nof their German Internment Camp, their captors no doubt realizing that, the \nfight being lost in any case, some food might be saved by a premature discharge \nof some of their prisoners. This \u201cdischarge\u201d amounted, in fact, to an unwar\u00ac \nrantable and ignoble expulsion, peculiarly dishonouring to the captors, and as it \nwas the British who were always the most hated, it was they who were exposed \nto the greatest hardships. I cannot now remember from which Internment \nCamp these particular men had come, for later we had many more such shocking \nsights; but after nearly four years of life in a German prison, where their shoes \nhad rotted off their feet, where their clothes had fallen in tatters from their sore- \n\n\n\n\n\n\n48 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ninfested bodies, weak from the starvation diet of German prison food (thin \nsoup, a brew of acorns, and a little sour, black bread), old beyond their years from \ngnawing misery, they had, one night, been taken to the Camp exit, just as they \nwere, and, without the least provision, set adrift in the enemy country, to find \ntheir way back to their lines as best they could; to walk unheard-of miles across \nan unknown, unfriendly land, without shoes (old rags or paper sandals tied with \nstring to their bleeding feet), without food, almost without hope\u2014save for that \nunwavering pride of race. To beg their way of the Germans! To walk\u2014they \ncould hardly crawl! But though half dazed with the suddenness of what had \ncome upon them, with the most general idea only of the road that they should \nfollow, they just \u201cfaced West\u201d, as one of them said afterwards, adding, \u201cand, of \ncourse, that had two meanings for us; we knew it was a matter of life or death.\u201d \nI still shudder when I think of the long, unspeakable torture. Jeered at, spat \nupon, vilified, they staggered on, the stronger supporting the weaker, until at \nlast they came tottering into Lun6ville\u2014only six of them left out of the original \ncompany. It would be impossible to exaggerate the fearful condition of those \nboys as we saw them huddled there that evening, the wind blowing their rags \n.about them\u2014one had on a woman\u2019s skirt which he had dragged around him to \ncover his nakedness\u2014their shaking hands, palsied with strain and effort, death \nin their eyes. So we came upon them\u2014these living skeletons, these spectre-like \ncreatures with the broken frames\u2014but with the unbroken spirit! \n\nOne of our party took in the situation at a glance. Being a doctor, he knew \nthat unless rest and medical care were given at once, every one of those six men \nwould die\u2014though it did not take a doctor\u2019s eye to be assured of this. He \nwent quickly over to where they were, and spoke to them. He told them that \nthey were now within the Allied lines, and that they were safe, and were to come \nwith him\u2014oh, only a few steps farther, and after that they could rest. Yet \n\u2022even when they heard this, their self-restraint, their grip upon themselves held \nfast and it nearly broke your heart! The one who seemed to be in charge, \nwith an unconscious dignity which even then did not forsake him, tried to smile \nhis thanks, but I saw his bloodless, tight-drawn lips strain back over his teeth \nlike those of a dying man. And they were so grateful, so pitifully, so un\u00ac \nbelievably grateful you could not bear it! So those ragged, sore-infested, \nalmost dying men, stumbled and lurched after the doctor as they followed him \na little way down the street, and there they received the tenderest care that \nLun^ville and their French comrades-in-arms could give them. Two of them' \ndied, despite this care, however; but the others were pulled through. \n\nThere are many things for which I earnestly hope I shall never be so faithless \nas to forgive the Germans\u2014no, not as long as I live\u2014and not the least of them \nis for the sufferings of those English boys who came reeling into Lun^ville that \ndark October evening. The memory of it cuts like a knife, and I hope it always \nwill; and I hope too that one day, little as they would wish to ask it for them\u00ac \nselves, I shall be able to take my share in redressing that monstrous outrage. \n\nVolunteer. \n\n\n(To be continued) \n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\nT HE Student seemed depressed, and the Philosopher noticed it. \u201cYou \nlook,\u201d he said, \u201cas if you had been visiting the business section of New \nYork. Don\u2019t do such things. The last I heard from that quarter was \nof a man who cheered himself up by reading the obituary notices in the daily \npapers, to assure himself that some people still are lucky!\u201d \n\n\u201cNine-tenths of it is psychic, as was suggested at the Convention\u201d, the \nHistorian commented; \u201ca nightmare, mob nightmare. You remember what \nEmerson called \u2018Borrowing\u2019: \n\n\u201cSome of your hurts you have cured, \n\nAnd the sharpest you still have survived, \n\nBut what torments of grief you endured \nFrom evils which never arrived!\u201d \n\n\u201cWe are slow to learn\u201d, said the Engineer. \u201cCould any truth be more evi\u00ac \ndent than the observation of Epictetus, centuries ago, that \u2018men are disturbed, \nnot by things themselves, but by their opinions or thoughts concerning those \nthings\u2019?\u201d \n\n\u201cWhile you are quoting\u201d, said another, \u201cin spite of its being hackneyed, \ndon\u2019t forget this: \n\n\u201cIt is easy enough to be pleasant \nWhen life flows along like a song, \n\nBut the man worth while is the one who will smile \nWhen everything goes dead wrong.\u201d \n\n\u201cWe need hackneyed doctrine nowadays\u201d, the Philosopher declared; \u201cthat \nis, if by hackneyed you mean oft-repeated and old and simple and obvious. \nPart of the trouble with the world is that it threw over-board the \u2018old-fashioned\u2019 \nand \u2018shop-worn\u2019 axioms about \u2018Waste not, want not\u2019, \u2018Saving is a greater art than \ngaining\u2019, and so forth, in favour of \u2018Spend, spend, spend for the good of Trade\u2019 \n\u2014as if Trade were a member of the Trinity\u2014and \u2018Buy to-day and pay here\u00ac \nafter\u2019. But of all the hackneyed axioms that New York needs to remember \nat present, I should choose, \u2018Courage leads to heaven, fear to death\u2019.\u201d \n\n\u201cYou will agree with me, however,\u201d said the Ancient, \u201cthat though courage \nis essential, it is not enough. People need faith in something besides faith in \nmoney, if they are to face its loss courageously. Low ideals have much to do \nwith existing conditions,\u2014practically, and as direct cause; not merely theoreti\u00ac \ncally. No man can control a thing, whether that thing be animate or inani\u00ac \nmate, so long as he is under it; and as most people were under the obsession of \nmoney in 1929\u2014making and spending it, or longing to do both\u2014inevitably \n\n\n49 \n\n\n\n50 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthey are under it to-day. The world has, indeed, come to look upon money \nas the key to happiness, with happiness itself as the normal, legitimate con\u00ac \ncomitant of human life. I cannot see how such illusions could result in anything \nbut disaster; and the more wide-spread the illusions, the more universal the \ndisaster was bound to be,\u2014disaster in the sense in which a glutton uses that \nword when, expecting to enjoy another sumptuous repast, and then another, \nhis stomach suddenly rebels, and leaves him prostrate.\u201d \n\n\u201cI find it intensely interesting as well as helpful\u201d, the Historian now re\u00ac \nmarked, \u201cto compare the Buddhist with the Christian approach to life; and, \nin both cases, I mean the approach of sincere believers. I have brought with \nme some notes on the subject, and, if you like, I will give you the quotations \nwhich make specific comparison possible.\u201d \n\nAs we most gladly accepted this offer, the Historian continued: \n\n\u201cThough many Christians would deny this, Buddhism and Christianity, it \nseems to me, begin with the same fundamental proposition, namely, as the \nBuddha said: \u2018Birth is attended with pain, decay is painful, disease is painful, \ndeath is painful. Union with the unpleasant is painful, painful is separation \nfrom the pleasant; and any craving that is unsatisfied, that too is painful. In \nbrief, the five aggregates which spring from attachment (the conditions of \nindividuality and their cause) are painful.\u2019 In the Samyutta Nikaya he is \nquoted as saying: \u2018Which, 0 Bhikkhus [monks or disciples], think you is the \ngreater; the tears which you have poured out, wailing and lamenting on this \nlong pilgrimage . . . joined to the unloved, separated from the loved; or the \nwaters of the Four Great Seas?\u2019 \n\n\u201c \u2018Pessimism\u2019, would be the comment of unenlightened Christians, most of \nwhom proceed as if the Christian Master, instead of saying, \u2018If any man will \ncome after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me\u2019, \nhad said, \u2018Life is a joy-ride; come along\u2019. We know what St. James thought \nabout it: \u2018For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a \nlittle time, and then vanisheth away.\u2019 It would be easy enough to multiply \ntexts; but if, instead, we try to look squarely at the facts, I do not see how \nwe can escape the conclusion that nearly all lives, in terms of pleasure and \npain, justify the Buddha\u2019s teaching. It is Kali Yuga, the Iron or Black Age: \nwhat else can we expect? How can a world, which is full of sin and selfishness, \nfail to be full of misery? Men cling desperately to the belief that they ought \nto be happy; and they are right: but they will not pay the price; they expect to \nobtain happiness on their own terms, as the fruit, not of self-denial, but of self' \nindulgence. Men will not learn except as the result of bitter, prolonged, and \nconstantly repeated suffering\u2014life after life; so the entire human race, with \nthe exception of the few who have gained liberation, are bound to the \u2018sorrow\u00ac \nful weary Wheel\u2019, as the Orphic ritual declared. \n\nGranting the truth of that fundamental proposition, we come to the question: \nwhat is the way of escape? What is the cure for this condition? It is at this \npoint that exoteric Buddhism and exoteric Christianity, seem to part company. \nExoteric Buddhism says in effect: to cure the condition, you must remove \n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n5i \n\n\nits cause, and, \u2018This, 0 Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cause of suffering: \nThirst ( Tanhd ), that leads to re-birth, accompanied by pleasure and lust, \nfinding its delight here and there, namely, thirst for pleasure, thirst for sensa\u00ac \ntion, thirst for prosperity\u2019; and, \u2018This, 0 Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the \nPath which leads to the cessation of suffering: that holy eightfold Path, that \nis to say, Right Belief, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right \nMeans of Livelihood, Right Endeavour, Right Recollection, Right Medi\u00ac \ntation.\u2019 \n\n\u201cPractically, if a man in great distress had gone to the Buddha for comfort \nor support, that Master would have explained to him the Law of Life, and \nwould have told him to forget his own sorrows in the sorrows of others\u2014in the \neven greater sorrows of others\u2014thus developing universal love and compassion, \nand lifting himself above self-love and self-pity. If the man had obeyed, he \nwould have been led in due course to an understanding of esoteric Buddhism, \nwhich is based entirely upon self-immolation for the sake of others, for Love\u2019s \nsake, and which is identical with esoteric Christianity, whose supreme exponent, \nfor Love\u2019s sake, and \u2018for the joy that was set before him,\u2019 \u2018endured the Cross, \ndespising the shame\u2019. Superficially, however, even here there is a difference, \nbecause it is evident that the Master Christ endured the Cross for love of his \nFather, at least as much as for love of his own and his Father\u2019s children, while, \nso far as the books of Buddhism take us, including so profound a treatise as \nThe Voice of the Silence , it might be inferred that compassion for suffering \nhumanity is the sole motive of those who, by leaving self behind, become part \nof that \u2018Guardian Wall\u2019, \u2018built by the hands of many Masters of Compassion, \nraised by their tortures, by their blood cemented\u2019, which \u2018shields mankind, \nsince man is man, protecting it from further and far greater misery and sorrow\u2019. \nThe reconciliation is found in the actual practice of those who have followed \nthe teaching of Buddhism to its source in the Great Lodge,\u2014the members of \nwhich are Theosophists. \n\n\u201cBut let me return to my comparison of the first approach, or exoteric ex\u00ac \npression, of these two great religions. It is far from my purpose to laud one at \nthe expense of the other. They were \u2018revelations\u2019 to totally different peoples, \nwhose need and temperament were as unlike as the climatic and other physical \nconditions in which they lived. It would be as foolish to ask all the races o^| \nmankind to eat and dress alike, as to adopt the same religious method. In \nany case, Buddhism, in its first stages, demands a large measure of disillusion\u00ac \nment, of interior withdrawal from life, and in one sense may be described as a \nnegative (feminine) rather than a positive (masculine) procedure. It is a \nWay of Escape, intended to lead to a method of attack and to Victory, rather \nthan a method of attack, incidentally (not as objective) resulting in escape, \nand, by ceaseless pushing of the attack, in Victory,\u2014which I take to be the \nChristian Master\u2019s solution. Even so, the orthodox Christian\u2019s resignation to, \nor acceptance of, the Divine Will, as a rule is thoroughly negative, and does \nnot differ materially from the orthodox Buddhist\u2019s attitude. It is only when \nthe Buddhist feels the power of Compassion stirring within him; only when \n\n\n52 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe Christian feels the power of Love stirring within him, that either becomes \nin any degree positively religious. The Buddhist, if he would follow in the \nfootsteps of his Master, must learn to let \u2018his mind pervade one quarter of the \nworld with thoughts of Love, and so the second, and so the third, and so the \nfourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and every\u00ac \nwhere, does he continue to pervade with heart of Love, far-reaching, grown \ngreat, and beyond measure. Just as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard \n\u2014and that without difficulty\u2014in all the four directions, even so, of all things \nthat have shape or life, there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but \nregards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt love\u2019. In that way is the \n\u2018dire heresy of separateness\u2019 overcome. \n\n\u201cI confess it is not a method I should find congenial, because, if I happened \nto think of Trotsky or Stalin or Bernard Shaw or quite a number of other people \nin the course of my \u2018pervasion\u2019, my desire would be, not to love them, but \nquietly, painlessly, to remove them\u2014to another world; and I am convinced \nthat my desire would be righteous, as they are in no sense my personal enemies, \nbut the enemies of the entire human race. That, however, has nothing to do \nwith the abstract merits of the two systems! \n\n\u201cIn the case of the Christian, if he would follow in the footsteps of his Master, \nhe must learn, not merely to accept the Divine Will, but to love and adore it; \nhe must see in his Master\u2019s will for him, the epitome of wisdom, of love, of beauty ; \nhe must not merely welcome it, but must go out to meet it. Even when he \nknows that for him it will mean cruel suffering, he must set his face stedfastly \n\u2018to go to Jerusalem\u2019, and become at last able to say that with desire hath he \ndesired to eat the Passover as his Master ate it.\u201d \n\n\u201cBut suppose a man is faced with financial ruin, and that others are depend\u00ac \nent upon him: what should be his inner attitude, what his objective?\u201d It \nwas the Student who asked this question. \n\n\u201cIn the first place\u201d, the Historian answered, \u201che should realize that if others \nare dependent upon him, he owes them a duty, and that he can perform this duty \nonly by means of money. Even if no one should be dependent upon him, \nhe owes it to his own manhood and to his own soul, not to become a burden \non his relatives or friends. In the second place, if a student of Theosophy, \nhe should realize that his money ought to serve as a physical weapon in the \nhands of the Lodge. From every standpoint, therefore, it must be his duty \nto fight to conserve what he has, and to acquire more, if he should need \nmore in order to fulfil his obligations, or to use his opportunities for service, \nadequately. \n\n\u201cPeople sometimes make the mistake of supposing that because threatened \nwith defeat, they should at once accept defeat as \u2018the Will of God\u2019. This, \nof course, is utterly wrong,\u2014just as wrong as to use the word Karma as though \nit were synonymous with Kismet. If in danger of defeat, it is clearly our Karma \nto be in that position; but we can meet our Karma like cowards, or we can \nmeet it like men; we can see in it an opportunity, and in that sense a gift, or \nwe can see in it an excuse for retreat and collapse. Karmically, and from the \n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n53 \n\n\nstandpoint of the soul, it is more important that we should never surrender \nthan that we should survive, but it is more important still that we should attack \nand never cease to attack, going down, if we must go down, striking a last \nblow with all the life left in us. The ravens fed Elijah because he was a man, \nnot because he was hungry.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Are you talking Buddhism or Christianity or Theosophy?\u201d asked our \nvisitor. \n\n\u2018\u2018I am talking all three, when all three are properly understood\u201d, the His\u00ac \ntorian answered. \u2018\u2018There are plenty of Buddhists, sincere but dead-letter \ninterpreters of their sacred texts, who would find what I have said, utterly \nforeign to their traditions\u2014and inclinations; but, among others, there are a few \nRajputs, one in particular (and Buddha himself was of the Warrior caste), \nwho are not dead-letter interpreters, and are known as Masters or Adepts in \nthe innermost circles of Buddhism, whose doctrine is the same for instance, as \nthat of the author of Light on the Path; and you will remember his definition \nof the only kind of man who can hope to attain the inner wisdom: \u2018Only he who \nis untamable, who cannot be dominated, who knows he has to play the lord \nover men, over facts, over all things save his own divinity.\u2019 Not much \u2018submis\u00ac \nsion\u2019 about that! \n\n\u2018\u2018There are perhaps not many people who have the time, or sufficient edu\u00ac \ncation, to study history advantageously, that is, to draw from it personal and \npractical lessons; but there can be no excuse for a failure to learn from events \nrecorded in the daily press during quite recent years. The /revolution in Russia \ntook place in 1917, and has been discussed ever since. The Czar and his family \nwere murdered by the present rulers of Russia in July, 1918. Everyone knows \nthat he was a deeply religious man, a sincere Christian. The fact remains that \nit was his misunderstanding of Christianity (the fruit, as always, of his own \ninherent weaknesses) which was responsible, not only for his own death, but \nfor the deaths of those he loved, and for the torture and murder of countless \nthousands of men and women who stood for whatever civilization Russia had \npossessed. Like Louis XVI of France (another good and intensely patriotic \nman), the Czar had chance after chance to destroy those who were fomenting \nrevolution. Both the French King and the Russian Emperor, by the execution \nof a few hundred demagogues, could have saved thousands of innocent lives, \nincluding their own. Instead, the message of the Czar to the French Ambassador \n\u2014which happens to represent also the attitude of Louis XVI\u2014shows clearly \nhow befogged he was: \u2018Tell the Ambassador of France (M. Pal\u00a3ologue) that \nthis terrible war will need an expiatory victim, and that I shall be that victim.* \nHe was willing to sacrifice his life; he was not willing to say \u2018No\u2019 to his wife, \nwhom he loved and deeply pitied (a noble, devout, and self-sacrificing woman, \nof rare refinement and great strength of character, most unfortunately blinded by \nher maternal devotion and self-reproach,\u2014her boy\u2019s hemophilia being an \ninheritance from her family); and although willing, up to a certain point, to \nsay \u2018No\u2019 to the revolutionaries, he was totally unwilling to kill them before \nthey killed him,\u2014as it was his obvious duty to do. It is very much worse than \n\n\n54 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nuseless merely to say \u2018No\u2019 to a burglar; and the man who, knowing that \nhis bedroom-window is being \u2018jimmied\u2019, turns on the light, seizes his gun, and \nasks \u2018Who\u2019s there?\u2019 before firing ,\u2014may leave a widow to pay for his funeral, \nbut is more likely to have caused her murder also, within a second or two of his \nown.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018What did you mean by saying that the Czar\u2019s misunderstanding of Chris\u00ac \ntianity was the fruit of his own inherent weaknesses?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018I meant that invariably we read ourselves into the beliefs we accept; that \na man unconsciously adapts his religion to fit his conduct,\u2014and that this is as \ntrue of those who call themselves Theosophists as of all others. Have you not \nknown members of the Society who have done things in the name of family or \nsocial or community \u2018duty\u2019, which have left you almost dumb with amazement? \nDo you know any follower of any religion or philosophy whose interpretation \nof its moral and disciplinary code is not a reflection of his own will and \ndesire\u2014easy for him, or exacting, as his own love of comfort, or of self-discipline, \nmay determine? And do you not realize that inevitably, in the course of time, \ndisobedience to the best that he sees must result in intellectual as well as moral \nblindness? One thing is certain: if a student of Theosophy is not true to his \nideals now, he need not expect to know anything of Theosophy in his next \nincarnation. . . . But that is travelling rather far afield from the unfortunate \nCzar. Physically, he was fearless; he was generous, kind, honest, utterly un\u00ac \npretentious, a man of culture and great personal charm, the best of fathers \nand most loyal of husbands (one of the few men in Russia who was unswervingly \nloyal to the Allies on principle ); yet, with all his virtues, he had an excess of \nhumility,\u2014and we know that the excess of a virtue becomes a vice. From the \nday of his father\u2019s premature death, he felt crushed by a sense of his inability \nto govern, of his inadequacy as a Czar. He had heroic endurance. From \nfirst to last, in spite of all the insults, deprivations and outrages with which \nthe cowardly Bolshevists tormented him, and, worse, tormented his wife and \nyoung daughters,\u2014not a word of complaint escaped him. This means, as I \nsee it, that he had an excess of what is known as \u2018Christian fortitude\u2019, just as he \nhad an excess of \u2018Christian forgiveness\u2019. His virtues were negative, not positive. \nPhysically courageous, he was in some ways a moral coward. He lacked utterly \nthe spirit of attack, of aggression, of dominance; and this was curious, because \nhis father was a phenomenally strong man, both in body and soul, and his \nmother has been described as \u2018vivacious, very decided and positive ... intelligent, \nwell-read, with a surprisingly quick brain and a keen sense of humour\u2019, \na woman with \u2018fearless courage, strength of character, and downright frankness\u2019. \nIt shows once more that children, instead of inheriting the qualities of their \nparents, often reverse them, and become their opposites. \n\n\u2018\u2018But again, this is a digression from our main subject, though it has all \nserved to bring out ideas as to the spirit in which the present \u2018depression\u2019 should \nbe met.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018There is one thing I should like to speak of before we go home\u201d, the Re\u00ac \ncorder now said. \u201cDirectly in line with what was said at the Convention about \n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n55 \n\n\n* \n\n\nthe outrageous cost to the taxpayer of the veterans of the World War 1 , a Na\u00ac \ntional Economy League has since been formed by a group of men whose patri\u00ac \notism and disinterestedness cannot be questioned,\u2014the same group, for the most \npart, that started the Plattsburg and other Training Camps in 1917. The \naddress of this League is 1 Pershing Square, New York. It is circulating a \nPetition \u2018to the President and the Congress for the Elimination of Expenditures \nfor Veterans of the Spanish-American and World Wars not in Fact Suffering \nfrom Disabilities Incurred in Service.\u2019 The Petition asks \u2018for the reduction of \nthe Federal expenditures by not less than $450,000,000 annually which these \nreforms would effect.\u2019 This saving would more than balance the national \nbudget, yet, because of the approaching elections, no one in office, and none of \nthe leaders of the Congress, has had the courage or the honesty to advocate \nits adoption. \u2018Millions for the War Disabled and not one cent for Political \nPensions\u2019\u2014meaning, for the purchase of votes\u2014is the slogan of the League. \nCopies of its Petition for signature, may be obtained by writing to the address \nI have given. Everyone must surely realize that America is being taxed to \ndeath, and that the bureaucracy in Washington and throughout the country \nhas become a vampire which is sucking the life-blood of all classes of the people. \nThis is not a political question; it is a matter of principle. I understand that \none out of every ten of the population is a Federal or State employee, or pen\u00ac \nsioner. \n\n\u201cAs you know, I feel very strongly that work for Theosophy comes first, and \nthat we should not fritter away our time and energies on lesser things,\u2014the \nreason for this being that Theosophy deals with the fundamental principles \nwhich should govern in politics, in art, and in every other field of human prog\u00ac \nress and endeavour. External events and movements are important only in \nso far as they illustrate the right or wrong application of principles. None \nthe less, especially as it would take only a few minutes to send for, read, sign, \nand perhaps obtain the signatures of a few friends to that Petition, I think it \nmay properly be included as a theosophical activity.\u201d \n\nT. \n\n\u00bbThe Editors add the following quotation from a special article in the New York Times of June 5th, 1932: \n\n\"At a time when there is clamor for immediate payment of the \u2018soldiers\u2019 bonus,' it is illuminating to compara^^ \nwhat the various governments have done for the relief of World War veterans and their dependents. From \nstandpoint of annual outlay for this purpose, the United States leads the world: its appropriations for veteral^^ \nexceed those of all the chief belligerents combined, despite the fact that the number of men it mobilized and its \ntotal casualties were far below those of these other nations. \n\n\u201cThe leading combatant nations, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, together with our neighbour Canada, \nwill spend this year for so-called 'veterans' relief\u2019 a total of about $891,190,360, or some 10 per cent less than the \ngovernment at Washington. The ranking is as follows: \n\nMen Dead and This Year\u2019s \n\nMobilized Wounded Relief Bill \n\n\nUnited States. 4.355,000 360,300 $1,072,064,527 \n\nGermany. 13,000,000 6,111,862 298,690,000 \n\nFrance. 8,410,000 5,623.000 286,722,000 \n\nGreat Britain. 6,600,000 3,000,000 174,802,060 \n\nItaly. 5.615,000 1,597,000 69,853.300 \n\nCanada. 619.636 232,045 61,123,000 \n\n\n\u201cThe cost of relief in America, as compared with that of other countries, is attributable to two factors: political \npressure of the veterans themselves, and a refusal on the part of Congress to limit aid only to the wounded and \nthe dependents of those who died in action. Thus all who were mobilized are entitled to free hospital and dental \ncare and to a twenty-year bonus certificate on which they may receive cash at maturity, with loans in the mean\u00ac \ntime.\" \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONVENTION 1922* \n\n\nF RIENDS\u2014there is something my heart for a long time past has been \nsaying to yours, and to-day I am moved to voice it. \n\nYou have all been told that for the first time in the world\u2019s history, our \nMovement has been carried over the cycle. You all know, therefore, that every \nyear which has passed since, let us say, 1901, has been different from any year \nthat has ever been before; that in each of those years we have advanced steadily, \nsteadily into the enemy\u2019s country; that in a certain sense they were years we had \nno business to have. \n\nYou have not supposed, of course, in considering this matter\u2014and I am sure \nyou must often have considered it\u2014that the Dark Powers have taken this \nquietly, have submitted tamely. On the contrary, they have fought with all \ntheir strength to resist it; they have devised in every way to circumvent it; and \nas on this plane their power is greater\u2014as we are obliged, as it were, to fight \nwith one hand behind our backs\u2014the struggle has not been easy. But so far, \nby the grace of Heaven, they have not succeeded; we have continued to advance. \n\n0 yes, we have had helpers from the other side; if we had not, we could not \nhave done it,\u2014humbly, gratefully, we acknowledge that. But they also are \nhandicapped here by the evil and darkness in our own hearts\u2014traitors in the \ncamp\u2014and what they have done they have done at frightful cost. \n\nThwarted on the inner plane, the force and fury of the Black Lodge boiled \nover on the outer plane, and we had the Great War\u2014a faint reflection of what \nwas taking place on the inner plane\u2014and the Great War was not won, remember. \nGermany was not beaten, though she could have been, save that the Allies lacked \nthat grace of Final Perseverance,\u2014for all their courage, that crowning, final \ncourage\u2014what Napoleon called \u201cfour o\u2019clock in the morning courage.\u201d They \nhad not the faith or the vision for that; they harboured too many delusions, and \nso they failed when victory was almost in their grasp. \n\n\u2666The Branch of The Theosophical Society in Caracas, Venezuela, always enterprising, reprinted this (from \nthe Theosophical Quarterly of July, 1922) in leaflet form for distribution on the day of the recent T. S. Con\u00ac \nvention. Copies of the leaflet were sent to some members in New York, at whose request we reprint it here, ten \nyears after its original publication.\u2014 Editors. \n\n\n56 \n\n\n\n\n\n\nr* \n\n\na nrnTTTTrnrr'n \n\n\nCONVENTION 1922 57 \n\nLet us learn the lesson, and pray for that grace of Final Perseverance as \nwe pray for nothing else. The spiritual warrior must fight when he is blind \nand stricken and dead, when his feet are washed in the last drop of his heart\u2019s \nblood, when his life is utterly dissolved. For if he cannot fight in this condition \nhe can never win. Victory comes, and comes only , as the crown of complete \nself-giving\u2014of devotion to a cause so passionately loved as to make that giving \ncheap. Pray, I say therefore, for the grace of Final Perseverance. \n\nMuch has been said recently of the need for ch\u00a3las, for the Movement to \ndevelop ch\u00a3las,\u2014we know that at this time chelas cannot come over to us. \nPresently many of us who worked here before the cycle turned, will have passed \naway. There are those who have been on the front line, without one moment\u2019s \nrest day or night, all these years. They cannot last for ever\u2014and the fight \nmust go on. We must continue to advance; we cannot stop. The Dark Powers \nwould have been content to crush us, years back. Not now! In turn they \nwould rush forward like a mighty flood, using our acquired momentum. If \nyou need some picture of what it would be like, look at Russia,\u2014and the agony \nwould be that Those who trusted us, because They trusted us, would have failed. \nNone of us could endure that! \n\nNow do you see what I mean\u2014what my heart has been saying to your hearts \nall this while? Stop whining and snivelling in the stuffy comers of your life, \nand come out boldly, gladly, into the hardships of this glorious warfare. Stop \nthinking about yourselves, your pains, your trials, your feelings, least of all your \nconveniences. Think of Them and of Their sacrifices\u2014which alone are the \nreasons that you are alive to-day, and not merely whirling dust specks in space\u2014 \nand in Their names and for Their sakes, each one his own, fight to redeem a \ndying world: and give, give, give everything! \n\nThen do you know what will happen? For the first time, for the first time , \nyou will know what peace is, the peace that passeth understanding, the peace \nwhich the Master can only give to His dearly beloved disciple who is as Himself, \nthe peace They know in the midst of Their toil and never-ending conflict. \n\nIn reality, facing our own hearts, what does it matter what becomes of us. \nso long as Their cause triumphs? We can see so clearly that that is the onj^ \nthing worth while. Reward! aye indeed, reward enough\u2014if some day, cm \nlaid down, we shall catch the echo of that far distant cry:\u2014 \n\n\u201cSounds as if some fair city were one voice \nAround a King returning from his wars.\u201d \n\nThat is the spirit of chelaship; that is what makes a man a chela. \n\n***** \n\nIn God\u2019s name come over and help us. The need is so great! \n\n\nK. \n\n\n\n\nREPORT OF THE ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nSeveral days before the Convention, notices were mailed to inform members that \"because \nthe starting-point of the Washington Parade, to be held on April 30th, has been changed to the \nWashington Arch, and because the side streets near Fifth Avenue in that neighbourhood will \nbe packed with sections of the Parade, including bands, it will be impossible to hold the Con\u00ac \nvention of The Theosophical Society at 64 Washington Mews as originally planned and an- ^ \n\nnounced. In this emergency, a member of the New York Branch has placed at the disposal \nof the officers of the Society an unoccupied house at Riverdale-on-Hudson, where the morning \nand afternoon sessions of the Convention will be held. The New York Branch will provide \nmotor omnibuses to take members and delegates to and from Riverdale.\" \n\nThe Convention assembled accordingly. \n\nMorning Session \n\nThe Convention was called to order on Saturday, April 30th, 1932, at 10.30 a. m. Mr. Har\u00ac \ngrove was elected Temporary Chairman, and appointed a Committee on Credentials consisting \nof Mr. H. B. Mitchell, Treasurer T. S., Miss I. E. Perkins, Secretary T. S., and Dr. Torrey. \n\nWhile the Committee was at work, the Temporary Chairman welcomed the delegates and \nmembers, and spoke of the great pleasure all felt \"in being assembled once more in a Con\u00ac \nvention of The Theosophical Society.\" It was impossible, however, he said, to recognize \nthat pleasure without at the same time recalling \"our great loss in the death of Mr. Charles \nJohnston, who, for over a quarter of a century, was Chairman of our Executive Committee, \nand who, at Convention after Convention until last year, welcomed us at these assemblies. \n\n. . . You know how you feel; you can at least imagine how those feel who were so closely \nassociated with him in the Work for forty years or longer.\" \n\nThe Committee on Credentials then submitted its report. This having been accepted, and \nthe Committee discharged with thanks, the permanent organization of the Convention was \neffected by the election of Mr. H. B. Mitchell, President of the New York Branch, as Per- \nmanent Chairman, Miss Perkins as Permanent Secretary, and Miss J. Chickering as Assistant \nSecretary. \n\nAddress of the Permanent Chairman \n\nThe Chairman: It is my privilege as Permanent Chairman\u2014and one that I greatly value\u2014 \nto speak, at the opening of the Convention, of what I believe it would be well for us to have \nuppermost in our minds during our proceedings. As the years pass and the cycles turn, and \nwe steadily penetrate deeper and deeper into uncharted territory, it becomes more and more \nimportant for us to check our course by reference back to the early directions we received, and \nto the original principles upon which, and the purposes for which, the Theosophical Society \nwas founded, so that we may know whether we are really moving toward our appointed goal \nor have been in some way diverted from it. \n\nOur responsibility is very grave. Many, if not all, of us here to-day have good reason to \n\n58 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n59 \n\n\nbelieve the statements, made by the outer founders of the Society, that they were acting, \nin so doing, only as the agents of the Great Lodge of Masters; and that Theosophy, as we know \nit, is a re-giving to the world of parts of that ancient wisdom of which the Masters are the cus\u00ac \ntodians. We have been the recipients of that gift, in part at least; and to the extent that we \nhave received it and know of Theosophy, to that extent we have been joined with the Great \nLodge of Masters as custodians of their wisdom,\u2014as trustees of the world for the knowledge \nof the things that pertain to immortal life; for the preservation of that knowledge and for its \nright use. In our hands, to preserve or to throw away, to make or to mar, is this new in\u00ac \ncarnation of an age-old movement\u2014the age-old effort of the great of soul to aid their younger \nbrethren. In our hands to-day is the harvest of the sacrifice and labour, the love and devotion \nof our predecessors; and in seeking guidance for the right use of our heritage, we cannot do \nbetter than look back to what they have left on record of their purposes, and of the purposes \nof the Masters whom they served. \n\nPerhaps I should pause here to say what we are always so careful to say when we have vis\u00ac \nitors\u2014though surely it should need no saying among ourselves\u2014that each member can speak \nonly for himself in matters of opinion and belief, and that though I speak from the Chairman\u2019s \ntable, I have no more power than any other member to commit the Society to any one view of \nits principles and purposes. No one need accept anything of what I have to say; yet I can \nclaim, as can all, your courteous hearing for considerations that seem to me of moment. \n\nWe all know the stated purposes of the Society\u2014know them so well that perhaps their very \nfamiliarity has become an obscurant of some of the implications they should have for us, and \nwhich a new approach or a more detached view would reveal. Let us leave them aside for a \nmoment therefore, and think first of what has been called the Maha Chohan\u2019s letter\u2014a letter \nwritten by the Head of the Lodge, fifty-one years ago, setting forth something of what it was \nhoped that the Society might accomplish. Among its many notable phrases there is one that \nwe should never forget: \u201cThe Theosophical Society was chosen as the corner stone, the founda\u00ac \ntion of the future religions of humanity.\u201d \n\nThe letter has been published several times. It was republished in the Theosophical \nQuarterly for January, 1911, in Mr. Johnston\u2019s \u201cNotes and Comments\u201d, where he was writing \non \u201cThe Future of The Theosophical Society\u201d. The Society had then just completed its thirty- \nfifth year, and Mr. Johnston used this statement of the Masters\u2019 aims as a standard by which to \ndetermine its actual achievements as of that time. Since then twenty-one years have passed \n\u2014three seven-year cycles\u2014and, believing as we do in cyclic law, it is very fitting that we should \nlook back to-day to the same standards that he used then, and make use of the same quotations. \n\n\u201cThe comer stone of the future religions of humanity\u201d. We, who have worked long in the \nSociety, have seen its shaping. Those who have joined us in later years have seen at least a \npart of its shaping. In the history of the Society have been taught, one by one, the great lessons \nthat must underlie every real religion; and as we review, in the retrospect of fifty-seven years, \nthe events and forces that have made us what we are, we can see how they have graven deep \ninto our consciousness the fundamental principles and basic truths that are requisite for the \nreligious life. The comer has been chiselled square and true. \n\nDo not let us be content merely to generalize. Let us look closely enough to be sure that, \nwe recognize what we see. Beginning at the beginning, what is it that we see? How did \nMovement originate, its purposes gain a hearing, and the Theosophical Society come to \nbe formed? The answer is clear: by H.P.B.\u2019s phenomena. We often hear those phe\u00ac \nnomena questioned. Sometimes, even by some of the Society\u2019s own members, it has been \nregretted that they had been thought necessary; and it has seemed to some that they struck \na wrong note at the very inception of the Movement, derogatory to the dignity and seriousness \nof the theosophic teaching. It is the same unconsciously materialistic attitude that minimizes \nthe place of miracle in Christianity, and tends to present Christ\u2019s life and teaching in terms of \nmere kindliness, humanitarianism, long-suffering gentleness and self-sacrifice. But the turn\u00ac \ning of water into wine at the wedding feast, the giving sight to the blind, the raising of Lazarus \nfrom the dead, the single-handed cleansing of the temple and domination of the rabble,\u2014 \nthese are not accidental intrusions into the drama of the soul; they are of its very essence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6o \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nLook to what religion we will, we shall find miracle at its root; not alone because it tends to \nvalidate or support the claims of that one religion, but because it is essential to the demands \nof religion itself\u2014religion as such\u2014teaching and illustrating a fundamental requisite of the \nreligious life: the ability to face and to achieve wh&t the world holds impossible. The truth \nis that every real religion is founded on the principle that spiritual law transcends natural \nlaw, that all things are possible to the Divine, and that the man who reaches toward and who \nattains the spiritual life, gains powers that are not possessed by the natural life. The ability \nto face courageously\u2014undaunted and undismayed\u2014the impossible, and so facing it to achieve \nit, is the foundation of religion. The very first step upon the Path calls for a heroism that \nwill essay what it knows it cannot of itself do; that will put away the natural in reliance upon \nthe spiritual. Perhaps this is a statement that some will question; but as each man considers \nit, he will find that it is true. \n\nThis was the first step. The next was its logical consequence: the enunciation of the ex\u00ac \nistence of Masters, the great principle of the perfectibility of man; that the world has not \nreached the limit of human attainment nor the destined goal of the evolution of the soul, but \nthat it is literally possible so to live and grow as to fulfil the command of the Western Master: \n\u201cBe ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect\u201d. It was the \ndoctrine that mankind had not only a \u201cFather\u201d in the heavens, but Elder Brothers there \nand here, \u201cthe august hierarchy of just men made perfect, who watch over the destinies of \nhumanity\u201d, the \u201cLords of Karma\u201d, but accessible to mankind. It is not possible to over\u00ac \nemphasize the importance of that last phrase. \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is at hand \u201d, within \nreach, here and now. Not only does the Lodge exist, but the way to it is open: open to us, to \nall who whole-heartedly aspire. All who share the Masters\u2019 aims, all who wish to work for their \ncause, can work for it; and, in working, find guidance, companionship, help and teaching. \nCh61aship exists, and can be attained. \n\nThese first two steps in the formation of our Society\u2014these first two principles of the reli\u00ac \ngious life, which our history inculcates\u2014are, as we see, very positive things: the claiming of \npowers; first, the power of courage and undaunted will to achieve the impossible; second, \nthe power of communion and service with the great of soul; the claiming of the right\u2014no, not \nthe \u201cright\u201d, the aspirant has no \u201crights\u201d, but\u2014the will to labour in the Masters' cause, and \nthe faith that by fidelity in such labour will come, through their grace, knowledge of them \nand of their teaching. \n\nThe third step in our history was, from one point of view, negative where the first two had \nbeen positive; that is, it was outwardly against something as the others had been for something. \nBut from another point of view, and in reality, it was as far from negative as anything well \ncould be. It was a most aggressive attack upon all that enslaved the soul of man and held it \nback from the pathway of the spirit. It was a taking up of arms, and an entering into battle \nwith the world, for the salvation of the world; and it was, in reality, but a projecting outward \nof the inner warfare that the first two steps require the aspirant to wage against himself. \nThere is no claiming of powers but by conquest; and no conquest without conflict. That con\u00ac \nflict must be against the evil in oneself, before it can be successful against the evil in others. \nConsider all against which H.P.B. hurled herself, single handed and undaunted, in the early \ndays of our Movement: the dogmatism of religion, the materialism of science, the prejudices \nof ignorance and superstition, the provincialisms of society and caste. Church, state, science, \nentrenched custom,\u2014nothing of falsity, nothing of evil, nothing that trammelled the spirit \nof man, was free from her attack. \n\nHave we not proved our point? Could the religious life dispense with any of these great \nlessons that have been taught us from the beginning of our history? Read them simply in \nterms of courage: the courage to put aside natural law for spiritual law; the courage to essay \nthe \u201cimpossible\u201d; the courage to stand alone, to discipline and conquer self in the service of \nwhat is greaterjthan self; the courage to attack the wrong and the false wherever they are \nfound, and to combat the world for the salvation of the world. Must not these be proper part \nof the \u201ccomer stone\u201d of all future religions, even as they have been of every religion of the \npast? \n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n61 \n\n\nLet us turn back now to our stated objects, examining them, in the light of the \nMaha Chohan\u2019s letter, for their significance in the foundation of religion. \u201cTo form the nu\u00ac \ncleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity.\u201d What religion was ever concerned with the \nindividual alone? Was there ever one that did not call upon each man to labour for others, \nto spend himself for the good of all mankind, for the triumph of right over wrong, of the \ngreater self over the lesser? We must recognize that the religious consciousness is a shared \nand collective consciousness; its adventure a common adventure, one that concerns the whole \nrace and is undertaken for the whole race. It starts from that sense of solidarity as its basis; \nit leads up to it as its goal; and it uses it as a means of passing from its base to its goal. So \nit has been said that Buddha reached enlightenment through the efforts of a million men. \nSo all, who have attained, have attained for others and by the help of others. Brotherhood, \nsolidarity, unity, harmony, synthesis, sympathy and tolerance,\u2014they were watchwords given us \nby H.P.B. and Judge, and we have never ceased to stress them; though they are echoed back \nto us from the world in strange and ghastly fashion, having been made the opposites of all \nwe mean by them. There is a vast difference between the theosophic ideal of brotherhood and \nthat of the world. To us the brotherhood of man stands only, and can only be found and \nrealized, in the fatherhood of God; to large sections of the world it is acclaimed as a substitute \nfor all thought of the Divine. To us it is a brotherhood of the spirit, reached and known as \nthe life of the spirit triumphs over the life of the separate and separating personality. To \nthe world it most commonly stands for a denial of the spirit and of every law of spiritual \nbeing. To the world it means a dragging down to one dead level; to us it means a lifting up \nto height after height in endless succession. \u201cLiberty, equality , fraternity\u201d,\u2014by the world, \n\u201cbrothers\u201d are conceived as all of the same age, all standing on the same level; but with us, \nour very concept of brotherhood was given us by the \u201cElder Brothers\u201d, by the Masters them\u00ac \nselves, so that from the beginning it has meant to us a brotherhood in which there were \n\u201cyounger\u201d and \u201colder\u201d, in which we were included with those infinitely above us, who stooped \nto lift us. It is but the psychic counterfeit of brotherhood that implies democracy; true \nbrotherhood involves aristocracy, and the hierarchical principle. \n\nDoes this seem paradoxical? Theosophy embraces paradoxes and rests upon them as the \npiers of a bridge rest upon the opposite banks of a stream. Its platform is the most demo\u00ac \ncratic in the world. The spiritual world, the brotherhood of the spirit, whose nucleus the \nSociety seeks to form, is open to every one, \u201cwithout distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or \ncolour\u201d. Be he sweeper or king, the Path is open to him; and, for each, takes its start from \nprecisely where he is, leading upward, without limit, to the heights. But there are heights, \nand their existence is the reason for the Path. It does not turn meaninglessly through a swamp, \nlosing itself in one dead level; it rises steadily from height to height; and on each we find those \nwaiting for us who reach down a hand to help us up, and who call themselves our \u201cbrothers\u201d \n\nConsider our subsidiary objects: \u201cThe study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies \nand sciences, and the demonstration of the importance of such study; and the investigation \nof the unexplained laws of nature and the psychical powers latent in man.\u201d The religions \nof the future must know and conserve tradition, must gather up and bring forward the attain\u00ac \nment of the past; buttilso they must investigate for themselves, must stand firm and unshak\u00ac \nable on first-hand personal experience. Religion is first and foremost an experimental science, \nand its laws must be put to the proof of experiment. It is very needful to learn from the \nexperience of others, to listen and store in memory what we hear; but we must be able to do \nmore than merely repeat what we have heard. Faith is requisite; but it must be the faith that \nleads to and supports experiment. To believe in the finer forces of nature and in the un\u00ac \ndeveloped, latent powers of man,\u2014yes, surely yes,\u2014but belief is not enough unless or until it \nleads us to put our faith to the test by living it; by trusting ourselves to the laws of the spirit \nrather than of the flesh, and by calling forth and exercising the powers of the spirit latent \nwithin us. Let us never confuse belief with knowledge; and let us never be content until \nwe can speak of the things of life and the spirit with the first-hand knowledge of personal \nexperience. \n\nMr. Johnston, in his \u201cNotes and Comments\u201d of twenty-one years ago, makes it very clear \n\n\n\n\n62 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nthat The Theosophical Society will not have accomplished its task until it has accomplished this. \nThen, as now, it is easy to point to changes in the tenor of the world\u2019s thought, suggesting \na powth in tolerance and of scientific and religious breadth. Some of us think to-day that it \nmight be better for the world were such tolerance less in evidence; for tolerance based upon \nignorance and indifference is not gain but loss. Nevertheless there has been gain in many \ndirections, and it is easy to see it; but as Mr. Johnston pointed out, we have only to think \nof the Maha Chohan\u2019s letter in order to see how much more must still be done. Let me quote \none paragraph, as true to-day as when Mr. Johnston wrote it. \n\nBroadly, what has to be done would seem to be this, and the task is as tremendous as it is \ninspiring: We must come to understand, by direct and authentic experience, the verity of the \nspiritual world, of spiritual law, of the spiritual man, so that we can give an account of them as \ntrustworthy as a skilled botanist could give of the plants in a suburban garden. We must be \nable to tell these things because we have seen and known them. Only thus can men be once \nmore taught to believe and know the things of their immortality. Only thus can the great \nburden of evil be lifted, by showing the divine reasonableness, potency and immediate presence \nof the immortal good. We have to some extent popularized the lore of spiritual things. There \nremain spiritual things themselves, to be learned, not from tradition and hearsay, but in their \nliving reality, so that they can be taught for the saving and illumining of mankind.\u201d \n\nThere is a four-fold description of Theosophy which has become very familiar to many, \nsince it was given us years ago: \u201cIntellectually an attitude, practically a method, ethically a \nspirit, religiously a life\u201d. Sometimes it has been thought that the \u201clife\u201d was not so much part \nof the Society itself as of that to which the Society led, so that, if one were talking of the T. S. \nas such, one might properly confine oneself to the first three\u2014the attitude, method and spirit. \nI do not think that view can be wisely held to-day; and I hope to return to this point and \nshow that only as the life is lived can the Society live,\u2014live, that is, in any true sense. But \nlet us now begin at the beginning and see what the theosophic attitude and method have to \nteach us of foundation principles. \n\nWe all know the attitude and method which the Society inculcates: the looking toward the \ncentre, which centre is found where views converge\u2014not where they diverge. Many different \nopinions can thus point to the truth, though they point in different or even opposite directions, \nas the spokes of a wheel point to the nave; and by stressing agreements, rather than disagree\u00ac \nments, synthesizing rather than dissecting, we can draw nearer to the truth. Let us again \nborrow an illustration of Mr. Johnston\u2019s. He asks us to think of a globe\u2014such as is used \nto teach a child geography. We take it in our hands and look at it. If we see the region round \nthe north pole, the south pole is hidden from us. If we turn it round to see the south pole, \nthe north pole vanishes. We can see England only by losing sight of Australia. Whatever \nside we look at, the other side is hidden. No one view-point can show us, at one time, all the \nsolid truth. To see it all, we need to see from many different angles; and if this is to be done at \none time, it must be done by many eyes. Therefore we put an observer to the north and an\u00ac \nother to the south, and others around the equator, so that, between them all, the whole surface \nof the globe is seen; and if these different observers will have faith and confidence in each other, \nand put their observations together, each man may see how his own partial view fits into the \nconcept of the whole. That is what our Society does, and what distinguishes its methods \nfrom those of most other societies. Our discussions are based upon the assumption that every \nhonest view, however limited, may still be, from its own angle, a true view, and so have some\u00ac \nthing of truth to give to us all. \n\nMr. Johnston makes his illustration very graphic; and the more we reflect upon it, the more \nwe may learn from it particularly of how we can (and must) aid one another in our initial \nsearch for troth, and how necessary are mutual faith and confidence and loyalty in all that \nconcerns religion. As the brighter the light, the deeper is the shadow which it casts, so, by the \nassociation of opposites, the very graphicness of this illustration leaves upon the mind the out- \nhnes for another-of the same form, but of reversed content. We see what at first appears to \nbe the same round globe,.at which many men are gazing from different angles; but now each \nman holds a lighted candle, whose light, falling on the surface of the globe, causes it to glitter \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n63 \n\n\nand become glamorous and reflective, so that the lines and colours graven on it disappear. \nThe beholders no longer see the actual globe, not even a real map of the real earth, where \nat least the true contours of England and Australia and the other countries of the world might \nbe traced. What each sees is a glamorous shining, and in the midst of it the reflection of his \nown countenance, lit by the light which he himself carries, and in belittled and distorted \nperspective,\u2014as a spherical mirror does belittle and distort, and as does the mirror of the world. \nEach man sees but an image of himself, of his false and lesser self, which he takes to be his \nreal self, and which, no less, he takes to be a real map of the real world. This is the Maya, \nthe glamour, of the personal self and of the world. Where it exists, it nullifies the theosophic \nmethod; for no two beholders are looking at the same thing and none is looking at anything \nmore real than his own fancies of himself. Not unity, but dissension must result. Synthesis \nhere would be meaningless; it could yield but a composite picture of the delusions of as many \nnightmares as there were beholders. We have passed from the world of truth to that of psychic \nfancy. No truth can be found in that way; no wisdom or religion live where the light of self \nis dominant. \n\nThis brings me to the second part of what I wish to say; and just as I, personally, owe so \nmuch, in what I have said, to Mr. Johnston\u2019s \u201cNotes and Comments\u201d and other articles, so, \nIn what I want to speak of now, I owe more than I can ever express to Mr. Griscom\u2019s thought \nand writings, and to the many, many talks we had together. We all remember Mr. Griscom s \narticles in the Quarterly, \u2014the \u201cElementary Articles\u201d, the articles on the Theosophical Move\u00ac \nment in other centuries, the biographical sketches of saints and seers, and analyses and com\u00ac \nparative studies of the rules of discipleship as found in the world's great religions. It is of \nthese last that I wish particularly to speak, reminding you of how Mr. Griscom pointed out that, \nwherever found, these rules were startlingly the same. Whether we turn to the Bhagavad Gita \nor the Imitation of Christ , to Shankaracharya\u2019s Crest Jewel of Wisdom or to the I inaya Texts \nof Buddhism, however different the form and imagery, the essence of the teaching is exactly \nthe same: He who would be a disciple, he who would enter the path of liberation, he who \nwould know and serve the Truth and the Masters, or any Cause whatsoever, must learn to \nlove and gain the power of love; and to gain the power of love he must free it from the chains \nof self. The secret of Truth and Religion and Immortality, of Ch\u00a3laship and service, is as \nsimple as that: to strip away the glamour and lusts and chains of self, that we may gain the \npower of love and of whole-hearted self-giving to the object of our love. That is the theme and \nthe object of all ascetical rules, of the rules of all the religious Orders of every race and time. \nMr. Griscom summed them all in three words (as in monasticism they were summed in the three \nvows): renunciation, purification, obedience; or, in the terms of the three vows, poverty, \nchastity, obedience. \n\nThink of the rules of Light on the Path, with its opening sentence: \u201cThese rules are written \nfor all disciples: Attend you to them.\u201d \u201cBefore the eyes can see they must be incapable of \ntears. Before the ear can hear it must have lost its sensitiveness. .. . Kill out ambition. \nKill out desire of life. Kill out desire of comfort. Work as those work who are ambi\u00ac \ntious. . . .\u201d One by one we are bidden to free ourselves from all that fosters the \u201cgreat heresy \nof separateness\u201d, that wraps us in glamour and shuts us away from the real, that holds us im\u00ac \npotent, the slaves of desire and of fear. And it is the same, as Mr. Griscom said, whatever be \nthe devotional book or religious treatise that we select. It is the same, too, in our own \nexperience\u2014the'book that is always open to us but which we so rarely really read. Page after \npage points to the same causes of our mistakes, our failures, our griefs and hurts. Always \nit comes back to something of self,\u2014to some neglect of the discipline that might free us from \nself, some breach of these rules, or some refusal to believe that they are necessary for us. \nWhy are feelings hurt by what may be said or done to us? Because some fancied right has \nbeen violated or denied. The poor in spirit does not think he has \u201crights . Why do we \nmisjudge men and situations? Because of the mirage of our fears and desires: the projection \nof what lies within the self upon what lies without the self. Why do our powers fail us, the \nmind flag and the hand weaken? Because they have not been trained in obedience. He who \nhas accepted the \u201cthree vows\u201d is freed from a great mass of suffering and error and impotence. \n\n\n\n\n\n64 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nHe has begun to leave behind him the world of illusions and stands at the threshold of the world \nof the real. \n\nDo we not now see that if the Society would live to accomplish its purposes, and to fulfil \nthe high destiny of which the Maha Chohan wrote, we cannot dispense it from the \u201creligious \nlife\u201d? It cannot be enough to adopt an intellectual attitude and practical method, or even the \nethical spirit which Theosophy inspires and which at least desires to love and to serve, to turn \nfrom self and to give self. There must be more than the desire; there must be the power and \nthe accomplishment. There must be the life; and until that life is ours we dare not trust \nourselves, dare not take into our own hands what we love and would preserve. So long as we \nare wrapped in self, while we are vain, ambitious, clinging to rights and swayed by hopes and \nfears and personal desires, so long shall we be unconsciously and unintentionally traitors to \nthe causes we profess. Until we have achieved the rules of discipleship, ih their deep inner \nreality, we cannot be loyal, cannot be trusted, and dare not trust ourselves. We may love the \nMovement, but we shall betray it,\u2014unless we move with it to the \u201clife\u201d which is its reason and \nits goal. The religious \u201clife\u201d is necessary; and to it we are called more and more insistently \nas the cycles turn. Only so can we achieve the powers that we need\u2014the power of devotion, \nthe power of self-giving, the power of loyalty, the supreme power of love. \n\nLet us think of these things which we have called to mind: our work, our purpose, the pur\u00ac \npose for which we, as a Society, were called into existence by the great Lodge of Masters, the \npurpose for which Madame Blavatsky and Mr. Judge, our predecessors in the past and our \ncompanions in the present, have laboured and sacrificed and poured themselves out in self\u00ac \ngiving of all they had and were, the purpose and work which have now come to us and for which \nwe stand to-day responsible: to become \u201cthe corner stone, the foundation of the future religions \nof humanity\u201d. \n\nAll things that are born come to birth in the same way. The theosophical doctrine of corre\u00ac \nspondences shows us that whether it be the birth of an infant or a universe, of a Manvantara, \nor the creation of mankind, or the founding of the future religions of humanity, all must come \ninto being in the same essential way. That way has been outlined for us in Madame Bla- \nvatsky\u2019s writings. It may help us to consider it and to see what guidance it may have for us. \n\nIt is described as a dual process, a dual gift\u2014the giving of the form, and the giving of the \nlife or spirit to animate it. We remember what is said in The Secret Doctrine of the Lunar \nPitris and the Solar Pitris. The Lunar Pitris gave their chhayas; the Solar Pitris breathed \nlife into them. Out of the past has been given us the chhaya , the mould or model, the image \nor ideal, which must somehow be filled, made living and real with a life that will make it the basis \nof the future religions of the race. It is not a new mould; it is as old as the ages, and was given \nus by the Masters, who are the custodians of the wisdom and achievements of the ages. It \nwas filled and made living for us also by gift from the Masters, but by a gift called down, like \nfire from heaven, by the love and devotion within the Society,\u2014the devotion of those who, \nseeking ch\u00a3laship, attaining ch&aship, took that mould for their rule of life and filled it with \ntheir own life, and so, by induction, with life from above. It was not always done perfectly, \nnot without spot or blemish; they had not attained the end of the Path; but they had attained \nits beginning, in their love and in their will; and it is in love and will that the truth of things lies. \n\nThere is the reality\u2014the real life and being of our Society. They filled the mould, the \nchhaya, made it solid, gave it substance from their own substance, life from their own life, \nspirit from their own spirit; and so enabled the great Lodge to give it of their spirit and their \nlife. And because of what was thus done, through the power of evocation, of selflessness \nand devotion, the Theosophical Movement was carried over the turn of the cycle and is here \nto-day, fifty-seven years since its birth in this incarnation, thirty-two years further than it was \never carried before. So it has come into our hands; and we too, if we are to keep it alive, must \ngain the power of evoking and re-evoking that on which it lives. \n\nOur trust imposes a two-fold demand. On the one hand we must preserve the chhaya, \non the other we must ceaselessly vivify it anew. We must preserve the teaching whole, and \npure, and undistorted. We can do this only as we ourselves master it. We must make sure \nwe understand, make sure we let nothing slip away neglected and forgotten. But study alone \n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n65 \n\n\nwill not preserve even the chhaya. It must be lived as well as studied, must be taken into \nour life and made part of our being. If there be any truth which you know, but nevertheless \nignore, any injunction which you have received but do not strive to obey, having rejected it \nfrom your will you will inevitably strive to reject it from your mind. Unconsciously, if not \nconsciously, you will try to forget it; and you will succeed. It will become lost, because not \nused. In this way the chhaya, which you received whole and complete, will become fragmen\u00ac \ntary and incomplete, unsymmetric and so distorted,\u2014a monstrosity, lacking essential limbs \nor features, instead of the perfect man to which future religions should lead the race. \n\nTherefore, although we must study and take every means open to us to gain a true under\u00ac \nstanding of Theosophy, in order that we may preserve the knowledge of it in the world and \nbe able to pass it on to our successors, we must realize that we cannot succeed, even in this \nhalf of our task, unless we strive with our whole hearts to fulfil also the other half,\u2014to make \nour knowledge living knowledge, by filling it with our own life and love and will. If we do this, \nif we give ourselves whole-heartedly and with all that we are, disciplining and exercising our\u00ac \nselves so that we may be able to give more, freeing our wills and the powers of our nature \nfrom their slavery to self, and thus gaining the powder to love, and by love to evoke the divine \nfire from above,\u2014if we kindle our wills by this fire, and hold them fiery, firm and unflagging, \nrefusing to be daunted by what seems the impossible, never wavering in faith, indomitable \nin effort and perseverance, then it matters not what else may come to the Society or to us, we \nshall achieve. We shall be true to our trust; and the Movement\u2014now in our hands\u2014will \nlive, to fulfil its high destiny. It is to this that we are called to-day. \n\nThe Chairman then called for the report of the Executive Committee. \n\n\nReport of the Executive Committee \n\nMr. Hargrove: Mr. Chairman and Fellow Members, I am beginning to think that the \nWashington parade was a blessing in disguise\u2014as most obstacles and most difficulties are. \nIt is indeed a blessing to be in a place w r here one can make oneself heard, and w r here one almost \nwishes not to make oneself heard so that one might enjoy something of the stillness and the \nsilence of nature. As we are talking among ourselves, I feel free to say I suspect that some of \nyou came here this morning quite prepared to see Saint-Germain or his equivalent walk into \nour midst and sit dowm. And why not? Why not? All of you are familiar with the story of \nH.P.B. who erupted, unexpectedly, at a meeting in London, arriving from Paris, and, as she \nput it, following her occult nose to the law chambers of somebody whose name I have for\u00ac \ngotten. Dr. Keightley saw her on that occasion for the first time. Things that happened \nthen, may happen again. But one step at a time. It may be that the first step has been taken. \nIn any case, even if the outer event does not seem to happen, let us be perfectly sure of the \ninner reality. \n\nNone of this is any part of the report of the Executive Committee, but the truth is that \nthe Executive Committee has very little to report. I shall not refer again at this stage to our \nloss of Mr. Johnston. To fill the vacancies caused by his death, it is my duty to announce \nthat your Committee elected Mr. Saxe as a member, elected me to serve as its Chairman, and \nProfessor Mitchell as Vice-Chairman. \n\nSo far as other things are concerned, we have had no troubles, no upheavals, no disturbances \n\u2014partly because w\u2019e have not looked for them. A great many people go through life seeming \nto be looking for troubles. In any case, strict obedience to the warning in the Gita that the \nduty of another is full of danger, has saved your Committee from what might have developed \ninto quite a lot of conversation, if not trouble\u2014and really, conversation sometimes is equiv\u00ac \nalent to trouble. \n\nThere was a very active correspondence among other societies calling themselves theo. \nsophical, in which we were invited to participate. Point Loma, instructed by a Mahatma to \ndo so, invited us and invited Adyar, and invited everybody else, to assemble on White Lotus \nDay at Point Loma. And Adyar fin other words, Mrs. Besant), by order of the Maha Chohan \n\u2014because a Mahatma would not do, as Point Loma had used that already\u2014Mrs. Besant \n\n\n66 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\naccepted the invitation. This worried Point Loma, made it nervous\u2014it may have thought \nMrs. Besant would bring the Maha Chohan along! At any rate, Mr. Leadbeater was to be \nbrought along, so Mr. G. de Purucker, who calls himself \u201cTheosophical Leader and Teacher , \nhad himself interviewed, and explained that he did not want Leadbeater. That made trouble, \nso the Maha Chohan changed his mind, and the acceptance was withdrawn. We were invited, \nbut we just sat still\u2014quite still\u2014and watched the other people entertain themselves. So \nthere was no trouble so far as we were concerned. \n\nMr. Box, as President of the Los Angeles Branch, received the following invitation from \na joint committee for White Lotus Day, addressed to the \u201cNew York Lodge\u201d Theosophical \nSociety, American Bank Building, Los Angeles. It reads: \n\n\u201cDear Fellow Theosophists: In commemoration of the death of our revered founder, Helena \nPetrovna Blavatsky, the New Century Lodge of Point Loma and the Los Angeles Lodge of \nAdyar are planning to hold a White Lotus Day Memorial Meeting, Sunday, May 8, 1932, at \n8 p. m., at 504 West Fourth Street, Los Angeles, California. As H.P.B. brought to us all the \ndivine gift of Theosophy, we thought it appropriate that all Theosophists should unite in \ngiving homage to her, our Teacher. We sincerely trust that you will join us. In case that \nyou are holding a similar meeting in your own headquarters, we would appreciate it if you \ncould send a representative of your Lodge to be present with us, and, if possible, give one of \nthe customary readings.\u2014Fraternally yours, Joint Committee for White Lotus Day Celebra\u00ac \ntion, By Theron R. Winston, Chairman.\u201d \n\nMr. Box came to the conclusion that he ought to reply. So he called a meeting of his mem\u00ac \nbers, who, I am glad to say, endorsed his proposed letter. He wrote: \n\n\u201cDear Mr. Winston: In reply to your letter of April 14th, we the members of the Pacific \nBranch of The Theosophical Society beg to remind your Committee that the Adyar organiza\u00ac \ntion, of which some of you must necessarily be a part, still stands back of Mrs. Besant\u2019s foul \nbetrayal of William Q. Judge, which was practically a betrayal of H.P.B. too, since they were, \nand still are, inseparable. Therefore, the effect of the attendance of any one of us at your \nmemorial meeting would be but an endorsing and re-enforcing of that double betrayal, as the \nPoint Loma organization is now doing; this, whatever we, or you, or others might then say \nin praise of H.P.B., and, for our part, we suggest that one of you read this letter at that meet\u00ac \ning.\u2014Yours truly, The members of the Pacific Branch of The Theosophical Society, per W. H. \nBox, President.\u201d \n\n[Applause.] I am glad you like it: so do I. \n\nOf course, all of our members, during the past year, have suffered more or less by reason of \nthe present financial depression. That is inevitable. It is hardly to be expected that mem\u00ac \nbers of The Theosophical Society, by some miracle, should be made exceptions to the general \nrule. There is no reason why they should be. Everybody has suffered. Everyone\u2019s income \nhas been greatly reduced. But there have been no complaints. The suffering, whatever it \nmay have been, has been accepted with splendid courage so far as I am aware, and everyone \nis doing his very best to help others\u2014sometimes by valiant endurance, sometimes by direct \ncontributions; occasionally by employing labour which otherwise would not have been em\u00ac \nployed, often at considerable sacrifice. \n\nI want to speak, if I may, of certain fundamental principles of Theosophy which cannot be \nemphasized too often. This is in line with what Professor Mitchell has just said. I think \nit is part of the function of your Executive Committee not merely to supervise the general \nmanagement of the Society between Conventions, but to do what we can to keep alive a clear \nunderstanding of the purposes of the Society and of the principles upon which it is based. I \nam going to read the following, because I want to make it part of the record, and there is nc \nneed to elaborate it. It is a brief, clear-cut statement of a vital theosophical principle. \u201cThe \ntrouble with the modem world, what lies at the root of all its confusion and contradictions, is, \nbriefly put, this: A failure to consider life in terms of spiritual value, and, growing out of this, \nthe consideration of life in terms of rights ,\u2014a right to life, a right to freedom, a right to hap\u00ac \npiness, and so forth. No view of life, no civilization, no government based on a theory of \nrights can ever succeed or endure; they are doomed,\u2014carrying their own seeds of destruc- \n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n67 \n\n\ntion. Instead, they must be based on a theory of duties , each class and each condition having \nits own, but all springing from the same principles,\u2014of reverence, obedience, self-sacrifice, \nand devotion to the tasks of the individual environment and station.\u201d \n\nGreat emphasis was laid upon the same idea at the last Convention, and I think at the \nConvention before last. But repetition is necessary. We ought to repeat the same thought, \nin some form or other, Convention after Convention, so that no one will have the slightest \nchance to forget it. Then every one of us, between Conventions, ought to do what he can \nto bring that great truth to the attention of our acquaintances. There are not many direc\u00ac \ntions in which we can afford to be dogmatic\u2014very few, except when it comes to principles\u2014 \nbut there is a principle for which we must fight to the last ditch. \n\nThere is another point, and that is the need of all students of Theosophy to find the hair\u00ac \nline between faith and superstition. We must not forget that we are human; that, far too \noften, we are personalities, with all the limitations and tendencies inherent in personality, \nand that we are liable to err. Faith and superstition: we must have faith, but we must not \nbe superstitious, and there is always a tendency to be either superstitious or skeptical,\u2014 \nthe opposite poles of the same thing on the same plane. The rank materialist, as was said \nnot long ago at a New York Branch meeting, is identical, in essence, with the man who is \ncredulous. \n\nThe method of Theosophy, in one respect, is exactly the same as the method of science. \nA student of chemistry should choose a professor in whom he has confidence, and should \nlisten to the teaching of that professor, and should obey his orders, and should carry out the \nexperiments as indicated or prescribed by his professor. Now if the student of chemistry, as \noccasionally happens, confuses things that he has heard, with things that he has done and has \nproved\u2014he will be making a very serious mistake. Suppose, for instance, that because his \nprofessor has told him something, he asserts, for that and for no other reason, that he knows \nso and so is the truth: actually, he does not know anything of the kind, unless he has put \nit to the test, unless he has experimented. Once he has experimented and has gained first\u00ac \nhand knowledge, he may claim to know ,\u2014as, for instance, that three chemical elements in \ncombination will produce a substance of such and such a kind. \n\nThe same principle applies in the study of Theosophy. Those whose habit it is to think \nthemselves wiser than their instructors, will never learn. On the other hand, those who think \nthat because they have read something in The Secret Doctrine , they know , should try to realize \nthat they do not know anything at all, except that H.P.B. said it, and that they will know \nsomething only if they will do as H.P.B. prescribed, and make the experiment, and so find out \nfrom first-hand experience that she was telling us the truth. Faith is absolutely necessary,, \nbut it must be the right kind of faith and not the wrong kind; it must not be the kind that \nis comparable to swallowing a mental pill. We must think and meditate; we must dig into- \nour own experience for analogies; if we cannot find spiritual analogies in our experience, we \nmust find them in lower nature, on the principle of Demon est Deus inversus: for things mus \n\n\nbe acted upon , as well as believed. That is of supreme importance. It is the man who mis\u00ac \ntakes book-learning for knowledge, who is dogmatic; and dogmatism is in bad taste and is \ndetestable. \n\nMr. Judge was constantly telling us to \u201cuse discrimination always\u201d, not to accept statements \nmerely because they are made. For instance, somebody says: \u201cIn view of the fact that H.P.B. \nstates the Kumaras are identical with the Destroyers, would it not follow that the reason we \ngrow senile so rapidly and go to pieces physically is because we have too much of the Kumaras \nin us\u2014what are we going to do about, that?\u201d There are students who would at once accept \nthe premise that H.P.B. said the Kumaras are the same as the Destroyers,\u2014though, so far \nas I am aware, she said nothing of the kind. Moral: be sure of your facts; challenge state\u00ac \nments, and when they are accompanied with \u201cH.P.B. said\u201d, ask for chapter and verse,\u2014and \nthen be sure she did not say next to the opposite on the following page, which frequently \nhappens,\u2014her blessed effort to keep us straight. \n\nWe must not allow The Secret Doctrine or Isis or the Mahatma Letters to become a sort of \ndead-letter Bible. When it comes to the Mahatma Letters , I wish to go further, because, \n\n\n68 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nin simple fact, that book is thoroughly misleading. Those Letters should never have been \npublished. It was a most dishonourable proceeding, and the book inevitably has the Karma \nof that betrayal. Those letters were written to certain individuals, at a certain time, for \ncertain specific purposes. It is stated in them that they must never be published, and then \nsomeone, having obtained them after the death of Sinnett, took it upon himself to think, not \nonly that he knew better than the writers (whoever they were), but that he had the right to \nviolate their expressed wishes. The book contains letters supposed to have been written by \nthe Master M. and the Master K. H., which are as foreign to the purpose and spirit of those \nMasters as anything conceivably could be. There is no need to go into details at a Convention. \nPerhaps some day it may be written about. But there is no question whatsoever about the \nfacts. I can give you one instance. There is a letter signed K. H. in which Sinnett is asked \nto edit a newspaper to be published in India, and to pretend to a certain attitude which he \ndid not actually have\u2014quite the opposite; to pretend that he was sympathetic to a certain \nparty in India, in order to raise money for the newspaper\u2019s publication. Of course, any one \nwho could suppose that a Master could make such a contemptible and dishonourable sug\u00ac \ngestion, would prove that his understanding of the Masters was a minus quantity. Fortu\u00ac \nnately, it so happens that H.P.B. wrote at the same time to Sinnett (published in her Letters ), \nsaying that if Sinnett were to listen to any such proposition, it would be, from her point of \nview, utterly wrong and outrageous. \n\nLet us, then, avoid blind acceptance of statements made in books. Do not let us deceive \nourselves and imagine that we know something because we have read something. We must \nwork these things out in terms of first-hand experience. For too much of the time we are \npersonalities, and personalities have a tendency to materialize everything. We must beware \nof that in ourselves. The universe is not a mechanism; it is a poem. I do not mean a jazz \npoem, not vers libre; but a poem, based necessarily upon the laws of rhythm, of sound, of \nmusic. The Secret Doctrine will never be understood, except as a great poem. It contains \nmany references to science and to all sorts of things; but these are only incidental. It is a \npoem, because it describes the universe truly, and the universe is a poem. We have had enough \nof the mechanical interpretation of history, of life, and, incidentally, of Karma. Most people, \nwhen told that \u201crigid justice rules the world\u201d, immediately see scales and weights: here is a \nsin, and there a penalty, and one equals the other. That is not Theosophy! Karma is perfect \njustice, but poetic justice\u2014thpnk heaven! where should we be, otherwise? You remember \nwhat H.P.B. says in the Notes to the Voice of the Silence about the wall formed by living \nMasters, who keep away from us and from the world the evil Karma which humanity has built \nup\u2014and we among humanity. What does that mean if not a temporary \u201cvicarious atone\u00ac \nment\u201d? And how can you reconcile the idea of vicarious atonement with a mechanical inter\u00ac \npretation of Karma? How reconcile the mechanical interpretation of Karma with the facts of \nlife as you know them? For instance, the self-sacrifice of a mother, saving her child from all \nkinds of evils by the power of her unselfish love. She has the right to give out of her own \nKarma, to contribute,\u2014to save, to help, to spare, and she does it just as Masters do it. Do \nyou suppose we are all judged on our \u201cmerits\u201d? No, fortunately we are not! \n\nIt has often seemed to me that, so far as women go, the more worthless the child, the more \nthe mother cares for the child. Often the same is true of husbands and brothers\u2014the more \nworthless, the more loved. Perhaps we men, instead of feeling superior, should be thankful. \nAnd perhaps the Masters partake of feminine nature to that extent, combining in themselves \nall perfections; and perhaps that is why some of us are here this morning. Pity has a great \ndeal to do with love in some cases\u2014for there are all kinds of love, just as there are all kinds \nof people, all kinds of universes, and all kinds of universes within this universe. It is part \nof the splendour and glory of life that it is so. To all appearance, we are personalities and \nno more,\u2014and often, I fear, very unpleasant. I should say that almost any personality must \nbe that, just because it is personality. But these personalities are veils, or hiding-places. \nYou may remember one of the Threnodies of Pindar, in which he quotes from the Orphic \nMysteries, and where he sings: \u201cI am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven, but my race \nis of Heaven, and it is from the pure that I come\u201d. That is true of us: in spite of faults and \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n69 \n\n\nfailings, and in spite of personality, that is what we are. It is from the starry heavens that \nwe came forth, and it is to the starry heavens that we are destined to return. So we must \nlearn to look behind the appearances of things, to look into the heart of things, into the soul \nof things, to listen to that divine poem which every soul among us sings. \n\nYou know what Emerson said: every man must become a new-born bard of the Holy \nGhost. Yet it is not a question of becoming; we are that thing, and we must enter into that \nworld of dream\u2014the dream which is the only reality\u2014and find ourselves there, living instead \nof asleep. \n\nJust one word more\u2014practical rather than theoretical. We have been told these things \nfrom the very beginning, and when the next Lodge Messenger comes (something that we \nthink about a great deal), I really cannot believe that he will give us any more instruction . \nWe have had so much instruction,\u2014and, alas! have done so little about it. \\ ou will remem\u00ac \nber that in Isis and again in The Secret Doctrine , H.P.B. speaks of Vishnu \u201cthinking of him\u00ac \nself as the father of the world\u201d. She adds, This thinking of oneself as this, that or the other \nis the chief factor in the production of every kind of psychic or even physical phenomena. In \nwhat way do we think of ourselves? Are we or are we not perpetually identifying ourselves, \nperhaps with the body, its pains, its deficiencies; or with the mind or with our emotions, in\u00ac \nstead of identifying ourselves with that child of the starry heavens? What we need is to think \nof ourselves as being what we are. More than that, we need to see ourselves as doing that \nwhich we know we ought to do. Too much emphasis is laid sometimes on the will. Far more \nuse needs to be made of the imagination. Some French writer on psychology pointed out \nthat if you want to get up in the morning promptly, see yourself the night before as springing \nout of bed,\u2014rather than, by mere effort of will, trying to decide that you will do so. \n\nThat is the practical suggestion that I have to make: use imagination more. See yourself \nas doing the thing that you want to do, that your own higher nature tells you that you ought \nto do\u2014and it will become easy, instead of difficult, to do it. Remember H.P.B. s original \nadvice, repeated constantly ever since: that if you want to produce magical phenomena \nwithin yourself, think of yourself as being this, that or the other, see yourself as doing, think\u00ac \ning, feeling, this, that or the other. It is a method based upon faith, upon conviction; but \nif ever we are to escape from the bonds of the personality and its limitations, from wrong self- \nidentification and from all the folly that goes with it, there is only one way in which that \ncan be accomplished,\u2014the way of right self-identification, of deep, immovable faith in that \nwhich we really are. By making that faith vivid and constant, we can become consciously \nalive in the world of reality, in the world of Masters and the Lodge. \n\nThe report of the Executive Committee having been accepted with thanks, the Chairman \ncalled on Miss Perkins to report as Secretary T. S. \n\nReport of the Secretary T. S. for the Year Ending April 30TH, 1932 \n\nMiss Perkins: Mr. Chairman and Fellow Members: I have the honour to submit the follow\u00ac \ning report: \n\nBranch Activities \n\nIn the survey of Branch work, the reports of which have been full of interest, it seems fitting \nto speak chiefly of Branches not represented here by delegates, since from the delegates we \nshall hope for personal reports, later. Let us start with England, where the difficulties of \npresent conditions are greatly intensified by the disrepute attaching to Theosophy there be\u00ac \ncause the name is associated with the Adyar Society and with other pseudo-theosophical \norganizations. The Newcastle Branch, which has carried on its usual lines of work, with \nsustained interest, notes, regretfully, that this is the third successive year when the Society \nrecords the death of one of its older members; this year, Mr. Johnston; last year, Dr. Keightley, \nthe preceding, Col. Knoff: all of them remembered with deep gratitude. On Convention day, \nthe Branch meets \u201cto get more in touch with things\u201d. Personal distribution is made of the \nsum which would be sent to Headquarters for dues, had not the Executive Committee directed \nthat the European Branches should, instead, devote the amount to Allied relief work; one \n\n\n70 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nportion went to the family of a stranger who after four years\u2019 war-service subscribed, from \nan Army hospital, for the Quarterly which he had found in some library\u2014his wife wrote, \n\u201cYou are the only ones from whom I have ever had anything\u201d. The Norfolk, being a Branch \nthat meets only through correspondence, takes a stated portion of some book for a month\u2019s \nstudy; each member writes comments and asks questions that are answered by all the others \n\u2014an interchange which, they say, \u201chas created greater unity and comradeship, one advantage \nof the correspondence plan being that personalities do not enter into it\u201d. They devote the \nmonth of April to preparation for Convention, and August to study of the Convention Report. \nThe New York Reports are circulated and greatly appreciated. Their book of the year, Letters \nthat have Helped Me, Vol. II, has been of special interest in connection with the letters from \nMr. Judge appearing in the Quarterly; they feel that more life has been evident this year, \ngreater interest, and more thoughtful study. The Branch in South Shields reports the presence \nof many inquirers at their public meetings; in their meetings for members they are \u201cseeking \nto help each other to live the theosophic life and to create a centre of right thought\u201d; on Con\u00ac \nvention Sunday they are to hold a special meeting to which they have invited the members \nof our near-by Branches. In Whitley Bay, the Branch has completed the Key to Theosophy, \nand begun The Secret Doctrine at the request of their newer members; they are working earn\u00ac \nestly, striving to learn, and to help one another to live up to their ideals. Beside the infor\u00ac \nmation contained in the Reports of the New York Branch meetings, members welcome in them \nan opportunity to unite with their fellows in oneness of purpose; and have resolved that on \nConvention day all members shall be there, in thought. Gateshead Branch has one of the \nWhitley Bay members for its President; they report that they are getting well grounded in \nTheosophy. \n\nOn the Continent, members consider it part of their duty to learn the language in which \nthe Masters chose to transmit the teaching, through H.P.B. and subsequently. Regarding the \nBranch in Arvika, the newly-elected President writes: \u201cMost of us wish above all to live \nthe theosophic life, to increase our devotion to the Cause; the encouraging factors we see, \nare the love we already have for it and for each other\u201d. Mention is made of the widow of the \nfounder of the Branch who, in spite of her eighty years, writes to them every week and, from \nher distant home, follows their studies. Mr. Johnston\u2019s visit of many years ago is still a \nvivid memory. \u201cWe have\u201d, the writer says, \u201chis articles and scriptures, things which never \ndie. Mrs. Amy Zetterquist has left us too, but we may be thankful for all we get from such \npersons\u2014and that they have lived.\" In Oslo, half the meetings are public and half for members; \nthey have completed their study of Mr. Griscom\u2019s \u201cElementary Articles\u201d, and have taken up \nthe Convention Report and the fortnightly ones from New York. They begin and end meet\u00ac \nings with a period of silence; the reading of a selection from \u201cFragments\u201d always precedes \ntheir discussion, which is devoted to some phase of the art of \u201cliving the life\u201d. The Aussig \nBranch has studied the Reports of Convention and of New York meetings, the Quarterly \narticles on H.P.B., and Mr. Griscom\u2019s \u201cLetters to Students\u201d; those letters have given them \nnew incitement and courage in their united endeavour to help all Germans by striking hard \nat what is German in themselves, conquering their wrong tendencies, striving to \u201cgrow holy\u201d. \nRegarding the purposes of Germany, they say: \u201cIt is very madness for the Allied nations to \ndiscuss equalization of armament with Germany and countries that are her partisans, without \nconsidering moral defects and their previous experiences. The best way for us to help the \nLodge under such circumstances seems to be to discern the real character of the German \nnature in all domains of life,\u2014recalling that 'to see is to enable others to see; to repent is to \nbring others to repentance . A German Catholic magazine, Die Allgemeine Rundschau, has \npublished four special issues about the Belgian cruelties; its editor made a pilgrimage to the \nwell-known Belgian villages where the worst crimes were perpetrated, and published the \nevidence he collected. There was also a remarkable article on Goethe, giving his significant \nopinions about his own nation, some of which are very bitter for German ears.\u201d The Secre\u00ac \ntary of one of the Berlin study classes, which has maintained its meetings throughout the \nyear, writes. As far as our country is concerned, there has been no improvement; the veil \nof darkness is growing more and more dense,\u2014no repentance.\u201d From another Berlin study \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n71 \n\nclass comes expression of gratitude for having been taught to see the moral guilt of their \nnation; they declare: \u201cWe cannot say how thankful we are to the editors of the Quarterly \nand all workers for it; especially in the \u2018Screen of Time\u2019, we have seen what has occurred in our \ncountry as we could never have seen it except for those clear statements of the issue.\u201d \n\nTurning to American Branches: In Cincinnati, they meet weekly, studying on alternate \nevenings The Secret Doctrine and Patatijali's Yoga Sutras; both have proved of vital interest. \nSatisfactory attendance has been maintained, the Branch library, over which Miss Hohnstedt \npresides, is in active use, and in spite of hardships their work is going forward, steadfastly. \nThe Middletown Branch, a small band of devoted members, has had a number of inquirers \nto whom books and other help have been given; their immediate effort is to make as much \nunited progress as may be possible. Mr. Box reports that the Branch in Los Angeles has con\u00ac \ntinued the study of Mr. Johnston\u2019s edition of the Yoga Sutras. \u201cIn Books III and IV\u201d, he \nwrites, \u201cwe find much that we do not understand about the highest levels of consciousness; \nyet this shows clearly that only so far as our own increasing effort takes us toward the higher \nlife of which they treat, can we draw nearer to the Masters of whom they give a glimpse: \nthis we regard as the season\u2019s lesson.\u201d The Yoga Sutras has also been studied by the Branch \nin Denver, desiring \u201cto cement Mr. Johnston\u2019s close relation to the Branch, and to express its \nappreciation and deep regard\u201d. Their discussions have included Professor Mitchell\u2019s Medi\u00ac \ntation; material from the Quarterly; and the New York Reports, of which they say: \u201cBeside \nthe interest of their subject matter, acquaintance with the names of those speaking is beginning \nto create [among newer members] a sense of solidarity with the Society as a whole; they have \nbecome more responsible in relation to our own meetings: this the older members regard as the \ngreatest accomplishment of the year.\u201d The Toronto Branch report comes from Mr. Harris, a \nmember of our Executive Committee, who records that their fortnightly meetings were carried \non through the summer, at the request of members; chief attention being given to the devo\u00ac \ntional aspects of Theosophy, in which the New York Reports have been of great help. He \nwrites: \u201cThe most encouraging feature has been the real effort to study Theosophy as a guide \nin life which supplies the incentive to right living, which many have failed to find elsewhere. \nMost members take active part in the meetings; many books are being lent.\u201d \n\nThe Branch in Caracas, Venezuela, is deserving of the highest credit for their self-sacrificing \npublication of El Teosofo, which invariably contains matter of value and which is a real con\u00ac \ntribution to Theosophy itself, as well as to the Spanish-speaking world. \n\nHeadquarters\u2019 Activities \nTheosopJiical Quarterly \n\nWith the July number, our magazine will enter its XXXth volume. From a modest begin\u00ac \nning in 1903, Mr. Clement Griscom had built a periodical of such worth and standing that on \nhis sudden death at the close of 1918, his associates found its continuance both a necessity \nand a fitting memorial of his devoted service. Thus, for 29 years the Movement has had an \norgan in which its original purpose, spirit, and aim are embodied with ever increasing clarity \nof presentation, and with an intensity of devotion which expresses the life exfoliating from \nwithin the Society. Ten invaluable volumes of The Path record Mr. Judge's work; the pro^ \nductive term of the two magazines started by H.P.B. was even shorter, for her ideals \\vec^ \nabandoned when she had to leave their editorial expression to others. The 29 volumes of owr \nmagazine are a still more remarkable achievement, in that they cover the first quarter of the \ncentury when there could not be the same kind of outpouring that characterizes the last \nquarter. It is the few who plan and produce the magazine\u2014inspiring other few to contribute \nall they can: we of the rank and file are the beneficiaries, and may therefore, with no shade of \nself-gratulation, openly rejoice in such a periodical. Many are the readers who turn to this \nmagazine for light\u2014as one wrote, \u201cI would not miss any of its numbers; their incentive and \ninspiration is greatly needed as the confusion of existence increases, making right thought and \naction difficult to determine\u201d. A wide range of possible readers is reached through the libraries \nwhich make our issues accessible in their periodical room; and an edition on \u201cimperishable \npaper\u201d, the gift of a member, is preserved in libraries at the principal world centres; the donor \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n72 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhopes that in future days the Quarterly may there speak to the hearts of men, servants of the \nMovement in past ages, who will be groping their way back. \n\nBook Department \n\nWhile the Book Department is a separate organization, the Society not being responsible \nfor obligations it may incur, its object in publishing books is to be of help to the Work. Were \nthis generally understood, some members would be better supplied with books needed in their \nstudies. Financial difficulties need be no barrier to securing our books, for if the one desired \ncosts Si.50, and 50 cents is all the member can spend, arrangements can be made through a \nspecial fund, already in operation in the Secretary\u2019s office, for the purchase of needed books. \nDuring this year there has been the customary sale of books, somewhat diminished in volume \nbecause of the financial depression. Special interest in the books by Mr. Charles Johnston \nwas shown in the months following his death. \n\nSecretary's Office \n\nThis winter many letters have been received from members who wished to pay tribute to \nthe memory of Mr. Johnston and to give some expression to their gratitude; it is evident that \nhis loss is widely and deeply felt; also that many are sensible of the additional load that must \nnow be carried by the remaining older members, for there was frequent record of determina\u00ac \ntion to contribute one\u2019s very best to the Society, through the right performance of daily duty. \n\nAn important addition to our \u201ctravelling library\u201d is a bound set of the early volumes of the \nQuarterly which have long been out of print. There must be many members who have never \nhad opportunity to read these\u2014and now it is offered to them. In addition, there is at the \ndisposition of members a set of the volumes of The Path , temporarily loaned for that purpose. \nSince transportation charges may be paid by those who borrow from this library, there need \nbe no hesitation about using these facilities. \n\nThere are many to whom the Society is indebted for w^ork gladly undertaken on its behalf\u2014 \ntoo many to be named here, but all are gratefully remembered. The Assistant Secretary, \nwhose stenographic notes give us such full record of the Convention addresses, also takes \nnotes of the New York Branch meetings; these are condensed by another member, skilled \nin the art of laying hold upon essentials and reproducing the atmosphere of each meeting. \nCertain parts of the distribution w\u2019ork for each issue of our magazine were again done by the \ntwo who have assumed this for a number of years. With great generosity, a member secured \nfunds from which to pay the salary of a competent stenographic assistant in the Secretary\u2019s \noffice; and another member repeated, through this office, a special contribution to the general \nT.S. fund\u2014more than covering the sum which dues from foreign members formerly brought \ninto the treasury. The Secretary is grateful for so much help; is grateful, above all, for the \ngreat privilege of serving the Society as Secretary, with the resultant opportunity not only \nto observe how our ship is steered and handled in all kinds of weather, but to seek guidance \nand counsel from those older members, u r ho are so ready to give of their best to the humblest \namong us if he be seeking to learn in order to serve the Theosophical Movement. \n\nRespectfully submitted, \n\nIsabel E. Perkins, \n\nSecretary , The Theosophical Society. \n\nThe thanks and appreciation of the Convention having unanimously been voted to the \nSecretary, for all the services which she so faithfully renders, the Chairman announced the \nappointment of the three standing committees as follows: \n\nCommittee on Nominations: Dr. Clark (Chairman), Mr. LaDow, Mrs. Regan. \n\nCommittee on Letters of Greeting: Mr. J. F. B. Mitchell (Chairman), Mr. Kobb<\u00a7, Mrs. Arm\u00ac \nstrong. \n\nCommittee on Resolutions: Mr. Hargrove (Chairman), Dr. Torrey, Miss Hohnstedt. \n\nThe Convention then adjourned until the afternoon session, all members and delegates \nbeing invited to lunch as guests of the New York Branch. \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n73 \n\n\nAfternoon Session \n\nThe first business being the Report of the Treasurer, Mr. Hargrove took the Chair, Mr. \nH. B. Mitchell then submitting his report as follows: \n\nReport of the Treasurer T. S. \n\nAPRIL 25TH, 1931\u2014 APRIL 30TH, 1932 \nReceipts Disbursements \n\nPrinting and mailing the Theo- \nsophical Quarterly (4 num\u00ac \nbers). $3,718.92 \n\nStationery and Supplies. 76.56 \n\nPrinting. 122.75 \n\nRent. 150.00 \n\nTelephone and Miscellaneous.. . 112.56 \n\n\nCurrent Dues. \n\nGeneral Contributions and Do- \n\nS33741 \n\nnations to the Theosophical \nQuarterly. \n\n869.82 \n\nSubscriptions to the Theosoph\u00ac \n\n\nical Quarterly and Propa\u00ac \nganda Fund. \n\n1,976.22 \n\nSpecial Contributions. \n\n900.00 \n\nSpecial: Refund of Rent. \n\n150.00 \n\n\n4 . 233-45 \n\n1933 Dues, prepaid. \n\n196.00 \n\nTotal Receipts. \n\n4.429 45 \n\nBalance, April 25th, 1931. \n\n226.86 \n\n\n$4,656.31 \n\n\nTotal Disbursements. 4,180.79 \n\nBalance, April 30th, 1932. 475-52 \n\n$4.656.31 \n\n\n^4sse/$ \n\nOn deposit, Corn Exchange Bank \nTrust Company, April 30th, \n1932 ... \n\n\n$ 475.52 \n\n\nLiabilities \n\n1933 Dues, prepaid. $196.00 \n\nExcess of Assets over Liabilities. 279.52 \n\n$ 475-52 \n\n\nHenry Bedinger Mitchell, \nTreasurer , The Theosophical Society . \n\nThe Treasurer, after expressing his thanks to the Assistant Treasurer, Mr. Kobb\u00a3, called \nthe attention of delegates to the discrepancy between the cost of the Theosophical Quar\u00ac \nterly and the price at which it was sold. \u201cI do not think\u201d, he said, \u2018\u2018that it is sound business \nor sound morals or sound Theosophy to sell for twenty-five cents, what it costs forty-six cents \nto manufacture, with the cost of postage in addition. As you know, nobody is paid anything \nin the making of the Quarterly, except the printer.\u201d He suggested that the annual dues of \nthe Society should be maintained at $2.00, but that a separate charge of $2.00 a year, or fifty \ncents a copy, should be made for the Society\u2019s magazine. \n\nMr. Hargrove reminded members that if anyone cannot afford to pay his dues, he need \nonly inform the Treasurer or the Secretary of his inability, whereupon his dues would at once \nbe remitted, without impairment to his standing as a member; and that exactly the same prindjj \npie would apply to a subscription to the Quarterly. \u2018\u2018Poverty is no disgrace, and to fw \nashamed to ask for a remission of payment would be a surrender to false pride.\u201d \n\nMr. J. F. B. Mitchell moved that the subscription to the Quarterly be $2.00 for mem\u00ac \nbers and non-members alike; that members shall be under no obligation to subscribe, especially \nif English be not their native tongue, and that annual dues to the Society shall be as in the \npast, $2.00 a year, although non-American members should continue to transmit their dues to \nsome responsible organization for the relief of Allied soldiers or sailors who were disabled \nduring the Great War. He added that this change should go into effect at once, except for \nnon-member subscribers; in their case, following the usual custom, they should be notified of \nthe increased rate prior to the expiration of their subscription. He expressed the hope that \nif any members should find it impossible to pay the additional $2.00 for the Quarterly, they \nwould notify the Secretary promptly, for otherwise Headquarters would be put to the trouble \nand expense of writing to inquire the cause of any delay in payment. Inability to pay could \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n74 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nnot be assumed by the Secretary; there should be frank, prompt and explicit statement, when \nnecessary, of financial stringency. \n\nThis motion, having been seconded, was discussed by Mr. Ganson, Mr. LaDow, Mr. Saxe, \nand Dr. Woodworth, and, when put to the vote, was carried unanimously. The Treasurer\u2019s \nreport was then formally accepted, with thanks to the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, \nafter which Mr. H. B. Mitchell resumed the chair and called for the report of the Committee \non Nominations. \n\nReport of the Committee on Nominations \n\nDr. Clark presented the following nominations: for the two vacancies on the Executive \nCommittee, Mr. J. F. B. Mitchell and Mr. Auchincloss to succeed themselves; for Secretary \nT. S., Miss Perkins; for Assistant Secretary, Miss Chickering; for Treasurer, Mr. H. B. Mit\u00ac \nchell; for Assistant Treasurer, Mr. Kobb6. \n\nIt was voted that the Secretary be instructed to cast one ballot for the election of officers \nas nominated, and that the Committee be discharged with thanks. \n\nThe report of the Committee on Letters of Greeting was then called for. \n\nReport of the Committee on Letters of Greeting \n\nMr. J. F. B. Mitchell: You will remember the \u201cFragment\u201d that speaks of the chGla taken \nup to a high point and showm the darkness of the world\u2014then little points of light appear, with \nconnecting lines between them. I like to think of these greetings as coming from centres of \nlight all over the world, lines of light from them to this Convention. \n\nMr. Mitchell then read, amid frequent applause, the letters and other greetings to the Con\u00ac \nvention, extracts from which are printed at the end of the Convention report. \n\nThe report of the Committee on Letters of Greeting having been duly accepted with the \nthanks of the Convention, the report of the Committee on Resolutions was called for. \n\nReport of the Committee on Resolutions \n\nMr. Hargrove: This is going to be a very brief report, so far as the Chairman of the Com\u00ac \nmittee is concerned, but there are certain resolutions that must be put before you. I am going \nto ask Dr. Torrey to represent the Committee, and to speak for the Committee; its Chair\u00ac \nman, later on, may perhaps have the privilege of speaking as a member of the New York \nBranch, if there is time, though there are a number of people present from whom we want to hear. \nNo formal resolutions have been sent in by Branches, therefore it was not necessary for your \nCommittee to have a very long conference, because we agreed automatically and, let us say, \nfrom habit, upon the following: \n\nFirst, that the Chairman of the Executive Committee be authorized and requested to acknowl\u00ac \nedge, on behalf of this Convention, the letters of greeting to which we have had the great \npleasure of listening. \n\nSecond, that the officers of the Society be authorized to visit the Branches. \n\nThird, that the thanks of the Convention be extended to the New York Branch for the \nhospitality shown during the Convention. \n\nThese resolutions were carried unanimously. \n\nDr. Torrey: At these Conventions it is a custom to take note of the thought of the world, \nand particularly as regards its approach to the Theosophical philosophy expounded by Madame \nBlavatsky and others. So at this time I wish to speak of a scientific matter whose note was \nsounded in an editorial in last October\u2019s number of the Quarterly. \n\nIt appears that not long ago Dr. Alexis Carrel contributed an article to the Journal, Science , \nin which he points out that the science of cytology has not made the advance commensurate \nwith the great labours which have been expended upon it, and suggests that this unfortunate \nsituation is due to the fundamental error of treating the cell as though it w ? ere dissociated from \nits environment. That the fact to which he refers is true, any biologist can bear witness. \nOur text-books abound with pictures of the ideal cell where, within a closed cellulose membrane, \nis represented a full equipment of nucleus, chloroplasts, chondriosomes and the other cytological \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n75 \n\n\nelements. Indeed, it is even uncommon for the student to be told that the separate protoplasts \nof the plant cells are actually connected by minute plasma chains which pierce the rigid cellu\u00ac \nlose walls. \n\nThis dissociation and abstraction of the cell from its true place in the environment of the \nbody is but another instance of the disease of Nineteenth Century science. It was a time of \n\"\u2018hardness, primness and precise limitation of ideas\u201d\u2014a time of limited exactitudes in which \nthe measure of the intellect was regarded as the measure of reality. Faced with a complex \nsystem, either physical or mental, the mind dissociates it into its simplest elements and proceeds \nto study each element separately. Then it reverses the order of its activity and through \nsynthesis strives to create the original situation. But unfortunately the original situation is, \nin this way, never really recreated. For in order that the mind may grasp the simple elements \nof the situation it has reduced them to their central foci or points. It deliberately rejects all \nthat tends to obscure the precision of the view. As a consequence, all that makes for true \nsignificance in the elements; all the values which we attribute to the things of the world, such \nas better or worse, socially beneficent or inimical, pleasant or unpleasant\u2014in a word the \u201cfield\u201d \nwhich surrounds the elements as well as the totality\u2014falls out of sight, and in the synthetic \nreconstruction we have only a mechanical aggregation of discrete parts. \n\nI am very sure that we have here the basis for the age-long quarrel between the scientist and \nthe intuitionalist. The latter affirms that science kills everything which it touches; the \nformer retorts that the intuitionalist drifts about in a cloud of vagueness and rhapsody. \n\nThe matter is definitely paradoxical, and the practical solution, as in most cases of the sort, \nis to choose \u201ca seat which is neither too high nor too low\u201d. The'Nineteenth Century chose its \nseat too low. Having analyzed matter into hard, massy, impenetrable particles (which it \nnever could have done had it not deliberately neglected the field of the atom), it built the \nuniverse out of separate atoms and was forced to import the \u201clogical fiction\u201d of an ether to \nexplain interaction. Such a view will not explain the chemical compound even, to say nothing \nof life and mind. Mechanism in biology was the outcome of the view which holds that the \nwhole is equal to the sum of its parts. \n\nDr. Carrel\u2019s paper marks a growing tendency to recognize that no element of a system \nlives to itself alone. As the editorial in the Quarterly suggests, it attacks the \u201cdire heresy \nof separateness\u201d. The cell is only the focus upon which play the forces of the whole organism. \nThe lymph in which it is bathed and which forms its liquid medium of exchange with the \nblood, is never for two seconds the same, since it is constantly being altered by the secretions \nof the cell itself and by the secretions and excretions of every other cell in the body. The \nchanging electrolyte content of the lymph alters the permeability of the cell membranes and is \nevidenced by increased or decreased metabolism. In addition to this, the cell, as Carrel \npoints out, is the result of what it has passed through individually and racially; so there is ^ \ntemporal as well as a spatial factor in the environment. \n\nAll this comes close to a doctrine which is appearing in modem biology and which is varioiA^ \nknown as Holism (a term used by General Jan Smuts), or Emergent Evolution. Some of us \nmay have known it as the Hierarchical Principle. In the words of General Smuts: \u201cA Whole \nis a synthesis or unity of parts, so close that it affects the activities and interactions of those \nparts, impresses on them a special character, and makes them different from what they would \nhave been in a combination devoid of such unity or synthesis. It is a complex of parts but so \nclose and intimate, so unified that the characters and relations and activities of the parts are \naffected and changed by the synthesis\u201d. \n\nIn this concept lies one of our most intimate Theosophical doctrines. It is neither more nor \nless than the doctrine of the Unity of Being. Implicit in it is the teaching of the Lodge and \nits Wholeness, as well as the relations of Masters and ch\u00a3las. A study of natural wholes will \nreveal the key to the mystery of the organism. \n\nBiological science, then, is approaching in hesitant fashion this fundamental Theosophical \ndoctrine. Her present position, however, is scarcely advanced beyond the recognition of the \nphysical environment as the field of the organism. We have noted this in Dr. Carrel\u2019s con\u00ac \ntribution. He sees, indeed, that the time factor as well as the chemico-physical properties of \n\n\n76 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe environment, is involved in the matter, but the importance of the time factor in the present \nworld-field was recognized by Laplace over a hundred years ago when he wrote: \u201cNous devons \ndone envisager l\u2019\u00a3tat present de l\u2019univers comme 1\u2019effet de son 6tat ant^rieur.\u201d \n\nA second illustration will indicate how the principle of Holism is making headway in various \nbiological fields. \n\nOne of the aspects of biology is what we call ecology- It is the study which concerns itself \nwith plants or animals in relation to their physical and biological environments. The plant \necologist saw very early that his unit of study should be the plant community,\u2014that is, a \ngroup of plants living under a well defined condition of climate and soil. Such, for example, \nare the salt-marsh formation, the sand-dune formation, the Arctic-tundra formation. I am sure \nthat the earlier concept of the formation was, as a philosopher would say, nominalistic. It was \nonly a useful classificatorv term for a mechanical assemblage of plants in a given environment. \nThe study consisted in refined measurements of soil and water factors, in taxonomic identifica\u00ac \ntions of the plants, and in the formulation of a host of barbarous terms for old facts. In \nother words, the whole method of study was of the analytic-synthetic type. \n\nSome ten years ago Clements put forward the suggestion, regarded at that time as fanciful, \nthat the formation is an organism; that is, Clements had come to the holistic conception of the \nformation, just as Carrel has come to it for the tissue. In his own words: \u201cThe concept \nof the complex organism was formulated as a logical consequence of recognizing that the \ndevelopment of the community is an organic process, carried on by means of functions and \nresulting in structures, essentially as in the individual plant or animal. The community \nthus came to be regarded as something more than the mere sum of its parts, as an entity in \nwhich the component individuals bear much the same relation to themselves and the whole \nas do the cells of metaphyte or metazoon. To biologists such a view appeared novel and \nstartling when first proposed, and it was in consequence much criticized. In spite of this it is \nsteadily gaining a wider acceptance and by dynamic ecologists generally is recognized as the \ncorner stone of developmental ecology. This recognition has been hastened by its more or \nless independent use as the basic idea in the philosophical system of the emergent evolutionists .\u2019 r \n\nSo, in its own notion, science has made a new discovery. Through the New Physics the \nbolder spirits such as General Smuts are drawing close to the Theosophical position. They \nhave\u2019 recognized a space-time continuum and have seen that the organism has its wholeness \nin the new medium\u2014that it is, so to speak, a hyperspatial entity, and that its \u201cfield\u201d embraces \nconditions of existence which cannot be grasped through sensuous experience. The human \nsenses, moreover, do not report accurately even that which is amenable to their reach, since, \nas has so often been pointed out, the perceiving mind is limited by desire. Furthermore, with \nthe recognition of the organic nature of all Wholes, the fact of cyclic law as the method of all \ndevelopment is slowly coming to the fore. \n\nYet the scientist is still far from the Theosophical position. Though he recognizes the fact \nthat organic evolution continually creates new wholes, he does not recognize the preexistence \nof the thing created. Life, to him, is creative along the border of the advancing time wave. \nHe has yet to understand the words of Krishna: \u201cWith one portion of Myself I establish this \nwhole universe, yet remain separate.\u201d \n\nThe report of the Committee on Resolutions having been accepted with the thanks of \nthe Convention, the Chairman called on Mr. Rivero to speak for the Rama Venezuela of \nCaracas. \n\nMr. Rivero: Mr. Chairman and Fellow Members, This is again the propitious day, the great \nsolar day! The Venezuela Branch has done me the high honour of designating me as its \ndelegate to \u201cthis assembly of men and gods\u201d. I have accepted humbly and with emotion the \nnoble charge, realizing the high opportunity, the high responsibility it represents,\u2014animated \ndeeply by intense, disinterested fervour in serving the Masters. \n\nWith that character, therefore, and in that spirit, I have to-day the privilege of greeting \nthe members of The Theosophical Society in Convention assembled, with the fraternal voice \nof their Venezuelan companions. \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n77 \n\n\nFor some time I have been residing in this country, and know of the works of my Branch \nonly through its organ, El Teosofo , and through the correspondence I have exchanged with \nmy fellow-members in Caracas. I have just received a summary of the work done during the \nofficial year in behalf of the Great Cause, by the members of the Branch, and I am permitted \nto speak to you clearly in their name. My exposition here will be by no means a mere broad\u00ac \ncasting, for my heart is ever a true receiver of the wave initiated by the effort of my companions, \nas if I were present there with them. This has been, in truth, an unprecedented experience \nfor me. But is not Theosophy the total experience of life, whose synthesis includes in itself \nall consciousness, from its least significant manifestation to the most transcendental? Conse\u00ac \nquently, I am going to talk to you of the work of my Branch, lived by my companions there in \none form, and by me, with them in spirit, in another. \n\nTo begin with, El Teosofo is opening a cycle of pre-Colombian investigations, of a mystic- \nreligious character, with its study of the Popol Vuh. Quetzalcoatl is mentioned more to-day \nand one feels him nearer,\u2014even the painters have placed him on their canvas; and Junapup \nand Ixbalamque, the heroes of the book, are thought of as living gods. \n\nAmong the collective studies undertaken by the members, I should mention (a) The letters \nof Mr. Judge to Mr. Hargrove and the luminous commentaries of the recipient, all of which \nform in one firm harmonious entity the historical epilogue of The Theosophical Society as seen \nfrom within, and superbly reveal how much we owe to Judge. In this connection, my fellow- \nmembers have asked me to let you know that in spite of the immense spiritual love for the \nfigure of Judge, awakened in us by that admirable account in the columns of the Quarterly, \nin our Branch it was impossible to make that love any greater, for there it had already reached \nthe apex of its fullness. Gratitude is the root of our Branch, (b) The three fundamental \nobjects of The Theosophical Society\u2014golden triangle of all activity, individual and universal \n\u2014always are of a renewed actuality for our members, (c) The themes on the perpetual war \nbetween Good and Evil with its black progeny\u2014extreme socialism and its horrifying sequels, \nfor example\u2014arouse frequently the most alert consideration, (d) The reports of the meetings \nof the New York Branch are read and fruitfully commented upon. The Venezuela Branch \nlooks upon the New York Branch as on a guide, and endeavours to follow its direction and its \nprogramme, (e) Finally, at the meetings of our members, they read Light on the Path in the \noriginal,\u2014and almost all continue with ardour to learn English. \n\nFurther, among the events of the Branch there stands out the commemoration of the cen\u00ac \ntenary of the birth of H.P.B. It is opportune to mention also the homage rendered on that \noccasion to the glory of the Masters\u2019 Messenger by the important journals of Caracas, in pages \nof the warmest admiration. It was perhaps the only Capital of the whole world where, in that \nmanner, she received a tribute so spontaneously significant. \n\nAn event of profound repercussion for the Branch was the passing of Mr. Johnston, whom \nmany of the Venezuelan members had the rare privilege of knowing and loving. The Branch \nis grateful to him for that synthesis of his life in accepting with his death the will of the Masters \nas well as for his worthy resolution \u201cto begin all over again\u201d. That is the legacy of his spiritual \ntestament. May the intrepid servant repose in the militant peace and the eloquent silence of \nthe Masters, while we hail him with the very words of the Popol Vuh that he cited, for our stimu\u00ac \nlation, in the first edition of El Teosofo: \u201cLet the seeds germinate! Let the dawn arise!\u201d \n\nI could speak at greater length of the activities of the Branch, but I do not want to take \nadvantage of your kind attention. Permit me only, for my companions ask it, to touch on \none final point of profound significance for the Venezuelan members. It is this: they under\u00ac \nstand that at the head of every vital activity is one of the Masters of the Lodge as its repre\u00ac \nsentative and as its perfect incarnation. His work consists of awakening the human soul \nby means of his august guidance, by which is realized that evolutionary line in the heart of man. \nOur companions of Caracas direct me to tell you that, the two nights of meeting on which such \na subject was discussed, inspiration rained upon them like a Pentecostal descent. Each mem\u00ac \nber had discovered how his own destiny conducted him to an ideal, and how the Lodge of \nMasters was the sum divine of all the ideals of the heart of man. \n\nIn conclusion, if the Venezuela Branch could be represented by a sign, it would be that of \n\n\n7\u00ab \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe swastika: perpetual motion; if by a motto, \u201cRoutine is the stupefier of Theosophy\u201d; if \nby an immediate programme: The Lodge requires that we make ourselves disciples. Let us \nrespond! \n\nThis is the propitious day, the great solar day! \n\nThe Chairman: I do not know how many of us have had the privilege which has been mine, \nof actually seeing the magazine which the members of the Venezuela Branch produce. It is \nthe greatest tribute to them that they can produce such a magazine. I think all of us feel a \ndebt of gratitude to them, and of very sincere appreciation of the work that they are doing. \n[Applause.] \n\nMiss Hohnstedt (Cincinnati): Like Mr. Rivero, I feel it a great privilege to be here, and \nrealize the responsibility that is laid upon me. I think Conventions are always a time of \nsolemnity, when our love and loyalty to the Masters is confirmed. I have with me something \nwritten by my brother which I was to read: \u201cAt a meeting last summer, when the work for the \nseason was outlined, the members felt they would like to have a deeper understanding of \nTheosophy. A systematic study was suggested, and Patanjali\u2019s Yoga Sutras, translated by \nMr. Johnston, was unanimously chosen. This, in connection with The Secret Doctrine, which \nwe have been studying for a number of years, seems to supply our needs, particularly and \ngenerally. At that time it was pointed out that, owing to conditions existing in the material \nworld, the faith, will, intelligence and endurance of every member would be tested during the \ncoming season. Happily, our knowledge of Theosophy has enabled us to meet these condi\u00ac \ntions with confidence, and to see somewhat the guiding hand of the Masters behind the affairs \nof the world.\u201d \n\nMrs. Rose (Providence): I am asked to bring greetings from those members of the Hope \nBranch who could not come. I think their regret was perhaps more than in any other year, \nbut it was not possible for them to come. We have felt the strain on our small section of the \nfiring-line, perhaps more than usual. During the past year we have been exceedingly grateful \nfor the reports of the New York Branch meetings. We have used the reports for the main \npart of the work in our class; we have used, in addition, some of the articles on the Holy Spirit \nin the old Quarterlies. What the Branch feels at the present time is gratitude that we know \neven a little of Theosophy; and to express something of that gratitude, we have tried to keep a \ncheerful face and not be downed by this wall of depression which seems at times almost tan\u00ac \ngible. My last word is: gratitude. \n\nThe Pacific Branch of Los Angeles was represented by Mr. Saxe, who read the following ex\u00ac \ntract from a letter from Mr. Walter H. Box: \u201cIn any event, what we should most like is that, \nat the Convention, you think of us as often as you can, and, of course, hold us as near to your \nheart as you can; this, as we do the same for you and for all who will be there, as well as for \nthose who like ourselves will not be able to attend. ... I have imagined there will be more \nthan one heartfelt, appreciative mention of Mr. Johnston; and if that should be so, and you \ncare to speak for us, will you please say as from us all: that we beg and beg as, doubtless, every \none who knew him has done, for a \u2018double portion\u2019 of his spirit, of his vision, power, and love, \n\u2014of his \u2018mantle\u2019, as its simile was to Elisha at the passing and glorification of Elijah; this, \nas well as for an ever-increasing or.overflowing measure of the inner light, life, and fire which \nmust have burst forth radiant and vicarious and compelling from the Lodge to both far and \nnear, at his passing; because he was as he was, as Cave\u2019s January \u2018Fragment\u2019 so plainly shows. \nSo that we may love and serve as he did.\u201d Mr. Saxe added, \u201cI think hearing this will make us \nall wish more than ever that Mr. Box could have been here.\u201d \n\nThe invitation to speak was then extended to any other delegates who might care to address \nthe Convention. As none volunteered, the Chairman said that \u201cthis Convention should \nnot, because of shortness of time, curtail what we usually hear from the Chairman of the \nCommittee on Resolutions on the state of the world\u201d. [Applause.] \n\nMr. Hargrove: I should suppose you would have had sense enough to be tired of the state \nof the world! However, so far as the state of the world means the so-called financial depression, \nthe conviction of most of us is that nine-tenths of it is due to psychic causes. In this countrv,. \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n79 \n\n\nthe situation is not the same as it is in certain parts of Europe, because there is no doubt \nthat, physically speaking, the wealth is here, the labour is here, the gold is here. (By wealth, \n\nI mean the natural wealth,\u2014the corn, the wheat, the metals, the timber, and so forth.) Those \nin combination, ought to produce business, and one of the primary reasons that they do not \nproduce business at the present time is a psychic fear that possesses so many people, which \nis merely nervous reaction, after the unnatural \u201cboom\u201d period which culminated and dis\u00ac \nappeared toward the end of 1929. \n\nHowever true that may be, I want to suggest this for your consideration: If this country \nhad done the right thing after the Great War, if it had recognized that its loans to the Allied \ncountries had been made, not as business loans, but as a form of apology for not having \nentered into the war before,\u2014I do not believe, myself, that there would have been any \ndepression. There would have been nothing like the existing depression in the Allied countries. \nThere would have been no such unwholesome \u201cboom\u201d as we had here in 1929. My point is \nnot a political point, but the fact that if we try to do the right thing nationally, politically, \nand in our own lives, the results will take care of themselves. It is when we consider matters \nin terms of expediency that we become confused and almost inevitably do the wrong thing. \nAfter the Armistice, or in the beginning of 1919, if this country had considered solely what was \nthe right thing to do in connection with these huge sums of money that England, France, Italy \nand other countries owe us; if this country had been ashamed of its long neutrality, and of its \nfailure to take part at once in that war, which was a war for civilization, a war for justice, a \nwar for righteousness,\u2014there could have been only one decision; and, as I say, I do not believe \nthere would have been a crisis in Europe to-day, or even in this country. \n\nAnother mistake was made, as I venture to see it, and that was the adoption of the theory \nthat the present generation must be taxed sufficiently to pay for the war. Was that war fought \nonly for the benefit of the present generation? Was it not fought for the benefit of future \ngenerations also? After the Napoleonic wars, on the theory that England had been right \nin fighting them, English statesmen agreed that the next dozen generations should, if necessary, \nhelp to pay for them. \n\nIn the case of the Great War, there was deplorable confusion of thought in this country as to \nwhy it was fought at all. The war began at the end of July, 1914. We were at once told, and \nwere told with increasing emphasis, to be neutral in thought and in act,\u2014told officially. Some \npeople even tried to he neutral, I suppose\u2014it should have been very difficult\u2014while others \nwere actively pro-German, and a few as actively pro-Ally. The country as a whole tried to \nmake whatever money it could, by supplying ammunition, raw materials, foods and so forth \nto the Allies, and also to Germany when it could get things through. There were terrific \noutcries when the Allies interfered, as it was declared, with \"the freedom of the seas\u201d. What \nright, it was asked, had England or France to prevent this country from selling munitions, food \nor anything else to Germany? So it went on, with complete failure, except on the part of a \nvery few, to see the real issue, to understand what it was all about. Not until April, 1917, \nwas there a sort of last-minute waking-up to the idea that when all was said and done this \ncountry was concerned as to the outcome of the war\u2014a brand new revelation, apparently. \nThe sinking of the \u201cLusitania\u201d had not precipitated our entrance into the war. It irritated \npeople, but in itself was not regarded as a reason for war. No, it was instinctively felt at long \nlast that Germany had become a danger even to this country, and that the American voter was \nsufficiently irritated to be willing to go to war\u2014no recognition, even at that time, of what it was \nall about. \u201cTo make the world safe for democracy\u201d! I do not believe a man in any army fought \nfor any such reason. The idea was invented in Washington. It was not a human motive; \nit was\u2014I was going to say a professors\u2019 motive, but stopped in time! Fortunately, the pro\u00ac \nfessors here present will know exactly what I mean. Naturally enough, as the result of a \ncomplete lack of understanding, this country adopted the attitude, when the war was over, \nthat it had to collect all it possibly could from the Allies, who had fought throughout those \nterrible years without the slightest help from us\u2014millions of lives of the Allies sacrificed, as \nagainst less than a hundred thousand of Americans killed. \n\nAnother physical cause: while England has the Dole, we have our War Veterans. That is \n\n\nSo \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\none of the worst of scandals. We are asked to worry about scandals in New York, but what is \ngoing on in New York is child\u2019s play in comparison with the great American Dole system. \nFrom a carefully prepared statement in The New York Times , we learn that for the benefit of \nWorld War veterans, this country has paid out five and a half billions of dollars since the \nArmistice; and that sum does not include the interest on the money that has been borrowed in \norder to do it; nor does it include a billion and a quarter already advanced in the form of \nloans, nor two billions, three hundred and ninety millions of issued service certificates that are \ngoing to be redeemed sooner or later. So things have come to a point where, even on a five- \nand-a-half billion basis (only about half of what has been spent), the annual expenditure on \nWorld War veterans to-day amounts to one fourth of the total expenditure for all Government \nservices. Things have been carried to this extraordinary point because, while the original bills \nwere bad enough, politicians, wanting to catch a few more votes, have \u201cimproved\u201d on those \noriginal bills. At the present time, under an amendment of 1930, a veteran injured by a taxi\u00ac \ncab in Forty-third Street, acquires privileges similar to those of a veteran wounded by gun\u00ac \nfire in the Argonne. As long as a veteran lives, if he crushes his finger in his daily work, he \nacquires at least as much as a veteran wounded in the Argonne! When the country is vam- \npirized like that, how can you expect it to be prosperous? \n\nThose are three blunders which I think contribute largely to the physical causes of the present \ndepression: the insistence on the repayment of Allied war loans, the folly of trying to force \nthe present generation to meet all the costs of the war instead of distributing the cost over \nfuture generations, and this iniquitous \u201csteal\u201d that has been perpetrated by politicians in order \nto get the votes of the organized body of veterans. \n\nPeople find it very difficult, somehow, to recognize facts. The world as a whole simply will \nnot look at a fact, when an emotion of any kind is not in line with the fact. Take the question \nof disarmament: you know the feeling there is in this country for disarmament, and that Mr. \nStimson is in Europe at the present time, working for disarmament. You know the feeling \nthat France is an obstacle to disarmament; that her criticism of it is wicked, and must neces\u00ac \nsarily mean evil and hidden and imperialistic designs, though all that France asks is that we \ntake the facts into consideration. America says: Look at us! \u201cLook at our example: there \nis Canada, and that vast frontier-line with no forts, no guns: have we an army of half a million \nmen, protecting ourselves against her!\u201d America seems to think this an analogy for the \nsituation in Europe, when the fact is that France has been invaded by Germany at least ten \ntimes in the last few hundred years. \n\nWhat does disarmament mean? Suppose two men are neighbours, and that one of them \nowns one gun, and the other, three; suppose the man with three guns is compelled to surrender \ntwo, or even that both men are persuaded to surrender all their guns: is peace between them \nassured? If one of the men by nature is a robber and a thief, will he not take advantage of this \n\u201cdisarmament\u201d, provide himself with weapons surreptitiously, and attack his neighbour \nunawares? Not long ago I saw two taxi-cab drivers, not standing up and fighting, but rolling \nover one another on the pavement, blind with rage, trying to gouge out one another\u2019s eyes. \nThey had no weapons except their hands. \n\nObviously people are going to fight if they feel like fighting, and you can go through all the \nmotions of so-called disarmament without accomplishing a thing,\u2014except an added exposure \nof peace-loving, treaty-observing, law-abiding nations, to attack. The disarmament programme \nis a complete refusal to recognize facts, and as it is one of the purposes of Theosophy to help us \nhonestly to look facts in the face\u2014not to deceive ourselves, not to permit ourselves to be hypno\u00ac \ntized by shibboleths\u2014it is important that we, as members of the Society, should never lose \nsight of the truth in this connection. \n\nI should like to add something on a very different subject, if I may. I realize once in a \nwhile that some of us are growing older, and also that, as we grow older, life does not of neces\u00ac \nsity become easier. I connect that with what Mr. Johnston said about the last year of his life \nhaving been the most fruitful of any. My subject is Purgatory. What are the facts there? \nEvery religion in the world teaches that, after death, man passes through a state or condition \nin which he is purified, before he can enter into the full possession of his higher consciousness. \n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n81 \n\n\nThere is only one exception to that general rule, and that is the Low Church section of the \nProtestant Churches, and they repudiate Purgatory for purely historical reasons. There was \na time, as you know, when the Roman Catholic Church used the doctrine of Purgatory to col\u00ac \nlect money from the deluded, by the sale of \"indulgences\u201d. That led to a revolt and to a reac\u00ac \ntion, and as part of the reaction, the extreme Protestant washed his hands of Purgatory, \nsaid there is no Purgatory. But such sweeping gestures do not touch the facts. Buddhists, \nHindus, Zoroastrians, Mohammedans believe in Purgatory, in some form or other. Even \nProtestants do, although they will not call it by that name. One of the books on theology \nwhich the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country requires to be read by candidates for \nthe Ministry, was written by a Danish clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Martensen, a Lutheran. He \nhas much to say about \"the Intermediate State,\u201d as \"a realm of progressive development, in \nwhich souls are prepared and matured for the final judgment\u201d, and he frankly admits that his \nobjection to the term, Purgatory, arises from its abuse by the Roman Catholics,\u2014an objection \nwhich I, for one, cannot regard as blameworthy. \n\nAll the great religions agree\u2014esoterically in any case\u2014that Purgatory, or purification, can \nbe experienced here, while incarnated, as well as on the other side after death; and Purgatory, \naccording to those who have \"been there\u201d (and there are plenty of people who have \"been \nthere\u201d\u2014Saint Catherine of Genoa perhaps the best known among them),\u2014Purgatory is a \nprocess of purification which may become akin to a state of ecstasy, because of what is being \nachieved. Purification: a state of longing for the love not yet realized, for the vision not yet \nseen; intense suffering, yes, but suffering with open arms, pain welcomed, and in any case \nendured gladly because, somehow, to long is to possess; to desire to love, is to love; to suffer \nintensely, for love\u2019s sake, is to know love. Therefore, if life becomes harder, as it may become \nharder, there are two ways of looking at it: we can think of it, if we choose, as \"bad Karma\u201d; \ncan think that we are \"hardly put upon\u201d. That would be a feeble attitude. But we can think \nof it differently. Whose life has been perfect, whose personality is so transparent and clear \nthat it will transmit the full light of the soul? Is it not better to welcome the purifying process \nin this life, rather than accept it only on the other side? Sooner or later it cannot be escaped. \nHow can it be? Purification must take place. I am not speaking, of course, of the major \npurification, which leads to the \"terrace of enlightenment.\u201d Reincarnation takes care of that, \nby providing purification extending over many, many lives. I am speaking now of what \nmight be called the intermediate process: getting rid of the worst of the lower strata of the \npresent personality, so as to be able, when we come to die, to see the truth once more, to see \nbefore us our real selves and the real selves of other people, to be able to pass those gates with \nopen eyes, and to greet our friends when we get there. I speak of it because there is comfort \nand courage in the thought that the sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with \nwhat we ought to be able to achieve by means of that suffering; and that if more suffering \nawaits us, instead of anticipating it with dread, we should see in it an expression of the ever\u00ac \nlasting mercy, a provision by that mercy for our enlightenment and true joy. \n\nThe standing committees having been discharged with thanks, and the thanks of the Con\u00ac \nvention having been voted to its officers, the Convention adjourned. \n\nIsabel E. Perkins, \n\nSecretary of Convention. \n\nJulia Ciiickering, \n\nAssistant Secretary of Convention. \n\n\nLETTERS OF GREETING \n\nAussig, Czechoslovakia. \n\nTo the Members in Convention Assembled: In the name of the Branch I am asked to send \nour warmest greetings with heartfelt thanks, wishes and hopes for the future in all works \nfor the Masters. \n\n\n\n\n82 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nIt was told us that Mr. Judge used to say that if, as a result of his life\u2019s work, he were to \nknow when dying that as many as seven people had understood him, he would feel that his \nwork had been a success; but of course he meant to bring seven people into conscious disciple- \nship. \n\nAll our efforts may be directed to that great success of him and his followers, to grow in that \nliving power that can bring dry bones to life. \n\nMay the blessing of the Masters come over all members of the Society. \n\nHermann Zerndt, \n\nPresident , Aussig Branch. \n\n\nNewcastle-on-Tyne, England. \n\nTo the Members of The Theosophical Society in Convention Assembled: Once again it is my \nprivilege to convey to you our heartiest greetings and good wishes; we shall be with you in \nheart and mind on this occasion, bridging the distance of physical separateness, for the special \nmeeting we held on Convention Day last year was so successful\u2014spiritually speaking\u2014that \nwe decided to make it a permanent institution. May you then feel our aspiration, our deter\u00ac \nmined will to give, to serve, to the utmost, as we shall be grateful and joyous for the inspira\u00ac \ntion and encouragement it may be our privilege to receive. \n\nWe eagerly look forward to your deliberations each year, and we feel sure that the same \nwarrior spirit, the same stand for truth and righteousness will prevail, as it has done so magnifi\u00ac \ncently in the past. The call to arms was never greater, and when a valiant chieftain has \nfought the good fight, has kept the faith, and finished his course, it is for us more vigorously to \npress on to the objective that lies ahead. We therefore heartily welcome this gathering together \nof the individual spiritual force of the Society, that our souls may be stirred and refreshed for \nthe warfare at our gates. We can appreciate the opportunity for retrospection that the \nlessons of the past may be learned, as we would seek those keynotes for the future which vision \nand understanding alone provide. \n\nLet us then awake and come to life as we have never done before. Let us gird on our armour \nfor the fray, and determine that we will be more worthy warriors in so great a Cause; that \n\u201cfrom the stronghold of our Souls we will chase all our foes away\u2014ambition, anger, hatred, \ne\u2019en to the shadow of desire.\u201d In some such way as this can we alone repay the debt of loving \nservice rendered, of consecration and self-sacrifice made manifest. In this spirit we gladly \nsend our humble contribution of disinterested effort, of \u201cembodiment\u201d, during the past year, \nand our best wishes, to the Convention. We trust that your deliberations may be strong in \nfaith and purpose and blessed with the Masters\u2019 insight. It cannot, then, fail to be a day of \njoyful and thankful remembrance and an inspiration for the days to come. \n\nE. Howard Lincoln, \nPresident. \n\n\nAylsham, England. \n\nMrs. Bagnell wrote: As you know, our Norfolk Branch, for the last few years, has tried \nby means of a special study in April to prepare for Convention, so that we may be more fitted \nto take part in it spiritually and mentally, as we are not able to be there in person. I believe \nthat we all find this very helpful, and when the comments on the special study come in, they \nare generally the best of the year. \n\nIn mai^y ways this must be a sad Convention, for there are gaps in the ranks of our Leaders \nthat must be painfully felt; but Convention, unless there is something very wrong with it, \ncan never be anything but an occasion of deep gladness, of gratitude and rejoicing, and I am \nsure that this one will be the same as all the others have been. Indeed I am sure that it will be \nbetter still, for each succeeding one must be that; and I hope and pray that it may be a very \nwonderful one, and that its spirit will not only be felt all through the T. S., but will permeate \nthe whole world and help greatly the work that the Masters are striving to do in it. It seems \na very sick world just now, and one that needs help badly, but I think the very fact that so \nmany nations are suffering acutely at present is really an encouraging sign, for it is only by \n\n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES 83 \n\nsuffering, by a real agony, that they can hope to rise out of the slough of materialism in which \nthey have been sunk, and to regain spiritual light and life. \n\n... In all the tangled welter of world events, it seems to me that w T e must always try to see \nthe working of the Lodge, and what it is trying to do for the nations; and so it would appear \nthat much which at the time seemed a catastrophe, is being turned wholly to good. \n\nOur Norfolk Branch, by a happy coincidence, began a study of Vol. II of Letters that have \nHelped Me about the same time as the Letters of Mr. Judge appeared in the Quarterly, and \nof course the latter have been of inestimable help to us. They have made much in the history \nof the T. S. far more clear than ever before, to those who did not actually live through it from the \nbeginning, and it is impossible not to feel the most ardent gratitude to Mr. Judge for all he did \nfor the Movement, and for all he suffered for it; and an intense desire to do one\u2019s best to help \nin carrying on the work for which he literally gave his life. \n\nIn sending our greetings and good wishes to members assembled in Convention, I feel sure \nthat all our members here will be resolved to send out to it all the aspiration, all the spirit of \nunity and true spiritual brotherhood of which they are capable, so that in a very real sense \nthey may be present, and later on may be able to grasp and to put into practice all that is \ngiven out in it. \n\nMiss Bagnell wrote:\u2014At this time our thoughts turn constantly towards Convention, and \nthere is now the desire to prepare for it by every means in our power. Recently I read, in \nthe February number of Blackwood's , an article which gave a vivid account of a hazardous \nenterprise undertaken in the true spirit of brotherhood. The task entrusted to a band of \nsome twenty Englishmen, under a splendid leader, was to establish and hold a movable \nfrontier in North Eastern India, and to maintain order among a set of debased native tribes, \nin the jungle. The work, which called on the utmost resources of courage, loyalty and en\u00ac \ndurance, from one and all, was accomplished by the united response of the band to the plan \nof the leader. Such a narrative gives us some understanding of the close ties which unite com- \nrades-in-arms engaged in any true adventure, and it served to illustrate vividly, for me, that \nbond which underlies the Brotherhood in the T. S. To maintain the frontier line, to hold the \noutposts of Empire, is a task which must demand incessant vigilance, the result of long and \narduous training, gladly undertaken. \n\nThere is always, of course, the reverse of the picture, and I find this illustrated in a verse \nof the prophet Baruch which I can never read without a pang of regret: \u201cYoung men have \nseen the light, and dwelt upon earth, but the way of discipline they have not known, e nor \nunderstood the paths thereof.\u201d The regret comes, of course, for the opportunity wasted \nthrough weakness of will, through failure to concentrate on the essential discipline which is \nprovided by the adventure of daily life. \n\nSo, whether we read the narratives of adventure with enthusiasm, or the account of failure \nwith regret, both must evoke a renewed determination to concentrate energy on that discipline \nwhich is the basis of effective, united action. \n\nAt Convention time our thoughts are brought to a focus, in the union of intention and \naspiration. May we all gain that illumination of the understanding, which will enable us \n(individually and as a whole) to work out the details of the task set us. \n\nOur heartfelt good wishes go to Headquarters, and to all who will meet in Convention^ \nwhether present in New York, or united in heart throughout the world. May the Masters \nfind true response from one and all, both at Convention time and in all the year that follows. \n\nOslo, Norway. \n\nTo the Secretary T.S.: To-day (April 9th) it is three weeks only, and the day of our annual \nConvention will have come once more. To me, as surely for many others amongst our mem\u00ac \nbers, it appears as if each coming Convention is of growing significance, and such surely must \nalso be the fact, seeing that we are all striving towards a goal, and once in the course of time \nthis goal shall be attained, presupposing only that we never cease striving. And so we may \ntrust that with each coming Convention we are nearer our goal. On the other hand we are \n\n\n8 4 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nfeeling, I think, that this goal is beyond time and in a sense we may be there e/ery moment. \nSuch a feeling we have in our higher moments, when all within and without is Silence and oitr \nhearts are going in love to all being. I think the Convention day is a day when we all are \nstriving in common to unite in this feeling in which there is no sentimentality, but surely a \nPrayer: Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done! and in every single member the Prayer: \nMay I too be faithful to my trust in the coming year and more and more from moment to \nmoment! Then once the moment shall come when the said feeling is no more limited by time, \nbut having found our Master we understand and realize words such as these: \u201cMy meat is \nto do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work\u201d. And then we are living in Eternity, \nalthough working still in time. \n\nWe intend to have a meeting on the Convention day, and surely we shall with you remember \nalso our \u201cliving dead ones\u201d, amongst whom is this year also to be numbered Mr. Charles John\u00ac \nston. And I trust our hearts will go with thanks to all who give their life to our Cause, whether \nthey are in or outside this body of earth. Kindly forward to all members in Convention as\u00ac \nsembled the sincere greetings of the Oslo Branch. \n\nHenning Dahl, \n\nChairman , Oslo Branch. \n\n\nToronto, Canada. \n\nTo the Members of The Theosophical Society in Convention Assembled: Toronto Branch sends \nfraternal greetings and best wishes for a most successful Convention. \n\nAt the very end of the Key we read: \u201cIf the present attempt, in the form of our Society, \nsucceeds better than its predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized, \nliving and healthy body when the time comes for the effort of the twentieth century. The \ngeneral condition of men\u2019s minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the \nspread of its teachings, and, as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illusions will have \nbeen, to some extent at least, removed. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible litera\u00ac \nture ready to men\u2019s hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people \nready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared for \nhis message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an organi\u00ac \nzation awaiting his arrival, which will remove the mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties \nfrom his path. Think how much one, to whom such an opportunity is given, could accom\u00ac \nplish.\u201d \n\nYes! Let us think of it and work for it; for does not the making of this splendid ideal into a \nliving reality depend much on our efforts to-day? \n\nThere is a saying which is not always true, but is in this case, that nothing succeeds like \nsuccess. Thanks to our leaders, and the sincere efforts of members everywhere, there is no \ndoubt that The Theosophical Society has had a fair measure of success. In life, success often \nmeans failure, one reason being that while the outer man has succeeded, it has been at the \ncost of the inner; high ideals have been sacrificed to expediency. This is not true of the T.S., \nand we have cause for thankfulness in the fact. But let us remember that the moment we \nattempt to rest in the success we have attained, that moment we commence to die. \n\nIt is always a great pleasure to read the greetings received from foreign lands where English \nis not the national language. We think of the different modes of life, and in some cases, limited \nopportunities as compared with ours, to whom even the use of the language in which so much \nof our literature is written is a great advantage; and yet do we not feel in their message a lan\u00ac \nguage common to us all\u2014the language of the Soul? Salutations to them all. \n\nIt has been said of Gautama Buddha that he rose on the shoulders of a million men. We \nmay apply this even to our Convention. The smallest efforts for Theosophy, if sincere and \nfrom our hearts, all go to the building up of that force which helps make possible the success \nwhich attends these Conventions. One pictures in one\u2019s imagination the continuation of these \nannual gatherings unto that time when the new Messenger arrives. What a Goal to work for! \n\nAlbert J. Harris, \n\nSecretary. \n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n85 \n\n\nWhitley Bay, England. \n\nTo the Members of The Theosophical Society in Convention Assembled , the members of the \nWhitley Bay Branch send fraternal greetings. As the date of the Convention draws nearer, \nwe have the feeling of travellers returning after a long voyage. We seem to have gone out on \na voyage of discovery since the last Convention, and at last we have returned home to the \nmeeting place of kindred souls. We have a sense of completeness, of unity, which brings with \nit a feeling of serenity and peace, and underlying it all is gratitude and appreciation, that as \nmembers of The Theosophical Society we belong to something great, something really worth\u00ac \nwhile, something which is true and is therefore everlasting. The Wisdom Religion requires a \ndefinite attitude towards life, and this requires definite knowledge, and the hours of Convention \ngive us renewed energy for another voyage of discovery and aspiration, with the confirmed \nknowledge that we are going in the right direction. \n\nFurther, we know that this directed aspiration of the members, or even of one member, into \nthe realms of spiritual consciousness, will draw all of us nearer the ideal of Universal Brother\u00ac \nhood through the gateway of the Lodge. To-day we are standing with you shoulder to shoulder, \nfacing in the direction of this gateway, and with hope that the Convention will again mark \nanother step forward in our pilgrimage. \n\nFredk. A. Ross, \n\nPresident, Blavatsky Lodge. \n\n\nBerlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany. \n\nTo The Theosophical Society in Convention Assembled: Once again that you are congregated \nfor a solemn purpose we beg to transmit to you our heartiest greetings and sincerest wishes \nfor a successful Convention. \n\nWe are looking back upon a year of quiet and harmonious work. In this connection we avail \nourselves of the opportunity afforded by this day to express our deepest gratitude towards all \ncontributors to the Quarterly who have given us through its columns every support and en\u00ac \nlightenment. \n\nWith all friends united at the Convention we think at this hour\u2014with our hearts filled \nwith gratitude\u2014of our leader Mr. Johnston, for us gone home too early, to whom we German \nmembers feel especially indebted. His spirit and labour educated us to that spiritual heroism, \nnot even to complain at his death. What a consolation is our belief in the living dead, which \nfills 11s with renewed vigour to follow them through the door thus opened! \n\nWe are still occupied with the study of the Convention report of 1931, which keeps our \nhearts and minds open for the influx of its wisdom. \n\nThe darkness about us is getting more dense every day; the spirit of opposition is growing; \nthe will \u201cto make reparation\u201d is, to the majority of our people, equal to High Treason. Maybe \nthe ever-growing sorrow and despair will bring about a change, and lead all those who are \nof good will on to the Right Path. \n\nOur hearts are turned to the Masters. We pray that They may help us\u2014in spite of th\u00ab \ndarkness surrounding us\u2014to do our work in accordance with Their Will. Convention-Day \nwill find our hearts and souls united with yours! \n\nOn behalf of the Wilmersdorfer Studv Class, \n\nOskar Stoll. \n\nAlfred Friedewald. \n\n\nPost-Raubling, Germany. \n\nTo the Members of The Theosophical Society in Convention Assembled: In knowledge of the \ngreat privilege and favour it is to share in spirit, heart and mind on this occasion, we send \nfraternal greetings and good wishes for a successful Convention in 1932. \n\nAfflicted and heavy of heart, we must report that, in Germany, there is no spark or sign \nof turning to God and his Law, through repentance and expiation, but quite the opposite. \n\nPermit us to speak of Mr. Charles Johnston, whom we came to know personally in 1911. \nHis visit at that time left a continued impression,\u2014the spark in our hearts, which came from \n\n\n\n\n86 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhis heart. During the catastrophe of the World War, as darkness overcame us, this spark was \nliving, and although it was almost impossible to see the truth, the interior voice told us: \"Mr. \nCharles Johnston and his friends cannot be wrong; he is right, he is right\u201d. The spark became \na light by which to see \u201cthe waving Colours on the walls\u201d: that advance H.P.B. and W. Q. \nJudge; that advance Jeanne d\u2019Arc 500 years before. We are deeply thankful to all these \nMessengers of the Lodge, deeply thankful to Mr. Johnston, as members living in Germany, \nto whom he was once of such great help, and is also to-day. We believe we owe it to him that \nwe are to-day still members of the T.S. We feel painfully his loss in the visible world, but \nmust turn this into devotion and humility, into enthusiasm for the invisible world, thus follow\u00ac \ning his example to us, and accomplishing the will of the Masters and their workers, and becom\u00ac \ning worthy of those \u201cwaving Colours on the walls\u201d. \n\nMax Kolb. \n\nElse Kolb. \n\n\nTrieste, Italy. \n\nTo The Theosopliical Society in Convention Assembled ,, New York: Dear Fellow Members , \nSince my last greeting, the world\u2019s affairs have become every day w'orse by the absolute spiritual \nblindness of mankind. Not one can distinguish between the good and the bad, and com\u00ac \npromise with the Black Forces is our every-day experience. \n\nI look far over the ocean to you with the hope that the spark of heavenly light may not be \npermitted to perish and may become in the future the flame, which shall help mankind to find \nagain the hidden Path to the Higher Self, at present completely lost and forgotten. \n\nWe are at this time with you, heart and soul, and are sure that the blessings of Convention \nwill be felt by all Members present or far-away. \n\nA. Plinio. \n\nTh. Plinio. \n\n\nHamburg, Germany. \n\nWhile recently reading a book bearing on psychical matters, I came across the following \nchallenge in a discussion between the tw\u2019o opponents:\u2014\u201cIf he is in touch with angelic beings, \nlet him give us a philosophy which is higher than mortal mind can evolve\u201d. Although it had \nno allusion to Theosophy, it struck me, on reviewing what I had read in the past 12 months, \nas applicable to Mme. Blavatsky: That is just what H.P.B. did! The Theosophical philosophy \nbrings to mankind the most beautiful conception of Life, here and hereafter,\u2014the understand\u00ac \ning of its sublime character merely being limited by our own limitations. Even the little \nglimpse I have so far succeeded in obtaining, has been sufficient to convince me of that. \n\nThinking of the loss of my Father, in the light of Theosophy, and the death of Mr. Johnston \nand Dr. Keightley, and w'hat was written in the Quarterly on these occasions, not to mention \nthe articles in connection with the Centenary of the birth of H.P.B., the book \u201cIn Memory of \nH.P.B.\u201d, etc.\u2014Theosophy certainly removes altogether the terrible sting of Death. That \nalone would be sufficient to wish and pray that mankind would and could accept the comfort \nand understanding offered in the doctrines given forth in the Wisdom Religion. \n\nHarry Knoff. \n\n\nOneal, Arkansas. \n\nTo the Secretary T. S.: Next Saturday will be Convention day, a day we all look forward to as \na day of great privileges to those able to attend; also to those whose hearts and thoughts are \ntrue to the purposes of the Movement, and to the Ideal set before us. And if our privileges \nare great, greater are our responsibilities as representatives in the outer world of the Great \nWhite Lodge, and to the extent that we assimilate the Lodge Ideal, and serve its purposes, \nwe are its representatives. \n\nI just wanted to send a w'ord of sincere greetings to all members at Convention; and how \nproud I shall be to know of the Unity of heart and purpose w\u2019hich will characterize this most \nimportant of all Conventions! I feel that great events are approaching, and may appear sooner \nthan some of us expect. \n\n\n\n\n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES \n\n\n87 \n\n\nNo need for me to praise the Quarterly, \u2014I do not know how to do so\u2014to me, each issue is \nbetter than the last; I can but try to be grateful for its teaching, and its influence in the world. \n\nI very greatly appreciate \u201cReports of proceedings of the N. Y. Branch Meetings\u201d. \n\n\u201cSeek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be \nadded unto you\u201d, is said to be the \u201crule and doctrine of Masters of Wisdom\u201d,\u2014may it be ours \nalso. \n\nWm. E. Mull in ax. \n\n\nAussig, Czechoslovakia. \n\nTo the Secretary T. S.: You may believe me this letter I am sending to you comes out of a \nheart full, full of thankfulness. Thankfulness and love I wish to give with all the longing of \nmy soul, for all the great help and kindness that I have received between Christmas and now. \nBut my gift is small and humble I know\u2014I will trust it to that Master who fed five thousand \npeople\u2019 with only five barley loaves and two small fishes. It was all his disciples were able to \nproduce\u2014but by his blessing the food was multiplied and the Master stilled the hunger of so \nmany people. \n\nIn this way I have faith and trust in the coming Convention, and like the Christian disciples \nI give all my thankfulness, all my love\u2014as much as I am able\u2014to the great Masters and com\u00ac \nbatants,\u2014to H. P. Blavatsky, to Mr. Judge, to Mr. Griscom, to Mr. Johnston, and to the \nleaders of the Society in this time in the outer world\u2014all, all I have so much to thank, including \nthe Quarterly. \n\nMy letter would not be quite clear to me, if I did not think also of one thing to which every \nConvention points; it is: to grow into a real combatant for Masters! May the light of the \nConvention help us in this during the coming year, so that if the Master were to come to us, \nhe may find us watching, and fighting with light and understanding\u2014soldiers in reality! \n\nMarie Willkomm. \n\n\nDelegates and members showed deep interest in the reading of Letters of Greeting, including, \nin addition to the foregoing, letters from Mr. Arthur W. Barrett (Massachusetts); Mr. Birger \nElwing (Texas); Miss Evans and Miss Wallace, President and Secretary of the Branch in Den\u00ac \nver; Miss Eleanor Evans (England); Miss Anna Fjaestad (Sweden); Miss Gorich and Mrs. \nBox (California); Mr. Herman F. Hohnstedt, President of the Branch in Cincinnati; Miss E. \nHowe (England); Mr. 0 . Ihrke (Germany); Mr. R. Jager, Treasurer of the Aussig Branch, \nCzechoslovakia; Mr. Gonzdlez Jimenez, Secretary of the Branch in Caracas; Miss Jennie B. \nTuttle (California); Mr. Richard Walther (Germany); Mr. Percy W. Ward, Secretary of the \nBranch in Gateshead, England; Mr. Friedrich Weber (Germany); Mrs. Rossie Jane Whittle, \nSecretary of the Branch in Middletown; Mr. Franz Willkomm (Czechoslovakia); cablegrams \nfrom Mrs. Graves, Mrs. Bagnell and Miss Bagnell; from Mrs. Raymond (Japan), and tele\u00ac \ngrams from Captain E. W. Hamlen and Mrs. H. P. Moser. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n\nGeneral Botany for Cclieges, by Dr. R. E. Torrey, Assistant Professor of Botany, Massa\u00ac \nchusetts State College; The Century Biological Series, Century Co., New York; price, S3.50. \n\nThis book was written by an expert who undoubtedly understands his subject as few do, \nand who owes his understanding in large measure, we believe, to his refusal to regard his \u201cfield\u201d \nas isolated from the rest of the universe,\u2014the stultifying habit of most specialists. The \nresult is a treatise which cannot fail to be of interest and value to everyone who would study \nlife as a whole, as well as to those who make a special study of Botany. Dr. Torrey\u2019s con\u00ac \nclusion expresses the hope that readers will have derived from his pages a better, deeper, \nbroader vision of evolutionary processes. He adds: \u201cIt is not possible or desirable that all \nof us should become botanists, and in this book the needs of the cultured humanist have been \nkept in mind, as well as those of the scientist. All of us are human beings first and scientists \nafterwards, and the laws of evolution which we have seen written in the plant world are the \nlaws of evolution of all life\u2014of your life and of mine. In studying these laws in their universal \napplication you may, if you will, find some of the deepest satisfactions which life has to offer, \nand, as the years go by, you may slowly win to the concept of a living, organic universe whose \nhighest values are not alien to those of human nature.\u201d T. \n\nThe Secret of the Golden Flower , a Chinese Book of Life, translated and explained by Richard \nWilhelm, with a European Commentary by C. G. Jung; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., \nLtd., London, 1931; price, 12s. 6 d. net. \n\nThe late Richard Wilhelm was a German Sinologue who must have had exceptional endow\u00ac \nments, for according to his friend, Dr. Jung, he became \u201ca pupil of a Chinese master of the old \nschool\u201d and \u201can initiate in the psychology of Chinese yoga.\u201d He explains that The Secret of \nthe Golden Flower comes from an \u201cesoteric circle\u201d and that it is based upon an oral tradition \ngoing back to the Eighth Century. It is supposed to record the instructions of Lii Yen, \none of the Eight Taoist Immortals and the reputed founder of the religion of the Golden \nElixir of Life. In its actual state, however, the little treatise is clearly a fusion and a mixture \nof many elements. There seems to have been a deliberate attempt to blend certain Taoist \nand Buddhist metaphysical teachings. There are also passages which might be Chinese \ntranslations of some Indian tantric work on Hatha Yoga or Pranayama. This is not sur\u00ac \nprising, when one recalls the history of Northern Buddhism. The pure Mahayana doctrines \nhave been frequently travestied by partisans of tantric magic, and when the great Buddhist \nmissionaries entered China they were followed by other missionaries who did not teach Bud\u00ac \ndhism but a perversion of it. It would have been miraculous if the Chinese had always chosen \nrightly between the two. \n\nThe book offers another difficulty. It is written in a cipher which is susceptible to various \ninterpretations. One must pay due tribute to Wilhelm for the way in which he has unravelled \na consistent metaphysical scheme from its sentences. Thus he identifies the \u201cGolden Flower\u201d \nwith the elixir of life, the secret of immortality. \u201cEach individual contains a central monad \nwhich, at the moment of conception, splits into life and essence, ming and hsing. ... In \nthe personal bodily existence of the individual they are represented by two other polarities, \n\n88 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n89. \n\na p'0 soul (or anima) and a Jtun soul (or animus). All during the life of the individual these \ntwo are in conflict, each striving for mastery. At death they separate. . . . The anima \nsinks to earth as kuei , a ghost being. The animus rises and becomes slrtn, a revealing spirit \nor god. ... If the life-forces flow downward .... into the outer world, the anima is victorious \nover the animus; no \u2018spirit-body* or \u2018Golden Flower\u2019 is developed and, at death, the ego is \nlost. If the life-forces are led through the \u2018back-flowing\u2019 process, that is, conserved and made \nto \u2018rise\u2019 instead of allowed to dissipate, the animus has been victorious, and the ego persists \nafter death. ... A man who holds to the way of conservation all through life may reach the \nstage of the \u2018Golden Flower\u2019, which then frees the ego from the conflict of the opposites, and \nit again becomes part of Tao, the undivided Great One \u201d (p. 73). There are remarkable analo\u00ac \ngies between these concepts and the theosophical teaching concerning Buddhi-Manas and \nKama-Manas, the spiritual and animal souls in man. \n\nThe work prescribes certain yoga exercises which are intended to initiate the process of \nthe \u201cinteriorization\u201d and immortalization of the ego. One may give the Chinese \u201cesotericists\u201d \nthe benefit of the doubt and assume that they attributed a mystical and spiritual meaning \nto the description of these exercises. But the practices outlined in the text can only be de\u00ac \nscribed as tantric, in so far as they are ostensibly concerned with the methods of stimulating \ncertain nerve-centres in the physical body. The literal and obvious meaning of the words \nsuggests that the \u201cGolden Flower\u201d may be cultivated by the control of the breath and by \n\u201cfixing one\u2019s thinking on the point which lies exactly between the two eyes.\u201d The dangerous \nillusions which are nourished by such injunctions are fortunately lessened by the incomplete\u00ac \nness of the instructions, as also by the fact that the average Western reader will not have the \nslightest idea as to what it is all about. \n\nDr. Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, has his own private key to the cipher of this \u201cBook of Life\u201d. \nHe has the highest praise for the Chinese sages whom he greets as brother-psychiatrists. Their \nobject, he believes, was the same as his,\u2014to reconcile and to harmonize the demands of the \nsubconscious instinctive self with the demands of the self-conscious and rational ego. The \npsychic conditions which accompany the process of reconciliation \u201care expressed symbolically \nin our text, and in the very symbols which, for many years, have been well-known to me in my \npractice\u201d (p. 93). He is not concerned with the possible objective reality of the \u201cGolden Flower\u2019 \u2019 \nor with the actual technique of Chinese yoga, for he has the circumscribed mind of the specialist \nand tends to assimilate only that aspect of an idea which can be adapted to his specialty. \n\nIt follows that Dr. Jung\u2019s commentary is a very interesting revelation of Dr. Jung\u2019s theories, \nbut that it has very little to do with the mysterious reaches of consciousness to which the \nChinese book points, because those reaches are beyond the narrow domain which the psy\u00ac \nchiatrist lights up with his little lantern. \n\nThere is one point which cannot be passed over in silence. Speaking of the Occidental \nwho ruins body and spirit in the attempt to take over Oriental yoga practices, Dr. Jung says \nthat \u201cTheosophy is our best example of this mistake\u201d (p. 79). It is a regrettable fact that man^ \npeople who call themselves Theosophists have by their behaviour given others a very fal^F \nview of Theosophy. Dr. Jung may rest assured that members of The Theosophical Society^ \nfounded by Madame Blavatsky and W. Q. Judge are not in the habit of practising Hatha Yoga \nanywhere at any time, for they have too much respect for the Wisdom of the East to imagine \nthat it can be acquired in this way. S.V.L, \n\nMoral and Religious Aphorisms, by Benjamin Whichcote; Elkin Mathews and Marrot,. \nLondon, 1931; price 7 s. 6 d. \n\nAfter an interval of nearly two hundred years, this devotional treasure of the seventeenth \ncentury is republished. An introduction by Dean Inge\u2014in his better manner, entirely free \nfrom \u201cmodernistic\u201d suggestions\u2014gives the historical setting of the book, and indicates its \nvalue. In seventeenth century England, there arose two groups of men\u2014laymen and ecclesi\u00ac \nastics in each group\u2014who inherited the Renaissance tradition (see \u201cEastern Influences in \nMediaeval Christendom\u201d, Theosophical Quarterly, April, 1932), and made it their endeavour \nto win recognition for the realities of Christian thought and life as distinct from theological \n\n\ngo \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ndogma . \u201cThey tried to knit again the threads which had been severed by the long isolation \nof the West from the East\u201d (p. IV). One group, Royalist and High Church, centred at Ox\u00ac \nford, around Lord Falkland; the other, Puritan and Low Church, worked at the sister uni\u00ac \nversity, Cambridge, and hence is known as the Cambridge Platonists. Dr. Benjamin Which- \ncote (1609-1683) was the leader of the second group. As head of Emmanuel College (Cam\u00ac \nbridge), Whichcote directed his own pupils to the study of Plato and Plotinus, for the elucida\u00ac \ntion of St. Paul, his general aim being to \u201crecall the Church to her old loving nurse, the Platonic \nphilosophy\u201d (p. VI). The influence of that seventeenth century movement was silent, but \npotent, and \u201cno one can doubt\u201d, Dean Inge writes, \u201cthat Coleridge and Wordsworth were in \nthe line of succession\u201d (p. IX). \n\nAs a result of the unusual stand made at Oxford and at Cambridge, for experience as distinct \nfrom dogma , in the last quarter of the seventeenth century there were produced many works of \na mystical character. Sermons of Bishop William Beveridge (1637-1708) are one example. \nAnother example is a small treatise entitled The Life of God in the Soul of Man, by Henry \nScougal (1650-1678), an obscure Scotch clergyman who died in his twenty-eighth year. That \nthe writings of Beveridge and of Scougal should be studied by the brothers Wesley (John \nwas bom 1703) while students at Oxford, is not surprising. It does surprise, however, to learn \nthat Scougal's tiny volume was carried to Virginia by Scotch emigrants, was noticed there by \nAnglican missionaries who had the book reprinted at Philadelphia, first in 1725, and again in \n* 795 - A copy of that later edition found its way to Emerson (born 1803, one century after \nJohn Wesley), who studied, marked, and annotated it. Truly, as Tennyson has so beautifully \nsaid, \u201cthe whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.\u201d \n\nBooks by Whichcote are scarce, and could hardly be expected to circulate widely. The \npresent edition gives an opportunity to obtain, \u201cin black and white\u201d, from an orthodox An\u00ac \nglican ecclesiastic, words that support and reinforce certain theosophical teachings,\u2014for \nxample: \u201cBoth Heaven and Hell have their foundations within us. Heaven is an internal \nreconciliation to the nature of God, and to the rule of Righteousness. The guilt of conscience, \nand enmity to Righteousness, is the inward state of Hell. The guilt of conscience is the fuel \nof Hell.\u201d \n\nSome sermons by Whichcote and his associates were republished in 1901 (after one hundred \nand sixty years) by the Clarendon Press, under the title, The Cambridge Platonists , E. T. \nCampagnac being the editor. Those interested in the subject should watch in old book shops \nfor that volume, which now is out of print. C. \n\nThe Vision of God: The Christian Doctrine of the Summum Bonum; The Bampton Lectures \nfor 1928, by the Rev. Kenneth E. Kirk; Longmans, Green & Co., 1931; price, Sio.oo. \n\nThis book is of great interest and value. It is addressed to serious students of Christian \nthought; and though its method is that of German \u201cthoroughness\u201d, it fortunately is without \nGerman pedantry, and contains justly severe strictures on some German scholarship. The \nunfolding of Christian history at its very heart and centre\u2014the Vision of God\u2014draws us \ncloser to the hidden springs of merely outward action, and so, for students of Theosophy, \ngives something of a perspective of Lodge activities and Lodge achievements. The literature \ncovered is enormous; there are acute critiques of ancient and modem writers; fundamental \nprinciples are not lost to sight in the wealth of illustrative detail; and, as a result, the final \nconclusion, so far as it goes, gathers irresistible force: \u201cWorship stands out as the only means \nby which service can be purged of a self-centredness which renders it all but unserviceable; \nand the doctrine that man s first duty is to look towards God in the spirit of worship, which \nis the fundamental truth implied in the Christian thought of the vision of God, receives its \nvindication (p. 463). At a time when many in the Theosophical Movement are looking for \nGod-instructed men to lead the nations\u201d, the formal and conspicuous reassertion in Chris\u00ac \ntian terms of such a need for Vision first, and only then of \u201cservice\u201d, is important and sig\u00ac \nnificant. \n\nNevertheless, the limitations imposed by certain fundamental conceptions in this out\u00ac \nstanding book, would almost certainly bring about once again the rejection of men of true \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n9 i \n\n\nVision, and the denial of their message, if they should appear conspicuously among us to-day.' \nThese eight lectures, elaborated after delivery, survey the history of Christian thought and \naction on the main purpose and avowed aim of all Christian endeavour. That purpose, and \nthat end, are epitomized in the phrase, \u201cThe Vision of God\u201d. This ideal is all-embracing, \nbecause it includes \u201csalvation\u201d, it includes \u201cthe kingdom\u201d, it involves \u201ceternal life\u201d (p. 466). \n\u201cThe pure in heart shall see God\u201d, and, as Irenaeus paraphrased: \u201cThe glory of God is a living \nman; and the life of man is the vision of God\u201d. But what was meant by \u201cseeing God\u201d? And \nabove all, by what discipline and course of life might such a vision be attained? \n\nChristianity, like Hinduism or Buddhism, has provided many answers, from extremes of \nmere Formalism to extremes of Asceticism and Mysticism, arising out of the widely varying \nmental and spiritual degrees of development of its followers. Looking back over nineteen \nhundred years of Christian thought and experiment, Dr. Kirk is convinced that a compromise \nbetween the extremes of mysticism on one side, and of a mere Protestant \u201csystem of moral \nlaw\u201d (p. 429) on the other, has evolved the highest conception yet conceived of what the \nVision of God should really be. It may now be seen as proved from the Christian experience \nso ably traced in this book, that a rich and fruitful life in the world, a life of true \u201cservice\u201d, \ncannot be attained unless based on \u201cworship\u201d, and actuated first and foremost by the high \nand true experience of some Vision of God. This is an advance on the earlier attitude of the \nChurch;\u2014but Dr. Kirk fails to point out that this earlier attitude was in itself a compromise, \nwas what virtually amounted to a lowering of its colours. When persecutions ceased, and \nmen became Christians by a simple affirmation of adherence and the administration of an \nouter rite of baptism, the high ascetic ideals and rigorous discipline of, let us say, a St. Paul, \nwere utterly beyond the understanding, let alone the attainment, of the worldly majority. \nAn almost inevitable consequence was the acceptance of a \u201cdouble standard\u201d or \u201ctwo lives\u201d \n\u2014the active and the contemplative\u2014rendered classic in St. Augustine\u2019s \u201cTwo Cities\u201d (p. 330), \n\u2014though it is noteworthy that this compromise was rejected by the Theosophical Schools at \nAlexandria, and notably by the theosopher Clement of Alexandria (p. 314). Already men \nwere perforce acting in the light of their own best knowledge, because full and higher under\u00ac \nstanding of the Master Christ\u2019s teaching had been overlaid. The Buddha had founded his \nOrder\u2014a specially selected group within the Buddhist community, which latter, like the \nChristian community, split up into churches\u2014and the highest mystical teachings, and Vision, \ncould be sought and found in the Order by those desirous of devoting their lives to that end. \nBut Christianity failed to maintain outwardly the original foundation of the Master Christ. \nIn the course of time, the exoteric Religious Orders provided a partial substitute; but these \nwere one and all founded by men\u2014however wise and devout\u2014and were, moreover, regulated \nand supervised by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, their rules and discipline modified by its de\u00ac \ncrees. A thousand years of actual experiment with monasticism followed, during which time \nthe Contemplative Life was held up as the only safe way and true means of attaining the \nVision of God in this life. But the actual institution was not an unqualified success; corrup\u00ac \ntion became scandalous; and the very nature of the ideal excluded the ordinary man and \ntended to deny him the possibility of genuine, independent attainment. The experiment of \nthe \u201cTwo Lives\u201d\u2014the life dedicated to Vision, and the life dedicated to action\u2014was seen \nto be inadequate. In effect, both, each in its own way, had become largely \u201cFormalist\u201d. \nSo finally Benedict XIV officially proclaimed, what Bernard of Clairvaux and Ignatius Loyola \nfirst popularly taught, that the \u201cMixed Life\u201d, was the ideal life, conforming to the teaching \nand example of Christ himself. \n\nBut here a new difficulty had to be met; and Dr. Kirk does not solve the problem: he meets \nit\u2014with virtually all the Churchmen of to-day\u2014by a compromise. Because the Church as a \nwhole cannot vicariously transmit its own highest vision (as still exemplified by its contem- \nplatives and \u201cmixed-life\u201d religious), the practical ideal of the Mixed Life has been lowered to \naccommodate the limitations and demands of the majority of men, who are worldly-minded \nand who intend to remain so. Moreover, where, to-day, are there Churchmen who dare to \nappeal to actual vision , to first-hand experience? What reception would they get if they did? \nWhere are the seers officially recognized as such? It is true, as Dr. Kirk concludes, that: \n\n\n92 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cLike can only be seen by like\u2014it is therefore only as worship creates in him some likeness \nto the character of Jesus that the Christian can achieve his goal\u201d (p. 467)\u2014but the ideal of a \npossible achievement is actually as limited as the words \u201csome likeness\u201d are indefinite. The \nVision of God has been, for practical purposes, lowered to the level of an ordinary man\u2019s \ncomprehension. Fortunately, Dr. Kirk not only does not decry, he staunchly maintains \nthe validity and desirability of higher, of mystical, experience. But he can only see Plato\u2019s \ndoctrine of \u201creminiscence\u201d as \u201cmythical\u201d (p. 212); he describes \"Christian gnosticism and \nthe theosophies of contemporary paganism\u201d as \u201cnot so much an endemic disease\u201d as \u201can \nepidemic of the whole of contemporary thought\u201d (p. 212); and, sympathetic as he means to \nbe, he is so led away by modem hard-headed \u201cscholarship\u201d that he writes: \u201cThe most gen\u00ac \nerous appreciation of Philo, or the apocalyptists, or the mysteries, or the \u2018Hermetica\u2019, must \nadmit that here and there at least they may have been victims of illusion\u2014it was not always \nGod with whom they had communion, when they thought they saw Him. . . . Sometimes \nthey merely reproduce the conventional jargon of contemporary theosophies. . . . Their \nquest was primarily a selfish one; their motive to secure for themselves, either here or here\u00ac \nafter, an all-absorbing religious experience. For reasons which become clearer as we proceed, \nthe Church undertook the amazing task of transforming this self-centred cult of the divine \ninto an ideal of disinterested worship and service. In doing so she altered the entire doctrine \nof the vision of God\u201d (p. 54). \n\nThis last statement is a true one, though its writer fails to appreciate its significance. Of \nOccultism he knows nothing; for him it is completely swallowed up in its counterfeits. In\u00ac \nsisting that the counterfeits are the only real, it becomes inconceivable that Christ should be \nan Occultist, with all that that implies. Because he does not see the logical necessity of a \nLodge of Masters\u2014of \u201cjust men made perfect\u201d\u2014even in the sense of a vital and acting com\u00ac \nmunion of saints, with its corollary of chdlaship and the path of discipleship; because he \ndenies reincarnation; and because he sees a man\u2019s opportunity here only in terms of one life, \nDr. Kirk can write about \u201cturning the other cheek, about taking no thought for the morrow, \nabout laying up no treasure on earth, about forsaking parents and possessions, about bearing \nthe cross\u201d, as extremes: \u201cThe spirit which pervades them constitutes an erratic block in the \nteaching of Jesus whose provenance\u2014other than his direct intuition of supernatural truth- \nmust for the moment remain unknown\u201d (p. 63); or again: \u201cS. Luke included the wife among the \nlist of persons whom the disciple must \u2018hate\u2019, or \u2018leave\u2019\u2014a very sinister addition to the Marcan \nsource\u201d (p. 75; italics in both instances ours). How could it be otherwise? Rule out The\u00ac \nosophy\u2014\u201cThe Wisdom of God and the Power of God\u201d\u2014rule out Masters as custodians and \ninterpreters of that Wisdom, rule out the full significance of the Incarnation in the light of \nthe ancient teaching of Avatars, rule out the training of chSlaship and the inner development \nand age-long evolution of the spiritual man as the goal of human evolution, rule out the very \npossibility of coming to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven for the simple reason \nthat there really are no such mysteries to know\u2014at least not here and now\u2014and why should \nnot common sense and an enlightened worldly wisdom pronounce judgment on the extreme \nintuitions of \u201csupernatural truth\u201d, vaunting the elimination of inexplicable or inconvenient \ntexts as \u201chigher criticism\u201d; and why should one\u2019s vision be directed wholly away from \u201cthis\u201d \nworld, and centred wholly in that \u201cother\u201d world? \n\nOne puts down this book grateful to the author for his intellectual integrity, his stimulating \nerudition, his life-long labours, his sound worldly sense. But with the light of Theosophy, as \nrestated and interpreted for us by Madame Blavatsky and Mr. Judge, this book makes one \nrealize anew the present-day need for Theosophy itself, and why it was that the Movement of \nthis century re-emphasized just the teachings that it has. There is something tragic in the \nthought that so much labour, such erudition linked with sterling honesty of purpose, should, \nfor lack of certain keys which were the common property of the priesthoods two millenniums \nago, serve to confirm Churchmen in the rightness of their ignorance. One comes to realize \nalso something of the magnitude of the task the Lodge has undertaken in striving to show \nmen a way out, and \u201cto make men wish to walk in it when shown\u201d. S. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n93 \n\n\nAncient Civilizations of the Andes, by Philip Ainsworth Means; Scribners, 1931; price, $7.50. \n\nOne has fascinating but vague notions about the Incas. One has heard that they had a great \nEmpire, that they built magnificent forts, and temples where they worshipped the Sun under \nthe image of a huge disk of pure gold, and that their buried treasure is still undiscovered. \n\nIf one should wish to find out everything so far known about the civilizations of the Andes, \nthe Empire of the Chimus and the Empire of the Incas, he should read Mr. Means\u2019 book. At \na time when the body politic of the West seems so sick, it is helpful to read of the rise and fall \n\u2022of ancient nations. Mr. Means draws some very interesting comparisons and contrasts \nbetween their problems and our own. His book is written in a charming style, with a gaiety \nand humour all too rare in archaeologists. St. C. LaD. \n\nThought Transference (or What?) in Birds, by Edmund Selous; London, Constable & Com\u00ac \npany; price, 7 s. 6 d. \n\nBased on years of exceedingly careful and thoughtful observation, this little volume studies \nthe collective or mass movements of birds, and comes to the inescapable conclusion that: \n\u201cThought-transference, so it seems to me, in so far as it can be held to explain, is the only \nexplanatory hypothesis that can be offered\u201d (p. 61). The author goes even further in his \nmost suggestive hypotheses: \u201cI am considering only the problem of collective action, and \nwould ask how is it possible for an extended troop of hundreds of birds to rise all together \nfrom the ground, at one and the same instant, as though threaded on a labyrinthine wire, \nexcept through an impulse acting upon them in their entirety, as upon one individual? At \nthe least there must be thought-transference, but perhaps it is even something more, the \nunits of which the flock is composed seeming here to take the place of the different cells in the \nbrain of such single units, so that the impulse to action comes, as one may say, from the flock \nbrain to the flock body\u201d (pp. 42-3). He argues also that if thought-transference can be \n\u2022shown to exist in nature independently of man, it removes all scientific prejudice against its \nappearance in man as a normally possible development of his faculties. By way of com\u00ac \nmentary on this unusually interesting book, we might quote Madame Blavatskv ( Transactions \nof the Blavatsky Lodge, I, p. 13): \u201cEven on this plane of ours there are other and various intel\u00ac \nlects, besides those of man, in creatures visible and invisible, from minds of subjective high \nand low Beings to objective animals and the lowest organisms, in short, \u2018from the Deva to the \nelephant, from the elemental to the ant\u2019. Now, in relation to its own plane of conception and \nperception, the ant has as good an intellect as we have ourselves, and a better one; for though \nit cannot express it in words, yet, over and above instinct, the ant shows very high reasoning \npowers, as all of us know. Thus, finding on our own plane\u2014if we credit the teachings of Oc\u00ac \ncultism\u2014so many and such varied states of consciousness and intelligence, we have no right to \ntake into consideration and account only our own human consciousness, as though no other \nexisted outside of it.\u201d Q. \n\nThe Samaritans of Molokai, by Charles Dutton; Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, \n1931; price, $3.00. \n\nMost people have heard of the leper colony on Molokai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, but \nfew realize that they have heard of it because of the heroic work of Father Damien and Joseph \nDutton, who transformed it from a veritable hell into the \u201cmodel leper colony of the world\u201d. \nAll of us have a private collection of heroes whom we love personally, and we shall place these \ntwo men in our own. \n\nFather Damien, a Belgian priest, hearing of the horrible state of the lepers exiled on Molo\u00ac \nkai, volunteered to go to them and left that very day on his mission. He found the lepers \nliving in almost indescribable conditions of misery, starvation, filth and degradation. En\u00ac \ntirely alone, he organized the colony, built them houses, tended their wounds, ministered to \ntheir needs, material and spiritual, and wrested from the authorities food, clothing and sup\u00ac \nplies. He himself contracted leprosy. When he discovered it, he simply began his morning \nsermon \u201cWe lepers\u201d, instead of \u201cBrothers\u201d, as before. \n\nJoseph Dutton was an American who had served with a magnificent record in the Civil \n\n\n94 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nWar. Reading of the work of Damien and of the needs of the lepers, he went at once to Molo\u00ac \nkai. For practically forty years he never left the colony. He says, \u201cSeek a vacation? Why, \nI have a vacation all the time, every blessed moment of the time, every moment of all these \nblessed years, in doing what I like, what I think my soul needs. Anything else would be \nslavery.\u201d He did not contract the disease, but lived to the age of eighty-seven to carry on \nthe work. When he died in 1931, the colony had become what it is now, as healthy and pleas\u00ac \nant a place as possible in such circumstances. \n\nStudents of Theosophy can read this book with profit, for they may learn from the lives of \nFather Damien and Brother Dutton something of the qualities required in the work of the \nGreat Lodge. St. C. LaD. \n\nThe Person of Evolution , by W. D. Lighthall, LL.D. (McGill); Macmillan, 1930; price, \nS2.00. \n\nDr. Lighthall has adopted, as a working hypothesis, the idea that the living organism is a \n\u201cmodel of the make-up of the known universe\u201d. His \u201cPerson of Evolution\u201d is a sort of Plan\u00ac \netary Spirit, the synthesis and united life of all creatures upon this earth. But though it is a \nsynthesis, it is also to be regarded as a defined and individual consciousness. It is, therefore, \nboth transcendent and immanent, unknowable by all lesser entities because it is, in a sense, \ndistinct from them, but also knowable in as much as it is \u201cso closely associated with the indi\u00ac \nvidual self as to raise the question of a larger Self\u201d (p. 26). As the physical body of an animal \nor plant is both a colony of cells and an organized unit, so the \u201cPerson of Evolution\u201d is both \na Person and a colony of many lesser persons. He avoids theological implications by refusing \nto identify the \u201cPerson of Evolution\u201d with Deity, but he is convinced that it is a \u201cDirective \nPower\u201d, a \u201cvast consciousness-structure (in the universe] operating upon and through its \nphysical structure, whose urge is towards the achievement of measureless happiness\u201d (p. 106). \nIt provides \u201ca new element for guidance in discussions of the nature of the Outer Universe. \nThe physicists are naturally limited to structure and order, the biologists to conditions of \nterrestrial life. The Directive Power comes straight out of the outer universe and gives \nmeaning, intelligence and resource to Energy\u201d (p. 200). \n\nDr. Lighthall\u2019s theory has many affinities with certain fundamental tenets of mystical \nphilosophy. Mystics and occultists have always affirmed that \u201cthe universe is everywhere \nconscious and organized in higher and higher circles of life, of which the nearest to us is our \nglobe itself, of which we and all things upon it are organs\u201d. However, the arguments of the \nmystic are more convincing than Dr. Lighthall\u2019s, because the mystic bases his assertions \nupon the data of a genuine science of consciousness. Dr. Lighthall seeks the main support \nof his thesis in modem physics and biology. It is impossible to \u201cprove\u201d the fact of con\u00ac \nsciousness by any reference to the data of these sciences, for the simple reason that the mod\u00ac \nem scientist deliberately disregards consciousness as a factor in his calculations. His purpose, \nwhich he effectively achieves within certain limits, is to record and to measure the phenomena \nof the objective world. There is only one way of gaining certitude about any state of con\u00ac \nsciousness, and that is to have an immediate experience of that state in one\u2019s own conscious\u00ac \nness. \n\nHowever, Dr. Lighthall has written an interesting and valuable book. He has failed to \nprove his theory, but this does not mean that his theory is not a good one. Above all, he \nhas proved that he possesses the precious faculty of intellectual intuition. V. S. \n\nFragments , Volume One, by Cav\u00a3; Quarterly Book Department, New York; price, Si.50. \n\nAll students of Theosophy will welcome a new edition of this book. The Mosher Press has \nbeen very successful in duplicating the original edition which was printed by the DeVinne \nPress of New York. To cover the cost, the price of each of the three volumes of Fragments \nhas been raised to Si.50. There can be no need to speak here of the immense value of these \nlittle treatises on discipleship and the spiritual life. It is a hopeful sign that there is a steady \ndemand for all three volumes. E.T.H. \n\n\n\nQuestion No. 371 .\u2014When striving to escape from a stereotyped il saying of prayers\" into real \npraying, to whom should one speak,\u2014to the Logos, or the Higher Self, or each to his own Master if \nhe knows who He is? \n\nAnswer. \u2014Prayer presupposes, always, the recognition of a power higher than oneself. \nThe real concern of the one who prays is not the name'by which to identify this power, but to \nturn the prayer, which with the ordinary man is merely petition, into will prayer. This de\u00ac \nmands, not the craven asking of a Higher Power to do this or that in behalf of the one who \nprays, but postulates, on his part, a desire to share in the will of that Power, and an unflinching \ndetermination to carry out that will in whatever degree it may be indicated. As he loves \nand seeks to do this will, it will be revealed to him. As he makes his co-operation conscious and \ncontinuous, he will begin to distinguish to What or to Whom he speaks, through having earned \nthe right to such knowledge. \n\nSuch is the attitude and prayer of the disciple. He does not attempt to shift his responsibility \nas does the ordinary man of the world. He does not ask some Power arbitrarily to solve his \nproblems for him. He co-operates manfully and whole-heartedly in working them out. To \nthe extent to which he co-operates, he puts himself on a footing with his comrades of the \nInner World, and comes to know them as they are. G. M. W. K. \n\nAnswer. \u2014The simpler one keeps it, the better. Real prayer is communion, an interchange. \nIf one is striving to escape from mere repetition of words into real praying, one is only, in a \nsense, at the starting-point of effort. At that stage, is it conceivable that there can be com\u00ac \nmunion with the Logos? At that stage, too, fancied communion with the Higher Self may \nturn out to be only a brisk interchange of words with the Lower Nature. \n\nThe first step would appear to be identification with the Higher Self, the constant holding of \nthe thought that, in the words of Mr. Judge, \u201cI am the Higher Self\u201d. The ensuing step, \nwhether or not that identification is final and complete, would be the attempt to reach one\u2019s \nown Master, whether or not one knows who he is; and, having made that attempt, the third \nstep would be to listen. \n\nStereotyped prayers, the following of ritual and the repetition of words hallowed and sanc\u00ac \ntified by the aspiration and devotion of countless numbers of people, possess a reality and and \nefficacy of their own. They can be used to concentrate the attention, and the reality in the^ \nfortifies the effort, until there comes that movement of the heart which makes communion \npossible. C. R. A. \n\nAnswer. \u2014What makes one wish to escape from the stereotyped \u201csaying of prayers\u201d, to \nreal prayer? In that desire is the key to the answer. Real prayer is the longing for union, for \nlikeness, the yearning of the soul for its home. We should use our intuition, the intuition of the \nheart. If one does not know the name of his Master, it is of no great consequence. A Master's \nlove for his children is not changed by their knowledge or ignorance of his name. \n\nJ. F. B. M. \n\n\n95 \n\n\n\u202296 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nAnswer. \u2014One cannot pray to an abstraction. Prayer is an intimate, personal relation wit \n\u2022one\u2019s Master when one knows who he is; when He is not known, the aspiration and longing to \nknow Him would reach Him, as the Lodge is a brotherhood, and a real appeal would never \nbe lost or ignored. In that world, we are told, a real desire or need is always met. \n\nG. H. M. \n\nAnswer. \u2014There could surely be no fixed rule, for each soul has its own special needs and \naspirations; each soul responds to special conditions. The heart of each must be the guide. \n\u201cPrayer is a mystery, an occult process\u201d, says the Key to Theosophy , where we read (pages \n45-6) about \u201cwill prayer\u201d, and that the occultist addresses his prayer to \u201c \u2018our Father in \nheaven\u2019 in its esoteric meaning\u201d. In a letter to \u2018\u2018Mrs. S.\u201d ( Quarterly , Vol. XI, pages 167-8), \nCav\u00a3 wrote: \u201cMy idea of prayer, personally, is conversation with the Master\u2014very intimate, \nadoring conversation, which leads to communion with him: an interchange, and then a sense \nof union\u201d. Is there any essential difference between these? The important issue is the \n\u201cspiritual transmutation\u201d, by whatever approach that spiritual transmutation be attained. \n\nT. A. \n\n\nQuestion No. 372 \u2014Although we are told that Masters do not always agree as to details of pro\u00ac \ncedure , is it not true that in all that pertains to the salvation of mankind they agree perfectly? \n\nAnswer. \u2014Masters undoubtedly agree perfectly on what they are seeking to accomplish \nfor mankind. There is no difference of purpose or of opinion about the goal, but there may be \ndifferent views in regard to the wisdom of particular steps at particular times, when success or \nfailure depends upon the response from the world, or upon the continued fidelity of weak human \nagents. The decision to entrust so much of the ancient wisdom to The Theosophical Society, \nwill only be justified if we, its members, prove ourselves faithful to our trust. While there \nmay not be agreement in advance among Masters about the expediency of any particular step, \nwe may be sure that, once it has been determined upon, every Master works to the uttermost \nfor its success. j. p. B. M. \n\nAnswer. \u2014They must; otherwise they would be working at cross purposes. Take ourselves, \nmembers of The Theosophical Society, for example. We do not all follow the same details of \nprocedure. What a cut and dried affair it would be if we did! But we do agree as to the main \nobject of the Society: \u201cto form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity.\u201d If \nwe did not so agree we should be working at cross purposes, and the Society probably would \ngo the way of former outer expressions of the Movement. G. M. W. K. \n\nAnswer.\u2014 It would be difficult indeed not to believe that Masters see eye to eye in regard \nto the real needs of humanity, the possibilities for spiritual growth and development latent \nin men or in groups of men. Any failure on their part to agree among themselves, could only \nbe as to the most effective ways and means to adopt, at any given moment of time, for the \naccomplishment of their united purpose. C R A \n\nAnswer\u2014 The salvation of mankind is the main interest of Masters in this world. Masters \ndiffer widely in characteristics, as they have infinitely more forceful individualities than \nordinary men, which naturally and inevitably leads to differences in method; but this would \ninvolve no real disagreement. G H M \n\n\nXX, No. 2 \n\n\nOCTOBER, 1932 \n\n\n\nSTANDARD BOOKS \n\nBlavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled, Vols. I and II.doth. $10.00 \n\nComplete in one book.cloth, 7 .So \n\nKey to Theosophy . c i oth# 2 .25 \n\nSecret Doctrine, The, Vols. I and II and Index .doth/ iu.oo \n\nComplete in one book, without subject-index volume, 7.50 \n\nTheosophical Glossary .doth, 2.25 \n\nTransactions of the Blavatsky Lodge .doth, 2.50 \n\nVoice of the Silence .doth, 1.00 \n\nCave. Fragments, Volume I.boards* t.so \n\nVolume II.beams, 1.50 \n\nVolume III.board*, 1.50 \n\nGerard, John. Letters to Friends .board*, 1.75 \n\nHillard, Katherine. Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine, .doth, 3.00 \n\nJohnston, Charles. BHAGAVAD Gita .Translated, annotated; cloth, 1.25 \n\nlimp leather, 1.75 \n\nCrest Jewel of Wisdom, The .doth, 1.25 \n\nGreat Upanisuads, The, Volume I.cloth, 1.50 \n\nParables of the Kingdom, The .paper, .51) \n\nPaTANJALI S Yoga Sutras. ..Translated, annotated; doth, 1.25 \n\nSong of Life, The . paperf . 75 \n\njudge, William Q. BHAGAVAD Gita .Edited; doth, 1 . 25 ; leather, 1.50 \n\nEchoes from the Orient . pap er, .25 \n\nLetters That Have Helped Me, Volume I and II, each, .doth, 1.00 \n\nOcean of Theosophy ....doth, 1.00 \n\nPatanjali\u2019s Yoga Aphorisms .doth, 1.00 \n\nKeightley, Archibald. Theosophy as an Influence in Life paper,\u2019 .20 \n\nLaDow, Stanley V. Plotinus .paper\u2019 .50 \n\nMitchell, Henry Bedinger. Meditation, Special edition, .20* paper, .50 \n\nTalks on Religion .doth, 1.60 \n\nTheosophical Society and Theosophy, The .paper, .20 \n\nSinnett, A. P. Esoteric Buddhism .cloth, 2.50 \n\nOccult World, The .doth, 2.50 \n\nWalker, E. D. Reincarnation .doth, 1.75 \n\nIdyll of the White Lotus.cloth, 1.35 \n\nLight on the Path.. fabric, 1.00 \n\nThrough the Gates of Gold.doth, 1.20 \n\n\nTHE QUARTERLY BOOK DEPARTMENT, \n\nP. O. Box 64, Station O. New York. \n\n\n\nDevotional: Bhagavad Gita; Crest Jewel of Wisdom; Fragments; The Great Upani- \nshads; Letters That Have Helped Me; Letter* to Friends; Light on the Path; The Par\u00ac \nable* of the Kingdom; The Song of Life; Through the Gates of Gold; Voice of the Silence. \n\nPhilosophical: Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine; Isis Unveiled; Key to Theosophy; \nPlotinus; Reincarnation; The Secret Doctrine; Talks on Religion; Theosophical Glossary; \nTransactions; Patanjali** Yoga Sutras. \n\nIntroductory: Culture of Concentration: Echoes from the Orient; Esoteric Buddhism; \nIdyll of the White Lotus; Meditation; The Occult World; The Ocean of Theosophy; \nThe Theosophical Society and Theosophy. \n\n\n\n\n\n0 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER, 1932 \n\n\nASBsm \n\n\nFounded by f), P. Blavatsky at Dew York In 1875 \n\n\nHE Society does not pretend to be able to establish \nat once a universal brotherhood among men, but \n\n\nonly strives to create the nucleus of such a body. \nMany of its members believe that an acquaintance \nIHgjJgg with the world's religions and philosophies will \nreveal, as the common and fundamental principle \nunderlying these, that \"spiritual identity of all Souls with the \nOversoul \u201d which is the basis of true brotherhood J and many \not them also believe that an appreciation of the finer forces \n\u00b0f nature and man will still further emphasise the same idea* \nI he organization is wholly unsectarian, with no creed, \ndogma, nor personal authority to enforce or impose; neither \nis it to be held responsible for the opinions of its members* \nwho are expected to accord to the beliefs of others that \ntolerance which they desire for their own. \n\ntinnnf w? P \u00a3^*^ a o 011 wasado ,P tecI at the Convex \nSoaety, held at Boston, April, 1895: \n\nThe Theosophical Society in America by its delegates and \nmembers m Convention assembled, dn*c L^i-JL \n\nfraternal good will and kindly feelii \nTheosophy and members of Tht ww \nand however situated. It further \n\nhearty sympathy and r:__ \n\norganizations in all theosophicaTmatters \ngovernment and administration, \nrespondence and , \n\n\"To all l_. \n\nreligious belief, who \n\n\nicosophical Societies wherever \nproclaims and avers its \nassociation with such persons and \n-\u201411 \u2014: except those of \n. and invites their cor- \n-\u00ab T f f - co-operation. \n\nio all men and women of whatever caste rrood ^ \nrelfg-ious belief, who aim at the \n\nJ \n\nWit *J aU religions and religious bodieswhose \n\n, *\u00a3\u00bb \u00a3>}\u00a3%\u00a3\u00a3\u2022 \u25a0* \u25a0\u201d*'\u00bb\u201c<> \u00ab\u00ab- \n\n\nPUBLISHED BY \n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly \n\n\nSubscription price, $2.00 per annum; single copies, 50 cents \n\nPublished by The Theosophical Society \nat 64 Washington Mews, New York, N. Y. \n\nJuly; October; January; April \n\nAddress all communications to P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York \n\n\nw \"a* 1 'copies may be obtained from and subsc riptions may be sent to fohn \n\nM. Watkins, 21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, London W C 2 En^HnH J \u2666 \n\nwhomaMb Li r In ' ? BeaCOnS K fieId Road - Low Gateshead-on-Tyn^ England.from \nwhom all back numbers may be obtained. Annual subscription price, $ 2 J, poslpaid \n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOL. XXX, NO. 2 \nOctober, 1932 \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS. \nFRAGMENTS... \n\n\npage \n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\n. io7 \n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE PERSIAN BEGGAR \n\n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE \n\nVI. \n\n\nRICHNESS OF LIFE.. \n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS: An Explanation and \n\nInterpretation \n\n. 130 \n\nTHE MAXIMS OF RENE QUINTON \n\n\nTREES. \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES, XVII.. \n\n\n. 154 \n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n. r 59 \n\nREVIEWS.. \n\n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS \n\n\n. 181 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n-- \u2014v a v/at KJU1CC at \n\nCopyright, i 932 , by The Theosophical Society \n\n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nrel InV nb l * u- SUU T' ary 0,)JeCtS are: The stud y of ancient and moderr \nof st d 5'n a SC \u2018 enCeS \u2019 and the demonstration of the importance \n\nthe Zl b Ud f and I 6 ' nVestlgation of the unexplained laws of nature and \nthe psychical powers latent in man. \n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly is the official organ of the original \n1 heosoplncal Society founded, in New York by H. P. Blavatsku \nW. Q. Judge and others, in IS75. J ' \n\nWe have no connection whatsoever with any other organization \ncalling itself Theosophical , headed by Mrs. Besant or others , nor \nwith similar bodies , the purposes and methods of which are wholly \nforeign to our own . J \n\n\nEditors, The Theosophical Quarterly. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n-3 \n\n\n\n\nNOTES a*\u2122 COMMENT; \n\n\nOCTOBER. 1932 \n\nTK, Tims#.uolS^y, or \u00abA .* ~j \n\nin this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained m \n\n\nIs There Purpose In Evolution? \n\ni 4.* > o;- t Arthur Thomson, the eminent Scotch \n\ntive answer, basing his arg of special interest\u2014as it \n\nscientifically determined fa f , i en exC essive respect for \n\nseems to us\u2014because he has sue \u00b0 the very different deductions which \n\nestablished scientific methods. , scientific data. It is an \n\n-is- * \u2022-\u2014 \n\nBeginning.\u201d , \u201chas been to ask whether the apparent \n\nIt is grotesque to call Orga . d Na tural Selection is discriminate \n\nWe hau# \n\nshifting m reference to an < < > harmony with the trans-scientific \n\nalso noted a ^ ber J as originally endowed in a way that we should \n\nidea that the Order * There seems to be a steady, though \n\ncall, in human affairs well thoughtout. a \u201e d ma \u201e_ eve \u201e \u201e\u201ew- \n\ninconceivably slow, a \u00b0 fmess of evolution has been such that it has \n\nis no anti-climax. I he whole p . . it best We have become \n\nhad as its highest outcome a solution, solidary with the rest of \n\n0f .\u201do\u201c tue'sti* has'been: Is the idea of pmpose congruent with the scientific \n\n99 \n\n\ni \n\n\nI; A \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIOO \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nfacts ?\u2014nay, more: Do the scientific facts in any way suggest the interpretation \nthat Nature expresses a purpose ? Our answer has been in the affirmative, and \nsince the scientifically known System of Nature, being largely unconscious, \ncannot be credited with a purpose, we are led to think of a Creator\u2019s \nPurpose. . . . \n\n\u201cWe should suggest that if there is a purposefulness behind Evolution, and \nif man is an instalment of one of the purposes, it may be our most urgent and \npractical duty to try to discern more of the great evolutionary trends so that \nwe may assist in the fulfilment of more of the purpose. We must study the \ntactics so that we may share more fully in the realization of the strategy\u201d (pp. \n362-364). \n\nThe Universality of Life \n\nSir Arthur\u2019s view of life is in pleasant contrast to the materialistic and mecha\u00ac \nnistic interpretations of evolution which were so dominant in Madame Bla- \nvatsky\u2019s time and which she so heartily excoriated. It was one of her funda\u00ac \nmental propositions that there is no \u201cdead matter\u201d in the Universe; that the \nso-called inorganic kingdom has a life and consciousness of its own. We find \nSir Arthur saying practically the same thing. He wonders what Huxley and \nhis contemporaries meant when they spoke ofliving organisms arising naturally \nfrom non-living matter. \n\n\u201cIf they actually emerged from the non-living, then the non-living is a subtler \nthing than our forefathers supposed; and everyone knows that the old idea \nof the deadness of non-living matter has gone by the board. It is of the very \nessence of evolution to be integrative , to build up higher and higher wholes, and \nas General Smuts puts it: \u2018Matter, Life and Mind, so far from being discon\u00ac \ntinuous and disparate, appear as a more or less connected progressive series of the \nsame great process\u2019. Perhaps we make the unsolved problem of the Origin of \nLife more difficult than it really is by forgetting that it must have been not \nmerely a biochemical but a biopsychical synthesis\u201d (p. 26). A student of Theo\u00ac \nsophy would add that we have not only made the problem difficult by neglecting \nthe biopsychical aspect of all living things; we have, in fact, made solution of the \nproblem impossible. \n\nThe Biochemical and the Biopsychical \n\nWe do not believe, however, that Sir Arthur has made sufficient use of his \nown good advice. Like other scientific evolutionists, he limits his investigations \nto the physical aspect of life. He seems to favour the so-called theory of \u201cemer\u00ac \ngent evolution\u201d in his effort to imagine a process whereby the purposes latent in \nmatter can become actualities in space and time. Thus, reflecting upon the \nstrange \u201cemergence\u201d of man in the evolutionary series, he remarks that \u201cthere \nis reason to believe in a saltatory variation\u2014a mutation of magnitude\u2014which \nlifted the early Hominoids from the pit\u201d (p. 344). \n\nIt should be obvious, however, that an abrupt \u201cemergence\u201d of a new \nform is as suggestive of chance or accident as of purpose. In appearance \nit is nothing but an interruption of a normal sequence of cause and effect. \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\nIOI \n\n\nWhy do \u201cemergences\u201d and \u201cmutations\u201d and \u201csaltatory variations\u201d occur? \nIn our opinion the theosophical teaching alone offers a logical and consistent \nsolution. \n\nIn The Secret Doctrine , the evolution or manifestation of life is represented as \na dual process which cannot be understood unless due weight be given to each \nof the two phases which constitute the duality. There is the physical or \u201cbio\u00ac \nchemical\u201d phase, the slow ascent of a \u201csubconscious\u201d life through a series of in\u00ac \ncreasingly complex organic forms. This is the aspect of evolution which is the \nexclusive subject-matter of biology and palaeontology. But, also, there is the \nspiritual or \u201cbiopsychical\u201d phase, the descent of a \u201csuperconscious\u201d life into \nmatter. These two movements are said to be in constant interaction, and self- \nconsciousness in its infinite gradations is described as the product of that inter\u00ac \naction. \n\n\u201cSpirit and Matter, though one and the same thing in their origin, when \nonce they are on the plane of differentiation, begin each of them their evolu\u00ac \ntionary progress in contrary directions\u2014Spirit falling gradually into Matter, \nand the latter ascending to its original condition, that of a pure spiritual Sub\u00ac \nstance. Both are inseparable, yet ever separated. On the physical plane, two \nlike poles will always repel each other, while the negative and the positive are \nmutually attracted; so do Spirit and Matter stand to each other\u2014the two \npoles of the same homogeneous Substance, the Root-Principle of the Universe\u201d \n( 5 . 1 D., I, pp. 267-268). \n\nIn terms of this conception, therefore, the purpose of evolution is definable as \nthe development and increase and refinement of self-consciousness. \u201cThe \nUniverse exists for purposes of Soul.\u201d But it is not supposed that the \u201cbio- \npsychical\u201d or superconscious factors in Nature are, in any sense, derivatives of \nthe \u201cbiochemical\u201d or subconscious. Spirit seems to \u201cemerge\u201d from matter, \nbecause its interaction with matter can only be \u201cscientifically determined\u201d \nwhen this interaction becomes sufficiently intense to effect the embodiment of \nsome spiritual quality in physical form. \n\nThe Science of Consciousness \n\nThe meaning of the theosophical philosophy is missed if it be regarded merely \nas one more metaphysical theory or creed, for it is founded upon the conviction \nthat real knowledge exists and is attainable. The student of Theosophy has \nreason to believe that there are living men who have discovered and know, not \ntheoretically but actually, the purpose in evolution upon this planet, and who \neffectively assist in the fulfilment of that purpose. But if the teaching of \nTheosophy be an exposition of the knowledge of Masters, it is not a system of \ndogmas pronounced ex cathedra , but a working hypothesis, a stimulus to experi\u00ac \nment, a guide of experience, a way whereby all men can ultimately enter into \ntheir heritage of real knowledge. \n\nThe way of real knowledge has been called the science of consciousness. As \nin every science, the student is expected to accept tentatively certain axioms and \npostulates before beginning his course of experiment. If the axioms be sound, \n\n\n\n\n\n\n102 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nit must follow that they will become progressively self-evident, as they are \napplied practically and in detail. \n\nSuch an axiom is the Hermetic proverb: \u201cMan, know thyself, and thou shalt \nknow God.\u201d It is postulated that the study of the purposes of one\u2019s own soul \nprovides the key to the understanding of a Divine Purpose in the Universe; that \nthe nature of the human being, according to its degree and capacity, mirrors \nthe nature of Being in general. \n\nThis is the basis for the statement that Spirit and Matter \u201care inseparable, \nyet ever separated\u201d and \u201cbegin each of them their evolutionary progress in \ncontrary directions.\u201d The two lines of evolution are discovered by the individual \nin his own self, and through this revelation of the ground of his own existence \nhe gains the power to recognize the polarity of Spirit and Matter wherever \nhe looks in Nature. In other words, it is introspection which unlocks all mys\u00ac \nteries for him; but the success of the introspection is dependent upon the degree \nto which he conforms his action to the vision of an ideal which opens for him. \nSpirit and Matter release their meaning, in so far as he is able to personify \nspiritual qualities in his own life and to provide them with a physical vehicle. \n\nThe Interpretation of Dreams \n\nRiddles of Science is rich in illustrations of the queer by-paths into which \nmodem scientists so easily stray and get lost. In each instance, their difficulties \nare caused by their effort to interpret every phenomenon in physical terms \nalone. Sir Arthur Thomson himself has not escaped from the obsession that all \nstates of consciousness are effects of physical antecedents. The theories which \nhe records or proposes, to account for various human habits and qualities, are \noften so bizarre that one wonders whether he takes them seriously. However, \none seldom notes what is bizarre in one\u2019s own notions. \n\nWe give one extreme example, taken from the chapter on \u201cWhy do we dream ?\u201d \nMany people have had dreams of floating in the air, but probably very few have \ntaken the trouble to read what our best scientists have to say upon the subject. \n\n\u201cVarious theories have been suggested to explain this sort of dream, e.g. \nthat it is related to the baby\u2019s early experiences in the bath. One psychologist \nof distinction has sought to relate it to the piscine chapter in the pedigree of \nVertebrates\u2014some hundreds of millions of years ago! We would hazard the \nsuggestion that it is an organic reminiscence of floating in the amniotic fluid \nbefore birth. All these theories have to face the obvious difficulty that the \ndream experience is of floating in air, not in water. In any case, flotation may \nserve to illustrate a primitive type of dream, which we may call \u2018primary \nreminiscence\u2019 \u201d (p. 294). \n\nTo comment upon this would be as futile as to explain a joke. At any rate, \nno theory of one\u2019s own could possibly be any more grotesque. Therefore, one is \nemboldened to suggest that \u201cflotation\u201d in dreams may sometimes be the effect \nof a very different type of \u201cprimary reminiscence\u201d. Thus Plato in the Phcedrus \nspeaks of the soul\u2019s dim memory of its ancient glory, when \u201cwith the happy \nband following in the train of Zeus or of some other God, it saw a vision and was \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n103 \n\n\ninitiated in most blessed mysteries, which it celebrated in the state of innocence; \n\n. . . shining in pure light and not yet enshrined in that living tomb which we \ncarry about, now that we are imprisoned in the body as in an oyster shell.\" \n\nThe following question and answer were published in The Path (III, 21). \n\n\"During sleep I have a feeling that I can fly by an intense act of will. I \nthen float in dream over the ground, my body seeming rigid. The force ex\u00ac \nhausted, I have to descend. What is your explanation of this?\" \n\n\"It is part of the effort of your inner man to demonstrate to your outer self \nthe existence and action of unrecognized and unfamiliar forces, which every \nman has in him the latent power to use. Dreamless slumber is better.\" \n\nThe reader is free to choose any explanation which seems fitting to him. \nBut we invite him to consider which explanation of \"flotation\" is more fan\u00ac \ntastic\u2014that the soul is striving to endow the personal man with some aware\u00ac \nness of his divine possibilities; or that we are re-living in our sleep the experience \nof some hypothetical ancestor who was a fish in the Devonian Age! \n\nThe Evil Eye \n\nThe following is taken from The New York Times (June 25th, 1932). \n\n\"Syracuse, June 24.\u2014The \u2018evil eye\u2019 of ancient superstition has been found \nby scientific experiment to have a definite basis in fact, it was reported here \nto-day during the closing sessions of the summer meeting of the American Asso\u00ac \nciation for the Advancement of Science by Dr. Otto Rahn, Professor of Bacteri\u00ac \nology at Cornell University. He told of investigations conducted by him re\u00ac \ncently on \u2018the influence of human radiation on micro-organisms\u2019. \n\n\"The human eye, Dr. Rahn declared he found only a few days ago, emanates a \nform of radiation similar in its action to that of ultra-violet rays and strong \nenough to kill yeast cells if held sufficiently close. Not only the eye, according \nto the speaker, but the tip of the nose as well emits ultra-violet radiation strong \nenough in some instances to kill yeast cells or to retard their growth. The \nstrongest radiations obtained so far, Dr. Rahn stated, had been those from the \nfinger-tips, the right hand usually radiating more than the left, even in left- \nhanded persons. In fact, he added, it could be shown that the human body as a \nwhole sent out rays, from some persons more than others, so that the ten\u00bb| \n\u2018magnetic personality\u2019 might possibly involve a purely physical factor. 'IW \nintensity of the radiation, Professor Rahn continued, varied with different indi\u00ac \nviduals and with the same individual under different conditions. Sex did not \nseem to make any difference, he added. While the radiation from plants was \ngenerally stimulating and beneficial, Dr. Rahn said, that from human beings \nwas usually destructive. The effect was not due to a difference in kind, but to \na variation in the intensity.\" \n\nProfessor Rahn\u2019s discovery was a subject of much comment by the press. \nFor example, the New York Herald Tribune (July 3rd, 1932) published an edi\u00ac \ntorial warning \"would-be mystics\" against the idea that anything out of the \nordinary had happened. It refers to the fact that science is already familiar \nwith several other phenomena of the same type. \n\n\n104 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cNine years ago, in Russia, Dr. Alexander Gurwitsch discovered that living \ncells in the rapidly growing roots of an onion have power to stimulate the growth \nof other onion roots placed near by. . . . The influences have been reported, too, \nfrom animal muscles, from blood, from yeast cells and, perhaps, most interest\u00ac \ning of all, from the growing cells of a cancer. . . . Dr. A. Neville has shown, for \nexample, that the onion root effect may damage the delicate membrane on the \nfront of a living animal eye. . . . Dr. Austin H. Clark of the Smithsonian Institu\u00ac \ntion, in Washington, has proved that dead and dried butterflies preserved in the \ninstitution\u2019s collections can be made to print their images on photographic \nplates as though the insect bodies were radio-active. Cod liver oil and several \nof the vitamins have been shown to possess, at least at times, similar photo\u00ac \ngraphic potencies. Dr. I. A. Balinkin, of the University of Cincinnati, has \ndemonstrated invisible rays emitted from slightly heated and electrified alum \ncrystals. Only a few weeks ago there were reported to the Academy of Sciences \nin Paris experiments suggesting similar actions at a distance emanating from \nordinary metals. \n\n\u201cProbably the truth is that there occur in living matter, and sometimes \nin things that are not living, slow chemical changes which may emit either \nultra-violet rays or gaseous emanations. There would be nothing more mys\u00ac \nterious in this than in such well-known chemical changes as the hardening of \nmortar or the slow toughening of the film of linseed oil in paint.\u201d \n\nThere is nothing mysterious about it, although it is an important addition to \nhuman knowledge. Fifty years ago, when the study of electric waves had only \nbegun and radio-activity was unknown, the idea that human and other bodies \nare surrounded by a \u201cphotosphere\u201d and send forth radiant energy, would have \nbeen scientifically classified as a rank superstition. \n\nIt is natural to suppose that the human body emits rays for the same reason \nthat other physical bodies become radiant, as an effect of chemical or elec\u00ac \ntrical action. In this respect, one may justly assume that there is no distinction \nbetween human bodies and onions. But as one might expect, no scientist seems \nto have considered the hypothesis that it may be possible for man to control or \nto modify the stream of cosmic energy which passes in a rapid eddy through his \norganism. \\ et there would be nothing more mysterious in this than in the mus\u00ac \ncular and nervous control which we all exercise continuously. \n\nA student of occultism does not doubt that the eye, like the spoken word, \ncan be used as a transmitter of will-power by certain individuals who are either \nbom with special endowments or who have undertaken a necessary course of \ntraining. Indeed, it has been said that every volition tends to manifest itself \noutwardly through the body, with an energy proportionate to the conscious \nintent which was put into the volition. \u201cA good thought is perpetuated as an \nactive, beneficent power, an evil one as a maleficent demon. And so man is \nperpetually peopling his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with \nthe offspring of his fancies, desires, impulses and passions.\u201d \n\nDoubtless, the average man\u2019s thoughts and passions are so feeble or so un\u00ac \ncoordinated that they can make very little objective impression upon any phys- \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n105 \n\nical substance. But if one be willing to look for it, there Is plenty of evidence \nthat a benevolent or malevolent desire of sufficient potency can greatly in\u00ac \ncrease the intensity of the natural energies flowing through the body. As we \nshall see, it is the occult theory that such a desire not only increases the volume \nof a force but also modifies its nature\u2014perhaps by quickening its vibrations. \n\nSo we come to the \u201cevil eye\u201d, the very doubtful discovery of which was hailed \nwith somewhat immoderate enthusiasm by the gentlemen of the press. Cer\u00ac \ntainly there is a great gulf between the vicious entity, who uses the jettatura or \nmal'occhio with deliberate intent to kill, and the ordinary person whose eye \nnaturally emits rays which in a laboratory are fatal to a few bacteria. But \nthere can be little question that the \u201cevil eye\u201d is a terrible fact in Nature. In \nIsis Unveiled , Madame Blavatsky speaks of people \u201cwho can kill toads by merely \nlooking at them and can even slay individuals. The malignance of their desire \nbrings evil forces to a focus, and the death-dealing bolt is projected, as though \nit were a bullet from a rifle\u201d (I, 380). \n\nPhysical and Spiritual Dynamics \n\nMadame Blavatsky identifies the forces involved, with the \u201castral fluid\u2019 \nwhich was used beneficently by Mesmer in his magnetic cures. In the theory of \nMesmerism, the astral fluid of animal magnetism has been described as a subtile \nform of the same energy which imparts its attractive power to the lodestone,\u2014 \nas if there occurred an actual transmutation of the gross energies of Nature \nthrough their contact with organic bodies, and especially with a human body \ngalvanized by a determined will. In the nature of things, at the present stage \nof human evolution, a determined will may be good or bad, altruistic or selfish, \nbenevolent or malevolent. It may send forth the bolt which kills, or its radiance \nmay strengthen and purify and heal. \n\nLet us recall Sir Arthur Thomson\u2019s distinction between the biochemical \nand the biopsychical. Without doubt physiologists can analyze and define the \nbiochemical energies which are active in the physical body of man as they are \nactive throughout animate Nature. These energies man shares with the animal \nand vegetable kingdoms, for he draws them from his food, and it is not like^j \nthat they are often greatly transformed when they pass out of his body. Bt^ \nwhy should there not be a real transformation of biochemical energies when they \nare controlled and vivified by the biopsychical agencies of imagination, desire \nand will? \n\nA Master, whose letter is quoted in The Occult World , has referred to the \ntransmutation which takes place when any force is used with a purpose. \n\n\u201cIn conformity with exact science you would define but one cosmic energy, \nand see no difference between the energy expended by the traveller who pushes \naside the bush that obstructs his path, and the scientific experimenter who \nexpends an equal amount of energy in setting a pendulum in motion. We do; \nfor we know that there is a world of difference between the two. The one use\u00ac \nlessly dissipates and scatters force, the other concentrates and stores it. And \nhere please understand that I do not refer to the relative utility of the two. as \n\n\nio6 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\none might imagine, but only to the fact that in the one case there is but brute \nforce flung out without any transmutation of that brute energy into the higher \npotential form of spiritual dynamics, and in the other there is just that. . . . The \nidea I wish to convey is that the result of the highest intellection in the scien\u00ac \ntifically occupied brain is the evolution of a sublimated form of spiritual energy, \nwhich in the cosmic action, is productive of illimitable results; while the auto\u00ac \nmatically acting brain holds, or stores up in itself only a certain quantum of \nbrute force that is unfruitful of benefit for the individual or humanity. The \nhuman brain is an exhaustless generator of the most refined quality of cosmic \nforce out of the low, brute energy of Nature; and the complete adept has made \nhimself a centre from which irradiate potentialities that beget correlations upon \ncorrelations through ^Eons of time to come. . . . Nature consciously prefers \nthat matter should be indestructible under organic rather than inorganic forms\u201d \n(pp. 128-131). \n\n\n\u201cYou are a philosopher , Dr. Johnson \u201d, said Edwards; \u201c/ have tried , too, in \nmy time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always \nbreaking inf *\u2014 Boswell. \n\n\nTo the clear eye, the smallest fact is a window through which the Infinite may be \nseen .\u2014 Huxley. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFRAGMENTS \n\n\nW HATEVER the darkness and sorrow,\u2014trust, for the Eternal ways are \nsure; and though we seem engulfed in loneliness, we are in reality sur\u00ac \nrounded by that cloud of witnesses, who, one with us in heart and pur\u00ac \npose, it matters not how humble our place, yearn over us in our struggles, guide, \nencourage, urge us on, with infinite love and solicitude. Let us trust them also, \neven though weak hearts may not discern them, for they are part of the Eternal \nways. \n\nThere is something finer than the ardour of youth, and that is the endurance \nof experience. Ardour may turn to dust in the impact with disaster; but he \nwho has faced the worst and lived through it, not once but many times, lived \nto know that he can live through it, and so meets serenely what fate may have \nin store, goes forward undaunted, undismayed. \n\nExperience is our best teacher, it has been said: why then shun and evade it? \nLife is a serious matter, and the most serious thing in it is the doubt and inde\u00ac \ncision of our own desire. Hence the first part of the field that we must win is \nthat horizoned by ourselves. As we sail further, the horizon widens, until we \nreturn to that from which we set forth. All nature emblazons our oneness \nwith the Divine. \n\nOne with the Divine, what trick of fate can harm us? Surely in our thought \nof it alone can the evil lie, for it also is part of the Eternal ways. \n\nWhat other ways are there? \n\nWatch, with eager and steadfast eyes, for the dawn upon the hills. In good \ntime it will come, in the best, the perfect time, adjusted to Karmic law, laden \nwith blessing. \n\nIt will come with hush and coolness, with still and fragrant breath; with the \nMaster\u2019s peace it will come, the peace he gives to the disciple who is as himself, \n\u2014a Warrior tried and true. \n\nNot to the man who waits can it come, nor to him who avoids the conflict; \nnot to the fretful, not to the objector, not to the fear-ridden, not to the over- \nsure; but to him who battles to the end,\u2014with back against the wall and brokag \nsword, it may be. \n\nWatch, watch, I say, for the dawn upon the hills. \n\nAnd what if you never see it, 0 you of most valiant heart! What matter were \nthat, so be the dawn come , and the Master see it, and the comrades see it, and \nenter with him into its glory. \n\n0 that were Dawn indeed! \n\nCav\u00a3. \n\n\n107 \n\n\n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\nRemember , 0 disciple , that great though the gulf may be between the good man \nand the sinner , it is greater between the good man and the man who has attained \nknowledge; it is immeasurable between the good man and the one on the threshold \nof divinity .\u2014 Light on the Path. \n\nT HE publication of a new work 1 by Henri Bergson increases the debt \nwhich Europe and America owe to this philosopher. For nearly fifty \nyears, he has borne witness to the spiritual powers latent in man. He \nis almost unique among modem thinkers, in so far as his method of approach \nto reality is essentially introspective. In this respect, as in others, the Western \nphilosopher whom he most resembles is Plotinus. His life, like that of Plotinus, \nhas been a progressive meditation upon states of consciousness, and as each of \nhis books has appeared, it has given proof of some new extension of his knowledge \nof the inner world. It is a law of Nature which anyone can test for himself, \nthat no one can meditate upon a state of consciousness without increasing and \ndeepening it. Bergson himself has described meditation as a creative power \ncorresponding to the cosmic force which creates the successions of living forms \nin Nature. He says somewhere that consciousness is that from which one can \nalways draw forth more than it seems to contain. \n\nBergson has generally avoided explicit reference in his books to mysticism, \nbut he evidently believes that the time has come to leave on record a state\u00ac \nment of his sympathies and intentions. The Two Sources of Morality and \nReligion is an unequivocal defence of the mystical tradition. It is more \nthan a defence, for he goes further, affirming that a renaissance of mysticism \nis absolutely essential to the salvation of the human race, which is \u201chalf- \ncrushed beneath the weight of material progress\u201d, and which is in danger of \ndestroying itself, unless it recovers some sense of spiritual values. \n\nAccording to the theory which he set forth in Creative Evolution , the vital \nforce, the Han vital , attained one of the objectives for which this planet exists, \nwhen after aeons of development a species at last emerged with a definite measure \nof intelligence and self-consciousness. Wh'en man appeared, it might have \nseemed that the creative process was complete, and that the Han vital could \ndo no more. Such an idea, as Bergson shows, harbours a serious illusion. \nIntelligence and self-consciousness are invaluable acquisitions for the spirit, \nbut once they are attained, they must be continuously purified, transmuted, \nre-created out of their own substance. Otherwise they will lapse into autom\u00ac \natism and mechanism, like so many other \u201cfailures of Nature\u201d, or they will \nbecome agents of destruction. There are intelligent and self-conscious devils. \nTherefore, a new victory must be won, or the advantage, which was gained \n\n*Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion, by Henri Bergson; Librairic F 61 ix Alcan, Paris, 1932. \n\nI08 \n\n\n\n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\n109 \n\n\nwith the generation of the human species, will be lost. It is the r 61 e of the \nmystics to lead humanity in the battles which must be fought. The elan \nvital cannot accomplish the re-creation of man without the active cooperation \nof individual human beings. It would be more accurate to say that it cannot \ncontinue that re-creation, for every great cycle of history has been marked by the \nemergence of men of genius who raised themselves above the mass of mankind \nand by their example induced a new vision and a new will in those who came \nwithin the range of their influence. These great personalities, according to \nBergson, attained this power to move others by virtue of their conscious self- \nidentification with the undivided creative power in Nature, the dan vital , the \nsource of all life and consciousness upon this earth. It is impossible then to \nsay who or what really continues the work of creation, whether it be the imper\u00ac \nsonal force of universal Life or the personal force of the perfected man, for the \ntwo, the Father and the Son, have become one. \n\nDoubtless, the reader will have already surmised why Bergson speaks of a \ndual origin of ethics and religion. He refers to the duality of human character \nwhich has been so consistently stressed by the mystics and occultists of every \nage and of every race. For example, one recalls the Taoists of ancient China \nwho spoke of the two Ways always open to the human being, the Way of Heaven \nand the Way of Man. \n\nBergson classifies ordinary ethics and ordinary religion as normal products of \nhuman nature in its average condition. Why do most of us, even in New York \nin the Twentieth Century, cause comparatively little trouble to the police? \nEveryone has a right to speak for himself, for there are as many motives for good \ncitizenship as there are individuals, but one is constrained to agree with Bergson \nthat the general and fundamental motive is the sense of a social obligation. \n\nA large part of the personal consciousness is centred in what he calls \u201cthe \nsocial self\u201d, le moi social. \u201cIt is society which traces for the individual the \nprogramme of his daily existence. We cannot live in a family, conduct our pro\u00ac \nfession, . . . walk in the street or even remain at home, without obeying pre\u00ac \nscriptions and submitting to obligations. A choice is imposed at every instant; \nwe naturally choose what is conformable to rule. We are scarcely aware of what \nwe are doing; we make no effort. . . . Duty, thus understood, is performed al\u00ac \nmost always automatically; and obedience to duty, in most cases, may be Jk \ndefined as a following of the line of least resistance. . . . There are evidently^! \ncases where obedience implies an effort against oneself. These cases are excep\u00ac \ntional, but we note them because they are attended by the intense consciousness \nwhich accompanies every hesitation. ... In a certain sense, it would be false, \nand in any case it would be dangerous to say that duty can really be performed \nautomatically\u201d (pp. 12-14). \n\nA human society is an expression of a tendency that seems to be omnipresent \nin Nature, the tendency to organize units into groups. Thus the physical \nbody may be defined as a society of cells, and the societies of ants and bees \nare so perfectly integrated that the biologist feels justified in comparing the \nlife of the individual insect to the life of a cell in an organism. Bergson insists, \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nno \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhowever, that human societies must be radically distinguished from these \nothers, inasmuch as they are not held together primarily by instinct or by \nsome obscure \u201cmagnetic\u201d attraction. One must never forget that at every \nmoment the individual is free to accept or to reject the duty to obey any \nsocial obligation. That is why human societies are less efficient than insect \ncommunities, where crime and egotism are presumably unknown; but by \ncompensation they are incomparably more plastic, more susceptible to trans\u00ac \nforming influences. \n\nBergson believes that the natural function of non-mystical or \u201cstatic\u201d religion \nis to reenforce the sense of social obligation by placing the check of irrational \nfear or hope upon the egotistic tendencies which appear simultaneously with the \ndevelopment of intelligence and self-consciousness. He also suggests that many \nof the \u201csuperstitions\u201d which are associated with myth and ritual have a definite \nbiological function, inasmuch as they neutralize the terrors which are supposed \nto fill the life of primitive man,\u2014the terror of storm and earthquake, of sickness \nand death, above all, the terror of the unknown. Much that he says on this \npoint is open to serious question, for he accepts too readily the current theories \nof anthropologists concerning primitive states of mind. It is really a \u201csuper\u00ac \nstition\u201d of our own time, to believe that all magical rites are merely gestures \ntranslating the desires of the participants, and that all myths are pure fables, \nhaving no significance in themselves, but serving the purpose of heartening the \ngood citizen and of frightening the evil-doer. \n\n\u201cOf all the creatures which live in societies\u201d, says Bergson, \u201cman is the only one \nthat can deviate from the social order by yielding to selfish concerns when the \ncommon weal is involved; everywhere else the individual interest is inevitably \ncoordinated with the general interest or subordinated to it. . . . Man cannot \nexercise his faculty of thinking without imagining an uncertain future which \nawakens fear or hope. He cannot reflect upon what Nature demands of him as \na social being, without saying to himself that it would often be to his advantage \nto neglect his fellows and to think only of himself. In both cases, there would \nbe a rupture of the normal, natural order. However, it is Nature which has \nintended him to be intelligent. ... It is impossible that she should have taken \nno precautions to make certain that this order would be no sooner disturbed \nby intelligence than it would be automatically reestablished. . . . [Static] \nReligion is a defensive reaction of Nature against the exercise of intelligence, \nin so far as this may be a source of depression in the individual or a cause of \ndissolution in society\u201d (pp. 218-219). \n\nThere may be truth in this, but it is inadequate. The available evidence \nsupports a different conclusion. A meditative study of mythology, for instance, \nsuggests that the original purpose of non-mystical religion was to symbolize, \nto reflect, to foreshadow in imagination the \u201cinitiation\u201d of the soul into the self- \nconscious realization of its own powers. The perverted forms which myth and \nritual have so often assumed, are the work of impure human minds, not of \n\u201cNature\u201d. Even to-day, after centuries of corruption, non-mystical religion \nmay still be described as in essence a preparation for mystical experience. It is \n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\nhi \n\n\nparticularly significant that the great mystics have habitually used exoteric \nreligious forms as the best available vehicles of their thought. \n\nThis does not contradict Bergson\u2019s thesis that there are two distinct streams \nof consciousness which are blended in the nature of man. If ethics and religion \nhave no source other than a semi-conscious recognition of social obligations, \ninteracting with the instinct of self-preservation, then man must be exactly \nwhat the zoologists say he is,\u2014an ape-like animal, with an abnormally developed \nbrain. But there are other motives in human life, as anyone will admit who is \nnot distracted by the desire to accommodate the facts to some materialistic \npreconception. All men who are not debased beyond redemption, occasionally \nare moved to act rightly by a spark of altruism, by some sentiment of sympathy \nor pity or compassion for others, even when those others are not members of \nthe particular society to which they themselves belong. Very many have \nimagined, if only in the abstract, though very few have attained, an ideal of \nselfless love and aspiration. No interpretation of history is complete which \nneglects the need of the human soul perpetually to re-create itself in the image \nof the most perfect spiritual model which it can conceive. \n\nBergson has never failed to insist upon a spiritual origin for the spiritual \nqualities which alone make man a real human being and separate him from the \nlower kingdoms of Nature. Unlike the vast majority of modem psychologists, \nhe has not represented the veritable humanity of man as a sort of distillation \nof inherited animal tendencies, for he regards that humanity as the elan vital \nitself, incarnating in the human animal at a certain stage of its development. \nThe exceptional interest of his latest work is due to his recognition that spiritual \nqualities are manifested through \u201cprivileged individuals\u201d before they become \npart of the common heritage of the race. \n\nIt would seem that Bergson himself does not fully realize the implications \nof this interpretation of human evolution. Most people are so steeped in the \nmaterialism of dogmatic biology that Bergson\u2019s views must actually seem \nradical, but in essence they are not far removed from the fundamental doctrine \nof all the great religions of the world. Every great religion has been built upon \nthe tenet that there are mediators between man and the spiritual world, and the \nfounders of the various religions have been regarded as such by their followers. \nIn Theosophy, which is believed by many to be the Wisdom-Religion from which \nthe historical religions have been derived, there is what is known as the doctrine \nof the Lodge, the Brotherhood of Masters, of those men whose evolution has \nprogressed farther than that of the mass of mankind. To this Brotherhood, \naccording to theosophical tradition, belong Buddha and Christ and all the \nsupreme spiritual heroes of the race, as well as all those who have constituted \nthemselves, in thought and will and deed, their disciples. It is, in the most \nreal sense, a Brotherhood of mediators between the earthly and the divine. \nMuch that Bergson says might be a commentary upon the doctrine of the \nLodge. Also one ventures to suggest that if he had himself known and studied \nthe doctrine of the Lodge, his own views would have been even more clear, even \nmore complete, even more comprehensive. \n\n\n\n\n\nI 12 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cIn every age there have arisen exceptional men in whom this [higher] mor\u00ac \nality incarnated itself. Before the Saints of Christendom, mankind had known \nthe Sages of Greece, the Prophets of Israel, the Arhats of Buddhism, and others. \nIt is to them that men have always made reference, in order to visualize the \nmorality which is complete and which is properly called absolute. . . . This \nfact makes us feel that there is a difference of nature, and not merely of degree, \nbetween the [lower and the higher] moralities. . . . While the lower is the more \npure and the more perfect, in the measure that it can be more clearly expressed \nin impersonal formulae, the higher morality, in order to reveal itself fully, must \nbe incarnated in a privileged personality who becomes an example. The \ngeneral dissemination of the former depends upon the universal acceptance of a \nlaw; the general dissemination of the latter depends upon the common imitation \nof a model. \n\n\u201cWhy have the Saints been imitated and why have great and good men been \nfollowed by crowds? They ask nothing and yet they receive so much. They \nhave no need to exhort; they only have to exist; their existence is an appeal. \nFor such is, indeed, the character of this other morality. Whereas a natural \nobligation is felt as a pressure or an impulsion, in the morality which is complete \nand perfect, there is an appeal. \n\n\u201cThe nature of this appeal has been fully known only by those who have \nfound themselves in the presence of a great moral personality. Each of us, \non occasions when the habitual maxims of conduct have appeared insufficient, \nhas asked himself what such or such a person would have expected of him. It \nmay be a relative, a friend, ... or someone whom we have never known. ... It \nmay even be a personality which is coming to birth within us, drawn from the \ndepths of the soul into the light of consciousness, which we feel to be capable \nof later invading our whole nature, and to which we wish to attach ourselves \nfor the moment, as the disciple attaches himself to the Master. In truth, this \npersonality begins to design itself from the day when one takes it as a model: \nthe desire to resemble, which generates in idea the form which one seeks to \nassume, is already resemblance\u201d (pp. 29-30). \n\nBergson says that the essence of the higher morality is universal charity, and \nthat such a state of consciousness is unattainable outside the domain of mystical \nexperience, for the lower morality is social and is primarily operative only among \nthe members of a social group. He believes that war is a wholly natural accom\u00ac \npaniment of the stage of evolution through which the human race is passing, \nbecause mankind has always tended to separate and to divide itself into many \nraces and tribes and nations. Only the mystic is capable of a true international \nsentiment, like the Stoic sage who could describe himself as a citizen of the world. \nEven so, it must be pointed out that a great mystic may be also a great national \nfigure; certainly he will never be guilty of neutral or pacifist conduct when loyalty \nto a principle means the willing acceptance of war. Jeanne d\u2019Arc was a great \nmystic. \n\n\u201cOne may say that the second morality . . . differs from the first, in so far as \nit is human instead of being only social. ... It is not by enlarging the city \n\n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\n113 \n\n\nthat one will ever embrace humanity: between a social morality and a human \nmorality the difference is not one of degree but of nature. The former is what \nwe ordinarily think of when we feel ourselves to be naturally obliged. Above \nthese very definite duties we like to imagine others. . . . Devotion, self-giving, \nthe spirit of sacrifice, charity,\u2014such are the words which occur to us when we \nthink of them. But do we usually think of anything except words? No, without \ndoubt, and we fully admit it. It is only necessary, we say, for the formula to be \nthere; it will reveal all its meaning, . . . when an occasion arises. . . . Let these \nformulae be filled with matter and let the matter be animated; then a new life is \nabout to appear; we understand, we feel that another form of morality is coming \ninto being. One might define this new morality as the love of humanity. And \nyet one would not express its essence by this term, for the love of humanity is \nnot a motive which is sufficient unto itself and which acts directly. The teachers \nof youth are well aware that they cannot conquer egotism by the mere recom\u00ac \nmendation of \u2018altruism\u2019 \u201d (pp. 31-32). \n\n\u201cIf one were to say that the [superior] soul embraces [in Love] the whole of \nhumanity, one would not go too far; one would not even go far enough; since its \nlove is extended to include the animals, the plants, all Nature. However, its \nattitude cannot be defined by any object, for it may divest itself if necessary of all \nobjects. Its form does not depend upon its content. We can fill it; and again \nwe can empty it. Charity would continue to exist in the man who possesses it, \neven if there were no other living creature upon the earth\u201d (p. 34). \n\nOne begins to understand why Bergson associates the moral regeneration of \nthe human race with its ability to give birth to mystics. The great and good \nman (le grand homme de bien ), whose example moves mankind, is great and good \nbecause his whole consciousness is a flame of universal charity. But this \nsentiment of a universal charity is mystical; it is an experience which can be \nknown only by the awakened soul ( I'ame ouverte) through which alone can pass the \nbreath of the elan vital , the creative power from which the whole animate nature \nof the cosmos has proceeded. ^ \n\nUnfortunately, as regards one important point, Bergson is not sufficiently^\u00ae \nclear. Universal charity is, doubtless, the quality above all others which dis-\u2122 \ntinguishes the Gods from mortals. But that cannot mean that even the Gods \nlove indiscriminately and equally any and everything in the Universe. \n\nThis becomes apparent, if we consider universal charity in its most practical \napplication, upon which Bergson places so much emphasis. As we have seen, he \nattributes to the mystic a love of all humanity, contrasting this love with non- \nmystical devotion which cannot transcend the boundaries of a social or national \nor racial group. But what is the nature of this world-wide philanthropy? \nOne can believe that spiritual Heroes, like Buddha and Christ, turn with thoughts \nof love towards every human soul which enters their presence; but there is no \nevidence whatsoever that they have an infinite affection for the demoniacal and \nelemental \u201cpersonalities\u201d of men which wage perpetual warfare with their souls \nfor the possession of their consciousness ^nd vital powers. It is one thing to \nlove in a man his divine possibilities; it is another, to love his lower nature as a \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n114 \n\nthing in itself. \n\nIt is, indeed, dangerous\u2014for the Western mind, at least\u2014to toy with the idea \nof universal charity, unless this idea be properly qualified. Too easily it leads \nto sentimentality, to moral indifference, to the atrophy of the faculty of dis\u00ac \ncernment between the Eternal and the non-eternal. Before one can love \nhumanity, as the Masters love it, one must learn to love them , and to love the \ngoodness and truth and beauty which they make manifest. More and not less \ndiscrimination in love is needed, for one may justly assume that universal \ncharity is truly attained only when it is balanced by an equally universal force \nof hatred directed against the iniquitous and the monstrous wherever these \nexist. \n\nThe general drift of Bergson\u2019s philosophy leads away from sentimentality \nand moral indifference. Nevertheless one regrets that he has not been more \nexplicit in his description of the attributes of mystical love, for the unwary reader \nis apt to draw conclusions which were not intended. It is quite possible that \nif Bergson had been more definite in his thinking, he himself would not have in\u00ac \ndulged in certain vague speculations about international brotherhood and dem\u00ac \nocratic progress which cloud his argument, especially in the last chapter of his \nbook. \n\nThese reflections are not intended to cast doubt upon Bergson\u2019s testimony \nthat mystical love is, in quality as well as in degree, of a different order from \nwhat is called love in ordinary human relations. He is justified in asserting \nthat the mystic\u2019s compassion for suffering humanity is of universal essence, \nbeing incomparably more intense and more profound than any emotion known \nto a non-mystical consciousness. As he says, only the mystic is capable of a \nreligion that can be rightly called dynamic. \n\n\u201cStatic religion attaches man to life, and consequently the individual to \nsociety, by the repetition of stories comparable to those which put children to \nsleep. . . . But surely life is a thing just as desirable, more desirable even for \nman than for any other species, since these others exist as an effect produced \nby creative energy in its passage through them, while in man life signifies the \nsuccess of creative effort, however incomplete and precarious that success may \nbe. Why should man not recover the confidence which he lacks or which \nreflection may have shattered in him, by reascending the path in the direction \nfrom which the Man has come to him, in order that he may recover possession \nof that Manf He cannot do this by intelligence, in any case not by intelligence \nalone; . . . intelligence has a special function, and when it exalts itself in its \nspeculations, at the best it makes us conceive of possibilities; it does not touch \na reality. But we know that around intelligence there has remained a fringe \nof intuition, vague and evanescent. Can we not fix it, intensify it, above all, \ncomplete it in action, for it has remained in the state of pure vision only by a \nweakening of its principle? . . . \n\n\u201cA soul capable and worthy of this effort would not even ask whether the \nprinciple with which it is in contact is the transcendent cause of all things, \nor whether it is only the terrestrial agent of that cause. It would suffice to \n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\nns \n\nfeel that it is penetrated, without the absorption of its personality, by a being \nof far greater power than itself,\u2014as iron is permeated by the fire which reddens \nit. Its attachment to life would be henceforth its inseparability from this \nprinciple, joy in joy, love of that which is only love. It would give itself to \nsociety by an overflow [of love], but to a society which would then be all hu\u00ac \nmanity, loved in the love of that which is its principle. The confidence which \nstatic religion brings to men, would be transfigured; there would be no more \nconcern for the future, no unquiet self-reference\u201d (pp. 225-227). \n\n\u2018\u2018True mysticism is manifested at a point where the [general] current of spirit, \nprojected across matter, would have probably wished to go, but which it could \nnot attain. For mysticism makes sport of the obstacles with which Nature \nhas had to compromise, and one does not understand the evolution of life, . . . \nif one does not recognize it as the quest of something inaccessible to which \nthe great mystic attains. If all men, if many men could mount as high as this \nprivileged person, Nature would not have terminated its work in man, for the \nmystic is in reality more than man. ... It is, then, not by accident, it is in \nvirtue of its very essence, that true mysticism is exceptional\u201d (p. 228). \n\nThe mystic is more than man, but in part of his nature he remains human. \nTherefore, he can still speak to mankind and can awaken in their consciousness \nan echo of his own stupendous experience. Most often he uses the forms and \neven the dogmas of static religion as vehicles of his thought, infusing into them \na new vitality and a new meaning. When a succession of mystics has thus \nlaboured in the field of some religion, they may succeed in changing its content \nradically, for in such a case, the purifying work of each mystic is reenforced by \nthe energy which his predecessors have \u2018\u2018deposited\u201d in their efforts towards the \nsame end. Thus there may be established a true apostolic succession. Because \nno expenditure of force by a mystic is ever necessarily lost, that force can \nalways be recovered by another member of the mystical \u2018\u2018brotherhood\u201d. \n\nSo Bergson speaks of \u2018\u2018the mysterious power which the present exerts over the \npast\u201d. True time, the duration of which is, in one sense, identical with life itself, \nis one and undivided; past, present and future are aspects of that which the \nmystic perceives as the Eternal, the Enduring. The errors, the defects, even \nthe crimes of a life-time may be redeemed and may be made to give up an inval\u00ac \nuable lesson for the soul, by the efficacy of some extraordinary action which \nconverts the soul towards its proper end. It is true that most lives are crowde^ \nwith insignificant and useless events, but it is within the power of everyone at \nevery moment to change the whole setting in which they are placed, to integrate \nthe useless and the insignificant into an ordered series in which no episode, \nnot even the least, is devoid of dramatic significance. This is the accomplish\u00ac \nment of the mystic. He transmutes past failure into present success, for he is \nthe master of time. He has a certain affinity with the famous captains of history. \nHis greatest battles have been won after they seemed to be lost. \n\nBergson gives a brief sketch of the history of mysticism in Greece, in India, \nand in Christendom. As it happens, he is not very successful. He underrates \nboth the Greeks and the Hindus, and, in particular, he has failed to seize the \n\n\n116 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nessence of Buddhism, which he regards as an incomplete form of mysticism \nbecause to attain Nirvana is \u201cto remain suspended between two activities above \nthe chasm of non-being (dans le vertige du neant)\". Such a state of consciousness, \nif it existed, would undoubtedly lack \u201cwarmth\u201d, and would be incompatible with \na complete mysticism, of which the elements are \u201caction, creation, love (p. \n241). One must assume, in this instance, that it is Bergson\u2019s source of informa\u00ac \ntion which is incomplete. In any case, he has confused the form of the Buddha\u2019s \nteaching with its substance. A more careful study of the Buddhist scriptures \nwould have indicated that if the Buddha stressed the need for a progressive and \nintensive detachment in his instructions to his disciples, it was not to lead \nthem to the chasm of non-being, but to divert to the use of the spiritual man \nthe powers of perception and action which are daily perverted and wasted by \nthe lower psychic or animal man. The spiritual man can only truly act and \ncreate and love when those powers have been restored to him. \n\nBergson has a very definite predilection for the Christian mystics with whom \nhe reveals a somewhat unexpected spiritual affinity. He calls them \u201cthe great \nmystics\u201d and refers to them almost exclusively in his interpretation of the \nattributes of a \u201ccomplete mysticism\u201d. The most beautiful passages in the \nbook are those in which he expresses the indebtedness of mankind to the Chris\u00ac \ntian Master and to those who have followed in his footsteps. \n\n\u201cWhen we consider in its completeness the interior evolution of the great \nmystics, we wonder how anyone could ever have compared them to invalids. \nCertainly, we live in a state of instable equilibrium, and the average health of \nthe mind, like that of the body, is hard to define. Nevertheless, there is a state \nof rugged and exceptional intellectual health which may be recognized without \ndifficulty. It is manifested by the taste for action, by the faculty of adaptation \nand of readaptation to circumstances, by firmness joined to flexibility, by the \nprophetic discernment of the possible and the impossible, by a spirit of sim\u00ac \nplicity which triumphs over complexities, finally by a superior good sense. Is \nthis not exactly what we find in the mystics of whom we have spoken [St. Paul, \nSt. Theresa, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis, and St. Jeanne d\u2019Arc]? Might \nthey not serve to illustrate a definition of intellectual robustness?\u201d (pp. 243-244). \n\nBergson insists upon the fact that mystical experience is, in no way, analogous \nto dreaming or to absent-mindedness; that in its true form it is preeminently \npractical. He also points out that it is not primarily a state of abnormal visions \nand adventures, for the psychic phenomena and the ecstasies and raptures \nwhich mystics describe from time to time, are incidents upon their way, but are \nnot the essentials of their search. The one essential, the one objective, is union \nwith a divine consciousness. When the union is consummated, the mystic faces \nagain in the direction of the world, but he is no longer the same man. He is \nan agent of the Divine Will. \n\n\u201cThe mystical soul eliminates from its substance whatever is not sufficiently \npure and resistant and plastic for the use of God. The soul has felt the presence \nof God, it believes that it has seen God in symbolic visions, it has even united \nitself with Him in ecstasy; but all these things have not been durable because \n\n\n\n\nBERGSON\u2019S VIEW OF MYSTICISM \n\n\nii 7 \n\nthey were only contemplation: when it acted, the soul returned to itself and \nwas detached from God. Now it is God who acts in the soul, by means of the \nsoul; the union is complete and, therefore, final. Then words, like mechanism \nand instrument, evoke images which might better be left aside. One only uses \nthem to give an idea of the work of preparation. We shall learn nothing thereby \nof the final result. Let us say that henceforth there is for the soul a super\u00ac \nabundance of life. . . . There is an irresistible impulse which drives it forward \ninto the vastest enterprises. The calm exaltation of all its faculties enables it \nto see largely, and, however feeble it may be, to act powerfully. Above all, \nit sees simply, and this simplicity . . . guides it through complexities which \nit seems not to notice. An innate science, or rather an acquired innocence, sug\u00ac \ngests at once the useful step, the decisive act, the word without reply. Of \ncourse, effort remains indispensable, and also endurance and perseverance. But \nthey appear and are exerted without strain in a soul at once active and acted \nupon, whose liberty coincides with the divine activity. There is an enormous \nexpenditure of energy, but this energy is provided as it is required, for the \nsuperabundance of vitality which is demanded flows from the very source of life. \nNow there is no question of visions: the Divinity would have no object in mani\u00ac \nfesting itself from outside to a soul henceforth filled with it. There is nothing \nwhich appears essentially to distinguish such a man from his fellows. . . . \nHe alone is aware of a change which raises him to the rank of the adjutores Dei, \nthe helpers of God, those who are passive towards God, active towards men. \nThis elevation gives him no pride. Great, on the contrary, is his humility. \nWhy should he not be humble, since he has known, in silent intercourse, the \ndivine humility, meeting it face to face {seul d seul), experiencing an emotion \nin which his soul felt itself to be altogether melted! . . . \n\n\u201cThe love which consumes him is no more simply the love of a man for God; \nit is the love of God for all men. Through God, by means of God, he loves all \nhumanity with a divine love. . . . Such a love is in essence metaphysical rather \nthan moral. With God\u2019s help, it seeks to complete the creation of the human \nspecies. ... Its direction is that of the dan of life; it is that dan itself trans\u00ac \nmitted in its integrity to the privileged among mankind whose desire is to impress \nit upon the whole of humanity\u201d (pp. 247-251). \n\nIf Bergson had known the doctrine of the Lodge, doubtless he would have been \nmore definite and more specific. It is a supremely significant fact that in the East, \nfrom time immemorial, the relation of Guru and chela , of Master and disciple, \nhas been regarded as sacred. The \u201ccomplete mystic\u201d, the Master, toils for the \nwhole of humanity, but in particular he labours on behalf of his own disciples, \nwho are said to be, not figuratively but literally, the children of his own soul. \nThat Master is, in turn, the chela or spiritual son of another Master of still \nhigher degree, whom he loves and whose will he seeks to make effective in his \nown work in the world. \u201cI am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. \n... I am the vine, ye are the branches.\u201d This is the Guru-parampara chain. \n\nThus the ch\u00a3la finds his Higher Self, the Atman, in the consciousness of the \nGuru, who is, therefore, his \u201cFather in Heaven\u201d. According to the doctrine \n\n\n120 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nI had not thought to hear that story set into a sermon. Until then I had not \nthought of it as a moral tale at all. To the boy in the hay-loft, with life all before \nhim, it had seemed mere comedy, sheer buffoonery; the beggar had been so silly. \nBut now, beyond the crest of middle age, facing the accounting that every man \nmust render for \u201cthe swift and solemn trust of life\u201d, whose balance must so soon \nbe struck yet needed such wide change,\u2014here, re-echoed from the pulpit of this \nchurch, its irony graven deep in the world-worn faces all about me, it seemed \nthat in this story was the essence of all the sermons that ever had been preached, \nthe one lesson that all men needed and few learned, the one great all-embracing \ntragedy of human folly. Closest of all, it seemed the too common story of \nmembership in the Theosophical Society. \n\nWhat had been that beggar\u2019s Karma that the great Haroun-al-Raschid should \nhave seen and stooped to him? It must have been a \u201cgood\u201d day for him\u2014his \nsores more pitiful than usual, and pity more productive of pence\u2014to have enabled \nhim to get so drunk; but of the golden chance the night would bring him, in the \nconverging of the deeper currents of his fortune, he could have had no premoni\u00ac \ntion. The tares and wheat that had grown so long together, life after life, the good \nand ill so vacillatingly pursued, here together came unheralded to their harvest. \nThe feet of his lord turned toward him, and his lord\u2019s eyes, looking down, found \nhim sleeping, drugged with wine. Yet even drunk, his luck had held. It was \nstill pity and not anger that moved the Caliph\u2019s heart\u2014such royal pity as would \nmake its object royal as itself. But how can the little receive the great? How \ncan the small and mean believe in magnanimity, or accept what it cannot con\u00ac \nceive? Do not all creatures act according to their natures, and how could that \nbeggar\u2019s suddenly be changed? When he waked on a silken couch within the \nCaliph\u2019s palace, clothed in fair, clean linen instead of his old, foul rags, when he \nsaw the standing courtiers, waiting to hear his will, was it strange that he should \nhave been fearful and suspicious? When he reached for his bottle and found it \ngone, and nothing to assuage his thirst or deaden the torment of his nerves; \nwhen he saw his sores all washed clean, and felt in vain within his girdle for the \nbrush and bag of colour with which to heighten his scars, was it strange that he \nshould think he had been robbed of all that made life bearable, his very means of \nlivelihood taken from him? We see him turn his head away and weep his sorry \nfate, while the whole royal court wait to do his will, and the very princes of the \nkingdom envy him his chance. How could he, who for all those years had begged \nand tricked and cozened his way, know that here his will was sovereign; that \nnow there was no need to whine or to pretend, but that he could command what \nhe would, of high or low. And when at last the gentle kindness of those waiting \nlords brought him some small measure of trust and faith, so that he began to \nbeg as he had always begged, could he have voiced other desires than those \nthat he had sought and taken for his own all his life long, and so possessed that \nnow they possessed him ? \n\nWhat is it draws this veil of special pleading across the boy\u2019s clear, impersonal \nand uncompromising sight, turning sheer silliness and besotted folly into tragedy \nand food for tears ? Do we recognize that beggar within our own worldly selves, \n\n\n\n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE PERSIAN BEGGAR \n\n\n12 I \n\n\nand hear in these questions the very tones of the whining self-excuse and plea \nfor pity that were his stock in trade? We are like him in more ways than one. \n\nWhat was our Karma, the Karma of the members of the Theosophical Society \n\u2014of you, into whose hands this magazine has fallen\u2014that out of all the world \nthe great Lords of Compassion should have seen and stooped to us? That they \nshould have come to us in our drugged sleep, in our pleasures and our blindness, \nour moral squalor and self-pity, and lifted us up, unconsciously to ourselves, \nto knowledge of them and of the Lodge, into the palace of Truth, into the house \nof Life, where the Masters themselves call us \u201cbrothers\u201d and offer us all the wealth \nand wisdom of the Spirit that through the ages they have gained,\u2014where all \n\u2022the powers of the universe are spread before us and we are bidden to take what \nwe can? What have we chosen? What have we taken? What willed and \ncommanded? What have we desired? For what have we prayed? \n\nMan judges himself; no other judges him. The Lords of Karma bring him \nto his choice; he makes it of and for himself. They can but wait upon it, and \ncarry it out when it is made. Day by day he makes it, in act upon act, decision \nupon decision, struggling, striving, contriving, succeeding and failing, until at \nlast, in the day when the heavens open, it makes him , acting out its nature in \none swift, irrevocable stroke. To the Persian beggar, as to every man, the day \nof his kingship was his day of judgment. In that day, when whatever he could \nwant was his for the taking, he wanted only wine\u2014only the stimulus of the senses \nwhich deadens them to insensibility, only the exaltation of the self which loses \nself and life in dreams. That night they took him back, and laid him, drunk as \nthey had found him, in the gutter whence he came. \n\nM. \n\n\nAnd this is the condemnation , that light is come into the world , and men loved \ndarkness rather than light .\u2014 John III, 19. \n\n\nAnd now , 0 Lord my God ... 7 am but a little child; I know not how to go \nout or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast \nchosen , a great people. . . . Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart .\u2014 \nFirst Book of the Kings, III, 7-9. \n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\nVI \n\n\nS TARTING from London on August 24th, 1895, I arrived in New York \nin due course, and found this letter from Judge awaiting me: \n\nAugust 23rd, 1895. \n\nDear Boy, \n\nWhen you get this, I shall probably be in Cincinnati with Buck. That will \nalter the tone of former letter. For if you wish you can arrange to see me there\u2014 \nunless I go to New York. So, better find out by wire or otherwise first. It is \nnot far. Have no hurry. \n\nBest love, \n\n\n\n\nA few days later, this letter reached me: \n\nCincinnati, Ohio, September 2nd, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nMy wire not to come yet, was sent because a letter of Griscom\u2019s hinted that \nyou would come right here. Privately (entre nous) it is not convenient here now \nbecause of absence of a person and ill health of another, and that there is no \nplace for you to sleep. You and Claude [Wright] have hurried matters, although \nI asked you not to do so, and to wait until we could communicate. It is true \nmy second letter spoke of coming here, but I did not then know what to do. \nThat did not alter the suggestions of the first. \n\nSecond. It is a $50. outlay, when poverty is the mode,\u2014and for no good \nreason. \n\nThird. There is no telling where I may go, at this critical point [\u201ccritical\u201d, \nin view of Judge\u2019s physical condition]. \n\nFourth. No possible T.S. work can be done here; all people still away. And \nthe other plans proposed are the same now. You had better do as I said first\u2014 \ndon\u2019t alter my original plans\u2014that is, work around Aryan [T.S.Branch], \nH.P.B., Brooklyn, Newark, Yonkers, etc., which will use up a couple of weeks \nor so. In the meantime, we shall have heard from each other. \n\nI want to see you as much as you do me, and was very near running over to \nNew York, but we must wait. There is no telling what may occur. So have \npatience. I must (again entre nous) ask you to beware of the precipitancy of \nC. F. Wright, even in this matter of route. If anything definite has been said to \nthem (T.S.Branches, such as Toledo, etc. named), you had better have wires \nsent calling off arrangements until later. \n\nIt is best to work around New York until September 15th or 25th, and then \nyou can arrange other places. People in this country stay away from towns \n\n\n122 \n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n123 \n\n\nuntil September 25th to October 1st. Consequently you could do nothing \nvaluable. Besides, I want you, ab initio , to become acquainted with (all if \npossible) our N.Y. and vicinity members before you go anywhere. That is \nour solid base of persons, and I don\u2019t want you to skip off as proposed. This \nis the real inside reason, and now you will know how to proceed. Time enough \nmust be taken for it; and it being the beginning of things, it is of vastly more \nimportance than coming here. \n\nAs ever thine, \n\n\nMeanwhile I was doing my best to carry out Judge\u2019s instructions, speaking at \nthe Branches in New York and vicinity, and meeting as many members as \npossible. In those days, we went from Branch to Branch, often giving the \nsame lecture, with the same title, in each, and attempting to answer all questions \nthat might be put to us by people in the audience. It appears from a notice in \nThe Path that typewritten copies of a lecture entitled \u201cThe Brethren of the \nFlaming Heart\u201d, which I gave at a meeting of the \u201cH.P.B.\u201d Branch, were sold \nat 50 cents \u201cfor the benefit of the Headquarters Lecture Fund\u201d. I should like to \nobtain a copy. \n\nIt was not until long afterwards that I more than half understood Judge\u2019s \n\u201cinner reason\u201d for wishing me to meet all the people in New York\u2014his \u201csolid \nbase\u201d. Judge had plans the execution of which was made impossible by his \npremature death. \n\nThe next letter I received from Judge was postmarked Cincinnati. \n\n\nSeptember 4th, 1895. \n\nDear E.T.H., \n\nJust got your first letter since you \u201cstruck\u201d America. The enclosed [a letter \nfrom Burcham Harding] will also give you an idea. You see he is regularly with \nthe Central States Committee, and we must not muddle the work. He will \nget to the places in Ohio (also on the Central States Committee) by the right \ntime of year. So (no matter what we may do about our meeting) I think after \nyou have thoroughly done the work of connecting with all\u2014if possible\u2014the^j \nunits at our centre, plans may be by way of New England and Canada instead \nof these centre states. No telling and no hurry. \n\nOf course do not tell my inner reason for your meeting all there,\u2014but you \ncan say that you wish to know as many as you can. \n\nAs to cash: O.K. We\u2019ll discuss that. \n\nI want you to know some of the people well \u2014E.A.N., C.A.G., Spencer, \n\nDr. Guild, Patterson, Main, etc. Also, diplomatically, pay some little attention \nto Elliott B. Page [an old and valued member, in charge of the book and publish\u00ac \ning department, who was inclined to be touchy]. \n\nBy following my suggestions on your intuition, you will see it work with a \nlong reach forward. \n\nAs to cash again: even so, my boy, you must learn to know how to make \n\n\n\n124 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nall your dollars do the most work. Hitherto you had no chance that way. \nThat is one reason why I have had so much done on so little money. \n\nAs ever with love, \n\n\nWilliam \n\n\nMy health-chances better. I\u2019ve almost paralyzed the bacilli tuber\u2019s \n\n\nThe next letter was addressed to me, \u201ccare of C. A. Griscom, Jr., Esq., \nFlushing, Long Island\u201d, who had opened his home to me at Judge\u2019s suggestion, \nand with whom my relations were always of the closest. \n\n\u201cThe G.D.\u201d mentioned by Judge was \u201cThe Hermetic Order of the Golden \nDawn,\u201d of which Dr. W. Wynn Westcott (\u201cW.W.W.\u201d) was one of the leading \nlights, with MacGregor Mathers as \u201cSupreme Magus\u201d. The G.D. specialized \nin \u201cmagic\u201d,\u2014astral and not always innocuous. Many members of the T.S. \nwho resided in the north of England\u2014Pattinson among them\u2014were affiliated \nwith it. H.P.B. had tolerated this sort of double allegiance in the hope that an \nunderstanding of Theosophy would end in the conversion of those who had \nbeen misled. Judge had no use whatever for the G.D., and none for its leaders. \nBulmer was at that time the editor of The Northern Theosophist. \n\n[Postmarked] Cincinnati, Ohio, September 7th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nJust have yours. I go very carefully in those cases where I can\u2019t see the \npeople. Bulmer is partly what he (C.) says. The G.D. should be called G.D. \nwith an F. added. W.W.W. hates W.Q.J., and Pattinson is queer with a liking \nfor W.Q.J. I know most of them. They are players. \n\nAh! Glad you helped C.F.W. Help when you can. \n\nEach time you go to meet people be inside of Kew heart and strongly see \n\nMaster and -with you. You see already you have caught a hair line out \n\nto the N.W. 1500 miles by meeting those people. \n\nAm glad no definite plans had to be revoked. \n\nYes, my boy, you must fully realize that this continent, as you say, is in an \nawful hurry, and you must get into the silence of calm so the hurry won\u2019t see \nyou. If it nips you, you will lose too much force. \n\nI may run off for two or three days to examine Asheville, N. Carolina, as a \nplace to go to, and then will be able to say what I will do. \n\nEntre nous , it is on the cards that I might go first to New York, in which case \nI would then see you. Indiana is going to shout for you. Don\u2019t promise. \n\nSay\u2014I have not yet sent a greeting to Europe. Will you draft and send me a \nshort condensed one. At the same time try your hand and send me points \nyou would propose in an \u201cencyclical\u201d by me to the U.S.T.S. Of course that \nwill, when done, go all over. I will make it a state paper. Don\u2019t neglect pres\u00ac \nent campaign for this. \n\nIt will be nice if I go to New York before starting south. If I were rich I \nwould have you with me for a while. \n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n125 \n\n\nIf \u2019ere long\u2014at the proper time\u2014you could take in New Haven, it might be \nwell; but it\u2019s a doubtful case anyhow. We have some rottenness there. \n\nDo you think it too late to send greeting to Europe? \n\nAs ever, \n\n\u25a0 4 * \n\n\n[Postmarked] Cincinnati, Ohio, September 12th, 1895. \n\nDear E.T.H., \n\nWhy of course you are to see me before you either start off, or start to stay \nright there. I am waiting for events. And you were not to see me at any risk \nto the first few days or weeks. \n\nWill you mail the enclosed to Mrs. Malcolm? \n\nI do not suppose you will accept the Bunker invitation. There is a slight \nrow coming on at Frisco. Even were you at Frisco to stay, I should be of the \nopinion it would not be wise for you to stay at Bunker\u2019s. \n\nI had, just before your letter, sent on to C.F.W. my reply to the European \nletter. Let him show it to you. If you like, send it to Bulmer and I.T. [Irish \nTheosophist]. \n\nThat idea for an article about not leaning on another is good. Why don\u2019t \nyou seize the inspiration and do me an article for Path of, say, 1000 words. It \nwould go in November and must come to my hand before insertion. If C.F.W. \nspeaks to you about \u201cFour Sins in Occultism\u201d, tell him there are seven; don\u2019t \nmention me. \n\nNow look here. There is yet a residuum of the A.B. [Annie Besant] excite\u00ac \nment and row in you. It is no use. We don\u2019t care a d-about her or what she \n\ndoes or is. She\u2019s almost forgotten. There is no danger of reactions nor any\u00ac \nthing. We are just forging ahead, and she is a back number. \n\nYes, I am mending; but it is slow, slow, slow. \n\nEnclosed cutting is to give you an idea of the peculiar boastfulness of America. \nYou must get to understand all these things. \n\nHaven\u2019t had nerve yet enough to write fully to Arch and Julia. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u2022 \n\n\nFollowing Judge\u2019s instructions, I destroyed the letters he wrote me between \nSeptember 12th and the date of the next one printed (October 4th). He was \nwriting confidentially about people I was meeting or expected to meet, and about \nother private matters affecting the Movement. \n\nAsheville, N. C., October 4th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nIn haste. Address me \nc/o Miss Gano, \n\nAsheville, N. C. \n\nSo far all well. Have some things to say later. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u25a0 \n\n\n\n\n126 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nBy now I had begun a lecturing tour which lasted for more than three months. \nArriving in Boston on September 29th and lecturing there that evening on \n\u201cTheosophy and the Theosophical Society\u201d, I spoke next day at Lynn, then \nagain in Boston, then at Cambridge, Medford, Malden, at Boston again more \nthan once, at Somerville, Lowell, and so to Providence, before proceeding to \nSyracuse, Buffalo and Toronto, on my way west and south. Everywhere I was \nreceived with the utmost kindness, both by the local members of the T.S., and, \nchiefly thanks to them, by the local press. The usual procedure was a Branch \nmeeting in the afternoon and a public lecture in the evening, followed in many \ncases by a visit to the editor of some local newspaper, in whose office I would \nwrite a report of my lecture,\u2014a very brief experience having proved that re\u00ac \nporters, with the best of intentions, found either me or Theosophy, or both, \nentirely too much for their uninitiated minds. \n\nIt was the custom in those days for a Branch to entertain a duly accredited \nlecturer from Headquarters, each Branch doing its best to spare him (or Head\u00ac \nquarters) the expense of hotel bills. Some local member would volunteer to \nact as host. Further, a collection would be taken up, privately and locally, to \nprovide a railroad ticket to the next Branch to be visited. Occasionally a Branch, \nknowing that the Branch next to be visited was poor, would contribute extra \nmoney to supplement the efforts of its \u201cneighbour\u201d,\u2014separated from it, perhaps, \nby a day\u2019s journey or more. This method made for economy, but, as a new \nexperience, was distinctly embarrassing, no matter how anxious one might \nbe to adapt oneself to conditions, or to \u201cplay the game\u201d according to rule. \n\nI wrote fully to Judge, describing my experience, and doing my best to bring \nout its more humorous aspects in the hope that, ill as he was, he might derive \nsome amusement from the \u201csituations\u201d which developed. Judge knew all the \npeople I was meeting, and knew them well; so, as I was aware, he would see the \nreaction on both sides, and motives, occasionally, to which at the time I was \nblind. In one or two homes, where I was most hospitably entertained, the \nfamily was divided up the middle, for and against Theosophy,\u2014and I did not \nknow in advance, which was which. We would sit down for supper, a father, \na mother, and perhaps half a dozen children, some of them grown-up. Some \nwould look glum, some, cheerful. I speculated, mentally, as to the awful row \nthey had had before I was invited to stay with them. Anyhow, which was \nwhich! It did not follow in the least that those who looked glum were \u201canti\u201d. \nOne thing was sure: I must do my utmost to make a sufficiently good impres\u00ac \nsion, partly for the sake of Theosophy and of Judge, but partly also for the sake \nof the \u201cpros\u201d in this particular family. It was hard work,\u2014much harder \nwork than lecturing. (Yet all of it was a pleasure,\u2014inspiring, splendid, in\u00ac \nvigorating. I have no recollection of fatigue. Great forces were being let loose, \nand the tide, in 1895, was still rising.) In some cases there were no servants, \nfor many of our members were poor, and I found it difficult to reconcile myself \nto being waited on at table by my hostess. When conversation became too \narduous\u2014for to have talked about Theosophy might have let loose a devastating \nexplosion\u2014I learned to fall back upon the charms and splendours of the local \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n127 \n\n\nCourt House, or of any other local feature to which my attention had been \ncalled on my way from the railroad station, with as many questions as possible \nalong similar lines. \n\nIn one or two cases, local members undertook to \u201ctest me out\u201d. True, they \nhad heard this and that in the young man\u2019s favour, but some of them \u201ccame \nfrom Missouri\u201d, and they were not going to believe all they heard, even if Judge \nwas supposed to have said it. In one place an incident occurred which I find \nmost amusing in retrospect\u2014and which I have no doubt entertained Judge \ngreatly when I reported it to him\u2014but which at the time I classified as a decided \nnuisance. The leading member was a woman doctor, dour and rather alarming. \nBy some strange freak of fate, she had a very pretty daughter. On the day \nafter my arrival, the mother announced peremptorily that her daughter would \ntake me for a drive into the country. The mother knew that the girl was safely \nand happily engaged to be married. I did not know it until later. It was not \nthe custom in my part of the world (this was a long time ago) for an unmarried \ngirl to take a man for a drive. The least sign of unwillingness would, however, \nhave been an offence. It was a miserable drive, with intense effort on both sides \nto make it appear enjoyable. If only I had known she was engaged: we \ncould so easily have talked about him. I racked my brains, and doubtless she \nracked hers, poor thing. She was not interested in Theosophy: only in him. \nFinally back to the mother, who received us grimly, as if to say to me: \u201cNow \nI have caught you\u201d. Yet if ever a girl exonerated a man, I am sure that when her \nmother questioned her, that girl exonerated me. I only hope she had the \ncourage to tell her mother that if there was any more driving to be done, she \nwould not be the victim. \n\nThere was more excuse in another case for a \u201ctesting out\u201d process. The pre\u00ac \nvious visitor from the New York Headquarters (a man I always liked well enough \npersonally), had a lively imagination and a general feeling that it was part \nof his function to know. Consequently, when asked by some local members \nhow their meetings could be kept free from elementals (!), he had answered, \npromptly and glibly: \u201cTurn some chairs upside down, and place these, at in\u00ac \ntervals, in a circle round you\u201d. Somehow this did not sound just right to the \ninquirers, who in due course wrote to Judge, reporting their question and the \nanswer, and asking for further light. Judge was angry and said so. He told \nthe inquirers exactly what he thought of such \u201coccult instruction\u201d, and he told \nthe offender from Headquarters that he would never again be permitted to visit \nBranches unless he stopped such foolishness for ever. This had happened not \nvery long before my visit, and, presumably, led the same group of members to \nput their heads together in an effort to concoct a question that would give me\u2014 \nand themselves\u2014a corresponding opportunity. I knew nothing about this at \nthe time, but when they propounded their question (I think it was based upon \nsomething in The Secret Doctrine , with elementals and Hierarchies all con\u00ac \nfounded), it seemed to me that there was only one possible reply, namely, \nthat I had not the least idea what the answer was, and that they had better \nwrite to Judge and ask him. Before I left, one of them told me why they had \n\n\n4 \n\n\n128 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nasked the question, and its origin, adding that he thought I might like to know \nthat I had \u201cpassed\u201d. Judge confirmed his part in the story when I met him latei \nat Aiken. How he hated insincerity, bluff, pretence, and the least shadow of \ndeception. He was one of the most scrupulously honest men I have ever known. \nAs often happens, his accusers attributed to him, that which they were,\u2014 \nbut of which he was incapable. \n\nCrosbie and the others mentioned in the following letter, were members of \nthe Boston or neighbouring Branches. \n\n\nOctober 6th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nReceived yours from Boston and glad to know you get on so well; also that \nyou found force. Tell them who it is you identify it with. \n\nPrivate. Events are moving. C.F.W. has hatched a new idea for him. \nIt is old with me. And I have encouraged him as will also the others. It is to \nhire a well-known hall regularly for Sunday mornings, and he to carry on the \n\u201cservices\u201d, so as finally to get if possible a big crowd. This of course involves \na good deal which he in his red-headed hastiness does not see. But it\u2019s good \nanyway, and if successful will benefit the T.S. very much. But I do not want \nyou to make solid engagements further ahead than one month. You can keep \na month ahead all engaged. I do not mean this month, but simply have no \nfurther ahead of any day than one month, engaged. As you reel off a week, \nthen add another week to make the month. Do this without giving any reasons \nsave that that is your present method. Do you understand? \n\nThere is no more to say so I 11 stop. Funny cognomens here. Two samples: \nStickeleather; Swigegood. \n\nFine climate so far. Dry and dusty place. Am known here and my arrival \nis in paper and I am \u201cin feeble health\u201d. What an adjective! \n\nKeep up your courage and \u201cglory be to America\u201d. \n\nTell Crosbie, Ayers, Wades, Guild and Somersall, of the dissolution of-, \n\nand the general reasons and its real life anyway, and get back the symbols, \nwhich send-to keep for me. \n\nAs ever, \n\n\n% \n\n\nThe \u201cagreement with Wade\u201d of the next letter refers to a promise I had made, \nand which I had promptly reported to Judge, to help Wade by contributing \nan article occasionally to a little magazine which he published, or planned to \npublish, on behalf of Theosophy in New England. \n\nAlways I carried Judge\u2019s last letter with me in my pocket. It helped me, I \nbelieved, to keep in touch with him. But I was making a desperate effort to \nkeep a Petty Cash account, as I knew that would be his wish, and, for lack \nof other paper within reach, frequently used his envelopes for such entries as I \nfind on this: \u201cPorter .15; paper .5; Car .25\u201d: not a bad form of Yoga in the \ncircumstances. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n129 \n\n\nOctober nth, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\n1st. That agreement with Wade: what\u2019s done is done, and it will have \nto go. But hereafter make no such plans without consulting me, as you do \nnot know place nor people. And do not make any more with Wade. All \nyour work should be for the centre, and not for those who split the energy up \nwhile poor Path languishes and things are low. We can\u2019t stop Wade, for he is \na sort of bull. [Judge liked him none the less. Wade had tremendous energy \nand enthusiasm.] But we can put on brakes elsewhere. I did not give him \nthe general permission he says. It was that I might do so in every case if I \nwere asked in advance; and it was not contemplated that he should go in for \nindependent publishing which can only succeed by an undercut of Path or rivalry, \nsince the public (T.S.) is the same. So much for that. \n\nIf the energy expended on the Boston paper, on the Toronto Lamp and \nPacific Theosophist were put into booming the Path , we might then have a good \nlarge magazine and be able to pay for certain necessary service which now we \nhave to do without. [Judge was never in a position to employ a stenographer \nat Headquarters.] \n\nThat part of yours which has reference to the book on Occultism (another is \non Karma), I unreservedly accept. I was wishing for that. Go ahead and \nwrite up\u2014as you get now and then an hour\u2014what you think about it, the plan, \netc., etc. In Path you know I have a lot of stuff, \u201cConversations on Occultism\u2019\u2019, \nbetween Sage and Student. Jot your ideas down on paper the same size always, \nand file them between some boards or in a leather cover. We will keep them all \nthere; and the Conversations ought to be cut out of Path and put in there. \nThey will breed ideas. \n\nHere is one idea on the publishing part: to get up a subscription edition on \nbetter paper, larger margin and better binding, at a higher price than the general \nedition. The general edition should be of two prices, say $1.00 and 0.50. \nPut that into the receptacle. \n\nAs to me, I feel that in time I will do more work of that kind than going \nabout. \n\nI hear from Claude that-says A.B. now declares H.P.B. faked up the \n\ntelegram phenomenon with my aid. I wonder if true. But I do not place much \nreliance on those London tales. They all fell out wrong as to Burrows and \nwhat he would do. What a model ass he is. \n\nWell, best luck. Let me know how you really feel in the work and among \nthe people. \n\n\n(To be continued) \n\n\n\nRICHNESS OF LIFE \n\nThe Direction of Attention \n\n\nT HAT every man lives in a world of his own making, is a truth emphasized \nby the sages of all times, although\u2014like other truths emphasized by \nsages\u2014little heed has been paid to it. There are no courses at the \nuniversities on how to make one\u2019s world. Each man does it for himself, usually \nquite unconsciously, without the faintest idea of what he is doing, or of the \nprinciples which ought to guide him. Modem science, to be sure, may tell him \nthat his world, which it calls his environment, and his heredity, are the two \nmost important factors in his development, but, for the most part, it assumes \nthat these factors are beyond his control. It also assumes, in spite of the im\u00ac \nportance which it ascribes to them, that they are much smaller things than \nthey really are. \n\nA man\u2019s true heredity is far more than the ancestry of his physical body. \nIt includes the past incarnations of his soul. His real environment is the \nfield of his consciousness, rather than the physical things that may happen to \nbe in his vicinity. A blind man\u2019s environment is not changed by hanging \npictures on his wall, no matter how beautiful they may be, or what effect they \nwould have on an artist. It may be changed by music produced a thousand \nmiles away and heard over the radio. With a volume of Shakespeare, a man in \na hovel may change his environment completely. The point is that it is not what \nsurrounds his body that affects him, but what surrounds his mind and heart,\u2014 \nhis sensations, desires, thoughts and feelings. He lives in the midst of these; \nthey constitute his world; and his happiness or unhappiness, his interest or \nboredom, his progress or deterioration, depend upon their nature. \n\nWhat reaches a man from his surroundings depends mainly upon the direction \nof his attention, which, in turn, is either determined unconsciously by his interest \nand desire, or consciously by his will. Three men walk down the same street \nat the same time; the first, a pickpocket, watching craftily for a chance to filch \nthe price of the drink he craves; the second, absorbed in a business problem, with \nno thought or heed for anything but its solution; and the third, an artist, delight\u00ac \ning in the beauty of the sky and the reflection of the late afternoon sun turning \ndull, brick walls to gold. The street and the sunlight are the same in each case, \nbut the worlds the three men live in are as far apart as the poles. A great \nmountain may be only an obstacle to'the railroad builder, while to the geologist \nit tells a fascinating story of the play of gigantic natural forces over aeons of \ntime. To one sensitive to the voice of the Divine, the mountain may speak of \nyearning aspiration, or of the stillness of eternity. What speaks to each is the \nelement to which in the past he has given his attention. Like a search-light, so \nbadly mounted that, once fixed, its direction can only be changed after much \ntime and effort, attention lights up from the darkness of the world around it, \n\n\n130 \n\n\n\n\n\nRICHNESS OF LIFE \n\n\n13 1 \n\nonly that little spot at which it has habitually been aimed. The whole range, \nfrom highest to lowest, from some aspect of the world of the spirit to the depths \nof materialism, is before us always, for those who have eyes to see. \n\nA man\u2019s eyes see what they have been trained to see. In this, as in every\u00ac \nthing else, his freedom of choice in the present is limited by the choices he has \nmade in the past. If the artist has given no attention to geology, he cannot, by \nmerely wishing to do so, see what the geologist sees. In fact, we can only really \nperceive a thing at all when, and to the extent that, there is something of like \nnature already in our experience. As our experience consists of the aggregate \nof all to which in the past we have paid attention, it follows that what we can do \nwith our attention at any given moment is largely determined by what we have \ndone with it heretofore. In the same way, our range of possible action in the \nfuture is increased or diminished by what we do in the present. Language, so \noften wiser than its users, gives us a clue when it speaks of \u201cpaying attention\u201d. \nAttention is the coin with which Providence sends us into the world, and we \npay it, minute by minute, for what we choose out of the infinite variety of \noffered wares. Whether we spend it wisely, or squander it like a spendthrift, \nthat to which we pay attention becomes a part of ourselves, and it is thus that \nwe have made ourselves whatever we are. Our memories, our experience, \nsuch knowledge and skill as we may possess, our purposes and desires, the \nnature of oui thoughts and feelings, have all been built up to what they are as \nthe result of paying attention to one thing, good or bad, rather than to another. \nIn a very real sense, we are that to which we have in the past given our attention. \nWe become that to which we now give it. \n\nIt is easy to see that this is true of memory, of knowledge and of all acquired \nskill, but perhaps not so evident in the case of thoughts, feelings and desires. \nWe may, in fact, be accused of putting the cart before the horse, on the ground \nthat it is desire that directs attention and not the other way around. It is true \nthat nine times out of ten, attention is ruled by desire, but it need not be. It \ncan be consciously controlled by the will. One of the most important elements \nin true education is learning to concentrate all one\u2019s attention on a single task \nunder the direction of the will, irrespective of personal desire. But whether \nguided consciously by the will, or unconsciously by desire, attention is essential \nto the continued existence of any particular desire, or of any given type of thought \nor feeling. Desires grow by our brooding on them. They live on attention, \nwhich is as essential to them as water is to a plant, and without it, they die. \nAttention is to the desires what a stream of irrigating water is to an otherwise \narid land. Where it goes, and nowhere else, there is bloom and growth,\u2014of \nflowers or weeds, as the case may be. If attention be turned, and kept res\u00ac \nolutely away from a particular desire, that desire will in time die of starvation. \nOn the other hand, a desire will grow to the extent to which it is given attention. \nThe proverbial small boy\u2019s desire to go to the circus grows with every minute \nhe spends in thinking about it. Each time that he thinks of it with desire, he \nactually puts that much more desire into the idea. It comes to have a life of \nits own and to clamour constantly for still more attention, in order to feed thereon \n\n\nI 3 2 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nand grow further. The desires to which we have given no attention do not \ntrouble us. Few people, no matter how artistic, long to buy million-dollar \nRembrandts, whereas many ardently wish for a new wall-paper in the dining\u00ac \nroom. They have not thought about the Rembrandts and they have thought \nabout the wall-paper. \n\nAs the control of attention by will enables a man to increase certain desires \nand to starve others, so it enables him to control the nature of his thoughts and \nfeelings, and the character of his reaction to outer events. Constant mental \nattention to a feeling has a cumulative effect which makes that feeling grow out \nof all proportion. Everyday experience furnishes innumerable illustrations of \nthis. Irritation at the merest trifle can thus be built up to a highly explosive \ncondition, dangerous to all concerned. Darby has, perhaps, a way of humming \nto himself when Joan wants to read. If she makes up her mind to pay no atten\u00ac \ntion to it, in a surprisingly short time she will not even hear it. If, on the \ncontrary, she complains about it to herself, \u201cI suppose he\u2019ll do it again tonight. \nThere he goes. He knows I hate it and he always does it\u201d, etc., etc., watching \nfor it every evening, and adding the weight of each day\u2019s grievance to the ac\u00ac \ncumulated weight of all the past days, it may completely ruin her evenings, or \nlead to a humiliating explosion, good, perhaps, for Darby, but not for Joan. \nIt is Darby and not Joan who should pay attention to Darby\u2019s failures in con\u00ac \nsideration. \n\nEvery event comes with many different handles by which it may be grasped. \nThe universe offers its riches, and its shoddy, at each moment. According to \nthe aspect to which we pay heed, the same event may bring us annoyance at \npersonal inconvenience, or pleasure in an opportunity to help a friend; romance \nand the joy of battle, or discomfort and fear of disaster. A man strives for a \nprize and his friend gains it. He can centre his attention on his own disappoint\u00ac \nment, the injustice of the award and of the world in general, thereby filling his \nmind with self-pity, bitterness and envy; or he can centre it on his friend\u2019s happi\u00ac \nness, and feel quite as much joy as if he had won the prize himself. According \nto his decision, his \u201cenvironment\u201d for the time being becomes envy or joy. After \na series of such decisions, the reaction becomes automatic, and the man finds \nhimself envious, or generous-hearted. \u201cMan verily is formed of desire; as he \ndesires, so he thinks; as he thinks, so he becomes.\u201d And the key to desire is \nattention. \n\nWe have spoken of desire as life-giving. Perhaps we should have described \nit as life-carrying, with a current that flows in both directions. When we give \nour attention to anything, not only do we give to it a portion of our own life, \nbut there is a return flow from it which brings us something of its essence. \nWhether this essence be welcome or unwelcome, high or low, it enters our mind \nthrough the door opened by attention, and becomes a part of us. To the \nextent to which we give attention to a purpose or a cause, we live with the \nlife of that purpose. If it be a selfish purpose, the life that returns to us and \nwith which we then live, is sordid. If it were the service of the Masters to which \nwe gave ourselves, we should live with life eternal. When a man attends to \n\n\n\n\nRICHNESS OF LIFE \n\n\ni33 \n\n\nnobility and honour, there is a return flow to him of their essence, and he grows \nin nobility; when he attends to grossness and vulgarity, he becomes gross and \nvulgar. \n\nIt is for this reason that to certain things, unclean, vulgar or degrading in \nthemselves, no attention should ever be given except when duty requires it. \nIn that case, it is to the duty first, and to the thing, second, that we give at\u00ac \ntention. Nevertheless, even then there is a sacrifice involved to which we \nshould not be blind. If it be our duty to touch pitch, to refuse because it is \ndefiling, is to fall into self-righteousness, and to prepare for ourselves the future \n\u201cbed of mire\u201d, of which Light on the Path speaks. But pitch remains defiling \nand, duty or no duty, attention can never be given to it without some degree of \ndefilement. If those who genuinely condemn evil, realized how much their own \nlower natures relished the contact that any attention to evil involves, many \nwould be astonished and humiliated. \u201cWhether he love sin or hate sin\u201d, if \nhe give attention to sin, \u201che is equally tied to sin\u201d. Attention in itself consti\u00ac \ntutes a bond. It is not true that \u201cto the pure all things are pure\u201d. To be pure \nis to be clear-sighted, and hence to see unclean minds, and unclean \u201cart\u201d, and \nunclean books for what they are. To give attention to them is to take their \nunclean essence into ourselves. \n\nSelf-examination, in which attention is given to faults for the purpose of \nfreeing oneself from them, may appear to be a violation of this principle, but it \nis not really so, because we are already bound to the faults we have. Attention \nis given them partly to build up aversion to. them, and partly to enable us to \nsee clearly where we should strike to cut the existing bonds. \u201cSelf-examination\u201d \nthat is merely brooding on one\u2019s failings, and that is not followed by resolute \naction against them, is always harmful. \n\nThe character of that to which we give attention determines the character of \nthe return flow to us, and that, in turn, determines the richness or poverty of \nour own life and consciousness. If a man gives all his attention to golf and \nhorses, he limits the life he receives to what can be cramped within golf and \nhorses, or rather within the qualities those activities call forth. Golf, of course, \nhas no \u201clife\u201d of its own to give, but it brings out qualities that do have certain \ntypes of life. Even here, in spite of their obvious limitations and of the simi\u00ac \nlarity of \u201chorsey\u201d\u2014or golfing\u2014communities the world over, there is a consider\u00ac \nable range between the highest and the lowest \u201cessences\u201d to be extracted from \nthem. A man may play golf from vanity, because he thinks he plays a good \ngame, and he gets the essence of vanity back from it. Or he may be attracted \nby the coolness and self-control under excitement called forth by the need for \na long, accurate put, at a critical point in the game. We certainly would not \ndeny the exhilaration of handling a high-spirited thoroughbred, or of taking a \nfour-foot fence on a good hunter, but, however enjoyable, one would hardly \ndescribe these things as \u201crichness of life\u201d. Whatever of richness they may have, \nis due to the presence of some quality of the spirit\u2014courage, delicacy of control, \ncoolness, or whatever it may be. \n\nIt is always the spirit that makes richness of life, and it is only by attention \n\n\n134 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nto the things of the spirit that it can be attained. Excitement, to which those \nseeking richness so often turn, is a specious counterfeit, always followed by a \nreaction of dulness, and which, in time, so deadens the power of enjoyment that \nstronger and stronger doses have to be taken to produce any effect. This dul\u00ac \nling of the faculties of enjoyment is particularly noticeable in children who have \nbeen brought up on the \u201cmovies\u201d. On the other hand, appreciation of the things \nof the spirit grows keener with exercise. The more one attends to beauty, or \nnobility, or the search for truth, or any other aspect of the spirit, the more intense \nwill be one\u2019s joy in them. Attending to them builds up the desire for them, \na desire that, recognized or unrecognized, every one has; for every soul, deep \nwithin itself, longs for its home and for the things of its home. Attention \nto the spirit brings our hearts and minds into some touch with the spirit itself. \nJust as spring sunshine is necessary to call flowers from the earth into bloom, \nthis touch of the spirit is needed for the blossoming of powers and faculties of \nheart and mind, that otherwise lie dormant or atrophy. It is these faculties \nthat bring intensity and fineness of feeling, keenness of appreciation, breadth \nof interest, sympathy, understanding, reverence, love for what is beautiful, \nhigh and noble, and all that makes life worth while. \n\nAs the direction of his attention determines ultimately what a man desires, \nwhat he becomes, the world he lives in, and the nature of the life with which he \nlives, it would seem desirable to pay heed to one\u2019s attention. The first step is \nto become conscious of just what it is doing at each moment. If this sounds \neasy to anyone, let him try to hold.his attention steadily on one subject for five \nminutes, and then see how many times and how far it wandered before he \nbecame conscious of what it was about. With most people, as we have said, \nit is ruled, quite unconsciously to themselves, by their personal desires, and \nthey have little idea, and less control, of what it is doing most of the time. It \nmust be reclaimed from its slavery to desire and brought under the control \nof the will. Obviously, the power of attention will not take a man far toward \nhis goal if he consciously directs it in the right way for one hour a day, and, \nfor the remaining twenty-three, unconsciously lets it go in the opposite direction! \nFor spiritual progress, in which a few moments\u2019 wrong thought can do untold \nharm, and the most rigid control of the mind is necessary, a constant, alert \nattention, like that of a sentry on guard in the face of an enemy, is essential. \nThoughts are dynamic things that vitally affect both ourselves and others! \nWe have no more right to produce them without attention to their character than \nwe have to drive an automobile with our eyes shut. \n\n\nJ. F. B. Mitchell. \n\n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\nAN EXPLANATION AND INTERPRETATION \n\n\nFurther , the more important part of their science escapes them , the part which \ndiscerns in the soul what truly belongs to it and what does not , what movements \nare from within , what movements are from without , and , among these last , which \ncome from the devil and which come from God. Nor can they know with what ca\u00ac \npacity for faith and love a particular soul has been endowed , nor what precise means \nof sanctification is foreseen for it in the divine plan. While they ignore and make \na point of ignoring the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost , and the whole activity \nof the supernatural life , they will only skim the surface of men,\u2014one half of man's \nsecret will always escape them. \u2014 The Secret of the Cur\u00a3 D\u2019Ars. \n\nP SYCHOANALYSIS is the name given to a method of diagnosing and treat\u00ac \ning certain maladies that afflict men and women. Whether one con\u00ac \ndemn or approve this method, one should be fair to it, recognizing \nthat, bad or good, it has been brought into existence by a dire human need. \nThat need is for remedial measures adequate to check the alarming increase of \nthe insane. Even a casual reader of newspaper statistics, knows how appalling \nis the number who suffer from cancer and tuberculosis; but the combined total \nof those afflicted with cancer, tuberculosis, and all other physical disease, is \nactually less than the number of those who are diseased mentally. \n\nBodily diseases often cause excruciating suffering, but the duration of those \nills is limited, and after a year or two, the man or woman either recovers, or is \nreleased from the tormented body. With mental disease, the alternative is \nnot so clear or hopeful. In our country alone, no less than 400,000 pitiable \nindividuals are condemned for life or long terms, to the prison of an insane \nmind. In addition to the 400,000 declared insane by the public law courts, \nthere is a second multitude,\u2014those mentally or nervously disordered, men \nand women not yet insane, but likely to become so, unless preventive and reme\u00ac \ndial treatment be found for them,\u2014afflicted people for the origin of whose \nbaffling symptoms, their physicians have in vain searched every organ and \ntissue of the physical body. In perplexity, some physicians began to inquire: \nhave we been looking in the wrong place for the cause of these distressing \nsymptoms? Ought we to seek a clue within the mental and emotional nature, \nor, to use the Greek word, within the psychic body? As an experiment, those \nphysicians began to investigate the mental and emotional history of their \npatients, and out of their analyses grew this method of treatment\u2014now a \npopular fad\u2014psychoanalysis. \u201cPsychoanalysis occupies itself\u201d, writes Pro\u00ac \nfessor McDougall, \u201cwith the explanation and cure of what are called nervous \ndisorders\u201d. \n\nThe first physician to make systematic analyses, to report his results and \n\n\n135 \n\n\n\ni 3 6 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe theories he derived from them, was Professor Sigmund Freud, the Vien\u00ac \nnese neurologist. The unsavoury odour that surrounds the practice and litera\u00ac \nture of psychoanalysis, proceeds from personal traits in some of the investi\u00ac \ngators as well as in their patients. Men with no religious principle, those \npsychiatrists recognize nothing in human nature that comes to it \u201cfrom above\u201d; \nthey regard men and women only as one species of animal. Moreover, the past \nhistory of their patients, many of a grossly sensual type, proved to be just what \nthe investigators desired to find. Morbid and malodorous details were pub\u00ac \nlished by Freud and his confreres, and were avidly welcomed by the licentious \ndecade that followed the close of the World War. In dealing with diseased \nminds it will often be necessary to deal with gross and distasteful things. \nKnowledge of such morbid conditions,\u2014their causes and cures, the physician \nmust have, but he need not take unnecessary trouble, as Freud seems often to \nhave done, to connect abnormal mental states with matters sexual. It is this \nitalicising of what is indecent and immoral that offends right-minded people. \nIn the hands of other practitioners, doctors of clean fibre, who work with a \ndecent grade of patients, there has been evolved from Freud\u2019s crude beginning \na theory and practice that is worthy of study. \n\nFreud began by studying those human tendencies which he calls instincts. \nBecause the word \u201cinstinct\u201d is used to-day in different senses by various \ngroups of psychologists, Freud\u2019s meaning must be made clear and distinctive. \nFor example, to the psychologists of Dr. John Watson\u2019s group, \u201cBehaviour\u00ac \nists\u201d (another popular fad), an instinct is nothing but an habitual response to \na given stimulus. The nerve cell, as they see the process, is excited at one end, \nand the exciting impulse is carried along a fixed system of nerve fibres until \nit reaches its destination in a certain group of muscles or glands; there, an un\u00ac \nvarying response is made. Those unvarying responses, together with Dr. \nWatson\u2019s deductions from them as to the causes of human conduct (behaviour), \nconstitute this new ism. Freud is less mechanistic than Dr. Watson, for to \nhim an instinct involves consciousness, and consciousness may of course vary \nthe responses made to any given stimulus. Freud does not toss overboard all \nthe accumulated experience of the ages, but holds with Aristotle, Schopen\u00ac \nhauer and others, that the \u201cmost fundamental characteristic of men and animals \nis their purposive striving toward ends or goals.\u201d These strivings, purposive \nand, therefore, conscious, which seem to be a fundamental human characteristic, \nFreud calls instincts. Among the instincts, named from the goal toward which \nthey strive, are: the instinct toward pleasure; the instinct toward the exercise \nof force or power; the instinct toward self-preservation; the instinct toward the \nperpetuation of the race; the instinct toward the maintenance of nutrition; \netc., etc. \n\nIt is obvious that whenever various instincts struggle within a man, each \ntoward its respective goal, they come into rivalry and start a civil war. That \nstrife is one kind of hindrance that blocks the path toward satisfaction\u2014a \nhindrance that, in varying circumstances, gives victory or defeat, now to one \ninstinct, now to another. A second set of hindrances arises when the instinc- \n\n\n\n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\ni37 \n\n\ntive, natural man has developed to the point of recognizing moral standards \ngiven \u201cfrom above\u201d, a state of development that is inherited from a long Kar\u00ac \nmic past. Human instincts as they move to-day along the paths toward satis\u00ac \nfaction, often find unexpected barriers in the way. What action will the owner \nof the instincts take when he comes upon those thwarting ramparts? \n\nThe man may say: \u201cThese barriers have been built by the generations of \nmankind because experience had demonstrated not only the convenience but \nthe need at this point of a barricade; I will therefore be guided by the accumu\u00ac \nlated wisdom of my race\u201d. He then acts decisively; he does not try to leap \nthe barrier or crawl through some cranny of it, but turns completely from the \nbarricaded road, and transfers, toward a new goal, the energy that hitherto \nhad propelled his course. To be congratulated is the man who acts thus, de\u00ac \ncisively, and turns into a new path, refusing to gratify an instinct that may \nbe \u201cnatural\u201d but that, at his stage of development, conflicts with some law\u2014 \nof heaven or of earth. Such a man will never fall victim to nervous disorder. \nOn the other hand, a man may act indecisively; he may half-heartedly accept \nthe barriers as inevitable,\u2014fretting, nevertheless, because instincts that are \n\u201cnatural\u201d, and which he himself has had nothing to do with implanting in his \nnature, find interferences in the way of \u201cinnocem\u201d gratification. He acts inde\u00ac \ncisively, incompletely. He accepts the barriers\u2014but with a reservation; he \naccepts them, \u201cfor the present\u201d, until ingenuity can find a way to surmount \nthem. He does not expel the impulse, as the first man did, but, instead, pushes \nit off the scene, trusting to the adage, \u201cout of sight, out of mind\u201d. This half\u00ac \nheartedness in dealing with instincts, half-heartedness which amounts to mere \npostponement of gratification, the psychoanalysts call by the technical word, \nrepression , as they likewise give to the repressed instincts themselves, the \nname, complexes. \n\nLittle does the victim of half-heartedness realize the bitter draught he is \nbrewing for himself. All that he has done by repressing his impulse, is to banish \nfrom his drawing-room to his cellar, what should have been driven from his \nhouse. In the cellar of his subconscious mind, that banished instinct becomes \na rat, gnawing and gnawing to open a subterranean passageway to gratification, \nthe conscious mind giving little attention to scamperings in the cellar, so lo\u2019ng \nas the rats keep out of sight, out of the drawing-room. Poor victim, self- \ndoomed to misery! For, strange as it may seem, many nervous disorders, \nwith all their train of sufferings, are self-caused; they are nothing less or more \nthan disguised gratifications of repressed instincts. In other words, according \nto the theories of psychoanalysis , a nervous disorder means that the rat in \nthe cellar has been persistent enough to gnaw a passageway to fulfilment,\u2014 \nfulfilment though disguised , the disguise\u2014often most distorted\u2014being adopted \nfor the express purpose of deluding the conscious mind, which, for sufficient \nreason, shrinks from open gratification of that particular impulse. \n\nPsychoanalysis is concerned with these rats, the impulses repressed and ban\u00ac \nished to the subconscious mind,\u2014to ferret them out. For if not ferreted out \nand exterminated, they may lead from nervous disorders which are them- \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n138 \n\nselves things of no joy, to mental diseases,\u2014they may lead from the mid-valley \nof indecision down to the black dungeons of insanity. \n\nTwo choices open to a man, and their consequences, have been mentioned,\u2014 \npositive decision and half-hearted postponement. There is yet a third choice; \na man may act decisively, but in the wrong direction. The consequence of that \nchoice is, ultimately, debauchery or insanity. Encountering the barriers which \nthe experience of the race has built, the man may say that, willy nilly, he will \nstorm the barricade and gratify his desire. The particular instinct which he \nwishes to satisfy may be that for power, and he can see that, were he President \nof the United States, he would be in a position of some authority. The votes \nof the nation do not make him President; but, within himself, he has a faculty \nmore potent than votes, the faculty of fancy, a perversion of imagination. He \nstorms the barricade, withdraws from his actual environment, and lives in a \nfantasy world of his own creation. Satisfaction of his desire being denied him \non a substantial plane, he gives himself illusory gratification on the plane of \nunsubstantial fantasy. At last, he believes himself to be President, commander- \nin-chief of the army and navy, etc., etc. Acquaintances may deride his belief\u2014 \nbut then, he tells himself, his acquaintances are all deranged, and he, the great \nPresident, is the only sane individual of that particular neighbourhood. He has \ndefied the accumulated experience of the race, and has bounded over the re\u00ac \nstraining barrier\u2014into the madhouse; he is insane. \n\nIt is not however with insanity, the final stage of the road, that psycho\u00ac \nanalysis concerns itself, but with the mid-valley of the undecided,\u2014those who, \nafflicted with nervous disorders, are leading disturbed lives, some of whom \nmay become insane if their condition be not alleviated and cured. \n\nPeople subject to nervous disorders seem to fall into two psychological groups, \nthe introvert and the extrovert , both of which depart, but in opposite directions, \nfrom the normal human type. The normal man stands between two worlds; \nhe is sensitively poised between an outer world of environment and an inner \nworld of thought and standards. He ponders those two worlds, weighing one \nagainst the other until he strikes a balance. The introvert, as the name sug\u00ac \ngests, looks too much within, and too little upon what is around him; he is \u201coff \nbalance\u201d. If the introvert becomes completely and permanently \u201coff balance\u201d, \ngiving no heed whatever to facts of his environment, he is insane. The ex\u00ac \ntrovert likewise is \u201coff balance\u201d, in that he is too easily influenced by external \nfactors, not bringing such factors before the bar of inner judgment. He acts \nwithout reflection, is the victim of external conditions, and may become so \nvictimized by outer influences as hopelessly to lose balance, in insanity. \n\nTo illustrate, consider first the introvert. Here are two examples of nervous \noddity, disturbances of the very slightest nature indeed, which yet might de\u00ac \nvelop into serious disorder. I. A child of seven, walking with an aunt through \na woodland, strayed and was lost. After no great interval the aunt found her \nniece wedged between two rocks at the foot of a small waterfall. Fearful of \npunishment at home, the child begged her aunt not to mention the escapade, \nand the indulgent aunt so promised. Within a few days, the visit came to an \n\n\n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\ni39 \n\n\nend, the aunt went to live in a distant state, and no one of the family knew of \nthe child\u2019s act. As she grew into girlhood, that child was always terrified by \nthe sight or sound of running water, an oddity that caused comment in the \nhome and among friends. Thirteen years later, the aunt again visited her \nrelatives, and noticing one day her niece\u2019s terror as the faucet ran noisily, said \nwith a quizzical smile, \u201cI have never told\u201d. The long forgotten adventure at \nthe waterfall was recalled; and after that explanation, it is said, the young \nwoman\u2019s nervous fear entirely disappeared. 1 \n\nII. A respectable elderly man, Mr. B\u2014, had such a fear of being seized from \nbehind, that, on the street, he was frequently looking over his shoulder, and, \nwithin doors, sat, if possible, with his back against a wall. This odd behaviour \nhad marked him from childhood. In his fifty-sixth year, Mr. B\u2014 made a \nvisit to the town of his birth, and among other old acquaintances, encoun\u00ac \ntered an aged grocer who still conducted the little shop which had lingered \nfrom boyhood in Mr. B\u2014\u2019s memory. The old grocer smilingly asked Mr B\u2014 \nwhether he remembered the peanuts, and on receiving a negative reply, he told \nhow B\u2014 as a boy, had the habit of snatching a few peanuts whenever he passed \nthe shop, until the grocer, determined to end the pilfering, one day concealed \nhimself behind a hogshead as the boy approached, and then from the rear \nleaped out upon the lad who was thus caught while his hand was in the sack. \nScreaming with terror, the boy had fallen to the ground, unconscious. As in \nthe case of the girl just mentioned, B\u2014\u2019s nervous abnormality is said to have \ndisappeared soon after its forgotten cause was brought back to memory. \n\nWhat have these odd forms of nervousness to do with psychoanalysis, which \nconcerns itself with gnawing instincts? Self-preservation is an instinct, and \nfrom that branch there ramifies the twig of self-respect, more usually called, \nmedically, self-regard. There are right and wrong ways of guarding self-re\u00ac \nspect. A conscientious man of disciplined will, who by wrong-doing has lowered \nself-respect, acknowledges his fault, tries to make reparation for it, and regains \nmentem consciam recti. The girl and the boy just described were not concerned \nover their wrong-doing, but were eager to escape the consequences. Punish\u00ac \nment at home, it is contended, would have ended the matter by transforming \nthe guilty memory into a wholesome one that would deter from future wrong\u00ac \ndoing. Punishment they escaped, but they could not escape their own memory^ \nof guilt. Self-regard could not bear the sight of the unwelcome memory, and \nbanished it to the cellar. Confinement in the cellar does not put an end to a \ntrouble maker. Force put into wrong action continues until expiated in some \nreturn circuit. The banished memory, like a rat, had obtruded its scamperings \n(i.e., \u201cfear of running water\u201d, and \u2018\u2018fear of being seized\u201d) upon the drawing\u00ac \nroom,\u2014the individual not at all understanding that he was himself responsible \nfor the rat. Forgetting all the circumstances that surround an uncomplimen\u00ac \ntary incident, as shown by the girl and by Mr. B \u2014, is said to be purposed , and \nthis purposed forgetfulness is called technically, amnesia. \u201cEvery phobia' \u2019 (a \n\n1 This and the following cases are cited in Professor Wm. McDougall's book, Outline of Abnormal Psychology, \np. 306 et seq. \n\n\n\n140 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nnervous fear, the cause of which is unknown to the patient), says Dr. Stekel, \n\u201cis a punishment exacted by consciousness of guilt\u201d. \n\nOn the theory of psychoanalysis, the rdle of the analyst was taken in these \ntwo cases by the aunt and the grocer, who held each the clue to the mystery. \nWith the girl and the boy, the fear was too slight to produce a marked dis\u00ac \norder\u2014it caused only freakishness of manner. In more severe cases, no friendly \nindividual possessing a clue, the patient must have the aid of an intelligent \nworker trained to search minutely through the past, until he penetrates the \nself-draped veils of amnesia which hide from the sufferer the cause of his trouble. \nWhen these veils of amnesia are tom aside, and the patient is confronted with \nforgotten facts, his neurosis , or nervous disorder, frequently comes to a happy \nend: or so we are told. \n\nIn the next illustration, also of the introvert type, morbid scrupulosity is \nshown, that is, a form of obsession , the individual being thrown \u201coff balance\u201d \nby undue attention to an inner standard of conduct. As a result of over-scru\u00ac \npulousness in the discharge of duty, a certain middle-aged naval officer, N\u2014, \nbecame self-depreciatory to the point of losing the confidence of his fellow \nofficers, though hitherto they had respected and admired his integrity and \nability. A devout Catholic, trained in a Jesuit college, his increasing indeci\u00ac \nsion and inefficiency mystified his associates. Investigation disclosed that an \nincident on a torpedoed ship was responsible for the neurosis. A young lieu\u00ac \ntenant, panic-stricken in the waves, though in no immediate danger (buoyed \nas he was by a life-belt), had shouted to N\u2014 for a second belt. N\u2014 was on \nthe deck of the sinking vessel, no belt was in sight, and seeing that the lieu\u00ac \ntenant was to all appearance sufficiently protected, he had not deprived him\u00ac \nself of his own belt in order to quiet the terrified youth. Shortly after that \nincident, an hallucination began to trouble N\u2014. From time to time he would \nsee the young officer floating upon the waves, a corpse. It was this haunting \nsight that had caused him to examine and re-examine with morbid scrupulosity \nevery detail of duty assigned him, until he became indecisive and utterly in\u00ac \nefficient. Brought face to face with the cause of his brooding, N\u2014 was freed, \nwe are told, from the hallucination. Presumably, something in his refusal to \ngrant the lieutenant\u2019s request had not satisfied his code. Conscience may \nhave whispered that an elder officer should show more sympathy to an inex\u00ac \nperienced and unreasonably terrified youth. The physician who reported the \ncase does not tell what verdict N\u2014 passed upon his own act. It is possible that \nhe confessed he had made a mistake. Hearty repentance for wrong done, often \nfrees from seething uncertainties. \n\nLet us now look at examples of the extrovert type, impulsive and impression\u00ac \nable people who act upon the desire of the moment, with little interior check. \nThe vitality of such people often seems inexhaustible, but they are swept from \ntheir inner mooring, become victims of their own emotions, and their valuable \nenergy is frittered away. \n\nOn account of an exemplary professional career, K\u2014 was requested by his \nassociates to step out from a quiet and inconspicuous field of labour, in order \n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\n141 \n\nto engage actively in a presidential campaign where principles of more than \nusual importance were at stake. K\u2014 had never before made a public address, \nand was as pleased as surprised at his success. He had never experienced the \nsensation of influencing a crowd, and the sense of power it brought, \u201cwent to \nhis head\u201d. He began to make addresses for the sole purpose of experiencing \nthat sensation, and his conduct became in consequence eccentric. Early in \nthe morning, at the window of his hotel room, by animated gestures he would \nstop passers-by, and when he had assembled an audience, would deliver a \nfiery harangue. The response made by the crowd to his eloquence caused \nhim, he said, to \u201cfeel like a god\u201d, and when campaign associates, alarmed at \nhis excitement, endeavoured to quiet his elation, he became extremely irritable \nand scornful. Tactful management restored him, but the case shows how a \nmania might develop. It was the instinct for power asserting itself regardless \nof ordinary conventions. \n\nWhen an unbalanced man is positive and aggressive toward his environment \nas K\u2014 was, the resultant disorder is a mania. An imbalanced man who is \nnegative and passive to environment, brings upon himself the opposite of mania, \na depression. These two forms of disease exhibited by extroverts, are commonly \ngrouped together as the manic-depressive psychoses, because it is usual for \npatients to pass back and forth from mania to depression in cycles. Fear \ndominates a depressed person. ,He feels useless, weak, and accuses himself \nof innumerable crimes, especially of having committed \u201cthe unpardonable \nsin\u201d, without having the vaguest notion what that sin may be. He imagines \nall sorts of punishment that will overtake him. Too frequently, this affliction \nends in suicide; but if the individual can be protected from himself, the depres\u00ac \nsion almost invariably passes away, and he may become normal once more. \n\nAnother disorder that occurs in persons of the extrovert type is hysteria. \nHysteria , according to this school, is a refuge supplied by the subconscious \nmind from some condition which the individual prefers not to face. When a \nman is desirous of being excused from an unpleasant task, and can substantiate \nhis desire with no valid reason such as a physical disease, his subconscious mind \nmost obligingly comes to the rescue, producing a sufficiently serious nervous \nillness (simulating physical disease) to obtain release from duty. Shell-shock, \nin some cases, may be a form of hysteria \u2014a subconscious imitation of disease \n\u2014in which case the motive back of that imitation is desire to evade the con\u00ac \nflict. During the War, a soldier received a wound in his shoulder. The wound \nsoon healed, but the man\u2019s arm was unexpectedly found to be paralyzed, and \nhe was discharged as unfit for further duty. For several years the paralysis \ncontinued, and, through disuse, the muscles of the arm degenerated. Wishing \nto be rid of the limb, now inconvenient as well as useless, the man visited a \nsurgeon, with a view to amputation, but the surgeon first called into consulta\u00ac \ntion a neurologist. The neurologist found that the shoulder muscles as well \nas the arm muscles had degenerated, though the nerves of the shoulder lay \nentirely outside the area affected by the original flesh wound. Convinced that \nwhat appeared to be complete organic paralysis was in truth hysteria, the \n\n\n\n142 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nneurologist assured the patient that his arm could be completely restored, and \nbefore the first interview ended, the man was moving his fingers. In a few \nweeks the entire arm was functioning normally. 2 \n\nWhat caused that hysteria ? In that as in similar cases, it was the desire to quit \nthe field of action, but to quit without disgrace. To effect that, there must be \nadequate injury. The subconscious mind is therefore expectant and anticipa- \ntive, and consequently the effects upon it of some fear-producing episode, are \nout of all proportion to the physical damage actually received. After the \naccident, there is usually a period during which the subconscious mind works \nquietly to achieve its aim, a dormant period before the neurosis appears. Then, \nshortly before the soldier is scheduled to resume active work, there will develop \nfrom a minor accident, symptoms of a major nature. Quite obviously that \nsoldier had not concentrated his attention upon doing his utmost, but was \nmeditating an escape from an unpleasant environment, an escape that would \nat the same time \u201csave his face\u201d. The instinct to preserve himself from danger \nprompted him to run away, but flight was checked by the conflicting instinct \nof self-regard which pictured vividly the disgrace to be incurred. Instead of \ncrushing the desire to desert, the soldier merely pushed it into his cellar where \nthe subconscious mind worked upon it until the insignificant flesh wound served \nas starting point and pretext for the paralysis. To the man\u2019s discomfiture, \nthe paralyzed arm continued to plague him Jong after its \u201cusefulness\u201d (i.e., to \nprocure a discharge with honour) was over. \n\nSimilar evasions of duty, effected through the connivance of the subcon\u00ac \nscious mind, occur in civilian as well as military life. Since the passage of the \n\u201cWorkmen\u2019s Compensation Laws\u201d (which compel employers to compensate \nemployees for injuries received in the discharge of duty), nervous diseases are \nencountered more frequently than formerly in industrial callings. Under \nhysteria, there is a sub-group of disorders known as the traumatic neuroses , be\u00ac \ncause they start in a slight injury, or at least in fear of an injury (trauma being \nthe medical term for injury). A large mechanical crane falling from its supports, \nwedged the operator between a heavy piece of steel and the wall of the room. \nThe only physical injury he sustained was a slight bruise on one leg, X-rays \nshowing no injury to the bone, and careful examination revealing no sign of \ninjury to nerve fibres. For several months after the bruise had disappeared, \nthe operator still limped, and he continued to receive full wages, though he \nperformed no service, alleging that severe pain made work impossible. The \nphysician responsible for the employees finally became convinced that the \nlimp was psychological not physical, and to close the case, recommended a \ncash settlement for disability. When this was made, the limping soon ceased. \nWhenever an injured workman has financial interest in the business, or for \nsome reason is not entitled to compensation, he returns quickly to duty. An\u00ac \nother common form of hysteria is pain in the back, following a railroad wreck, \nand this is known medically as \u201crailway spine\u201d. For this ailment no physical \norigin can be demonstrated, yet after every wreck, the railway companies \n\n* Cited by Professor Foster Kennedy, neurologist at Cornell University Medical College, in lecture, in 1925. \n\n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\nM3 \n\n\nspend large sums in settlement of claims based upon such pains. It is inter\u00ac \nesting to note that a special train carrying only high officials of the road was \nonce wrecked, giving the officers a rough jolt. Not a single case of \u201crailway \nspine\u201d developed after that accident because, as controlling stockholders, any \ncash settlement would have come from their own pockets. It should be clear \nthat no reference is being made to deliberate malingerers, but to people of another \ntype who have no conscious desire to make an unjust claim. Fear is \npresent in their minds, and the subconscious thought that the authorities \nresponsible are able to pay for any injury that may be sustained. When the \nfright is over, and he cannot find a physical injury, the passenger\u2019s repressed \ndesire for compensation keeps active through subconscious channels until it \nclears a way to cash\u2014by the development of pain in the back. \n\nHaving considered ,(i) what it is that psychoanalysis deals with, and (2) \nthe psychological types subject to nervous disorders, let us now turn to (3) \nmethods employed in analyzing and treating the neuroses. \n\nThere are two major steps in psychoanalysis. I, Exploration of the patient\u2019s \nmind, for the purpose of discovering the origin of the morbid state. II, Re\u00ac \nadjustment of the patient\u2019s life. \n\n1. The exploration includes minute examination of the past life, including \nancestral and antenatal environment, likes and dislikes as they touch both \npersons and things; and a review of all his theories, hopes, beliefs, and desires. \nWithout being aware of it, the patient will conceal the very things which are of \nmost importance to the diagnosis. To elicit further information, the physician \nasks him to read a list of words, matching each word in the list with the first \none of his own that it calls to mind. In making replies, the patient will hesitate \nslightly at such words as have special significance to him. The investigator \nthen segregates those special words and the replies they evoked, and builds \nthem into an hypothesis. Dreams likewise are carefully examined, with an \nattempt to interpret them. In addition, hypnotism is often used as an aid to \nexploration. \n\nBetween analysis and readjustment there is an intermediate step called \nll catharsis ,} } which means the expulsion (at last) of the repressed desire and its \nreplacement by a worthy goal. The practice of confession is obviously a type \nof catharsis. \n\n2. Readjustment demands, primarily, the establishment of a worth-while \naim. Appeals may be made to the patient\u2019s moral standards and religious \nbeliefs, as also, to his patriotism or his family pride. Affection for a friend \nmay be used as a motive toward virile effort. It may be pointed out that al\u00ac \nthough distressing sufferings evoke sympathy from friends, they do so under \nfalse pretences, seeing that in truth they are but a refuge taken from duty. \nThe esteem of friends would be forfeited if they knew the actual facts. \n\nSublimation is a widely used means toward readjustment. It is a transfer \nof energy from a low to a higher end. Vital force which hitherto had been \ndrained by the instincts, is thereby liberated to \u201csustain activities which are \nhigher, either in the intellectual or moral sense, than the purely instinctive \n\n\n144 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nactivities\u201d. It has been stated (we do not know how truly) that, during the \nWar, French soldiers learned to sublimate the fears that are natural during \nan active campaign. Their fears were talked of as things to be expected, from \nwhich, accordingly, each man could withdraw nervous energy, turning it in \nanother direction,\u2014to intense performance of every duty that arose. Neu\u00ac \nroses were uncommon among the French soldiers. On the other hand, British \ntradition regarded fear as cowardly, and British soldiers felt compelled to hide \ntheir terrors. Those unsublimated fears being deposited in the subconscious \nmind, did harmful work, causing familiar disorders of the nervous system. \n\nTo recapitulate: according to psychoanalysts, nervous disorders are self- \ncaused, and are gratifications, in disguise, of desires that arise from the instincts. \nThese desires are usually natural , but their realization is opposed to some higher \npossibility of the individual, and that higher possibility makes advisable the \nconquest and expulsion of natural cravings. Domination of the higher over \nthe lower desire is achieved by the man of positive decision. The indecisive \nman, instead of dominating, thrusts the unsatisfied cravings into his cellar, \npostponing their gratification. Gratification is obtained later (in a disguised \nand distorted form) as a nervous disorder. The conscious mind is not aware \nof course that a neurosis is a repressed instinct in masquerade. The invalid \nlulls himself in a false peace, thinking he has amply satisfied the higher demand \n\u2014whatever that was\u2014that was made upon him. A nervous disorder\u2014it must \nbe obvious\u2014is an example of \u201ceating one\u2019s cake\u201d and, at the same time, \u201chav\u00ac \ning\u201d it, inasmuch as the invalid, while possessing (and being possessed by) his \nneurosis (gratification in disguise), at the same time flatters himself that he \nhas conformed to a high moral standard. A startling and vicious waywardness \nadvocated by Freud and his followers should be carefully noted. Claiming \nthat nervous disorders are caused by repressed desires, they fail to distinguish \nbetween repression and expulsion. They accordingly argue, in a most childish \nand vicious manner: nervous trouble is caused by repression, therefore, to avoid \nnervous disease, do not repress, but\u2014gratify. Such evil counsel defies the \nmoral experience of the race. \n\n******* \n\nBut now, having tried to explain the principles and practices of psychoa\u00ac \nnalysis as favourably as possible, let us attempt to consider the whole subject \nin the light of Theosophy. \n\nIt should be clear at once that the cures which analysts attribute to \u201cca\u00ac \ntharsis\u201d, \u201csublimation\u201d and so forth, can be explained just as well, in most \ncases, as having been due to suggestion and auto-suggestion. Anyone who is \nfamiliar with the work of Bemheim and his followers at Nancy, or with the \nmore recent authorities on the same subject, will suspect at once that the means \nemployed by the psychoanalyst serve merely to inspire receptivity or credulity \nor faith (the word depending upon the bias of the critic) in the patient,\u2014posi\u00ac \ntive suggestion, such as, \u201cNow you are rid of it\u201d, achieving the actual result. \nIt may be claimed, in the same way, that auto-suggestion could account for \nthe cure of Mr. B\u2014. In his case, the very fact that his experience found its \n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\ni45 \n\n\nway into Professor McDougall\u2019s well-known manual, leads one to suppose that \nB\u2014 was acquainted with some exponent of psychoanalysis and was more or \nless familiar with its teachings. Thus, having suffered all his life from a particu\u00ac \nlar dread, and being suddenly confronted with what he accepted as its cause; \nbeing imbued, further, with the belief that the recognition of cause would \nremove the effect,\u2014his faith, if you choose, or, if not, his susceptibility to his \nown anticipation (auto-suggestion), removed the neurosis and effected a cure. \n\nIn any case, the one theory is at least as good as the other; neither takes into \naccount, or explains, however, the many successes of some practitioners and \nthe many failures of others. Both schools would probably understand their \nsubject better if they were less scornful of Mesmer, von Reichenbach, Drs. \nEsdaile, Elliotson and the later mesmerists. That \u201canimal magnetism\u201d, so- \ncalled, can be ignored as a factor in some of these cures\u2014that is, in cures effected \nby a professional\u2014few students of Theosophy would be prepared to believe; \nfor the student of Theosophy does not espouse the cause of any school, re\u00ac \nmaining open-minded in his attitude toward all of them, while holding fast \nto his own experience and to the accumulated experience of the race. That \nexperience, fortunately for us, goes back to ages long preceding the fame of Dr. \nFreud; for there has never been an age when cures of nervous disorders, and of \ntheir physical expression also, were not brought about by the \u201claying on of \nhands\u201d, or by simple word of command, or by \u201choly (magnetized) water\u201d, \nor by similar means. \n\nIt is absurd, however, in our opinion, to say that all nervous disorders are \n\u201coccasioned by intention (subconscious) on the part of the sufferer\u201d; that \nthey are \u201cpurposed\u201d. Many are, but perhaps an equal number are not. If \nyou had accidentally shot and killed a friend while hunting, you might well \nhave an unusual (i.e., an abnormal) nervous reaction to the sound of a gun\u00ac \nshot; if you had seen someone you loved burned to death, you might have an \nunusual horror of fire. Whether or not you would be able to control and con\u00ac \nceal your feelings in either case, would depend upon your strength of character, \nthat is to say, upon your self-command; but the most complete recognition of \nthe cause of your abnormal and perhaps very painful reaction, would not in \nthe least affect its intensity. This, we believe, is universal experience. The \nnerves, once violently shocked by a particular cause, will react similarly to \neven the mildest recurrence of a corresponding stimulus. They will react \nreflexly by association of ideas. That such suffering is \u201cpurposed\u201d, seems to \nus as far-fetched as to allege_that the pain from a severe bruise is purposed. \n\nA student of Theosophy, furthermore, may know from his own experience, \nor may in any case have good reason to believe, that some of the most deep- \nseated dreads and most abnormal nervous reactions, are due to shocks or to \nimpressions brought over from past lives,\u2014the psychic body having literally \nbeen seared by them. In some cases, it is said, the origin of such impressions \nis clearly remembered, without in the least diminishing the \u201cassociation neu\u00ac \nrosis\u201d. In the case of an individual who does not remember the past, but whose \ntrouble originated in a previous incarnation and not in this life, it is obvious \n\n\n\n146 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthat no amount of \u201cexploration\u201d by an analyst could dig out the true cause, \nthough an alleged cause might be pounced upon as explaining the symptoms, \nand, on the theory of suggestion, might be used with success to effect a cure. \n\nPerhaps, however, the most serious objection to the practice of psychoa\u00ac \nnalysis is that only a man entirely ignorant of his own limitations and weaknesses, \nand of the evil latent within him, or, worse, a man indifferent to such considera\u00ac \ntions, would be willing to undertake it. Without going into unpleasant details, \n\u201cexploration\u201d usually involves delving into the hidden depths of \u201clower nature\u201d \nby a man who ought, in any case to know more about evil than his patient, \nand who, therefore, by the very nature of his questioning, may too easily sug\u00ac \ngest previously unimagined evil to the person whose past thought, dreams in\u00ac \ncluded, he is attempting to probe. Ask a practitioner if he would like his wife, \nor sister or daughter, to be \u201ctreated\u201d in this way by one of his fellows, and it \nis'unlikely he would answer in the affirmative. The risk is too great. Untold \nharm may be done, when other and less dangerous methods will accomplish \nthe same result. Almost any kind of \u201cfaith cure\u201d would be preferable. The \ndifficulty is, of course, to arouse the faith. There are many people who would \nscorn the idea of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, but who would rush to* the consult\u00ac \ning-room of a psychoanalyst as an exponent of the latest and most \u201cscientific\u201d \nmystery. \n\nThis does not mean that, in the opinion of the writer, there are no valuable \nlessons to be learned from psychoanalysis. It seems to him, in the first place, \nas already intimated, that every student of Theosophy should take to heart \nthe difference between repression and expulsion, realizing, once and for always, \nthat half measures are not only futile but actively and continuously self-de\u00ac \nstructive. An evil desire, if merely stuffed away or stuffed under, must inevi\u00ac \ntably propagate its species, the accumulation breaking out somehow, sooner or \nlater, meanwhile acting as a constant nervous irritant. Thoughts of \u201cenvy, \nhatred, malice and all uncharitableness\u201d, as well as those more commonly des\u00ac \nignated as evil, must be ejected forcibly and with feeling , if we are to escape \ntheir terrible consequences, some of which are traced by psychoanalysis, but \nthe worst of whieh can be appreciated only by those who know of the psychic \nand other invisible bodies which Theosophy describes as far more lasting and \n\u201ccausal\u201d than the physical. \n\nIn the second place, what has been said about \u201csubstitution\u201d and \u201csublima\u00ac \ntion\u201d should have a special significance for students of Theosophy, who have \nalways been warned that when an \u201cunclean spirit is gone out of a man\u201d, that, \nand \u201cseven other spirits more wicked than himself\u201d, will take possession later, \nunless right thoughts and right activities are substituted for those that were \nwrong. The doctrine of polar opposites, unknown to psychoanalysis, but \nwith which every student of Theosophy is familiar, throws light on the whole \nsubject. Completely to reverse the polarity of our interest and self-identifica\u00ac \ntion is the only true substitution as it is the only true sublimation, but, short \nof that\u2014and we are told it can be done in a moment of time\u2014there are many \nintermediate stages tending in the right direction. \n\n\nPSYCHOANALYSIS \n\n\ni47 \n\n\nIn the third place, the doctrines of psychoanalysis, or, rather, the popular\u00ac \nization by psychoanalysts of doctrines promulgated ages ago, and always \nfamiliar to the open-minded, may help us to guard against those self-inflicted \nailments which are rendered none the less real by being pronounced hysterical \nin origin. A man who is sick to death of his office or of his home, will \u201csub\u00ac \nconsciously\u201d develop an ailment for which his physician can only prescribe a \nthorough change and rest; a woman whose hatred of household duties is greater \nthan her consideration for her husband, will become a chronic invalid with every \nsort of symptom making household drudgery dangerous and impossible: the \nsymptoms are there and are very real, and it is not always easy to trace them \nto their true cause, which may be, and often is, entirely psychological. But \nanalysis by a practitioner will not cure the victim unless honesty and self- \nrespect are more highly developed than self-consideration: and this is not \noften encountered. One can, however, by the practice of daily self-examina\u00ac \ntion, cultivate a perception of one\u2019s motives which will make self-deception \nless frequent and less easy. \n\nFar simpler and more practical than psychoanalysis, and entirely free from \ndanger, is what has been called \u201cthe conscience cure\u201d. Every experienced \nphysician knows that many illnesses are caused by conflicts between the higher \nand the lower nature, between conscience and self-gratification. So long as a \nglimmer of conscience remains, it is impossible for a man to violate his own \nstandards consistently, without upsetting the balance which makes all the \ndifference between health and disease: that, in any case, is the conviction of \nthe present writer and of many others. It is in any case the fact that serious \nillnesses have been cured by the question, when answered frankly , \u201cWhat is \non your conscience?\u201d These cases do not require analysis or probing; the pa\u00ac \ntient is well aware of what his conscience has been telling him, perhaps for \nmonths or years, and although he has not connected his illness with his wrong\u00ac \ndoing, once he confesses and resolves, aided by his physician, to turn from evil \nways to good, he becomes a new creature, not only morally but physically. \n\nFinally, while psychoanalysts have much to say about the subconscious mind \n\nechoing, in this, the \u201cdiscoveries\u201d of their mid-Victorian predecessors\u2014 \nstudents of Theosophy will realize that, to offset the sub there is a supra-con- \nscious mind, working from above the level of ordinary awareness, as certain \nFrench psychologists have been trying to demonstrate during the past four \nor five years. It is strange that such a commonplace of human experience \nshould need scientific demonstration, but there are those who will not believe \nanything until it is certified by some Academy. In any case, Theosophists \nknow that \u201cevery good gift and every perfect gift [including every good and \ninspiring thought] is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.\u201d \nKnowing that, and knowing too that \u201cin His will is our peace\u201d, they should \nnot find it difficult to avoid either the pitfalls of psychoanalysis, or the very \nreal dangers to which it points. \n\n\nTHE MAXIMS OF RENE QUINTON \n\n\nR ENE Quinton was a French biologist and soldier. When mobilization \norders were issued on the 5th of August, 1914. he was a reserve captain \n- of artillery and forty-eight years old. At his own request he was recalled \nto active service, and during the World War was at the front for the greater \npart of three and a half years. He was wounded eight times, mentioned in \ndespatches or decorated sixteen times, and was a Lieutenant-Colonel when \ndemobilized on the 3rd of July, 1919. He \u201creceived the highest Belgian, Brit\u00ac \nish and American decorations and the French Croix de Guerre, and was ap\u00ac \npointed successively Officer and Commander of the Legion of Honour.\u201d He \nwas known as a \u201cfighting soldier\u201d, and many, if not most, of his maxims prob\u00ac \nably were composed in the heat of battle. \n\nAfter demobilization Quinton went back to the pursuit of his scientific and \nphilosophical work, and it was not until shortly before his sudden death in \nJuly, 1925, that he began to arrange and classify his maxims for publication. \nHe died while the task was as yet incomplete. The maxims were not pub\u00ac \nlished until the Spring of 1930 under the title of Maximes sur la Guerre. But \nthe title is somewhat misleading because, though undoubtedly the experiences \nof the World War gave Quinton certain valuable data for the formulation of \nhis maxims, the influence of biology is by no means lacking in them, so that \nhis thesis as a whole applies to life rather than being primarily concerned with \nthe conduct of war; unless one sees life in terms of warfare as it would seem \nQuinton did. His first maxim would indicate that he did; and that, at the \nsame time, he hurled a challenge at those who long for ease, comfort and self\u00ac \npleasure, for he says: \u201cIt is the intention of Nature that man should die in \nhis prime.\u201d \n\nThere at once speaks the biologist and the soldier, and an indication is given \nof the thesis that Quinton\u2019s maxims unfold. As the biologist he must have \nhad in mind the growing plant pressing ever toward the fulfilment of its kind, \nand, that fulfilment achieved, dying at the height of its beauty or productivity \nand leaving behind the seed, or the impulse, from which may spring another \nfulfilment. As a soldier who saw action at Verdun, among other places, he \nmust have had in mind those thousands whom he saw fall as they reached such \nheights of courage as even they themselves would have considered impossible \nonly a few short years before; leaving behind them examples, or impulses, for \nthe thousands who came after them to follow, so that they too could die, not \nas listless, surfeited creatures grown weary of life, but as vibrant life itself. \nThe sculptor who fashioned the figure of Death which to-day rises from the \nbare summit of Mort-Homme , caught this same vibrancy. As you stand on \nthat summit and contemplate it, it is as though the living -dead speak to you \nthrough its inscription, \u201ci 7 s riont pas passt.\" \n\n148 \n\n\n\nTHE MAXIMS OF RENE QUINTON \n\n\n149 \n\n\nWhat a neat thrust there is in this first of Quinton\u2019s maxims against that \ntype of self-satisfied man who lays up for himself treasure on earth so as to \nspend his later years on the golf course or at the bridge-whist table! According \nto the thesis of this biologist-soldier, he who does thus, works directly against \nthe \u201cintention of Nature\u201d. Mr. Douglas Jerrold, whose translations of Quin\u00ac \nton\u2019s maxims I am using, says of them: \u201cTo read Quinton\u2019s French after my \nEnglish is to exchange the bludgeon for the rapier, and to submit oneself at \nthe same time to the discipline of an infallible precision of aim.\u201d One cannot \nbut be reminded of the many great characters of profane history, not to men\u00ac \ntion others, who have died with their \u201charness on\u201d, and in their prime; for \nman\u2019s prime cannot be measured in terms of years, but in terms of service. \nWho, for example, inquires into the exact age of a Lancelot or a Roland? It \nis service that Quinton stresses, service to mankind, to humanity, to the race. \n\n\u201cNature exacts a price for the right to endure. Men and races \nmust buy it with their blood. The warrior is thus the salvation \nof the race.\u201d \n\n\u201cPacifism is an outrage on the dignity of man. It would deny \nhim his only majestic quality, the knowledge how to die.\u201d \n\nThere is another aspect of Quinton\u2019s first aphorism which may be referred to \nas the blood sacrifice mentioned in religious books, that is, the sacrifice of \nman\u2019s lower self in favour of his Higher Self, the losing of his life, this life, that \nhe may gain life everlasting,\u2014though it does not necessarily require man to \npass through the portals we call death. If the biologist-soldier had something \nof this sort in mind as an aspect of his first maxim, then it appears even more \nneatly phrased; for surely while in the process of making the blood sacrifice, \nman could be considered as progressing from prime to prime, spiritually speak\u00ac \ning at least, for in that sense his prime would have to be considered relatively. \nTo state it in another way, spiritually speaking, man may be thought of as \nentering an ever new prime as he continues to purify Kama, or personal desire, \ntransmuting it into Buddhi, or Divine Will; losing his life to find it, or in \nQuinton\u2019s phraseology, dying in his prime. \n\nThat Quinton was aware of the two natures in man and of the conflict which \nceaselessly takes place between them, within man, is shown in the following \ntwo maxims, which seem to strike the keynote of his thesis: \n\n\u201cThe moral drama arises from the conflict between the desire \nto live and the desire to serve.\u201d \n\n\u201cEvery man possesses two souls; the soul of his body and the \nsoul of his race. The spirit of the body has no aim but its own \nwelfare, but on the spirit of the race is laid the irrevocable order \nto serve. And he who refuses knows that he is a traitor. The \nbody demands comfort, repose and pleasure, but the race de\u00ac \nmands hardship, sacrifice and endurance.\u201d \n\nHere resounds the battle-cry that has rung down through the ages; the call to \nman to liberate the soul from the fetters of self; the call to the warrior soul \n\n\nISO \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwithin man to take up its appointed task and work for the eventual salvation \nof mankind. In different ways, at different times, under different skies, since \ntime immemorial it has been sounded; ever old and yet ever new. \n\nFor what do the Masters of the Lodge work, if not for the eventual salvation \nof the race? Of whom is the Divine Hierarchy composed, if not of those who, \naeons ago, having heard \u201cthe irrevocable order to serve\u201d, have given them\u00ac \nselves and their lives for the benefit and the betterment of the race? Is not \nthe ch\u00a3la one who, in striving to do his Master\u2019s will, has put behind him the \ndemands of the body, \u201ccomfort, repose and pleasure\u201d, and embraced the de\u00ac \nmands of the race, \u201chardship, sacrifice and endurance\u201d? \n\nPractically every man has had some experience which has touched the soul \nwithin him and caused him to respond, if only for a moment, to that which is \nhigh, noble, courageous; to something much bigger, better, grander than him\u00ac \nself and the paltry interests of self. From that brief experience, however, he \ncan catch the truth in what Quinton says* regarding the soul of the race. Some \nday each man will be brought to the point where he must choose definitely \nbetween one path or the other; between serving the lower self or serving the \nHigher Self; between serving \u201cthe soul of his body\u201d or serving \u201cthe soul of \nhis race.\u201d In that day will be laid upon him \u201cthe irrevocable order to serve, \nand he who refuses\u201d will know \u201cthat he is a traitor\u201d. Yea, he knows already \nfrom his brief experience when he felt the stir of the soul within him, that when \nthe day of his choice comes he will be a traitor if he prefer the left-hand path \nrather than the right-hand. Thus through many such experiences in many \nincarnations is man helped and prepared against his day of final choice, against \nthe day when he must decide to use his divine gifts of mind and free will either \nunselfishly on behalf of the salvation of the race, or for his own selfish pur\u00ac \nposes. The latter leads to annihilation. The former leads to liberation; libera\u00ac \ntion from the bondage of self, liberation from \u201cthe conflict between the desire \nto live and the desire to serve\u201d; the only liberation possible. \n\nQuinton has an interesting and original way of developing his thesis; in \npart by means of warnings, in part by emphasizing certain qualities he con\u00ac \nsiders necessary for those who would truly serve the race. But as there are \nmore than three hundred of his maxims, grouped under six different headings, \nit is not feasible to quote more than a few of them in an article of this char\u00ac \nacter and length. Those already quoted are culled from the group listed under \nthe first of these headings, and, as already said, sound the keynote of his thesis: \nwhich is service. \n\nThe second division, headed \u201cBrave Men and Heroes\u201d, carries a warning for \nany who might have a tendency to think of themselves as heroes because they \nhave enlisted to help in the salvation of mankind. Without disparaging the \nbrave man, Quinton enhances the hero. He does so ingeniously, appealingly \nand simply, and at the same time weaves no illusions around the hero. In \nfact he strips the hero of the glamour the novelist would throw about him. In \ndoing so he will undoubtedly give to many readers a shock, but the sort of \nshock humanity needs, the sort that jars people out of false imaginings\u2014in \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAXIMS OF RENfi QUINTON 151 \n\nthis case out of imagining themselves as heroes\u2014for Quinton likens heroism to \nmotherhood. \n\nFew persons of maturity harbour any illusions about motherhood. They \nknow it involves patience and fatigue; self-sacrifice and self-giving; myriads of \nservices performed at all hours of the day and night. They know the mother \nis always on call, and that she usually anticipates the call. \n\n\u201cThe brave man deserves credit; the hero does not. He obeys his \ninstinct like a mother and is no more deserving of merit than she.\u201d \n\n\u201cThere is as much difference between heroism and bravery as \nbetween a mother\u2019s love and a guardian\u2019s.\u201d \n\n\u201cNeither hunger nor fatigue can affect the hero. Other men \ntake turns at the post of duty, but the hero like the mother is \nalways on guard.\u201d \n\n\u201cThe hero is a mystic and perhaps it takes a hero to under\u00ac \nstand him.\u201d \n\n\u201cNature created the hero not to live but to serve.\u201d \n\nHaving disposed of the hero in such fashion as to cause him to be esteemed \nfor what he is\u2014one man out of many millions of men\u2014in the next section, \n\u201cArdours and Endurances of War\u201d, Quinton outlines some of the qualities he \nconsiders must be developed by those who would truly serve the race. At the \nsame time these aphorisms act as warnings of much that such service entails. \nIncidentally, they touch on one of the characteristics which distinguish the oc\u00ac \ncultist. At about the age the average man is ready to \u201crest on his oars\u201d with \nthe idea of enjoying the fruits of his little efforts, the occultist, seeing life in \nterms of warfare, and appreciating the danger of becoming slack, tightens his \nbelt and plunges more resolutely into the contest. The occultist ever presses \nforward, realizing there remain many fields to be conquered, and that, as \nQuinton puts it, \u201cWar is the ardour of the soul.\u201d \n\nEvidently the biologist-soldier would emphasize the quality of ardour as \nnecessary for those who would heed the call of \u201cthe soul of the race\u201d; for it \nwould seem that one who wrote \u201cthe hero is a mystic\u201d, must have been some\u00ac \nwhat of a mystic himself. \n\nA few of the other maxims pertaining to ardour and endurance will suffice \nto give the gist of what Quinton brings out under this head: \n\n\u201cHunger, sleeplessness and stress raise the spirits of the soldier \nto the highest degree of exaltation. Only the emancipated soul \ncan inhabit the mortified body, and the soul is purified as the \nbody is abased. The most inspired fighters are those on the edge \nof endurance.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt is not the fighting soldier who needs rest.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhatever satisfies the flesh is negligible.\u201d \n\n\u201cFrom the caravan lost in the sands of the desert, from the \nship wrecked by the storm on the sea, may be heard the sound of \nprayers, never of blasphemies.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt is the security of life that has killed the gods.\u201d \n\n\n152 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nUnder the heading, \u201cCourage, Prudence and Danger\u201d, Quinton stresses \nthe importance of courage, and the right and the wrong way of going \nabout its acquisition, when he says: \u201cIt is necessary to restore the prestige \nof courage.\u201d \n\nAs a soldier who saw almost continuous action for three and a half years \nduring the World War, he had ample opportunity to study the right and the \nwrong means of acquiring and using courage. He must have seen how the \nnoble quality of courage can be debased when men drag it down to their own \nlow level in order to augment the greedy purposes of self. In contrast, he must \nhave been impressed with the difference when men rise, as it were, to the plane \nof courage and merge themselves with the Ideal. Undoubtedly significance \nmay be given to the use of the word prestige in this aphorism. \n\nApplying this to the individual, it is the merging of himself with the Ideal of \ncourage that sends man forth single-handed to combat the dragon of self in \nhis lair, and to return victor without talking about it. Through the quiet \nassurance of his actions, however, he expresses the Ideal, and thus helps others \nto set out to embody it; to \u201crestore the prestige of courage\u201d in the world. It \nseems apparent that Quinton lays down, and rightly so, such an embodiment \nof courage as necessary for those who would aid in the salvation of the race. \n\nHe further expounds the three qualities of this section in part as follows: \n\n\u201cPrudence is a fruit which ripens during wars. At the beginning \nof a campaign we must first prove our courage, and then, when \nwe have lost everything by it, prudence supervenes and we learn \nto be generous without being wasteful.\u201d \n\n\u201cIf you are sure of your courage then prudence is a virtue.\u201d \n\n\u201cIn the danger which the enemy disseminates there is an insult \nand a challenge. For it is by fear that he proposes to bend your \nwill. The question we have to ask is a plain one: shall we obey \nour duty or our fears, our honour or the enemy?\u201d \n\nIn the next to last grouping of his maxims, Quinton issues what is perhaps \nhis most important instruction and warning to those who would truly serve \nthe race. Speaking of the leader under the head of \u201cLeadership and Dis\u00ac \ncipline\u201d, there is this all-important-aphorism: \u201cThe leader\u2019s first duty is to \nunderstand the mind of the enemy.\u201d \n\nAs in the case of the hero, Quinton makes plain what is entailed in being a \nleader when he outlines so tersely and boldly the leader\u2019s first duty. How this \nputs to shame any who would enter the cause of the salvation of the race for \nselfish purposes; any who would thus try to acquire power in order to usurp \nthe leadership. As though this maxim were not sufficient warning, it is rein\u00ac \nforced with: \u201cThe general who can see, opens the eyes of his subordinates.\u201d \n\nIf these two maxims are put clearly before those who would serve, how very \nfew will qualify as leaders! At the same time, these aphorisms impress upon \nthose who would serve, the respect, the fidelity and the obedience they owe to \nthe real leader. The biologist-soldier must have had in mind the many, many \ntimes when the desire and the plotting to assume the place of the leader have \n\n\n\n\nTHE MAXIMS OF RENE QUINTON \n\n\ni53 \n\n\ncrippled or caused the collapse of what otherwise might have been worthy and \nsuccessful projects for the benefit of mankind. \n\nIn the early days of The Theosophical Society, how many who attempted to \nusurp the post of the leader could have fulfilled the requirements laid down in \nthese two maxims? There may come a time again when the continued success \nof the present outer expression of the Lodge Movement will depend on at least \na few who will genuinely take to heart and put into practice all that these two \naphorisms imply, and especially in the light of the following on discipline: \n\u201cThere is no discipline in the firing line; there is mutual consent. Discipline \nbegins behind the lines.\u201d \n\nQuinton closes with a few \u201cReflections on The Imitation of Christ\u201d, the \nfirst of which will suffice to show the way in which these reflections carry on \nand round out the biologist-soldier\u2019s thesis. \n\n\u201cIt is our duty to judge ourselves more severely than men \njudge us. Whatever men say to you, whatever they do to you, \nalways remain serene and unangered. Seen in the quiet mind, \nthose words which fly so wildly will only bear their just weight. \n\nEvil hours should be passed in the silence of Gethsemane. Turn \nyour eyes upon Me and do not fret yourself about the judgments \nof the world, for your peace of mind is not at the mercy of the \ntongues of men. Whatever they may think of you, you can be \nnothing but what you are, and where can abide peace, truth and \nglory if not in Me?\u201d \n\nRend Quinton\u2019s aphorisms cannot of course be compared with those of \nthe Great Upanishads, of Light on the Path , or of other similar works. Never\u00ac \ntheless, Quinton has caught a great deal of the essence of the ancient doctrine, \nand apparently has done so out of his own experience. For that reason his \nmaxims, as far as they go, ring true, have \u201can infallible precision of aim\u201d, as \nMr. Jerrold says, and are compelling. There is about them a categorical im\u00ac \nperative. Coming as they do, during this transition period in man\u2019s evolution, \nduring this age of inquiry, they should be a direct help to many, and in that \nway beneficial to the race. They should help those who read them to see a \nnew and higher objective in life; and as the call of that objective is heeded, to \ngrow to understand better the meaning of dying to the personal life so as to \nlive more fully a life of service for the race,\u2014and for the Elder Brothers of \nthe race. G. M. W. K. . \n\n\nTREES \n\n\nBeloved Pan , and all ye other gods who haunt this place , give me beauty in the in\u00ac \nward soul; and may the outward and inward man be one .\u2014 Plato. \n\nN O one walks in these woods, which, I need scarcely say, is a blessing; \nbut in a more happily primitive era, or among men more sensitive, \nsurely this spot would be known by a name. \n\nGreat rocks lie piled about where some ancient stream or glacier has left \nthem. An old hickory tree has grown up in the very centre of them, pushing \nthem apart in its effort to reach the day. Now, it towers in a wide green canopy \nabove the lesser trees, the dogwoods, hazels and beeches. The rocks are spotted \nwith mosses and draped with creepers, and in Spring the scarlet columbines grow \nhere. The ground about the rocks and down the glade is covered with tiny \ngreen plants, maianthemum, violets, cinquefoil, like a carpet for the delicate \nlittle hoofs of the red deer. One can scarcely see the sky through the green \ncanopy,\u2014green above, green under foot, like living in an enormous emerald. \nAnd why are plants green ? \n\nYes, in other lands and times, supernatural beings would have loved this \nspot, the smaller Nature divinities, the Wood Genius. Some ancient, dignified \nold spirit would have had a retreat in this tree. \n\nI have long planned to write an article on Tree Worship; one of those learned \narticles with footnotes and items about African tribes; but my spirits fail me. \nI feel about it much as the reader would feel. I would rather sit upon this enor\u00ac \nmous jutting root and think about trees without footnotes. \n\nMen have always venerated trees. In the ancient Eddas, the world itself \nis the great ash Yggdrassil. \u201cThat ash is the greatest and best of trees\u201d. The \nbook says: \u201cIts branches spread over the whole world and even reach above \nheaven. It has three roots, very wide asunder. One of them goes down to \nGinnungagap. The frost giants live over it, and over this root is a deep well. \nAnother root extends to Niflheim, the old roaring cauldron lies under it, a \ngreat snake called Nidhogg gnaws it night and day. \u2018Yggdrassil\u2019s ash suffers \ngreater hardship than men know of. Nidhogg tears it.\u2019 Under this root also \nlies Helheim, a home of the dead. The third root is in heaven: gods and men \nlive under it, in Asgard and Midgard; the giant fate-sisters also live under it at \nthe top of the Rainbow\u2019s arch in their palace very beauteous, which stands by \nthe Holy Urda Fount. They water the tree every day with the holy water, so \nthat ever \u2018it stands green over Urda\u2019s Fount\u2019 \u201d. \n\nIn the Bhagavad Gita it is said: \n\n\u201cRooted above, downward branching, they say, is that immemorial tree, \nwhose leaves are the hymns; who knows it, knows the Vedas. \n\n\u201cDown and upward stretch its branches, grown strong through the powers, \n\n\ni54 \n\n\n\nTREES \n\n\ni5S \n\n\nand with things of sense for twigs; downward stretch its roots which bind to \nworks in the world of men. \n\n\u201cThe form of it cannot be so perceived in this world, nor its end, nor beginning, \nnor its foundation; with the firm sword of detachment cutting this tree, whose \nroots grow firm, \n\n\u201cLet him then follow the path to that resting-place, whither going, they come \nforth no more, saying: \u2018I enter into the primal Spirit, whence hath flowed forth \nthe ancient stream of things.\u2019 \u201d \n\nThere are also the trees of Paradise, trees whereon grow prodigious fruits, \nemeralds or rubies, or peaches of Immortality, trees in whose branches sings the \nQuetzal or the Phoenix. And in this world\u2014think of all the sacred groves of \ntradition; the groves of the Druids, the murmuring oaks of Dodona, the palm \noasis where Mohammed preached and which the Mosque of Cordoba so ex\u00ac \nquisitely translates into architecture. There are the sacred groves of the \nSyrians and Jews, their boughs hung with garlands; there are our own Christmas \ntrees, hung also with festoons and lights. There are the cedars of Lebanon, and \nsome say that this is a name for the great adepts of these regions. One can well \nbelieve it when one has seen the giant Sequoias of California. One gazes upon \nthem in awe, and a hush falls upon one\u2019s spirit, such is their age-old majesty, \ngrandeur and beauty. They are certainly the adepts of the plant world. I have \nread somewhere in the writings of Madame Blavatsky that the form of the pine \nis the paradigm of all trees. \n\nIn Tahiti, the Milo is planted about the temples and is called the shadow of \nthe god of prayer and chanting. In Japan, the symbols of the pine, the cherry, \nthe bamboo, the kiri are on magnificent brocade and embroidery, on screen and \nkakemono. In China, the white-robed Kwan-yin, Mother of Souls and Patroness \nof Waters, bears in her hand a sprig of willow. The ideal of the Chinese gentle\u00ac \nman was to be as pure as a plum blossom, as free as a bird, as strong as a pine, \nyet pliant as a willow. In Egypt, Isis was the Lady of the Sycamore. In \nYucatan, the god Imix was worshipped in a giant Ceiba. The famous \u201ccross\u2019\u2019 \nof Palenque is a tree. \n\nThen there are the historic trees, the oak of St. Louis, the Fairies\u2019 Tree of \nJeanne d\u2019Arc, and all the trees under which Queen Elizabeth and Louis Quatorze \nand George Washington have stood. There are the trees one has known and \nloved, grey and silver olives in the Tuscan podere, and the dark, swaying cy\u00ac \npresses of San Domenico, the peach tree lovely beyond compare, a cloud of rose \nin Spring in a Paris garden. And this great hickory, which, rending the rocks, \nreminds one of the jungle trees that grow from the heads of Shiva at Angkor, or \nsplit the stones of Uxmal or Copan. \n\nHow lovely, how beneficent is the atmosphere of trees. How consoling to \nthe wearied mind, how cooling to the fevered heart. Peace drips from their \nboughs as it were balm of Gilead. \n\nI think one reason for this immensely restful and consoling influence of plants \nis that they obey the laws of their nature with all their being. There is in \nthem no conflict with their destiny. To be sure, they have a tremendous \n\n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n156 \n\nstruggle with circumstances, with the elements, but this struggle is always to \nexpress their destiny, their nature, the Divine plan and pattern. Such a struggle \ndevelops the creature into its own character. If we constantly struggled with \nadverse circumstances to become Man, should we not, indeed, become Men and, \neventually, Gods ? The development of the plants has been proposed to us as a \nmodel for our effort. \u201cGrow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly \nanxious to open its soul to the air.\u201d \n\nHere we screw up our faces and try to imagine what a plant thinks about. \nThe plant, we should imagine, is conscious of being; it is also conscious of being \nin time and space as a separate entity. It must be aware of myriads of influences, \nthe airs, the rains, the light, the temperature, of other bodies and wills, the rock \nthat obstructs it, the earth, the remote water towards which it sends its tap\u00ac \nroots. And all who have had to do with plants know their sensitiveness to affec\u00ac \ntion and care. This environment is the field of experience for the development \nof their form of self-consciousness. They are constantly forced to acquire self- \nconsciousness along these lines, simple compared with our own, of course, because \nwe have already passed through it. \n\nWhence comes the impulse to struggle thus to embody some definite pattern, \nto express fully some form already complete in its conception ? Here, we must \nmake a distinction between the consciousness of the plant and the consciousness \nof the species, of the plant hierarchy and of the Originator of plant forms. That \nthere could be form without consciousness must be absurd and inconceivable \nto a student of occultism, or, indeed, to any logical observer of Nature. The \nscientists who talk of accident or haphazard development, or of fortuitous group\u00ac \nings of atoms, must be blind in one eye, the third eye. \n\nWhat is it which provides the mould for shape, which defines and limits it \nand holds it in cohesion? Surely a balance of forces that is directed by a will \nand a concept. \n\nWe are told, and logic impels us to believe it, that the principle of form lies \nin the Causal world. The Causal world, surely, is that plane from whence idea \nand force impress themselves on matter, the apparent unfolding, of course, \nbeing an illusion of time. We are told that everything has an astral form, \nmore tenuous in our terms of matter than the body, but its mould. Beyond that \nare ever subtiler forms, until, in the Causal world, is found the true and complete \nform and conception into which the creature must grow until he exists there self\u00ac \nconsciously, in complete awareness. In other words, he grows into existence in \na form created for him. \n\nNow, can we believe that pattern can exist without a creator? And are we \nnot told that there are hierarchies of beings whose function is precisely to create \nand furnish these patterns on their several planes? We have read about the \nLunar Pitris who gave man an astral form, and about the M&nasaputras and \nthe Agnishwatta Pitris and the Kumaras. Is it not in these and other hierarchies \nthat we must look for the Creators of Form in what we call Nature? \n\nSurely, when we look at plants we observe all the signs of conscious taste in \ndesign. Allowing ourselves to speculate, may we not fancy a hierarchy of plant \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTREES \n\n\n\u2022 157 \n\n\nartists, with many \u201cschools\u201d and styles and individuals, just as in painting there \nare Chinese, Persian and Italian arts, with their epochs, Tang, Sung, Ming, \nTimurid, Sassanid, Quattrocento, Cinquecento, etc., with their painters. There \nare \u201cartists\u201d who enjoy designing palms, and artists who are fascinated by star \nforms. There is an artist who designs the delicate arabesques of the vines, \nwhose fancy runs to tendrils and volutes, and an artist who likes the bold and \nsolid, the oak or the hollyhock; there is the fanciful being who thinks up pansies. \n\nWell, it must be very jolly\u2014thinking up pansies and having one\u2019s thought \nso potent that it is like a sound, a sound which calls the nature spirits to run \ntogether to make a form, like filings drawn to shape by the note of a violin. \n\nThe man, fed on modem science, who thinks that evolution began with some \ngreen scum and ends with Professor Einstein or Karl Marx, will smile a superior \nsmile or snort a superior snort. Having declared this planet to be the only one \namong the countless millions in the stellar universe where men have arisen from \nscum, the grand Result of this accident can afford to pity a \u201csport\u201d who still \nbelieves with early, simple peoples that there are thirty-three million crores of \nGods. Frankly, we dislike the provincial. We like to think of myriads of \nplanets inhabited, we hope, by superior beings, and of a space packed full of \ndivinities, Devas, Apsarases, Gandharvas, Angels, Djins et al. We love to \nthink of little elementals dressed up like Brownies painting frost ferns on winter \nwindows, or colouring the leaves red in Autumn, and we feel sure that such a \nfancy is not so far from a truth. There are elementals even if they do not dress \nlike Brownies. Modern Astronomy is larger on the plane of extension than that \nof the Middle Ages, but it is flat where theirs went from devil to God. When \npeople talk excitedly about the discovery of the fourth dimension, they are only \nbeginning to recover a world which is familiar to savages and the heathen Chinee \nand even to the Schoolmen. \n\n\u201c. . . Great God! I\u2019d rather be \nA Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; \n\nSo might I, standing on this pleasant lea \nHave glimpses that would make me less forlorn; \n\nHave sight of Proteus rising from the sea; \n\nOr hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.\u201d \n\nSitting here in the green wood, where the only sounds are the wind in the \ntree tops and the occasional rustle of a bird among the leaves, it seems futile to \nwaste one\u2019s time waxing angry with the un-imaginative. Far, far better to com\u00ac \nmune with the plants! \n\nIf one find it difficult to think of the conscious creation of plants, one can \nbegin by meditating on a creation by man. Take for example one of the loveliest \nof Persian drawings. It represents a scene in the Mohammedan Paradise. An \nimportant gentleman is being entertained in a little pavilion built up in the \nbranches of a large sycamore tree\u2014that sycamore so beloved of all Persian \npainters. He sits at ease on embroidered cushions, and delightful angels in \nmodish frocks, with long, ornamented wings, rush up a ladder to bring him sor- \n\n\n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n158 \n\nbets or dishes of pomegranates. An angel, comfortably perched on a branch, \nis playing the lute. Down below, two other angels are making music on the \nflute and cymbals. Another is dancing. An effrit, with a shaggy beard and \none little curly horn on his head, is on guard, leaning meditatively on his staff. \nJust one\u2019s idea of a pleasant afternoon picnic in Devachan. The drawing, \nwhich was left uncoloured, whether by design or for lack of time we shall never \nknow, is of an exquisite delicacy and finish. \n\nNow, what happened when it was made? The artist, perhaps, was asked to \nillustrate some passage in a poem. He gathered up his forces and meditated \nupon the passage. There began to form in his imagination, under the pressure \nof the force of his thought, a picture of Paradise. He figured to himself the \ndelightful denizens of such a sphere, the beautiful, ever young maidens and \nyouths, their ethereal forms, their bright wings, their gaiety. He saw them in a \ngarden lovely as those of Persian palaces, with a great sycamore tree, with \nflowers, iris and mallows in the grass along the little stream of water. A few \nsycamore leaves are falling; and what is more lovely than the slow fall of a leaf? \nGradually this picture took a definite pattern; it crystallized: its astral form \nbecame complete, and as he began to put it on paper, it precipitated itself in \ngross matter, so to speak. Were not the real forms of his drawing, in the Causal, \nthe Mental and the Astral worlds? Is not all art the bringing forth into this \nmaterial world of the super-sensible Reality? \n\nSuppose we pick a leaf from this Sweet Gum tree which is trying to grow \nup among all these overhanging branches in the wood. It is a most delicately \ndesigned leaf, quite like a star, with its five sharp points so well defined, so \ndecided. Can we not follow its form back through the same genesis as the \nwork of the painter? Of course, the painter uses his own hand to execute his \nworks, and the gods use the nature spirits. As we follow this evolution we \nrealize that the true form of the leaf exists in the spiritual world and is immortal. \nIt is in the Eternal world that joy and immortality exist, not in our present world \nof transitory and imperfectly realized forms. If we look only at the outer world \nwith its failures and tragedies, we must say with Leopardi: \u201cFor always nature \ndespises thee, the hideous power, which, hidden, rules to the common ill, and \nthe infinite vanity of all.\u201d \n\nThis world is but the house of initiation into life. \n\nAs the leaf embodies more fully the eternal idea, it is beautiful. We are like \nit, and when we become self-conscious and active in our celestial form, we are \nimmortals and exist in the real world. The plants are pure and simple beings, \nuncorrupted by self-will, who constantly strive to realize this plan. We are \nhighly complicated beings who fancy we can do as we please and succeed. That \nis why we can learn valuable lessons from the contemplation of our little\u2014and \nbetter\u2014brothers, the plants, and, as I have already said, why they carry with \nthem the refreshing and consoling influence of the harmony of a resigned will. \nIt is why they are beautiful; for the gods are the absolute Masters of the Arts. \n\nSauvage. \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\nXVII \n\n\nThe Armistice \n\nI WORKED on in Lorraine a little longer, while conflicting rumours from \nmany quarters continued to sweep over us. Whenever we met anyone likely \nto be able to give us an answer, we asked apprehensively: \u201cDo you think \nthere is any danger of an armistice?\u201d But no one could tell us with any degree \nof assurance. Already the German \u201cNote\u201d to President Wilson had been sent \n\u2014the \u201cNote\u201d proposing that peace negotiations should be begun on the basis \nof those untimely \u201cfourteen points\u201d of his, which opened the way to discussion \n(exactly what the Germans wanted!). We began to feel very anxious and dis\u00ac \ntrustful of the least mention of \u201cnegotiations\u201d, lest, as a result, the crushing of \nGermany should fail to be final and complete. \n\nI was expecting soon to return to Paris, to take part in a new venture which \nmy organization had in mind, and I was making the most of the days that were \nleft me; days which now seem full of last-minute impressions, such, for instance, \nas the glimpse which I had of P\u00a3tain, at the house of friends, and the exchange \nof a few words with him; of the feeling which he gave you of a granite-like \nimperturbability, solid, immovable. Modest and unassuming, his penetrating \ngrey eyes seemed, nevertheless, to look straight through you, not at you\u2014 \nimpersonally. A rather cold, silent man, perhaps slightly grim, but a man you \nwould remember\u2014the man who had stood at the gateway of Verdun. \n\nAnother equally brief but wholly unforgettable memory is of a hurried pil\u00ac \ngrimage to Domr\u00a3my\u2014I was determined that I would not leave Lorraine with\u00ac \nout going there. It was the most perfect of autumn days, warm, still, brooding \n\u2014St. Martin\u2019s summer at its best\u2014and the lovely countryside was a flaming \nrusset and gold. How well I remember the gentle slopes of the hills (the hills \nover which the sheep had wandered), and how they glowed in the late afternoon \nsun; how even the pools by the roadside were turned to burnished mirrors; how \nthat marvellous, golden light flooded the small village itself, creeping into the \ndim quiet of the tiny church, so loved by the child, Jeanne. You fancied thaL \nin that serene light you could still see the flowers which her little hands had^ \nbrought so lovingly, as offering. Everywhere, and over everything that day, \nshone the soft radiance, till you felt, in a strange way, that you were moving \nactually within the gleaming nimbus of a saint. That was the only time I \nhave ever been in Domrdmy, but I still remember, above anything else I saw \nthere, the almost unearthly golden shining of that light. I have been told, \nand I believe it is true, that nowhere, in any part of France, no matter how \ndevastated the region, no matter how war-torn and disfigured, was any statue \nof The Maid destroyed or even injured. They were not even touched; a heav- \n\n\ni59 \n\n\n\n\n\n\ni6o \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nenly protection seemed to have been placed around them, which kept them all \ninviolate. At the First Battle of the Marne, it was her name, used like a blessed \ntalisman, which was chosen as countersign, and to this day there has persisted \nthe belief past all gainsaying, especially among the common soldiers whom she \nso passionately loved, that, particularly in the darkest moments of that fearful \nstruggle, when the fate of France seemed hanging by a thread, she appeared to \nthem in full battle-array, clad in her shining armour, with glistening sword held \nhigh above her head, leading them on. Some people, alas, have now forgotten \nthis fact, or else they say that it was mere fancy; but many and many a soldier \nswore to the truth of it, and would tell you in awestruck, lowered voice, but with \nthat downright, blunt conviction to which there is never an answer, that once \nmore it was she who had saved France. \n\nThe end of October found me again in Paris. One by one the Central Powers \nwere showing signs of immediate collapse; some already had collapsed, and \nwe knew it needed but a very short time to accomplish that for which we had \nbeen fighting for four whole years; yet all the while, we knew that those fatal \n\u201cnegotiations\u201d were being carried on \u2014that was what most of us were afraid of. \nWe did not want a \u201cnegotiated peace\u201d; we wanted absolute victory\u2014outright \nand unconditioned victory over the horror which had threatened to engulf the \nworld. We felt that nothing else ever would or ever could satisfy us. We had \nno high-sounding illusions about this or that: no one whom I ever met\u2014no one, \neither man or woman, who had \u201cjoined up\u201d in 1914\u2014had been or was now \nfighting \u201cto make the world safe for democracy\u201d. Perhaps that was the ideal \nof a few of the conspicuously newly-arrived Americans\u2014I do not know. But \nwhichever way you looked at it, these Americans were young; very young and \nvery unsophisticated. No, those who, through four bitter years, had been \nwitness to the manner in which \u201ccivilized warfare\u201d was conducted by the Cen\u00ac \ntral Powers; who knew from first-hand experience the monstrous things which \nGermany was trying to force upon the world, had been and were still fighting \nto kill these things, once and for all. That was our object; democracy did not \nbother us; we were not interested in an academic subject so far removed from \nthe burning, vital, real issues. \n\nIt seemed to me that Paris had changed perceptibly during my absence, yet \npeople who had been there uninterruptedly said that the change had been so \ngradual (only a little, week by week) that they had hardly noticed it until, \nsuddenly, at the end of October, they wakened to the fact of its transformation. \nTo me, who had left just after the Battle of Paris, when the tide had definitely \nturned, and when the first sense of relief was everywhere felt and openly ex\u00ac \npressed, it appeared almost preternaturally calm. Returning as I was after \nthree months\u2019 absence in the provinces, and to conditions so different, I felt \nI had come to a city of an incongruous and perplexing silence; but I soon found \nthat it was the silence of intense expectancy. As a matter of fact, outwardly \nParis was like an armed camp; from the Place du Carrousel to the Arc de \nTriomphe it was literally bristling with captured enemy guns, tanks, aeroplanes \n\u2014every sort of machine of war which you could imagine. \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n161 \n\nIt goes without saying that one of the first things I did was to make a \u201ctour \nof inspection\u201d, and the morning after I arrived I was out long before the later, \ncustomary crowds appeared. The river, moving rapidly and silently as it always \ndoes, danced in the early morning sunshine; the quais , as I wandered leisurely \nalong them, seemed to promise that the dear, old, busy, care-free life would \nblossom there again\u2014and then I came to the Louvre, and to the Place du \nCarrousel. No better evidence of what had been going on at every front all \nover France, since the Second Battle of the Marne, than what lay stretched \nbefore me\u2014stretched away as far as the eyes could see, and farther! You could \nnot enter the Jardin des Tuileries, but you could see the vast array of enemy \nguns through the railings, and wandering up the Rue de Rivoli, I had plenty of \nopportunity to inspect them as I passed along. At the gateway leading into \nthe Place de la Concorde, two huge German gothas were at rest, their evil black \ncrosses well exposed to the curiosity of the crowds; and a German tank, just \noutside the gates, pointed ferociously toward the Champs-filys^es, as though \nabout to charge straight up the hill, though knowing that it was now impotent \nand could not move. All along the embankment, enemy aircraft of varying \norders and degrees, were ranged, and in the river floated a German submarine\u2014 \nyou could go on board if you liked. The great spaces of the Place de la Concorde \nitself, and all the way up the Champs-\u00a3lys<\u00a7es, were really a sight worth seeing, the \nmonster guns crowded into every available, open space or unoccupied comer\u2014 \nfield guns, siege guns, naval guns; solid and rotund trench mortars; immense and \nelongated \u201cmodels\u201d with names and calibres which the uninitiated promptly \nforgot; howitzers of every conceivable size and make\u2014in fact, every imaginable \nkind of \u201cordnance\u201d, and in between the most ponderous and immense, were the \ndeadly little machine guns, like poison gnats in the midst of a giant hornet\u2019s \nnest. The famous equestrian groups from Marly-le-Roi, at the entrance to the \nChamps-filys^es, were, of course, still safely enclosed in their rather charming, \nhigh-perched, chalet-like, protective \u201cboxes\u201d (how like the French to make \neven a temporary-precautionary scaffolding attractive!), and just underneath \nthem was an assemblage of grossly camouflaged German cannon, specially \nselected, so it seemed to me, because of their heavy, Teutonic ugliness (the \nGerman camouflage was always viciously coarse), and if you shut your eyes for \na moment, and recalled to mind the splendid, soaring vigour of those now-i \nhidden Marly groups, and then looked below at that forbidding unloveliness \nwhich seemed so expressive of all things German\u2014well, to say the least, it gave \nyou food for thought. But (because naturally, I knew it was no genuine test \nto try to draw a parallel between German guns and French statuary!) I found \nmyself comparing, in memory, some of the Paris monuments to great Frenchmen, \nwith that grotesque absurdity of which the Germans are so intensely proud\u2014 \nthe Sieges-All^e of the Thiergarten in Berlin, and it was a revealing parallel \nindeed, needing no comment. Of everything you saw in the Place de la Con\u00ac \ncorde, however, it was, I think, the imposing circle of grey, fortress-crowned \nstatues\u2014the beloved fortified towns of France\u2014which drew and held your \nattention most. Lille, so long in German hands, had recently been retaken, and \n\n\n162 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthe statue of the unhappy town, a centre of horrors the shame of which the \nGermans will never be able to wipe out, was literally covered with flags and \nmagnificent wreaths\u2014the sweet, pungent scent of chrysanthemum leaves and \nlate autumn flowers blew about you as you stood there, like the blending of sad \nmemories and of dawning hopes. Only the proud, castellated head was visible, \nrising above the profusion of offerings\u2014Allied colours and masses of flowers. \nBelow, inside the great pedestal, a bureau for the sale of Government bonds had \njust been opened, and I joined the troop of people standing in line, each of us \nwith his or her few francs offered in wordless thanksgiving. Yet, nearby, \nrose the statue of Strasbourg, also thickly covered with Allied flags and with \nequally superb wreaths, but I saw that the bands of black were still there; \neven the flowers could not hide them, nor did we wish them hidden until France \nhad received her own once more. \n\nAs the morning wore on, the crowds grew thicker, curious crowds which \ngathered round the German guns. Children and young boys climbed over them; \nwounded soldiers, hobbling on canes or crutches, examined them with evident \ninterest; old men stood by, asking the mutitts to explain the mechanism\u2014it \nwas only some of the women who passed them with a suppressed shudder. And \nall the while, the ground shook as guns, more guns and still more guns, were \nbrought up, drawn by the great snorting traction-engines. It was quite amusing \nto see those huge, lumbering cannon following so tamely; they made me think \nof savage beasts, forced to dance to the piping of their masters. And still they \ncame, growling, reluctant; you wondered where the authorities were going to \nfind room for them all. But you wondered too how it was that, after all the \nunprovoked and unatonable enormities of which Germany had been guilty, \nwith all these captured guns to prove so palpably Germany\u2019s broken power\u2014 \nyou wondered how it was possible that an armistice could be thought of, could \nactually be under discussion at that minute. What was there to discuss, \nexcept at the point of the bayonet? Many of us were asking these questions, of \nourselves and of each other. \n\nThere could be no doubt, however (especially now that Ludendorff was \ndiscounted), that the armistice was drawing nearer, and every hour brought its \nbit of news; every hour grew more tense with expectation. The days which, \nfor four long years, had seemed to move with leaden feet, now moved with a \nfantastic speed, though not as fast as did events\u2014events which were sweeping \nus on to the dreaded armistice. All Saint\u2019s Day came, le Jour des Moris\u2014our \ndead. A woman who had lost her husband and four of her sons, said to me that \nday, in a low, tense voice: \u201cAnd is it possible that we shall offer our million \ndead an armistice in exchange for their lives\u2014their lives which they gave so \nungrudgingly?\u201d It seemed to her, to me, to most of us, humiliating, dis\u00ac \nhonourable. Could it be that already we were beginning to forget them; to \nallow the greatness of their gift to be overshadowed in the hour of an incomplete \nsuccess? Later in the day, I read these words which were prophetic; which at \nthe time I copied and have never forgotten; words which in these crude, self- \ncentred and ungrateful times, have often come back to me: \u201cLes morts ont une \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES 163 \n\nmemoire moins courte que la notre. I Is sont les seuls qui rioublient pas ceux qui \ntrop souvent les oublient .\u201d \n\nThen came those days, early in November, when events followed each other \nin such rapid succession that we almost lost our breath, and seemed to be \ncarried involuntarily along with them: the mutiny of the German fleet at Kiel; \nthe signing of the armistice with Austria; the German Government informed \nthat if it wished to learn the terms of a possible armistice it must address itself \nto Foch under the usual military conditions; Bavaria declaring itself a Republic; \nthe Kaiser abdicating; the revolution in Germany continuing to spread, and all \nthe time our troops steadily advancing, while Germany was in precipitate \nretreat. \n\nI think the night when we knew that the German emissaries were actually \nto cross our lines, on their way to receive the armistice terms for which Germany \nhad asked, was perhaps more difficult to live through patiently than any we \nhad yet experienced. Would the terms be accepted or would they not? I \nbelieve that most of us hoped they would not be agreed to; we hoped that \nthey would be challenged, partly because we all knew, by this time, that \nwe were on the eve of the biggest Allied offensive which had yet been \nlaunched\u2014but the Germans knew this too! We, of course, wanted the War \nto be carried on into those final stages for which we longed, and for which we \nhad fought. \n\nThat night must have been one of silent vigil for people all over France. \nThrough the day we had eagerly been reading every affiche as soon as it was \nposted up\u2014that is to say, as soon as each one of us could get near enough to be \nable to read it, for needless to explain, such dense crowds gathered around them \nthe instant they were given to the public, that you had to wait your turn as \nyou would in a bread line. All day we had been on the alert; all day we had \nfollowed up every clue which might lead to the latest word from the front, and \nas evening set in, and the slow hours moved heavily on toward midnight, I felt \na kind of lull in the feverishness, and a strange quiescence creeping over me, as \nthough I were not actually there, alone in my hotel room, but somewhere off \nat a distance, listening, watchihg, waiting, with all the rest of France. We \nknew that the German envoys were to cross our lines at a point close to Haudroy \n\u2014a microscopic village, the very name of which was quite unfamiliar to mostj( \nof us\u2014and, as is not uncommon in moments like this, a heightened imagination \nalmost persuaded me that new and finer senses of sight and hearing had suddenly \ncome into being: I found myself with keenly fixed attention and with an intense \nabsorption, straining to catch the first sound of the approaching enemy; staring \ninto the darkness for the first distant gleam of the powerful headlights as their \ngreat military cars came rocking and pitching over the lonely, shell-tom roads; \ntrying to distinguish the first faint shimmer of the huge white flags which they \nwere obliged to carry. I remember how curiously I felt myself present at every \nstage of that unrepentant but humiliating journey; I saw, in mind, those men \npass the last outposts of their own lines, and cross No Man\u2019s Land, still thick \nwith their own, unburied dead, for in such a headlong retreat as theirs, there \n\n\n\n164 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhad been no time to remember the fallen; then, reaching the avant-postes of the \nAllied front, the sudden spring from the black shadows of the roadside, where \nthey had been on watch: the French, specially stationed there; the ringing com\u00ac \nmand to Halt! to give the Word! After which, the stem, cold silence, the \nenemy having been told that it might now pass on. Then on again; the long, \ncold drive through that devastated countryside of France: one wondered what \nmight be in the minds of those five men as, now in charge of the French officers \nappointed to conduct them, they were taken through the very country which, \nuntil so recently, they had boasted as their conquered and fully subjugated terri\u00ac \ntory; through the splintered forest-lands, and over the ruined fields; through the \nmere shells of towns which they themselves had destroyed so systematically and \nso uselessly; past the clustering graves of loyal citizens\u2014men and women and \nyoung children, first shamefully mutilated and then stood against the walls of \ntheir own homes where they were shot down like dogs because of their un\u00ac \nflinching, dog-like loyalty. During that long drive, did even a flicker of sorrow \nand shame for the crimes of their country mercifully come to any one of those \nfive men? \n\nAfter that night a period of waiting followed, while we knew that messages \nwere passing uninterruptedly between Allied G.H.Q. and Spa, where the German \nHigh Command was now established. As far as I can remember, and for some \nreason unknown to me, there were no immediate details given out, either in \nFrance or in England, as to what had actually taken place during those seventy- \ntwo historic hours while the signing of the armistice was being considered by \nthe Germans; but about two weeks later, perhaps less, there appeared in the \nVossiche Zeitung (a leading Berlin daily paper), an \u201caccount\u201d, so-called, written \nby one of the German envoys\u2014an excellent example of Teutonic \u201cdiplomacy\u201d. \nThe writer, grieved and surprised at the nature of the reception which was \nextended to the German Commission, commented on \u201cthe hate and revenge\u201d \nmanifested by the French, ingeniously suggesting that the probable reason the \nenvoys had been taken to the Foret de Compi\u00a3gne instead of into the town itself, \nwas that \u201cperhaps they [the French in charge of the negotiations] feared acts of \nviolence on the part of the inhabitants, for the hatred which has grown up in \ntheir hearts is past all bounds.\u201d It appeared also to be a cause of serious com\u00ac \nplaint, as well as of guileless astonishment, that every one of the French officers \npresent (Marshal Foch included) \u201call exhibited the same frigid manner, un\u00ac \nmitigated by a single word of compassion\u201d, and in the end, so the pained and \nindignant writer protested, \u201cwe were obliged to sign the document, forced upon \nus with its inhuman conditions.\u201d \n\nSo spoke Germany\u2014the injured, the innocent one\u2014with the old, thinly- \nveiled duplicity, and faithful to her Nietzsche: to the teaching that even the \ntemporarily \u201cweak\u201d may, by subtlety and craft, eventually get the better of \nthe \u201cstrong\u201d\u2014and herein is duplicity justified. No honest, if belated facing of \nincontrovertible facts; no single, redeeming (even if reluctant) word of self- \nreproach; not the faintest shadow of admission that Germany could in any \nway be in the wrong; no acknowledgment of any guilt whatsoever: not the \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES 165 \n\nleast expression of remorse; loud only in a protest against the injustice done to \nher\u2014the very elements of which German \u201cKultur\" is composed. \n\nSo spoke Germany\u2014 11 Also sprach Zarathnstra\"! \n\nAll this had been taking place on the last days of that last week of the War\u2014 \nThursday, Friday and Saturday, November 7th, 8th, and 9th, while the fighting \ncontinued on all the fronts with unabated vigour. The German retreat had \nbecome more like a rout: the Belgians were about to enter Ghent; from north \nof Valenciennes southward to the Ardennes the British were pushing on toward \nMons, Maubeuge, Avesnes; the French were advancing rapidly on Mdzferes \nand Charleville; the Americans toward Montmddy and the Briey basin. On \nthe 10th the French crossed the Meuse near Sedan. That day, which was \nSunday, was, to all outward appearances, rather more quiet than usual in \nParis. Affich e-hunters prowled the streets, but people in general were not \ncommunicative. In the afternoon, strolling along the Boulevards des Capu- \ncines and des Italiens, such a centre for cafes, it seemed to me that even the \nusual crowds, gathered, as is their unfailing custom, at the little tables on the \npavements, were less animated than on most Sundays; for the most part, their \nnoses were buried in I'Echo de Paris , Le Petit Parisien , Le Matin or some other \none of the \u201cdailies\u201d (the kiosques were conducting a thriving business, these \ndays!), or else they spoke together in low and serious tones. We all knew that \nearly the following morning we should almost certainly receive the official news \nthat the armistice had been signed, and that the \u201ccease firing\u201d order would go \ninto effect at 11 a.m. So we were waiting. \n\nMonday, November nth dawned, and Paris was early astir\u2014no thought of \nsleeping late on that day! I was out in the streets even before the smallest \nshopkeepers in my quiet neighbourhood were officially open; boulanger, laiterie , \ntpicerie \u2014I knew them all, and I knew how every one of these people felt about \nan armistice, with Germany still on our side of her frontiers too! As I passed \nthe marchand de legumes , where I often bought rosy-cheeked apples, his stout \nwife was superintending the taking down of the big wooden shutter which, \nat night, covers the modest front window of all the smaller shops in Paris, and \nshe greeted me with an abstracted air: 11 Madame est matinale!\" adding re\u00ac \nsignedly: \u201cA quelle lieure aurons-nous la nouvelle?\" \u2014as though there were really \nnothing further one could do about it anyway. \n\nIt was chilly at that hour of the morning, and at first there was a thick fog \nwhich, however, lifted little by little, leaving only the soft haze which is always \nso beautiful in Paris. As I got more into the business centre, I saw that people \nhad already begun to gather about the different newspaper offices and near \nthe larger banks where the first news would certainly be posted up; one caught \na word here and there, hurriedly exchanged between friends meeting unex\u00ac \npectedly: \u201cYes, yes, I understand that it was signed this morning at five o\u2019clock. \nWell \u2014!\u201d By ten o\u2019clock we knew this to be a certainty, and on the stroke of \neleven all France must also have known it, for, out of the rather subdued calm \nwhich had, for the past days, reigned everywhere, there burst the roar of cannon \n\u2014those of the Invalides, just across the river from where I stood in the Place de \n\n\ni66 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nla Concorde, and at the same moment the bells of all the churches in Paris rang \nout\u2014such a carillon as was seldom heard. And on the instant too (so well \nprepared were we), and in whatever direction you looked, you saw that flags \nwere being run up, or hung from windows, or fastened to the coats and hats of \npeople, or that they fluttered from the taxis or trucks as they shot past. In \nthe space of a few minutes only, Paris was ablaze with colour. Then, from \nevery door, torrents of people came rushing; they came running from every \ndirection\u2014along the Rue de Rivoli they hurried; out of the Rue Royale they \nburst; the entrance to the narrow Rue Boissy d\u2019Anglas was literally choked; \nthe broad Cours la Reine and the Quai de la Conference swarmed\u2014it seemed \nas though everyone in Paris were determined to reach the Place de la Concorde \nor the Champs-^lys^es, where the enemy guns were the thickest; and soon \nyou could hardly move. A gigantic crowd had begun to mass, a crowd in the \ngrip of such intense emotion that for the most part it was dramatically silent. \nThe French had borne too much, had suffered too deeply for joy at release (a \nrelease moreover, the nature of which was not whole-heartedly approved) to be \nuntempered with sadness or with regrets which could not be stilled. And then \ntoo, there were so many black-clad figures to remind us\u2014though we did not \nneed reminding\u2014of what the day meant. We felt the presence of our beloved \ndead, those millions of heroic, high-hearted men who had given their lives that \nFrance herself might live; we felt ourselves surrounded by their sacred presence; \nthey moved among us; their glittering ranks seemed to fill the air. Theirs the \nsplendour of sacrifice; ours the gratitude and love. I believe that in those \nfirst hours, before the riotous rejoicing of the evening began, there were few \nof us who were not remembering them in reverent thanksgiving; many of us too, \n\nI believe, were realizing with a pain which we would unwillingly have relin\u00ac \nquished, that it was not for such a day as this, not for an armistice that they \nhad died. \n\nBut joy there was, none the less, though there were tears in many eyes. As \nif in kindly sympathy, the sun broke through the mist, the day warmed, and, \ngravely, stranger shook hands with stranger, and we all cried: \u201cVive la France! \nVive VArmte! Vivent les Allies!\" Then a man\u2019s voice, not far off it is true, \nbut miraculously heard over the sound of all those other voices, called loudly, \nvigorously: \u201cVivent nos poiln - u - u - $/\u201d, and like a flame that word swept \nthrough the crowds; it was taken up by the thousands gathered there; I saw \nstrained faces, wet with tears, streaming with tears; voices near me broke with \nintensity of emotion. Then suddenly, above the solidly massed heads reaching \nas far as you could see, were raised, here and there, horizon-blue-clad figures, \nsteel-helmeted, heavily booted, perhaps unshaven and certainly looking very \nshy, very awkward, as if longing to crawl under ground into some friendly \ndugout\u2014I saw struggling, resisting poilus raised high on the shoulders of the \nmen near whom they had chanced to be standing, and again that cry went up: \n\u201cVivent nos potlu - u - u - s!\u201d How dearly we loved and how proud we were of \nthem\u2014how grateful to the living ones too! \n\nStanding close beside me, I had noticed an old peasant and his wife (up for \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n167 \n\n\nthe day, no doubt, to see the sights, their fields left untended), both of them very \nshort and very stout. Poor dears! They had come so far, yet because they were \nundersized, they could not see over even the shoulders\u2014let alone the heads\u2014 \nof the people who were so thick all around them. They craned their necks \nand tried their best to get even a glimpse, but it was useless. I saw them con\u00ac \nferring on the subject, their old heads bent close together. \u201c Peux-tu voir?\" \nasked he, with affectionate concern; but she shook her head, disconsolately. \nThough grunting with the effort, he quickly seized her round the waist and \nhoisted her up so that at last she got a view of what was going on, and not \nuntil the exertion had brought him almost to the point of extinction, did he \nfinally drop her with a smothered: \u201c Ouf! Ouf!\" t whereupon she, without a \nmoment\u2019s hesitation, and as though it were a matter of course (one good turn \ndeserves another), wheeled about, caught him round the knees with a hearty, \n\u201c Viens, mon petit!\", and though her face grew scarlet under his weight, held him \nsquirming and amidst the good-natured laughter of all of us who saw it, while \nhe got his view. They kept this up, alternately giving each other a \u201clift\u201d, \nfor I do not know how long; as I moved away, they were still hard at work. \n\nIn the afternoon, while Clemenceau was reading the terms of the Armistice \nin the Chamber of Deputies, the guns of the great ring of forts around Paris \nthundered out their applause; in the upper air huge aeroplanes began to pass \nlike whirlwinds over our heads, with acrobatic, dare-devil abandon; and a sight \nwhich no one who saw it will ever forget\u2014thousands, gathering around the \nstatues of Strasbourg and of Lille, stood with bared heads, singing the \u201cMar\u00ac \nseillaise\u201d. Of course, most of the shops had been closed early so that, as the day \nwore on, more and more people thronged the streets, and the spirit of revelry \nbecame intensified. Impromptu parades were formed which only increased \nthe congestion; in fact, it was quite impossible to move at all along some streets, \nor even along some of the avenues. Monster motor lorries, filled to the utmost \nwith soldiers and civilians decked with the Allied colours, circulated at high \nspeed, while, walking about as well as they could, more modestly and quietly, \nwere hundreds of Parisians unconcernedly eating petits fours out of paper bags \n\u2014people who had not been able to find seats in any restaurant, and who had \nsnatched at whatever they could find to eat. You passed little groups of smiling \npoilus or broadly-grinning British Tommies, who had been surrounded by a \nring of holiday makers, and who were held prisoners while, with linked hands, \ntheir admirers danced singing round them, as you would dance around a May- \npole. But the greatest noise and the greatest confusion of all was caused by \nbands of American soldiers (whose example was quickly followed by many other \nAmericans) who, rushing into the Place de la Concorde, pushing the crowds un\u00ac \nceremoniously to right and left, seized the enemy cannon arranged so carefully \nthere, and began to drag them about\u2014up the Champs-l\u00a3lys\u00a3es, along the quais , \ndown the Rue de Rivoli, some of them riding astride, the others shouting and \npulling; others, climbing to the top of the great statues of France\u2019s fortified \ntowns, sat there beating small drums, or blowing tin horns or singing darkie \nsongs. It soon became a kind of orgy, and with a heavy heart I turned home- \n\n\n168 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nward. The rejoicing was being overdone\u2014already we were beginning to forget, \nI thought sadly. \n\nMemory, with some of us at least, can prove a disconcerting faculty, because, \nwhen we try to reach back to a given incident which we wish in detail to recall, \nwe find that we have to work our way through all that has subsequently been \ntaking place within ourselves, perhaps quite unconsciously. \u201cRemembering\u201d \nis not the simple process we have sometimes fancied it, and I often wonder \nif, in any case after a period of years, it is possible to remember the events \nthrough which we have lived (more especially those events behind which lay \ngreat issues), and the nature of our individual mental and emotional view of \nthem, exactly as these were at the time. For, examining them later, with the \nperspective which we did not then have, we almost inevitably see them as it were \nthrough a mist, or rather, coloured by the light of maturer experience, maturer \nconsiderations. Therefore, what the armistice meant to me in 1918, can per\u00ac \nhaps only be viewed in the light of what it means to me to-day. However this \nmay be, I seem to have no difficulty in remembering the two sets of emotions \nwhich, on that day of mixed hopes and fears, were warring against each other: \none part of me lost in thanksgiving that so many of the lives which were dear, \nwere now out of danger; that the faces of old friends would surely be seen again; \nthat past and future would surely meet with no hideous gap between: another \npart of me knowing this to be misjudged, superficial, unreal; knowing that the \narmistice was a deadly mistake, and far more widely death-dealing than carrying \nthe War to its ultimate end could ever have been. And so, at last, the night \nclosed in on us, though the unthinking revelry went on. With the first sound of \nthe cannon at the Invalides, and the ringing of the church bells that morning, \neveryone, perhaps, momentarily felt a great wave of relief; but as the day wore \non, with the outer madness increasing on the one hand, I believe there was far \nmore inner misgiving on the other hand than is generally realized; that there \nwere many silent spectators of that riotous scene whose hearts were heavy\u2014 \nand not merely because of their own personal losses, either. They knew that this \nwas not the end; rather was it only a more terrible beginning. They knew that \nGermany who, at the opening of the War, had considered an engagement as \nmerely \u201ca scrap of paper\u201d, would keep her future \u201cengagements\u201d in exactly the \nsame spirit. \n\nI believe it can truly be said that Germany\u2019s so-called \u201ccollapse\u201d was more a \nmoral evasion than an absolute and immediate military necessity: at least had \nshe wished to do so, even with Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria with\u00ac \ndrawn, she could certainly have fought on longer than she did. She could have \nfought on to the point of complete exhaustion and until she was actually beaten \nto her knees, until she had not a drop of blood left in her: France did in 1871. \nBut Germany is destitute of understanding in such high and chivalrous matters, \nand like all moral delinquents since the world began, when she saw a just re\u00ac \ntribution overtaking her, she could not face the ordeal. As she realized that, \nunited to a man in burning abhorrence of her countless and unnamable crimes, \nthe Allies were steadily, relentlessly moving on toward her frontiers, she resorted \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n169 \n\n\nto subterfuge. Germany who, in 1914, had invaded Belgium and France without \nthe slightest shadow of excuse, making herself an outcast among civilized nations \nby her organized attempts at intimidation, her deliberately planned atrocities, \nwhich all the denials, explanations and excuses of later days will never obliterate \n\u2014Germany, unable to face an invasion, in her turn, of her own soil (though even \nshe must have known the Allies incapable of meting out to her a punishment \nliterally in kind), called loudly for an armistice! Evasion is always the method \nadopted by the morally deformed, and it is always they who are quick to plead \nfor compassion which they themselves, while still in power, are never willing \nto show; and if, at the signing of the armistice, some of us may mistakenly have \nimagined that much of Germany\u2019s military and political power was destroyed \nor at least curtailed, we surely must have learned, in these intervening years, \nthat her cunning remains unimpaired. \n\nVolunteer. \n\n\n(To be concluded) \n\n\nIt requires much more character to sustain good fortune than bad .\u2014 La Roche\u00ac \nfoucauld. \n\n\nRead the features of thy foe, wherever he may find thee; small he is, seen face to face , \nbut thrice his size behind thee .\u2014 Meredith. \n\n\n\nA man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but \nsaying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday .\u2014 Swift. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\nT HE shade of a big oak-tree had drawn us together, with no thought of \nthe \u201cScreen\u201d or of the Recorder\u2019s approaching need. It was the Phi\u00ac \nlosopher who started things going. \u201cThe great American public, so \npre-eminently self-governing, seems to be cheering up\u201d, he remarked. \u201cThe \nWailing Wall on Wall Street of a few weeks ago, has become comparatively \n\ngay.\u201d \n\n\u201cYes\u201d, said the Student; \u201ceven with the small fry, it is no longer\u2014 \n\n\u2018The rain it raineth every day, \n\nUpon the just and unjust fellow, \n\nBut more upon the just, because \nThe unjust hath the just\u2019s umbrella.\u2019 \n\n\u201cTo-day, the small fry are hoping to get it back. \u201d \n\n\u201cWhere did you get that from?\u201d someone asked. \n\n\u201cIt is English,\u2014all good things are English\u201d, he replied. This was deliber\u00ac \nately provocative, but we let it pass. It was so hot; and what is the use! \n\n\u201cI can tell you of one thing that is English, and that is really good\u201d, said the \nHistorian: \u201ca book by General Seely, called Fear , and Be Slain. I bought \nit on the strength of its title, which the contents fully justify. If anyone be in \ndanger of losing his faith in \u2018miracles\u2019, I recommend him to read it. I hate \nstories of adventure and of miraculous escapes that are fiction; but this man\u2019s \nstories are not only true,\u2014they contain, without a word of preaching, the justifi\u00ac \ncation of what he has tried to make the governing principle of his life. Let me \nread you the opening of his brief Foreword: \u2018 \u201cSafety First\u201d is a vile motto. . . . \nIf such maxims be needed for human conduct, \u201cDuty First\u201d, \u201cKing and Country \nFirst\u201d, above all, \u201cChrist\u2019s Teaching First\u201d, may form the basis for a rule of life. \n\n. . . \u201cSafety First\u201d is soul-destroying, a pestilent heresy which will rob the \nrace of man of all incentive and spell doom to the British Empire. It is, indeed, \nreally a euphemism for not facing facts, for lack of confidence in oneself or one\u2019s \nprinciples.\u2019 Was it not Ernest Hello who wrote: \u2018Always do the thing you are \nafraid to do\u2019 ? I have not got it with me, but there is a little book called Life , \nScience , and Art, made up of quotations from Hello\u2019s writings, translated from \nhis French, which Washboume published in London some twenty years ago, \nand which, I think, contains that and much more to the same effect. How \nwell I remember during the Great War, before this country so belatedly threw \nin its lot with the Allies, the refreshment in Hello\u2019s pre-War statement: \u2018It is \nthe crime of the age not to hate Evil, but to discuss terms of peace with it and \nmake it proposals. . . . [Even] blasphemy has its explanation. What plunges \nme in a stupefaction absolutely beyond expression is neutrality .\u2019 Seely does \nnot touch on that. He confines himself to stories of his war and other experi- \n\n\n170 \n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n171 \n\n\u2022ences, and to his marvellous escapes from death. But it is intensely interesting; \nit is modestly written, and, above all, it is morally refreshing. Some English \nreviewer described it as \u2018The best of all antidotes to the last ten years\u2019. Admir\u00ac \ning the book and admiring its author, I feel free to quarrel with his admiration \nfor Lloyd George, who has proved himself an unprincipled demagogue, and who, \nas bold as brass with England back of him, was a moral coward and worse when \nthreatened by the leaders of English Labour. Further, just as neutrality left \nHello in a state of stupefaction, Seely, so transparently honest, so intelligent in \nso many ways, leaves me almost (though not quite) speechless when he propounds \na statement such as this. (I should explain, first, that he had been in the thick \nof the fighting at Le C&teau, Landrecies, St. Quentin and elsewhere, during the \nGerman advance in 1914; that he had re-entered St. Quentin unaware that the \nGermans had occupied it, had had the narrowest imaginable escape from death, \nand that he had already seen much of German \u2018frightfulness\u2019.) Now for my \nquotation:\u2014 \n\n\u201cLooking back on that period when farm after farm, town after \ntown, fell into the hands of the advancing German host; when \nterrorism, deliberately employed, filled every woman\u2019s heart with \ndread, and every old Frenchman\u2019s heart with rage, I understand, \nas perhaps others do not understand, the attitude of the French \npeople to-day. They talk of security, \u2018Security First\u2019; we think \nthey are unreasonable. They increase their armaments; we think \nit unfair. They set up new fortifications on their frontiers; we \nthink it absurd that a valiant people should so behave\u2014surely they \nneed have no fear. I suppose the critics are right, but all I can \nsay is that had I been a Frenchman living in the neighbourhood of \nSt. Quentin in August, 1914, I should be sorely tempted to act as \nthe French now do. It may not be a logical attitude; in fact, \nspeaking as an Englishman, although I love France, I am sure it is \nnot logical [! ]. But it is a natural sequence of events, and it may \nendure for generations to come. \n\n\u201cWhat in the name of all that is amazing does he mean by that! A child \ncould see that it is the French who are logical, and that he is simply fantastic, \nserenely, self-confidently fantastic. He knows as well as anyone that the \nFrench experience of 1914 was a repetition of what the Germans had done before, \nover and over again. He had seen the thing with his own eyes, and had been \ndeeply moved by it. There might be excuse for some American, who thinks \nthat the universe is bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; who has no \nbackground, and for whom France and Germany are merely names in the \ndaily paper. Can you wonder that England\u2019s best friends, the people of all \nnationalities, in all parts of the world, who most genuinely admire her superb \nqualities, find her at times exasperatingly stupid,\u2014\u2018thick\u2019 as one of her worst \nfogs. Seely is not \u2018just a soldier\u2019; he is a member of the Privy Council, a highly \neducated and much travelled man, and, I repeat, absolutely sincere. Is the \n\u2018suggestion\u2019 of his tribe too much for him ? Even so, how account for the attitude \nof his tribe! \n\n\n\n\n172 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cThe answer, unfortunately, is not pleasant, for the answer is that while \nthe average Englishman dislikes a German and a Frenchman with an equal and \nundiscriminating intensity, the class to which General Seely belongs is in\u00ac \nstinctively jealous of France or of Germany as soon as either of them becomes \n\u2018too powerful\u2019. The \u2018balance of power\u2019 must be maintained between those \ntwo, so that England, as third, can control. England hated the supremacy \nof Napoleon and combined with Prussia to overthrow him. During the Franco- \nPrussian War of 1870-71, again from the instinctive feeling that France had \nbecome too influential under Napoleon III, and that \u2018the balance of power\u2019 \nshould be restored, England remained neutral. Then, when the German \nEmpire was formed under the dominance of Prussia, English feeling began to \nveer, sufficiently, it seems, to have prevented another attack on France by Bis\u00ac \nmarck, when Queen Victoria personally intervened. As Germany became more \nand more powerful and arrogant, England finally (1904) determined upon the \nEntente Cordiale with France, and later fought the Great War to prevent the \nGermanization of Europe. That end attained, with Germany disabled tempo\u00ac \nrarily, and France by far the strongest military power on the Continent, English \nfeeling again veered, and became positively hostile when the European su\u00ac \npremacy of the Bank of England was jeopardized, if not lost, owing to the \nimmensely strong cash position of the Bank of France. Montagu Norman, \nGovernor of the Bank of England, was very largely responsible for the lengths \nto which this jealousy ran, and for the blindness which was its inevitable result. \nHe jumped into the German trap, dragging his Bank with him, by lending \nhuge sums to bolster German credit, but which the Germans promptly \u2018tied up\u2019 \nby using the money for \u2018improvements\u2019\u2014public parks, auditoriums, buildings \neasily convertible into barracks, new machinery, etc.\u2014so that repayment might \nbe made impossible and that Reparations to France and Belgium might be pushed \nthat much further into the domain of the impracticable. That Norman\u2019s \nsupposed omniscience in matters of international finance, influenced New York \nbanks to add their millions to those which the Bank of England was loaning to \nGermany, is at least highly probable. \n\n\u201cGeneral Seely himself, in my opinion, would be incapable of a small or \nmean motive\u2014and jealousy in any form is small; and that is why I spoke of the \n\u2018suggestion\u2019 of his \u2018tribe\u2019 or class\u2014of his Clubs in fact\u2014which it is immensely \ndifficult for a popular man, with hosts of friends, to resist, especially when he \nhas no reason to be on his guard. And there are many Englishmen, doubtless, \nof whom the same thing could be said, and whose inherent good-sportsmanship \nand sympathy for the \u2018under-dog\u2019, have supplied the soil in which this poisonous \nsuggestion takes root,\u2014that Germany should be allowed to arm more, and that \nFrance should be bullied or cajoled into arming less, so that (a reason rarely \navowed) the \u2018balance of power\u2019 may be restored. As if there ought to be a balance \nof power between a brigand and a member of the community whose one desire \nis to be let alone!\u201d \n\n\u201cThe Recorder is taking notes\u201d, said the Philosopher at this stage, \u201cand \nI don\u2019t want our English friends and readers to misunderstand what you have \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\ni 73 \n\n\nbeen saying, or what I am about to say. Therefore let me explain this for their \nbenefit: we suffer and endure, as best we can, the American Politician, whom \nwe recognize as the logical outcome of a democratic form of government; we \nsuffer this thing all the time; to open a daily paper, which we are obliged to do, \nkeeps the wound raw; we have long since passed the stage of hoping for anything \nbetter than vulgarity, asininity, and provincialism to proceed from our Con\u00ac \ngress, with complete failure to recognize even the existence of principle, or of \nright and wrong in international matters. We look in vain, for instance, for \nsome word from either Presidential candidate, calling attention to the outrageous \ncost to the taxpayer of the Veterans of the World War,\u2014a scandal (as explained \nin the July Quarterly) involving the unjustifiable expenditure of some $450,- \n000,000 of public money annually, a scandal which has been ventilated fully, \nand in regard to which both candidates are fully informed. Yet, not a word \nfrom either of them. They are afraid to lose votes. How can we respect such \npeople! (Silence about the Bonus payment would, of course, be even worse.) \n\n\u201cIt is natural, therefore, that we should hope to find elsewhere the regard \nfor principle, the love of right for the sake of right, which we fail to find here; \nand because this country sprang originally from English stock, and because we \nknow something of English traditions and of what used to be English standards, \nit is natural also that we should look to England as a place where something \nbetter ought to exist. We feel, even, that we have a sort of right to expect it, \nand are bitterly, and perhaps unreasonably, disappointed, when those who should \nrepresent the best in English tradition, lower themselves to the plane of American \npolitical life. Hence I felt outraged when I read the other day in the New York \nTimes , that the Knights of the Order of the Garter, supposed to be a most proud \nand honourable Order of Chivalry, and certainly ranking highest in English \nesteem, had decided to reinsert in its roster the names of the former Kaiser and \nformer Crown Prince, and to hang their banners once more in the Chapel of the \nOrder at Windsor, thus undoing their expulsion in 1914. This, according to the \ncabled report, was being done at the instigation of the King, who \u2018wishes to for\u00ac \nget old quarrels\u2019. It is charitable, as well as polite, to assume that Ramsay \nMacdonald instigated the King. But even so! Is there no such thing as right \nand wrong\u2014in England? Did the men who fought and died for England, die \nfor a mere nothing, for an unfortunate misunderstanding, for a sort of friendly^ \ncousinly quarrel? Is it right or manly to have the memory of a butterfly? Can \nEngland have sunk as low as that! \n\n\u201cThe Crown Prince: \u2018the amorous ferret\u2019, his English cousins call him,\u2014 \na cad, if ever there was one, as his behaviour in France proved. The King of the \nBelgians is a Knight of the Garter: will he resign? What a lesson for the world \nif he did,\u2014that someone should fearlessly draw the line somewhere; for if not \nat the German Crown Prince, then, clearly, nowhere.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhat has that to do with Theosophy?\u201d asked our Visitor, with a shade of \ndisappointment, having expected, perhaps, to hear about spooks and visions. \n\n\u201cEverything\u201d, the Philosopher replied, \u201cbecause Theosophy is the store\u00ac \nhouse of all the wisdom, all the beauty and nobility of the past, and strives to \n\n\n174 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nkeep alive in the world, not only the memory of what is best, but the desire to \nemulate it. It is part of the function of its students to hate what is vile or \nvulgar, and to love\u2014not merely to admire, but to love \u2014the highest code that \neach one\u2019s status in life has evolved: by which I mean that it is not enough to \nglow with aesthetic admiration for Christ or some other Master, but that a mother \nshould strive to become the best and wisest of mothers; the soldier, the best and \nbravest and most efficient of soldiers; the business man, the best, most honour\u00ac \nable and most capable of his kind,\u2014and so on, in whatever part we may be \ncalled upon to play.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018I don\u2019t want to drop Seely\u2019s book yet\u201d, the Historian now said, \u201cbecause he \nwrites of one experience which is a real contribution to history. In the spring \nof 1914, while Secretary of State for War, he visited Venice with his daughter, \nand became very friendly with the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian fleet in \nthe Adriatic. It will be remembered, of course, that Italy, at that time, was a \nmember of the Triple Alliance, consisting of Germany, Austria and herself, and \nthat necessarily these three powers kept each other informed about military, \nnaval, and international matters. Before leaving Venice, Seely told this Italian \nCommander that he planned to return to England by way of Austria, travelling \nslowly through the passes with his daughter, by coach. The Italian said: \u2018Will \nyou forgive me if I make a suggestion? It is that if certain forebodings, which \nhave been reported to me confidentially, should prove to be well founded, I \nshould send you a message, saying that I have arranged for your return by \nDesenzano, Switzerland, and France. If I were the Austrian General Staff, \nand war were just about to break out, I think I should find means to delay the \njourney of any man occupying the position you now hold\u2019. Seely thanked him, \nand proceeded on his way. (Now the significance of this incident hinges upon \nthe fact that it occurred some time before the murder of the Austrian Archduke \nFerdinand and his wife at Sarajevo, and after the opening of the enlarged Kiel \nCanal in June, 1914, which had finally given the German fleet direct access to, \nand a way of escape from, the North Sea.) Seely had been only a few hours on \nAustrian territory when he received a message from his Italian friend: \u2018Urgent \nDesenzano\u2019. He turned right back, and hurried to England from Como. A \nfew days later the Archduke was assassinated, and, as Seely says, \u2018the signal for \nthe Great War had been fired.\u2019 The Archduke\u2019s assassination provided the \nnecessary excuse. Germany and Austria had been waiting, since June, for any \nexcuse for their pre-arranged onslaught.\u201d \n\nThe Historian rose, as if to go indoors; but the Recorder wanted more, and \nknew that he could get it. \u201cWhat else have you been reading?\u201d he asked. \n\n\u201cI have been reading several books about the Russian Revolution\u201d, the \nHistorian replied. \u201cIt is wonderfully instructive, especially when the lesson of \nthe French Revolution is kept in mind.\u201d \n\n\u201cSurely rather academic\u201d, said our Visitor, still hoping, I think, for spooks \nand visions. \n\n\u201cThat depends upon how you read history\u201d, he answered. \u201cMost people \nread it as if it were the story of a dead past. We study it for the light it throws \n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n175 \n\n\non the present and future. \u2018History repeats itself\u2019, or, as an ancient Greek \nremarked, \u2018History is philosophy teaching by examples\u2019.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018May I ask\u201d, interjected the Recorder, \u2018\u2018what are the lessons you draw from \nthose two revolutions?\u201d \n\nThe Historian laughed. He knew, of course, what was wanted. \u2018\u2018A large \norder\u201d, he said; \u2018\u2018but I\u2019ll do my best. First, then, is the need for all of us, who \nare students of Theosophy, and who are in earnest, to grind the lessons of history \ninto the very marrow of our being. Intellectual recognition is not enough. We \nshall live again. Youth is very easily persuaded, is idealistic, inexperienced, all \ntoo ready to believe that the world, by means of some formula or glittering \ngeneralization, can be turned into an Earthly Paradise over-night. There \nwould have been no French Revolution if the well-meaning youth of France \nhad not been swept off its feet by the charming twaddle of Rousseau. Bitterly, \nmany of them regretted it, when they faced the guillotine. I, for one, do not \nwish to make that mistake; I should like to become instinctively suspicious\u2014 \nno matter what the circumstances or how young I might be\u2014of all political or \neconomic short cuts, of all demagogic vapourings; I should like to remember \nfor ever that, in terms of personal liberty, the autocracy of the Czars left the \nindividual Russian as free as air in comparison with the autocracy of a Lenin or \nStalin. There is this also to be remembered: it is not the extremists who are \ndangerous; it is the \u2018parlour socialists\u2019, the theoretical liberals, who seem so \nmoderate and so reasonable, so gentle and well-meaning, who invariably prepare \nthe way for the murderers and thugs,\u2014and it is small comfort that the moderates \nalways are strung to lamp-posts by the thugs, or in any case have to fly for their \nlives, when what they sowed comes to fruition. It was not Lenin or Trotsky \nwho were responsible, morally, for the Russian Revolution; they were the fanatics \nand cut-throats who took possession of what men like Prince Lvoff, Rodzianko, \nGouchkoff, Professor Miliukoff and a host of other liberals, had so ignorantly \nstarted. Kerensky, the Socialist, the windbag, served as bridge, at first terror\u00ac \nizing the liberals, who made endless concessions to his intermediate radicalism, \nand then himself terrorized by the extremists, from whom he finally fled for his \nlife, disguised as a woman. \n\n\u2018\u2018The point is that it is always so, and always will be so; and that as we are \nlikely to live through (or in any case into) more than one Terreur in the future, \nit would be well for us to learn as much as possible from the Terreurs of the past.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018I wish you would tell us something about the more interesting of the books \nyou have been reading, which deal with the Russian Terror.\u201d Again it was the \nRecorder who urged him on. \n\n\u2018\u2018It will be easier to do so if I fetch some of them from the house: I like to \nhandle a book when I talk about it\u201d, the Historian answered. \u2018\u2018If you will \nexcuse me for a moment\u2014\u201d, and off he went, returning almost at once with \nbooks tucked under his arm. \u2018\u2018Here they are\u201d, he said, as he resumed his seat. \n\u2018\u2018I think the most vivid and moving picture is given by the Princess Paley, in her \nSouvenirs de Russie , 1916-1919 , but I do not know if it has been published in \nEnglish. It ought to have been, as I see it has already reached its 28th edition \n\n\n176 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nin France. The Princess Paley was the wife of the Grand Duke Paul, who was \nmurdered by the Bolshevists while in prison, and who, by an earlier marriage, \nwas the father of the Grand Duchess Marie, whose Education of a Princess \nwas, I am glad to say, reputed the best-selling non-fiction book of 1931 in \nAmerica, partly, perhaps, because of the extraordinarily graphic account she \ngives of her escape from Russia when the Bolshevists were doing their worst. \nThen there is Once a Grand Duke , by the Grand Duke Alexander, which leaves \na bad taste in the mouth, because of his vanity, his unconscious revelation of \nhis extravagant self-centredness, and the disgraceful way in which he talks about \nthe other members of his family, but which records many facts of interest, and \ncontains many astute and penetrating comments on men and events as he \nwitnessed them. There are the three volumes of La Russie des Tsars pendant \nla Grande Guerre , by Maurice Pal\u00a3ologue, French Ambassador at Petrograd, a \nmost valuable book, which shows, incidentally, that while both he and Sir \nGeorge Buchanan, the British Ambassador, were entirely loyal to the Czar, \nthey inevitably reflected the \u2018liberalism\u2019 of their respective governments, and \nutterly failed to realize that \u2018one man\u2019s meat is another man\u2019s poison\u2019: that \ndreams of a constitutional monarchy in a country like Russia were as grotesque \nas are dreams of a Republic of the Philippines. Two books by Sir George \nBuchanan\u2019s daughter, now Mrs. Knowling, who was with him throughout those \ntragic days in Russia\u2014 Diplomacy and Foreign Courts , and The Dissolution of \nan Empire , especially the latter\u2014were written primarily in defence of her \nfather, who was accused by some people of not having done what he might \nand should have done to further the escape of the Czar and his family to Eng\u00ac \nland. She puts the blame for this squarely on Lloyd George, and states her \ncase convincingly, though the official documents are still locked away among \nthe secret archives of the Foreign Office. If you want to look it up, you will \nfind what she has to say on pages 189 to 199 of her Dissolution of an Empire. \nLloyd George was afraid of Labour, and Labour, favouring the Revolution, \nobjected threateningly to the presence of the Czar in England. The Czar, a \nfirst cousin of the King and a most loyal Ally: what an everlasting disgrace! \nWho would remain a King if his personal honour were in the custody of\u2014a \nLloyd George! \n\n\u201cThe fact is that the Allies, as soon as the Romanoffs ceased to be powerful, \ndropped them like the traditional hot potato. It was not an edifying spectacle. \nPaldologue makes it clear that both the Czar and the Grand Duke Nicholas, \nthen Commander-in-Chief, responded nobly to the agonized appeals of JofTre, \nand of the British and French Governments, at the beginning of the war, to hurl \nevery available Russian soldier into German territory so as to divert German \ntroops from the Western front and thus lessen the initial pressure there. We \nknow with what success and at what frightful cost this was done, making the \nvictory of the Marne possible. Both the Grand Duke and the Czar did this with \ntheir eyes open; they knew that they were taking the offensive prematurely, \nlong before the Russian armies were ready, and they did it solely because it \nwas the only way in which they could go to the rescue of the French and British \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\ni 77 \n\n\narmies, then being pushed back towards Paris by the Germans. From first \nto last they were unfalteringly loyal, always responding to the utmost of their \nability, and always ready to subordinate their plans of campaign to the needs of \ntheir Allies on the Western Front. Yet, when his hour of need came, what was \ndone to help the Czar! I know as well as I know anything, that the British \npeople, if they had realized what was going on, would not have tolerated such \ndesertion for a moment. Outside the ranks of party and professional politicians, \nchivalry is not dead, and if the Grand Duke Nicholas had been invited\u2014had \nbeen compelled, as he should have been\u2014to ride with Foch and Joffre and Haig \nthrough the streets of London, when \u2018Victory\u2019 was celebrated there, he would \nhave been received with all the greater acclaim because his Russia had died, \nfighting, almost to the last man. Chivalry does not turn its back on misfortune; \nchivalry does not count votes or consequences; is not governed by expediency, \nis not afraid. It loves valour, nobility, self-sacrifice, endurance, and proclaims \nits admiration in spite of politics and trade. \n\n\u201cIn this country, of course, with few exceptions, the ignorance was so complete \nand the prejudice so dense, that it would have been absurd to expect more than \nthe ready-made, shop-worn catch-words, such as the hack reviewer grinds out \nat so much the column or half-column. There is no disappointment, for instance, \nin finding \u2018parasites\u2019 still used as descriptive of the entire Rqmanoff family, in \na review in the New York Times of A Princess in Exile , though one may, foolishly, \nwish to remind the reviewer that, whatever their faults, and they were many, \nthe Romanoff men served their country, either in the army or navy, and risked \ntheir lives fearlessly throughout the Great War, while the women, until the \nBolshevists murdered them, not only sacrificed their fortunes on behalf of the \nRussian wounded of all ranks, but personally worked like slaves in the hospitals \nand at the front; further, that the entire Imperial family did not cost Russia \none-tenth as much as the American Legion Lobby in Washington costs the \nAmerican people annually,\u2014and the Imperial family was at least ornamental, \nwhich is more than anyone would claim for the octopus in Washington (merely \none of a collection which reign there). \n\n\u201cBut now\u201d, the Historian continued, after a moment\u2019s pause, \u201cI want to \nchange the subject, though first I should like to interject that I know, as you do, \nhow H.P.B. would have felt about the Russian dtbdcle; I want to speak of Count \nWitte. Most of the books written in recent years which seek to defame H.P.B 4 \n\u2014and the same is true of Biographical Dictionaries\u2014draw on Witte\u2019s memoirs \nas their chief authority; and he slandered her because he was constitutionally \nincapable of believing that anyone, whether man or woman, could be clean and \nupright. Naturally, however, because he was H.P.B.\u2019s cousin, her enemies \nwelcome his evil-mindedness, and care nothing about his own evil life, of which \nhis rotten mind was a result. This subject has been mentioned more than once \nin the Quarterly, especially in the issue of January, 1930, where a letter is \nquoted from Charles Johnston; but as it is manifestly the duty and the privilege \nof all who recognize their debt to H.P.B., to defend her when slandered, you will \nwelcome certain references to Witte in the books I have been reading. Nothing, \n\n\n\n\n\ni?8 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nin my opinion, is more feeble or less effective than a purely negative defence. \nEvery loyal student of Theosophy should be on the alert for evidence which tends \nto disqualify the accusers of H.P.B. \n\n\u201cPal\u00a3ologue, certainly unbiassed, constantly speaks of Witte as unscrupulous \nin his hatred of the Allied cause during the World War, as venomous in his \nanimosities, and as having become, at last, guilty of rank treachery and betrayal. \nI refer you to page 73 of Paleologue\u2019s third volume; also to pages 117-124, 188- \n190, and 223 of his first volume. \n\n\u201cThe Grand Duke Alexander, in his book, on page 197, speaks of Witte \n(\u2018raised by the Czars from clerk to Prime Minister\u2019) as one \u2018who specialized in \nproviding reporters with scandalous tales discrediting the Imperial family ; as \nhaving countenanced Jewish pogroms, and as \u2018both despicable and pitiful in his \ninvolvements\u2019; this, on page 226. \n\n\u201cMiss Meriel Buchanan (Mrs. Knowling), on pages 108-109 of her book, gives \nfacts which confirm Pak'ologue.\u201d \n\nAgain the Historian paused; but the Recorder had not quite finished with \nhim. \u201cIs her latest as interesting as the earlier book by the Grand Duchess \nMarie?\u201d he asked. \n\n\u201cIt is poorer, necessarily, in incident\u201d, the Historian answered, \u201cbut for those \nwho look beneath the surface for the real meaning of a life\u2014for that which the \nsoul is trying to teach the personality\u2014it should prove highly instructive, and \ncould not fail, as I see it, to reveal a tragedy far greater than the author herself \nbegins to realize.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked the Student. \n\n\u201cIt would be intrusive and unkind to enlarge upon the subject publicly\u201d, \nthe Historian answered, \u201cif it were not that the author discusses her own \u2018case\u2019 \nwith an almost disconcerting impersonality, and not only her own, but that of \nher friends, such as Queen Marie of Roumania, whose character she analyzes \nwith quite remarkable detachment. It seems allowable, therefore, to answer \nyour question explicitly. I mean, then, that when the world turned against \nher\u2014as the world invariably turns against misfortune\u2014she seems to have made \nup her mind to win the respect of the world by \u2018making good\u2019 in terms it would \nunderstand, that is, in terms of worldly success, and that she deliberately set \nto work to modernize, to democratize, and thus, unconsciously, to toughen her\u00ac \nself, so as to play the game as the world plays it. An unusually gifted woman, \nwith magnificent courage and great strength of character, she determined to win \nhappiness in spite of her terrible misfortunes, and imagined that this could be \ndone by giving the fullest possible expression to her personality. There was no \none to tell her: \u2018The purpose of life is not to express the personality; the purpose \nof life is to express the soul\u2014all that is noblest within the range of our conception. \nThere is no peace anywhere by that first path; there is peace and wisdom and vic\u00ac \ntory by the second, with joy for the soul even though there be suffering, as there \nmust certainly be se//-sacrifice, for the personality.\u2019 There was no one to say \nto her, at any stage of her career: \u2018Why not try to live your life beautifully, \nrather than successfully!\u2019 She has met with success, as most people count \n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\ni79 \n\n\nsuccess: she has written a \u2018best seller\u2019. But, behind her mask, she is a desper\u00ac \nately unhappy woman (I caught a glimpse of her not long ago, in a New York \nstore where she was \u2018on exhibition\u2019). To judge or to condemn her, would be \ninsufferable: one should take off one\u2019s shoes and tread softly in the presence of \nsuch coimage and such heart-break. Yet the fact remains that she is on the \nwrong track, that she has not learned her lesson, and that just because she has \nfought so magnificently for a wrong end, one wishes ardently that it had been a \nright one. Read her two books, and you will perhaps see what I mean.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018But I have not read them\u201d, the Student protested, \u2018\u2018and I insist upon know\u00ac \ning more!\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018She was married, when very young, to a Swedish Prince. Her mother was \ndead, and the marriage was arranged by an aunt. Not in the least in love with \nher husband, and feeling suffocated in her new environment, she became thor\u00ac \noughly miserable, and, in spite of the birth of a son, before long moved heaven \nand earth to be set free. She persuaded her cousin, the Czar, and the authorities \nof the Russian Church, to grant her a divorce. Her husband retained the \ncustody of her son. Later, during the Great War, and after the abdication of \nthe Czar, she married again\u2014a Russian\u2014believing on this occasion that she was \nreally in love. The event proved her mistaken: another tragedy. One lesson \nshe has not learned is that it was wrong to sacrifice her child for the sake of what \nshe believed to be her own happiness. Assuming that she was in no way to \nblame for the discord between herself and her husband (and usually there are \nfaults on both sides, if only lack of tact), she should have set to work to wring \nvictory out of defeat by living for her son instead of for herself, accepting her \nresponsibilities, and trying to live greatly even if she could not live happily. \nPeople cannot throw overboard their marriage vows with impunity, even when \nthere are no children to be considered. The fact that she occupied an exalted \nposition, meant that her example would have far-reaching repercussions, both \nin Sweden and in Russia. Her second marriage of course made things far worse. \nIf she had done her duty and had remained the wife of that Swedish Prince, \nit is quite possible that she could have saved the life of her father, the Grand \nDuke Paul, to whom she was devoted, and who probably could have been rescued \nwhile he was still a prisoner in his own palace, if the rescue had been organized \nfrom Sweden, with the help of the Swedish Minister in Petrograd. All through \nthe war, the Swedes were Pro-German, largely because they feared and therefore \nhated the Russians. She could have done wonders if, still a member of the \nSwedish Royal family, and working in harmony with the English wife of the \nCrown Prince, she had used her influence on behalf of the Allied cause. I think \nthat by now, her soul would have been at peace. Peace never comes from \nrunning away from a difficulty which it is our duty to overcome. She was \nvery young, and did not understand. No one can blame her,\u2014unless himself \n\u2018without sin\u2019, in which case, as the Christian Master did not say, Let him speak \nup. \n\n\u2018\u2018An understanding of Theosophy would have saved her,\u2014and it is in large \nmeasure due to the mistaken method of its presentation, that she was deprived of \n\n\ni8o \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthat help. Theosophists have almost invariably misunderstood their mission. \nThey have imagined it to be their duty to pass on to others the philosophy, or \ninterpretation of the universe, which they have accepted as true, and which has \nhelped them personally, instead of realizing that there is not one man in a \nmillion who shares their need, or whose condition at all resembles their own, \nand that what they ought to do is to help others to recognize what was truest \nand best in the faith of their ancestors .\u201d \n\nThis roused the Philosopher. \u201cI most thoroughly agree with you\u201d, he ex\u00ac \nclaimed. \u2018\u2018Our study of Theosophy should enable us to be sympathetically \ninterpretative of all expressions of religion, and to reveal at least something of \nthe truth concealed in all symbols and creeds. Any religion is better than none, \nso long as it is accepted sincerely, and when you are dealing with people whose \nfaith has been shattered by newspaper \u2018science\u2019, the only way to help them is \nby directing their attention to the spirit and purpose which the shattered form \nconcealed.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018There are those also\u201d, the Historian added, \u2018\u2018whose religion is a sort of \nhabit, which helps them, perhaps, in matters of routine and in stereotyped direc\u00ac \ntions, but the underlying principles of which they have not even glimpsed, so \nthat, when confronted with a problem which seems to have no connection with \ntheir previous experience, they are completely lost. In fact, it seems to them \nthat there is no point of contact between their problem and their religion. This \nis unthinkable to us, thanks to Theosophy, but it is a very real and bewildering \ncondition for those whose beliefs, primarily, are emotions.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018We are living in a Godless world\u201d, said the Philosopher. \u2018\u2018I doubt if in \nany period of history, the idea of God and of the unseen has meant so little. \nWorse than that perhaps, if a Presidential candidate to-day were to mention \nGod in a political speech, or were to intimate that he was seeking divine guidance \nin national affairs, he would be regarded by the majority as \u2018unsafe\u2019, because not \npractical, and, by many, as a hypocrite.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018But\u201d, said our Visitor, \u2018\u2018think of all the empty talk about God, by Kings \nand rulers of years ago: it meant no more than \u2018How d\u2019you do\u2019.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Which is worse: a selfish man with the semblance of good manners, or a \nselfish man with no manners whatever?\u201d \n\nOur Visitor laughed, seeming to catch the point. \n\n\u2018\u2018The truth of the matter is\u201d, concluded the Philosopher, \u2018\u2018that students \nof Theosophy have a vitally important function, which, as yet, with few excep\u00ac \ntions, they have not understood, and which they should make it their first duty \nto study, and, in due course, perform. What the world needs most is a more \nspiritual understanding of its former beliefs,\u2014not their dilution, such as \nsome Churches supply, but an intensification and rationalization of their \nsimplicities. \n\n\nT. \n\n\n\n\nThe Political Philosophy of Confucianism , by Leonard Shihlien Hsu, Professor at Yenching \nUniversity; George Routledge & Sons, London, 1932; price $3-75- \n\nMencius , translated by Leonard A. Lyall; Longmans, Green & Co., London, I93 2 \u2018* price, $3*75* \n\nDr. Hsu has had a certain amount of political experience as Secretary of the Ministry of \nForeign Affairs in the Chinese Nationalist Government. One ventures to believe that he \nhas prepared this exposition of Confucian political science with the primary purpose of re\u00ac \nminding his Occidentalized fellow-countrymen of the splendour of their own traditions. Cer\u00ac \ntainly the Confucian theory of government is as applicable to Chinese conditions to-day as it \never was. It is even applicable outside China. There are actually some Americans who prefer \nConfucius to Thomas Jefferson. \n\nThe essence of Confucianism is loyalty, and loyalty in political terms implies the devotion \nof the subject to the ruler and the obedience of each individual to the code of his status and \ncalling. Dr. Hsu has traced the development of these implications of loyalty, stressing in \nparticular the fundamental \u201cdoctrine of rectification\u201d. Rectification \u201cmeans the making of \ndistinctions between right and wrong, the setting up of a universal standard that will show \nhow the true differs from the untrue, the right from the wrong, the beautiful from the ugly, \nthe logical from the illogical, the just from the unjust, the proper from the improper. Thus \nConfucius places government on a purely ethical and educative basis. This is important be\u00ac \ncause the political state itself is governed by the attitude of mind of the mass of the people\" \n\n(p. 59). It was thoroughly characteristic of Confucius that he should define the first step \ntowards rectification as the practical example of virtuous administration. \u201cThe rulers them\u00ac \nselves should be wise and virtuous before they attempt to govern others. They should per\u00ac \nsonally set the model of rectification, and the people will follow them according to the process \nof phenomenal imitation\u201d (p. 59). In brief, \u201cthe sovereign and high officials are models, \nwhich the mass of people and smaller officers are likely to imitate\u201d (p. 44). \n\nDr. Lyall\u2019s excellent and well-annotated translation of the great Confucian apostle, Mencius, \nmakes the principle of \u201cphenomenal imitation\u201d very clear. Mencius seems to have addressed \nhis message especially to the upper classes, and to have tried to form among them a genuine \naristocracy whose nobility of conduct might inspire others to imitate them. He taught \u201cthe \ngreat way of the gentleman\u201d. \u201cA gentleman can do nothing greater than encourage men to \n\ndo good\u201d (p. 50). \u201cWhen a gentleman made a mistake of old, he mended it- The mistake|A \n\nof a gentleman of old were like the eating of sun or moon [i.e. an eclipse]\u2014all the people s \nthem, and when he mended, all the people looked up to him\u201d (p. 62). \n\nThe books of Mencius belong by right in the library of everyone who believes in the standards \nof true gentility, and who would like to make those standards effective in his own life and \nbehaviour. S. L. \n\n\nEdmund Burke , by Rev. Robert H. Murray, Litt.D.; Oxford University Press, New York, \n1932; price, $4.50. \n\nThis biography, published a year ago in England, now appears in an American edition. \nOnly four years separate it from Mr. Bertram Newman\u2019s Edmund Burke (1927). One wishes \n\n181 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n182 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthat the difference between Dr. Murray\u2019s point of view and Mr. Newman\u2019s, represented a \nstride in advance taken by the entire Anglo-Saxon world. For to Dr. Murray, Burke\u2019s philo\u00ac \nsophical principle\u2014the aristocratic principle\u2014is drawn from \u201cthe eternal\u201d, and is the political \nwisdom needed at the present hour, \u201cthe democratic catastrophes of which, written over the \nmap of Europe and Asia, could teach the lesson of Burke\u201d [paraphrased]. To Mr. Newman, \non the other hand, Burke can not escape the reproach meted to those who look backward, who \ndevote genius, not to the future but to a dead past, or to the defence of a mode of existence \nwhich \u201ceven before his own eyes was beginning to pass away.\u201d Mr. Newman sees Burke as \nan idealist, by which word he means something of a visionary. \n\nBurke\u2019s subject matter\u2014details of revenue, tax, and suffrage\u2014is recalcitrant material, \nand a Plutarch is needed to dispose of it, and vividly to set forth Burke\u2019s greatness. Contrasts \nin the manner of Plutarch are not wanting, for Dr. Murray writes: \u201cChatham was not a great \npolitical philosopher, whereas Burke was one of the greatest that ever lived. Chatham was \nan opportunist, while Burke was nothing of the kind. He possessed principles. . . . Last \nof all, Chatham was, as Dr. Johnson expressed it, a minister given to the sovereign by the \npeople, and to Burke it is clear that Chatham leaned in the direction of demagogy. Burke, \non the other hand, was aristocratic to the core. . . .\u201d Dr. Murray is a scholar and man of \nculture; he has sympathy, enthusiasm, and understanding. He is able to write: \u201cThere is a \nmysticism in the whole of Burke\u2019s outlook on life in Church and State, and even in discussing \nthe state of trade at home and abroad he cannot shake himself\u2014he does not even attempt to\u2014 \nfree from it. His philosophy is tinged with that mystery which every thoughtful man feels. \nWith the cult of commerce he contrives to mingle a cult of idealism which is utterly removed \nfrom the tone and temper of Grenville\u2019s legal disquisition. He links the temporal to the eternal, \nand he is able to do so in virtue of the divine harmony he perceives in events, and his harmony \nis mystic and spiritual.\u201d C. \n\nBlack Elk Speaks , transcribed by John Neihardt; William Morrow & Company, New York; \nprice, $3.75. \n\nThis is a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature which is making the character \nof the Red Man intelligible to the white race that is supplanting him. To the Theosophist, the \nheart of the book is the religious fervour which inspires this very old Indian, a Shaman among \nthe Ogallala Sioux, and its origin in the \u201cGreat Vision\u201d which came to him as a child. During a \nsevere illness he lay for twelve days in a state of coma or trance, and the psychic and spiritual \nexperience of that time became ineradicably the keynote of his whole life. His own words \nbest show his belief in its reality and importance. \n\n\u201cIf this were only the story of my life, I think I would not tell it, for what is one man that \nhe should make much of his winters even when they bend him like a heavy snow? I see now \nas from a lonely hill-top, and I know a mighty vision was given to a man too weak to use it,\u2014 \nof a holy tree that should have flourished in a people\u2019s heart with flowers and singing birds, \nand now is withered; and of a people\u2019s dream that died in bloody snow. So I tell this to you; \nand because no good thing can be done by any man alone, I will first make an offering, and \nsend a voice to the Spirit of the World, that it may help me to be true.\u201d \n\nAfter making the smoke offering, ending with the words, \u201cgive me strength to walk the soft \nearth, a relative to all that is; with your Power only can I face the winds\u201d, he continues: \u201cI \nam sure now that when the Vision came to me, I was then too young to understand it all, \nand that I only felt it. It was the pictures I remembered and the words that went with them; \nfor nothing I have ever seen with my eyes was as clear and bright as what my Vision showed \nme; and no words that I have ever heard with my ears were like the words I heard. I did \nnot have to remember these things; they have remembered themselves all these years. I \ncould feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body; but when \nthe part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like a fog and \nget away from me. It was as I grew older that the meaning came clearer out of the pictures \nand the words.\u201d \n\nMuch of the book is a very literal account of his life and tribal experience; many of the \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n183 \n\nstranger incidents are undoubtedly dyed with superstition and psychism, but there is much \nthat is pure poetry and much that is devoutly spiritual. Perhaps he sums up the balance \njustly when he says: \n\n\u201cThe Vision was true and mighty, as I know; it is true and mighty yet, for such things are \nof the Spirit. It is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.\u201d E. A. \n\nNicholas of Cusa, by Henry Bett; Great Medieval Churchmen Series, Methuen & Co., \nLondon, 1932; price, 7 s. 6 d. \n\nAny scholarly reader with a drop of Plato\u2019s blood in his veins, will be fascinated by the \naccount of this ecclesiastical mystic, now told in English for the first time. Nicholas (1401- \n1464) bom in the village of Cues, on the Moselle, near Coblentz, is one more link in the long \nchain of witnesses that descends from Alexandria, through Dionysius the Areopagite, Scotus \nErigena, Eckhart and others. The distracted condition of Church and State during his life\u00ac \ntime, forced him to take an active share in outward events; there his influence made itself felt \nfor unity. Whether it was the followers of Huss in Bohemia with whom he had to negotiate, \nor Greeks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, or even the devotees of Islam, he sought, in the \nbelief of each, a point that could serve as nucleus around which might be constructed harmony \nwith Christianity as established in the Catholic Church of Rome. \u201cBut his principal impor\u00ac \ntance belongs to the world of thought rather than to the world of action.\u201d His writings (in \nLatin) published in 1514 and 1565, are difficult of access, and their scarceness has limited \nstudy and appreciation of his greatness. While ecclesiastical diplomacy was his daily occu\u00ac \npation, mathematics was his consolation, and through mathematics he was drawn to the \nteachings of Pythagoras. In his own characteristic way, he sets forth anew the ancient \nteaching of the One and the Many. \u201cAll begins from God, and all ends in God, as motion \nbegins from rest, and ends in rest. God is all of all that is, and yet nothing of all that is. He \nis alLthat is, in unity and perfection, but nothing that is, in limitation and multiplicity. Every\u00ac \nthing that exists is implicit in God, and explicit in the universe. God is the unoriginated, \nundifferentiated ground of all possibility and all actuality, and these are one in Him.\" \u201cSince \nGod is'pure unity, absolutely bare of all differentiation, all the divine attributes coincide. All \nthat may truly be said of God, though separated into different conceptions in our minds, is \none and the same truth in His immutable nature. Hence all theology moves in a circle. The \nbeing of fc God, the will of God, the act of God, are absolutely one and identical; these conceptions \nare merely the different names by which we distinguish the different aspects in which our minds \nsee the one, eternal, immutable essence of God.\u201d C. \n\nTheurgy , or the Hermetic Practice; A Treatise on Spiritual Alchemy , by E. J. Langford Garstin; \nLondon, Rider and Co., 1930; price, 6s. \n\nThe Secret Fire, an Alchemical Study, by E. J. Langford Garstin; London, The Search Pub\u00ac \nlishing Company, 1932; price, 7s. 6 d. \n\nThese simply written volumes form succinct introductions to the study of the great Al\u00ac \nchemical writers. They assemble quotations of the utmost interest from a wide range of \nfamous writers\u2014some of whom are almost inaccessible and often not yet translated from \nLatin,\u2014and many are highly suggestive to students of Theosophy. Passages in Isis provida^^ \nrich commentaries and often supply keys. The writer may be congratulated upon his entir^^ \nlack of pretence, and for uncompromising condemnation of \u201cblack magic\u201d. As a result, his \nindustry and enthusiasm should be of service to a wide circle of readers. Q. \n\nCosmic Problems: an Essay on Speculative Philosophy , by J. S. Mackenzie, Emeritus Profes\u00ac \nsor in University College, Cardiff; Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London, 1931; price, $2.00. \n\nProfessor Mackenzie describes himself as \u201ca humble follower of the line of idealistic specu\u00ac \nlation in which I consider my earliest teacher, Edward Caird, to have been, on the whole, the \nsafest guide\u201d. The philosophical idealists of the Nineteenth Century, especially those of the \nScotch school, performed a great service, by keeping alive in Western thought the idea that \nconsciousness is more fundamental, more real, than matter. They brought forward a host of \narguments to show how impossible it is to separate the idea of matter from the idea of some \n\n\n184 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nform of creative, conscious activity. They continued to propose the hypothesis of a Uni\u00ac \nversal Mind which \u201cwould presumably apprehend all the universal conceptions; and having \ncreativeness . . . would be able to give them that special form of reality which we call exist\u00ac \nence\u201d (p. 30). \n\nUnfortunately, modem idealism has suffered from a very mixed heredity. It may claim \ndescent from Platonism and the Logos Doctrine; but its immediate ancestry is German. The \northodox idealist is obsessed by the notion that the wisdom of the ages reached a sort of climax \nin Hegel. No one will question Hegel\u2019s genius; but this genius was preponderantly, almost \nexclusively, intellectual. His philosophy is an impressive but rigid logical system which is \nfounded, not upon experience, but upon certain intellectual postulates. Moreover, in Ger\u00ac \nmany even small minds tend to become ponderous, and Hegel\u2019s mind was not small. His \ndisciples have never been celebrated for the Platonic qualities of wit and grace. \n\nAs modern idealism developed along the lines indicated by Hegel, it became a speculative \nrather than an empirical philosophy; and this, perhaps, explains the relative oblivion which \nhas overtaken so many of its exponents. Professor Mackenzie is aware of this isolation of \nidealistic theory from the hard facts of daily life, and recognizes the need for testing and cor\u00ac \nroborating speculation and hypothesis by experience and experiment. Without renouncing \nhis belief in an ideal substratum of existence, he perceives the important distinction between \nbelief and certainty. Therefore, he seeks by contact with actualities a greater measure of \ncertainty than the Hegelian dialectic, alone and unaided, can provide. \n\nOpinions will differ as to the way to proceed in such an undertaking. A student of Theoso\u00ac \nphy ventures to suggest that in spite of his sincerity and good intentions, Professor Mackenzie \nis looking in the wrong direction for confirmation of his \u201cideal\u201d. He says, speaking of the \ndifficulties in the way of proving that there is \u201ca supreme purpose\u201d in the Universe: \u201cFor \ntheir complete removal, the co-operation of the special sciences (including psychic research) \nis required: and happily there is now no real opposition between the results of the special \nsciences and the demands of speculative thought\u201d (p. 119). One wonders what he means. \nCertainly no one who seeks truth should ever neglect or despise \u201cthe results of the special \nsciences\u201d, in so far as these results are the records of experience. Even psychical research is \nfull of instruction for him who knows how to separate the chaff from the wheat. But all the \nspecial sciences (including psychical research) are limited by their method to the study of \nobjective phenomena. They are not concerned with consciousness. \n\nIs it not obvious that the paramount need of idealism is a basis of spiritual experience? \nWithout a basis of spiritual experience, idealistic speculation is only an intellectual game \nwhich must finally become a bore, even for the idealists. According to an old tradition, the \nUniversal Mind will be known only in so far as the individual develops the germ of the Uni\u00ac \nversal Mind, the Logos, in himself; nor can it be known by any other means. S. L. \n\nA Fortune to Share , by Vash Young; Bobbs-Merrill Co.; price, $1.50. \n\nThis is the story, or, rather, the experience, of a man who made himself into a new creature. \nIt shows what anyone can do who realizes the need to do it,\u2014the trouble with most of us being \nthat we see no such need, being quite well satisfied with things as they are. Vash Young \ndoes not make this point, which is the key to the whole problem, for most people think it is a \nmatter of will, when the fact is that the limpest, flabbiest will is sufficient to move a man \nfrom a stick of dynamite when he believes that in another two seconds it will explode. Self- \nsatisfaction is the enemy; not lack of will. But Vash Young\u2019s book is written for popular \nconsumption and should do an immense amount of good. If any of us, because of our The\u00ac \nosophy, should think we know more than he does\u2014as in a sense we do\u2014his example should \nhave that much additional effect. Fear was his worst obstacle, or so he thought, and he \nconquered that; but that was only one of the defects which he set to work deliberately to re\u00ac \nplace with their opposites. A great lesson for all of us. H. \n\nPeace Veterans: The Story of a Racket and a Plea for Economy , by Roger Burlingame; Minton. \nBalch and Co., New York, 1932; price, Si.00. \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n185. \n\n\nThe author was First Lieutenant, 308th Machine Gun Battalion, A. E. F. He more than \nconfirms, with ample statistics, what was said at our Convention and in the July Quarterly, \nin regard to payments to veterans or their dependents as compensation for peace-incurred \ndisabilities, since the War. To buy, read, and lend this book to others, would be an easy but \nvery practical way to assist those who are devoting their time and money, for patriotic reasons, \nin an effort to stop this outrageous political graft. The book is popularly written, is short, \nand is the best contribution to the subject so far brought to our attention. H. \n\nAncient Civilizations of the Andes , by Philip Ainsworth Means; Scribners, 1931; $7.50. \n\nOne has fascinating but vague notions about the Incas. One has heard that they had a great \nEmpire, that they built magnificent forts, and temples where they worshipped the Sun under \nthe image of a huge disk of pure gold, and that their buried treasure is still undiscovered. \n\nIf one should wish to find out everything so far known about the civilizations of the Andes, \nthe Empire of the Chimus and the Empire of the Incas, he should read Mr. Means\u2019 book. \nAt a time when the body politic of the West seems so sick, it is helpful to read of the rise and \nfall of ancient nations. Mr. Means draws some very interesting comparisons and contrasts \nbetween their problems and our own. His book is written in a charming style, with a gaietjr \nand humour all too rare in archaeologists. St. C. La D. \n\nMeditations on the Gospels , by Bishop Ottokar Prohaszka; Sheed and Ward, London; \nprice, 6s. \n\nWhen Ottokar Prohaszka was ordained in 1881, Cardinal Mazella said that the young \npriest\u2019s mind was so strong that it would impress millions. The writer of the introduction \nto these Meditations thinks that the revival of Hungarian culture and the persistence of its \nreligious life after the Red revolution, are due to him. The reviewer has found the life of \nProhaszka more inspiring than the Meditations, charming as they are. \n\nOttokar Prohaszka was born in Hungary in 1858. After studying in Hungary and at the \nGermanico-Hungaricum college at Rome, he was ordained and became a teacher in the sem\u00ac \ninary of Esztergom. He was made Bishop, and, after the revolution, became a member of \nParliament. All his life he gave religious lectures to students and to the public. In his teach\u00ac \ning he laid great insistence upon regular, independent meditation. He constantly visited the \npoor. Although very ill, never in the press of his duties as Bishop and as member of Parlia\u00ac \nment, did he neglect his spiritual duties, his long meditations or his charity. He used to rise \nat five and spend two hours in prayer, then doing his daily tasks. Every day, he wrote from \ntwo to four hours. In the afternoons, he paid his spiritual visits, going about on foot. He \nused the time spent in walking in meditating upon the subject of his writings. \n\nWhen the Red revolution overwhelmed Hungary with its horrors\u2014and one will remember \nthat Red agents from Russia went about in armoured cars shooting down whole villages with \nmachine guns\u2014the revolutionists themselves did not dare to kill the Bishop. When they \ncame to his palace to tell him he must live in two rooms only, he replied, \u201cOne will be enough.\u2019^ \nHe had given away all his lands to the homeless, and had spent all that he possessed in re\u00ac \nlieving distress. When he died, the whole city of Budapest attended his funeral, and when \nhis body was sent to his birthplace, all the inhabitants of the villages through which it passed \ncame to the train to salute it. \n\nAfter reading about this truly inspiring life, one turns eagerly to these meditations upon \nthe Advent and the Nativity. They are very simple. His great insistence is upon the reality \nof the Spiritual Life, and upon man\u2019s ability to attain and to progress in it. Especially inter\u00ac \nesting are hi$ meditations upon the Cave of Bethlehem, the outer poverty of the surroundings \nof the Nativity as contrasted with Spiritual splendour. He has a great love of Nature and \ndraws from it many correspondences. One point he frequently mentions is sensitiveness\u2014 \nthe cultivation of exquisite sensitiveness in the soul. \u201cThe Soul of Jesus is infinitely sen\u00ac \nsitive.\u201d \n\nOne wishes that the good Bishop had known something of Theosophy, for he speaks of the \ndegradation of all Pagans, and of the ancient cultures of China and India \u201cwhich built culz \n\n\ni86 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nde sac for the human mind, blocked up by dull resignation and by the idea of the impossi\u00ac \nbility of progress\u201d. \n\nOne is, of course, unable to judge his style in translation. Perhaps a certain banality of \n\u2022expression is due to the English rendering, rather than to him. One feels after reading his \nlittle book that one has met a lovely and pure soul, and has been inspired by it. \n\nSt. C. LaD. \n\nMysticism East and West, by Rudolf Otto, Professor of Theology in the University of Mar\u00ac \nburg; translated by Bertha L. Bracey and Richenda C. Payne; Macmillan and Company, \nLondon, 1932; price, 16s. \n\nThe Mystic Will, by Howard Brinton, Professor of Religion, Mills College, California; The \nMacmillan Company, New York, 1930; price, $2.50. \n\nMysticism East and West is a \u201ccomparative analysis\u201d of two \u201cclassic types of Eastern and \nWestern mystical experience\u201d, as represented by the Veddntin sage, Shankara Acharya and \nby the Alsatian monk, Meister Eckhart. In the first part of his book, Dr. Otto shows, by \nmeans of many parallel passages, that Shankara and Eckhart are in many ways so much alike \nthat one might almost imagine Shankara to be a translator of Eckhart, or vice versa. In \nthe second part, the author reverses his procedure, concentrating his attention upon the \nindividual qualities which make the two great mystics so different from each other, in spite \n\u2022of their basic unity of vision. It is a most interesting problem, but one cannot compliment \nDr. Otto upon his handling of it. As a Western theologian he feels that he must somehow \nprove that Eckhart was \u201cwhat Shankara could never be: the profound discoverer of the rich \nindwelling life of the \u2018soul\u2019. . . . using that word in a sense which is only possible on a Christian \nbasis\u201d (p. 215). One immediate effect of sectarianism is that it closes the mind. In the \npresent instance, Dr. Otto becomes so absorbed in his attempt to exalt Eckhart at Shankara\u2019s \nexpense, that he has little energy left to meditate upon what both Eckhart and Shankara \nreally meant by what they said. \n\nAs has often been pointed out, every mystical work is written in a cipher. Shankara and \nEckhart adopted the current technical terms of theology and metaphysics, because only by so \ndoing could they speak intelligibly to their contemporaries; but to each term they imparted \nan esoteric meaning. Unfortunately, the theologians who have commented upon the doc\u00ac \ntrines of the mystics, have interpreted them as literally as possible, with the result that their \nwords have been made to support the dogmas which they actually attacked. For example, \nin Shankara\u2019s works there is frequent reference to Ishvara, the personified Divinity. Dr. \nOtto represents Ishvara as a \u201cpersonal God\u201d. But Ishvara is wholly unlike any personal God \nknown to the theologians. The significance of Shankara\u2019s teaching concerning Ishvara lies in \nthe fact that, like the Logos Doctrine of the West, it evokes the idea of the Universe as an \n\u2022expression and vehicle of divine consciousness. By correspondence, Ishvara is related to the \nUniverse, as the Higher Self is related to the human nature which it overshadows, and as the \nMaster is related to the disciple. There are vast depths of meaning to be found here in what \nappears superficially to be only an enunciation of personal theism. Dr. Otto seems not even \nto suspect their existence. This explains why his book makes such dull reading, in spite of the \nfascination of its subject-matter. \n\nIt is a relief to turn to The Mystic Will which is based upon a study of Jacob Boehme. The \nMystic Will is a model of scholarly accomplishment, but it has also the qualities of an original \nwork based on experience. It is evident that the author has not merely correlated many \n-valuable quotations from Boehme, but that he has meditated upon what he has read and, \nthus meditating, has investigated and proved for himself the reality of Boehme\u2019s magical uni\u00ac \nverse. \n\nOne cannot praise too highly the resoluteness which enabled Professor Brinton to overcome \nthe technical difficulties of his subject. Quite literally, it must require months of labour to \narrange Boehme\u2019s terms in a comprehensible vocabulary, for the \u201ccobbler of Gorlitz\u201d, who \nwas not a trained scholar, invented as the vehicle of his thoughts a strange terminology, a \n\u2022unique amalgam of Biblical and alchemical symbols. No amount of toil could unravel this \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n187 \n\n\nknot, without the help of a lively intuition. One reason for Professor Brinton\u2019s success is \nthat he has not approached his subject with the preconception that Boehme was a dreamer. \nHe testifies that the one great purpose of Boehme\u2019s life was to discover a scientific basis for \nethics. \n\nHowever, as the author says, Boehme is not a moralist, in the usual sense of the word. \nHe is concerned with the birth and growth of the spiritual man, and the spiritual man is \ntypified by Christ. But Christ as the Logos is also manifested as the \u201clight-world\u201d of uni\u00ac \nversal Nature. \u201cWe must constantly remind ourselves that Boehme thinks of nature as ani\u00ac \nmated from within by the same vital forces which find more complete expression in man\u201d \n(p. 136). \u201cBoehme\u2019s philosophical library was nature itself. \u2018Thou wilt find\u2019, he says, \u2018no \nbetter book, in which the Divine Wisdom can be searched for and found, than a green and \nblooming meadow\u2019 \u201d (p. 11). \n\nBoehme\u2019s central problem was \u201cthe reconciliation or harmonization of two wills, the negative \nin-going religious will, and the positive out-going nature will. The first is a \u2018resigned will\u2019 \nseeking, through self-surrender, a supersensible divine object. The second is a \u2018self-will\u2019 \nseeking through self-assertion to know and control external nature\u201d. Our life, indeed, is \n\u201cthe operation and manifestation not of a twofold but of a \u2018three-fold will\u2019. This trinity is \n(1) negative in that it wills backward to the Father, (2) positive in that it wills forward to the \nSon, and (3) intermediary in that it alternates between the negative and positive as a Spirit \nwhich fashions the warp and woof of temporal existence\u201d (pp. 95-96). \u201cThe will can attain no \ntrue self-consciousness by having itself as an object. It must be reflected in a mirror inde\u00ac \npendent of itself. Accordingly there arises within it a painful desire for genuine objective \nself-knowledge\u201d (p. 233). In the macrocosm, this desire is the magical power which calls \nthe phenomenal universe into being. So, in the human correspondence, \u201cThrough imagination \nand earnest desire, we are again impregnated with deity and receive a new body in the old\u201d \n(p. 112). \n\nAccording to Boehme, the creative force becomes manifest as the seven forms or \u201cfountain- \nspirits\u201d of Nature. Professor Brinton\u2019s interpretation of the \u201cfountain-spirits\u201d is a very im\u00ac \nportant contribution to the study of Boehme. They recall many other \u201chebdomads\u201d in mysti\u00ac \ncal literature, as, for example, the seven Shaktis of Indian metaphysics, the six primary forces \nin Nature, synthesized by the seventh, \u201cthe Light of the Logos\u201d (cf. The Secret Doctrine , ed. \n1893, I, 311-313). Professor Brinton remarks that the desire for manifestation \u201cis the first \nform of nature and manifests itself as \u2018attraction\u2019. It exists only through an opposing force \nwhich is \u2018expansion\u2019. The interaction of the two produces rotation, the multitude of circular \nprocesses which make up physical nature. These three constitute the Trinity on its lowest \nphysical level. Hence the creation of physical nature . . . externalizes the original three-fold \nwill. . . . This descent into matter or particularity, is symbolized as the \u2018Fall of Lucifer\u2019. \nAs these forces are independent of the original ideal harmony and of each other, conflict and \nconfusion arise. ... In the fourth nature form, there is a retreat to the Absolute Will which \nreconciles the jarring discordant particulars through the harmonizing influence of the abstract \nideal Wisdom of God. In theological terms, God is crucified on the cross of nature in order to \nexperience resurrection in the Heaven of a higher life. In physical terms the friction of oppos\u00ac \ning forces generates a spark of light which is nature\u2019s knowledge of itself. In human terms \nthe discordant forces in man\u2019s soul are harmonized through an act of self-renunciation by which \nhis will is identified with the original Absolute Will. . . . When the first three nature forms \nunite with the Absolute Will in the fourth nature form, they are internally harmonized and \nvitalized, and then become the last three forms. The first three remain, however, as the unmani\u00ac \nfested material substratum of the last three. When whole and part are thus adjusted to each \nother in an organic union, the seven forms comprise Eternal Nature, the final objectification \nof the original three-fold will in a completely self-conscious life\u201d (pp. 233-234). Elsewhere, \nhe says that \u201cthe soul stands at the fourth nature form where light and darkness divide. . . . \nIt can project itself through imagination either into the dark world or the light world\u201d (p. 212). \nThe three higher nature forms are named Love or Light, Sound or Understanding, and \n\n\n\n\n188 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nEternal Nature, the highest being \"the final adjustment and harmonization of all seven\u201d \n(pp. 154 - 157 ). \n\nIn the light of this exposition, one is better able to understand why Madame Blavatsky spoke \nof Boehme as a Theosophist and as \"the Nursling of the NirmdnakAyas\u201d. It is significant \nthat in spite of his manifold obscurities of expression, Boehme\u2019s system has always possessed \nthe power of stimulating the imagination of those who have studied it with sincerity and devo\u00ac \ntion. The debt of Schopenhauer to the \"God-taught seer\u201d is recognized, as is that of the \nEnglish mystic, William Law. Students of Theosophy will recall his influence upon the \ngreat French occultist of the Eighteenth Century, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who referred \nto him as mon second educateur. S. L. \n\nThe Wheel of Life , A Study of Palingenesis in Its Relation to Christian Truth , by the Rev. \nA. Henderson, Vicar of St. John de Sepulchre, Norwich; Rider & Co., 1931; price, is. \n\nThis is an excellent and significant appeal by a clergyman of the Church of England, for a \nreturn to the historic belief of the Early Church in Reincarnation. For the cogency of its \nargument, as well as the official position of the writer, this little book will interest all students \nof Theosophy, and may well serve them in discussion with friends. He points out that several \nof the most distinguished modem philosophers (Dr. James Ward, and Dr. McTaggart of \nCambridge; Dean Inge, etc.) \"accept this, \u2018the Oldest Creed\u2019\u201d; building in their turn on a \nlong line extending through Hume, Henry More and the English Platonists, Bruno, Campa- \nnella and others, back to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and the authors of the Gospels. \nMany will be surprised to learn that: \"It finds favour even with Roman Catholic theologians, \namongst whom was the great scholar, Monsignor Archbishop Passavalli (1820-1897), who- \nnot only declared that reincarnation is not in conflict with Catholic dogma, but himself ac\u00ac \ncepted the doctrine, at the age of sixty-two, from two disciples of the Polish School of Phil\u00ac \nosophy, and \u2018lived up to the age of seventy-two, unshaken in his conviction that he had lived \nmany times on earth and that he was likely to return\u2019 \u201d; while Cardinal Mercier wrote in his \nManual of Modern Scholastic Philosophy (Vol. II, p. 326, Eng. tr. 1927): \"It seems difficult to \ndemonstrate by unaided reason that the end of man\u2019s probation will necessarily coincide with \nthe last moment of his life\u201d\u2014for \"the theory of metempsychosis, provided that it allows that \nthe Soul retains through its successive reincarnations the consciousness of its own personality, \nand that the series at some time will have an end, cannot be shown by reason alone to be \nimpossible or even to be false\u201d (p. 20). \n\nThe commonest misconceptions of Reincarnation are refuted, and a concluding chapter \ndeals briefly with \"Reincarnation and Christian Doctrine\u201d. M. H. \n\nDante: The Divine Comedy , Its Essential Significance , by Arthur H. Norway, C.B.; Student \nChristian Movement Press, 1931; price, 5 s. \n\nThis is an admirably conceived interpretation in brief compass of the Divine Comedy , ad\u00ac \ndressed \"not to scholars, who are few, but to the unlearned also, who are many\u201d. Dante has \na message to the hearts of men, and he makes an appeal to the hearts of men, as well as to \ntheir intellects. The writer brings forward this phase of Dante's great poem\u2014often neglected, \navoiding all controversies or subtile questions, and showing rather Dante\u2019s understanding of \nhuman nature in the light of his fixed purpose to \"withdraw living people from misery and \nbring them back to peace\u201d. M. H. \n\nTongues of Fire , a Bible of Sacred Scriptures of the Pagan World, by Grace H. Turnbull; \nMacmillan Co., 1929; price, $3.50. \n\nThere are several good collections of religious and mystical verse, but this volume is some\u00ac \nthing more; as the sub-title declares, it is an anthology of Sacred Scriptures, of the Bibles of \nnon-Christian peoples. The title itself is given by the Book of Acts, where St. Luke describes, \nthe event known as Pentecost,\u2014and St. Luke\u2019s words are printed on the title page: \"And \nthere appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And \nthey were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak ... as the Spirit gave them ut- \n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n189 \n\nterance.\" That quotation would seem to indicate a belief on the author\u2019s part, that the \nSacred Scriptures of the world have a common origin and inspiration. Fifty-five years ago, \nMadame Blavatsky declared that common inspiration to be Divine Wisdom. \n\nThe selections are comprehensive, representative, and generous. The writings of Con\u00ac \nfucius and Mencius, of Lao-tze and Chuang-tze speak for China and Japan. Persia, Egypt, \nand Babylonia make their contributions. The Upanishads , the Dhammapada, the Bhagavad \nGita , and the rock inscriptions of King Asoka indicate how deep was the religious life of an\u00ac \ncient India. Plato, Plotinus, Empedocles, and Pythagoras represent Greece. Seneca, Epic\u00ac \ntetus, and Marcus Aurelius, Rome (though these last would appear to be devotional books \nrather than Scriptures). The collection includes many treasures. \n\nThe book is a labour of love and devotion made by one who has lived in a literary and reli\u00ac \ngious environment. The author is not academic, and though much consultation with erudite \nauthorities was required for the making of the book, that contact has not deadened. She is \nto be congratulated for keeping immune from the deadly academic virus. \n\nThe purpose of the anthology being to present to Christian readers the documents of other \nreligions, no Christian materials are included. \n\nAs one examines this interesting volume, the question arises: \u201cwhat would a thoughtful \nChristian do, after studying it?\u201d For if his own religion ever meant anything to him, he \nmight be perplexed and confused by variant expressions of truth, for example, the parallels \nin the lives of Gautama and of Jesus: \u201cthe Immaculate Conception, symbolic star, and angelic \nchoir; the renouncing of an earthly kingdom, the fasting and temptation in the wilderness, the \nsending forth of the disciples\u201d, etc. [p. VI]. Miss Turnbull offers no guidance to one thus \nperplexed, no interpretation; the very brief paragraphs prefixed to each section contain mat\u00ac \nters of information only. Indeed, for all its treasures of truth, this anthology may only mis\u00ac \nguide , only harm , in the end, by distorting, as has been done so many times in the past, truth \nthat is perceived through a mist. In an Introduction the author shows her horror of war, and \ndenounces the World War as \u201ccriminal\u201d, thereby revealing the domination in her mind of the \n\u201cpale Galilean\u201d type of religion which alienates all who are not emasculated. The necessity \nof war in the present stage of human evolution has been many times set forth. The following \nextract from Edmund Burke ought to demolish the pacifist\u2019s argument. Substitute \u201cpeace\u201d \nfor \u201ccivil liberty\u201d, Burke\u2019s reasoning is valid for both. \u201cMen are qualified for civil liberty in \nexact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in pro\u00ac \nportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and \nsobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are \nmore disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of \nknaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed \nsomewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained \nin the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their \npassions forge their fetters\u201d ( Letter to a Member of the National Assembly). \n\n\n\nQuestion No. 373 .\u2014In a Branch study of the Crest Jewel of Wisdom, these questions arose \non stanzas 21 , 22 , p. 4: (a) What is the meaning of \u201c Freedom from self-indulgence is ... a sur\u00ac \nrender of the allurement of all non-eternal things from the body up to the Formative Power\"? (6) \nWhy is the Formative Power classed as non-eternal? (c) How should it be surrendered? (d) May \none think of it as being what is often termed the creative power? \n\nAnswer. \u2014 (a) A surrender of the allurement of all non-eternal things is the first step toward \nch\u00a3laship; it is \u201cthe trial initiation of the would-be Occultist.\u201d We are told: \u201cBefore the \neyes can see they must be incapable of tears. Before the ear can hear it must have lost its \nsensitiveness.\u201d \u201cAllurement\u201d, in the sense used in the Crest Jewel , does not mean merely the \nenchantment of happiness; it means the allowing of our attention to be occupied by any \ntemporary or illusive thing whatsoever, thus failing to \u201clive in the eternal\u201d itself. Despair \nmay be as \u201calluring\u201d as joy; we succumb to the fascination of terror as easily as we do to \nthat of exultation. The being content to remain on any of the lower planes (physical, psychic, \nmanasic etc.) is self-indulgence, because it is on these planes that the lower self finds it easiest \nto live\u2014without effort and with the greatest satisfaction, feeling at home there. It is a \n\u201csurrender\u201d of this deadly illusion which must be made. ( b ) It is not clear that the stanza \ndoes definitely state the Formative Power to be non-eternal. It speaks of the surrender of all \nnon-eternal things up to the Formative Power. Moreover, a distinction is apparently in\u00ac \ntended since, in the translation, the words are spelt with capitals, (c) Would perhaps be \nanswered by (d), in which we might also get more light on the earlier questions. If we do \nconsider the Formative Power as synonymous with the creative power (and it appears a not \nunlikely interpretation), then we may see how, from one point of view, it is to be surrendered; \nwhile, from another, it is to be cherished as a priceless inheritance. For the creative power \nis to be found on every plane of existence, from the physical up to the highest that we know \nof or can imagine; it is an attribute of the Logos, and as such could not be classed as non\u00ac \neternal; but manifested on the lower planes of life, its expressions there are but reflections, \nits use too often a perversion. It is the persistent clinging to the idea that the shadow is the \nReality, as well as the deliberate misuse of the Power, which must be surrendered\u2014not the \nPower itself. To the lower nature it is largely in this misuse that the \u201callurement\u201d lies, \nand misuse of anything is invariably self-indulgence. T. A. \n\nAnswer. \u2014(a) It is the allurement of all non-eternal things that is to be surrendered, not the \nthings. All powers are dangers, for each one has its \u201callurement\u201d for the personal self, that is, \nwith each power there goes a temptation to use it for the gratification of the personality. \nPowers are rightly used by a \u201cseeker for the Eternal\u201d only when they are used for the purposes \nof the Eternal, or to draw the seeker nearer to his Master and to his home in the spiritual world. \n(b). All powers as we know them must be only reflections of real powers and hence not eternal \nin themselves, (c) and (d) It would be interesting to know what the Sanskrit word was \nthat has been translated as \u201cFormative Power\u201d. Perhaps the \u201cpower of the imagination\u201d \nwould be nearer the meaning than the \u201ccreative power\u201d, although the allurements of both \n\n190 \n\n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS \n\n\n191 \n\nmust be surrendered before spiritual growth becomes possible. To surrender the allurements, \nof the imagination would mean never to use it for self-indulgence, vanity, etc. J. F. B. M \n\nAnswer. \u2014Taken from its context, the quotation from The Crest Jewel of Wisdom would \nseem to indicate that the \u201cFormative Power\u201d was classed as non-eternal, but the remainder of \nthe sentence seems to indicate clearly that the \u201csurrender of the allurement of all non-eternal \nthings\u201d refers to the objective aspect of the \u201cFormative Power\u201d, as the same verse goes on to \nsay that this surrender is to be \u201ccontinually made through a realization of the faultiness of \nall objective things\u201d. Freedom from allurement (glamour) is to be accomplished through \ndiscernment of the \u201cReal\u201d,\u2014the Real aspect of any quality. By reference to The Secret \nDoctrine (Vol. I, p. 312, Third Ed.), where the Shaktis are enumerated and described, we \nfind the statement, referring to Kundalini Shakti, that \u201cA Yogi must thoroughly subjugate \nthis power or force, before he can attain Moksha\u201d (Nirvana). This would seem to furnish \na key to what is meant in the verse from the Crest Jewel, by indicating that as long as we use \nuniversal forces wrongly or for selfish purposes, we are making this universal or eternal force \nassume a non-eternal aspect through perversion of its use, which is an \u201callurement\u201d to be \nsurrendered. We must \u201csubjugate this power or force\u201d, first by refraining from misusing it, \nand second, by controlling it,\u2014as the Crest Jewel says, by \u201cthe mastering of the powers of per\u00ac \nception and action\u201d. The same principles would seem equally applicable if the phrase \n\u201cCreative Power\u201d, instead of \u201cFormative Power\u201d, were used in this connection. G. H. M. \n\nAnswer.\u2014( a) It means complete and absolute detachment, that is, not looking for a \nreward, material or spiritual, of any action. ( b ) Because, as is implied in The Secret Doctrine \n(Vol. I, p. 84), all is Maya up to the Supreme Absolute, and what is glamour or illusion cannot \nbe eternal, (c) The surrender of the allurements of the Formative Power is explained in \nLight on the Path: \u201cIt must be the Eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not \ndesire of growth.\u201d \u201cLive neither in the present nor the future, but in the eternal.\u201d ( d ) Yes; \nthe power that creates or forms character and spiritual growth. S. \n\nAnswer. \u2014 (a) Non-eternal things allure us because we use them to gratify the desire for \nsensation. They cease to allure us in so far as we kill out the desire for sensation. \n\n(b) The Formative Power may be classed as non-eternal, when it is conceived as the cause \nand source of all non-eternal things. In this sense, it is the \u201cmighty magic of Prakriti\u201d, which \nis described as non-existent in Pralaya, like the physical Universe which is its production. \n\n(c) It has been said that when we surrender the allurement of anything, we are for the \nfirst time capable of using that thing intelligently and dispassionately, as Nature intends \nit to be used. In other words, the non-eternal may be transformed into a vehicle of the \nEternal. \n\n(d) It would seem to be another name for \u201cthe creative power\u201d. Our objective must be \n\nto employ this power, as it is employed by the Logos, for the purposes of soul. S. L. \n\nAnswer. \u2014 (a) I think the word allurement gives us the key. The author of The Crest Jewel \nof Wisdom points the way to liberation through discernment; and shows that discernment! \nbetween the Eternal and the non-etemal, between the Real and the unreal, leads man to give \nup what is non-etemal or unreal in his quest of the Eternal or the Real. But man does not \nsuddenly reach the Real from where he is. The verses indicate that his surrender is a \nprogressive one, from the unreal to the less unreal through graduated stages, beginning with the \nsurrender of the grossest forms of physical self-indulgences through those which are psychic \nand mental, up to the Formative Power. But it is always the allurement of these things he \nmust surrender, not the things themselves. While still using the eyes, the ears, the body, \nhe is to surrender their allurement. Likewise, while still using the Formative Power, he is to \nsurrender its allurement or the joy of using it. Then, the joy which accrues from using it will \nbe a consequence, a by-product\u2014in other words, he will not use the Formative Power because \nof the joy of using it. (b) Anything that is out of the Eternal is non-etemal. As I interpret \nthe verses, the Formative Power is a power exercised by the Eternal. As soon as the Eternal \n\n\n\n\n\n\niQ 2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nso uses this Power, the Power is objectified and to that extent is out of the Eternal and th \nfore non-eternal, (c) The Formative Power is not to be surrendered, but the allureme^ \nthereof, (d) I should suppose the Formative Power is an aspect of the Creative Power \n\nthat stage at which the Creative Power is active, is objectifying itself, is forming forms. \n\nG. M. W. K. \n\nQuestion No. 374 \u2014Why do many Theosophical students allude to everything easy and agreeable \nas \u201cgood\" Karma , and everything hindering or unpleasant as \u201cbad\" Karma? Isn t it our own fau l \nif any Karma is \u201cbad\"? \n\nAnswer\u2014 It is dearly a mistake to refer to everything that is easy and agreeable as \"good \nKarma\u201d, and to everything hindering or unpleasant as \u2018\u2018bad Karma\u201d. Students of Theosop y \nlook at everything, or at least try to look at everything, from the standpoint of the Soul. \nFrom this view-point, \u2018\u2018good Karma\u201d would be that which afforded the most favourable con\u00ac \nditions for spiritual development, but these might, and in all probability would, be far from \n\u201ceasy and agreeable\u201d to the personality. The only \u201cbad Karma\u201d is that which prevents or \nmakes spiritual advancement difficult. Theosophy teaches that, whatever our outer circum\u00ac \nstances in life may be, they are precisely those which we need in order to learn the lesson whic \nthat incarnation is intended to teach us. G. H. M. \n\nAnswer. \u2014Although we have created our own Karma, brought upon ourselves our own \ntrials and tribulations, that is no reason for our labelling any Karma as \u201cbad\u201d. It is by the \noperation of this beneficent law that the soul receives just the right opportunities for growth. \nIt is the way in which we use these karmic opportunities which is either \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d. \nBecause our Karma is what we have made it, we do not have to be victims of circumstances, \nwe can be victors over them. The circumstances do not have to change, only our attitude \ntoward them. If we view life as a school, the purpose of which is the training and develop\u00ac \nment of the soul, then that which is hindering or personally unpleasant is not necessarily \n\u201cbad\u201d. Quite the contrary: probably it presents the very problem or task needed at the \nmoment for the soul\u2019s development; whereas that which is easy and agreeable may be but \nanother indulgence of the lower self. \u201cMan, know thyself.\u201d G. M. W. K. \n\nAnswer. \u2014Referring to Karma as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d is sometimes done half jestingly, but all \nserious students of Theosophy know that Karma, of whatever apparent nature, is invariably \nopportunity, and is therefore in reality beneficent. Many have also learned that what, at the \ntime, they had looked upon as good Karma, had proved a far severer test of their selflessness \nand sincerity of purpose than what, under other circumstances, may have been considered \noverwhelmingly bad Karma. Perhaps it would not be too much to say that more would-be \nchSlas have gone on the rocks because of their supposed \u201csuccess\u201d, with the self-delusion and \nself-complaisance which too often accompanies it, than have met final shipwreck as a result \nof supposed or perhaps even actual \u201cfailure\u201d. Lower nature being what it is, there is always \nthe danger that with fancied success we sink into effortless days, lulled to sleep by a fatal sense \nof security; while to the man who is worthy even the name of would-be ch\u00a3la, it is at the \nmoment when he faces utter defeat that he buckles on his armour and grips his sword more \nfirmly. Therefore, it is our own fault if any Karma whatsoever appears to us \u201cbad\u201d. T A \n\n\nNOTICE \n\nThe regular meetings of the New York Branch of The Theosophical Society will be held \nthroughout the winter and spring at 64 Washington Mews (between Washington Square and \nEast 8th Street), on alternate Saturday evenings, beginning at half-past eight and closing at \nten o\u2019clock. Branch members will receive a printed announcement, giving the dates. The \nsame announcement will also be mailed to non-members who send their names to the Secretary \nT. S., P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York. Out-of-town members of the Society are invited \nto attend these meetings whenever they are in New York, and visitors who may be interested \nin Theosophy are always welcome. \n\n\nSTANDARD BOOKS \n\n\nBlavatsky, H. F. Isis Unveiled, Vols. I and II. doth, sio.oo \n\nComplete in one book.cloth, 7.50 \n\n\nKey to Theosophy .cloth, 2.25 \n\nSecret Doctrine, The, Vols. I and II and Index. doth, 10.00 \n\nComplete in one book, without gubject-index volume, 7.50 \n\n\nTheosophical Glossary .cloth, \n\nTransactions of the Blavatsky Lodge .doth, \n\nVoice of the Silence .cloth, \n\nCave. Fragments, Volume I.boards \n\nVolume II.boards, \n\nVolume III.boards, \n\nGerard, John. Letters to Friends .boards, \n\nHillard, Katherine. Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine, .doth, \n\nJohnston, Charles. BHAGAVAD Gita .Translated, annotated; doth, \n\nlimp leather, \n\nCrest Jewel of Wisdom, The .cloth, \n\nGreat Upanishads, The, Volume I.cloth, \n\nParables of the Kingdom, The .paper, \n\nPATANJALl\u2019s Yoga Sutras .Translated, annotated; doth, \n\nSong of Life, The .paper, \n\nJudge, William Q. Bhagavad Gita .Edited; cloth, 1 . 25 ; leather, \n\nEchoes from the Orient .paper, \n\nLetters That Have Helped Me, Volume I and II, each cloth, \n\nOcean of Theosophy .cloth, \n\nPatanjali\u2019s Yoga Aphorisms .doth, \n\nKeightley, Archibald. Theosophy as an Influence in Life paper, \n\nLaDow, Stanley V. Plotinus.\u2022 ..*\u00bb*>\u00ab*\u2022 \n\nMitchell, Henry Bedinger. Meditation, Special edition, .20* paper, \n\nTalks on Religion .doth, \n\nTheosophical Society and Theosophy, The .paper, \n\nSinnett, A. P. Esoteric Buddhism .doth, \n\nOccult World, The .cloth, \n\nWalker, E. D. 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Box 64, Station 0 , New York. \n\n\nDevotional: Bhagavad Gita: Crest Jewel of Wisdom; Fragments; The Great Upani\u00ac \nshads; Letters That Have Helped Me; Letters to Frieds; Light on the Path, The Par\u00ac \nables of the Kingdom; The Song of Life; Through the Gates of Gold; Voice of the Silence. \n\nPhilosophical: Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine; Isis Unveiled; Key to Theosophy; \nPlotinusf Reincarnation; The Secret Doctrine; Talkson Religion; Theosophical Glossary; \nTransactions; Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. \n\nIntroductory: Culture of Concentration; Echoes from the Orient; Esoteric Buddhism; \nIdv* of the White Lotus; Meditation; The Occult World; The Ocean of Theosophy; \nThe Theosophical Society and Theosophy. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\\ \n\n\n\nFounded by b, P. Blavatsky at flew Vork in 1875 \n\n\nM Many of its members believe that an acquaintance \nwith the world's religions and philosophies will \nreveal, as the common and fundamental principle \nunderlying these, that 4 spiritual identity of all Souls with the \nOversoul \u201d which is the basis of true brotherhood l and many \nof them also believe that an appreciation of the finer forces \nof nature and man will still further emphasize the same idea. \nThe organization is wholly unsectarian, with no creed, \ndogma, nor personal authority to enforce or impose; neither \n\nex^.cUd \u00bbo accord' tolhc\"'belief* of\u2018others'that \nthey desire for their own* \n\n\n------- Ulo dAUiC IOCJU \n\nwholly ttns *ctarian, with no creed, \n\nis it to be held responsible for the opinions of^members! \nwho are expected to accord to the beliefs of others that \ntolerance which the, desire for their own. \n\nThe following proclamation was adopted at the Conven\u00ac \ntion of the Society, held at Boston, April, 1895: \n\nThe Theosophical Society in America by its delegates and \nmembers in Convention^ assembled, does hereby proclaim \nMaternal good will and kindly feeling toward all students of \ni heosophy and members of Theosophical Societies wherever \nand however situated. It further proclaims and avers its \nhearty sympathy and association with such persons and \norganisations in all theosophical matters except those of \ngovernment and administration, and invites their cor\u00ac \nrespondence and co-operation. \n\n.... . To i 11 \u2122* 11 and women of whatever caste, creed, race, or \nreligious belief, who aim at the fostering of peace, gentleness. \n\nSuch fcn S n U W fe g\u00abrd\u00b0 nc f j r anotfler * and the acquisition of \nsuch knowledge of men and nature as shall tend to the eleva- \n\nt\u2018rf,f-\u00abl adV 4 : Ce, ? Cnt0 M heI ? uman facc \u00bb\u2018t sends most friendly \ngreeting and freely proffers its services. 7 \n\nwith all religions and religious bodies whose \n*\u00b0 thc P\u00ab rif ]cation of men's thoughts and \nthe bettwmg of their ways, and it avows its harmony there- \n\nZ !^m T \u00b0 a 1 sc, i nt,f,c Pieties and individual searchers after \n\nsss? \n\n\u2014-\u2014ss \n\n\nPUBLISHED BY \n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nApplications for membership should b \nSecretary T. S., P. O. Box 64 , Station \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly \n\n\nSubscription price, $2.00 per annum; single copies, 50 cents \n\nPublished by The Theosophical Society \nat 64 Washington Mews, New York, N.Y. \n\nJuly; October; January; April \n\nAddress all communications to P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York \n\n\n\nIn Europe, single copies may be obtained from and subscriptions may be sent to John \nM. Watkins, 21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, London, W. C. 2, England; or to \nMr. E. H. Lincoln, 9 Beaconsfield Road, Low Fell, Gateshead-on-Tyne, England, from \nwhom all back numbers may be obtained. Annual subscription price, $2.00, postpaid. \n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOL. XXX, NO. 3 \nJanuary, 1933 \n\nPAGE \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS. 195 \n\nFRAGMENTS. 205 \n\nLETTERS FROM WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, VII. 206 \n\nDESCARTES AND THE EASTERN WISDOM. 213 \n\nONE PURPOSE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 220 \n\nWAR MEMORIES, XVIII. 225 \n\nTHE MYTHS OF PLATO. 238 \n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS. 241 \n\nA MEDITATION. 258 \n\nKARMA AND BATTLE. 260 \n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME. 265 \n\nREVIEWS. 278 \n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Notice of Meetings . 287 \n\n\nEntered as second-class matter September 5. 19*3. at the Post Office at New York. N. Y., under the \nAct of March 3. 1879 \n\n\n\n\n\nCopyright, 1933, by The Theosophical Society \n\n\n\n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\nThe principal aim and object of this Society is to form the nucleus of a \nUniversal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, \ncas e or colour. The subsidiary objects are: The study of ancient and modern \nSons, philosophies and sciences, and the demonstration of the important \nof such study; and the investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and \nthe psychical powers latent in man. \n\n\n1* \n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly is the official organ o/ the original \nTheosophical Society founded in New York by H. P. Blavatshy, \nW. Q. Judge and others, in 1875 . . . \n\nWe have no connection whatsoever with any other organization \ncalling itself Theosophical, headed by Mrs. Besant or others, nor \nwith Similar bodies, the purposes and methods of which are wholly \nforeign to our own. \n\nEditors, The Theosophical Quarterly. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n* - T -u, as skc\u00ab,\u00ab responsible for any opinion or declaration \n\nm this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document. \n\nTheosophy and Foreign Missions \n\nM ANA students of Theosophy have reason to believe that the great \nreligions of the world reveal, as their common and fundamental prin- \nciple, that spiritual identity of all Souls with the Oversoul which is \nSdSr \u00b0 f true ^ oth \u00ae rh \u00b0 od \u201d' The y explain this underlying oneness by the \nbvt T H !J r by Madame Blavatslcy, that every real religion was founded \nby the Lodge, the Great Brotherhood, to which belong all the Saviours of human\u00ac \nity. In other words, the inner life of the various forms of religion is one and \nthe same, because it is an undivided part of the united life of the Lodge The \nouter forms themselves differ, according to the racial and temporal conditions \n\ndetermining their growth, but each form contains within itself the same vital \nprinciple. \n\nThis principle is not a colourless abstraction. In so far as it has any signifi- \ncance for us, it is vibrant with an intense and individual life. It has been said \nthat the spiritual identity of all Souls with the Oversoul is only possible when \neach Soul has attained a certain measure of real individuality. The inner life \nof all forms of religion, though one and the same, has a distinctive quality in \neach of its incarnations\u201d, the stamp of genius which marks every true work of \n\nA r< l a rellglon 1S \u2019 lndeed ' a work of ar t, the unique creation of an individual \nMaster who acts as a Mediator between the Lodge and the human group or race \nover which he presides. Nature is not monotonous on any plane. When one \ncompares Buddhism and Christianity, for instance, one discovers the same basic \ntruths but at the same time the greatest divergence of expression and emphasis. \n\nIf the human race were more highly evolved than it actually is, competitive \nbidding for converts by the various religions would be inconceivable for each \nindividual would be aware, in some degree, of the \u201cRay\u201d of the Logos\u2019to which \nhe belonged. But most people have so little spiritual individuality that it can\u00ac \nnot matter greatly whether they be nominally Buddhists or Mohammedans or \n\nJ 9 S \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n196 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nChristians. What is important is that they should have some real religious \nattachment. When an exoteric religion becomes hopelessly corrupt or virtually \nextinct, it is in the order of Nature for another to take its place. \n\nTherefore, the missionary has his appointed r 61 e in the evolution of religious \nconsciousness. This is obvious when he is a man of genius, like St. Paul, or \nthe great Buddhist apostle to China, Bodhidharma. But he has often done good \nwhen one would least expect it, when his motives were confused and impure. \nIt is hard to deny, for example, that the Catholicism of the Spanish Conquista- \ndores, though bigoted and cruel, was a vast improvement over the sorcery and \nhuman sacrifice of the Aztecs. Again, he may be helpful in ways which he \ndoes not intend, as in Japan, where the rivalry of the Christian missions has \nbeen instrumental in stimulating the Buddhists to begin a profound study of \ntheir own religion. \n\nNevertheless, from a Theosophical point of view, the Christian missionary has \nbuilt up for himself an unenviable reputation for ignorance and narrow-minded\u00ac \nness. There are exceptions, of course, many of them, but in general it seems \nto be only too true that the average missionary has made no distinction between \nthe Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism and the rites of \u201cMumbo-Jumbo\u201d, for \nhe has regarded all non-Christian cults alike, as special creations of the Evil \nOne. Religious tolerance has certainly not been one of his virtues. \n\nAn Advance Towards Religious Tolerance \n\nHowever, powerful undercurrents of thought have been active, and there \nis evidence of a changed attitude towards other religions by those who are \nresponsible for the direction of Foreign Missions. We quote excerpts from the \nreport of the appraisal commission of the Laymen\u2019s Foreign Missions Inquiry. \nThe commission, consisting of representatives from seven Protestant denomina\u00ac \ntions, recently returned from a nine months\u2019 sojourn in China, Japan, India, \nand Burma. Their report has been published with the title, Re-thinking Missions , \nby Harper and Brothers. \n\nAt the beginning of our century of Protestant missions, Chris\u00ac \ntianity found itself addressing men attached to other religions; its \nargument was with those religions. At present it confronts a \ngrowing number of persons, especially among the thoughtful, \ncritical of or hostile to all religion. \n\nIts further argument, we judge, is to be less with Islam or \nHinduism or Buddhism than with materialism, secularism, natural\u00ac \nism. The growth of this third factor, non-religion, alters the \nrelation of the other two; Christianity and the environing relig\u00ac \nions face at the same moment the same menace, the spread of \nthe secular spirit; the former opponents have become to this \nextent allied by the common task. . . . What becomes of the \nissues between the merits of one sacred text and another when \nthe sacredness of all texts is being denied ? . . . \n\nThe chief foe of these oracles [i.e., the religions of the East] is \nnot Christianity, but the philosophies of Marx, Lenin, Russell. \n\nThe case that must now be stated is the case for any religion at all. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\ni 97 \n\n\nThus it is that Christianity finds itself in point of fact aligned in \nthe worldwide issue with the non-Christian faiths of Asia. It is an \nalignment which solves no problems of religious difference, but \nsimply shows how necessary it has become for every religion to be \naware of and to stand upon the common ground of all religion. . . . \n\n[It is necessary] that the modem mission make a positive effort, \nfirst of all to know and understand the religions around it, and \nthen to recognize and associate itself with whatever kindred ele\u00ac \nments there are in them. ... If a new idea is to take sturdy root \nit should make maximum use of whatever kindred ideas have been \nthere before. ... It is not what is weak or corrupt but what is \nstrong and sound in the non-Christian religions that offers the \nbest hearing for whatever Christianity may have to say. \n\nIt is clearly not the duty of the Christian missionary to attack \nthe non-Christian systems of religion. It is his primary duty to \npresent his conception of the true way of life and let it speak for \nitself (Chapter II). \n\nThe common sense of this appeal is obvious, for it is a fact that both East \nand West are threatened by materialism masquerading under many forms. \nDoubtless, it is a call for an inter-religious armistice rather than for permanent \npeace. These churchmen are still far from the point where they can think of \nthe Buddha and the Christ as really comparable. They may recognize the \nspiritual genius of the Buddha; but their idea of the Master Christ is almost \ninevitably coloured by all sorts of theological preconceptions, and they have \nnot heard or apprehended the doctrine of the Lodge. \n\nIn spite of their reservations, however, they seem to have made a real advance \nalong proper lines towards religious tolerance. It remains to be seen whether \ntheir proposals will bear fruit. Already some missionaries are making \u201ca \npositive effort to know and understand the religions\u201d with which they come \ninto contact. One of them in particular, recounting a conversation with a Shin \nBuddhist priest in Japan, says that he found \u201can unworked mine of spiritual \npossibilities\u201d. Such a remark is enough to have made some of his predecessors \nturn over in their graves. One hopes that it is really typical of a new spirit of \nenlightened interest in other creeds, among the \u201cambassadors\u201d of the Christian \nChurches in the Far East. \n\nThe Illusion of Humanitarianism \n\nUnfortunately, the standard set by these arguments for tolerance and \nco-operation is not maintained in the remainder of the report. The commission \nprofesses to condemn materialism and secularism, but they might profit by \nmeditation upon the words: \u201cPhysician, heal thyself\u201d. They practically \nrecommend that the major activities of the missions should henceforth be \nconfined to social service and humanitarian work. \n\nMinistry to the secular needs of men in the spirit of Christ . . . \nis evangelism, in the right sense of the word; to the Christian no \nphilanthropy can be mere secular relief, for with the good offered \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1 9 8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nthere is conveyed the temper of the offering, and only because of \nthis does the service become wholly good. \n\nWe believe that the time has come to set the educational and \nother philanthropic aspects of mission work free from organized \nresponsibility to the work of conscious and direct evangelism. \n\nWe must work with greater faith in invisible successes, be willing \nto give largely without any preaching, to co-operate whole-heart\u00ac \nedly with non-Christian agencies for social improvement, and \nto foster the initiative of the Orient in defining the ways in which \nwe shall be invited to help (p. 326). \n\nIf there must be a choice between the old-fashioned methods of conversion \nand the methods of the social reformer, we frankly prefer the former, and \nbelieve that spiritually they are far less dangerous and may even produce \ngood. It reveals a complete misunderstanding of the Christian Master\u2019s \nmessage, to assume that the first duty of the disciple is to go everywhere, amel\u00ac \niorating material conditions. A man whose only idea is to minister to the \nphysical wants of others may be personally a saint, but in the end he may cause \nas much trouble as a devil. An illustration is afforded by the present state of \nChina. It is impossible to calculate the damage already accomplished by the \nattempts of missionaries to extend to the Chinese the \u201cadvantages\u201d of a secular \nWestern education. \n\nThe words of Christ are in complete accord with the Indian saying, used as a \ntext by Emerson, that the Universe exists for the purposes of Soul. Karma\u2014 \nthat is to say, the Divine Will\u2014places the incarnate soul in an environment \nadapted to its needs, and the true philanthropist is careful not to interfere with \nthe wise processes of Nature. This is no argument for hardness of heart or \nfor refusal to assist another in distress. The point is that it is not Christian \nbut materialistic to regard \u201cministry to the secular needs of men\u201d as an end in \nitself. It would seem that the Laymen\u2019s commission have forgotten that the \nfunction of a religion is to respond to the needs of the soul, and to concern itself \nwith the body only in so far as its well-being is necessary to the soul. A relig\u00ac \nion which ceases to fulfill this function will also cease to exist, because its rea\u00ac \nson for existing will have disappeared. \n\nA Model for Missionary Activity \n\nSurely one can be a missionary without being either a sectarian bigot or a \nsemi-socialistic humanitarian. We suggest that Madame Blavatsky\u2019s work \nwas a model for missionary activity. She brought to Europe and America \nideas which were old in the East but new to the West. As a result of what she \naccomplished, many have found a deeper meaning in truths which were familiar \nto them; and also have learned other truths which are absent from the exoteric \nreligious and philosophical tradition of the Occident. They have not become \nBuddhists, but they have been given an opportunity to assimilate some of the \nqualities and virtues of Buddhism. \n\nWhy should it be impossible for an apostle of Christianity to do for the East \n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n199 \n\n\nwhat Madame Blavatsky did for the West? Through the teaching of such a \nman, new spiritual perspectives might be opened to the vision of Orientals, and \nthey might be helped to discover profundities which they had never suspected \nbeneath the surface of their exoteric creeds. In brief, what is needed is a mis\u00ac \nsionary who really understands Christianity,\u2014as Madame Blavatsky under\u00ac \nstood esoteric Buddhism and Hinduism. \n\nCo-operation and Competition \n\nPhilosophers since the beginning of history have dreamed of an ideal com\u00ac \nmonwealth where all men would freely co-operate towards the fulfilment of the \ngreat destiny reserved for humanity. It is a noble dream, and possibly this \nplanet continues to exist in order that some day it may come true. But the \nGolden Age as an actual condition belongs to the remote past or to the remote \nfuture. We are living in Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron, and we shall be wise not \nto forget it for an instant. \n\nAt the present stage of human evolution, competition and strife are insep\u00ac \narable from human existence. Pacifists and internationalists may protest, and \neconomists and efficiency engineers may argue, but men continue to compete \nand to strive with one another, not only because they instinctively enjoy a \nfight, but because they have no alternative if they desire to go on living. Many \nminds have, therefore, been tormented by what seems to be a hopeless paradox. \nHow can humanity become a Brotherhood when Nature imposes struggle and \nwar as the price of existence? \n\nIt is a searching question, but it is not without an answer. Indeed, there \nhave been wise men in every age who have replied to it, and in all cases the \nresponses have been essentially the same. For example, there was Heraclitus \nin ancient Greece. \u201cMen do not understand\u201d, he said, \u201chow that which is \ntom in different directions comes into accord with itself,\u2014harmony in con\u00ac \ntrariety, as when one bends the bow. Opposition brings men together, and out \nof discord comes the purest concord, and all things have their birth in strife. \nSo war is the father of all and king of all, and some he has made Gods and some \nmen, some bound and some freed.\u201d \n\nBefore men can co-operate as in the Golden Age, they must become really \nhuman, and that involves more than is generally imagined. Birth in human \nshape is not sufficient to provide one with a diploma of humanity. As has \nbeen said, only a Master is a human being, in the truest sense of the term, for \nonly a Master\u2019s humanity is complete and unalloyed. One does not wonder \nthat such men as Gautama and Jesus have been called Gods by their followers; \nbut it seems more pertinent to think of them as perfected men. \n\nWhether they be named Gods or men, the Masters have become what they \nare by the agency of \u201cWar, the father of all and king of all\u201d. Their qualities \nare those which we intuitively attribute to the righteous warrior,\u2014loyalty, \ncourage, compassion for the weak, wisdom, concentrated power. These virtues \ncould not have sprung up in their consciousness by some sudden miracle. Like \nall the attributes of being, they are products of Karma, of action. The Masters \n\n\n\n200 \n\n\nTHE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ncan co-operate spontaneously, without stress or friction, because they have \nlearned the intent of Nature through their age-long experience of war. \n\n\nWhen Nature Clashes with Economics \n\nIt is well to remember, in these difficult times, that \u201cout of discord comes \nthe purest concord\u201d. Sir Arthur Keith, the British anthropologist, seems to \nhave been moved by such a consideration when he prepared a recent article \nfor the New York Times Magazine (October 2, 1932), to which the editor gave \nthe appropriate heading: \u201cWhen Nature Clashes with Economics\u201d. \n\nAs Sir Arthur notes, many professors of economics seem to imagine that the \nmajor cause of the prolongation of the present depression is what they call \n\u201cthe disease of nationalism\u201d. If they could really have their way, one sur\u00ac \nmises that they would abolish national boundaries, convert the whole human \nrace into one family having a common standard of living, and perhaps even \ncompel everybody to speak one language. If this or something approximating \nto it should happen, so they argue, trade would begin to flow through the old \ninternational channels and we should all live happily ever afterwards. Perhaps \nwe should, but as Sir Arthur points out, there is practically no chance of our \nwitnessing such an experiment. Nature evidently has other plans for us, and \nin the end Nature always wins. Sir Arthur actually reminds one of a Taoist \nin his insistence upon the uselessness of the human reason when it sets itself in \nopposition to natural \u201cdesign\u201d. He almost goes so far as to attribute to Nature \na divine foresight and wisdom. \n\nWhat, then, is wrong with the world? To me the answer is \nclear. Man has been seeking after false gods\u2014power, trade and \nwealth. And nature is now bringing him to book. Business men \nand philanthropists dream of a world State through which trade \nwill flow with the utmost freedom. They demand universal peace \nand eternal security. They want to see mankind regimented into \na single uniform nationality. \n\nAs I read the book of creation, all of these postulates are anath\u00ac \nema to the order of nature. Nature has so ordered things that \nultimately mankind must carry out her scheme, which is the pro\u00ac \nduction of manhood. For this reason she demands that the world \nshould be broken up into a multitude of separate, self-contained \nnationalities. She demands courage, sacrifice and competition; \nshe refuses to give security, even of life, to her competing teams. \nDanger keeps them alert. \n\nNature scoffs at the laws of economics. Nationalism is nature\u2019s \ncall, and it is just because she has called, that an economic dis\u00ac \naster has fallen on us. We have to suffer until we accommodate \nour lives to the conditions of self-contained nationalities. . . . \n\nMy readers may remember the last episode in the life of Jere\u00ac \nmiah. The leaders of the remnant of the children of Judah \nresolved to seek safety in Egypt. Egypt could offer them what \nmen and women crave for most: security\u2014security of life, security \nof property, security of personal comfort. \n\nHaving made up their minds, the leaders asked Jeremiah to \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n201 \n\n\napproach the Lord to ascertain the divine will. When Jeremiah \ndeclared unto them that it was God\u2019s will that the remnant should \nremain in Palestine and face danger and hardship, the \u201cproud \nmen\u201d rose up. \u201cThou speakest falsely\u201d, they exclaimed. . . . \n\nI know very well that when I counsel men to face the dangers \nand poverty of nationalism rather than flee to Geneva for safety, \nthe \u201cproud men\u201d will again rise up and say: \u201cThou liest\u201d. Never\u00ac \ntheless, sooner or later my words will come true. \n\nWho among us does not long for a \u201csoft job\u201d in life\u2014one by \nwhich for a modicum of work we are assured food, raiment, home- \nlife and leisure for all our days? Yet we also realize that such a \nmode of life, free from risk and lacking in incentive, leaves the \nbest that is in us undeveloped. \n\nWe believe that these are healthy words well spoken. One thing is certain. \nThe internationalism of to-day is almost without exception either grossly \nmaterialistic in its aims or a mere \u201cslopping over\u201d of pacifist sentimentality. \nThere can be no union of Souls by such a medium as this. Before we can \nbecome Brothers in a true and inward sense, we must completely evolve out \nof the semi-animal state in which we now are. There can be little doubt that \nnationalism, with its \u201cdangers and poverty\u201d, is one of Nature\u2019s means of con\u00ac \nverting potential human beings into human souls; nor is it reasonable to attack \nnationalistic sentiment and patriotism because they may be turned towards \nevil as well as towards good. Duality is a quality of all manifested things. \n\nAs we began by saying, there is an ideal of true internationalism, an ideal \nwhich we believe to be realized in the Lodge, where there is a maximum of indi\u00ac \nviduality and of \u201cnationality\u201d, at the same time that there is a maximum of \nco-operative effort inspired by perfect unity of heart. But the Lodge was \nfounded neither by professors of economics nor by \u201caugurs of Geneva\u201d. \n\nEconomic Planning \n\nOne of the curiosities of our century is the \u201cconfusion of castes\u201d. It is not \nunusual to find a man of science or a banker upholding the standards of the \nSoul, while material ends and values are fluently defended by someone whose \nofficial business is religion. \n\nWe have noted Sir Arthur Keith\u2019s view of the depression as a great test imposed \nupon evolving humanity by Nature. Now, by contrast, let us turn to what \nwas recently said upon this same subject of depressions by Dr. Harry Emerson \nFosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church, New York. Dr. Fosdick seems to \nfancy that by some sort of economic planning it will be possible to prevent thd| \nrecurrence of business cycles with all the troubles which accompany them. We \nquote from a sermon reported in The New York Times (November 7, 1932): \n\nWe hear so many dark outlooks on the future that we may well \nset over against them another kind of outlook altogether. John \nMaynard Keynes, one of the ablest economists in the world, says \nthat a hundred years from now there will be no economic problem. \n\n... As a matter of fact, that prophecy is sensible, and is clearly \n\n\n202 \n\n\nTHE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwithin our power to fulfil. There are just two major problems \nin economics: the problem of producing enough goods for other \npeople, and the probletn of distributing the goods so that all the \npeople will get-them. Already we have solved the first. . . . \n\nWith our new machinery, we can produce enough goods with a \nfew hours\u2019 work a day per man to care for all the world, and that \ntook brains, magnificent brains! If now the desperate need of \nbeing saved from an utter breakdown of our social order can weigh \nheavily enough on our consciences so that our intelligence is con\u00ac \nscripted for social use, so that the same kind of scientific and \nbusiness brain power which solved the problem of production is set \nto solve the problem of distribution, until wealth becomes com\u00ac \nmon wealth and all the people share in the goods which they help \nto create, then a hundred years from now there will be no economic \nproblem. \n\nDr. Fosdick who is, after all, a clergyman, adds that \u201ca final thing\u201d must of \ncourse be included to make this Utopia complete. \u201cWe must as persons and as \na nation be bom again into a better spirit\u201d, for \u201cmankind still needs nothing \nquite so much as to be saved into the spirit of Christ\u201d. \n\nThese concluding platitudes, in our opinion, serve only to bring out more \ndistinctly the materialistic bias of his thought. What justification is there for \nsupposing that the \u201cspirit of Christ\u201d is in any way associated with the schemes \nof economists to reduce the whole earth to one dead level of security and com\u00ac \nfort? Dr. Fosdick, like so many others of his cloth, has failed to perceive that \nsuffering is not an abnormality; that it is an altogether normal constituent of \nphysical existence. Any Buddhist could have told him this, but he need not go \nto the Buddha for instruction. The great drama of the Christian Master\u2019s \nlife is an illustration of the doctrine that birth and life and death are suffering;\u2014 \nit is by means of suffering that the mortal puts on immortality. Indeed, there \ncan be no more perilous illusion than the fancy that the ascent of consciousness \nto the level of Divine Humanity is easy and painless, and that in the future the \naspirant will at least be spared the worries incidental to poverty or to panics in \nthe stock market. The Mohammedans have preserved a saying of Christ \nwhich might well be carved in stone above the portals of our churches: \u201cLife \nis a bridge; pass over it; do not build upon it.\u201d \n\nBut there is another mode of approach to this whole problem of economic \nplanning. Some things are impossible, and the most impossible of all is any \nsort of effective opposition to spiritual and natural law. We cannot conceive \nof any permanent way of \u201cdistributing the goods so that all the people will get \nthem\u201d, until all the people are safe and sound in Nirv&na. The reason for \nthis certain failure is that Nature uses sorrow and privation as nourishment for \nthe Soul. As a Hindu would say, it may be the Karma of many people to be \ndeprived of the goods of this world. To put it crudely, they may deserve to be \ndeprived of them. If in spite of this decree of Divine Justice, goods be forced \nupon them by economists or by sentimentalists, the operation of the law of sup\u00ac \nply and demand on inner planes will be thrown into disorder. Anyone who \nbelieves that economic law is an expression of spiritual law, cannot doubt that \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n203 \n\n\nsooner or later this \u201castral\u201d confusion will be projected in catastrophic form on \nthe physical plane; as a moral disease tends to work outwards through the body \nuntil it culminates in a physical ailment. \n\nSuch ideas may appear harsh, but they are not original, for they are to be \nfound in every real religion and in every real ethical system. Divine Charity \nand Compassion cannot be conceived apart from Divine Justice. At the time \nof the great earthquake of 1923 in Tokyo, some missionaries, whose minds were \nnot as clear as they might have been, assured the Japanese that God did not \ncause the earthquake, but \u201cNature\u201d. But the Japanese, like most Orientals, \nfound themselves unable to separate Divinity from \u201cNature\u201d. They said that \nthe earthquake was an effect of the Good Law, since it forcibly drew their \nattention to the materialism that threatened their civilization and gave them \nan opportunity to re-create a noble national ideal. \n\nTo return to economic planning, no one will deny that there is room for \nimprovement in our actual methods of distribution. There are phases of the \nunemployment problem which can and ought to be solved. But even our pres\u00ac \nent anarchy is preferable to what must happen if human society should fall into \nthe hands of a few socialistic fanatics with a \u201cgeneral staff\u201d of engineers. If \nwe assume that the units of the human race are potential Souls, it is apparent \nthat any scheme of social change which involves injustice to the individual, or \nwhich obstructs individual development, is doomed to failure. One recalls \nthe splendid ideal of the Roman Law: \u201cTo give to every man his due\u201d. In \nthe new economic order which Dr. Fosdick prophesies, who will have the duty \nof determining for every man his due? A committee of professors, or a gang \nof politicians, or a group of bitter and cruel dogmatists such as governs Soviet \nRussia? \n\n\nEconomic Law' and Moral Law \n\nAs has been said many times, the supreme need is for \u201cGod-instructed men\u201d \nto govern the nations; for those who can co-operate with the divine purpose of \nNature because they understand it. But before such rulers can take their \nrightful place, men must pray for their coming, and to pray effectively they \nmust labour to prepare their own minds for the reception of the truths for which \nan \u201cAdept King\u201d would stand. \n\nThere is evidence, here and there, that some people have really begun this \nwork of mental preparation,\u2014perhaps, more people than one imagines. As \nremarkable example of lucid thinking upon economic issues, we refer to th^^ \nBulletin of the National City Bank of New York for August, 1932. \n\nWe wish to quote two passages from this Bulletin. The first may not appear \na propos of our principal subject, but we give it here because it reveals such a \nclear and just view of the problem of the Inter-Allied Debts, and suggests a solu\u00ac \ntion in accord with the moral principle involved. \n\nIt is unjust to say that they [the French] are unwilling to make \nconcessions to Germany unless they can pass the cost on to the \nUnited States, for France has assented to a concession to Germany \n\n\n204 \n\n\nTHE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwhich, upon the assumption that all obligations are worth their \nface value, is much larger than her debt to the United States. Her \nclaims upon Germany under the Young Plan aggregate over $14,- \n000,000,000, while her annuities to the United States under the \ndebt settlement aggregate only $6,840,000,000. The Lausanne \nterms of settlement would give her 52% of $714,000,000. There\u00ac \nfore if the United States should cancel the French debt in toto it \nwould wipe out only about one-half the sum that France forgives \nto Germany. And it is not out of place to add that in one case \nthe forgiveness would be bestowed upon a friend and associate in \nthe war, and in the other case upon an enemy country. \n\n\nThe other passage might be a commentary upon the fundamental tenet of \nthe Roman Law wdiich has been cited. The waiter says, with special reference \nto the fact that, in certain trades, wages are inordinately and irrationally high: \n\nThis is unfair, and not only unfair but unworkable, for the \neconomic law does not permit it. If the wage-earners could pick \ntheir gains out of the sky, they might enjoy them, but when they \ncome out of other sections of the population, the loss of purchasing \npower by the latter inevitably forces wage-earners out of employ\u00ac \nment, as witnessed in the last two years. It has upset the \u201csound, \nfair, balance\u201d in the industrial system. The whole situation \naffords another demonstration that the basis of sound economics is \nthe moral law. In truth , the economic and the moral law are one and \nthe same. \n\n\nAnd the Kingdom of Heaven is within you , and whosoever shall know himself \nshall find it; for if ye shall truly know yourselves , ye are the sons and daughters of \nthe Father Almighty , and ye shall know yourselves to be in the city of God , and ye \nare the city.\u2014 Sayings of Jesus discovered in Egypt in 1904. \n\n\nPolitical liberty does not consist in a man doing what he wishes , but in his being \nable to do what he ought to wish .\u2014 Montesquieu. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nr tit r\\ TTTnnF \n\n\n207 \n\n\nFRAGMENTS \n\n\nD UTIES are not things of the heart, but of the hands. They are to be \nperformed faithfully and exactly, but with detachment; for love of \nthe Master, not for love of them. In this way the smallest is made \nsublime; otherwise their performance is but part of the dust and ashes of Earth. \n\n\nDo not be small; be large. Expand to the blue of the sky, the depth of the \nocean, the snow-covered peaks of the mountains. Step out from personality \ninto the wide and open areas of Life. Why always within four walls, instead of \nthe circle of God\u2019s circumference? \n\n\nMorning and noon and evening, pulsing spring and full-blown summer, still \nautumn, and stiller winter with the living heart; youth with its promise and \nopportunity, maturity with its power, age with its harvests of fruit or thistles: \nthese are the phantasmagoria of time that pass and repass, in braided harmony \nand loveliness, across the luminous mist that veils the changelessness of the \nEternal. Illusions all, yet reflections of Reality; else how could they exist? \nFor Beauty is always real, since inseparable from the True as from the Good; \nand no Beauty ever dies, or passes, or changes,\u2014save to be more beautiful. In \nthe passing the illusion lies; in the remaining lies reality. \n\n\nLast night while the stars were singing, there appeared to be joy amongst \nthem, as if one of their number had attained; and great thanksgiving arose as \nhe passed onward to his goal. A Planetary Spirit, clothed in the new radiancy \nof his achievement, swept upward into uncharted regions of ether. The waves \nof glory that followed him beat upon the utmost confines of Space, rocking the \nconstellations; and, returning, lapped in reflected rhythm against even tha \nshores of Earth. So that some were drawn up, of which the stars sang as well, \nand others were drawn back; therefore while the stars sang on, men were fearful. \n\nHe who saw those prodigies in the sky saw also the gloom and confusion upon \nEarth; saw the blackness against the light, saw the vain against the true, saw \nthe terror and dismay, which were only shadows of glory: and seeing, he under\u00ac \nstood and remembered and would pass the word. \n\nCav\u00a3. \n\n\n\u25a0 \n\n\n205 \n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\nVII \n\n\nHE lecturing tour was continued. After Toronto, Buffalo was again \n\n\n\nvisited; then Jamestown (a lecture in the Independent Congregational \n\n\nChurch); then Sandusky. On November ist, Toledo, with two lec\u00ac \ntures in the Unitarian Church, which were reported at length and in a most \nfriendly way in the local newspapers. From the 6th to the ioth, at Fort Wayne, \nwith three public lectures besides other meetings, the newspapers again most \nfriendly. Next, Columbus, lecturing twice in the Y.M.C.A. Hall, and so to \nCincinnati, with lectures and meetings from November 13th to 18th, under \nthe auspices of Dr. Buck. Following this, came St. Louis, Kansas City, Mem\u00ac \nphis, Nashville, and New Orleans (December 9th), where three public lectures \nwere given, the third attended by just ten times as many people as the first \n(40 to 400), as the result of an attack on Theosophy in one of the local papers. \nFinally, before reaching Aiken, S. C., where Judge was then staying, lectures \nwere given and meetings held at Macon, between December 17th and 22nd. \n\nIll as he was, and in constant pain, Judge followed all this with intense and \nactive interest, as his letters show. Theosophy was the passion of his life. He \ncreated a current\u2014very deep and therefore almost invisible except in its effects \n\u2014which carried along with it all those who shared even a glimmer of the same \nlove with him. \n\nIt was at Providence, I think, that the members charged admission to one of \nmy lectures, turning over to me, as a contribution to the Headquarters\u2019 Lec\u00ac \nturing Fund, after paying for the hall, tickets, and advertizing, the ten dollars \nto which the following letter refers with such amusement. \n\nJudge encouraged me to write to him fully and freely about the different \nBranches and the members I met, and later, when I stayed with him at Aiken, \nchecked my impressions at length. \u201cThe Bostonians\u201d of the present letter \nincluded especially George Ayers (Malden), Louis Wade and Robert Crosbie. \nWade, although a \u201cbull\u201d, as Judge had remarked in an earlier letter, had a \ntouch of genius and a delightful sense of humour,\u2014a characteristic which the \nothers lacked. Like the others, he was self-opinionated, but more amenable \nbecause fundamentally free from conceit. Crosbie, with a gentle, pleasing \npersonality, was very psychic, and took his psychism seriously, which of course \nimpressed the feeble-minded. Judge, knowing how \u201cimpressionable\u201d Crosbie \nwas, did what he could to safe-guard the situation, both for the Work\u2019s sake \nand for Crosbie\u2019s, and, while he lived, held things in check; but after Judge\u2019s \ndeath, there was trouble, and Crosbie left Boston under a cloud. Some years \nlater, in California, he announced himself, or allowed himself to be announced, \nas a ch 61 a of Judge\u2019s, which was nonsense, for he was no more that than was \nWade or Ayers, or Purman of Fort Wayne or Wright of Chicago or Thurston of \n\n\n206 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n207 \n\n\nProvidence or any other of the fifty men upon whom Judge counted, but whose \nunderstanding of his inner life\u2014as he painfully realized\u2014was nil. Although \nCrosbie perhaps did not suspect his own motive, the fact is that this claim in\u00ac \nsured him a comfortable living for the rest of his life,\u2014an extraordinary kind of \n\u201cch\u00a3laship\u201d! \n\nAt the time of my visit to Boston, however, Crosbie, although President of \nthe Branch, was merely one worker among many, and the Branch as a whole \nwas probably the largest and most active after the Aryan of New York. Wade \nalone would have supplied the fire and energy for a dozen Branches, while the \naverage of the membership was extraordinarily good. \n\n[Postmarked] Asheville, N. C., October 16th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nJust got yours from Syracuse. You will get one at Buffalo. C.F.W.\u2019s lecture \nwas a success, although only 175 people were there, where 1,500 ought to be. \n\nHa! ha! your first money? Is it so? If so, do tell the Ks. That $10 fruit of \nyour brain and your bent legs is worth 500. Glad of it. It is an omen\u2014good. \nHow did you feel over it, and did you make an ass of yourself in the way you \ntook, just as Caesar gently, all too so, put back the crown? \n\nYour judgments of the Bostonians are correct. Richardson is what you say. \nOh it\u2019s a strong movement. At that instant, as I wrote, my jigaree exploded \na loud and fine metallic crack close by. \n\nGood Lord, what a world. I am (for a long time) much occupied thinking of \nthe mental development of the day, and how we might best affect it more. It \nis a big question, and I don\u2019t think the T.S. can by any means do it alone. \nThere\u2019s an idea in me struggling to get out. Do you get it? I can\u2019t yet. But \nit is high and mighty. I don\u2019t think India is in it at all, but Europe and U. S. \nIf I could only get at it. We are a lot of poor devils anyway, so go on and \nlecture. \n\nAdieu, \n\n\u25a04. \n\n\nJudge enclosed the following undated note with a letter received by him \nfrom W. W. Harmon, President of the Malden Branch, requesting me to convey \nhis answer either orally or in writing. It is a good indication of the way Judge \nhandled \u201cBranch troubles\u201d. \n\nHarmon.\u2014Express sorrow. It must be obvious that I can do nothing unless \nI can use names. Will he therefore consent to my saying to Ayers and anyone \nelse he names as the offender, that he has so written, and thus focus the matter. \nThere is no other way. I have given no orders, suggestions or indications there \nto anyone, save that I disapproved bad business policy and debts. Or, take \nanother way. Say boldly to those you [Harmon] mean, that you [Harmon] \nhave written me that letter. Surely 3 or 4 can\u2019t be a majority. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n208 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nFollowing the Boston Convention of April, 1895, the reorganization of the \nMovement which resulted, and the election of Judge as President of the Theo- \nsophical Society in Europe, he was called upon to deal with many Constitutional \nand similar matters which arose in the various national sections. As a lawyer, \nhe did not always find the procedure followed, either logical or simple, as this \nnote witnesses: \n\nThese, received from -, are forwarded E.T.H. as he has a hand ip the \n\nmatter. When done with them, send on to C.F.W. as by request of W.Q.J. \nso that they may be filed among my European T.S. archives (if any). As usual \nthey have gone ahead piecemeal, and it will all be a patchwork like the laws of \nEngland. Oh gawd! \n\nNo news. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%. \n\n\nJudge\u2019s enemies never tire of asserting that he \u201cconsulted mediums\u201d and \nwas \u201cguided\u201d by them. Judge did not consult mediums, and although he was \npursued by psychics with their special revelations, he practised what he \npreached, and \u201ctested all things\u201d with unfailing detachment and clarity. Mrs. \nMcKinstry was one of those who have been named as \u201cinfluencing\u201d him. The \nfollowing letter should indicate how absurd the accusation is. Judge had sent \nme some of her lucubrations\u2014partly, for me to practise on\u2014and the opinion \nI sent him, with my reasons for it, which Judge approved, would not have \npleased their author. \n\n\n[Postmarked] Asheville, N. C., October 26th, 1895. \n\nDear Chew Yew, \n\nRead enclosed and then return to me. The envelope is the one in which \n\ncame the paper by Omega. It was sent over to me by-, who seems affected \n\nby it. I am not, but see ignorance and fraud in it. I want your intuition also \non it, and on the affair which C.F.W.\u2019s letter details. Be as clear about the \nOmega thing as you were about McKinstry. Meant to write you a long letter \nbut can\u2019t. Just got yours from Toronto. I send this to Stevens [Buffalo]. I \nwant Omega paper back soon, as I may want to use it in Path some way. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u2022 \n\n\nAs explained in an earlier instalment, lecturing tours were supposed to pay \nfor themselves, each Branch visited contributing the cost of transportation to \nthe next Branch. I had sent Judge a statement of expenses and receipts, add\u00ac \ning: \u201cI yet have 2 dollars surplus on travel excluding the $50\u201d [advanced by \nthe Headquarters\u2019 Lecturing Fund, when I started from New York]. Judge, \non a slip, wrote: \u201cDoes this mean you have the 50 yet? If so, why not say so; \nI cannot tell.\u201d It did mean that: but how he hated ambiguity! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE \n\n\n209 \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., October 29th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nDon\u2019t feel well, so write briefly. Yours about Harding, and enclosing the \nfinancial statement, I was to reply to by wire. But on reading it I think it \nunnecessary to wire. You and Harding will not clash even if you do meet. \nBut you cannot expect payments by Columbus, Dayton or Toledo. Toledo \nalone paid in $168 to the Committee Harding is under. \n\nBefore you plan beyond Kansas City I want you to let me know. I have to \nwrite to Lopez in New Orleans. There is a Branch at Macon, Georgia, not far \nfrom here; they are active and good. Please write C.F.W. for particulars as to \nplaces between Kansas City and New Orleans. \n\nBe sure at Cincinnati to say nothing about money. They are large, but \npoor, and most of it falls on few, who are just now hard up. \n\nI know your trip is going off well, and hope you will get all valuable expe\u00ac \nrience possible out of it. \n\nThe financial statement is very encouraging, is it not? God looks after his \nsparrows and hawks. \n\nWhat you say of Toronto kickers is what I thought. It is true of all. Don\u2019t \nspit on or kick any such, but don\u2019t go off to labor with them. If there is a ghost \nof a show for such to return, it will be voluntary. Glad you thus again agree \nfundamentally with me. There is a similar condition in Toledo, only the \nkickers are self-satisfied prigs. \n\nWell, I\u2019ll get down to a longer letter later. Meanwhile I am always regarding \nyou and your shadow on the wall. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u25a0. \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., November 4th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nThe enclosed from your folks was misdirected by Claude. It was at a time \nhe was sending me many letters. I got it this a.m., and send it out to you the \nsame p.m. There is only one mail out per day. \n\nI am away in the rear with my Path work, and not yet have had time to write \nyou. Have you yet received from me \u201cOmega\u2019s\u201d paper? \n\nHarding says that Columbus wants only one; so if you like, avoid it. \n\nI hear that Sturdy brought over Vivekananda to London from here, and the \nsly fellow is now smashing at Theosophy. It will do good, as all such attacks \ndo, though the faithful are now and then scared. Arch and J.C.K. say the \nthroat-cutting still goes on\u2014God bless them. It was really a good thing that \nthe Burrows ass didn\u2019t bray until he did. He has done those people much \nwounding indeed. In various other ways, hell is threatened to the crew all \nround. \n\n\n\n210 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nWell, adieu again, and may you be blessed. \n\nAs ever, \n\n\n% \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., November 5th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nJust got your article. Thanks. Very good. But it\u2019s less than 2 pages. I am \nstuck all the time. For each article try and make 3 pp. at least, or 1,500 words \n(500 to the printed page). It is very timely. Write as often as a good idea \nstrikes, and if I get a small stock on hand, all the better. We must get in now \nand then, article or articles on some striking point. There are several. \n\nNow I like the yellow ruled paper your article is written on, and wish you \nwould send me some or tell me where to get it. I don't want much at first as I \nwish to try it. \n\nJust glance at what I have to do medically: \n\nWater, drink 4 times a day. Carbon pills. \n\nHepar Sulph. and Phos.\u2014homeopathic. \n\nOxygen, inhale 3 times. \n\nLynosulfite, inhale as often as you can. \n\nListerine, gargle to try to stop sore throat. \n\nSome d-thing after meals. \n\nHot treatment nightly. \n\nBe in the open air all the time. \n\nWhere does the Path , etc. come in. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u2022 \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., November 5th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nIt is delightful to get that letter from Toledo returning Omega\u2019s paper. Am \nvery glad to see that you are succeeding. But I expected it. Two things are \nbeing thereby done. You are doing them good and getting experience yourself. \nAnd it is not at all subsidiary that you are making personal acquaintance with \nour people. That will be needed in the future. Besides, it becomes a fine \nconnecting thread with each one. And among them you will find some men \nwhom it will be well to have as friends. \n\nI know your experience exactly with letters and private talks. They are such \nidiots. It is the personal element, and you must always look out. \u201cEternal \nvigilance is the price of liberty.\u201d A gentle reply is enough. Not every question \nhas to be answered. And if I could I would not reply to any letters from women, \nexcept on business. Give them no holy talk in letters: it reads badly after- \n\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS FROM W. Q. JUDGE 211 \n\nwards. I am simply telling you my ideas, as it is possible you know all this \nyourself. \n\nMake yourself especially kind and friendly with Buck, and be as nice as \npossible with the family. I do not say this because you wouldn\u2019t, but for other \nreasons. As I know nearly all the people you are seeing, I have considerable \nfun with myself about it, as I can see exactly the effect. All you have to do is \nto see it does not hurt you via vanity, and, second, that you do not get con\u00ac \ntemptuous. \n\nNow my boy one person in writing, casually said you stooped a little. Ha! \nha! You must look out for this; and you must draw up to the last inch. How \nmany years will it take to drive the fact into your head that, aside from health, \nyou look better when all your inches are straight? And this holy war demands \nthe use of every element and factor. If you do not fix this matter we will call \nyou, \u201cThe stooping Theosophist\u201d. The person who spoke of this is Mrs. Fen\u00ac \nton, who wanted an explanation of the wonderful thing, etc. [This did not refer \nto the stooping!] I told her it was the impression of the picture on her senses, \nand not to make mystery, and that it was recorded of Webster and others that \nthey changed when speaking on great subjects. \n\nI will write to Constance [one of my sisters, a devoted member of the Society, \nwho died a number of years ago]. \n\nNow for Omega. I think you are right. I can\u2019t catch the clues, but your \nanalysis is so good it must be true. My own judgment was that the writer \nknew a lot by reading, but not enough to avoid a lot of errors, and that the list \nof names would be a grand clue to some one. There is gush in it also. It is \n\nsingular that-was to some extent taken in by it. I wrote yesterday saying \n\nthe paper was bosh, but couldn\u2019t go into your details as I knew no one. I dis\u00ac \ncarded A.P.S. [Sinnett], I.C.O. [Mrs. Cooper-Oakley] etc., one after the other. \nHave no news from the New York episode. Guess you are right there too, as \nthe large money could only exist in summerland, and no one who knows me \nwould dare to think they could have any influence in this case by any talk of \nmoney. \n\nI feel very pleased and justified in you after this reply on Omega. You may \nknow why, and you may not; the fact remains. \n\nAs to your father, I can\u2019t say. When I first heard of him I felt he was not a \nlong liver, but in \u201cthe matter of hyleg\u201d, or of life and death, no prognostication \nis reliable. \n\nCan\u2019t say much as to W.Q.J. Varying days. Much bronchial cough; fits of \nindigestion; bad nights; good days. Damn mess. Voice gone absolutely, \netc. Got the digestive tract all squee-gee and am trying to right it. Look \nout for yourself and see that you have good digestion and good enough \nexercise. Doesn\u2019t seem that climates are of any value. I haven\u2019t got better \nanywhere but in Cincinnati and New York, neither having any climate to \nspeak of. \n\nYour southern trip will not be so much as the others. You have only Mem\u00ac \nphis, Nashville, Macon, New Orleans, Washington and Baltimore. The south \n\n\n\n212 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nis petrified in orthodoxy, and is full of niggers. It has always been weak for \nT.S. But I expect great good to result from your work even there. You must \nsay I sent you to these places. I hope I shall be near enough to see you. If \nI am here when you are in Macon, that is not far from here. Good-bye. \n\nAs ever, \n\n%\u2022 \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., November 15th, 1895. \n\nDear Ernest, \n\nI enclose question for Forum. Will you please write out a good answer and \nsend on to C.F.W. for Forum , saying I asked you to do so. \n\nHaven\u2019t time to-day to write at length. But I am full of \u201cideas\u201d. The \nMasonic is, yes, an old scheme; yet it is not given up. \n\nToledo also writes. The good you are doing is splendid. Don\u2019t think of it, \nbut of Master and that friend of yours. \n\nAs ever, \n\n\nI was in St. Louis when I received Judge\u2019s next letter, forwarded to me by \nDr. Buck from Cincinnati. \n\n\n[Postmarked] Aiken, S. C., November 19th, 1895. \n\nDear Chewytz, \n\nDon\u2019t know where this will catch you. This last from you was done in \nColumbus and posted Cincinnati. I will send this to J.D. [Buck]. \n\nThe enclosed I send you to read and destroy now that a sufficient time has \nelapsed. It came with the fool paper [\u201cOmega\u2019s\u201d]. It is a sign I do not like \nthat this mistake was made,\u2014to give so much attention to it. What is the \ncause, do you suppose? \n\nI have millions of things to say to you that I can\u2019t write. I believe I will \nstay here long enough for you to come here. That will be on way back and I \nsuppose by coming from Macon. I propose that you stay here a week with me, \nand we can then pow wow to satisfaction. The food and beds here are good, \nand I don\u2019t think all their boarders will be here by that time. \n\nDon\u2019t know what you can do at St. Louis. It needs some men of different \ncalibre and stratum. That is the trouble. Some poor devil will some day have \nto sacrifice himself by going there for a space to try to work it up. \n\nIt seems to me you ought now and then to send to your sister at any rate a \ngood newspaper report about you. \n\nWell, no other things. Don\u2019t forget a Path article. \n\nAs ever, \n\nl;. \n\n\n(To be continued) \n\n\n\n\nDESCARTES AND THE EASTERN \nWISDOM \n\n\nOh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, \n\nTill Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat: \n\nBut there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, \n\nWhen two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth. \n\nI T has seemed to many that the hemispheres of our globe are divided by \nan abyss, by a chasm which no bridge of thought can ever span. It is said \nthat the Occidental can never understand the Oriental, nor the Oriental \nthe Occidental, because they respond to such different motives and dream of \nsuch different ideals. Europeans and Americans who are obsessed by the \nnotion that Asiatics live in a separate world, frequently quote the first two \nlines of Kipling\u2019s stanza. They omit or forget the other two. \n\n\u201cEast is East, and West is West\u201d, but it is unfortunate to imagine a great \ngulf fixed between them. It would seem that their differences are more aptly \ndescribed as \u201cdifferences of polarity\u201d. Their thought-processes appear often \nto start from opposite points in consciousness and to move in inverse direction. \nOne may illustrate what is meant in terms of the laws of reflection. When an \nobject is reflected in a mirror, its image is an exact replica, with one exception. \nThere is a reversal of aspect: the right side appears the left and the left side \nappears the right. So, if we examine some of the ways in which Eastern and \nWestern minds differ, we shall find that there is no essential contradiction \nbetween them, but only a \u201creversal of aspect\u201d. They reach the same terminus \nthough they seem to move away from each other; as two men making the circuit \nof the earth in opposite directions will ultimately meet. \n\nIf one adopt such a method of comparison, many things become clear which \nhave baffled the Orientalists. For example, one no longer has to suppose that \nthe motive which inspires the Buddhist disciple to practise austerities is the \nassurance that if he persevere to the end he will be completely annihilated. \nSuch has been the supposition of many Occidental scholars, but they would \nnever have fallen into this error, if they had recognized that, exoterically, the \nBuddhist Way of Salvation is in general outline almost diametrically opposite \nto the Christian. They have tried to conceive it as if it were a copy or imita\u00ac \ntion of Christianity, and have not unnaturally been astonished to find that \nNirv&na bears no superficial resemblance to the orthodox Christian picture of \nParadise. But the apparent contradiction disappears if we consider the actual \ndocumentary evidence. This indicates very clearly that the Way of the Buddha, \nin the phase known to us, is primarily a discipline of detachment from form, in \nparticular from the illusion that the separate ego is a reality; while the Way \n\n\n213 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n214 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nof the Christ may be described as primarily a discipline of attachment to the \nhighest form that can be conceived; the ego or personal self is to be transmuted \ninto a vehicle of Divinity. It is no wonder that Nirvana, the ideal of \u201cform\u00ac \nlessness\u201d, seems negative and lifeless to the exoteric Christian; or that to the \nexoteric Buddhist the Christian emphasis upon personal or formal excellence of \nconduct seems only to fasten consciousness more securely to the \u201cheresy of \nseparateness\u201d. \n\nHowever, in the last analysis, the difference is only one of emphasis. This is \nequivalent to saying that as they progress along their respective paths, the \nBuddhist assimilates the virtues of the Christian, and vice versa. They are \nlike two men, one left-handed and the other right-handed, but united by their \ncommon destiny, which is to become ambidextrous. Thus it has been said that \nesoterically Nirvana and the Kingdom of Heaven are one. \u201cIn Heaven\u201d, states \nPlotinus, \u201cthe sun is all the other stars, and again each star is the sun. One \nthing in each is prominent above the rest, but it also shows forth all.\u201d This is \nthe state where \u201cthere is neither East nor West, Border, nor Brebd, nor Birth\u201d. \n\nThese considerations suggest that the two hemispheres are as complemen\u00ac \ntary in terms of consciousness as they are in terms of geography. The East \nneeds contact with the Western genius for action, to preserve from degenera\u00ac \ntion its own genius for contemplation; for too often the Oriental confuses \nquietude and selflessness with their psychic counterfeits, passivity, fatalism, \nindifference. The whole history of the West shows how easily its love of action \nis degraded into a restless craving for excitement and sensation. Left to its \nown devices, the Occidental mind tends to become hard and materialistic; it \nneeds contact with the Eastern genius for contemplation. \n\nAccording to tradition the Lodge has made several carefully planned attempts \nto infuse a measure of Eastern thought into the consciousness of the West. At \nleast four of these infusions were followed by marked revivals of spiritual life. \nThere was the movement associated with the name of Orpheus which is con\u00ac \nnected with the beginnings of Hellenic civilization. There was the work of \nPythagoras who gave a definite impetus to the philosophical genius of the \nGreeks, and who revived the Orphic tradition. There was Christianity which \ncontains so many Oriental elements in spite of its predominantly Western tone. \nThere was the Neoplatonist School which nurtured the genius of Plotinus and \nwhich has had so profound an influence upon the history of Christian mysticism. \n\nMany believe that in our own century we are witnesses of another attempt \nof the same order. If asked to define one ultimate goal of the Theosophical \nmovement, one might reply,\u2014to make manifest the point in spiritual space \nwhere East and West meet. \n\nWe can illustrate by an historical example what happens even to a very great \nWestern mind when it is virtually closed to all Eastern influences. If Ren6 \nDescartes had studied the work of some one Oriental philosopher, of Shankara \nAcharya for instance, the whole course of modern philosophy might have been \nchanged. Descartes might have become a mystical philosopher. As it was, he \nbecame a brilliant mathematician whose principal avocation was metaphysical \n\n\nDESCARTES AND THE EASTERN WISDOM \n\n\n215 \n\n\nspeculation. Unlike some more recent mathematical philosophers, he had an \nexceptionally clear intellect. He certainly would not have shared Bertrand \nRussell\u2019s notion that mathematicians are the only people in the world who do \nnot have to know what they are talking about. In a sense, his superb lucidity \nwas actually a misfortune, for his works are easy to read and easy to under\u00ac \nstand; it provided a medium for the quick and wide dissemination of a system \nof ideas which has had a poisonous influence upon Western thought. He was \nthe father of the mechanistic hypothesis and of many other metaphysical \nnightmares. Yet, in spite of his rigid rationalism, in spite of the spiritual myopia \nwhich dimmed his inner vision, Descartes began his philosophical career with \nan immediate experience of spiritual truth such as seldom falls to the lot of \nany philosopher. \n\nThe errors of his philosophy may be said to have resulted from his failure to \nunderstand the meaning of that experience. But one wonders how, in the cir\u00ac \ncumstances, he could have understood it. If he had sought and discovered the \nChristian Master, the wisdom which he needed would have been found. But \nDescartes seems to have had no conception of Christianity apart from the \nofficial creed of the Church, to which he was quite indifferent. That is why \nit was suggested that the work of an Eastern philosopher, with its new mode \nof approach, might have brought light to his mind. \n\nDescartes describes this crucial moment of his life in the Third Part of the \nDiscourse on Method. He explains that he was bewildered and confused by the \nnumerous conflicting conceptions of truth which were prevalent. All of these \nideas could not be true, and he could not help wondering whether any of them \ncould be regarded as unassailable. He felt a pressing need for experimental \nproof that there is such a thing in the universe as a truth which must be ac\u00ac \ncepted as absolute. It was not enough to know the truth; he must know that \nhe knew it,\u2014in other words, he must know it self-consciously. \n\nHe proceeded to conduct a very interesting experiment upon himself. \u201cBe\u00ac \ncause our senses deceive us sometimes, I decided to pretend that nothing is \nwhat we imagine it to be; and because men deceive themselves in their reason\u00ac \ning, even as regards the simplest matters of geometry, . . . judging that I was \nas subject to error as any other, I rejected as false every reason which I had \nformerly taken to be a demonstration; and finally, considering that all the \nthoughts which we have while awake* can also come to us while asleep, when \nnone of them is true, I resolved to feign that everything which had ever entered \nmy mind was no more true than the illusions of my dreams. But immediately \nafterwards I took note that while I willed thus to think that everything was \nfalse, necessarily I who was thinking these things must be something: ... I think , \nhence I am , was so firm and so certain that all the most extravagant supposi\u00ac \ntions of the skeptics could not shatter it, and I judged that I could accept it \nas the first principle of the philosophy which I was seeking.\u201d \n\nDescartes\u2019 report of the event is deceptively impersonal and detached. It is \nquite probable that the experience which he records and which he himself pre\u00ac \ncipitated by concentrated effort, was sufficiently intense to endanger his sanity. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2l6 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nThis becomes obvious, when it is realized that, even if but for an instant, Des\u00ac \ncartes was certain of only a single reality, the reality of his selfhood, of his ego. \nTraditions of occultism indicate that an overwhelming sense of \u201cI am I\u201d is \nimposed at one stage or another upon every aspirant to real knowledge, and \nthat the prolonged contemplation of the bare ground of the self brings a sense \nof solitude which is almost unbearable. But one need not be, in any sense, an \nextraordinary person to have some idea of what Descartes passed through. \nAnyone may have a sudden glimpse of the bare ground of the self. It is an \nexperience of which it is exceedingly difficult to speak, for it is as if one were \nimmersed for a fraction of a second in the most profound of mysteries, the \nmysterium magnum itself. Perhaps this explains why Descartes gives so few \ndetails. A modem French philosopher has said that the attentive reader often \nsuspects an esoteric substratum beneath the rather prosaic surface of Descartes\u2019 \ndescription. \n\nThe experience of \u201cI am I\u201d, if intense enough, forces upon the soul a choice \nwhich cannot be evaded. It is like Pascal\u2019s \u201cabyss\u201d. One must advance or \nretreat, for no one can remain on the brink and retain control of his faculties. \nTo advance means to extend the zone of pure and immediate experience beyond \nthe sphere of the ego proper. To retreat means to return to the light of common \nday, to identify the sense of selfhood once more with the mind and the emo\u00ac \ntional nature and the body, to accept the phenomenal world as it appears to \nthe senses, to seek the comfortable shell of old habits and old beliefs. \n\nDescartes retreated in the end, but not before he had made a further advance. \nHe began to meditate upon the connection between the self and the atmosphere \nof mind-images which surrounds it. He observed that those images are not all \nof equal value. Pondering upon their source, he was ready to admit that many \nwere reflected from the ground of the self; but there was one idea which per\u00ac \nsistently entered the field of consciousness and which he could not derive from \nhis ego. This was the idea of a being more perfect than himself. \n\n\u201cTo have received it from nowhere was manifestly impossible, and since it is \nno less repugnant that the more perfect. . . should depend upon the less perfect, \n... I could not have received it from myself; therefore, it must have been im\u00ac \nplanted in me by a nature which was veritably more perfect than I was, and \nwhich indeed had in itself every perfection of which I could have any idea, that \nis to say, to express myself in a word, which was God.\u201d \n\nThis experience of the Divine, though according to his fashion he demon\u00ac \nstrates it logically, seems to have been as real and as direct as the primary ex\u00ac \nperience of the ground of the self. He was not merely copying the arguments of \nSt. Anselm and Aristotle and Plato. It is clearly attested in the Meditations \nMetaphysiques that Descartes was as certain of the being of God as he was of his \nown being. He knew that the soul is not alone in an infinity of non-being, for \nits \u201caloneness\u201d depends upon the supreme \u201caloneness\u201d of God. \n\nIn a magnificent phrase, Plotinus describes the mystical way as \u201cthe flight \nof the alone to the Alone\u201d. Descartes seems actually to have reached a point \nin consciousness where he possessed certitude as to the eternal reality of the \n\n\n\n* DESCARTES AND THE EASTERN WISDOM \n\n\n217 \n\n\ntwo terms, but he did not essay the flight. Like Moses, he viewed the Promised \nLand from a mountain top but descended on the hither slope. \n\nUnlike Moses, he does not appear to have been aware that he actually looked \ntowards the Promised Land. There is no evidence that he tried to repeat his \nexperiment or to broaden its scope. Only one part of his personal nature seems \nto have been profoundly affected, his mind, which was stimulated to extraor\u00ac \ndinary activity. But this activity led him into a morass of speculative thought, \nfar from the spiritual height on which he had stood. Doubtless, there was in his \nintellect no pattern, no mould, to which he could conform his inner experiences. \nOn the other hand, the truths which he had proved could be adopted as axioms, \nas starting-points for an interminable series of inferences about everything under \nheaven. He indulged in an orgy of inductive reasoning. By a curious and \ntragic inversion, spiritual truth served as the basis of one of the most unspiritual \nsystems in the history of thought. \n\nLet us try to imagine what might have occurred if Descartes had had in his \nmental consciousness some abstract understanding of what happened to him. \nIn such a case, he would have had some dim recognition that the soul and its \nDivine Master are not two beings, but one; that their apparent duality veils a \nfundamental unity. But if we accept the testimony of those who have become \nmystics, this premonition of The One which transcends all duality might have \nincreased, until it became an all-consuming desire to realize that unity here and \nnow by determined effort, as he had already realized the duality which is, in \nessence, only a polarization of The One. \n\nHe could have found the necessary formula for his intellect, if he had read \nsuch a work as Shankara\u2019s Crest Jewel of Wisdom ,\u2014the Vivekachudamani, to \ngive it its Sanskrit name. Shankara teaches the doctrine of the One Self. His \ntreatise is a manual for those who would attempt the flight of the alone to the \nAlone. It is not suggested that his method is suitable to everyone. His disciples \nwere men of the East, and the practical ideal which he held before them is not \nunlike that of the Buddha. He stressed detachment, quietude, selflessness. It \nis not his method, however, which concerns us here, but his general vision of \nthe nature of the Real, and in particular his conception of the relation between \nthe soul and God; for he had the same fundamental experience which came to \nDescartes,\u2014with this distinction, that he extended it far beyond the range of \nDescartes\u2019 consciousness and resolved its duality into unity. \n\nWhat Shankara proposes to the student is, in fact, an indefinite extension of \nthe limits of self-consciousness. In this process of progressive introspection \nand self-examination, the human reason has a most important r61e, but it is \nthe servant of the spiritual will and not its master. It is interesting to note \nthat he uses his mind chiefly to deduce the nature of particulars from general \nprinciples. In his thought there is comparatively little inductive inference; \nthat is to say, he does not make a practice, as Descartes did, of inferring the \ngeneral or universal from the particular. If we understand correctly, the \nSanskrit word Chit , which is often translated as \u201cintelligence\u201d, has a special \nmeaning. It is not an analyzing but a synthesizing power, and seems to denote \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2 18 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\na condition in which the Self understands general principles by immediate per\u00ac \nception of them. In the Buddhist phrase, the soul sees the Universe face to \nface. There is no need, then, for inferential reason to prove the existence of \nany universal principle. When we see a tree or a dog, we do not generally feel \nobliged to demonstrate by a series of syllogisms that it is really there. \n\nIn one sense, the purpose of introspection is to enter into the realization of \nChit or universal knowledge. This knowledge is latent in everyone, and the \nvarious modes of spiritual discipline are intended to awaken the soul, by de\u00ac \ngrees, to an awareness of its own powers. As each degree is attained, the aspirant \nparticipates in a greater portion of the universal wisdom, Brahma Vidya , and he \nis thus able to illumine the particular problems confronting him, by reference to \nhis increasing understanding of the general laws which determine all right \naction. \n\nHowever, as Shankara describes the way of the disciple, the motive which \ndrives him forward is certainly not desire for personal knowledge, as this is com\u00ac \nmonly understood. It is defined negatively, as the anguish of the soul when it \nbecomes aware of the glamour which separates it from the Divine Self. That \nglamour is to be dispelled by the birth of the spiritual will, and by the conver\u00ac \nsion of the powers of imagination and desire to serve the upbuilding of the \nImmortal. \n\nTherefore, introspection in the Vedanta is regarded as a creative act, being \nidentical with the transformation of the soul into a series of \u201cimpersonations\u201d \nor forms, each more sensitive and more subtile than its predecessor, until that \n\u201cformless\u201d state is reached wherein the Individual Self attains full conscious\u00ac \nness of its oneness of essence with the Universal Self, the Eternal. \n\n\u201cFreedom from self-indulgence is ... a surrender of the allurement of all \nnon-eternal things from the body up to the Formative Power, continually made \nthrough a realization of the faultiness of all objective things\u201d (22). \n\n\u201cIn the text of Scripture, \u2018That thou art\u2019, the Eternal and the Self are indi\u00ac \ncated by the words, \u2018That\u2019 and \u2018Thou\u2019; when they are thus understood, the \noneness of the Self and the Eternal is clearly seen. . . . \n\n\u201cThe seeming difference between the two is caused by the vestures which \ncontain them, but these vestures are themselves unreal. Hear the truth: cosmic \ndifferences, beginning with the world of abstract forms, come into being through \nthe Lords power of Glamour, Maya; the five vestures come into being through \nthe separate self. \n\n\u201cWhen these vestures which enwrap the Lord and the separate self, are cast \naside, there remains neither Lord nor separate self. The king has his kingdom, \nthe vassal his village; when these are taken away, there is neither vassal nor \nking\u201d (244, seq.). \n\nThe One Self which is the centre of Shankara\u2019s system is not a mathematical \nformula. It is pure consciousness, pure intelligence, pure experience. It is \ndescribed in abstract and impersonal terms only because it cannot be identified \nwith any form or body, and because its sole object of contemplation is said to \nbe itself. Cosmic Mind, Ishvara , and the individual mind or ego, Ahamkara , \n\n\nDESCARTES AND THE EASTERN WISDOM \n\n\n219 \n\n\nare polarized centres within the One Self. Polarization or duality must be \nknown as the product of ignorance or \u201cnot-knowing\u201d, Avidya , before the soul \ncan know the bliss of unlimited consciousness, Ananda , the \u201cpositive charac\u00ac \nteristic of the esoteric Brahman which presupposes the negation of all differ\u00ac \nences\u201d. When such an experience is known, it is so intense that no image, no \nsymbol, no idea can express it. The images of thought, like the images per\u00ac \nceived by the senses, may figure the transcendent reality; but they become \nirrelevant when that reality is seen in its proper nature. \n\n\u201cThe Scripture explains that the undifferentiated Brahman is pure intelli\u00ac \ngence and free from all that is different from it, for it says: \u2018As a block of salt \nhas no inside or outside; but through and through consists only of salt taste, \nso also this Atman has no inside or outside but consists throughout altogether \nof intelligence\u2019\u201d (Commentary on the Brahma Sutras , 3, 2). \n\nWe assumed a great deal when we suggested the possibility that an acquaint\u00ac \nance with ideas such as these, might have helped Descartes to comprehend what \nis really involved in the great antinomy of the soul and God which he discovered. \nDescartes\u2019 mind was hard and positivistic, nor would it have been easy to im\u00ac \nplant an idea foreign to it. After all, God implanted the idea of himself there, \nas Descartes testifies, and yet his other ideas were not greatly affected thereby. \nHe had, indeed, that type of intelligence with which we have become painfully \nfamiliar in the modem world, the type which is known as scientific. It has its \nmagnificent qualities,\u2014perseverance, concentration, respect for facts of a cer\u00ac \ntain order; the inventions which have metamorphosed the surface of the earth \nare its handiwork. But also it is capable only of receiving ideas of external \nthings, its comprehension of consciousness is nil;\u2014like the moon, on one side \nit is radiant with physical light, but on the other side all is dark and cold. \n\nNevertheless, Descartes was something more than his mind, for he proved it \neven to himself, and no cut-and-dried rationalist would ever have undertaken \nthe experiment which he attempted or, in any case, would have gone so far \ninto the true \u201cland of mystery\u201d. We like to think of him as a potential mystic \nwho might have \u201cbroken through\u201d under more favourable auspices. Perhaps, \nhe will \u201cbreak through\u201d next time, if he has not already done so. But we feel \ncertain that such an event will not occur until some of the wisdom of the East \nis mingled in his nature with the Western love of concreteness in form and \naction. Moreover, this reflection is equally applicable to others besides Des\u00ac \ncartes. Stanley V. LaDow. \n\n\nONE PURPOSE OF \nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nHE Theosophical Society has often been described as \u201ca missionary \n\n\n\norganization for the conversion of people to their own ideals\u201d. No \n\n\ngreater service can be rendered a man than to reveal to him the true \nideal of his own heart and soul. Once seen, if it be in truth the ideal of his \nheart, he cannot but love it, and loving it, will seek to follow and attain it. \nThe war showed that the world is capable of responding to an ideal that it can \nsee. Belgium\u2019s King answered the call of honour\u2014delaying thereby the \nGerman armies for a few urgently needed days\u2014and the nation followed \nhim. In England, after Zeppelins and atrocities in Belgium had made clear \nthe character of the enemy, four million men volunteered before conscription \nbecame necessary. Thousands of men who in peace had led dull, common\u00ac \nplace lives, attained to heights of heroism and endurance. The war over, \nthey seem to have sunk back to the level from which they rose, as if they saw \nnothing worthy of their further effort. \n\nWhat the world needs is an ideal, a vision of something that men can \nlove; that will call forth all that is best in them,\u2014something that will lift \nthem from interest in the material to the things of the spirit, from their false \nto their true selves. Devotion to a cause, as in the war, to a leader or to \ntheir religion, has done this in the past. The trouble to-day is that men \nsee no cause worthy of their whole-hearted devotion; personal loyalty to \na leader is out of fashion, and men do not understand their religion. Time \nwas when whole nations responded to the call for the Crusades with the \nanswering cry: \u201cCrosses, crosses, give us crosses.\u201d They knew that their \nMaster had died for them, and leapt forward at the chance to serve Him in \nreturn, to give their lives for him as he had given his life for them. \n\nMen are less simple to-day. They have ceased to believe in a jealous God \nwho insisted on a victim, however innocent, to appease his wrath at the sins \nof men. To the ordinary man, the story of the incarnation is unjust or mean\u00ac \ningless. As presented to him, it insults his conception of Deity. For the \nmost part, he has ceased to believe in hell, and hence sacrifice to attain sal\u00ac \nvation, for himself or for others, seems unnecessary to him. As a result, the \npassionate gratitude and devotion of the times of the Crusades are seldom \nfound. Modern feeling rarely goes beyond admiration for nobility of char\u00ac \nacter. As usually pictured, the so-called Christian ideal is an ideal \nof meekness, of patient endurance, of indiscriminate and premature forgive\u00ac \nness; but it contains no element of the powers of accomplishment. Men \nknow, instinctively and rightly, that the world needs men of action. They \ngive lip-service to Christianity, but their real worship goes to accomplishment. \n\n\n220 \n\n\n\nONE PURPOSE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\n221 \n\n\nThe ideal that does not include effective power is no ideal of theirs. The \nMaster Christ is represented to them as being led unresistingly to torture and \ndeath by the forces of evil. They admire his self-sacrifice and courage, but \nhave no slightest trace of desire to grow like him themselves. It is not the ideal \nof their hearts, and hence has little power to draw them. \n\nStudents of Theosophy know that that picture is a terrible travesty. Christ \nwas not led unresisting and submissive where the powers of evil chose to take \nhim. His whole life was war against those powers, his passion a single- \nhanded combat to the death,\u2014a combat which he won before he died. Prob\u00ac \nably no one but a Master can understand all that is involved in the incarnation \nof an Avatar and its portrayal of the life-cycle of the soul, but even a little \nknowledge of theosophical principles brings greatly increased light and under\u00ac \nstanding, making it evident that infinitely more lies beyond, hidden in golden \nmist. Let us see what light such theosophical principles as we do know, will \nthrow on the battle fought and won by the great Western Avatar, nearly two \nthousand years ago. \n\nWe know that there is a White Lodge and that there is a Black Lodge, and \nthat they are at war. The battle-grounds are the hearts and minds of men, \nto which both sides have access. As has often been pointed out, all battles of \nevery sort, in outer as in inner warfare, are fought, and won or lost, within the \nhearts and wills of those who fight. He who refuses the longest to admit defeat, \nwins the fight always. It is also a fact that in inner as in physical things, \naction and re action are equal and opposite. Hence, when an attack is re\u00ac \npelled\u2014or a temptation resisted\u2014the attack recoils with equal force on the \nattacker. It follows that every temptation conquered, is a positive blow \nfor good, weakening to that extent the evil of the world at its source. \n\nWe know further that spiritual power is given on the condition that it shall \nnot be used for self. The penalty is the loss of the power. We can see, even \non lower planes, how power perverted to self becomes blunted, weakened and \nfinally lost. On higher planes, the results must follow much more rapidly and \ncompletely. The Masters have gained and hold all of their great powers in \ntrust, in accordance with this law. Still another principle, and one that the \nmodem world sorely needs to learn, is that Masters never compromise with \nunrepentant evil. They act on their principles and leave results to the Law. \n\nTradition says that the members of the Great Lodge were not unanimous in \napproving the incarnation of the Western Master at the time chosen, on the \nground that the risk of defeat and resulting loss was too serious, the evil in the \nworld too powerful. We think of the Master Christ\u2019s victory as a foregone \nconclusion, but it was far from being so. His danger was very real, and the \noutcome was not determined until that final cry of triumph: \u201cIt is finished. \nWhen he incarnated in a physical body, he entered the lists, like a knight \nin the days of chivalry\u2014he was himself the source and embodiment of \nchivalry\u2014throwing down his gauntlet to the hosts of evil. 1 o take such \na body was in itself to enter the lists, for the body is the battleground, to \nwhich all the forces of evil have access, and against which, in his case, they \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nONE PURPOSE OF \nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nHE Theosophical Society has often been described as \u201ca missionary \n\n\n\norganization for the conversion of people to their own ideals\u201d. No \n\n\ngreater service can be rendered a man than to reveal to him the true \nideal of his own heart and soul. Once seen, if it be in truth the ideal of his \nheart, he cannot but love it, and loving it, will seek to follow and attain it. \nThe war showed that the world is capable of responding to an ideal that it can \nsee. Belgium\u2019s King answered the call of honour\u2014delaying thereby the \nGerman armies for a few urgently needed days\u2014and the nation followed \nhim. In England, after Zeppelins and atrocities in Belgium had made clear \nthe character of the enemy, four million men volunteered before conscription \nbecame necessary. Thousands of men who in peace had led dull, common\u00ac \nplace lives, attained to heights of heroism and endurance. The war over, \nthey seem to have sunk back to the level from which they rose, as if they saw \nnothing worthy of their further effort. \n\nWhat the world needs is an ideal, a vision of something that men can \nlove; that will call forth all that is best in them,\u2014something that will lift \nthem from interest in the material to the things of the spirit, from their false \nto their true selves. Devotion to a cause, as in the war, to a leader or to \ntheir religion, has done this in the past. The trouble to-day is that men \nsee no cause worthy of their whole-hearted devotion; personal loyalty to \na leader is out of fashion, and men do not understand their religion. Time \nwas when whole nations responded to the call for the Crusades with the \nanswering cry: \u201cCrosses, crosses, give us crosses.\u201d They knew that their \nMaster had died for them, and leapt forward at the chance to serve Him in \nreturn, to give their lives for him as he had given his life for them. \n\nMen are less simple to-day. They have ceased to believe in a jealous God \nwho insisted on a victim, however innocent, to appease his wrath at the sins \nof men. To the ordinary man, the story of the incarnation is unjust or mean\u00ac \ningless. As presented to him, it insults his conception of Deity. For the \nmost part, he has ceased to believe in hell, and hence sacrifice to attain sal\u00ac \nvation, for himself or for others, seems unnecessary to him. As a result, the \npassionate gratitude and devotion of the times of the Crusades are seldom \nfound. Modern feeling rarely goes beyond admiration for nobility of char\u00ac \nacter. As usually pictured, the so-called Christian ideal is an ideal \nof meekness, of patient endurance, of indiscriminate and premature forgive\u00ac \nness; but it contains no element of the powers of accomplishment. Men \nknow, instinctively and rightly, that the world needs men of action. They \ngive lip-service to Christianity, but their real worship goes to accomplishment. \n\n\n220 \n\n\n\nONE PURPOSE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\n221 \n\n\nThe ideal that does not include effective power is no ideal of theirs. The \nMaster Christ is represented to them as being led unresistingly to torture and \ndeath by the forces of evil. They admire his self-sacrifice and courage, but \nhave no slightest trace of desire to grow like him themselves. It is not the ideal \nof their hearts, and hence has little power to draw them. \n\nStudents of Theosophy know that that picture is a terrible travesty. Christ \nwas not led unresisting and submissive where the powers of evil chose to take \nhim. His whole life was war against those powers, his passion a single- \nhanded combat to the death,\u2014a combat which he won before he died. Prob\u00ac \nably no one but a Master can understand all that is involved in the incarnation \nof an Avatar and its portrayal of the life-cycle of the soul, but even a little \nknowledge of theosophical principles brings greatly increased light and under\u00ac \nstanding, making it evident that infinitely more lies beyond, hidden in golden \nmist. Let us see what light such theosophical principles as we do know, will \nthrow on the battle fought and won by the great Western Avatar, nearly two \nthousand years ago. \n\nWe know that there is a White Lodge and that there is a Black Lodge, and \nthat they are at war. The battle-grounds are the hearts and minds of men, \nto which both sides have access. As has often been pointed out, all battles of \nevery sort, in outer as in inner warfare, are fought, and won or lost, within the \nhearts and wills of those who fight. He who refuses the longest to admit defeat, \nwins the fight always. It is also a fact that in inner as in physical things, \naction and re action are equal and opposite. Hence, when an attack is re\u00ac \npelled\u2014or a temptation resisted\u2014the attack recoils with equal force on the \nattacker. It follows that every temptation conquered, is a positive blow \nfor good, weakening to that extent the evil of the world at its source. \n\nWe know further that spiritual power is given on the condition that it shall \nnot be used for self. The penalty is the loss of the power. We can see, even \non lower planes, how power perverted to self becomes blunted, weakened and \nfinally lost. On higher planes, the results must follow much more rapidly and \ncompletely. The Masters have gained and hold all of their great powers in \ntrust, in accordance with this law. Still another principle, and one that the \nmodern world sorely needs to learn, is that Masters never compromise with \nunrepentant evil. They act on their principles and leave results to the Law. \n\nTradition says that the members of the Great Lodge were not unanimous in \napproving the incarnation of the Western Master at the time chosen, on the \nground that the risk of defeat and resulting loss was too serious, the evil in the \nworld too powerful. We think of the Master Christ\u2019s victory as a foregone \nconclusion, but it was far from being so. His danger was very real, and the \noutcome was not determined until that final cry of triumph: It is finished.\u2019 \nWhen he incarnated in a physical body, he entered the lists, like a knight \nin the days of chivalry\u2014he was himself the source and embodiment of \nchivalry\u2014throwing down his gauntlet to the hosts of evil. To take such \na body was in itself to enter the lists, for the body is the battleground, to \nwhich all the forces of evil have access, and against which, in his case, they \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n222 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwere later to hurl their full power. This attack, we may be sure, was not merely \nto inflict meaningless suffering. Its aim, in part at least, must have been to \nforce a great Master to violate spiritual law. If the Black Lodge could succeed \nin any particular, the victory to that extent was theirs. \n\nThe conditions of the battle and the weapons available to the Black Lodge \nwould be determined in large measure by the evil of the world; the degree to \nwhich men could be dominated through their vices, on the one hand, and, on \nthe other, the extent to which they would respond to the Master\u2019s call. An\u00ac \nother great Avatar, Buddha, was not crucified outwardly\u2014though outer cruci\u00ac \nfixion, terrible as it is, must be only a small part of the crucifixion of the soul \ninvolved in the physical incarnation of a great Master, and in the subsequent \nwaiting for the return from men of the love and life which he, as Avatar, pours \nout upon the world. (\u201cThe ingratitude of men is more painful to me than all \nthe sufferings of my Passion.\u201d) \n\nThe great task of a soul on incarnating is to come to consciousness of itself, \nof its purpose and its immortality; \u201cto know itself to be,\u201d in the words of \nLight on the Path. To do this, it must pierce the darkness made by the sin \nand materialism of the world, must \u201cbreak down the middle wall of partition,\u201d \nas St. Paul says, between its temporary dwelling in the body and its true home \nin the spiritual world. The greater the wickedness of the world at any given \ntime, the denser and blacker its atmosphere and hence the greater the difficulty \nof the soul in coming to self-consciousness. At times this difficulty must be so \ngreat that only a very high soul has any chance of success. Krishna, speaking \nas the Oversoul, says in the Bhagavad Gita, \u201cWhen there is a withering of the \nLaw and an uprising of lawlessness on all sides, I manifest Myself for the sal\u00ac \nvation of the righteous.\u201d At such times some great soul incarnates and re\u00ac \nestablishes the connection with the spiritual world. The way once broken and \nthe light let through, it becomes more possible for others to follow. Men can \ngrope their way toward a glimmer of light in the darkest night, when, without \nit, they might be hopelessly lost. \n\nAt the time of the incarnation in Palestine, the materialism of the world \nseems to have been at its deepest, and the power of the Black Lodge at its \nheight. It may be that, had this condition continued, millions of men would \nhave sunk so low that their redemption would have become impossible. \nSometimes it is necessary to check an advancing enemy at almost any cost. \nOnce during the Indian mutiny, a force of Sepoy cavalry surprised an English \nbattery and charged down a narrow road to capture it. To gain the few \nprecious minutes needed to enable the guns to be brought into action, the \nofficer commanding the battery leaped on his horse and dashed alone against \nthe head of the charging column. The force of his impact overthrew the \nfirst few men, blocking for a moment the narrow road and throwing the head \nof the column into confusion. Then he was himself ridden down. But he had \ngained the time needed to load the guns, and the battery was not taken. That \nact, in its dash and utter self-immolation, suggests on its small scale, the \n\u201ccavalry charge\u201d aspect of the Master Christ\u2019s incarnation. \n\n\nONE PURPOSE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\n223 \n\n\nOr we may picture him as in the scene in Letters to Friends (p. 185), where \nthe \u201cyoungest of the gods,\u201d he who was \u201cof all most faithful,\u201d stands on the \nbattlements of heaven, pitying the misery on earth, and asking himself if there \nbe no way to help. \n\n\u2018\u201cThere is a way,\u2019 he said. \n\n\u201cLike light, bursting from the dark rim of a cloud, or like a shooting star, \nthe youngest of the gods plunged from heaven into the depths of space. \n\n\u201cFar, far below, drawn from the utmost Nadir, there rose a cloud of dark\u00ac \nness to meet that straight diving ray of light. As it rose it took shape, till \nQueen Nephthys saw spread out before her the mighty hosts of evil, ranged \nrank upon rank of chariots and horsemen, spearmen and bowmen, fire-breath\u00ac \ning dragons and demons of the pit. Rank upon rank, they rose from the \ndistant pole; yet it seemed that they rose not of their own will, but drawn \nforth by the swift coming of the youngest of the gods. \n\n\u201cMidway they met. And now, as when the sun has freed itself from \nclouds, its rays spread forth covering all the land, so from the youngest of the \ngods went forth his light, engaging all that mighty host of evil in such combat \nas the worlds had never seen before. Like rain upon the earth fell the life\u00ac \nblood of the god; like brimstone from the pit fell the bodies of his foes; till \nnaught of all that marshalled host remained, nor light nor darkness reigned.\u201d \n\nChrist\u2019s life on earth was a battle throughout. In that battle, one of the \nmain objectives of his foes of the Black Lodge must have been to force him to \nviolate his own code of honour,\u2014one with spiritual law itself. We are not \ntold the extent to which he knew in advance the details of what was to occur* \nor the exact time a given event would happen. Such prevision of the future \nis hidden from the eyes of men, and he took many of man\u2019s limitations upon \nhim. Surely he must often, and at critical times, have had to press forward \nin the dark, as we have to do. Guidance is given to us in the form of duties. \n\u201cDuty\u201d is only another name for the plan of God for us. When we are \nwanted to do something, either for our own growth, or for others, or for the \nwarfare of the Lodge in the world, outer circumstances are so arranged as to \nmake what is wanted our every-day duty. No voice speaks from the sky. \nWe are not told the inner reason why we are to do a given thing, or what the \noutcome will be. All that we may know is that something has become our \nsimple duty. Our path to the true objective of our souls in coming to incar\u00ac \nnation lies always through our duties; never apart from them. Did the \nMaster Christ know in his humanity just what was to happen to him and \nwhen ? Or did he know only that it was his duty to do certain definite things, \nand that, if he did them, the temper of the Jews was such as to make his \ntorture and death certain ? \n\nTake, for example, the final phase of the battle, the last desperate struggle \nof the Black Lodge to redeem the day. Let us remember that the Master\u2019s \nvictory was by no means sure. Was, or was not, his will as a man, in his \nhumanity, stronger than all the force the powers of evil could bring against \nhim ? They used all their weapons in that final stage to force him to abandon \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n224 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhis purpose or to violate the law of his spirit,\u2014the extreme of pain and torture \nbrought to bear on an exhausted body, ignominy, shame, ridicule from those \nhe despised, pain to those he loved, ingratitude and desertion from those for \nwhom he was laying down his life. It is this tremendous, single-handed \nconflict, with its heaping of suffering on suffering, which seems so meaningless \nto many men; yet perhaps we may get glimpses of some small part of what it \nmeans. We know that an Avatar pours out his life and love and compassion \nupon men until the very rocks and trees respond, and the whole earth is made \nnew. If by blackest ingratitude or severest torture from those he came \nto help, his love and compassion could be weakened or made to falter; or if, \nby subjecting him to the extreme of agony, the representative of the White \nLodge could be forced to break whatever it may be that, with a Master, \ncorresponds to the rule that those trusted with spiritual power must never use \nit for themselves, the victory then might be with the powers of evil, and the \nWhite Lodge be weakened by the loss of one of the greatest of its warriors. \n\nThere was no time during the scourging or the crucifixion when the Master \ncould not have stopped the pain and ended the battle by asking his Father for \n\u201cmore than twelve legions of angels,\u201d or by simply willing it so. \u201cYet for this \ncause came I unto this hour.\u201d Every moment of pain endured, of compassion \npoured out in spite of the wickedness of men, was a new victory; and he fought \nto the end. The scourging is passed over quickly in the Gospels, yet it is \nthe most terrible of all punishments. Every blow of the scourge was a fierce \neffort by his bitter enemies to make him yield. The taunt, \u201cIf thou be the \nChrist, free thyself and come down from the cross,\u201d was perhaps no idle jibe, \nbut may well have been the expression of what the Black Lodge was desper\u00ac \nately trying to accomplish. He could have come down, and he would not. \nHis unconquerable love and compassion for men, and his perfect obedience to \nspiritual law, turned every weapon, every attack, back on the forces of evil, \ntheir onslaughts recoiling on themselves with overwhelming force. \n\nSome day, when the world is ready and can understand, the story of the \nPassion will be told as it occurred\u2014and as it is to-day. Then the heart of the \nworld will catch fire at the foot of the Cross, and passionate devotion to the \ngreat Western Master will flame forth once more. Those on his ray, who belong \nto him, will see him for what he is, the greatest of warriors, and will recognize \nin him the ideal of their own hearts, with nothing lost of what they truly see to\u00ac \nday, and all they long for added,\u2014the fountain head of heroism, of chivalry, \nof wisdom, effectiveness and power, as well as of love and tenderness and \ncompassion. In the Great War men showed that they could still give all for \nan ideal, dimly seen, blurred and obscured though it was. What might they \nnot do if they could realize that the deepest, truest ideal of their hearts is \nembodied in their Master, and that he lives, and calls them to his warfare. \n\nTo understand, requires preparation, and knowledge of spiritual law. To \nlay the ground-work of this preparation, and to conserve knowledge of spiritual \nlaw in the world, is one of the tasks of The Theosophical Society. \n\nJ. F. B. M. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\nXVIII \n\n\nPost-Armistice Days \n\n\nHE signing of the armistice changed practically every outer circum\u00ac \n\n\n\nstance of life, and after the long years of wartime conditions, the re- \n\n\nadjustments seemed even more drastic than when we had been shot from \nthe pre-war state of peace, into the turmoil of July-August-September, 1914. \nUntil the armistice I had always believed it far too easy to resume old habits, \nno matter of what nature they might be; they simply resumed themselves, \nsometimes most inconveniently but always more or less automatically, I thought. \nNow , I found it dreadfully uphill work to face the idea of doing the old, old things \nin the same old, dull, respectable way\u2014regular hours for everything, instead \nof doing unexpected every things at almost any hour, day or night: dinner \nuneventfully at half-past seven, with a maid in spotless cap and apron, instead \nof snatching a meal when you could, served by an improvised orderly in horizon- \nblue or in khaki; being prosaically sure that you would have a substantial roof \nover your head, instead of enjoying the more spontaneous and satisfactory \nfeeling that you were glad to have any roof at all; to be obliged to waste good \ntime planning your new wardrobe, when it had been so simple, all these years, \nmerely to order a new uniform when you needed it\u2014what an awful fuss and \nbore these outworn \u201cmanners and customs\u201d seemed now! Yet Paris, with \nthat serene, silent and most ancient witchcraft of hers, passed gracefully over \nthe breach, without hesitation and without delay transforming herself almost \novernight. How she did it, Paris herself only knew, but before you had time so \nmuch as to notice it, she had begun to shed her wartime look; the streets were \nbrilliantly lit again for the first time in more than four danger-darkened years, \nthe dismal blue lining of the lamp globes was removed as if by magic, the great \narc-lights blazed out again, making Paris more fairylike than ever; the shop \nwindows were illuminated to their utmost; the mountains of sandbags which \ncovered the facades of the public buildings and monuments, and even from end \nto end of the Rue de Rivoli, began to melt away as snow does under a summer \nsun; the narrow strips of paper pasted with the usual care and precision, and \nwith the characteristic French eye for the beautiful, in intricate, geometrical \ndesigns over many of the large, plate-glass windows, to protect them against \nshattering by bomb explosions, vanished from sight, while to our unbounded \npleasure, the great fountains in the Place de la Concorde began to play again, \nand, after their long sleep, were throwing their splendid, silvery jets high \ninto the cool air, splashing joyfully into the wide, round basins below. Perhaps \nmost unbelievable of all, however, we realized that we no longer had to keep \nour blinds down at night\u2014no fear of air raids now! As a matter of fact, it \n\n\n225 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n226 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ntook me more than two years to get over the habit of thought, as night came on: \n\u201cI must close the shutters before I turn on my electric lights\u201d, so indelible \nhad been the impress of the Defence of the Realm Acts\u2014as ineffaceable as a \nGovernment Seal. So I found that the old peace-time habits had been far \neasier to cast off than were the habits of War. \n\nThe armistice revelry in Paris continued, of course, for several days; the \nGerman guns\u2014those that were not too heavy to be moved by hand\u2014con\u00ac \ntinued to be dragged about town (there were rumours that Clemenceau had \ngiven full consent to this), and the streets continued to be thronged. Then, on \nSunday, November the seventeenth, came Alsace-Lorraine Day, with High \nMass at Notre Dame, which all Paris attended; a great parade down the Champs \nElys6es and the joyous news of th^ official repatriation of the \u2018\u2018lost provinces\u201d, \nknown of old, and again now spoken of as \u2018\u2018The Nursery of French Generals\u201d\u2014 \nthe homeland of at least two of Napoleon\u2019s Marshals and two of his Generals: \nNey, Kellermann, Rapp, Kldber\u2014news of the triumphal entry into the beloved \nfortified towns there, which, for forty-eight years, had been in alien hands. \nYet, despite the splendid and stirring accounts of the ceremonies which took \nplace in that peculiarly French city, Metz (the very keys of which had never \nbeen surrendered to the Germans, because when they so shamelessly stole it in \n1871, those keys\u2014symbol of true ownership\u2014had been rescued by one whose \nheart was ablaze with patriotism, and ever since had been preserved in French \nhands)\u2014even so, you could not help regretting that well-planned drive, frus\u00ac \ntrated by the armistice: the drive for which Foch had made all the detailed \narrangements, including a quick advance along both sides of the Moselle, and a \nsharp attack which would certainly have taken the old, grey city as a mili\u00ac \ntary achievement, instead of as the result of an ill-judged cessation of hostili\u00ac \nties. You felt that even if we had had to wait another fortnight or so, to be \nassured that French flags were once more streaming from the topmost pinnacle \nof the cathedral, flying triumphantly from the ring of forts crowning the encir\u00ac \ncling hills\u2014as we were told they now did\u2014nevertheless we should have been \nbetter satisfied to know that it was because the Germans had been driven out \nd, coups de baionnette instead of being allowed to withdraw in safety. However, \nwe read with misty eyes of the deeply moying and unaffected rejoicings of the \npeople, as they watched the French troops come marching in, and when, a few \ndays later, the entry into Strasbourg was made, we in Paris had our share in it \nbecause that night the great statue, in the Place de la Concorde, of the long- \nago lost and now happily-recovered town, stripped of its mourning crepe and \nits funerary wreaths, was dramatically draped in a vast French flag which \nswept to the very earth, while the most brilliant Bengal-fire lights, blazing \nfrom the gaping mouths of huge enemy trench-mortars drawn in a wide circle \naround it, illuminating it from below, transformed it into such dazzling whiteness \nthat you could hardly look at it. People who were present at that entry into \nStrasbourg, said that the scenes which took place there were unforgettable; \nthe inhabitants were like people long imprisoned in dungeons finding them\u00ac \nselves in the sunlight again; women and children of all ages and classes, dressed \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n227 \n\n\nin the national costumes and with the cocarde fastened to their huge Alsatian \nbows, dancing through the old and narrow streets, often actually impeded the \nregular marching of the troops; all of them marched with the troops, singing, \nthrowing flowers, waving old, torn banners\u2014banners which had belonged to the \nhappy days before the Franco-Prussian War. We were told that one of the very \nfirst things which the French did when they entered Strasbourg, was to set the \nfamous great clock at French time again, to set it once more beating in unison \nwith every other clock in France. \n\nThe return of Alsace-Lorraine to the mother-country was everywhere accom\u00ac \npanied, over the length and breadth of the land, with the same profound thanks\u00ac \ngiving, the same undisguised, unaffected transports of joy, and we heard the \nmost touching accounts of old people who had been young when the terrible \nblow of separation fell,\u2014old people who, all those long years, had kept French \nflags concealed at home (it was a \u201ccrime\u201d, followed by the severest punishment \nto possess them), and who now brought them out to wave again in the light of \nday; of others who, not having been able to preserve the old, made new ones \nout of Second Empire material, the existence of which even the Germans had \nnot suspected. Everywhere, as the French troops advanced toward the Rhine\u2014 \nin Metz and Strasbourg, in Colmar and MulhoUse, in Chateau-Salins and \nSarrebourg, in Saverne with its bitter memories of an injustice which became \nfamous the world over, in Morhange where the French defeat of 1914 was more \nthan revenged\u2014in every town the French troops were treated with rapturous \noutbursts, all in the mother-tongue, by the heart-hungry inhabitants who, for \nnearly fifty years; had kept the French language alive in their homes and fam\u00ac \nilies, despite every effort of the Germans to prevent it. The old, hated German \nspelling given to the dearly-loved and lost French towns, was altered without \ndelay; the German signs in the streets disappeared at a stroke; the old German \nnames for public buildings and hotels changed overnight. In the smallest \nwayside villages, in the remotest twilight-haunted valleys, the unfaltering loyalty \nto France was made so touchingly, so searchingly evident that it was said many \nof the common soldiers, marching with the advancing French Armies toward \nthe old German frontier, marched with the tears streaming down their bronzed \nand furrowed cheeks, so deeply moving was the reception given them. All this \nis very ancient history now, but it was indescribably stirring to us at that \ntime. \n\nOf course, the armistice was soon followed by a series of royal and diplomatic \nvisits of congratulation\u2014King George, and then King Albert with Queen \nElizabeth, were among the first. But even these ceremonies were relatively \nsimple and quiet affairs, for Paris was waiting for just one thing\u2014for the great \nday when the Armies of France should come marching home, and nothing else \nin the way of a celebration really mattered; Paris was not going to dim the \nglory of her dear poilus, or their triumphant entry, even for so great and revered \na War-hero as King Albert\u2014and he would have been the first to wish it so. \nBesides which, even at this early period, there was already a growing, anxiety\u00ac \nbreeding realization, rapidly spreading even among those who had appeared \n\n\n\n\n\n\n228 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nto be the most optimistic about the armistice, that \u201cdefeated Germany\u201d was not \ngoing to live up to her promises. Just how or where this feeling first began, \nin a wider sense, I cannot now remember, even if I ever knew, but men on leave \nfrom the Rhine districts brought back stories about things they had seen and \nheard there\u2014stories which were not calculated to allay our uneasiness. It \nwas quite evident that, as Germany had never suffered the horrors of invasion, \nas no part of her territory had ever been destroyed or whole populations (old \nmen, women and young children) deported and pressed into slavery and abject \nmisery through the years, as life there had never been disorganized (towns \nrazed so that you could not even distinguish them from the land which sur\u00ac \nrounded them, and fertile fields laid bare)\u2014it was quite evident that in a far \nshorter time than France was now facing, Germany would be on her feet again; \nit was also evident that she herself already knew this. Therefore, with the \nmost heartbreaking tales daily reaching us from the devastated regions of \nFrance\u2014regions where there was hardly a house left standing, where as yet \nthere was practically no food or any immediate hope of food; where the fields \nwhich might have been cultivated had been systematically, scientifically made \nbarren for years to come\u2014it is not surprising that at first incredulity, and \nthen the utmost indignation was felt in France when we heard it said (even \nwithin a few days after the armistice was signed) that in America, where the food \nrelief campaign was vigorously being pushed, there was serious discussion and \napparent intention \u201cto feed the starving Germans\u201d who, moreover, were demand\u00ac \ning it as though by right! For four long and bitter years the Germans had been \nmethodically and with malign purpose, starving millions\u2014women and children \nas well as men; now they were eloquently pleading hunger on their own account; \nthey were demanding that food be sent them without delay. I believe that, \napart from the burning indignation which was felt when the pitiful condition of \nthe returned French prisoners became generally known, there was nothing, at \nleast in the later part of the War, which roused public feeling to such a pitch as \ndid this amazing idea from overseas (the plan to feed the Germans was referred \nto there as proof of \u201cimpartiality\u201d!), and many of us who were Americans living \nin France, particularly those of us who were daily learning more about the \nfearful destitution which existed in the devastated regions, were outspoken in \nour protests against the injustice of feeding the murderers while the victims were \nstill dying of hunger. France did not feel \u201cimpartial\u201d\u2014why should she? How \ncould she? Did America imagine that France could feel and act as though \nnothing had happened? The Germans had not yet even acknowledged their \nguilt, and we felt they could quite well feed themselves out of their superfluity \nof land\u2014land which had never been laid waste. Perhaps for many people it \nis difficult to realize to-day, when so much has been forgotten, how strong and \ndeep and unrelenting was our condemnation of the organized atrocities in \nBelgium and in France; of the shameless deportations of noncombatants, \nespecially of the women and young girls; of the unheard of cruelties to the \nAllied prisoners of war. But perhaps it is even more difficult to realize to-day, \nhow, with some of us who were there, and who saw with our own eyes what was \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n229 \n\n\ntaking place, this condemnation, this burning indignation still remains, and \nmust remain, unquenchable. \n\nNews of the most distressing kind came in from the devastated regions\u2014 \nstories of unbelievable misery and need. Those civilians who, despite every\u00ac \nthing, had remained in or near their old, now ruined homes, were facing con\u00ac \nditions which mortal man could not live through unless immediate help reached \nthem. Those who were slowly returning, after evacuation, found the con\u00ac \nditions almost as dangerous as before they had left, for, of course, not only were \nthe fields strewn with still unexploded bombs (which, however, did explode if \ninadvertently jarred), but the retreating Germans, true to their fiendish methods, \nhad left time-fuse bombs in countless semi-demolished houses all over the coun\u00ac \ntry from which they had been driven out, so that a returning family, thankful \nto find even a few tottering walls of what had once been their home, would be \nblown out of existence the moment they crossed their shattered threshold. \nEven small children, who had escaped the savagery of earlier days, now fell \ninnocent victims to this later, perhaps more refined and diabolical atrocity, \nbeing killed without a moment\u2019s warning, as they played in the ruins of their \nformer homes. So it was dreadfully dangerous to return at all, both because of \nlive shells in the fields, or those hidden in broken chairs or under innocent \nenough looking tables in the smashed-in houses; and also because even if these \npoor, foot-weary wanderers did return, where was their food coming from\u2014 \nand with winter setting in, too? \n\nFrance, of course, was quick to recognize the immense, far-reaching need, \nand, almost before the ink of the signatures to the armistice was dry, relief on \nan even larger scale than that which had been organized and working from the \nbeginning (for civilian relief organizations had steadily advanced as the enemy \nretreated), was mapped out and set rolling. Close in the contaminated wake of \nthe retreating Germans, followed the various French Relief Committees, and \nalthough it was poignantly realized that years and years of work, and milliards \nin money, could not restore the North to what it had been before the War, \neveryone set heartily to work to do whatever he or she could do. It was at this \nmoment\u2014about two weeks after the armistice\u2014that my Committee asked me \nto go up to the Dtpartement du Nord on a quick tour of inspection; to come back \nand report and, if it appeared feasible, to return there and open a supply depot \nin that devastated region, by means of which the Committee would undertake \nto furnish warm clothing, shoes, blankets and other necessities to a given number \nof villages. The general area I was to investigate was that part of the country \nwhich lay between Douai and Valenciennes; I was to get details of the varying \nneeds of towns and villages in the locality, and as, on my return from this first \ntrip, we knew the French authorities would officially assign us a definite number \nof communes, we should thus lose no time in getting started. I had little diffi\u00ac \nculty in obtaining my various passes, for not only was my Committee well \nknown, but the French were, of course, eager to push all relief work, and they \noffered those engaged in it every possible facility and assistance. So, toward \nthe end of November, I started on what proved to be one of the most harrowing \n\n\n\n\n\n230 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nyet, at the same time, one of the most deeply interesting journeys which I have \never made. The camionnette furnished me by my Committee was, I believe, a \nFord\u2014though everything, to my uninitiated eye, appeared to be a Ford in \nthose days\u2014and the driver was a young French girl in the Motor Service Sec\u00ac \ntion, who proved to be as eager for the trip as I was. She was very good natured \nabout the load we had to carry, for it was not only heavy, but cumbersome as \nwell. It needed good packing to get in all that we had been told we should \nfind necessary: our petrol for the entire trip; a formidable array of tires, for we \nhad been informed of the condition of the roads we should have to pass over; \nall our food\u2014for even if, as relief workers, we might be offered a meal here and \nthere, we naturally had no wish to take a single mouthful from those who were \nin far more need than we could possibly be. In addition to this we took all we \ncould squeeze in of clothing for the most destitute, especially for the children\u2014 \nblankets and condensed milk. For although this was really but a tour of \ninspection, we knew that we were going where, as yet, little relief had penetra\u00ac \nted. When we had completed our packing and were at last ready to start, we \nlooked rather apprehensively at the springs of our poor old Ford\u2014they were as \nnear flat as they could well be! Nothing daunted, however, we determined to \nstart, taking whatever chanced, and we left Paris shortly after noon one bright, \nlate November day. \n\nWe had, of course, made many inquiries as to our best route, wishing to make \ngood time if we could, and feeling somewhat as though we were on an exploring \nexpedition into an unknown country, so uncertain was the going on almost all \nof the roads toward the North; but we could learn little save that we had'better \nhead straight for Beauvais, and from there go on to Amiens, where we could \nprobably stop the first night; after that we must shift for ourselves as well as we \ncould; no one in Paris (no one that we came upon, at least) had any idea what \nlay beyond that point. \n\nAs far as I can now remember, this first part of our journey was compara\u00ac \ntively uneventful, for, in order to avoid difficulties, we kept as far to the west \nas we could, thus skirting the high-water mark of the German advance, even \nthat of 1914. As we passed through Beauvais I was greatly relieved to see \nthat the beautiful cathedral was apparently unharmed, but as we continued \nour way toward Amiens, the wide-rolling country became increasingly seamed \nby long, waving, white lines\u2014trenches which stretched away as far into the \ndistance as we could see; deep, cruel slashes on the face of the earth. We also \ncame upon many blown-up bridges, and soon gave up counting them. It has \nbeen estimated that the Chemin de Fer du Nord alone lost well over fifteen hun\u00ac \ndred, and as for the bridges which spanned any river we came to\u2014all seemed to \nhave been sacrificed. We reached Amiens long after dark, and finding, as we \nmight have expected, that every available building which had been left intact \nhad been \u201ctaken over by the military\u201d, my little French driver began to be \nworried as to what we were to do next, especially with the car. Being in the \nEnglish sector, however, I felt quite at home, and more than equal to taking \nany liberties which might prove to be necessary. The streets were thronged \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n231 \n\n\nwith the familiar British khaki, and everywhere you heard English spoken (not \na little of it unmistakably hailing from that indefinable, but by no means mythical \nregion which lies within the sound of Bow Bells); so, way-laying a friendly \nN.C.O. who chanced to pass just at the right moment for us, I appealed to him \nfor help. With my usual good luck I had fallen upon a Secret Service man who \nknew all the ins and outs of Amiens at that time. It was a lucky thing for us \nthat we found him, for he assured us that he knew of only one house in the whole \ntown where he felt we could be even half comfortable or reasonably quiet and \nundisturbed, and that house was practically windowless (all the glass having \nbeen shattered), and was riddled with shrapnel holes. However, he took us \nunder his protection, and left not a stone unturned until he had got us safely \nlodged, fed and our car put up for the night. He was up at dawn the next \nmorning to see us on our way, telling us to take the Albert-Bapaume-Cambrai \nroad which would be the least impassable, as well as the least destructive to \nouf small car. We wanted, before nightfall, to reach a tiny village somewhat \nto the north of Cambrai, where a Paris friend had offered us the use of what \nremained of her ch&teau (her two old caretakers and the cur\u00a3 being in charge); \nthere we could make a kind of temporary headquarters with at least a roof over \nour heads, and could obtain what was of far more importance\u2014good, local \nadvice which would be invaluable to me in starting a centre for work. \n\nThat second day\u2019s journey was one long, black horror, yet, back of the horror, \nperpetually shone the glory. Shortly after leaving Amiens we entered an inde\u00ac \nscribably awful desolation\u2014we were crossing the old battle-fields of the Somme\u2014 \na desolation which, once seen, was to haunt me for ever after. \n\nIt was in the summer and autumn of 1916 that the great Allied offensive, \nthe First Somme, was fought\u2014fought, as far as Great Britain was concerned, \nchiefly by Kitchener\u2019s \u201cNew Army\u201d, the result of that superb and instant \nresponse of five million British Empire volunteers to the call of their great \nchief. Most of the \u201cOld Contemptibles\u201d had already fallen at Mons and \non the Aisne, at First and Second Ypres, at Neuve Chapelle and Festubert in \nthe following months, and it was here, in the lovely, smiling, agricultural country \nwhich stretched from Amiens to Bapaume that, between July and November, \na vast portion of the younger generation of Great Britain and her colonies was \nwiped out\u2014those hills and valleys of Picardy were to prove the last resting place \nof the most gallant, the most single-hearted among her younger sons. The \nreal object of the Somme offensive was to relieve the terrific pressure at Verdun, \nbut for two years the Germans had been uninterruptedly busy here, strengthen\u00ac \ning their defences, so that the obstacles which would have to be overcome \nbefore any breach in the enemy lines could be made were well recognized as \nalmost insuperable. Perhaps it would be safe to say that, since the end of open \nwarfare in the autumn of 1914, scarcely any offensive on the western front had \nbeen more hazardous or more momentous than this one. It was here, too, \nmore than at any previous time, that the terrible truth was at last realized\u2014the \ntruth of what Kitchener had, for so many futile years, been openly and cease\u00ac \nlessly declaring: the wicked folly of unpreparedness. I have always found it \n\n\n232 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nan arresting circumstance that it was less than a month after Kitchener s own \ntragic death, that the men of his splendid New Army faced (and how they faced \nit!) their first great baptism of fire; that through all the blood and agony of \nthat long, disheartening struggle, those men who, but two years before, had \nknown absolutely nothing of military training or of what the life of a soldier \ninvolved, demonstrated the stern metal of which they were made, fully lived \nup to the high traditions with which Kitchener himself had inspired them. \nThe First Somme has always seemed to me one of the highest tributes which \ncould have been paid him, for, while the military results may have fallen short \nof what was hoped, the superb, unflinching valour of those troops, in the midst \nof that unprecedented carnage, and under conditions which, up to that time, \nhad never even existed, would be difficult to surpass. \n\nThe Grande Route Nationale which we were now following, and which runs \neastward out of Amiens, leads at first through somewhat level country, and \nthen, toward Albert, enters a region of low-rolling hills, the ground rising grad\u00ac \nually until it reaches \u201cthe ridge\u201d\u2014that famous ridge!\u2014a little beyond Pozi&res, \nwhere it descends again gently toward Bapaume. It was on either side of this \ngreat highway, for some miles to the north and south (to the south where, at \nMaricourt, the British lines joined those of the French), that the severest of \nthe fighting of that summer and autumn took place; and it was straight through \nwhat remained of the country, not only after the first bitter and sanguinary \nstruggle, but also after the second and third, that we were now passing. From \nthe first advance of July, 1916, on a front of twenty miles, to the last phase at \nBeaumont-Hamel, the following November, that gigantic effort, that fighting \nagainst what proved to be overwhelming odds, resulted in little less than anni\u00ac \nhilation for a great part of the British forces; while as for the land itself, what \nhad once been spoken of as a smiling \u201cgarden\u201d became known, at the end of 1916, \nas \u201cLa Picardie Mutitie\", and still later, when Second and Third Somme had \nbeen fought in 1917 and 1918, as \u201cLe Royaume de la Mori \n\nThe day was dark and gloomy, which intensified the awfulness of what we saw, \nand the farther north we got, the more the horror grew. Before we had reached \nAlbert, practically all vegetation had disappeared; no grass, no shrubs, no trees; \nthe face of the earth, as far as the eyes could reach, a vast desolation of mud, \nnoisome, black mud everywhere, and in this mud, half floating, all that one \ncould expect or dream of finding on an abandoned battle-field\u2014all the ghastly \nrelics, the memories of war: gun carriages shot to pieces, with shreds and tatters \nof uniforms still hanging to them, caught in the wreckage, and telling of the \nmen on whom the lightning had flashed, and who, in a moment of time, had \nlost even the semblance of men; guns which had foundered in the morass, \ndragging living men down with them; floating carcasses of mules and horses; \nand out across the rotting waste, above which great, hideous flocks of carrion \nbirds constantly hovered, as we sped on, mile after mile, were huddled groups of \ncharred and blackened stumps of trees, lifting shell-splintered, ghostly arms in \nsilent protest, where, in happier days, shady forests had once grown. It was \nin 1916 on the Somme, that tanks were first used, and everywhere we saw their \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n233 \n\n\nhuge, dark shapes, floundering like great Tertiary monsters, in the slime of a \nprimeval world; enormous shell-holes made by Cyclopean explosions, wide and \ndeep like the craters of extinct volcanoes, stretched as far as our eyes could \nreach\u2014it was as lonely and awful as the dead face of the moon. And over it \nall was the mournful greyness of the wintry day, the bite and sting of the wintry \nwind. Often too, as some hillock lifted itself painfully out of the surrounding \nquagmire of death and decay, were to be seen those little, solitary graves so \nfamiliar to us all by now, each with a wooden cross, and a name written crudely \nupon it, or perhaps the single, eloquent word, \u201cUnknown\u201d, with sometimes a \ntrench helmet or even a Highlander\u2019s glengarry laid at the foot of the cross. \nThe mutilation of the surface of the earth, its actual transformation, by the \nlevelling of hills due to the springing of gigantic mines, and by the obliteration \nof valleys, was beyond anything I had ever seen before, and helped me to under\u00ac \nstand why the toll of life in that offensive, had been what it was. Of the hun\u00ac \ndreds of little villages which had been scattered all over this fertile and pros\u00ac \nperous land, only a few shapeless mounds remained to show that clustering \nhouses, under their sheltering trees, had once been there; some, we knew, actually \nlay at the bottom of the measureless, black-water-filled craters into which \nalso, during night attacks or advance under heavy fog, both men and horses \n(whole battalions at a time it has been said) fell and were drowned. It was a \ndevastation terrible beyond words to describe. Once or twice 1 had the car \nstopped and, getting out, walked off a little distance alone: there was the \nstillness of death; I missed the sound of the guns! The only normal things \nwe saw in that forlorn and dreadful waste\u2014something which helped to \nkeep the balance\u2014were the groups of friendly Tommies, mostly R.E., at \nwork on the road, or who splashed past us in their solid British lorries, and \nto all of whom I called a greeting, their faces lighting up with surprise and \npleasure when they heard what must have seemed to them like a voice from \nhome. \n\nAs we passed through Albert we looked in vain for one unbroken wall to \nrelieve the monotony of the destruction which had been wrought there; we \nfound not one. The great cathedral where, until the German advance of 1918, \nthe famous Virgin and Child still hung so miraculously, was a wreck of a few \ncrumbling arches and mountains of piled-up stone\u2014aching, gaping spaces \nthrough which the cold November winds were moaning. A little way out of \nAlbert, at a particularly dreary, ravaged spot, on a bare knoll which raised itself \nbeside the road, we passed a lonely Calvary\u2014it might have towered on the \nbleak heights of Golgotha itself, so utterly abandoned was it; and in the gloom of \nthat November light, the face of the Crucified One held you in awe, so great was \nits appeal; a special atmosphere seemed to emanate from that sad and quiet spot. \nLater it was told me, by one who was there during those terrible months of \ncrisis, that that Calvary was well known to all, and that it had upheld and \nfortified many a man who knew, as many a man did know beforehand, that his \nlast hour was near. We came to La Boisselle, another heap of ruins, and from a \nrise of ground I looked back westward, to where, toward Amiens, the friendly \n\n\n234 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ngreen of vegetation, and little, shapely houses which were still standing, could \nfaintly be discerned, and it seemed to me as though I were looking out on \nanother and a happier world, a world which I had left for ever behind me, \nhaving wandered into a strange, twilight region from which I could not hope \nto find an escape. What must that same view have meant to those men of \n1916 (because many of them must have stood just there, on that very spot), as \nthey turned for what they well knew was the last time, to take farewell of the \nold, dear and familiar life, before entering the death-filled trenches! Then, on \nagain we went. A little farther along that melancholy road, we passed through \nwhat had been Pozi&res, and over the famous \u201cridge\u201d, so bitterly contested, \nand then slipped down the incline toward Bapaume, and out beyond the line of \nthe old battle-fields, out of the worst of the wrack and ruin, out of that over\u00ac \nwhelming desolation. \n\nFuture generations may (perhaps justly) remember the immortal stand on \nthe Marne; the splendour of the struggle for Verdun and the epic battles in the \ndeadly Ypres salient, long after the incalculable sacrifice of the First Somme \nhas been forgotten; but our memory of the thousands upon thousands of the \nflower of Great Britain\u2019s New Army\u2014Kitchener\u2019s Army\u2014who fell there on \nthe chalk uplands of Picardy, or those whose young bodies were hopelessly \ncrippled and broken there, can never really fade. Somewhere that magnificent \nif unsuccessful effort must be for ever graven in the annals of the ages. The \nFirst Somme has been called \u201cthe supreme tragedy\u201d, but to many of us it will \nfor ever remain a supreme glory, and those dear British lads, and those lads \nfrom the far-off colonies who, in that fearful summer of 1916, there met death \nso gallantly, helped in a way which, perhaps, they may never even have guessed, \nto bring about the final victory of Verdun itself\u2014so inextricably interwoven \nare our destinies in war! \n\nIn Bapaume we discovered that we had another bad puncture as well as engine \ntrouble (no wonder, considering the roads we had just been over!), and my \nlittle French chaufeuse , without a moment\u2019s hesitation, heroically disappeared \nunder the car\u2014at least, most of her did\u2014while I looked about for help, way\u00ac \nlaying a youthful and amiable one-star subaltern, who chanced, to his misfortune, \nto be passing our way. With the usual wartime effrontery, I immediately \ncommandeered his attention. He was charmingly amenable, and took us to \nthe nearest repair station, where the car was soon patched up according to the \nmost approved British Army methods, and we were on the road again. This \nroad, from Bapaume to Cambrai, was of great interest to me, for it was here, in \nNovember, 1917, that the British, mostly infantry with the aid of many enor\u00ac \nmous tanks, had plunged forward in their terrific drive which came so near to \nbreaking through the Hindenburg Line. Had the Battle of Cambrai been \nwholly successful, it would have put an end to trench warfare, then and there. \nYet, even failing in this, the battle was of importance, as it held out a distinct \nhope which was, in fact, fulfilled the following spring; it presaged the open \nwarfare of 1918. The country beyond Bapaume had a far less exterminated \nlook than that which we had just been passing through; the miles of mud and \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n235 \n\n\nslime were being replaced by increasing stretches of grass,\u2014the poor earth \nbegan to take on a more familiar look. \n\nIt was night (and pitch black night too) when we reached Cambrai, only to \ndiscover that we had still another puncture; but, emboldened by my past suc\u00ac \ncesses, this time I appealed to the Town Major himself (I was coming up in \nthe world!), who soon got us into shape again, and, with his metaphorical \nblessing, started us off once more, explaining, as well as anyone could explain \nto anyone else\u2014a greenhorn at that\u2014the confusion of the roads, once we had \nleft the beaten track; telling us the best course to follow if we wanted, that same \nnight, to reach the small village toward which we were headed, and where we \nknew we were impatiently awaited. \n\nThis last lap of our journey was, in a way, the worst we had had as far as \nactual roads went, for, on leaving Cambrai, we also had to leave the main \nthoroughfare, and head, in the darkness, rather indefinitely north-east. Despite \nthe fact that we were far behind our pre-arranged schedule time, we were obliged \nto crawl along, for, every few yards, shell-holes yawned ahead of us, and these \nback roads not being paved, the ruts made by the heavy motor lorries and other \ntraffic were so deep that we lurched ominously from side to side. It was too \ndark for us to see anything to right or to left, and the chumed-up road as we \nploughed through the mud, looked dismal enough. To add to our general dis\u00ac \ncomfort, perhaps to a general sense of uneasiness, enormous and loathsome \nrats kept scurrying across our path, lit up for the moment by our headlights, \ntheir elongated, black shadows magnifying their real size to dreadful propor\u00ac \ntions. It was quite late by this time, and these smaller roads were very confus\u00ac \ning. We had long since ceased to meet the friendly Tommies who, throughout \nthe day, had given us so much help, encouragement and cheer, and we were \nbeginning to feel terribly lost and strange, two lone women out there in the \nnight, when suddenly, at a sharp bend in the road, we almost bumped into an \noverturned lorry, lying ignominiously in a ditch by the roadside, while only a \nfew yards away, in the adjoining field, were two of the familiar, khaki-clad \nfigures, warming themselves beside a cosy-looking camp fire. They were a \nwelcome sight indeed, to our bewildered eyes, and I called to them gladly. In \nan instant they were on their feet, naturally as astonished to hear themselves \naddressed in their native English and in a woman\u2019s voice, at that hour of the \nnight, and in that remote and desolate region, as we ourselves had been to find \nthem there\u2014at a moment too, when we were beginning to be so much perplexed \nand in such great need of help. They came stumbling toward us, over the \nrough ground, their honest young faces peering eagerly at us through the dark\u00ac \nness as they reached the side of our car; they had not seen an English-speaking \nwoman for a long time, and could not believe their eyes or ears. Having ditched \ntheir lorry by mishap that morning, they were waiting for the help which had \nbeen promised them, to get it out on the road again, and we spent a happy few \nminutes discussing that never-failing topic of conversation, \u201cBlighty\u201d, and \ntheir homes there, and what they had done before the War, and what they \nhoped to do once they were \u201cdemobbed\u201d, telling us as much about themselves \n\n\n\n\n\n\n236 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nas they could crowd into those few minutes, in turn asking me boyishly and \nfrankly all about myself\u2014where I had come from and where I was going to, and \nwhy I was there at all. All the little conventional nothings which mar so \nmuch of ordinary life, had dropped away, as I believe is always the case in times \nlike this\u2014we were just like old friends, reunited. Then, at my request, they \nexplained the false turning we had taken, putting us on the right track again, \nand reluctantly we drew off, leaving them standing there, side by side, until \nthey were lost in the darkness. I have always remembered that little incident, \nthough I do not exactly know why, for it was a common enough thing during \nthe War; but it remains a vivid if fleeting picture to this day: \n\nWe finally reached our destination\u2014the beautiful but semi-destroyed ch&teau \nlent us by our Paris friend\u2014and though, of course, everyone had long since gone \nto bed (we were hours later than we had hoped we should be), we nevertheless \nreceived a warm welcome from the two old caretakers, and the aged curd who was \nliving there, his own home having been destroyed. The following few days \nwere busy ones, while I was making my investigations regarding the need for \nhelp in the surrounding cantons; but one case stands out from that grim and \nsombre background of misery\u2014one case which alone would have been sufficient \nto fix me in my determination to come back again to the devastated North, as \nsoon as my report was turned in at headquarters in Paris. \n\nIt was the evening after our arrival, and we had returned from a full day \nin the outlying districts where I had had my first glimpse of the heroic endur\u00ac \nance, the silent suffering of these people who had lived through four long years \nof the German occupation\u2014suffering which had left its mark on every face. It \ncould not have been much more than nine o\u2019clock, but the small household had \nalready settled for the night. Everyone kept early hours in this part of the \nworld, chiefly to save light and heat. Even my young French driver had fallen \ninto a deep sleep, tired out with her exertions, for it was no easy task day after \nday to guide the car over the tom-up roads. As I sat there, reading by the \nlight of a single, flickering candle which I had brought with me for the purpose, \nthe absolute quiet within was only broken by the tempestuous winds without\u2014 \nwinds which shrilled eerily around the broken corners of the old building, making \na heavy shutter, partly loosened from its hinges by some well-aimed shot, bang \nsuddenly to, and then bang again with a disturbing, slow, broken rhythm. The \nsplendid great trees out in the park, groaned and swayed in the heavy gusts, \nand an ice-cold draught swept suddenly across the room, finding its way through \na great shell-hole in the wall\u2014a hole which was too wide and gaping to be securely \nclosed. \n\nSuddenly I was startled by a sharp, new sound\u2014a loud, insistent knocking \non some downstairs door. A pause, and again that loud knocking, even more \npressing this time. Then I heard someone stirring in an adjoining room, and \nfootsteps going quietly down the stairs; bolts pulled back and a heavy door \nopening somewhere below. I went out into the hall, my candle almost extin\u00ac \nguished by the strong current of air which was rushing along the corridor, and I \nwaited there to learn what the matter was. Up the stairs I heard feet slowly \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n237 \n\n\nclimbing, and one of the old caretakers appeared with a troubled face, telling \nme that a man had come, and was asking for \u201cthe relief ladies\u201d\u2014he wanted \ntheir help for a neighbour\u2019s child who was dying. He had walked many miles \nacross the sodden fields, having, in some way unknown to me, heard of our \narrival (the rapidity with which the news of relief travelled at this time, showed \nonly too well the desperate need), and he begged us to return with him to his \nvillage; he would not go away, he said, until the caretaker had promised to tell \nus that he was there, and the reason of his coming. I went back into the room \nI had just left, and roused my poor, exhausted driver, knowing well she would \nnever forgive me if I did not call her. While she was getting into her warm \nthings, I went downstairs to gather what information I could from the man who \nhad come so far to find us, and then, collecting some of the clothing and blankets \nwhich we had brought in our car, condensed milk, a \u201cTommy cooker\u201d and \nwhatever else I could find, with the man as guide, we started. A few dark and \ndismal miles brought us to a ruined village where but a handful of wrecked \nhouses was left\u2014I could distinguish their poor, misshapen forms even in the \nblackness of that night\u2014and we drew up at the broken door of one of them. As \nwe entered, I heard a little weary, feeble cry, but I could see absolutely nothing \nin the darkness of that forlorn interior, so, shading the dim light of a small \nelectric torch which I had brought with me, I looked about. A woman, dressed \nin some dull, threadbare material, was kneeling beside a disordered pile of straw, \non which lay a delirious child, tossing feverishly under a rag of covering\u2014part \nof a khaki overcoat, probably taken from some dead British soldier, or dis\u00ac \ncarded on an old battle-field\u2014her little, burning, restless hands plucking at the \nfew discoloured buttons of the coat, in a kind of wild distress. The woman\u2019s \nattitude was one of absolute despair, and I have never forgotten it. She knew \nthere was nothing she could do as she knelt there on the cold flagstones\u2014nothing \nexcept watch the ebbing life of her child. She was evidently quite destitute; \nthere was no heat in that shattered room, with its shell-splintered walls, where \nthe icy winds drifted in; there was no light, save that of my own electric torch; \nthere was not a crumb of food anywhere to be seen\u2014there was only that heart\u00ac \nbroken, lonely, ragged mother bending over her dying baby. When she heard \nus enter, she lifted tearless, unseeing eyes in which I instantly read that we \nhad come too late as, indeed, in a very few minutes we knew for ourselves. \nIt had been nothing less than a case of out-and-out starvation; exhaustion fro m \nlack of food, and then the inevitable consequences\u2014something I was to meet \nwith, over and over again. \n\nThe thought of that one woman was with me perpetually during the following \ndays before I started back to Paris, for perhaps even more than the child, was \nshe herself, in her abandoned sorrow, unforgettable; in her inarticulate anguish, \nher desolation, it was she, I think, more than anyone else I saw at that time, \nwho made me feel that I must not and could not rest one unnecessary hour until \nI had returned again to the North, and to the work of which this stricken area \nwas in such crying need. Volunteer. \n\n\n{To be concluded) \n\n\n236 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nas they could crowd into those few minutes, in turn asking me boyishly and \nfrankly all about myself\u2014where I had come from and where I was going to, and \nwhy I was there at all. All the little conventional nothings which mar so \nmuch of ordinary life, had dropped away, as I believe is always the case in times \nlike this\u2014we were just like old friends, reunited. Then, at my request, they \nexplained the false turning we had taken, putting us on the right track again, \nand reluctantly we drew off, leaving them standing there, side by side, until \nthey were lost in the darkness. I have always remembered that little incident, \nthough I do not exactly know why, for it was a common enough thing during \nthe War; but it remains a vivid if fleeting picture to this day: \n\nWe finally reached our destination\u2014the beautiful but semi-destroyed chateau \nlent us by our Paris friend\u2014and though, of course, everyone had long since gone \nto bed (we were hours later than we had hoped we should be), we nevertheless \nreceived a warm welcome from the two old caretakers, and the aged cur\u00a3 who was \nliving there, his own home having been destroyed. The following few days \nwere busy ones, while I was making my investigations regarding the need for \nhelp in the surrounding cantons; but one case stands out from that grim and \nsombre background of misery\u2014one case which alone would have been sufficient \nto fix me in my determination to come back again to the devastated North, as \nsoon as my report was turned in at headquarters in Paris. \n\nIt was the evening after our arrival, and we had returned from a full day \nin the outlying districts where I had had my first glimpse of the heroic endur\u00ac \nance, the silent suffering of these people who had lived through four long years \nof the German occupation\u2014suffering which had left its mark on every face. It \ncould not have been much more than nine o\u2019clock, but the small household had \nalready settled for the night. Everyone kept early hours in this part of the \nworld, chiefly to save light and heat. Even my young French driver had fallen \ninto a deep sleep, tired out with her exertions, for it was no easy task day after \nday to guide the car over the tom-up roads. As I sat there, reading by the \nlight of a single, flickering candle which I had brought with me for the purpose, \nthe absolute quiet within was only broken by the tempestuous winds without\u2014 \nwinds which shrilled eerily around the broken comers of the old building, making \na heavy shutter, partly loosened from its hinges by some well-aimed shot, bang \nsuddenly to, and then bang again with a disturbing, slow, broken rhythm. The \nsplendid great trees out in the park, groaned and swayed in the heavy gusts, \nand an ice-cold draught swept suddenly across the room, finding its way through \na great shell-hole in the wall\u2014a hole which was too wide and gaping to be securely \nclosed. \n\nSuddenly I was startled by a sharp, new sound\u2014a loud, insistent knocking \non some downstairs door. A pause, and again that loud knocking, even more \npressing this time. Then I heard someone stirring in an adjoining room, and \nfootsteps going quietly down the stairs; bolts pulled back and a heavy door \nopening somewhere below. I went out into the hall, my candle almost extin\u00ac \nguished by the strong current of air which was rushing along the corridor, and I \nwaited there to learn what the matter was. Up the stairs I heard feet slowly \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n237 \n\n\nclimbing, and one of the old caretakers appeared with a troubled face, telling \nme that a man had come, and was asking for \u201cthe relief ladies\u201d\u2014he wanted \ntheir help for a neighbour\u2019s child who was dying. He had walked many miles \nacross the sodden fields, having, in some way unknown to me, heard of our \narrival (the rapidity with which the news of relief travelled at this time, showed \nonly too well the desperate need), and he begged us to return with him to his \nvillage; he would not go away, he said, until the caretaker had promised to tell \nus that he was there, and the reason of his coming. I went back into the room \nI had just left, and roused my poor, exhausted driver, knowing well she would \nnever forgive me if I did not call her. While she was getting into her warm \nthings, I went downstairs to gather what information I could from the man who \nhad come so far to find us, and then, collecting some of the clothing and blankets \nwhich we had brought in our car, condensed milk, a \u201cTommy cooker\u201d and \nwhatever else I could find, with the man as guide, we started. A few dark and \ndismal miles brought us to a ruined village where but a handful of wrecked \nhouses was left\u2014I could distinguish their poor, misshapen forms even in the \nblackness of that night\u2014and we drew up at the broken door of one of them. As \nwe entered, I heard a little weary, feeble cry, but I could see absolutely nothing \nin the darkness of that forlorn interior, so, shading the dim light of a small \nelectric torch which I had brought with me, I looked about. A woman, dressed \nin some dull, threadbare material, was kneeling beside a disordered pile of straw, \non which lay a delirious child, tossing feverishly under a rag of covering\u2014part \nof a khaki overcoat, probably taken from some dead British soldier, or dis\u00ac \ncarded on an old battle-field\u2014her little, burning, restless hands plucking at the \nfew discoloured buttons of the coat, in a kind of wild distress. The woman\u2019s \nattitude was one of absolute despair, and I have never forgotten it. She knew \nthere was nothing she could do as she knelt there on the cold flagstones\u2014nothing \nexcept watch the ebbing life of her child. She was evidently quite destitute; \nthere was no heat in that shattered room, with its shell-splintered walls, where \nthe icy winds drifted in; there was no light, save that of my own electric torch; \nthere was not a crumb of food anywhere to be seen\u2014there was only that heart\u00ac \nbroken, lonely, ragged mother bending over her dying baby. When she heard \nus enter, she lifted tearless, unseeing eyes in which I instantly read that we \nhad come too late as, indeed, in a very few minutes we knew for ourselves. \nIt had been nothing less than a case of out-and-out starvation; exhaustion fro m \nlack of food, and then the inevitable consequences\u2014something I was to meet \nwith, over and over again. \n\nThe thought of that one woman was with me perpetually during the following \ndays before I started back to Paris, for perhaps even more than the child, was \nshe herself, in her abandoned sorrow, unforgettable; in her inarticulate anguish, \nher desolation, it was she, I think, more than anyone else I saw at that time, \nwho made me feel that I must not and could not rest one unnecessary hour until \nI had returned again to the North, and to the work of which this stricken area \nwas in such crying need. Volunteer. \n\n\n(To be concluded) \n\n\nTHE MYTHS OF PLATO \n\n\nI T is risky to recommend books to people. The trouble is I have discovered \nPlato in my old age and am inclined to be rather noisy about it,\u2014noisy, \nbut not bold, not even venturing to lift the eyes to that scholarly minority \namong my friends who know all about Plato, but speaking only to those who, \nlike myself, have been taught by wrong methods, or intimidated by big names, \nor bewildered by the dissensions of experts, and then left high and dry in a no \nman\u2019s land of thought. Queer beings that we are, we plume ourselves on queer \nthings. It is quite usual to hear people boasting of no ear for sound, no eye for \ncolour, no respect for the ocean, as though these drawbacks were distinctions, \nto be carried like panaches; so a lifelong ignorance of Plato is nothing to be set up \nabout, even should egotism take that crazy twist. Speaking for myself, he was \nbadly introduced in school days,\u2014we were left blind to the charm and the beauty \nand the fun, we choked over the dialectics, dismissed Socrates as rather an old \ndear but lamentably plain, and only vaguely glimpsed that his display of jiu \njitsu on young Greeks was quite a performance. Then we left school, \u201cfinished\u201d, \nand forgot all about it. Years later it was borne in upon me that many writers, \nindeed all philosophical religious writers, seemed to have to refer to Plato every \nso often, and I began to wonder what I had missed at sixteen. The hour had \nstruck for Karma to give one of those educational shoves. The next step in a \ndunce\u2019s progress was the discovery that Plato was an initiate, and the next a \ndetermined search of The Secret Doctrine. That discovery was a blessed incen\u00ac \ntive, for with all deference to the awesome language they use, the stock philoso\u00ac \nphers are distinctly not initiates. Now a start was made, seeking I should find, \nand Karma had a book ready for me. With subtle wisdom, and for purposes of \ninfuriation, it was the wrong book, the very book a well-meaning, pedagogical \nsort of teacher would veto as too upsetting for an ignoramus\u2014a suave, adroit, \nwitty, well-bred, misleading book, the clever shallows of a brilliant essayist \nwho had rushed into a temple with his boots on, and greeted the unseen with a \nsneer. It did its appointed task of rousing antagonism and stubborn protest. \nHere were the facts\u2014Plato was an Initiate\u2014a member therefore of the White \nLodge\u2014a philosopher therefore to whom later philosophers, skating on one skate \nlike small boys down the alley, could go to find the other\u2014a thinker with whom \nthe world agrees or quarrels, but who, deriving from the Ancient Wisdom, must \nbe reckoned with by the student of that Wisdom. \n\nMy soul and my body! but these belated struggles toward an education are \nwearisome. The dialectical method, as of old, is still obnoxious to the lazy \nmind, and the droning boredom of dead afternoons comes echoing back. \n\nOnce more, I said, is there anything beautiful? \n\nYes. \n\n\n238 \n\n\n\n\nTHE MYTHS OF PLATO \n\n\n239 \n\n\nTo which the only opposite is the ugly ? \n\nThere is no other. \n\nAnd is there anything good? \n\nThere is. \n\nTo which the only opposite is evil? \n\nThere is no other. \n\nThen every opposite has one opposite and no more ? \n\nHe assented\u2014and on, and on, and on. \n\nAnd then the books about him and about. There was no time to go climbing \nall over Plato on step ladders. My kingdom for a book, and a book by a lover. \nIt passes belief how these writers fuss and squabble. For example, in The \nPlatonic Tradition in English Religious Thought , Dean Inge, in his fine, sane way, \nsays that \u201cPlatonism is essentially a philosophy of values\u2014the famous Ideas \nare values\u2014not unrealized ideals, but facts understood in their ultimate signifi\u00ac \ncance\u201d. Now what is there to question about that? Positively nothing. But \nalong comes Santayana, with page after page (so exquisitely written that they \ncannot be skipped, bad cess to him!) fussing about the precise meaning in this \nconnection of the word \u201cvalues\u201d, and gets a body all mixed up again. Ignorance, \nconscious of hunger, cannot be bothered with games of metaphysical spillikins \nor with the pros and cons of the academical-minded. My kingdom for a book\u2014 \nanother book! Then destiny stood smiling\u2014a friend, the servant of destiny, \nsaid, \u201cWhat you want is a book called The Myths of Plato \u201d, and put it in my \nhand. It was the right book at last, a lover\u2019s book, and the exotericists ceased \nfrom troubling, for \u201cbeyond these voices there is peace\u201d. \n\nA brief word is called for here as to just what purpose this book is meant \nto serve. It shall be spoken by Professor Stewart himself:\u2014 \n\nThat Myth is an organic part of the Platonic Drama, not an \nadded ornament, is a point about which the experienced reader of \nPlato can have no doubt. He feels, when the brisk debate is \nsilenced for a while, and Socrates or another great interlocutor \nopens his mouth in Myth, that the movement of the Philosophic \nDrama is not arrested, but is being sustained, at a crisis, on another \nplane. The Myth bursts in upon the Dialogue with a revelation of \nsomething new and strange; the narrow, matter-of-fact, workaday \nexperience, which the argumentative conversation puts in evidence, \nis suddenly flooded, as it were, and transfused by the inrush of a \nvast experience, as from another world\u2014\u201cPut off thy shoes from \nthy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground\u201d. . . . \n\nEach Myth is a unique work of art, and must be dealt with individ\u00ac \nually in its own context. ... It is good that a man should be made \nto feel in his heart how small a part of him his head is. Herein \nchiefly lies the present value of Myth (or of its equivalent, Poetry, \n\nMusic, or whatever else) for civilized man. \n\nSo the charm of these Myths is that of poetry; to arouse, as Dante, that other \ngreat maker of Myth, arouses it\u2014\u201cTranscendental Feeling\u201d, to regulate it and \nto satisfy it. Dr. Stewart argues that the Categories of the Understanding are \n\n\n240 \n\n\nTHE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\none thing, and the Transcendental Ideas are another; that in the mind of Plato \nthey are mutually implicit, but that, in the Myths, he lifts us to a region where \nwe are made to feel \u201cthe futility of rationalism, a region where Hope is confirmed \nby the \u2018vision splendid\u2019.\u201d \n\nThis method of approach to the truths of life is distinctly obnoxious to certain \ntypes of mind; they complain that Socrates has become unhinged, they want his \n\u201cdemon\u201d psycho-analyzed. A classical instance of this shortage of under\u00ac \nstanding is the charge brought against Plato by Kant, in the Critique of Pure \nReason: \n\nThe light dove, in free flight cleaving the air and feeling its resis\u00ac \ntance, might imagine that in airless space she would fare better. \n\nEven so Plato left the world of sense, because it sets so narrow \nlimits to the understanding, and ventured beyond, on the wings of \nthe Ideas, into the empty space of the pure understanding. He did \nnot see that, with all his effort, he made no way. \n\nIt is waste of time to argue with those who hate mysticism, who look askance \non \u201cesoteric jargon\u201d, and smile at the idea of Initiates. To that large and useful \nclass, with heads like four nails and both feet on the ground, we would say with \nall friendly goodwill, \u201cstay there and don\u2019t irritate yourselves with Myths\u2014 \nPlato\u2019s or another\u2019s.\u201d These things are for the others, (and surely the littlest \ntheosophist is numbered among them) who prefer wings and intend to use them, \nintermittently and feebly now\u2014but wait! \n\nIt was my avowed intention, when beginning this article, not to smarten \nit up with little tags and ends of Greek scrip, not to enrich it with long words \nlike eschatological and etiological and suchlike, and above all not to start \ntalking about any particular Myth\u2014for are not these all written in The Book? \nI did not know how hard it would be to refrain, for Greek is lovely and the Myths \nendearing. How much of the Ancient Wisdom dare we read into them? What \nis the prevailing obsession of the mind behind them\u2014the thinker, poet, knower, \nand impassioned lover of the race? It seems to me to be the kamic struggle, \nthe unending contest of the Desire of the World with the world\u2019s desire. In \nan effort to pierce the fog of human thought, the Myths unfold how it was in the \nbeginning, how it is now, and how it ever shall be. \n\nHow often have we wailed, or heard each other wail, \u201cIn what way can we \nbest get rid of Kama?\u201d How often have we heard the patient answer, \u201cNever \ntry,\u2014foster, train, transmute, it is your most precious possession.\u201d In the \nSymposium Myth, the Lady Diotima, treading with agile, cautious steps along \nthe edge of mystery, speaks of the soul\u2019s ascent through the passing shows of \nBeauty up to the Eternal Beauty. \u201c \u2019Tis then, dear Socrates, said the Woman of \nMantinea, that life is worth living, and then only, when a man cometh to behold \nBeauty Itself. Then he hath become beloved of God and is himself immortal.\u201d \n\nThere are many ways in which to say it, and our Lady Diotima knows them \nall\u2014\u201cLove is the power that moves the world, the only power that moves the \nspiritual world.\u201d \n\nL. S. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nf \n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND \nCELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\nA horse is no wealth to us if we cannot ride , nor a picture if we cannot see , nor \ncan a noble thing be wealth , except to a noble person .\u2014 Ruskin . \n\nW HEN St. Paul wrote to his lay-chela, Timothy, that \u201cthe love of money \nis the root of all evil\u201d, he probably meant just what he said; and, \nfurthermore, knew what he was talking about\u2014living, as he did, a \nJew in a commercial age corrupted by wealth and plenty. Moreover, we have it \non the high prophetic authority of Isaiah that mankind shall be redeemed \nwithout money and without price\u201d\u2014a statement of Celestial Economics in \nobvious contrast with the way the world sets about its philanthropic saving \nof anybody\u2014be he War Veteran or mere unemployed. The antithesis between \nlove of money and complete independence of it, is a commonplace; and, gen\u00ac \nerally speaking, the idea is still not unfamiliar in religious circles, however much \ndisregarded. Redemption\u2014the Kingdom of Heaven\u2014cannot be bought with \nmoney, but with \u201cthe blood of the heart\u201d alone,\u2014\u201cthy money perish with \nthee\u201d. Since, therefore, this era of special \u201cenlightenment\u201d in which we now \nlive, has been heralded as one pre-eminently commercial and economic; since \nthe \u201ceconomic virtues\u201d are extolled by teachers and publicists, endorsed by the \nclergy, and applied by statesmen to the solution of the world\u2019s political prob\u00ac \nlems; and since the root-principle of all economic theory is the enhancement of \nmaterial wealth and well-being,\u2014the need for clear thinking, and vigorous, \ndisciplined action on the part of students of Theosophy is obvious. How many \nindividuals has one met, inside as well as outside Ihe Theosophical Society, \nwho have no wish for more money or a larger income? Our outlook as children \nof the age is bound to be coloured; our personal Karmic inheritance is almost \ncertain to be tainted; our working ideals as well as our practice may well need, \nnot merely to be bettered, but revolutionized. The old-fashioned theory of \nrelease from this universal problem of God versus Mammon\u2014that of simply \ndying, after doing one\u2019s blundering best, and going with any luck to a moneyless \nheaven\u2014is no longer open to most members of the Society, for they realize that \nultimately the lessons of life cannot be side-stepped; every one of them has to \nbe learned, and all problems solved by each in turn. Membership in the Lodge, \nnot heaven (Devachan), is our destiny, for Devachan is but an interlude. More\u00ac \nover, the next Lodge Messenger will have enough to do, without having to \nstraighten us out about money matters. \n\nFew people seem to appreciate the extent to which the traditional Christian \nand therefore Western European\u2014attitude towards money and commercial \nundertakings has changed, due, historically speaking, to what is known as the \n\n\n241 \n\n\n\n\n\n242 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nReformation. What may be called the true Christian ideal of money is almost \nunheard of, or unknown or disregarded, to-day. It survives in the ideals of a \nfew of the old-fashioned aristocrats, who, while still maintaining their code \nto their own pecuniary disadvantage, are by now probably unaware that it was \nfashioned out of purely religious principles, which have existed and been taught \nsince the dawn of Christianity. The change was decidedly for the worse, not \nfor the better; it was a typical Kali Yug lowering of ideals, as unmistakable as \nthe accompanying decline in art and architecture. \u201cWhen man became \nwealthy\u201d, writes Mr. F. R. Webber in Church Symbolism (1927, p. 18), \u201cand \neven before the wheels of the factory system had begun to whirr, an artistic \ndecline set in. Read Mr. R. H. Tawney\u2019s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism , \nand escape that conclusion if you can.\u201d This reference led to the reading of \nProfessor Tawney\u2019s book, and it would seem that such a conclusion cannot be \nescaped. The volume is a study of the highest interest, demonstrating, with a \nwealth of facts and unmistakable cogency of argument, that the rise of capital\u00ac \nistic enterprise, with its concomitant attitude towards both money and religion, \nwas a direct consequence of the deliberate and prolonged disregard, by church\u00ac \nmen, of the early Christian ideal, leading to a divorce between religion and busi\u00ac \nness affairs, and, by reaction, to the wide-spread debasement, not only of ordinary \npractice, but precisely of the ideals of business ethics. The ethics of organized \nreligious business seems supinely to have followed suit. May not the time \nhave come when the Theosophical leaven will begin to restore these ideals in \nboth domains? Professor Tawney\u2019s book provides a new incentive to this end; \nit was published in 1926, and the author has been a Fellow of Balliol College, \nOxford, and is now a Professor of Economic History in the University of London. \n\nBefore, however, attempting to survey in part, and perhaps interpret, Chris\u00ac \ntian thought on the general subject of the \u201ceconomic\u201d use of money, it might be \nwell to remind ourselves of what our own Movement has contributed directly, \nduring the past fifty years, to elucidate the principles involved. Such principles, \nbeing the principles of the Lodge, are absolute, and inherently right in them\u00ac \nselves. They foreshadow the actual practice of men of future ages and races. \nIt will be easier, with this in mind, to measure the approximation of the exoteric \nChristian ideal, and to see more clearly in what directions effective future \neffort lies. Those who believe that the Lodge is preparing to send another Mes\u00ac \nsenger in the near future; those who believe with Mr. J. F. B. Mitchell, as \nexpressed in his inspiring article, \u201cThe Purpose of Chivalric Codes\u201d (Quarterly, \nJanuary, 1931), that: \u201cAs a man\u2019s code is, so is he\u201d, and that: \u201cObviously it \nfollows that the way to grow, and the only way, is constantly to raise the level \nof the code by which one lives\u201d,\u2014will wish first to understand, and then to \nbring their lives into conformity with, the Code of the Lodge in all financial \nmatters, so as to meet the next Messenger as nearly as possible at that point, \non prepared ground. It is obvious that the way properly to regard and admin\u00ac \nister finances concerns not merely every ch\u00a3la, but every would-be servant of \nthe Lodge in any capacity, however humble; and how far apart the Code of the \nLodge is from that of the world, would hardly seem to need characterization. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n243 \n\n\nYet we do need reminders of just this antithesis, because we have grown accus\u00ac \ntomed to what seems so overwhelmingly inevitable in conditions about us, and \nhave all adopted more or less of a compromise even with our own present ideals. \nIt has become a characteristic of the Western mind to agree to the beauty and \ndesirability of an ideal, and then to disregard it almost completely in action, \na fact which the Maha Chohan himself called to our attention in his letter of \n1881. It is not until confronted with a pressing personal problem that most \nmen give heed to the implications of many of their ordinary acts. Ch\u00a3laship \nmay be defined in terms of a growing self-consciousness, and of the ability to \nbecome self-moving, to seize the initiative away from the Karma of one\u2019s own \npast and that of one\u2019s race and country, and so to \u201cstand alone\u201d on the right- \nhand side. For a thousand years the Christian Church itself has, while pre\u00ac \nserving the ideal, at the same time deliberately acted contrarily to it. An \nincident told of Pope Innocent IV is unfortunately typical, and explains why \nlay-ideals have since fallen so low. The papal office, some claim, has always \nrepresented the great Western Master visibly on earth. Innocent IV has been \ncharacterized admiringly as \u201ca consummate man of business, a believer, even \nto excess, in Realpolitik , and one of the ablest statesmen of his day\u201d. There \nwas, perhaps on that account, little of \u201cinnocence\u201d or other-worldliness about \nhim. He is described as having stood with Thomas Aquinas on a balcony of \nthe great Lateran Palace in Rome, watching a guarded caravan of mules, heavily \nladen with treasure, safely entering the Papal gates. Perhaps noting the expres\u00ac \nsion on St. Thomas\u2019 face, he exclaimed, laughing: \u201cThe day is far past when the \nsuccessors of Peter could say: \u2018Silver and gold have I none\u2019.\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d replied \nthe Angelic Doctor, \u201cand equally so their ability to say to the lame and halt \nwhat followed: \u2018Rise up and walk\u2019.\u201d Even such a Pope must have glimpsed \nthen, if only for a moment, the direct relation between a cause and its effect. \nIf such things pertain to Kali Yuga, must not the new Race be launched with \nbetter ideals and a higher common level of practice? Spiritual wickedness in \nhigh places cannot be permitted to hold the citadel of religion when the new \n\u201cGolden Age\u201d is inaugurated. Fortunately, as preparer for that great event, \nThe Theosophical Society knows where to turn for the ideal, and also for the \nguidance to re-establish it on earth. \n\nA fact which must give any serious member of the Society food for thought, is \nthat Madame Blavatsky, the accredited Lodge Messenger of her century, had to \nearn her own living throughout her years of service, supporting herself by writing \narticles for the Russian papers, etc., while donating most of the proceeds of her \nbooks to the Work. Furthermore, she frequently rejected flattering financial \noffers in order to devote all the time possible to her theosophic writings. Recent \nletters of Mr. Judge in the Quarterly show how little money was available \nin his time for the Work, and how carefully he calculated the expenditure of \nevery dollar. Certainly in the case of Madame Blavatsky, her poverty did not \nprevent her from appealing for and getting help on at least one occasion, nar\u00ac \nrated by Dr. Keightley, striking because of its very simplicity, when a five pound \nnote to be used for an urgent charity was materialized through occult channels \n\n\n\n\n244 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nat her request. H.P.B. at the time explained that \u201cunder certain circum\u00ac \nstances of merit she had the right to call on certain funds and on certain centres \nin charge of her occult friends for such aid to others\u201d (Quarterly, VIII, Oct., \n1910; p. 120). But apparently cMlas could never assume that such money \nwould be forthcoming for their own use. It has been said that since money is of \nthe earth earthy, it is peculiarly the instrument of the Black Lodge. The \nimplications of this, and the need for strict rules, therefore, are manifest. A \nch\u00a3la in the world, we are told, is expected to be able to earn his own living and \nfulfil pecuniary family obligations; in other words, to be master of his own \nenvironment and in no sense the inferior of, or dependent upon, worldly men, \nhowever capable. \n\nA moment\u2019s thought will show how in important essentials this whole approach \nand mode of life is superior to that existing, not, of course, in Wall Street, but \nthroughout the organized churches to-day, Protestant and Catholic alike. \nSt. Francis of Assisi, whose spirit and effort were set against the worldly attitude \ntowards money, was not wise enough to provide that monks must have it in \nthem to earn their own living, and that his Order should refuse endowments. \nLaziness became an outstanding Franciscan fault. The churches one and all \nare notoriously acquisitive, as is even the Franciscan Order as a whole to-day; \nand the Roman Church is probably the richest single organization in the Western \nworld. Ch\u00a3las must be completely detached from money, not as the negative \nresult of total abstinence (which is, as far as \u201cpractical\u201d, the basis of exoteric \nreligious practice), but by means of the harder and higher discipline of its right \nuse\u2014to be \u201cin the world but not of it\u201d in literal fact. No man can be a real or \ndependable soldier until he has learned to handle with the indifference of com\u00ac \nplete mastery the most dangerous explosives, and weapons which, improperly \nused, would deal death to his own comrades as readily as to the enemy. \n\nThere can hardly be any need to discuss the obvious fact, therefore, that a \nright attitude towards money is essential, and an attitude not limited to common \nhonesty, but one of rigorous discipline and detachment. We live, however, in a \n\u201ccommercial age\u201d, an age in which the popular demand is not even that what\u00ac \never gods may be should prosper business, but that all religion, with its religious \nprinciples and ideals, must keep \u201chands off\u201d business. It should be needless to \nsay, however, that a Lodge Messenger can hardly be expected to conform to \nworldly requirements, or to fit his ideas into modem economic theories. Many \npeople know that the current attitude of business towards religion is not that of \nthe Middle Ages; and the most frequent explanation of the backwardness, \nrelative poverty, and economic ignorance of the Middle Ages is precisely that \n\u201ctheology\u201d, enforced by ecclesiastical courts, anathemas, and a subservient or \ncoerced secular power, dictated the canons of commercialism. But what those \nreligious principles and ideals, which endured for more than a thousand years, \nreally were, is forgotten to-day. Forgotten, also, is the fact that behind the \ntechnical formulations of theology lay a spirit, upon which the Church Fathers \nand Mediaeval theologians drew, or into which they entered,\u2014for a Thomas \nAquinas literally wrote on his knees. It is highly instructive to appreciate \n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n245 \n\n\nthis traditional ideal, and to study the course of events and of actions which \nled to so complete a volte-face \u2014and to the virtual loss, for all practical purposes, \nof a body of ideals which approximated far more nearly that of the Lodge than \nanything now held. The transition cannot be dealt with here; but a brief \nreview of the Mediaeval Code will be attempted, together with some indication \nof the contrast with modem points of view. It should without doubt be easier \nto reclaim or to revive the dynamic ideals of our own Western religion, than to \nadopt a new code which might appear to be alien. Moreover, the Western \nMaster\u2019s method seems to be, not to destroy but to fulfil, the old dispensations. \nWe might also surmise that most of us must have lived during the Middle Ages; \nso the foundations of a truly \u201cChristian\u201d ideal may already have been laid in \nour characters, and the fact be that once we held worthier ideals of money than \nthose which we may now have adopted because universally current to-day. \n\nThroughout the Middle Ages the Church was a kind of state, superimposed \nupon, or interpenetrating, the kingdoms, feudal estates, and peoples of Europe. \nNo one conceived of a society which \u201ctreated religion as a thing privately vital \nbut publicly indifferent\u201d (Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism , p. 6); \non the contrary, religious sanctions for every activity of life, and not \u201cnatural\u201d \nor \u201ceconomic\u201d or \u201crational\u201d motives, were universally admitted, at least in \ntheory, to be essential. Human life and progress had no meaning unless con\u00ac \nceived in religious terms. Progress meant an advance towards the realization \nof the Kingdom of Heaven, not the stabilizing or equitable distribution of wealth, \nand the multiplication of contrivances to reduce manual labour, provide amuse\u00ac \nment, and lighten the burdens of life. Church and King and Emperor, knights \nand military leaders and scholars, one and all held \u201csupernatural commis\u00ac \nsions\u201d,\u2014a last echo of the days of Adept Kings, and colleges or schools of an \ninitiated Priesthood. No man was popularly considered really to be King \nuntil properly consecrated\u2014as witness Charles VII and the mission of Jeanne \nd\u2019Arc\u2014for even in the XVth century the instinct of the people was still sound, \nand the Church taught traditionally what it no longer understood,\u2014though \n\u201cthe light eternal\u201d of a great mystic theologian like Siger de Brabant could \ndeclare that after consecration the King carried \u201cthe living image of God within \nhim.\u201d 1 The outer, visible estate and power of the Church merely reflected the \nextent to which the mind and thought of Europe were saturated with Christiark \nconceptions, however exoteric, which were focussed in the one common mind \nof the Church\u2014its teachings, its practices, its ideals. To-day the divorce is \nso complete between the different and differing religions, and all the rest of \nlife\u2014family, business, political, and even military\u2014that it is hard to realize \nthe extent of this earlier single religious interpenetration and influence. The \nfinal \u201cend\u201d, or object of every man, as ostensibly of institutions, was to achieve \nsalvation, and to be assured of heaven in the next world. This world was \ntherefore still the God-given means to an other-worldly end,\u2014not yet an end in \n\n\n1 Quoted by Louis Madclin in Jeanne d\u2019Arc, by Marshal Foch and others; Paris, 1929, p. 69; cf. Dante's Paradiso, \nx. 133-8, for the characterization of Siger. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n246 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nitself, as it has become to-day. Men, it is true, did not by any means live up \nto their code; but the code itself had maintained its level, and was rooted and \ngrounded in religious principle. It is precisely the loss of this code that marks \nthe decline of to-day. Not until the deliberate and prolonged corruption of the \nChurch\u2019s hierarchy, from the top down, had spread its evil influence broadcast, \nwas there any serious questioning of the ideal itself. \u201cA cynical unscrupulous\u00ac \nness in high places is not incompatible with a general belief in the validity of \nmoral standards which are contradicted by it\u201d, writes Professor Tawney (p. 9); \nbut though this can seem true for a while, events have nevertheless proved that \nwhat started as despairing criticism of the Church\u2019s iniquities gave place at \nlength to open revolt, schism, and defiance. For this, the Church was primar\u00ac \nily responsible. With revolt came the loss of much that was good, and the per\u00ac \nversion of a righteous teaching which, while being proclaimed and enforced on \nthe laity, had been belied in act by ecclesiastics. It is unfortunately true that \nthe attainment of intelligence and power has tended to produce more \u201cblackies\u201d \nthan saints, and the ofliciaj Christian Church became the antithesis of \nChristianity. \n\nThe change from higher to lower ideals, which began with the debasement of \necclesiastical conduct, found its first outer expression in the \u201cemancipation\u201d \nof the secular state from religion. With the best of motives, rulers could no \nlonger in conscience obey Popes and archbishops,\u2014while the best of motives \nwere as scarce amongst worldly rulers then as now. A separation became \ninevitable; and Machiavelli\u2019s famous formulation of the new ideas in the first \nquarter of the sixteenth century was a direct outcome of ecclesiastical mis\u00ac \ndemeanours. Moreover, at the same time that the new and secularized philos\u00ac \nophy of government and human behaviour was being worked out, the knowledge \nof the great pagan classical achievements before Christianity was recovered, \nwhich reinforced the secular attitude and, because of their fruits, seemed to \njustify it; while at the same time a tremendous treasure of gold, silver and \nprecious things came pouring into Europe from the plundering of the newly dis\u00ac \ncovered Americas, which served to whet man\u2019s natural appetite for gold. With \nthe rise of new governments, therefore, entirely independent of the Church and \noften openly hostile to it, and with the enormous expansion of trade and wealth, \na new set of laws grew up, outside the ecclesiastical courts and canon law, which \nwas deliberately designed to further business enterprise, and which no longer \nregarded the old religious sanctions. We take for granted this condition of \naffairs to-day, and suppose that what is, has always been. But such was neither \nthe Christian theory, nor, in essentials, its practice: \u201cWhatsoever ye do in word \nor deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus\u201d (Col. iii. 17). Two centuries, \nroughly from 1500 to 1700, witnessed a momentous change in polarization. At \nthe earlier date, \u201cthe typical economic systems are those of the schoolmen; \nthe typical popular teaching is that of the sermon, or of such manuals as Dives \net Pauper; the typical appeal in difficult cases of conscience is to the Bible, the \nFathers, the canon law and Its interpreters; the typical controversy is carried \non in terms of morality and religion as regularly and inevitably as two centuries \n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n247 \n\n\nlater it is conducted in terms of economic expediency\u201d (Tawney, p. 9). In \nEngland, even as late as the reign of Charles I, to discuss business solely in \nterms of profit and loss, or of expediency, was still considered disreputable \nand cynical. The desire to \u201cget rich quick\u201d smacked of defiance of God\u2019s will \nand His Providential ways with men. To make money, if it meant to take a \nprofit from one\u2019s neighbour, so as to amass riches for oneself, was usury , and put \na man outside the pale. The courts severely punished such an offender, and \nalways made him restore the money he had gained. But after the Civil War \nin England, and the religious wars on the Continent, it became apparent that \ndivision among the Churches, and contradictory teaching emanating from high \nquarters, no longer left unquestioned a common standard of economic conduct, \nand the ecclesiastical courts found themselves unable to enforce their decisions, \nand soon became impotent. Furthermore, where religious tolerance existed\u2014 \nwhich implied a relaxation of all harsh measures to maintain and enforce the old \ncommercial standards\u2014trade flourished, as in Holland. The effect was inevi\u00ac \ntable, human nature and human appetites being what they are. Able business \nmen, usually unscrupulous, acquired for themselves as much money as they \ncould get, and worked out economic theories to justify the gratification of their \ndesires. Their very success and prosperity, which in due time good and worthy \npeople shared also, enabled them to overcome the prejudice grounded on the old \nreligious ideals. God manifestly prospered their undertakings! So religious \nstandards no longer restrained \u201ceconomic appetites\u201d, and the so-called \u201ceconomic \nvirtues\u201d first appeared. \n\nBut before 1500, such things as \u201ceconomic appetites\u201d, by the gratification \nof which merchants and bankers could amass fortunes, were not paraded as \nvirtues, nor were the public conveyances and country landscapes given over \nto the artificial stimulation of those appetites. The Schoolmen and Church \nFathers applied, instead, simpler and more homely terms, namely, \u201cavarice\u201d, \n\u201cusury\u201d, \u201cgluttony\u201d, \u201cluxury\u201d, and the like. Asceticism, exemplified however \nimperfectly by the religious Orders, was the ideal; and the simple layman admired \nand revered where he did not, or felt that he could not, follow. Christ\u2019s King\u00ac \ndom of Righteousness, the ever-watchful eye of ministering and protecting angels, \nthe Communion of Saints, were still everyday realities. Worldly activities \ncould not escape the heavenly witness, and so, sometimes perforce, accepted the \nheavenly standards. \u201cParadise is everywhere\u201d, Dante tells us, \u201cthough the \ngrace of the highest good is not shed everywhere in the same degree\u201d (ParA \niii. 89-90)\u2014expressing in matchless phrase the beliefs not merely of a truly \nChristian poet, but of his age. \n\nThe first and fundamental assumption of the Middle Ages, therefore, was \nthat the ultimate standard of human activities and institutions was religion. \nCould there be a sharper contrast between this and the modern assumption \nof \u201ceconomic expediency\u201d? Professor Tawney seems justly to characterize the \ntemper of English commercial enterprises in the last quarter of the XVIIth \ncentury (during the Restoration after the Civil War), as \u2018\u2018a ruthless material\u00ac \nism, determined at all costs to conquer world-markets from France and Holland, \n\n\n248 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nand prepared to sacrifice every other consideration to their economic ambitions\u201d \n(p. 268). Two centuries later, Ruskin was constrained to write of his own \ncountrymen: \u2018\u2018I said in my last paper that nothing in history had ever been so \ndisgraceful to human intellect as the acceptance among us of the common doc\u00ac \ntrines of political economy as a science. I have many grounds for saying this, \nbut one of the chief may be given in a few words. I know no previous instance \nin history of a nation\u2019s establishing a systematic disobedience to the first prin\u00ac \nciples of its professed religion. The writings which we (verbally) esteem as \ndivine, not only denounce the love of money as the source of all evil, and as an \nidolatry abhorred of the Deity, but declare mammon service to be the accurate \nand irreconcilable opposite of God\u2019s service: and, whenever they speak of \nriches absolute, and poverty absolute, declare woe to the rich, and blessing \nto the poor. Whereupon we forthwith investigate a science of becoming \nrich as the shortest road to national prosperity\u201d (Unto This Last , end of \nEssay III). \n\nThis spirit, typical of man\u2019s lower, selfish, and acquisitive nature, had once \nbeen held in check by the religious teaching of the Church. Exoteric religion, \nwhatever its limitations, is a step in the right direction; and the religious code \nof the Christian Middle Ages was better than any purely worldly or business \ncode to-day. Religion has a spiritual end, dependent upon moral attainment; \nand therefore it envisages results, not in terms of expediency, but in terms of \nprinciple based on whatever vision it has of everlasting truth,\u2014on that which \nis inherent in the very nature of the Universe. To-day, any idea of a spiritual \nend is held to be chimerical; nothing is visualized above material prosperity, \non which human happiness is supposed to depend. So a lowering of the physical \nstandards of living is held to be a crime against civilization, a hideous backward \nstep, provoking an outcry far louder than the most terrible lowering of moral \nstandards, as, for example, the murder of the Russian Imperial family, which \nevoked no single official protest, any more than did the subsequent governmental \nsale of the victims\u2019 stolen personal effects. Science having greatly enlarged \nthe average man\u2019s idea of the duration of time, without having given him the \nleast indication of his own reincarnation throughout that stupendous sweep, \nthe millennium of an Archbishop Usher, if there will ever be such a thing, is \nheld to be indefinitely remote, of no practical personal concern, and so is left \nto take care of itself. Similarly, the Kingdom of Heaven, if there be any out\u00ac \nside the dreams of men, is confounded with the millennium; and both are \ndenominated \u201cmystical concepts\u201d. What the Western world wants to-day are \n\u201cpractical\u201d ideals; and the practical is something which man\u2019s lower nature \ncan grasp without taxing either his imagination or his faith. The Great War \ndemonstrated that men are not yet incapable of responding to an ideal; but \neven so, in the case of several of the nations involved, the demands of an ideal \nwere enormously reinforced by a very evident necessity. But when the appeal \nof the ideal involves money, where is there evidence of response to idealism? \nTo-day, the remission of the debts of the Allies by the United States is again \nbeing publicly discussed; but the majority of those advocating it make their \n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n249 \n\n\nappeal on the ground that remission would pay more than collection. Men of \nconsequence are prepared to state openly that: \u201cAside from the question of the \njustice of cancellation, I am firmly convinced it would be good business for our \ngovernment to initiate a reduction in these debts at this time.\u201d 2 An appeal to \njustice, honour, and righteousness has so far failed, and would still fail; there\u00ac \nfore those who would get action must appeal to business \u2018\u2018horse sense\u201d and to \neconomic expediency. When ideals and economic expediency clash, ideals are \nbrushed aside as unessential, however ornamental; while if the two are occasion\u00ac \nally seen to coincide, and the masses can be convinced that for once they really \ndo, then all good people are outspokenly delighted, cynics are amused, while \npoliticians can wax, not merely rhetorical, but eloquent. \n\nIn the Middle Ages, however, it was still taught, and believed, that \u2018\u2018the \nperfect happiness of man consists in the vision of the Divine Essence\u201d, and \nthat this \u2018\u2018perfect happiness is not possible without a righteous (rede) will\u201d 3 \n\u2014things which no accumulation of gold would ever buy, and which experience \nhas taught are actually impeded by even a slight gratification of \u2018\u2018economic \nappetites\u201d. For \u2018\u2018Divine Essence\u201d we might substitute the term \u2018\u2018the Masters\u201d \n\u2014with all that that implies. \u2018\u2018It is impossible for man\u2019s happiness to consist in \nany created good,\u201d writes Aquinas, Pope Innocent IV notwithstanding. 4 Such \nbald statements are actually far more needed to-day than in the Xlllth cen\u00ac \ntury when Aquinas made them, for to-day even theologians might hesitate to \nproclaim such a doctrine too often and too loudly. Mediaeval Society, accepting \nthe teaching of Christianity, had a genuine and dynamic code; but it should \nbe obvious that \u2018\u2018expediency\u201d and \u2018\u2018appetites\u201d, based on a \u2018\u2018ruthless material\u00ac \nism\u201d, can never become the basis for a code in any true sense. Admitting that \nthe sins of mankind have always been numberless and always black; that \u2018\u2018from \nthe middle of the thirteenth century a continuous wail arises against the in\u00ac \niquity of the Church, and its burden may be summed up in the one word, \n\u2018avarice\u2019\u201d (Tawney, p. 29); that therefore the very citadel of religion no longer \nreverenced the Gospel according to St. Mark, but \u2018\u2018according to Marks of \nSilver\u201d, 6 \u2014nevertheless the Middle Ages had an ideal, and achieved as a result \na virtue, which has been submerged to-day, and which it must surely be the \npart of Theosophical leaven to reintroduce, purified and reinforced, into the \nminds and hearts of men. \n\nIt is a mistake to picture the mediaeval man of affairs as too naive, or too \nignorant, economically speaking, to recognize where his immediate and persona^ \neconomic advantages lay. On the contrary, he saw them; but because he had a \ncode which made a genuine appeal to something finer and better than his sole \nmaterial prosperity, he rejected them. Jewish money-lenders and Lombard \nbankers were outcasts and became a byword, though ecclesiastics did not hesi\u00ac \ntate to do business secretly with them; and finally, though Dante put the \n\n* Albert W. Wiggin, \u201chead of the world\u2019s largest bank\u201d, as quoted in The New York Times, January 12, 1931. \n\n\u2022Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I a II\u00ae. Quast. jii, art. vii; and Quaest. j v , art. j v . \n\n* Summa, I a II\u00ae, Q. ii, art. viii. \n\n* From a 13th century MS. known as \u201cCarmina Burana\u201d, extracts from which are translated by G. G. Coulton \nin A Mediaeval Garner, 1910, pp. 346-7. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n250 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nCahorsine money-lenders in hell, Pope Innocent IV gave them the title of \n\u201cpeculiar sons of the Roman Church\u201d (Romance ecclesice filii speciales; Tawney, \np. 29). Nevertheless, the universal theory was that \u201ceconomic advantages\u201d \nhad to be subordinated to the real business of life, which was salvation. Ma\u00ac \nterial riches are a part of worldly life; men cannot support themselves without \nthem; but because they provoke powerful appetites, like other strong passions, \nthey must be repressed, not given a free field. \u201cThere is no place in mediaeval \ntheory for economic activity which is not related to a moral end\u201d; and, \u201cto \nfound a science of society upon the assumption that the appetite for economic \ngain is ... to be accepted, like other natural forces, as an inevitable and self- \nevident datum , would have appeared to the mediaeval thinker as hardly less \nirrational or less immoral than to make the premise . . . pugnacity\u201d (Tawney, \npp. 31-2). To \u201cbetter oneself\u201d in the Middle Ages meant either to advance in \nroyal favour, or to enter religion; to-day it means to make, or to be in a position \nto make, more money. \u201cNow it is lawful to seek of God in prayer temporal \ngood things\u201d, wrote Aquinas, again epitomizing Christian teaching, \u201cbut not, \nhowever, putting them in the first place, as though setting our end therein, but \nregarding them as helps whereby we are assisted in tending towards blessedness, \ninasmuch as they support the life of the body and are of service to us as instru\u00ac \nments in performing acts of virtue.\u201d 6 So as to leave no possibility of misappre\u00ac \nhension, he adds later: \u201cTemporal goods are to be despised as hindering us \nfrom the love and service ( timore) of God\u201d, though, ideally, \u201cthey are not \nto be feared\u201d, because they help us \u201cas instruments to attain those things \nthat pertain to Divine fear and love.\u201d 7 Surely this ideal is one which the \nch\u00a3la might make his own without qualification. As the sainted Arch\u00ac \nbishop Antonio of Florence (c. 1450) wrote: \u201cRiches exist for man, not man for \nriches.\u201d \n\nThe Mediaeval Code had its foundation in three main currents of thought, \nwhich represented, as they should, the best of the past; first, Christ\u2019s teach\u00ac \ning which reinforced the Old Testament practice; second, Roman commercial \nethics and procedure; and third, Greek ideals as they affected Roman theory \nand the earlier Church Fathers. Together they throw into bold relief the utter \nmaterialism and selfishness of to-day,\u2014though, alas, these ancient ideals \nremained too often in the realms of abstract ideas. The field is large and full \nof interest, but can only be briefly summarized here. Perhaps the heart of \nthe matter lies in the actual use of money, or capital, for it is the modern methods \nof making money \u201cwork\u201d, of deriving income or interest from capital given out \nfor use, which primarily distinguishes this age as a capitalistic one from those \nwhich preceded it. Naturally the influence of Christ\u2019s teaching, together \nwith the Old Testament legislation, provided the principal basis for the Medi\u00ac \naeval Code; and it will probably be a surprise to discover how far the modern \nJew has fallen from his own original standards. Inevitably, back of any code \nas to the use of money, stands the Code of the Lodge; and an Initiate, such as \n\n6 Summa, II a II\u00ae, Quaist. lxxxiii, art. vi. The condensed Latin phrases require an expanded rendering. \n\n7 na q cxxv j ( ar t. x> re piy to objection 3. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n251 \n\n\na Moses or a Plato, in the nature of things must have expressed the Code of the \nLodge in terms fitting the times and the people addressed. Plato in his Republic \n(Bk. II, 357) spoke disparagingly of \u201cthe business of money-making, which \nno one would choose for its own sake\u201d\u2014an assumption refreshingly at variance \nwith modern conceptions; and he pointed out that the more men prosper in \ntrade, \u201cthe more they think of this and the less they think of virtue; for when \nriches and virtue are placed together in the scales of the balance, the one always \nrises as the other falls\u201d (Bk. VIII, 550). Aristotle defined money, not as a \nthing in itself, which it has now become to all intents and purposes in the popu\u00ac \nlar mind, but as \u201ca sort of medium\u201d which has, \u201cnot a natural, but a conventional \nexistence\u201d {Ethics, Bk. V, cap. viii). \n\nAs for taking accumulated wealth, or capital, and lending it at interest, or \nmaking it \u201cwork\u201d in the sense of \u201cturning it over\u201d, rather than oneself using it \ncreatively,\u2014such a thing was forbidden, and denominated \u201cusury.\u201d Usury \nhas come now to mean iniquitous or illegally high interest, but formerly it meant \ninterest of any kind on money lent. In the quotations that follow, usury always \nmeans the taking of any interest or increment on a loan. Aristotle stated outright \nin his Politics (I. 10) that \u201cto make money by usury is exceedingly unnatural\u201d. \nPlutarch, an initiated Greek whose life almost spanned the first century of \nChristianity, spoke of \u201cthe strong and unpleasant smell of usury\u201d, and wrote a \ndelightful and penetrating essay \u201cAgainst Running into Debt, or Taking Up \nMoney Upon Usury\u201d. * 7 * Money, in Rome, was once upon a time minted as a \nsacred thing at the temple of Juno, and derived its name, moneta , from a sur\u00ac \nname of that goddess. Roman law forbade the taking of interest upon money \nlent, until a late date, and even then, prohibited the collection in interest of more \nthan the equal of the original sum loaned, no matter how long the debt ran, nor \nhow high was the rate of interest originally agreed upon. This concession to \nmoney-lenders was later specifically repudiated by the Church Fathers and by \ncanon law. \n\nThe principles underlying this attitude towards the use of money are nowhere \nmore clearly defined than amongst the Jews. It is not always remembered \nthat to take interest was forbidden by the Old Testament legislation, and no \nJew charged another Jew interest for money loaned;\u2014though with typical \nconcession to the hardness of their hearts, exception was made where strangers \nwere concerned. 8 \u201cThou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of \nmoney, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury: Unto a \nstranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not \nlend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee\u201d etc. (Deut., xxiii, \n19-20); \u201cAnd if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then \n\n\n,a Plutarch\u2019s Lives and IVri/ings, ed. by A. H. Clough and Professor W. W. Goodman, New York, 1905; Vol. X, \n\npp. 412-424- \n\n8 This exception enabled the Jew money-lenders of Mediaeval Europe to control the money-market and bank\u00ac \ning. For Christians, all men were brethren; but as that did not result in any readiness to lend to each other or to \nhold all things in common, frequently the only money accessible was that of the Jews. Finally, Christians could \nno longer endure the strain, and they took to lending to one another at interest as avidly as the Jew to strangers. \nTo-day the Christian and Jewish precepts alike are utterly disregarded and forgotten. \n\n\n\n\n252 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nshalt thou relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he \nmay live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; \nthat thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon \nusury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase\u201d (Levit., xxv, 35-6-7; cf. Exodus, \nxxii, 25; Ezek., xviii, 8, 13, 17; Ps. xv, 5). The Jew for the most part lived up \nto his code with amazing strictness, sparing his brother, but finding an out\u00ac \nlet for human nature in grinding his neighbours. We find Philo, as might \nbe expected from one whom H.P.B. calls an Initiate, emphasizing the under\u00ac \nlying principles clearly: \u2018\u2018Moses prohibits a man from lending upon usury \nto his brother, meaning by brother not only him who is born of the same par\u00ac \nents as oneself, but everyone who is a fellow citizen or a fellow countryman, \nsince it is not just to exact offspring from money, as a farmer does from his \ncattle. And he enjoins his subjects not on that account to hold back and to \nbe more slow to contribute to the necessities of others; but rather, with open \nhands and willing spirits cheerfully to give to those who are in need,\u2014believing \nthat gratitude may in some degree be looked upon as interest repaid in a time \nof greater prosperity for what was loaned in an hour of necessity,\u2014and as paid \nback voluntarily by the recipient of the kindness. And if a person be unwilling \nto make a gift outright, still, let him anyhow make a loan, so as to provide \nfreely and cheerfully the temporary use of what is wanted, without expecting \nto receive back anything but the principal. For in this way the poor will not \nbecome poorer, by being compelled to return more than they received; nor will \nthose be committing any wrong if they receive back that only which they lent. \nAnd yet they will not receive nothing more in return, for with the principal\u2014 \ninstead of the interest which they have not required\u2014they will gain the best \nand most honourable of all human things, as they will have been kind and \nmagnanimous, and will have earned goodwill and a good name. And what \nacquisition equals this? For verily the mightiest king appears poor and help\u00ac \nless if he is compared with one single virtue; for he has only inanimate riches \nstored in his coffers or in the earth, but the wealth of virtue is stored up \nin the superior part of the soul; and that purest of all essences, heaven, claims \nitself a share in that, as also does the Creator and Father of the Universe, \nGod. \n\n\u201cTherefore we must look upon and call the riches of money-changers and \nusurers as poverty, though they appear to themselves to be mighty kings, \nwhereas they have never even seen that wealth which is itself endowed with \nsight, no, not even in their dreams. And these men are so extravagant in \nwickedness, that if they lack money, they make usurious loans even of food, \nlending it on condition of receiving back more than they lent. Accordingly, \nsuch men will at once contribute to those who ask; and will even prepare a famine \nor scarcity at a time of plenty and abundance, and make a profit out of the \nhunger of the stomachs of miserable men, weighing out the food in a scale, and \ntaking care not to give overweight. Therefore he [Moses] necessarily com\u00ac \nmands those who live under his sacred regime, to eschew every kind of such \nrevenues; for all such pursuits are the sign of a thoroughly slavish and selfish \n\n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n253 \n\n\nmind, which must be changed into savageness and become like that of brute \nbeasts, before it could adopt them.\u201d 9 \n\nThe Rabbis interpreted and applied these Mosaic principles with distinct \nfairness, and aimed at preventing the borrower from suffering any detriment, \nand the lender from gaining any advantage. The following quotations con\u00ac \ntrast so directly with modem usages, that they speak for themselves. In the \nTannaite Midrash on Exodus (the School of Ishmael) one reads: \u2018\u2018If a man \nlends a sela (worth four denars) on condition of receiving five denars at the \nexpiration of the term, or two seahs of wheat to receive three, this is usury.\u201d 9 * 1 \n\u201cIncrease\u201d, the word used in Leviticus, is interpreted as follows: \u201cA man \n(A) buys of another (B) a quantity of wheat at the market price of twenty- \nfive denars a kor , and pays cash for it, but leaves the grain warehoused with \nthe seller (B). The market price goes up to thirty, and (A) claims delivery of \nthe wheat, proposing to sell it and with the proceeds buy wine. The original \nseller (B) offers to buy back the wheat at the current price of thirty denars \n[quite legitimate], and to give to (A) wine of equivalent value at the then ruling \nmarket price, having at the time of the negotiation no wine in his possession. \nThis is constructively usurious, because in the interval before delivery the price \nof wine may advance, and (A) may thus receive more than his due.\u201d On this \nProfessor Moore comments: \u201cThe effect of this and similar regulations was to \nprohibit dealing in futures which have so large a place in modem speculation.\u201d \nAnother example is equally illuminating. \u201cA man may not give a shop-keeper \nproduce to sell with an agreement to share equally the profits made in disposing \nof it at retail, nor give him money to buy at wholesale and sell at retail on the \nsame conditions, unless he pays him wages, because, if the venture proves \nunprofitable, the shop-keeper will be out of his time and labour, besides the \nrisk of loss by fire or larceny, or by depreciation.\u201d Half of modem business \nwould cease if such principles were applied, but who can say that men\u2019s souls \nmight not be benefited! All the persons involved in any way in a usurious \ntransaction were guilty\u2014the lender, the borrower, the surety, the witnesses, \nand even the scrivener who drew up the contract. Interest actually paid might \nbe recovered at law during the lifetime of the lender (but not from his estate). \nIs it to be wondered at that \u201ca usurer is represented by Rabbi Simeon ben \nYohai as saying: Our master Moses was wise and his law is true; but if he had \nknown what profit there was in the business, he would not have written the \nlaw\u201d. 10 Is it not the spirit of the outcast usurer of old that has inherited the \nearth to-day, abrogating wisdom and true laws, and substituting fat profits \nand economic virtues? Plutarch tells us that usurers \u201claugh at those natural \nphilosophers who hold that nothing can be made of nothing and of that which \n\n9 Peri Philanthropes; text of Sigismund Galenius, Frankfort, 1691, pp. 701-2. It may be found under a dif\u00ac \nferent title and placed as part of a treatise On Three Virtues, by Yonge in the Bohn translation. Vol. Ill, pp. 430- \n31, which was of assistance in making the above translation. Cf. for a briefer and less illuminating exposition, \nJosephus, Antiquities, Bk. IV, cap. viii, sec. 2$. \n\n9a M. Baba Me$i\u2018a, 5, 1; quoted by Prof. George Foot Moore, of Harvard, in Judaism In The First Centuries of \nthe Christian Era, The Age of the Tannaim, Cambridge, 1927, Vol. II, p. 143. The following citations are quoted \nfrom the same work, pp. 143-6. \n\n10 Baba Mesi'a, 75b; quoted in a foot-note by Prof. Moore, op. cit., p. 145. \n\n\n\n\n254 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhad no existence; but with them usury is made and engendered of that which \nneither is nor ever was\u201d. Persians, he tells us, \u2018\u2018repute lying to be a sin only \nin a second degree. . . . Now there are not in the whole world any people who \nare oftener guilty of lying than usurers, nor that practise more unfaithfulness \nin their day-books, in which they set down that they have delivered such a sum \nof money to such a person, to whom they have not given nigh so much. And \nthe moving cause of their lying is pure avarice, not want or poverty, but an \ninsatiable desire of always having more, the end of which is neither pleasurable \nnor profitable to themselves. . . . The usurer . . . reaps no other advantage \nfrom it but only that he now and then takes his book of accounts, and reads in \nit . . . whence his money came which he is always turning, winding, and \nincreasing.\u201d \n\nFrom these quotations it is evident that the issue was clearly joined; and \nMediaeval Christianity recognized quite as fully exactly where the conflict lay. \nWhat, and what only, can be the object, the end, of trading for a profit and gain\u00ac \ning interest and increase on one\u2019s money? Simply to get, and to have, more \nmoney, with all that that implies. Christ specifically said: \u2018\u2018And if ye lend to \nthem of whom ye hope to receive, What thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to \nsinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and \nlend, hoping for nothing again: and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be \nthe children of the Highest\u201d (St. Luke, vi, 34-5). The Jew who heard him could \ncomprehend this, but the modem business man does not even listen,\u2014so far \nhas the left hand of progress carried him to superior heights of worldly knowledge. \nTo make or take a profit was obviously to grasp after the material and base \nthings of this world, in contradistinction to something honestly produced or \nearned by the sweat of one\u2019s brow, thus increasing wealth. The craftsman, \nwith hand or brain, labours to earn a living; and he rises in the scale of life in \ndirect proportion to his industry and talents. The trader seeks, not merely a \nlivelihood, but a profit, and profit upon profit. Such profits are the fruit of \nanother\u2019s toil and production, and are therefore made at the expense of one\u2019s \nneighbour. The trader has a right to payment for his services as an agent, \nand no more. To use his position as middleman to amass wealth from profits is \nto offend against charity, as Bunyan pointed out. * 11 The man who makes money \nout of the turn of the market, or who takes advantage of, or even creates, a \nshortage, as Wyclif says, must be wicked, or he could not have been poor yes\u00ac \nterday and rich to-day. 12 Gratian, whose great summary of all the Church\u2019s \ncanons (1139-42) expressed the mind of the Church for centuries, put the dis\u00ac \ntinction thus in his Decretals : \u2018\u2018Whosoever buys a thing, not that he may sell \nit whole and unchanged, but that it may be a material for fashioning something, \nhe is no merchant. But the man who buys it in order that he may gain by \n\n\n11 The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, in The Complete Works of John Bunyan, ed. by Rev. Henry Stebbing, \nLondon and New York, Vol. IV, pp. 46 ff. \n\n11 On the Se\\'en Deadly Sins, in Select English Works of John Wyclif, ed. by Thomas Arnold, Oxford, 1871; Vol. \nIll, p. 153. **Bot men of lawe and merchauntis, and chapmen, and viteleres, synnen more in avarice then done \npore laboreres. And this [is the] token hereof; for now ben thei pore, and now ben thei ful riche, for wronges that \nthei done.\" \n\n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n255 \n\n\nselling it again unchanged and as he bought it, that man is of the buyers and \nsellers who are cast forth from God\u2019s temple.\u201d 13 And Thomas Aquinas, approv\u00ac \ning of proper trade, whereby \u2018\u2018one commodity is exchanged for another, or \nmoney taken in exchange for a commodity, in order to satisfy the needs of \nlife\u201d, asserts positively that trade \u2018\u2018for a profit\u201d is \u201cjustly deserving of blame, \nbecause, considered in itself, it satisfies the greed for gain, which knows no \nlimit and tends to infinity.\u201d 14 Furthermore, trading, not to satisfy natural \nneeds, but merely for its own sake, and \u201cconsidered in itself, has a certain \ndebasement attaching thereto, in so far as, by its very nature, it does not imply \na virtuous or necessary end\u201d (ibid.). \n\nOne cannot but feel that we have here a Code based on a genuine apprehension, \nnot only of right and wrong, but of spiritual principle. Would not a Master \nconcur with the statement that, intrinsically, trading for profit \u201cdoes not imply \na virtuous end\u201d? Certainly gentlemen in England and France in the 17th \ncentury, and in many cases up to the generation preceding our own, steeped in \nthe Church\u2019s traditional teaching, not only felt strongly about the reprehensible \nnature of trade, but, however impecunious, would not debase themselves by \nentering into business. A gentleman, if impoverished, could find some suitable \nwork', or he could starve, but he could not lower his colours. Honour was, in \nactual practice, esteemed above riches; and the innate reaction of the gentle\u00ac \nman was grounded on the recognition of a principle which might be expressed \nin the words of one of the Pythagoric sentences of Demophilus, centuries ago: \n\u201cA lover of riches is necessarily unjust; and the unjust is necessarily profane \ntowards Divinity, and lawless with respect to men\u201d; which might be coupled \nwith another: \u201cA timid man bears armour against himself; and a fool employs \nriches for the same purpose.\u201d Professor Tawney sums up the Mediaeval Code \nwith admirable succinctness as follows: \u201cTo take usury is contrary to Scrip\u00ac \nture; it is contrary to Aristotle; it is contrary to nature, for it is to live without \nlabour; it is to sell time, which belongs to God, for the advantage of wicked \nmen; it is to rob those who use the money lent, and to whom, since they make it \nprofitable, the profits should belong; it is unjust in itself, for the benefit of the \nloan to the borrower cannot exceed the value of the principal sum lent him; it \nis defiance of sound juristic principles, for when a loan of money is made, the \nproperty in the thing lent passes to the borrower, and why should the creditor \ndemand payment from a man who is merely using what is now his own?\u201d (pp. \n43 - 4 )- \n\nWhen it comes to the practical application in present commercial life of this \nCode\u2014which as far as it goes, has represented the Christian Code\u2014we are \nfaced with another series of problems, which cannot be dealt with here. The \nbest modern writer on the subject still seems to be no less discarded and neglected \na prophet than Ruskin, whose courageously downright declaration of principle, \nas against the primary assumption of avarice, led to such a storm of protest, \n\n*\u00bb Decretum, Pt. I, Distinctio Ixxxviii, cap. xi; quoted by Tawney. p. 35. Cf. the Homily xxxvii in a treatise \nOpus Imperfeclum. ascribed to St. John Chrysostom, which reads: \u201cWhat is trade but buying at a cheap price \nwith the purpose of retailing at a higher price? Such were the tradesmen whom our Lord cast out of the temple.\u201d \n\ni4 jja jib; Quscst. lxxvii, art. iv. \n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n256 \n\nthat his articles in the Cornhill magazine had to be discontinued abruptly by \nits editor, his personal friend Thackeray. Those which were published, appeared \nlater under the title Unto This Last \u2014taken from the parable of the idle workmen \nin the market place;\u2014while Ruskin completed his thesis in Munera Pulveris , \nsometimes entitled Essays On Political Economy. He lays it down as axiomatic \nthat: \u201cNo human actions ever were intended by the Maker of men to be guided \nby balances of expediency, but by balances of justice,\u201d for the whole question \n\u201cresolves itself finally into one of abstract justice.\u201d He says that \u201cthe real \nreason of the general lowness of estimate in which the profession of commerce is \nheld [written in 1862!] . . . will be found to lie in the fact that the merchant is \npresumed to act always selfishly. His work may be very necessary to the com\u00ac \nmunity; but the motive of it is understood to be wholly personal. The mer\u00ac \nchant\u2019s first object in all his dealings must be (the public believes) to get as much \nfor himself, and leave as little to his neighbours (or customer) as possible\u201d; \nand Ruskin asks pertinently \u201cwhether, among national manufactures, that of \nSouls of a good quality may not turn out a quite leadingly lucrative one?\u201d ( Unto \nThis Last). His whole plea is that traders, who are necessary to civilized life, \nshould live up to the same standard as that of the soldier, whose \u201ctrade, verily \nand essentially, is not slaying, but being slain\u201d, and that it is as true for the \nmerchant as for the soldier, priest or physician that \u201cthe man who does not \nknow when to die, does not know how to live.\u201d Therefore: \u201cSixpences have to \nbe lost as well as lives, under a sense of duty\u201d; and, \u201cwhile many a zealous \nperson loses his life in trying to teach the form of a gospel, very few will lose a \nhundred pounds in showing the practice of one\u201d {ibid.). In the light of such \nideals*\u2014which in fact are nothing more than the teachings of Christ strictly and \nfearlessly applied\u2014we may see why a statement once made by Emerson is true: \n\u201cA nation is dedicated to trade for some centuries; that occupies the vast \nmajority of men every day for all that long duratioh. Yet the last day it is not \nmore elevated than the first day, and cannot command our respect.\u201d 16 \n\nIf this, therefore, be a commercial age, given over to the selfish acquisition of \npersonal riches, while the essence of the soldier\u2019s life is that of readiness to lay \ndown his life, the need for war as a corrective becomes manifest. And it seems \nthat it is precisely to, and through, war, that a beneficent Karma has been \nleading, and is again about to lead, the souls of men. There are more reasons \nthan one why the present situation \u201cwill really need a Genghis Khan to do it \njustice\u201d, but one of them will be to overcome, by sheer force of necessity, the \nconcentration of a whole race on material well-being and the gratification of \neconomic appetites. Celestial Economics starts with a different principle, and \naltruism\u2014a favourite word of H.P.B.\u2019s\u2014is at the foundation of occultism. \n\u201cMen so universally draw their characters after the pattern of their times that \ngreat regard is due to any who, spurning the character and humour of an ignoble \nage, act upon principles not apprehended by the vulgar\u201d (Emerson, ibid. } I, 259). \n\nOur task, as members of the Theosophical Movement, is clear: first, not to \nlose ourselves in a cloud of words, or, on the other hand, forget that \u201cthe letter \n\n\n14 Emerson\u2019s Journal, ed. by Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes. Vol. VII, p. 8. \n\n\n\nMATERIAL WEALTH AND CELESTIAL ECONOMICS \n\n\n257 \n\n\nkilleth, but the spirit giveth life\u201d; second, to face the facts, recognizing, for \ninstance, that the logic of the Mediaeval Code, as summarized by Professor \nTawney, would make it usurious to accept interest from a Bank on our current \nbalance, or interest payments on Government, Railroad or other bonds, or rent \nfrom our tenants if we were the owners of land or of houses; third, as we cannot \nchange the character of our civilization overnight, or retire from the world and \nlive like hermits on the produce of our own labour (seeing that this most happy \ncondition would, in most cases, either be impossible or a self-indulgence),\u2014we \nmust strive ceaselessly, though living in the world, not to be of the world, and \nmust keep alive within us, and within each other, our vision of the ideal, and of \nthe lamentable conditions which make it impracticable at present to live as \nthat ideal ordains,\u2014except in spirit, for in spirit we are free, not bound, and in \nspirit we can hate the necessities under which we labour, can love and desire \nthe nobler Code which was, and which again will be, if only our desire for it \nprove stronger than our worldliness. Qu^sitor. \n\n\nLet temporal things serve thy use , but eternal be the object of thy desire .\u2014 \n\nThomas X Kempis. \n\n\nBeware of the pride of humility; and having renounced the desire to attract by \nthy fine raiment , seek not to call forth attention by thy rags. \u2014St. Jerome. \n\n\n\n\nA MEDITATION \n\n\nGiving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our \nLord Jesus Christ .\u2014 Paul to the Ephesians. \n\nRejoice evermore .\u2014 Paul to the Thessalonians. \n\nT O whom or to what, should I, as a student of Theosophy, give thanks? \n\nI can begin, in any case, by feeling grateful, and by expressing that \nfeeling, to those from whom I receive kindness or spiritual help among \nmy friends and companions. Do I fail in this from self-absorption, from shy\u00ac \nness, or for any other reason? \n\nTo give thanks to \u201cthe Lords of Karma\u201d is very abstract, very remote, so \nfar as I am concerned; but my own Master is one of the Lords of Karma, just \nbecause he is a Master; and certainly he holds back from me personally \u201cstill \nworse evils\u201d, creating around me a \u201cGuardian Wall\u201d of protection\u2014as the \nNotes to The Voice of the Silence make clear. This means far more than appears \non the surface. It means that I owe to him every blessing, every good thing, \nthat comes into my life, and that even its trials and temptations, out of the \noverwhelming accumulation from my own wrong-doing of the past, are pro\u00ac \nportioned by him according to my strength. Thus he converts them into aids \nto growth\u2014if met and used properly by me\u2014instead of into calamities and \nextinctions. \n\nAm I grateful for this? Am I grateful merely in a general way, or do I specifi\u00ac \ncally thank him throughout the day for all things? Do I, in other words, say \nthat I am grateful, and at the same time deplore, resent, and inwardly rebel \nagainst this or that necessity under which I labour?\u2014against my inability to \ndo or get something on which my desire is set? Do I inwardly croak and groan, \nthink of my life as \u201chard\u201d, and mentally pick on this or the other \u201chandicap\u201d \nas making things almost intolerable? Do I blame my surroundings or my \nassociates for my failures? In brief, am I a hopeless ass? \n\nIn any case, it is incredible that I am entirely free from these cheap and \nvulgar weaknesses, or that I could ever live to give thanks enough. My friends \nare friends through the everlasting mercy: not through any merit or beauty of \nmine; it is thanks to the same mercy that I know of Theosophy, that I desire \ngood rather than evil, that I have a roof over my head and a bed in which to \nsleep (for the inherent idiocy of lower nature would have deprived me of these \nyears ago, unless that mercy had prevailed),\u2014that I can still look up into the \nface of heaven, and laugh. \n\nMy Karma\u2014like the Karma of the world\u2014would blot me out, if it were not \nfor that Guardian Wall of unthinkable compassion. In the long run , \u201crigid \njustice rules the world\u201d, for some day before the day \u201cBe with Us\u201d, I must pay \nback what I owe; but meanwhile! Oh debt piled on debt,\u2014endless, boundless, \n\n258 \n\n\n\nA MEDITATION \n\n\n259 \n\n\nutterly undeserved, irrational, divine, never-ceasing generosity! That I should \nhave a friend: is not that in itself a miracle? May the Lord give me of his grati\u00ac \ntude that I may be grateful to him. . . . Dear Lord, in spite of all this talk, \nI am not grateful. I take so much for granted, as I accept the presence of a \ntree, which has always been there,\u2014part of the landscape, which does not \nmove, and for which, therefore, thanks are needless. I do not mean to grumble, \nbut a quite ordinary pain, if it interferes with what I choose to call my work, \nis enough to start a Book of Lamentations in the privacy of my mind. Cure \nme of such blindness; help me to sense thy blessing in all that happens, in all \nthat is,\u2014and if I do not sense it, not to make a grievance out of that, but to \nknow that it is there, remembering also that they are blessed who have not \nseen, \u201cand yet have believed\u201d. . . . Give me of thy gratitude, that I may be \ngrateful to all to whom I owe it, for all that life brings me,\u2014to thee for every\u00ac \nthing. B. A. R. \n\n\nEternal is his gladness who rejoices in an eternal good. \u2014S. Augustine. \n\n\nYes, here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual, wherein thou \neven now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal: work it out therefrom; and working , \nbelieve, live, be free .\u2014 Carlyle. \n\n\nMen continually forget that happiness is a condition of mind and not a dis\u00ac \nposition of circumstances . . . confusing happiness with the means of happiness , \nsacrificing the first for the attainment of the second .\u2014 Lecky. \n\n\n\n\n\nKARMA AND BATTLE \n\n\nE usually accept it as a fact, when wo meditate on the Law of Karma \n\n\n\nor discuss it with others, that our personal Karma must, of necessity, \n\n\ntake a very long time to work out. We are often singularly rigid in \n\n\nour views in this respect, and as we grow in age and in experience, we do not \ngrow in the grace of flexibility. Our studies, and what we have been told, make \nit clear to us that we are now contending, both inwardly and outwardly, with the \nresults of our own wrong thoughts and actions in past lives. We visualize \nourselves going on in much the same way, taking things up again, life after life, \nat approximately the point at which we left off at the end of the last incarnation, \nand carrying them a bit further. We feel sure that there is progress on our part, \nwe feel confident that there will be progress in the future. But we think that \nthis progress must of necessity be uniform, that all the elements of our nature \nmust advance together, that we must maintain an even development as we go \nforward. As we bend our energies for the moment on some backward quality \nwithin us, on some particular fault or weakness, in our effort to push it up into \nline and so prevent what we think of as the retarding process, we feel that \nprogress is indeed slow, and we are thankful for the mercifulness of the great \nLaw, for the hope which it holds out, for the assurance that no right effort is \never wasted or lost, for the certainty that in the long future we shall have the \ntime that we so sorely need. \n\nIndeed, we are right in thus feeling thankful. But there is danger in resting \ntoo long in this spirit of thankfulness, for, if we do, it is only a step to feeling that, \nafter all, there is no hurry about it. We run the risk of dwelling to such an \nextent upon the chances and the opportunities which we are to have in future \nlives, that we fail to recognize as such those which are ours here and now, and so \nfail, too, to seize upon them and use them as a means to immediate and more \nrapid progress and growth. We should do well always to remember that the \nrapidity with which we can overcome our personal Karma must, of necessity, \ndepend in large measure upon the intensity of our present desire, of our present \neffort. If our desire and our effort are sufficiently strong now, or if we can \nmake them so; if we can reinforce them with all the resources of our imagination \nand of our will, and increase these resources as we progress; if this intensity of \neffort and desire, and this reinforcement, are steadfastly persisted in and steadily \ncontinued,\u2014it must be possible to work out certain elements of our personal \nKarma much more rapidly than we realize at present, with the result that we \nshall be under no necessity whatever of carrying them over into future lives. \n\nAll this involves the right use of desire, imagination and will, the great crea\u00ac \ntive forces, the great liberating powers. How does it \u201cwork\u201d, practically speak\u00ac \ning? Let us make use of our imagination, and let us assume, as a practical illus\u00ac \ntration, the theoretical case of a man holding an important position in the \n\n\n260 \n\n\n\nKARMA AND BATTLE \n\n\n261 \n\n\nworld of affairs. This man, at the age of twenty-five, at the very start of his \nbusiness career, is hard, unjust, grasping, even dishonourable in his business \nmethods and dealings. Because of his attitude in regard to money matters, \nhe does a great wrong to certain people with whom he is then associated in \nbusiness, and makes them suffer in countless other ways as a result. Let us \nassume further that almost immediately this man, for good and sufficient reasons, \nrealizes fully just what he has done, and has a complete change of heart. He \nabhors the evil which he has brought about, still more does he abhor the evil \nwithin himself\u2014the selfishness, the cruelty and the greed\u2014which have made \nhis action possible. The whole force of his desire is bent to the effort to atone. \nHe turns completely about. He spends the next twenty-five years of his life in \ntrying to undo, to make up for, the wrong which he has done. More than \nthis, he traces the connection between his inner sins and weaknesses and the \nform of their outer expression, he sets himself to make over his whole nature \nso that these sins and faults may be transformed into their opposite virtues. \nHe goes about it with understanding, through the light which has been increas- \ningly given him because of his true and entire repentance. He uses his imagi\u00ac \nnation to the fullest extent to think of ways in which he can gain his objective. \nHe bends every effort of his will to the accomplishment of his purpose. He \nacts for these twenty-five years with an ever-increasing intensity of desire and \neffort, with an ever-increasing rightness of principle. He carries this into all \nthe relations of life, not alone into business. His own life, both business and \npersonal, becomes a great inspiration, of untold help to countless new people \nin a great diversity of ways. He is able to reach out, to give help, because he is \nable to understand. It is what he has become, what he has made himself, that \ncounts. \n\nMoreover, he goes back and does his utmost to help, directly, those whom he \nhas so greatly wronged, those who have suffered so much through him, because \nof what he did at the age of twenty-five. He seeks them out. He makes \nevery possible effort to set things right again for them. He continues this effort \nover a period of years. But these people are bitter, revengeful, vindictive; \ntheir one idea is to \u201cget back at him\u201d. Not only do they consistently repulse \nall of the advances which he makes, but they do their utmost to persecute him, \nto spread malicious reports about him, to undermine him whenever and wherever \nthey can. Nothing daunted, not one whit discouraged, this man accepts all \nthis as part of the personal Karma which he has created for himself, and fights \non,\u2014for he is a great fighter, a \u201cfirst-class fighting man\u201d, once he has turned. \nFor all of these twenty-five years he is continually attacking his lower nature \nat all points, so that it is continually on the defensive, constantly losing ground \nand in retreat. He leaves the evil within himself no opportunity, he seizes \nupon every inner advantage gained and makes use of it to the fullest extent, in \norder to make more rapid progress, to go as far as he can, towards the objective \nwhich he has set for himself, and which is continually becoming more clearly \ndefined as his vision increases and as his self-conquest becomes more and more \ncomplete. \n\n\n262 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nWhat is the result of all this, for this man, at the age of fifty? Surely the \nintensity of his desire to atone for the wrong which he has done to these people, \nsurely the very opposition which they have set up to his every effort on their \nbehalf and the vindictive attitude which they have adopted towards him, \nmust have operated to speed-up the working out of his personal Karma as re\u00ac \ngards them,\u2014perhaps even to cancel, to obliterate a large element of it entirely. \nBut, if not, what of the transformation in the inner nature of the man himself? \nSurely that in itself was sufficient, and more than sufficient, to wipe out the \nbalance of that early wrongdoing in the eyes of the great Law. For consider \nthe extent of that transformation, and its results. Entirely apart from these \nparticular people, the intensity of his inner desire and of his inner effort over all \nthese years, his continued right use and constant development of all the quali\u00ac \nties which he possessed and of others which he acquired, the expression of all \nthis in deeds of self-sacrifice and acts of kindness as regards others, must have \nestablished for him a Karmic credit balance on the right side. This transfor\u00ac \nmation, and its results, must have helped all along the line, must have modified \nand accelerated the working out of other phases of his personal Karma which \nwere not in any way directly connected with this particular early wrongdoing, \nso that in the general quickening which took place, in the speeding up of the \nwhole Karmic process which ensued, there was an entire change of relative \nvalues. The former things had passed away; all things had become new. We \nforget too often the extent to which the various phases of our Karma overlap, \nthe degree to which our efforts and progress in certain directions will help to \nimprove the situation for us at other points,\u2014pull them up into line, or over the \nline, as it were. This man whom we have been considering, may well, at the age \nof fifty, have found himself, had he known it, in the position of having completely \neliminated the necessity of carrying over into another life the Karma of an early \nwrong act which, once realized and acted upon, through the right use of imagi\u00ac \nnation and will, had become a tremendously creative and liberating force. No \nneed for him to face a long, laborious process life after life. His freedom, in this \nlife, had been gained. His victory had been won, and with speed, here and now. \n\nMarshal Foch\u2019s book, the Principles of War , has often been mentioned, both \niff meetings of The Theosophical Society and in the Theosophical Quarterly, \nas being a Manual of the Inner Life, a Guide to Ch 61 aship, if read and interpreted \ntheosophically. In view of this, a more recent book, the Memoirs of Marshal \nFoch } translated by Colonel Bentley Mott, is of intense interest. It might be \nsaid that, in the earlier book, there are laid down the fundamental principles \nupon which military strategy and tactics are based; we are given the theory and \nwe recognize it as true, as universal in its application, and, therefore, appli\u00ac \ncable not only to the outer conflict in the world between the Powers of Light \nand the Forces of Darkness, but also to the inner warfare in which we ourselves \nare engaged. In the Memoirs } we find these fundamental principles expressed \nin Marshal Foch\u2019s preliminary instructions and observations, in his Battle \nOrders, to his commanding generals. We read, for instance, in regard to some \nspecific situation in which those in his Armies may have assisted at the time, \n\n\nKARMA AND BATTLE \n\n\n263 \n\n\nwithout having then been conscious of its ramifications, his estimate of the situ\u00ac \nation; the dispositions of the enemy and of the Allied Forces, as seen in the \nperspective which was his alone; the mission which he proposed for the attacking \nunits; the definite ways in which he suggested that this mission must be carried \nout. We remember what happened at the time as a result of the execution of \nhis commands, we remember the success of the outcome, and, in the light of \nretrospect, we can also see that no other possible method or plan would have \nserved, and that the success was gained because the conception of the plan \nitself was based on a fundamental principle that was universal. Marshal \nFoch\u2019s observations and his Battle Orders were practical, concrete directions &s \nto what to do about it, and, as such, they can constantly be applied to the \nproblems of our own inner warfare. \n\nAs a direct illustration, let us remind ourselves for a moment of the military \nsituation as it was on the first day of November, 1918, just ten days before the \nArmistice. The long German line from the Vosges to the Sea was giving way; \neverywhere it was being struck by the Allied Armies in rapid succession with \npowerful sledge-hammer blows; everywhere the enemy was losing ground, in \nretreat. On that day the First American Army, and the Fourth French Army \non its left, were about to start a powerful joint attack, which had as its objective \nunblocking the line of the Aisne from the East. An army offensive, worked \nout as it is on the maps beforehand, is designed to reach certain successive lines \non certain successive days, the position of each of these lines depending upon \nthe nature of the terrain, the probable strength of the enemy\u2019s resistance at \nvarious points, the character and ability of the other attacking troops on the \nflanks, and, finally, upon the part which this particular offensive is to play in \nthe larger purpose of the High Command. The battle, if it goes as planned, \nthus resolves itself into a succession of phases, which are numbered. Marshal \nFoch thought that the preliminary plans for the attack, which had been sub\u00ac \nmitted to him by General Pdtain and General Pershing, were too rigid. He \nthought that far too much emphasis was being laid upon alignment, upon the \nnecessity for all the attacking elements being up on the first phase line, with \ncontact on the flanks maintained, before the attack could proceed to the second \nphase. He thought that speed, and the possibility of rapid exploitation of \nsuccess gained, were being sacrificed by this rigidity. Accordingly, he issued the \nfollowing memorandum to General P\u00a3tain and General Pershing: \n\n\u201cImportant results such as we are pursuing in the present stage \nof the war, when we are confronted by an enemy whose exhaustion \nincreases every day, can only be achieved by progress as rapid and \nas deep as possible. \n\n\u201cTroops launched into an attack need not think of anything ex\u00ac \ncept the direction of their attack. In that direction they must go as \nfar as they can, attacking and manoeuvring against the resisting \nenemy with no preoccupation as to alignment\u2014units which have got \nthe furthest forward working for the advantage of those temporarily \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n264 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ndelayed. They must operate, not against lines indicated a priori \nand suggested by the nature of the ground, but against the enemy; \nand once they have seized him, they must never let go their grip\u201d. \n\nWe must bear always in mind that these suggestions referred to an enemy \ngiving ground, in confusion and in retreat. The attacking forces, under such \nconditions, \u201cmust go as far as they can\u201d. And so must we, in the inner life, \nin the inner warfare, under similar conditions. The parallel is perfect. We \nmust steadfastly set our faces to go forward, through all resistance, at those \npbints where the best and the most rapid progress can be made, with no thought \nof alignment; with no thought as to whether or not we are going to be able to \nmake this or that quality within us do its part; with no thought of anything \nexcept our direction, our Goal. As we do this, and as we progress, we, too, \nshall find that those elements within us which have got the furthest forward \nwill work for the advantage of our weaker qualities; will pull them up into the \nattacking line, as it were, stimulating them to do their part. Surely this is just \nwhat happened to that man in business, whose problem we have been considering. \nIf we will free ourselves from the rigidity of our views, from our too narrow \npreconceptions, as to the nature and working of Karmic Law, we shall in this \nway, as he did, at once accelerate the working out of our personal Karma, \nprogress in one direction improving the situation for us at other points. Above \nall, as he found, is it essential, once we have seized upon our inner enemy, \nthat we, too, must never let go our grip, for what we want, in terms of Karma, \nis not victory in some nebulous future life, but Victory with speed, Victory \nhere and now. \n\nStuart Dudley. \n\n\nFew things can resist him who is able to conquer himself .\u2014Louis XIV. \n\n\nThe brave soul can mend even disaster .\u2014 Catherine of Russia. \n\n\nDestiny bears us to our lot , and Destiny is our own will .\u2014 D\u2019Israeli. \n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\nT HE Philosopher asked if he might make a statement. \u201cI was reported, \nand correctly reported, in the last \u2018Screen of Time 7 \u2019 he said, \u201cas hav\u00ac \ning quoted a cable from London to The New York Times in which it \nwas alleged that the German Kaiser and the former German Crown Prince \nwere to be reinstated as Knights of the Order of the Garter, at the request of \nthe King of England, as the King wished \u2018to forget old quarrels\u2019. I need not \nrepeat my comments, except this: \u2018It is charitable, as well as polite, to assume \nthat Ramsay Macdonald instigated the King\u2019. \n\n\u201cThat cable was dated August 14th. The information it contained was abso\u00ac \nlutely false, as, on the best authority, I have since learned with pleasure. I \nregret having misled the Quarterly and its readers in regard to a matter of \nfact, but I do not regret any of my comment because there are fifty other facts, \nbeyond dispute, which more than justify the spirit and trend of what I said. \nI concluded by asking: \u2018Is it right or manly to have the memory of a butterfly? \nCan England have sunk so low as that!\u2019 \n\n\u201cMacdonald is Prime Minister of England, for the second or third time since \nthe War; and Macdonald, throughout the War, was so Pro-German and Pacifist \nthat the National Seamen\u2019s and Firemen\u2019s Union, under the leadership of Have\u00ac \nlock Wilson, resolved that their members would neither sail nor work in any \nship carrying Macdonald or his associates, when in May, 1917, Macdonald had \napplied for a passport to go to Russia to consult with the Workmen\u2019s and \nSoldiers\u2019 Soviets. At the infamous Leeds Conference of that year, he was \nelected to the committee for action, the primary object of which was to bring \nthe War to an end so far as Britain was concerned through the outbreak of a \nrevolution which would paralyse military operations. \n\n\u201cWe can forgive a man anything if he sees the error of his ways, and admits \nit; but Macdonald has done nothing of the kind. In a booklet entitled Potted \nBiographies , published by the Boswell Printing and Publishing Co., 10 Essex \nStreet, London, which gives the War utterances and activities of leaders of the \nLabour Party in England, it is stated (p. 61) that at Leicester, on April 25th, \n1929, Macdonald said: \u2018By hook or by crook, diplomatic relations should be \nestablished with Russia\u2019, and now, supported by the Conservative Party , Mac^ \ndonald, in the name of the King, receives an Ambassador from the Soviet, duly \naccredited to the Court of St. James\u2019s! \n\n\u201cIn the same booklet, on the same page, I find that, speaking at Wolverhamp\u00ac \nton, he was reported by the Daily Herald (then his own organ) of October 29th, \n1928, to have declared that the General Strike in England was \u2018the manifesta\u00ac \ntion of human solidarity, was one of the most glorious things that this twentieth \ncentury had produced\u2019. \n\n\u201cMacdonald is and always has been an avowed and ardent Pacifist. Can \n\n265 \n\n\n\n\n\n266 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nany one deny that his attitude toward Germany to-day is the same as it was \nduring the War? Was not and is not his chief desire, where Germans are con\u00ac \ncerned, to embrace them all and call them Comrades (of the Soviet variety), \nregardless of past, present, or future conduct? None the less, he is Prime Min\u00ac \nister of England, in a government supposed to be representative. That he \nwould advise and urge the King \u2018to forget old quarrels\u2019, and to prove it by what \nhe would consider a \u2018noble gesture\u2019 in the direction of the Kaiser and Crown \nPrince, instead of seeming improbable, seemed highly likely\u2014as the foreign \neditor of The New York Times must have thought, when he published that \ndespatch; while no one has ever suggested that the King, in spite of his admir\u00ac \nable qualities, his self-sacrificing sense of duty, and his unlimited respect for \nthe Constitution, has inherited the major characteristics of his grandmother, \nQueen Victoria. England, in my humble opinion, would be better off to-day \nif he had. But enough on that subject. I am suspecting that our friend in the \narm-chair has something on his mind, as I had.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018I have\u201d, said one of the editors of the Quarterly, who had joined our \ninformal gathering while the Philosopher had been speaking. \u2018\u2018The Quarterly \nwants to express pleasure and gratitude for letters showing warm appreciation \nof its contents and helpfulness. Further than that, I should like our readers to \nbelieve that we are human, and that letters from some of them, in which total \ninability to pay for the Quarterly is frankly confessed, have moved us deeply. \nWe are anxious to convey to the writers our truest sympathy, and, with that, \na word of cheer. The times are hard\u2014no one can have escaped that experience, \nthough some have suffered more than others; but there is and always is, a silver \nlining to the cloud. We may think of our own needs, or we may think of the \nwhole world\u2019s gain,\u2014for the world is gaining spiritually as a result of this de\u00ac \npression. If I were speaking face to face, I should add: \u2018If the world gains, \nwill not you be content to suffer a little longer,\u2014believing, as you can and \nshould, that Masters are grateful for your patience, for your courage, and will\u00ac \ningness to share some fraction of their burden with them. You are not alone \nin your suffering: they understand, they sympathize\u2014even with the grief of a \nchild over its broken toy, and no less with the heart of the aged and infirm and \nweary. It may seem as if there were no hope for you; as if there were only \nendurance left. Well, then is the time to say: I will go out with the banner of \nfaith flying, hailing the dawn\u2019.\u201d \n\n\u201cI am glad you spoke of not being alone\u201d, said the Historian. \u2018\u2018A friend of \nmine who was desperately ill and who suffered terribly for days on end, told \nme afterwards that he had found himself saying constantly, when the torment \nwas at its worst, \u2018Thou knowest, thou knowest\u2019, which was all he could say and \nall he could think. Later, he wondered why he had said it, though he knew it \nhad been a comfort, and had recognized instantly the truth of another friend\u2019s \nexplanation, to whom, on his recovery, he had related his experience, and who \nhad suggested that he had instinctively asserted his faith in a divine compan\u00ac \nionship, in a sympathy and understanding deeper than was possible in those \nwho stood visibly by his bedside, and who did not, could not understand. I do \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n267 \n\n\nnot think we can overestimate the extent to which a feeling of loneliness\u2014or, \nrather, of \u2018there is no one who understands\u2019, \u2018no one who can really sympathize\u2019 \n\u2014enters into, and forms the last straw, as it were, of most human suffering. \nSuffering is not always or often rational; sympathy frequently is. It is a divine \nand most rare gift to be able wholly to sympathize with a grief which seems, \nnot only illogical but fantastic. Take, for instance, the grief of a woman over \nthe loss of a husband who beat her and bullied her up to the day of his death: \nto sense that she may be suffering agonies of remorse for one reason or another, \nwould be impossible unless the perceptions of the heart had temporarily pushed \naside the thick perceptions of the head. We must learn to see beneath the \nsurface, if ever we are to acquire sympathy, and we must cure ourselves of the \ntendency which is strong in many of us\u2014stronger, perhaps, in men than in \nwomen\u2014to allow our over-anxiety to nullify the little sympathy of which we \nare capable.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Just what do you mean by that?\u201d asked the Student. \n\n\u2018\u2018Suppose someone we love is greatly worried, to the point of being ill from it: \nnaturally we suffer because of their suffering, and naturally we want to comfort \nthem, and, incidentally, ourselves. We try, and fail. Then we feel impotent, \nand, becoming irritated with ourselves, and exasperated by our failure, we \nunconsciously convey an impression of irritation instead of sympathy, making \nthings worse instead of better as a result of our intervention. It is, in fact, \nappallingly difficult to make our sympathy effective, and I know of few greater \nincentives for spiritual effort than recognition of our defects under that head.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Is there no cure for all this sorrow and pain, anxiety and heartbreak?\u201d asked \nour visitor, almost in a tone of despair. \n\n\u2018\u2018That question was discussed in the \u2018Screen\u2019 last July\u201d, the Historian an\u00ac \nswered. \u2018\u2018I can do little more than paraphrase what was said then. \n\n\u201cSo far as I am aware, only four methods of cure have ever been suggested. \nFirst, there is the \u2018cure\u2019 of the materialistic social reformer\u2014whether a Socialist, \nCommunist, or Humanitarian makes little difference\u2014who has so low an \nopinion of human nature as to imagine that plenty to eat and drink, with a \nminimum of work to do, will solve the problem if anything will. A few years \nago, actual want was almost unknown on this continent, yet the total of suf\u00ac \nfering then was certainly as great as it is to-day, when there are bread-lines in \nevery city. We know nothing, if we have not discovered that anguish of soul \nmay be harder to bear than anguish of body, and that men suffer as acutely \nfrom ills of the imagination\u2014some dread or disappointment, not to speak ofj \njealousy, envy and their fruits\u2014as from ills entirely physical. \n\n\u201cAnother method of cure that has been suggested can appeal to the very \nfew only, and to hardly any in the western world,\u2014the method, widely advo\u00ac \ncated in the Orient, of realizing vividly the transitory and illusory nature both \nof the objective universe and of the perceiving personality, accompanied by \nself-identification with the changeless and eternal. \n\n\u201cA third method was taught by Gautama Buddha: that of compassion; the \nescape from suffering by sympathy for the sufferings of others; the transfer of \n\n\n\n\n\n268 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nattention, in other words, by means of love, from self to other selves. Thus, \nwhen a mother came to him in utmost grief over the loss of her only child, it is \nrelated that he told her to stop at each house in a certain street of the city, and \nto bring back word to him of what she heard. When she returned, she fell on \nher knees and told him: sorrow of some kind in every home she had visited, \ngrief sometimes greater than her own, terror or pain or woe. Then he said in \neffect: Such is life; suffering is inseparable from living; to expect otherwise \nadds bitterness to the pain: and the cause of suffering is thirst ( Tanha ), thirst \nfor pleasure, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity, thirst that leads to re\u00ac \nbirth on earth, accompanied by pleasure and lust. \u2018And this is the Noble Truth \nof the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering: that noble eightfold Path, \nthat is to say, Right views (convictions), Right aspirations, Right speech, \nRight conduct, Right means of livelihood, Right effort, Right recollection \n(\u201cmindfulness\u201d, according to another translation), Right meditation (the P&li \nword being Samadhi, \u201cRight contemplation\u201d may be suggested as an alterna\u00ac \ntive).\u2019 So the woman was converted, and found peace. \n\n\u201cThe fourth method of cure was taught by the Master Christ: the Crucifix. \n\u2018Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow \nlike unto my sorrow!\u2019 That, it seems to me, gives the essence of the Christian \nsolution: compassion for the One\u2014whoever that One may be\u2014who embodies \nfor us the world of divinity and of the Lodge. This compassion, born of love and \ngratitude, worship and sympathy, necessarily includes compassion for all upon \nwhich, and upon whom, our own Master pours out his infinite compassion; \nand, under this head, we need to discriminate, not assuming that all suffering \nis the same in his eyes, regardless of origin and of the nature and reaction of \nthat which suffers. \n\n\u201cOrthodox Christianity has gone far to deprive this appeal of any meaning \nor power, since Protestantism (not knowing the difference between Soul and \nSpirit) has exiled the Christian Master to \u2018the right hand of God\u2019 and to a state \nof unbroken bliss and glory, while Rome has caged him in the \u2018tabernacle of the \naltar\u2019, in spite of the efforts of that Master\u2014as through the so-called \u2018Revela\u00ac \ntion of the Sacred Heart\u2019 to Margaret-Mary\u2014to bring his continued humanity, \nand sacrifice, within the comprehension of the simplest of his followers. \u2018The \ningratitude and forgetfulness of men\u2019, he is recorded as having said to her, \u2018are \nmore painful to me than all the sufferings of my Passion. . . . My love has \ncaused me to sacrifice all for men, without their making me any return. . . . \nWill none have compassion on me, none sympathize and share my sorrow in \nthe piteous condition to which sinners have brought me ?\u2019 \n\n\u201cIt would be difficult, by the way, to imagine a greater sacrifice than for a \nman, a warrior and king, to allow his sufferings to be known, and thus, in a \nsense, to become an object of pity,\u2014not for his own sake, but for the sake of \nthose to whom he appeals,\u2014too immersed in their own affairs to notice or care, \nexcept, perhaps, here and there. It is a dreadful, a heart-breaking picture\u2014 \nappalling evidence of our need\u2014and I doubt if anyone takes it seriously, for, \nif we did, what room would be left for our trifling worries and exasperations! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n269 \n\n\nIn the parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite passed by on \nthe other side. We don\u2019t do that; we don\u2019t even see the man who \u2018fell among \nthieves\u2019 (the fate of every Lodge messenger): we are so absorbed in our little \nduties, little fears or appetites or sins or anxieties or disappointments, that we \nsee nothing unless it bears directly upon our obsession. If the victim of the \nparable had had a steam fog-horn within reach, and had let off a blast in our \ndirection, we should simply have clapped hands to ears so as not to lose the \nthread of our emotional or mental weaving. \n\n\u201cLove and compassion, therefore, are the essence both of the Buddhist and \nChristian \u2018cures\u2019, though neither, when properly understood, pretends to ac\u00ac \ncomplish more than the removal of the bitter poison of self from the suffering \nwhich, in other respects, cannot fail to become greater the further we progress \ntoward a more perfect manhood. The more we love, the more we suffer; but the \ngulf between the suffering of hell and the suffering which springs from love, is \nall the difference between blindness and vision, despair and ecstasy. \n\n\u201cStated in other terms, while anything which diverts the attention from \nself and its pain or distress, lifts the burden temporarily and serves as a pallia\u00ac \ntive, to effect a cure in the sense I have suggested, we need to re-adjust our \noutlook upon life, to revise our scale of values, and to see transitory things as \nwholly unimportant in comparison with the needs and purposes of our Master, \n\u2014wholly unimportant, that is, except in so far as our attitude towards them is \nconcerned, which affects him vitally, seeing that it vitally affects his life, which \nis his Father's life , in us.\u201d \n\n\u201c\u2018Man, know thyself\u2019,\u201d the Engineer now said, \u201cseems to be the foundation \nof any real cure\u2014though, as you have intimated, it is not a question of how to \nescape from sorrow, or how to eliminate it from the lives of others\u2014manifest \nimpossiblities until humanity surrenders its will to the divine will. Rather is \nit a question of changing the polarity of the suffering that is inevitable; and \nclearly this cannot be done unless we desire ardently to do it, while we shall \nnever be able to arouse that desire unless we learn to revolt from and hate our \nlower nature, and to love and aspire to become our higher. Nor shall we be \nable to do that until we see the truth, or in any case something of the truth, \nabout each,\u2014learning to know ourselves that we may know God. Theosophy, \nbeing the source and essence of every great religion, including Hinduism, sees \nthe transmutation of man into more than man as the objective of all these^ \nmethods (except the first!), and holds there can be no permanent cure for human \nsuffering until this transmutation has taken place. But it sees suffering as an \naid, not as an obstacle to that attainment, for suffering serves to detach us \nfrom the glamour of transitory things, and to turn our attention to the change\u00ac \nless and eternal as our true home and being; and it sees right self-identification, \nwhich may be either the fruit of compassion, or its cause, as the only means by \nwhich spiritual consciousness can be made permanent,\u2014the instrument of \n\u2018fixation\u2019, I think the Alchemists would have called it.\u201d \n\n\u201cExcuse me,\u201d said the Orientalist, \u201cbut don\u2019t you think that so-called right \nself-identification, as usually practised in the East, tends to induce self-satisfac- \n\n\n270 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\ntion rather than enlightenment, and stagnation rather than union with the \ndivine?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018I do\u201d, the Engineer replied; \u201cbut that is because it is wrong, not right, self- \nidentification, as I know you will agree. Properly understood and properly \npractised, right self-identification necessarily results in change and growth,\u2014 \nin transubstantiation, as occultism explains that term.\u201d \n\n\u201cTheosophists are mystics, are they not?\u201d \n\nThere was a hint of defiance in the way this question was suddenly shot at \nus by our visitor, who had been introduced by the Engineer, in the hope, I \nsuspect, that some of us might carry conviction where he had failed; for the \nEngineer is a bom missionary, though he repudiates the \u201caccusation\u201d heatedly, \n\u2014proof in itself, we remind him, that we are right. \n\nInstinctively we left it to the Ancient, always loath to speak, to reply to our \nvisitor\u2019s question, our united silence finally compelling him to do so. \n\n\u201cUnfortunately\u201d, he said, \u201cvery few students of Theosophy are mystics\u201d. \n\u201cFortunately, I should have thought,\u2014if that be so\u201d, our visitor replied. \n\u201cWhy, may I ask?\u201d \n\n\u201cBecause a mystic, to my mind, suggests either one whose ideas are foggy \nand incommunicable, or one who hints mysteriously of unutterable things in \nthe background.\u201d \n\nThe Ancient laughed. \u201cIf that is what the word suggests to you\u201d, he said, \n\u201cI do not wonder that you replied as you did; but you must know as well as I \ndo that \u2018mystic\u2019 is derived, through the Latin, from the Greek word mustes , \nwhich meant one who had been initiated into the Mysteries. To-day, of course, \nit does not mean as much as that, for there are poets, truly mystical, who knew \nnothing of the Greek or any other Mysteries as such, just as there have been \ndevotees of exoteric religion, both in the East and in the West, who stand out \nas mystics,\u2014by which I mean, men and women who saw or who sensed the \nspirit as well as the letter, and who regarded the letter chiefly as a symbol of \nreality.\u201d \n\n\u201cSuch as?\u201d \n\n\u201cIn the West, to name only a few: Juliana of Norwich, St. John of the Cross, \nSt. Teresa of Avila, William Law, John Wesley, George Fox.\u201d \n\nThere was a pause. Then the Ancient, becoming interested in his subject, \nresumed it voluntarily. \u201cI do not blame you for your misunderstanding\u201d, he \nsaid. \u201cThe word is sadly misused. Comparatively few, even among those who \nwrite on the subject, seem to realize that the true mystic necessarily is a realist. \nLooking upon the phenomenal world as relatively an illusion, seeking always \nfor the hidden truth and goodness and beauty which the visible symbol strives \nto express, his one desire and aim is to see the real in the unreal, while the \nmaterialist, whose notion of reality is limited to objective existence, lives in a \nworld of shadows which he mistakes perpetually for substance. \n\n\u201cTake, for instance, the attitude of the non-mystic toward human nature, \nand toward all the problems which hinge on a right interpretation of the nature \nof man: on the one hand you have those who see in man merely a superior \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n271 \n\n\ntype of animal, the product of animal evolution, whose religion, social standards \nand \u2018ideals\u2019 are the cumbering survival of primitive nature-worship, blood sac\u00ac \nrifices, tribal taboos, and so forth. This means that nothing is inherently sacred, \nthat conscience is the voice of racial superstition, and that any code of morals, \nespecially in matters of sex, is at best a convention, imposed by society, but \nwithout intrinsic warrant. Oddly enough, and quite illogically, many who \nproclaim that view are leading Pacifists.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Excuse me for interrupting you\u201d, said our visitor, \u2018\u2018but why illogical?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Because, granting the premises, cold logic would decree that men and na\u00ac \ntions should fight it out, so that the fittest, i.e., from that point of view, the \nstrongest and cleverest, should survive. Logically\u2014still granting those prem\u00ac \nises\u2014if Smith prefers Brown\u2019s wife to his own, Smith should kill Brown and \nannex his wife, forcibly in case of need. As a matter of fact, the German slogan, \n\u2018might makes right\u2019, is the direct and logical outcome of the \u2018superior animal\u2019 \ntheory. \n\n\u2018\u2018On the other hand, as opposite pole, stand those whose philosophy, if any, \nis usually of the vaguest, but whose sentimentality induces the belief that \nhuman nature is just too sweet for anything when patted on the back and \ncoaxed and loved and told how sweet it is. This extreme produces about as \nmany Pacifists as the other, for extremes always meet. Many of the clergy are \nsticky with such views. Some educators, also, proceed on the theory that \neveryone is born good, that evil develops as the result of restraint, and that if \nonly we would allow child-nature to express itself freely, at its own will and \npleasure, the world would become a paradise. So far as that is concerned, while \nI do not pretend to know anything about little girls, and am prepared to admit \nthat all of them may be little angels, I claim to know a good deal about boys, \nand have found that most of them are little devils: cruel to one another, cruel \nto animals, no better than savages. This, I think, must be universal experience, \nallowing always for the exceptions which, by contrast, prove the rule,\u2014though \nit does not confirm the \u2018superior animal\u2019 hypothesis, because, as I shall explain \nin a moment, time and a hard struggle are needed before that which \u2018comes \ndown from above\u2019 can gain even a hearing in the congeries we call our conscious\u00ac \nness, while only at intervals does it really govern, until a stage in evolution has \nbeen reached that is far ahead of the average,\u2014so far ahead, that the average \nwould not believe such a condition possible. \n\n\u2018\u2018Even among so-called Theosophists, there is much muddled thinking, or \nlack of thinking, under this head. Some have said that man is essentially \ndivine; but so is a dog or a cat; so is everything that exists. We need to dis\u00ac \ncriminate. Man, as we know him ordinarily, is an animal who has come up \nfrom below, and whose mental and moral processes are more intricate than those \nof other animals for the reason that, touching him from above, striving to reach \ndown and to convert him into a human being, is a reincarnating ego or soul. \nIt is the interaction between the spirit of this higher ego, and the spirit of the \nbeast which man for the most part still is, that constitutes personal conscious\u00ac \nness, and, incidentally, the struggle between good and evil which many of our \n\n\n272 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nmodem \u2018advanced thinkers\u2019 repudiate as a superstition. Man, in other words, \nand still speaking generally, is potentially divine, but is a very long way indeed \nfrom being more at present than a semi-intellectual and thoroughly depraved \nanimal,\u2014depraved, inasmuch as he has used the efflux from above, not for \ndivine purposes, but to add zest to his lusts, cunning to his intelligence, ambition \nto his desires, extravagance to an animal\u2019s legitimate love of comfort. He has \ndeflected everything, both from above and below, to gratify himself and his \nperversities. Fortunately there always have been and always will be exceptions: \nthose who have fought their way through the mire of personal existence, and who \nform that nucleus of the human kingdom which all men may enter whenever \nthey become willing to pay the price.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018What price?\u201d asked our visitor. \n\n\u2018\u2018The price of self-conquest, of fixity of will; the price of maintaining right \nself-identification; and love of the divine, of one\u2019s Master\u2014of the good, the \ntrue, and the truly beautiful\u2014must be our sole motive. \n\n\u2018\u2018Facing the facts about ourselves, we shall become able to face the facts \naround us; but I repeat: it is only the mystic who can do this, because it is only \nthe mystic who can be a realist. Realism, as the world knows it, usually sees \nnothing but the putrescent scum on some side-water of the river of life.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Where does your soul or reincarnating ego come from?\u201d asked our visitor. \n\u2018\u2018Special creation?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018No\u201d, replied the Ancient. \u2018\u2018Why should you limit evolution to matter? \nIs not that a rather narrow view? Theosophy, echoing the original Wisdom \nReligion\u2014the source of all others\u2014says that three major lines of evolution \nmeet in man: the material, the intellectual, the spiritual, and that everything \nin the manifested universe has made itself what it is, and is the product, in that \nsense, of ages of growth, of struggle, of evolution.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018When are we going to arrive?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Never,\u2014 if you regard Time as a reality, which we do not. How can growth \ncease? Yet there are intermediate goals, and longer or shorter periods of rest. \n\u2018As above, so below\u2019. Here we have day and night, waking and sleeping, sum\u00ac \nmer and winter, a period of \u2018life\u2019 followed by a period of \u2018death\u2019. The same is \ntrue of worlds and solar systems and universes.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Not a very cheerful view, is it?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018You would prefer to become extinct?\u201d \n\n\u201cI think on the whole I should.\u201d \u2022 \n\n\u2018\u2018Perhaps you will. In the long run, we get what we want.\u201d And the Ancient \nseemed amused. \n\n\u2018\u2018I do not follow you\u201d, said our visitor. \u2018\u2018I thought you believed in immor\u00ac \ntality.\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018We do; but, like everything else, immortality has to be won. It is not be\u00ac \nstowed on us out of nothing. Nature gives us opportunities; no more. We can \nreject them if we choose. She always keeps her melting-pot in reserve. \n\n\u2018\u2018People often confuse survival after death\u2014animals survive death\u2014with \nimmortality. Only that which is worthy of eternal life can be immortal. Very \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n273 \n\n\nfew of us could wish all of ourselves even to survive, while the idea of all of \nourselves, bad and good together, lasting for ever, would be what some people \nwould call devastating. Or so / should think. Try to work it out on the \nbasis of what you would really, honestly pray for, and the result will be very \nclose to the truth; but remember that no two people would pray for exactly \nthe same thing, so that any attempt to compress the truth into a sentence, or \ninto a dogma, would inevitably result in a form of untruth.\u201d \n\nAt this stage the Ancient turned to the Historian. \u2018\u2018What have you been \nreading?\u201d he asked. He felt, I think, that our visitor needed time for reflec\u00ac \ntion. \n\n\u2018\u2018Things which bear very directly upon your topic\u201d, the Historian replied. \n\u201cYou said, for instance, that we ought to be realists. Well, I have been reading \nthe daily papers, and have come to the conclusion, so far as the international \nsituation is concerned, that while there are exceptions\u2014members of the T.S. \nare exceptions, and there are many others\u2014this country as a whole would not \ncare if England were blown to atoms over-night, would perhaps be rather re\u00ac \nlieved, as having one rival the less; would not care if Germany were to tear \nFrance limb from limb and were to enslave the survivors in perpetuity, as the \npeople of the Occupied Territory were enslaved during the War; for this coun\u00ac \ntry\u2019s one idea, one desire, one prayer at present is to hear once more the jingle \nof money in its pockets, once more to feel big and rich. Self-centredness never \nsees beyond its nose, and a day of reckoning would not even be thought of as \npossible,\u2014which bears, I suggest, on the nature of man as he is. \n\n\u201cThen I have been reading an article in the October 1st Revue des deux Mondes , \nentitled Un Prelude a l 1 Invasion de la Belgique (1904), by Maurice Pal&flogue, \nFrench Ambassador at Petrograd during the War. It is really an important \ncontribution to history, besides serving to illustrate much that you said, both \nabout the nature of man, and about realism being an aspect of true mysticism, \n\u2014one reason, presumably, why \u2018There is no religion higher than Truth\u2019 is the \nmotto of The Theosophical Society,\u2014for certainly we need an aeon or so of \ntraining in the difficult art of seeing facts as they are. I have often thought of \nmodern business as an instance of how the high gods use even man\u2019s monstrosi\u00ac \nties for his ultimate salvation, for business does make it advantageous to dis\u00ac \ntinguish between fact and fancy. Man\u2019s ability to see what he wants to see, \nand to see nothing unless he wants to see it, is almost unlimited. He is a creator \nif ever there was one,\u2014though his creations, as a rule, are ridiculously short\u00ac \nlived, which, by the way, is what gives him his chance to learn better. I re\u00ac \nmember, in 1928, a banker of unusually long and wide experience assuring \nme that the Federal Reserve system would thereafter make panics or long de\u00ac \npressions impossible. In my ignorance, I half believed him! Possibly he has \nlearned better; I know that I have. He believed what he desired to believe: it \nwas a comfortable belief, and man adores his comfort. Further, it was a flatter\u00ac \ning belief, because, as a banker, he shared in the glory of a banking invention, \nwhich he thought unparalleled and perfect. Finally, his belief helped him to \nsell me something which he was very anxious to sell; so, between the desire to \n\n\n\n\n274 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nfeel comfortable, the desire to shine, and the desire for profit, he saw the Federal \nReserve system as guaranteeing us prosperity for evermore. \n\n\u201cIn much the same way\u2014for the desire not to see the unpleasant when it is \nthere, is just as strong as the desire to see the pleasant when it isn\u2019t there\u2014it \nseems as if England and America had tacitly agreed to ignore, and if necessary \nto suppress the facts about Germany\u2019s past and present war-psychosis. It is \nas if they said: \u2018All men are natural-bom democrats, brothers, and peace-lovers; \ntherefore Germans, being men, must likewise be natural-bom democrats, \nbrothers, and peace-lovers. Q.E.D., Finis.\u2019 Point out this or that fact, and the \nanswer seems to be: \u2018Do not pay any attention to such things, which are dis\u00ac \ncouraging, depressing, and which tend to shake one\u2019s faith in the soothing, soul- \nsatisfying proposition that \u201cAll men are\u201d,\u2019 etc., as before. \n\n\u201cTell them the naked and obvious tmth: that Germany is exactly the same \nGermany that she was in 1914 and for years before 1914, with the addition of \nunlimited rancour and wounded vanity; tell them that failure to recognize \nwrong-doing has resulted\u2014as almost invariably happens\u2014in a genuine and \ninsane sense of grievance, so that the majority of Germans have reached the \npoint of believing absolutely that, with Russia at first as fellow-conspirator, it \nwas France and England who precipitated the war, fought it unfairly, and who \nhave been unfair and treacherous ever since,\u2014and our newspaper- and magazine- \neditors, as well as our \u2018statesmen\u2019, will waive all that aside as needlessly dis\u00ac \nturbing, and as inconceivable anyhow because contrary to the more pleasant \nproposition that \u2018All men are natural-bom democrats, brothers, and peace- \nlovers; therefore Germans, being men, must be ditto.\u2019 \n\n\u201cEven France, in spite of the many invasions she has suffered, is not free \nfrom this self-imposed illusion, though, as M. Pateologue\u2019s article illustrates, \nan articulate minority does its best to keep the majority awake; and because \nit is unlikely, for the reasons I have suggested, that there will be any men\u00ac \ntion, in the English or American press, of what M. Paldologue has to say, \n\nI have brought his article with me in the hope that you will notice it in the \n\u2018Screen\u2019.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhat does Paldologue say?\u201d asked the Recorder. \n\n\u201cHe gives extracts from his diary, from April, 1904, to September, 1906, \nwhen he occupied a confidential position in the French Foreign Office, at first \nunder Delcassd. The outstanding feature is the revelation that, in 1904, a \nGerman officer, believed to be a General attached to the Headquarters Staff in \nBerlin, betrayed to the French authorities the details of the German plan of \ninvasion through Belgium as actually carried out in 1914, stating that he was \nwell aware of his ignominy, but that he had been treated with even greater \nignominy, and \u2014je me venge! The French Chief-of-Staff, General Pendezec, \nbelieved that the plan as revealed would be carried out as soon as German \ndiplomacy had prepared the necessary preliminaries. Unfortunately, General \nBrug&re, who was the French Generalissimo, and his successors in that position, \ndid not believe that Germany could dispose of sufficient troops to attempt so \nwide an encircling movement, and therefore refused to modify their own \u2018Plan \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n275 \n\n\nXV\u2019 of 1903, which proved to be, as everyone now knows, a hopeless miscal\u00ac \nculation. \n\n\u201cPateologue then shows how narrowly France escaped being over-run and \nover-powered at that time, when she was even less prepared, and had fewer \nreserves, than in 1914. The visit of the Czar to France in 1896 had cemented \nthe Franco-Russian Convention of 1892, binding both countries to aid the \nother if attacked by Germany; but in 1904 Russia was at war with Japan, and \nwas greatly weakened in consequence, the result being that the German Em\u00ac \nperor and his advisers, thought that their chance had come. William, in a \nspeech at Carlsruhe, appealed to his people to remember the battles of Woerth, \nof Wissembourg and of Sedan, of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Then, as \nEdward VII had finally succeeded (1904) in consummating the entente cordiale \nwith France, William jumped at his chance when the Dogger Bank incident of \nOctober, 1904, strained the relations of England and Russia almost to the \nbreaking point: he wrote to the Emperor Nicholas that, in the event of an \nAnglo-Russian war, \u2018I will put my fleet at your disposal, and I will force France to \nmarch with us\u2019. His game was, of course, to egg Russia on as against England, \nand to get them to bleed one another white, in Afghanistan or on the frontiers \nof India; then to attack France, with neither England nor Russia able to help \nher. If it had not been for Delcassd\u2019s prompt intervention, and for King Ed\u00ac \nward\u2019s clear understanding of his nephew\u2019s treachery, Russia would have fallen \ninto the trap, and France, miserably unprepared, would have been destroyed.\u201d \n\n\u201cI have forgotten the Dogger Bank incident: what was it?\u201d asked our visitor. \n\n\u201cThe Russian fleet was on its way to the Far East, to relieve Port Arthur. \nPassing through the North Sea at night, not far from the English coast, it met \na group of English fishing-smacks on the Dogger Bank, and, mistaking them \nfor Japanese torpedo boats, turned all its guns on the innocent fishermen, killing \nmany of them, and sinking, as I remember it, most of their vessels. It was so \nridiculous to suppose that Japanese torpedo boats could be in the North Sea, \nthat the English newspapers jumped to the conclusion that the attack and \n\u2018murder\u2019, as they described it, must have been deliberate. There was a terrible \noutcry. It developed later that the Russian naval officers had been suffering \nfrom nerves,\u2014and vodka. The comments of the English press made Russia'as \nfurious as England,\u2014a wonderful opportunity for Germany. . . . But I cannot \ngive you an epitome of the article; it covers too much ground; you must read it \nfor yourselves. It proves once more that all through those years, Germany wasd \nmanoeuvring ceaselessly to get a strangle-hold on France,\u2014preparing to attack \nthen, as she is preparing to attack now. . . . Which reminds me of a book. \n\n\u2018\u2018I said that, to all appearances, both England and America prefer not to see \nunpleasant facts, especially about Germany. Any other attitude is so unusual \nthat I should like to mention this recent publication in London by Wishart and \nCo., written by Cecil F. Melville, called The Russian Face of Germany: An \naccount of the secret military relations between the German and Soviet-Russian \nGovernments. The book is inexpensive (six shillings to be precise); could be \nimported through the Quarterly Book Department or any American bookseller, \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n276 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nand ought to be widely read, though I am well aware it never will be. The \nauthor shows how Germany, to circumvent the terms of the Versailles Treaty \nwhich she signed (another \u2018scrap of paper\u2019), established aeroplane, chemical, \nand munition factories in Russia, and now has huge supplies of shells, heavy \nguns, poison gas, bombing planes and other war material, some of it stored in \nSoviet arsenals, some of it shipped into German territory under forged bills of \nlading. The author also proves that the closest co-operation exists between the \nGerman and Russian general staffs. Wickham Steed, in the London Sunday \nTimes , remarked that the book \u2018should be read by all who wish to perceive the \nmeaning of the German claim for \u201cEquality\u201d in armaments;\u2019 but he probably \nknows as well as I do how very few wish to perceive anything of the sort. In \nany case it seems to me to be the duty of the Quarterly to advertize it as widely \nas we can. It should be noted, in passing, that Germany has paid and is paying \nfor this illicit armament, intended for use against France and Poland, with \nmoney \u2018written off\u2019 by England and France from Germany\u2019s War debts to \nthem, as well as with money borrowed in America, either from or through \nAmerican banks. It should be noted also that France would never have con\u00ac \nsented to these vast reductions in Germany\u2019s War liabilities except for the \npressure\u2014actual threats\u2014of this country and of England, Dawes and Young \nbeing used as instruments for that purpose. Nothing I regret more than that \nFrance, years ago, did not tell her former Allies to go to the devil. Europe \nwould be at peace to-day if she had done so. The factors of perpetual barter \nand uncertainty would have been removed. \n\n\u201cStill another book which bears on the same general subject, and which is \nfar more likely to be read, is War Memories , by the Princess Marie de Croy. \nWritten with great restraint, and with evident anxiety to acknowledge every \nkindness shown by any German, its story of her experience in occupied Belgium \nduring the War, and then of her imprisonment in Germany\u2014ten years\u2019 penal \nservitude was the sentence\u2014for having co-operated with Nurse Cavell and \nothers in helping stray British and French soldiers to escape through Holland, \nis not only intensely interesting, but shows all over again how extraordinarily \nbrutal the German war-machine was, and, of course, still is. Belgian women \nadd girls, some mere children, of all classes, for \u2018crimes\u2019 such as \u2018not having \ndenounced a neighbour whom she knew to have hidden a bicycle\u2019 (two years\u2019 \nimprisonment), \u2018for having given food to two Russian prisoners\u2019 (five years),\u2014 \nwere sent as convicts to a prison in Germany where the worst and lowest type \nof German women-criminals were incarcerated. The author was one of those \nwho were treated in this way. Her heroism, and that of great numbers of her \nfellow-countrywomen, who refused to flee before the invading Germans, fills \none with admiration and respect,\u2014indeed, with reverence. Proclamations were \nposted everywhere that anyone harbouring an Allied soldier would be shot; \nyet all over Belgium there were women who never hesitated to give food and \nshelter to men, perhaps wounded, who had been left behind or who had lost \ntheir way during the initial retreat toward the Marne,\u2014women who risked \nnot only their own lives but the lives of those they loved, by so doing.\u201d \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n277 \n\n\n\u201cThe worst of it is\u201d, commented the Philosopher, \u201cthat even among those \nwho read such a book with sympathy, very few will realize that their own \nmothers and sisters would be subjected to the same kind of torture, if ever \nGermany had the chance. I know there are some Germans who would utterly \ndisapprove; but I know also that their protest would count for nothing as \nagainst the black devils of hate and cruelty which possess the vast majority of \ntheir countrymen, once the war-fever (which in them is a spirit of fear and greed \nand rapine) runs away with them. In my opinion, one of the things that is \nsuffocating the world at the present time, is a hideous accumulation of unex\u00ac \npiated Karma from the Great War. I grant that the Turks, Kurds and Arabs, \nand that many of the people of the Balkans, exceeded the Germans in cruelty; \nbut the Germans were supposed to be civilized, the others not; so the moral \nguilt of the Germans was far greater.\u201d \n\n\u201cWere the Turks so bad?\u201d asked the Student. \n\n\u201cThey varied. The Anatolian peasant seems to have been a square, clean, \nbrave fighter; but the fact remains that Turkey butchered in cold blood over \nhalf a million Armenians, men, women and children, and although it is true that \nthe Armenians would have butchered the Turks, could they have done so, with \nequal brutality, the further fact remains that out of thirteen thousand British \nand British-Indian prisoners captured by the Turks at Kut al-Amarah, \u2018scarce \nfive thousand survived their marches and prisons: they had been clubbed, \nstripped, mutilated: their bones were strewn in the deserts between Baghdad \nand Aleppo\u2019. And for such abominations (there were others, far worse) no one \nwas punished,\u2014which clearly left it to be inferred that crimes and barbarities \ncommitted even against one\u2019s own people, in the course of a war, do not count, and \nthat the criminals and barbarians can repeat their performance with impunity. \nYet sin is sin, and God is not mocked. There must come a time either of re\u00ac \npentance, or of terrible punishment; and meanwhile, as I have said, it seems to \nme that all of Nature will protest until that Karma has been worked out, and \nthe equilibrium restored.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt will take time\u201d, said the Ancient; \u201cand meanwhile such things do show, \nas you suggested, how fierce the struggle is between that which comes down \nfrom above, and that which wells up from below; they show also how great is \nthe need to look behind the surface of things, both within ourselves and in the \nworld around us, and to look fearlessly and with detachment, seeking the truths \nand nothing but the truth. Then\u2014one might almost say, above all else\u2014they \nshow that until divine law, the law of Karma, of retribution, of equilibrium, is \nrecognized as universally omnipotent, and until men and nations learn that to \noffend against that law and to outrage its spirit is to draw disaster upon them\u00ac \nselves,\u2014earth will remain a hell. Meanwhile, Theosophists, if faithful to their \ntrust, must not only strive to do and to be what they would have others do and \nbe, but, with that as basis, must spend themselves to the utmost in an effort \nto arouse our blind world to the truth which alone can set it free and which alone \ncan give it inner peace.\u201d T. \n\n\n\n\n\nThe Beginnings of Man, by E. O. James; Doubleday, Doran and Company, Garden City, \nNew York; price, $2.50. \n\nDr. James has undertaken, in a measure with success, a difficult task: to reconcile the con\u00ac \nventional view of the origin and evolution of man with what one is constrained to call an \nalmost equally conventional view of religion, as it is understood by a great many orthodox \nChristians. The first part of his book tells again the tale of modern discoveries in \narchaeology and the antiquity of man, as it has been told by so many writers, like Boule, \nKeith, Sollas, Osborn and others; most vividly told, perhaps, in Osborn\u2019s fine work, Man rises \nto Parnassus, with its noble antiphonal accompaniment from iEschylus. This immensely \ninteresting story Dr. James retells with fidelity, accuracy and an evident enjoyment of its \nmanifold details, yet, it must be said, without any strongly original or creative criticism. \nHe accepts at more than its face value the descent of man from the diminutive, big-eyed \nTarsius, nocturnal kin of the lemurs, while to most students of Theosophy, this particular \nview seems a fantastical fairy-tale. He is not critical regarding the Javan Man-ape, Pithe\u00ac \ncanthropus; like many convinced followers of the doctrine of the day, he shows, in his genea\u00ac \nlogical tree, this problematic Man-ape as originating far earlier than authentic man. This \nis very convenient for current theories, but the fact seems to be that Pithecanthropus belongs \nto the Pleistocene, and that Piltdown man, with his decidedly \u201cmodem\u201d skull, as Keith calls \nit, belongs to the much older Pliocene. That common inversion, as we have suggested, fits \nthe theory much better than it fits the facts. Nor does Dr. James weigh and consider the \nlikelihood that the so-called \u201cman-like\u201d apes may represent thoroughly retrograde forms, as \nwas long ago suggested by so great an authority as Quatrefages; and it is somewhat hazard\u00ac \nous to build arguments on Miocene Dryopithecus, since up to the present no skull of Dryopi- \nthecus has been discovered. Once more, to come nearer to the present, Dr. James appears to \naccept without question the view that agriculture, and with it \u201ccivilization\u201d, is only 10,000 \nyears old. The quite recent excavation of unexpectedly ancient cities in the valley of the \nIndus, with the probability that other cities still more ancient may be found, should teach \nus caution; we may have to revise our dates. Therefore, we are inclined to think that Dr. \nJames has not brought any original critical power to the first half of his theme. He seems \nto accept too easily the conventional views. \n\nThe same is in a measure true of his study of religion. Thus, he bases a strong plea for \nHebrew monotheism on the opening verses of Genesis, quoting the translation of the author\u00ac \nized version: \u201cIn the beginning God . . .\u201d But Hebrew scholars say that the first three \nwords of the text, faithfully translated, read: \u201cPrimordially the Worshipful Ones moulded \n. . .\u201d Again, he speaks of the Creator making man \u201cin His image.\u201d Here he departs from \nthe text of the authorized version, which reads, \u201cLet us make man in our image,\u201d the subject \nbeing the plural form Elohim, \u201cThe Worshipful Ones.\u201d Further, Dr. James makes no effort \nto compare this ancient cosmogony with the parallel cosmogonies of India, as found, for \nexample, in the Upanishads. To leave out these great spiritual records in any general study \nof religion is to leave the story half told. \n\nDr. James rests much of his case on what is called \u201cemergent evolution\u201d: thus, the spiritual \n\n278 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n279 \n\n\nfaculties of man mysteriously \u201cemerged,\u201d suddenly transforming his anthropoid predecessor. \n\nBut, while there is much valuable truth in \u201cemergent evolution,\u201d we should face the fact \nthat it is only a description, not an explanation. A man \u201cemerges\u201d from a doorway, a lion \n\u201cemerges\u201d from a cave, an owl \u201cemerges\u201d from a hollow tree; but in each case the man, \nthe lion, the owl was there, fully equipped, unchanged, except in place, by his \u201cemergence.\u201d \n\nIf we are consistent, we must equally hold that the spiritual faculties of man must have been \nalready existent before they could \u201cemerge\u201d; we must hold that the essential man, the spiritual \nintelligence, was pre-existent, and, at the right time, entered a fitting vesture. \n\nWith what Dr. James has to say, in his closing pages, regarding the spiritual stature and power \nof Christ, one can heartily agree, even though holding that it is once more only a half-told tale. \n\nJ. \n\nThe Earlier Religion of Greece in the Light of Cretatf Discoveries, the Frazer Lecture for 1931 \nin the University of Cambridge, by Sir Arthur Evans; Macmillan Company, New York, \nprice, $1.20. \n\nThirty-five years ago the origins of Greek history .were still wrapped in impenetrable dark\u00ac \nness, and the great civilization of classical Hellas was generally regarded as a miraculous \ndevelopment. Schliemann\u2019s excavations at Troy and Mycenae had testified to a very solid \nsubstratum of culture underlying the brilliant productions of the classical period, but, as Sir \nArthur Evans points out, Mycenaean Greece was supposed to represent \u201can exotic and un\u00ac \nexplained phenomenon not yet recognized as, in the main, merely an offshoot of a much older \nculture, stage beyond stage of which could be traced in the \u2018Midsea\u2019 land, where it is now seen \nto link up the earliest civilization on European soil with that of the Nile Valley and of the \nAncient East\u201d (p. 3). \n\nEven the most ardent and most bigoted Hellenists are now forced to admit that the \u201chis\u00ac \ntorical\u201d Greeks, with all their genius, did not create their civilization out of nothing. Their \ngenius, indeed, consisted in their ability to assimilate what was essential in a civilization which \nhad already completed many cycles before they entered the Mediterranean lands as a race of \nconquerors. The changed view of Greek history has been made possible by the labour and \nsacrifice of Sir Arthur and others who have revealed, by excavation and by long research, the \nextraordinary duration and extent of the so-called Minoan culture. \n\nThe home of the Minoan culture was Crete, but it had a close connection with Egypt and \nwith the countries east of the Mediterranean. It effectively dominated the .<Egean islands and \nparts of the Greek mainland for many centuries. In his lecture, Sir Arthur describes in detail \nsome of the ritual and votive objects which have been recovered from Minoan tombs or shrines. \n\nHe indicates the remarkable resemblances between Minoan and Egyptian symbolism, and \nsuggests that many practices of later Greek religion can only be explained as survivals or modi\u00ac \nfications of Minoan ceremonies. \n\nHe compares the cult of the Cretan Mother Goddess to the Mysteries of Adonis and Attis, \nand remarks that in \u201cthe old Cretan worship we seem to discern not only a pervading spiritual \nessence but something in its followers akin to the faith that for the last two millenniums, has \nmoved the adherents of successive Oriental religions, Iranian, Christian, and Islamic\u201d (p. 37).^ \nSome of the characteristic symbols are very suggestive,\u2014the chrysalis and the butterfly, the^V \nsacred tree, the obelisk, the double-ax resembling the tau or the swastika. Sir Arthur repro\u2122 \nduces a scene carved on a signet ring from Thisb\u00a7, which represents the adoration of the \nMother Goddess and her Child by two warriors who bring offerings to the Divinities. \n\u201cNothing can be more remarkable than the parallelism that this whole scene presents with \nthe Adoration of the Magi\u201d (p. 35). \n\nSir Arthur is deeply impressed by the pure and reverent quality of the Cretan religion. \n\n\u201cA certain moral ingredient\u2014taken over, it may be, from ancient Egypt\u2014is perceptible in \nthe idea of the weighing of the Soul in butterfly form evidenced by the gold scales from the \nMycenae tomb, and by the scene on the \u2018Ring of Nestor\u2019 where the deceased are led before the \nGriffin Inquisitor, enthroned before the Goddess. I will venture, indeed, to repeat a con\u00ac \nclusion . . . based on the whole range of evidence afforded by the now very considerable mass \n\n\n\n\n28 o \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nof Minoan monuments. From the beginning to the end of Minoan Art, amongst all its mani\u00ac \nfold relics\u2014from its earliest to its latest phase\u2014not one single example has been brought to \nlight of any subject of an indecorous nature\u201d (pp. 41-42). The same cannot be said of the \nclassical Greeks, even by their most fanatical admirers. V. S. \n\nAncient Beliefs in the Immortality of the Soul, by Professor Clifford Herschel Moore; pub\u00ac \nlished in the Series, Our Debt to Greece and Rome, by Longmans, Green & Co., 1931; price, \nSi. 75 - \n\nIn the light of Theosophy, this little volume of 183 carefully worded pages is an uncon\u00ac \nscious admission of the bankruptcy of modern scholarship and modern understanding. Twenty \ndifferent theories of Immortality are succinctly presented, from Homer and Orphism to \nThomas Aquinas, Christian Mystics and \"The Modern Period\u201d. \"Since it is impossible to \ndetermine what influence, if any, the vifews of India and Eastern Asia have had on the West \nin the past, I make no mention of them\u201d (p. viii). Egyptian theories of Resurrection and of \nImmortality are likewise ignored, but without comment; Plato, we are told in summary, \"leaves \nthe question unanswered, and the Neoplatonists are no more explicit\u201d (p. 166); the teaching \nof Thrice Greatest Hermes is omitted as a mere post-Christian syncretism based chiefly on \nPhilo and the Neoplatonists; while we are asked to believe that, thanks to Pythagoras and \nthe Orphics, \"as early as the sixth century [B. C.J at least, men had passed from the idea of \nmere continuance after death to a belief in rewards and punishments hereafter for the deeds \ndone in the flesh\u201d (p. 28). One wonders how a twentieth century Harvard Professor knows \nso certainly that: \"At the best the Orphic confidence in the immortality of the soul rested \nonly on an intuition; it was simply an emotional belief, parallel in a way to the hope cherished \nby those initiated in the mysteries of Eleusis\u201d (p. 12). \n\nNevertheless, the volume is useful. The numerous quotations are well-chosen, and could \nnot be assembled without wide reading and labour. A student of Theosophy can pick his \nown way, and ignore the absurd comments, or use them as a foil to sharpen his own compre\u00ac \nhension of a topic of vital importance. There is unfortunately no index. A. \n\nAngeltis Silesius, translated, with an Introduction by J. E. Crawford Flitch; George Allen \nand Unwin, 1932; price, 8s. 6 d. \n\nA very interesting Introduction of 97 pages describes a movement on the Continent in the \n17th century which seems related to that of the Cambridge Platonists. Individuals and \ngroups in Silesia particularly, revolted by the narrow and rigid dogmatism of Luther, \"tended \nin quietness the flame of the spirit, while Catholics and Lutherans contended for thrones and \ndominions\u201d (page 17). \n\nJohann Scheffler (1624-1677) was one of those who sought the inner life. He was the son \nof a Polish Protestant nobleman driven by persecution to Silesia. Under the influence of \ncertain great mystics, St. Gertrude, St. Mechtild, Eckhart, Tauler, and not least, Jacob \nBoehme (whose writings were published in 1642), he prepared an anthology of their writings \nto which the Protestant censor refused publication. Chagrin over that disappointment and \nnatural sympathy with the mystics led Scheffler to repudiate the Lutherans as \"inexperienced \nand unversed in the whole body of ancient piety and destitute of the true and living theology\u201d \n(page 32); he became a Catholic, a priest, and took Angelus Silesius for his name in religion. \n\"Mystics had a traditional leave to warm themselves at the Catholic hearth, even though at \ntimes the mistress of the house might have occasion to reprove them for their freedom of \nspeech. Their dialect, strange though it might sound to the orthodox ear, could still be in\u00ac \nterpreted according to the grammar of faith. A judicious editing, a prefatory gloss, would \nbe enough to warn the unwary reader against a too literal interpretation of the poet\u2019s mystical \nparadoxes\u201d (p. 40). Later, most unfortunately, he developed into a bitterly polemical pamph\u00ac \nleteer. There are aspects of his life which suggest Milton, Donne, and Blake. As a young \nman he put into verse many thoughts from the mystics under the title, Cherubinic Wanderer , \nselections from which, in translation, form the main body of this book. \"He was one of that \nnumerous company of spirits who feel themselves to be in exile on the earth and whose chief \n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n281 \n\nconcern is to find a way back to their native country. He explored both the Negative Way \nof Mysticism and the Devotional Way of the Cross. He was responsive to the signals and \nbeckonings of the many travellers who had set out before him on the way to the far country. \nAn arresting paradox from Eckhart, a lightning flash from Boehme, an ecstatic cry from St. \nMechtild or St. Teresa, an epigram from Czepko, these were the sparks which, falling upon his \ninflammable imagination, lit up the momentary visions he engraved in the incisive lines of \nhis verse. He was too much at the mercy of his impulses and enthusiasms to stay to reflect \nupon the connection of his thoughts or to weave them into a continuous tissue. All the aspira\u00ac \ntion, all the triumphs and despairs, which are involved in the effort of mysticism to penetrate \ninto the heart of reality, are resumed in him and together constitute the thousand-faceted \njewel of the Cherubinic Wanderer \u201d (p. 96). C. \n\nAn Indian Monk: His Life and Adventures , by Shri Purohit Swami; Macmillan and Co., \nLondon, 1932; price, 7 s. 6 d. \n\nThe first half or so of this book, in which the inner as well as the outer life of a Hindu would- \nbe disciple is laid bare, makes wonderful reading. We are given a picture of Indian life at its \nbest,\u2014not a complete picture by any means, because there is no mention of its many evils; but \na picture which shows that, in spite of a veneer of Western education, and in spite of her native \ndegeneracy, there still exists in India a substratum of genuine and rare spirituality. The \nlater chapters, in which the author describes his pilgrimages and sufferings, are, in comparison, \nsomewhat wearisome: he becomes a shade too good. We hope, however, that the book will \nbe widely read. It is a challenge to all who call themselves Christians: have they anything to \nshow which compares with this \u201cheathen\u2019s\u201d sacrifice and asceticism? Do they desire to love \nand obey their Master as he loved and obeyed his? \n\nReading it, should compel students of Theosophy to think ,\u2014and we need to think. At \nfirst, it may seem that the author is really a Theosophist. Without question his book reveals \nan intense \u201cother-worldliness\u201d, which is beautiful in many ways, and a delight after the ma\u00ac \nterialism in the midst of which we live. It needs thought and some discrimination to realize \nthat his idea of the real world is not the same as ours, and that his is more of a Deva-loka, a \nsort of superior Devachan, than the reality of which our present world is a perverted shadow. \nWithout question, too, his tolerance is unlimited, and again it may need reflection to see that, \njust because it is unlimited, it is not theosophical; for Theosophy teaches us to discriminate, \nnot to swallow everything flat, as if there were no difference between black and white. \u201cI am \nBrahma, thou art Brahma, all things are Brahma\u201d, is his conclusion, as if that settled it, the \ntruth being that that only begins it, no matter how we may wish it were otherwise. His \nphilosophy is based upon a dead-letter interpretation of the Upanishads; it fails utterly to \ndiscriminate between \"relative unrealities\u201d; it regards the courtesan, and the self-sacrificing \nmother of a family, as equal manifestations of Brahma, seeing that Brahma alone is; and this \nmeans failure to recognize facts, and total inability to apply principles to mundane affairs. \n\nIncidentally, the book confirms our opinion that a literal and external interpretation of the \nVow of Poverty puts a premium on self-satisfaction. It becomes too easy for a man to feeL \nwithin himself: \u201cHow humble I am that I, who might be feeding others, beg\u201d; and if a man \nfeels that, or anything like that, his virtues, no matter how many, can only carry him deeper \ninto the pit. Humility is not aware of being humble. \n\nOn the other hand, in some of the simplicities, the Swami is splendidly right. Take this \n(p. 101): \u201cI came to the conclusion that it was sheer ignorance and egoism when men talked \nabout helping Him [God] or helping mankind. When you begin to do good to this world, \nyou presuppose that you are sufficiently wise to understand it, and powerful enough to help \nit out of its difficulties. Such men profess too much. The world is full of misery. What is \nthe reason? Perhaps those people who want to help are the cause, and, when bad results of \ntheir actions appear, they resort to the same despotic benevolence as a remedy. Thus misery \nis piled on misery, all the product of ignorance and egoism, as the sages said, and as I felt \nforced to agree. ... I thought, yes, the world has been created by Him, and He alone is able \nto help it. Then what business have I to meddle unless He bids me? My first duty is to \n\n\n282 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nknow Him, and attain direct communication with Him. In short, I thought I should have \nHis ddesha, or mandate, before I did anything for this world.\u201d \n\nHe quotes a \u201cMahatma\u201d (all men who are supposed to have found God, are called \u201cMa\u00ac \nhatmas\u201d in India) as having said to him (p. 94) that real mysticism is not mystery, but mystery \nunveiled, and once a mystery is unveiled it no longer remains a mystery but is plain and \nsimple knowledge. \n\nAs we have said, the author shows modem Hinduism at its best, and although it is not \nthe best, we are thankful that it exists. If there were enough of it, it might antidote the poison \nof the Indian National Congress. We repeat: a fascinating, thought-provoking book, which \nwe recommend, and for which we are thankful. T. \n\nWar Memories, by Princess Marie de Croy; Macmillan and Co., London, 1932; price, \n8 s. 6 d. \n\nThis book is highly recommended in the \u201cScreen of Time\u201d in this issue of the Quarterly. \nIt has not as yet been published in America, because American publishers do not think it \nwould be \u201cpopular\u201d, and have said so. Probably they are right, as the Princess de Croy tells \nthe truth about a subject in regard to which most Americans prefer to hear untruths, or, \nbetter, nothing at all. It can be obtained through the Quarterly Book Department for $2.00. \nIf our recommendation could create a sufficient demand for it, New York publishers would \nsoon be competing for the \u201cprivilege\u201d of seeing their name on the title-page. Its wide circu\u00ac \nlation would do a great deal of good. T. \n\nThe Wisdom of Egypt and the Old Testament , In the Light of the. Newly Discovered 4 Teaching \nof Amen-Em-Ope', by W. O. E. Oesterlcy, D.D.; London, S.P.C.K.; New York, The Mac\u00ac \nmillan Co.; 6 s. \n\nThis is an interesting and very suggestive comparison of the relation between an important, \nnewly discovered Egyptian \u201cWisdom\u201d book, and Proverbs, Deuteronomy, and Psalms. \nThere are numerous passages either verbatim or so closely parallel as to prove that the Hebrew \nwriters knew the Egyptian, or vice versa. Professor Oesterley, assuming the latest date for \nthe Egyptian writer, inclines to emphasize the existence of a general body of early \u201cWisdom\u201d \nliterature (of the Proverbs type), probably written in Hebrew, from which the known Hebrew \nwriters copied, and from which Amen-Em-Ope borrowed his volume of Teaching. Egyptolo\u00ac \ngists, however, unite in attributing priority of authorship to Egypt; and with this general \nprinciple The Secret Doctrine agrees. The dating adopted throughout is typical of the whole \nmodem tendency to foreshorten ancient history. The ethical teaching is on a level with the \nbest in the Old Testament\u2014a fact not cherished by theologians and devout Biblical scholars. \nProfessor Oesterley has summed up the various views with scrupulous fairness, and his little \nvolume is highly instructive and serves as an excellent introductory exposition. G. \n\nL'Art Religieux aprls le Concile de Trente , by Emile Mdle; Librairie Armand Colin, Paris; \n$10.00. \n\nEmile Mdle, distinguished member of the Academy and Director of the French School at \nRome, has written on religious art in France in the twelfth century, the thirteenth century \nand at the end of the Middle Ages. This latest book, the fourth of the series, deals with religious \nart in Europe in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. \n\nThe religious art of this period is by no means so splendid as that of the preceding centuries, \nas one realizes sadly when looking at the many illustrations of this book. No one would place \n\u201cLe Beau Dieu\u201d of Amiens or the \u201cQueen of Sheba\u201d of Chartres on the same plane as Bernini\u2019s \nSt. Theresa, or compare Rubens\u2019 or Van Dyke\u2019s Pietd with the profound and beautiful Pietd \nof Enguerrand Charenton. However, Mdle does not discuss his subject from the aesthetic \npoint of view, but from that of the ideas, theological and general, which guided the artists of \nthe time. These artists are completely representative of the thought of the age, of the tre\u00ac \nmendous resistance of the church in the Catholic Reaction, and of its renewed life in the great \nsaints who opposed the Protestant Reformation. \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n283 \n\n\nThe church and the artists of the Counter Reform meditated upon the ecstasies of the \nsaints in their communion with Christ and the Virgin, upon the miracles of the Sacraments, \nupon the warning of death and dissolution, upon the courage of the martyrs. Their subjects \nare in astonishing contrast with their sensationalism, saccharine sentimentality and lack of \ntaste. The term \"Jesuit Art\u201d describes the most exuberant baroque. The \"Triumph of St. \nIgnatius\" at the Gesu in Rome is wormy with cupids. Alone, some of the Spanish masters, \nZurbaran, el Greco, Montanes, rise to the height of a spiritual vision of their subjects. \n\nNevertheless, the ideas which the poorest of the painters and sculptors pretended to express \nare worthwhile in themselves, and Mile\u2019s exposition of them sheds floods of light not only upon \nart, but upon the history of religious thought in Europe. St. C. LaD. \n\nSpinoza , Liberator of God and Man , by Benjamin DeCasseres; E. Wickham Sweetland, \npublisher, New York, 1932; price $2.00. \n\nBlessed Spinoza , a Biography, by Lewis Browne; The Macmillan Company, New York, \n1932; price, $4.00. \n\nLast year the three hundredth anniversary of Spinoza's birth was celebrated. One hopes \nthat the revival of interest in his philosophy will bring a truer understanding of it, for Spinoza \ndoes not need outspoken homage or admiration as much as re-valuation. For centuries he has \nbeen misrepresented by enemies and friends alike. No one could have said more clearly what \nhe had to say, but most of his commentators seem to have been incapable of believing that he \nmeant what he said. More than one of his so-called followers has tried to gain favour or \npublicity for his own ideas by the simple expedient of attributing them to Spinoza. He has \nbeen praised and blamed for being an atheist, a naturalistic pantheist, a materialist, a ration\u00ac \nalist, a utilitarian, a hedonist; and because his works are difficult to read, it has been generally \nassumed that he was one or all of these things. But when one does take the trouble to read \nthem, it requires little acumen to discern what he really was. If his words be offered in evidence \nagainst the words of his commentators, it becomes apparent that Spinoza was a mystical \nphilosopher, and that the metaphysician who most closely resembles him was Plotinus. \n\nThe two works here considered are decidedly better than the average, but in the reviewer\u2019s \nopinion their merits are outweighed by their defects. They may be read with profit by one who \nhas already read Spinoza; but unless the student has this safe-guard of first-hand knowledge, \nhe is certain to get from them some very false notions about the philosopher. \n\nWithout doubt, Benjamin DeCasseres has written a stimulating book which has the value of \nbeing provocative on every page. With some of his assertions we unqualifiedly agree. Spinoza, \nlike every other \"Titan\" in the history of thought, was a champion of the divine spirit of Man \nagainst the powers which impede its expression, against mediocrity and brutality, ignorance \nand stupidity and fear. In his own degree and on his own plane, he belonged to the clan of \nLucifer and Prometheus. \"He liberated God from the dungeons of personal fear and from the \nimages of the grotesque imagination. ... He found him a Moloch-Father. He left him an \nomnipresent infinite universality\" (p. 31). There is exaggeration here both concerning God, \nand concerning Spinoza, who was by no means the first of mortals to realize that God was not \n\"an anthropomorphic prolongation of the body, parts and passions of mankind\u2019\u2019. But the idea \nthat Spinoza was \"a son of the Morning Star\" would seem to be nearer to the truth, in spite \nof its hyperbolism, than the commonly accepted notion that he was a Seventeenth Century \ntype of parlour radical. It is true that he was forced into open conflict with the obscurantist \nforces of his day, specifically represented by the ecclesiastics and theologians. One wonders \nwhether he would not find those same forces to-day represented by other \"vested interests\", \nfor example, by learned scientific bodies and by those who are endeavouring completely to \nsecularize and to stereotype humanity. \"A son of the Morning Star\" is no respecter of persons. \nHe struggles with darkness wherever he finds it. \n\nBut when DeCasseres comments further upon Spinoza\u2019s ideal of the liberation of Man, he \nfalls into a serious error. He assumes that when the philosopher spoke of virtue as synonymous \nwith strength and true happiness, he was anticipating Nietzsche\u2019s vision of the Superman. In \npoint of fact, Spinoza and Nietzsche are as far apart as it is possible to be. The \"self\", for \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n284 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwhich Nietzsche sought joy and power, is the lower personality, the actual human ego. The \n\u201cself\u201d in Spinoza\u2019s system is a mode or ray of the Eternal. \u201cThe human mind, in so far as it \nknows itself . . . under the form of Eternity ( sub specie aternitatis), . . . knows that it exists in \nGod and is conceived through God.\u201d . . . One wishes that DeCasseres had not written the \nchapter on what he calls, with much approbation, Spinoza\u2019s \u201cEgotheism\u201d, for it inverts the \nwhole sense of the great philosopher\u2019s central doctrine, that blessedness consists in complete \nself-forgetfulness in the knowledge and love of God. It was Spinoza who said that he who \ntruly loves God does not hope that God will love him in return. \n\nLewis Browne is in no danger of making the same mistakes as DeCasseres, for he is a sober \nand careful realist. He has accomplished a remarkable feat in writing three hundred and nine\u00ac \nteen pages about Spinoza\u2019s life, for this life was almost devoid of incident, with the exception \nof the outstanding episode of his excommunication from Israel. But he has marshalled his \nfacts with skill and has made the maximum use of his material. The most interesting part \nof the book is concerned with the Jewish environment of Spinoza\u2019s early years. Incidentally, \nDr. Browne suggests that the young Spinoza was probably much influenced by his studies in the \nrabbinical academy of Amsterdam, for it was there that he must have become acquainted with \nthe metaphysical genius of Maimonides and Ibn-Ezra, the great Jewish philosophers of medi\u00ac \naeval Spain. Also he must have perused the Zohar and other Kabalistic scriptures, for which \nDr. Browne cannot conceal his scorn, whenever he mentions them; but it is possible that \nSpinoza may have been more deeply indebted to the Kabala than he chose to admit. It is a \ncurious fact that his Theologico-Political Treatise, published anonymously in 1670, gave the \npublisher\u2019s name as Henricus Kunraht. This was evidently a pseudonym; can it be that \nSpinoza was thinking of Henry Khunrath, the Sixteenth Century Kabalist? \n\nThe virtue of Dr. Browne\u2019s work is that it brings into relief the contrast between the bril\u00ac \nliant and active inner life of the philosopher and his obscure and monotonous outer existence. \nSpinoza seems to have deliberately chosen poverty and solitude as fixed conditions of his life \nbecause he believed them to be less distracting than wealth and comfort. During his last \nyears at the Hague, he dwelt in the back-room of an attic, earning what little he had to spend \nby grinding lenses. \n\nThere is, however, a grave error of omission in this biography which materially affects its \nvalue, and causes the unwary reader to carry away with him a very lop-sided view of Spinoza. \nWhat would one say of a biography of Napoleon in which no reference was made to his military \nor political qualities? Dr. Browne has written a life of Spinoza in which no space is given to \nany consideration of his mystical genius. If Dr. Browne were one\u2019s only source of information \nabout Spinoza, one would assume that there was not the slightest evidence of any mystical \nsubstratum in his thought. But it is this mystical substratum which really gives his thought \nsuch power, and which distinguishes him from the vast majority of modern philosophers whose \naxioms are merely guesses and not based upon intuition and experience. A biography which \ndoes not even mention Spinoza the mystic, is not really a biography of Spinoza, but of a phantom \nof the author\u2019s imagination which bears the philosopher\u2019s name. S. V. L. \n\nThe Golden Sequence, a Fourfold Study of the Spiritual Life, by Evelyn Underhill; Methuen \nand Co. Ltd., London, 1932; price, 5s. \n\nThis is another remarkable book from perhaps the most influential and most helpful writer \non Mysticism in the West. Miss Underhill has attempted an exceedingly difficult approach in \nthis latest exposition of the workings of the inner life, because, to deal directly in Western \nterms with \u201cthe Spirit\u201d and things \u201cspiritual\u201d, is to enter a field of highly ambiguous terms \nand very various meanings. Only a person literally steeped in the literature on the Spirit and \nits workings in so-called Mystical Consciousness, could even have attempted such a book. \nChristian theology has never succeeded in clarifying its exposition of the Holy Spirit, or even of \nspiritual experience; and Christian mystics have given accounts apparently so at variance, \nthough based on their own individual \u201cexperience\u201d,\u2014that the lay reader is usually bewildered \nand seldom sure that he understands what is meant. Years ago a series of articles in the \nQuarterly attempted to point out some of the keys to a simpler conception of what was. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n285 \n\n\ninvolved in Christian teaching, by applying theosophic principles and the helpful analogies \nafforded by comparative religious terminology. Miss Underhill seems to have read some books \non Theosophy (has she, perchance, read Through The Gates Of Gold}), but, living in England, \nher approach has obviously been unfortunate, and she has never had the advantage of knowing \nTheosophy as such, stripped not only of its counterfeits, but of its vulgar travesties. Never\u00ac \ntheless, in this volume her whole method and intellectual approach are precisely those of a \nstudent of Theosophy, and for this reason, beyond perhaps her earlier contributions, these \nnew \u201cconsiderations\u201d, as she calls them, will be of interest and value to readers of the Quar\u00ac \nterly. Her wide reading, her wonderful memory for apt quotation, her great command of \nlanguage, her brilliance of analogy and in illustration, have all served the one purpose of dis\u00ac \ncovering a synthesis, of bringing out the fundamental principles which underlie all the \u201cspiri\u00ac \ntual\u201d experience of the mystics and the writings of mystical theologians. It is unfortunate \nthat the publisher\u2019s jacket should use the phrase \u201ca theology of the Spirit\u201d to describe the book. \nIt suggests a purely mental or intellectual approach. But Miss Underhill has written from \nher heart\u2014as in her last two booklets\u2014and her intellectual gifts are used to subserve the in\u00ac \ntense sympathy, almost the yearning she herself feels, and reveals, for the mystical life and its \nexperience. Moreover, in several passages she indicates a growing realization that the detached \nand bare intellectual vision described by a Plotinus or exalted by a Ruysbroeck, is not neces\u00ac \nsarily better or \u201chigher\u201d than the more intimate interchange of a Theresa or a Catherine with \ntheir Master;\u2014and it is at just this point that lies the difference between experience merely \nmystic, and chGlaship,\u2014between \u201cthe good man and the man who has attained knowledge\u201d. \n\u201cReality\u201d must include, not exclude, true individuality. \u201cSpirit indwells and penetrates the \nsoul\u2019s very fabric as a quiet Love; and it is here, in our ground, that we are to experience the \nmost intimate and transforming realities of Prayer. Here we may come to know by the pene\u00ac \ntration of the heart, that which we can never understand by the exercise of the mind. . . . \nThe vision of God and the love of God complete each other\u201d (pp. 168-9). \n\nThe \u201cGolden Sequence\u201d may be said to begin with a recognition, however dumb and blind, \nthat there is a Spirit, beyond, above, and greater than we are. Miss Underhill illustrates this \nbeginning with a striking story \u201cby Osbert Sitwell, which tells how a traveller in the equatorial \nforests, hearing strange sounds at night, looked out from his window; and saw in the courtyard, \nwhere it was imprisoned, a great anthropoid ape\u2014one of those tragic creatures just verging \non the human (Theosophical tradition reverses this: \u201cdescended and cast off from the human\u201d] \n\u2014bowing in solemn adoration before the splendour of the rising moon\u201d (p. 161). The Sequence \nnext brings us to a recognition of \"Man Natural and Supernatural\u201d\u2014to the realization that \nman partakes of two worlds, and has two natures. There is a finite life, and there is Life \nInfinite. The \u201cGifts\u201d of the Spirit flow from the Supernatural and Infinite, and gradually \ntransform, or transmute, the finite and \u201cnatural\u201d into Itself. Man, therefore, is in a transition \nstage, and must live a \u201cTwofold Life\u201d until his nature be transmuted. The process of passing, \nor growing, from finite to Infinite, from natural to Supernatural, is known technically as the \nWay of Purgation. Man deliberately sets himself to claim his full spiritual inheritance; he \ncleanses his senses, his intellect, his memory and imagination, his will and love. Throughout \nthis process he learns in ever fuller measure the true meaning of prayer, step by step advancing \nfrom Adoration to Communion, and thence to a newly motived and vitalized action \u2014in the \nworld, but no longer of it. Miss Underhill sums up this section in a fine concluding paragraph \n\u201cThus communion and intercession, adherence and collaboration, can never be separated in \nexperience. They are completing aspects of that total life of prayer, of which the key-word is \nto be fiat voluntas tua. Even while it moves, within the action of God, towards that complete \nsurrender which puts it, in action and in contemplation, wholly at the disposal of the Creative \nWill, this life moves also to a discovery and fulfilment of its own unique task within the mystical \nbody of praying souls\u201d (p. 177). \n\nWhen we read, and reread, what Miss Underhill writes with such a sure hand and with so \nunusual an illumination about Adoration and Communion, one cannot help but wish that \nsomething more of the old, old Wisdom Religion and Teaching might be understood by her. \nIf she could transcend the mental outlook and dogmatic horizon of the Western Christian \n\n\n\n\n\n\n286 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nmystics, how extraordinary would be her contribution. If she could\u2014by meditation upon such \nphrases as \u201cMy Father worketh hitherto, and I work\u201d, or \u201cthe first-born of many brethren\u201d, \nor \u201cthe mysteries of the kingdom of heaven\u201d\u2014arrive at a vision of the superb sweep of human \nevolution through reincarnation, and especially of the Lodge of \u201cjust men made perfect\u201d who, \none and all, ceaselessly come in one way or another to seek and to save the lost, and could see \nhow her own insight into the workings of the eternal spiritual \u201cReality of God\u201d would be \nenriched by it\u2014could see the differing kinds of mystical experience and communion explained \nby the differing stages of development, of need, of self- consciousness along this tremendous \npathway\u2014her whole intellectual grasp of mystical phenomena would be integrated. In any \ncase, students of Theosophy can find in her writings the theosophic method applied with \ninspiring rectitude within the limits of a broad and enlightened Christian mysticism\u2014and \nthis is saying much. Miss Underhill\u2019s zeal is catching, her intellect is stimulating, her guidance \nmay be trusted. M. H. \n\nLa Mythologie Asiatiqne Illustree; Librairie de France, Paris; $10. Translated into English \nas A static Mythology; Harrap, London; 635. \n\nThis magnificent work has recently been translated from the French and published in \nLondon. It was prepared and brought out by M. Hakin, the Conservateur of the Mus6e Guimet, \na Paris Museum dedicated to Oriental Thought, Art and Anthropology. It deals with Persia, \nIndia, Tibet, Indo-China, Cambodia, Java, China and Japan, and the mythology of each \ncountry is discussed by an authority in that field. It is the only work, so far as we know, \nwhich presents such a mass of material in so compact a form. The book is profusely illustrated \nwith photographs, drawings and colour plates. \n\nThe authors do not attempt to explain the spiritual significance of faiths, myths or legends. \nThey have tried only to give a history of religions and a catalogue of divinities. Thus, their \nwork is of slight inspiration to those seeking spiritual nourishment, but, on the other hand, \nit is invaluable as a book of reference to all who are interested in Oriental Mythology and Art. \n\nSt. C. LaD. \n\n\nSt. Augustine's Conversion , by W. J. Sparrow Simpson, D. D.; London, S. P. C. K.; New \nYork, The Macmillan Co.; price, $3.50. \n\n\u201cThe Confessions are commonly read by themselves. But to be fully appreciated they \nought to be read in connection with the earlier writings and the fragments of autobiography \nscattered in other places. It is only in this way that the process of Augustine\u2019s development \nis completely understood. It is wonderful what light the earlier writings throw upon the later, \nand how the later help to explain the earlier. The Confessions are the crown of all the rest. \nThis is the masterpiece, an amazing self-analysis\u201d (p. 236). \n\nThis opening paragraph of Chapter XX summarizes exactly the contribution made by this \nadmirably conceived and interesting book. The author writes as a Christian apologist, and \nconsequently he belittles, for example, Neoplatonism, intending thereby to exalt Christianity \n\u2014an unfortunate characteristic of Christian polemic. But with this single draw-back, which \nis not obtrusive, the volume provides a valuable setting for one of the greatest Christian \nclassics, enriching one\u2019s whole conception of \u201cthe good St. Augustine\u201d ( The Secret Doctrine , \nII, p. 476). Q. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQuestion No. 375 .\u2014On the assumption that both men were striving for discipleship in some \nform or other, did Epictetus as a slave, or Marcus Aurelius as an Emperor, have the easier environ\u00ac \nment in which to work? \n\nAnswer. \u2014We may safely assume that once a man has dedicated his life to discipleship\u2014 \nhas deliberately set his foot upon the Path\u2014all his environment, life after life, will shape itself \nin such a way as to test him to the uttermost limit of his capacity to learn and to endure. We \nhave the assurance that no man will be tried beyond his strength; but we have been told that \n\u201cHe who does the best he knows how and that he can do, does enough for us\u201d\u2014no mean accom\u00ac \nplishment in the light of what saints and disciples have achieved. Epictetus, assuming that he \nwas striving for discipleship, needed exactly the discipline of slavery to develop in him needed \nqualities. He doubtless at times found his life bitterly hard, but refused to be crushed by it, \nand so rose to heights of philosophic heroism,\u2014thereby not only making his lot less hard, but \nestablishing himself on a new high level. In the same way Marcus Aurelius must have needed \nthe tests of power, etc., and rose to great attainment by mastering himself in the midst of a \npeculiarly dangerous environment. Either man might have failed in the other\u2019s place; either \nman, having won self-mastery exactly where he was, would probably have been capable of \nexchanging places with the other safely\u2014even easily. But a deliberate change of environment \nto escape the particular difficulties of the one we are in, is only to follow illusion, to complicate \nKarmic action and the plans of our Master, and to court a reaction which might throw one off \none\u2019s base. There is no such thing, therefore, as an \u201ceasier environment\u2019\u2019 in discipleship. The \nroad \u201cwinds uphill all the way\u2019\u2019 for each individual; and the hill is known as Calvary, for on its \nsummit is a Cross\u2014the Cross of a final initiation. A. \n\n\nAnswer. \u2014Circumstances are a result, not a cause. Success in discipleship depends entirely \nupon right thinking, feeling, willing, and upon right use of the imagination. Wrong thinking, \nfeeling, willing, and wrong use of the imagination, must be eliminated. When a man attributes \nhis failure of yesterday to anyone or anything outside of himself, he adds a worse defeat to the \nfirst. If he says, or thinks, \u201cI have tried again and again, and simply can\u2019t do it\u201d, he removes \nhimself from the Path as no sort of outer failure can remove him. In fact, perhaps the first \nstep in occultism is to become incapable of thinking or feeling, \u201cI cannot\u201d, or \u201cIt cannot be \ndone\u201d. J. A. \n\n\n\nQuestion No. 376 .\u2014Why is it, if the Christ is recognized as one of the Masters, that the Buddha \nis given so much more prominence in Theosophical literature? \n\nAnswer. \u2014Is this really so? A born and professed Buddhist might complain with as much \njustice that prominence given to Christian teachings and ethics, as for instance, in some \narticles in the Quarterly, was not in accord with theosophical principles. In following out \nthe second object of The Theosophical Society, namely, \u201cthe study of Aryan and other Eastern \nliteratures, religions, and sciences\u201d, as a means toward the knowledge of the Wisdom-phi\u00ac \nlosophy, or Religion, room must be found for all, notwithstanding individual prejudices and \n\n287 \n\n\n\n288 \n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS \n\n\npredilections. The questioner should read The Key to Theosophy , pp. 12-15, where Mme. \nBlavatsky deals with a very similar question. We are living in a country of the \u201cwest\u201d where \nChristianity is professed by the majority of the inhabitants; but if we were to try and get \nbehind the external theology of either Christianity or Buddhism, we should find the common \nmeeting ground of \u201cBodhism\u201d (Wisdom), as Mme. Blavatsky puts it. A. K. \n\nAnswer. There is much interest among T. S. members in the different great religions of the \nworld. If Christians, they are likely to be somewhat conversant with the biblical accounts of \nthe life and teachings of the Christ. Moreover, there is available an enormous literature on \nalmost every phase of this subject. The life and teachings of the Buddha are, on the contrary, \ncomparatively unknown to the West, and satisfactory English translations of Buddhist scrip\u00ac \ntures scarce. The accurate and sympathetically understanding translations and commentaries \nwhich the Quarterly is able to supply, are therefore doubly welcome to a large proportion of \nits regular readers. Presumably the querent, by the phrase \u201cin Theosophical literature\u201d, means \n\u201cin the Theosophical Quarterly\u201d. c. M. S. \n\nAnswer. There are the same great truths at the heart of every real religion. Christians \nshould read what is said of the Buddha and Buddhism for the light which it throws on Christi\u00ac \nanity. Many students of Theosophy believe that it is not possible to understand one\u2019s own \nreligion by studying that alone, just as no one can really understand his own language if that \nbe the only one he knows. The study of the sayings of the Buddha, or of the Bhagavad Gita, or \nof any of the great scriptures of the world throws much light on the inner meaning of the \nGospels. Our very familiarity with the words of the New Testament tends to obscure its \nmeaning, and the same truths may often be seen more clearly when presented in a fresh way and \nwith a different colouring. j p 3 jyj \n\n\nNOTICE \n\nThe regular meetings of the New York Branch of The Theosophical Society are held on \nalternate Saturday evenings, at 64 Washington Mews, which runs from the east side of Fifth \nAvenue, midway between 8th Street and Washington Square, North. No. 64 is the first \nStudio east of Fifth Avenue, on the north side of the Mews. The meetings begin at half-past \neight, and close at ten o\u2019clock. \n\nDuring the present Quarter, there will be meetings on,\u2014 \n\nJanuary 14th and 28th \nFebruary nth and 25th \nMarch nth and 25th \n\nOut-of-town members of the Society are invited to attend these meetings whenever they \nare in New York. Visitors who may be interested in Theosophy are always welcome. \n\n\n\n* STANDARD BOOKS \n\nBlavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled, Vols. I and II.doth, *10.00 \n\n__ _ Complete in one book.cloth. 7 . 5 o \n\nKey to Theosophy . cloth \u2019 2<2 \" \n\nSecret Doctrine, The, Vols. I and II and Index .doth,\u2019 10.00 \n\nComplete in one book, without subject-index volume! 7 . 5 U \n\nTheosophical Glossary .doth, 2.25 \n\nTransactions of the Blavatsky Lodge .cloth 2 50 \n\nVoice of the Silence. . dot ^ ,; oo \n\nCave. Fragments, Volume I. , B0 \n\nV\u00b0, lume II;.boarcM, i!b\u00ab \n\n_ Volume III.boards. 1 RO \n\nGerard, John. Letters to Friends .boards, 1*75 \n\nHillard, Katherine. Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine, .doth a\u2019oo \n\nJohnston, Charles. Bhagavad Gita .Translated, annotated; doth* 1,2a \n\nCrest Jewel of Wisdom, The .lim P leather, 1.75 \n\nGreat Upanishads, The, Volume I.doth i bo \n\nParables of the Kingdom, The.. \u2019 \n\nPATANJALI S Yoga Sutras .Translated, annotated; cloth, 1.25 \n\nSong of Life, The. ' 7B \n\nJudge, William Q. Bhagavad Gita .Edited; cloth, 1.25; leather\u2019 i!bo \n\nLchobs from the Orient. \u2014 * 2S \n\nLetters That Have Helped Me, Volume I and II, each \"doth\u2019 l\u2019oo \n\nOcean of Theosophy. \u2018 \n\nPatanjali\u2019s Yoga Aphorisms ......doth\u2019 100 \n\nKeightley, Archibald. Theosophy as an Influence in Life naoer\u2019 \u201920 \n\nLaDow, Stanley V. Plotinus.. .\u2122\u2019 \u201950 \n\nMitchell, Henry Bedinger. Meditation, Special edition, .201 oaner\u2019 bo \n\nTalks on Religion. V..\u2019 \n\nTheosophical Society and Theosophy, The. . . . . .'. .\".' \\ n \n\nSinnett, A. P, Esoteric Buddhism . cIoth \u2019 \n\nOccult World, The .. . . . . . . . . dbtt 2'\u2122 \n\nWalker, E. D. Reincarnation . doth\u2019 i\u2019tk \n\nIdyll of the White Lotus.. \n\nLight on the Path. \"\".fabric J'oo \n\nThrough the Gates of Gold. \n\nTHE QUARTERLY BOOK DEPARTMENT, \n\n% O# Box 64, Station O, New York. \n\n\nDevotional: Bhagavad Gita: Crest Jewel of Wisdom; Fragments; The Great Uoani- \n8 hads; Letters That Have Helped Me; Letters to Friends; Light on the Path- The Par\u00ac \nables of the Kingdom; The Song of Life; Through the Gates of Gold; Voice of the Silence. \n\nPhilosophical: Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine; Isis Unveiled; Key to Theosophy \nPlotinus; Reincarnation; The Secret Doctrine; Talks on Rdigion; Theosophical Glossary \nTransactions; Patanjali\u2019s Yoga Sutras. wwuy. \n\nIntroductory: Culture of Concentration; Echoes from the Orient; Esoteric Buddhism- \nIdyll of the White Lotus; Meditation; The Occult World; The Ocean of Theosophv* \nThe Theosophical Society and Theosophy. P y \u2019 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFounded by b. P. Blaoatsky at Pew Vork in 1875 \n\n\nT HE Society does not pretend to be able to establish \nat once a universal brotherhood among men, hot \nonly strives to create the nucleus of such a body. \n5 55 55^ Many of it* members believe that an acquaintance \nwith the world's religions and philosophies will \nreveal, as the common and fundamental principle \nunderlying these, that \u201cspiritual identity of all Souls with the \nrw \n\n\nOversoul \u201d which is the basis of true brotherhood; and many \nof them also believe that an appreciation of the finer forces \nof nature and man will still further emphasize the same idea* \n\n\nThe organization is wholly unsectarian, with no creed, \ndogma, nor personal authority to enforce or impose; neither \nis it to be held responsible for the opinions of its members, \nwho are excreted to accord to the beliefs of others that \ntolerance which they desire for their own. \n\nThe following proclamation was adopted at the Conven\u00ac \ntion of the Society, held at Boston, April, 1895: \n\n\u201cThe Theosophical Society in America by its delegatesand \nmembers in Convention assembled, does hereby proclaim \nfraternal good will and kindly feeling toward all students of \nTheosophy and members of Theosophical Societies wherever \n\n\nand however situated. It further proclaims and avers its \nhearty sympathy and association with such persons and \norganizations in all theosophical matters except those of \ngovernment and administration, and invites their cor\u00ac \nrespondence and co-operation. \n\n\u201cTo all men and women of whatever caste, creed, race, or \nreligious belief, who aim at the fostering of peace, gentleness, \nand unselfish regard one for another, and the acquisition of \nsuch knowledge of men and nature as shall tend to the eleva\u00ac \ntion and advancement of the human race, it sends most friendly \ngreeting and freely proffers its services. \n\n\n\u201cIt joins hands with aU religionsand religious bodies whose \nefforts are directed to the purification of men's thoughts and \nthe bettering of their ways, and it avows its harmony there\u00ac \nwith. To all scientific societies and individual searchers after \nwisdom upon whatever plane, and by whatever righteous \nmeans pursued, it is and will be grateful for such discovery \nand unfoldment of Truth as shall serve to announce and con\u00ac \nfirm a scientific Basis for ethics \u2666 \n\n\u201cAnd lastly, it invites to its membership those who, seek- \nIng a higher life hereafter, would learn to know the path to \ntread In this.\" \n\n\nPUBLISHED BY \n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY \n\n\nApplications for membership should be addressed to the \nSecretary T. S., P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Quarterly \n\n\nSubscription price, $2.00 per annum; single copies, 50 cents \n\nPublished by The Theosophical Society \nat 64 Washington Mews, New York, N. Y. \n\nJuly; October; January; April \n\nAddress all communications to P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York \n\n\nIn Europe, single copies may be obtained from and subscriptions may be sent to John \nM. Watkins, 21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, London, W. C. 2, England; or to \nMr. E. H. Lincoln, 9 Beaconsfield Road, Low Fell, Gateshead-on-Tyne, England, from \nwhom all back numbers may be obtained. Annual subscription price, $2.00, postpaid. \n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOL. XXX, NO. 4 \nApril, 1933 \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS. \n\nFRAGMENTS. \n\nWAR MEMORIES, XIX. \n\nTHE PATH OF BEAUTY. \n\nDISCERNMENT. \n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM, I. \n\nFASCISM. \n\nA RESPONSE TO THE THEOSOPHICAL APPEAL. \n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME. \n\nREVIEWS. \n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. \n\nT. S. ACTIVITIES: Convention Notice; Notice of Meetings, \nINDEX. \n\n\nPAGE \n. 291 \n. 300 \n. 301 \n\n\u2022 317 \n\n\u2022 323 \n\n\u2022 333 \n\n\u2022 344 \n\n\u2022 352 \n\n\u2022 355 \n\n\u2022 367 \n\n\u25a0 380 \n\n382 \n\n383 \n\n\nAct of StaSTa a f 8 J 5 cond \u2018 cla \u201c matter September s. 1033. at the Port Office at New York. N. Y.. under the \n\nCopyright, 1933, by The Theosophical Society \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL, 1933 \n\n\n-=\\ \n\n\n\nthe cosmic plane. ConcIeLn follows^the ?\u201c ^ repeats itscIf \u00ab \n\nto the highest must be the lowest* th \u00b0 , m ? S 1 \u00b0 abst raction; corresponding \nDextrine, ed. ,8,3. I, TJ \u201c \u201c th ' me Secre, \n\n\u00abnS\u2122\u201cVXw e taX^Vof e e2M\u00abT \u201c,2 \"**?' \u201c * \u2022*\u00bb th. \n\ntive faith in the unifonnity of natural law OH humanm,nd has an mstinc- \ngeneral conclusions from particular experiences \u201crj! 11 W \u00b0 uld never dr \u2122 \nuses the principle of analoev to oiuTie w P The scien tist continually \n\nThus i, has iL.SC\u00a3TT?\u2018 \u201c d \u2018\u00b0 \u201c*'\" d \u00ab\u25a0* \u00bb*\u2022 \ncorresponds to a sola, ^ **\u201d'\u25a0 that \"\u00bb .ton, \n\n- r ,w ,s \u2014\u25a0\u00bb \n\nwould perceive the true ^to'sUrl\u2122 tkT** d,S * Ppear ' for they \n\nearth has its prototype in the heavens Thp 7 u evex 7 thm S exist ent on \nfundamental proposition of alchemy and astrni\u00b0 U \u00b0 he ? ltate to acce P t the \nclearly understood, when it is regarded as a r gy \u2019 that the cosm \u00b0s is most \nthing of its life in every atom Thl q ! ?, belng which reflects some- 4 \n\ndoctrine of Tablet is a \" e P*\u2122e of th? \n\nwhich is above is as That whidtTbd^^ TTu^ m \u00b0 St true \u2019 Tha \u2018 \n\nwhich is above, for preparing the miracles\u2019of the One ^ ^ iS 38 That \n\n\n* \n\n\ni \n\n\n\n\n291 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV \n\n\n\nmystically one with some plant which blooms in our garden. But it is always \npossible to begin at the beginning. The whole of Nature is at hand, and any \naspect of it may be approached. There is no incident of daily life which cannot \nbe illumined by comparison with some other event or with some natural \nphenomenon, great or small. One should beware of erecting such comparisons \ninto dogmas, for the untrained imagination suggests false analogies as easily \nas true, but it is certain that unless we acquire the habit of searching in the \nexternal world for correspondences to our states of consciousness, we shall never \nknow how everything in the Universe follows analogy\u201d, or how \u201cman is the \nmicrocosm of the macrocosm\u201d. \n\n\n292 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nThe Power of Imponderables \n\nFor example, there is St. Pauls saying: \u201cKnow ye not that a little leaven \nleaveneth the whole lump?\u201d Even a moral materialist, like Bismarck, recog\u00ac \nnized the role of \u201cimponderables\u201d in the determination of political issues. A \nso-called venial sin in a man whose virtues are celebrated, can become the \ncause of ruin to himself and to those who trust him. A spark of pure love can \ntransmute the life of a sinner, as it transformed the Magdalen. \n\nNevertheless, it is doubtful whether many men are convinced that the in\u00ac \nfinitesimal is really a reservoir of incalculable power. Do we sincerely believe \nthat a supposedly harmless weakness, such as a fondness for rich food, can \nbar our progress more effectively than an obvious vice against which we strug\u00ac \ngle? To gain a measure of conviction, we need the tangible evidence of our \nsenses. That is why St. Paul\u2019s graphic image makes a more definite impression \nthan a long ethical treatise. A pertinent experiment is described in The Homoeo\u00ac \npathic Recorder: \n\n\nAn illustration of the demonstrable power of the infinitesimal \nis the result of plunging a stick of copper to the bottom of a glass \ncontainer filled with water in which algas are present When the \ncopper is inserted sufficiently to touch the bottom of the con\u00ac \ntainer and immediately withdrawn, it gives off enough energy to \nKill the alga; in a short time. A still more startling proof of the \npower of the infinitesimal is that if the glass container is emptied \nand refilled with water and fresh, healthy alga; placed therein \nthese algae also will immediately show signs of the destructive \nprocess until they too have been killed, showing the continued \nactmn of the copper. This process may be continued for a con\u00ac \nsiderable time, emptying the water and refilling the container \nwith fresh water and algae; but so long as drops of water have \nbeen left on the edges of the container, there is sufficient copper \nin an imponderable state to kill the alga;. This process will con- \ntmue almost indefinitely unless the container is wiped dry before \nrefilling, when the destructive action ceases (pp. 812\u2014813) \n\nSuch a test indicates clearly enough that the energy behind or within a thim \nis not always proportionate to the thing\u2019s size or weight. It is often impossible \n\nV U ? g U he P ? ten * m } lntensit y of a force by the material magnitude of th. \nvehicle through which the force becomes manifest upon the physical plane \n\n\n* s- \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< A \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n, 293 \n\ndestroy 6 a^mpi^ ^tSTe ^ a trai \" of events which will quickly \n\nstampeding elephant. e ' * IS mcom P arabl y more dangerous than a \n\nv u is ' therefore \u2019 concemed with \nto begin with the SLigat^ o hal f * is said \n\nprogress in self-knowledge, until one has 1\u00b0\u2122 0neself \u2019 But one cannot \n\nbetween reality and appearance The \u2019 m SOme degree ' to distinguish \n\nhis most important virtues and vires a% ' erage \u2122 an takes it for granted that \nwaking state. The aspirant to self-H\u2122 iT WhlCh l00m largest in his normal \nof his consciousness determining tl . n0W . e ge must * ook within the \u201cforms\u201d \nbut by .be reserves of energy wbieh \u201cey'tSn\u201d^\u201d\" \u201d\u00b0\u2018 by ,heir b \" lt \n\nImponderables in Biology \n\n...ton\u201d T \u201d\u201d b \u2022Pe\u00ac \n\nrceived the widest publicity! but pMcsTnM ,h, \ncentre of inter*, b.s been tr.nsfercd ,o Tbe\u2019^f **f e \u201c* \n\nwhich now dominates biology.,, an instance The theoty of genes \n\nIiM^frsc\u201c\u00ab\u201cmi a \u201ed\u201dft as ,r, oth \" tah the \u00ab\u25a0* \u00ab\u00bb \n\nchange and JLhT \u00a3 52 ? \u201c \n\nbased upon the perception that mnr . e lnsu fficiency of a method \n\nproperties, but taking no account ofThe'cnu- or S anic matter have analogous \ntween the dominant force in organic matt 1 J. apparent correspondence be- \nand the energies in inorganic matter rh m 1C ^ 1S the power of itself, \n\nThe theory of genes has been devised to expTaiT-f 3 ^ pretend to be inanimate. \n\nlight by the experimental study of Mendel\u2019s laws oTherldTty Tbec^ * \npossible to interpret the vann\u201ec * \u2022 , heredity. It became lm- \n\nconception that ^ \u201d ,e \u2122* \u00b0< \"\u00ab \u00ab\u201c\u00ab \n\nunit of life. There had alwavc h \u2019 llslbIe through the microscope, is the \n\nis merely an emSopf of mo T- * SUp # that the cell, as a whole, \n\nexamination of the nucleus showed'The ^ lngredient > the nucleus; and an \nknown ns chromosom* \u21221i \u201cu v P ^l\u201c ,\u00b0f bodies \n\ndivision and reproduction But t W 1 \u00b0 ' U m phenornen a of ceU^fc \n\nstruct,,res; n\u201e d K are \u201cntpi# \n\ngested the hypothesis that the reniu'ni,\u201d!,'\u2019^^'\u201dd \n\no\u00ab the blending ,h. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n294 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nthere are certain abrupt changes, known as mutations, which must be explained \nby other factors. \n\nIn 1927 Dr. Muller announced that he had produced artificial mutations in \nDrosophila , the fruit-fly, by means of X-rays. The success of this experiment \nhas given birth to a theory that mutations in Nature may be effected through \nthe bombardment of the genes by radiant energy, in particular, by the powerful \ncosmic rays. The problem is not simplified for the geneticists by the fact, \ndemonstrated by Dr. Borodin and others, that living things themselves emit \nradiant energy. The ultra-violet-like emanations of organisms are called mito\u00ac \ngenic rays or M-rays or, more clearly, life-rays, and they are said to be of dif\u00ac \nferent wave-lengths for each individual and for each part of the body. \n\nThe New York Times (January 1, 1933) reported Dr. Borodin as saying, in \nhis address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, \nthat: \u201cThe genes are influenced in the rate of their mutation by the action of \nthese life-rays which they produce. The genes of each particular part of the \nliving body have their own particular wave-length. These wave-lengths act \nlike an aeolian harp, vibrating in unison to their own rhythms, so that each set \nof genes responds only to its own dance of life.\u201d \n\nThe whole subject is clearly summarized, from the orthodox biologist\u2019s point \nof view, in the following passage from The Mechanism of Creative Evolution , \nby Dr. C. C. Hurst: \n\nSo far, physiologists and colloid physicists, working at the \nproblem of the origin of life, have taken for their basis the pro\u00ac \ntoplasm of the cell. This has been chemically and physically \ntested and efforts have been made to reproduce it in the labora\u00ac \ntories. Now, however, with the demonstration of the gene as the \nunit and basis of life, it is the study of the structure of these or\u00ac \nganic particles which will be the great work of the future. ... So \nmuch has been discovered of the structure of the physical world \nby the bombardment of atoms with various rays, that it is not too \nmuch to expect that within the next few years, by the same means, \ngreat discoveries will be made concerning the structure of the \ngene, and the great problem of the ultimate foundation of life \nmay eventually be solved. ... On the inference that the gene \nis a complex molecule or group of molecules with peculiar auto- \ncatalytic powers, we must admit a continuity of life with matter. \n\nIn the light of the New Physics matter is now regarded as elec\u00ac \ntrical action and we have a sequence from the electrons and pro\u00ac \ntons through the simple and complex atoms to the simple and \ncomplex molecules, some of these producing autocatalytic reac\u00ac \ntions culminating in the power of self-reproduction coupled with \nthe capacity for mutation, thus giving rise to protogenes and genes, \nthose ultimate units of life which form the foundations of the \ngreat evolutionary edifice (pp. 293 295). \n\nUnits of Life and Units of Matter \n\nIt is interesting to note how often the discoveries and theories of modern \nscience resemble or suggest, at certain points, some of the great doctrines of \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n295 \n\n\nthe Pythagorean and Hermetic philosophers of antiquity. For example, a \nseries of ancient analogies is evoked when one reflects upon the influence of \nX-rays and M-rays in producing mutations and modifying heredity. The \nPythagoreans compared Nature to a musical instrument. When any string of \nthis \u201caeolian harp\u201d was touched, the other strings vibrated in concord, sounding \nits overtones. In terms of the Pythagorean concept of universal harmony, it \nwould be logical to suppose that the development and growth of a being are \ngoverned by the interaction of its own radiation with the radiation which \ncomes to it in Varying degree from all the centres of the cosmos. \n\nHowever, we doubt whether any biologist will be grateful to us for pointing \nout any conformity between his views and those of Pythagoras. As a matter \nof fact, we are not going to press the comparison at all, for it is really super\u00ac \nficial. The conceptions of Nature and the motives of research which animated \nPythagoras seem to have been at the opposite pole from those which preside \nover the modern laboratory. One does not deny that the scientist loves truth, \nin his own manner; that love is, indeed, the power which sustains him in his \nhours of exacting toil, and which makes him willing to submit to the evidence \nof those facts that he sees. But in his love of truth, too often there is mingled \na passion of another order, namely the love of his own mind. He is by no means \nfree from the desire that truth should assume a form in accord with his pre\u00ac \nconceptions. On the other hand, according to the tradition of the Hermetic \nSchool, to which Pythagoras is said to have belonged, the love of truth is to \nbe kept inviolate and pure, and he who would enter the domain of real knowl\u00ac \nedge must rid his mind permanently of its ingrained tendency to recognize \nonly that fragment of truth which can be adapted to its expectation of what \n\n\ntruth ought to be. \n\nThe Hermetic scientist adopts a working hypothesis which he undertakes \nto test; but a working hypothesis is intended to be a guide or a standard of \nreference, not a dogma. The great Hermetic postulate is that \u201cman is the mi\u00ac \ncrocosm of the macrocosm\u201d. It implies the effort to discover in all beings, \nincluding the Divinity, qualities and attributes corresponding to those which \none has discovered in his own nature. Thus Paracelsus taught, speaking\u2014as \nwe may believe\u2014from his own experience: \u2018\u2018Three spirits live in and actuate \nman; three worlds pour their beams upon him; but all three only as the image \nand echo of one and the same all-constructing and uniting principle of produc\u00ac \ntion. The first is the spirit of the elements (terrestrial body and vital force in \nits brute condition); the second, the spirit of the stars (sidereal or astral body _ \n\u2014the soul); the third is the Divine spirit ( Augoeides ).\u201d \n\nThe great fallacy of the modem biologist, in our opinion, is the notion thaf \n\u2018\u2018the spirit of the elements\u201d can be studied as if it were a thing apart from the \n\u2018\u2018spirit of the stars\u201d and the \u2018\u2018Divine spirit\u201d. If we reflect, we shall be forced \nto admit that the human body conceived as a thing in itself is not a real body \nat all; it is a rind. Why should not the same be true throughout the animal \nand plant kingdoms, to the utmost limits of the plane of organic life, and be\u00ac \nyond those limits, in the so-called inorganic world? It is impossible to explain \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n296 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nhuman heredity as a mere shuffling of ancestral characters, without regard to \nthe nature and purposes of the incarnating entity, the soul. How can we expect \nto explain mutations, even in a fruit-fly, without any consideration of the \n\u201cmonadic essence\u201d, the vital principle whose presence in the fruit-fly gives it \nsuch identity as it has. \n\nDoubtless, there are units of matter through whose agency \u201ccharacters\u201d are \npreserved and transmitted from one body to another; but the essence of each \n\u201ccharacter\u201d must be a living entity of some order. We find it utterly unintel\u00ac \nligible to speak of the genes themselves as the ultimate \u201cunits of life\u201d. By \ndefinition, they are nothing but elaborate chemical compounds into which \nseveral \u201cinanimate\u201d substances have entered. Why do these compounds begin \nto manifest the qualities of life? Why do they merge their identities in the \nlarger identity of the cell? Why again do unicellular organisms merge their \nidentity in that of an organism having many cells? When and how does con\u00ac \nsciousness come upon the scene? Are consciousness and life one and the same? \n\n. . . One could multiply such questions endlessly and be certain of getting \nno real answer from the biologist. There is no answer, unless we accept as a \nworking hypothesis, the idea that life or consciousness and matter are related \nto each other as the subjective and objective aspects of One Reality, and that \nwherever there is matter there is life, and vice versa,\u2014though both matter \nand life may exist in phases altogether beyond our present conception. In other \nwords, it seems to us most rational to assume that matter does not \u201corganize\u201d \nitself; that it is \u201corganized\u201d by life; that whenever a major mutation or trend \noccurs in the course of organic evolution, it is attributable to the intervention \nof a hitherto unmanifested form of life in the affairs of this plane. Every unit \nof matter is the vehicle of a unit of life;\u2014what else can it be? \n\nBacteria in Meteors \n\nScientists have been reluctant to admit the possibility of life under any physi\u00ac \ncal conditions except those with which we are familiar on earth. Some have \ngone so far as to affirm that the earth is almost certainly the only habitable \nspot in the Universe. Quite recently there has been a healthy reaction against \nthis extreme dogmatism. It has been recognized that even upon this planet \nlife can exist under what appear to be the most adverse circumstances. J. A. \nBerry of the United States Bureau of Plant Industry, Seattle, reported a month \nago to the Society of American Bacteriologists, that the germs which turn milk \nsour, have been observed to live in a temperature of 15 degrees above zero \nFahrenheit for two years. The New York Times , January 31, 1933, reports the \ndiscovery of bacteria in meteors by Professor Charles B. Lipman, dean of the \ngraduate division of the University of California. Professor Lipman does not \ndogmatize about his discovery, nor does he deny that the bacteria which are \napparently identical with terrestrial forms, may have an earthly origin. But \nhe does not hesitate to express his conviction that they actually came from \ninterplanetary space. The reporter remarks that \u201cProfessor Lipman\u2019s report \nmay revive a scientific hypothesis hitherto receiving little credence, that life \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n297 \n\n\noriginally may have come to earth in minute organisms floating through space. \nDr. Lipman\u2019s work if verified will suggest a search in meteors for the wholly \ninvisible viruses and bacteriophages. Scientists are not certain whether these \ntwo forms are living things or inanimate chemical substances. An occasional \nsuggestion has been made that viruses or bacteriophages may be a connecting \nlink where inanimate matter is converted into living substance.\u201d \n\n\nAphanobionts \n\nViruses and bacteriophages are having their share of popularity. The A ew \nYork Times (December 12, 1932) gives an account of a conference held by Pro\u00ac \nfessor D. F. Sinitsin with the Sigma Xi science fraternity of the University of \nCalifornia at Los Angeles. Professor Sinitsin \u2018\u2018presented a definition of the \nbasic invisible processes of life as a conclusion to his discussion of ultra-micro\u00ac \nscopic living organisms.\u201d \n\n\nFirst he pointed out that the limit of human sight is fixed by \nlight. . . . The measure of infinitesimally small things is the \nmillimicron. There are 25,400,000 millimicrons to the inch. \nPhysicists point out that the shortest wave length of visible light is \nnot less than 400 millimicrons. Nothing smaller than that can \nactually be seen by men with any type of instrument. By means \nof diffraction of light, however, it is possible to see the reflection \nfrom things as small as about 200, or maybe 150 millimicrons. \nMeans of experimental investigation other than sight have de\u00ac \ntermined the existence of living organisms as small as 8 millimi\u00ac \ncrons. This is by means of porcelain filters, on which are placed \nfilms whose pores are known to be of definite size. \n\nThese filters have proved the existence of invisible ultra- \nmicroscopic organisms in the investigation of disease virus. \nThere are a hundred such different invisible disease viruses \nknown. . . . \n\n\u2018\u2018The chemical theory of the origin of life is that after the earth \ncooled, chemical substances came together and formed living \norganisms\u201d, Professor Sinitsin said. \u201cWe know that some disease \nviruses resist heat and poisons that no known form of life can \nwithstand. Some live without oxygen. I conclude from these \ninvestigations that there are invisible living organisms, perhaps of \neternal life, that are back of all life processes. If there are bad \nor disease organisms, why not good or life-helping organisms.' I \nwould call them aphanobionts, meaning invisible life. They are \nso small that they can escape all of our means of observation. \nThey undoubtedly exist not only on the earth but everywhere. \nAphanobionts not only can be transported from planet to planet \nbut can exist in all space and conditions of the universe. That \nwould explain the mystery of life and why it will always be a \nmystery to man, because it is beyond his power of sight.\u201d \n\n\n\nOne is grateful for any recognition of the universality of life, but in the \npresent instance one\u2019s enthusiasm is tempered by the excessive claims which \nProfessor Sinitsin makes for his aphanobionts. How does he expect to prove \nthat they \u201ccan exist in all space and conditions of the universe\u201dLet us return \n\n\n298 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nto the axiom with which we started; \u201cEverything in the Universe follows \nanalogy\u201d. Analogy implies identity of essence; it does not imply identity of \nform or outer structure. If we would keep our thinking as clear as possible, \nwe shall be wise not to identify aphanobionts with the principle of life itself \nwhich is truly invisible, though not in the sense that Dr. Sinitsin suggests. \nLike the genes, aphanobionts may be regarded as the \u201cbodies\u201d of unevolved \n\u201cLives\u201d, but in that case they would be just as material as our own bodies into \nwhose composition millions of such imponderable entities doubtless enter. It \nwould seem that bacteria and bacteriophages (bacteria-eaters) are connected \nwith some classes of the \u201cDestroyers\u201d and \u201cBuilders\u201d which, according to \nMadame Blavatsky, are the infinitesimal living agents that regulate the pro\u00ac \ncesses of growth and decay in animal bodies (cf. The Secret Doctrine , I, 283). \nFor all we know there may be bacteria and bacteriophages not only in meteors \nand on the other planets of our solar system, but throughout all the \u201cisland \nuniverses\u201d. In accordance with the principle of analogy, however, all that we \ncan assume with conviction is that life is omnipresent, and that the forms in \nwhich it is incarnate correspond to one another,\u2014which does not mean that \nthey necessarily resemble one another. The human imagination is sufficiently \nimpressed by the variety of living forms on this planet alone. \n\nWhat evidence can be adduced that aphanobionts are \u201cof eternal life\u201d? It is \ncertain that their eternity does not seem probable to anyone who believes that \nthe Universe begins and ends its great cycles of manifestation upon the highest \nplane of spiritual consciousness. \u201cOnly the Gods are immortal\u201d, that is to \nsay, only those beings who are plenary incarnations of \u201cthe Divine Spirit, the \nAugoeides\u201d. Tradition does not include disease viruses among the Gods. \n\nThe Essential Divinity of Matter \n\nIn the last chapter of The Mechanism of Creative Evolution , to which reference \nhas been made, Dr. Hurst steps outside the limits of ordinary biological theory \nand offers some speculations of his own upon the nature of the world and the \ndestiny of man. They provide a good antidote to the notion of an eternity of \naphanobionts. Also they prove that it is unfair to judge a man of science solely \nby his behaviour when he is speaking ex cathedra as a representative of scien\u00ac \ntific orthodoxy. \n\nDr. Hurst disclaims any attachment to the mechanistic materialism of Nine\u00ac \nteenth Century science, and expresses his sympathy with Jeans\u2019 conception of \nthe world \u201cas a universe of thought\u201d, and of \u201cits creation as an act of thought \nwith space-time as a setting\u201d. He suggests that matter is the first creation of \n\u201cpure thought\u201d, and that subsequently \u201cmatter has given rise to life and \nmind\u201d. \n\nAll three [matter, life and mind] are fundamentally and geneti\u00ac \ncally one with different expressions in time, forming a monistic \ntrinity with a common basis and origin in pure thought, which \nafter all may be only another name for spirit. The great prin\u00ac \nciple of indeterminacy in nature may thus be tentatively inter- \n\n\nNOTES AND COMMENTS \n\n\n299 \n\n\npreted as the natural mode of action and manifestation of pure \nthought or spirit in matter-life-mind, while determinism . . . \nrepresents an inner and secondary principle based on the geo\u00ac \nmetrical mode of action of the present human conceptual mind. \n\nIt may be that the discovery in our time of scientific inde\u00ac \nterminacy and relativity foreshadows the coming of the next \ngreat step in the creative evolution of mind, far surpassing and \ntranscending the present conceptual and deterministic mind of \nman. \n\nDr. Hurst has the courage to admit the possibility of a \u201csubmaterial human \nexistence supervening immediately after death\u201d, and believes that \u201cthe remote \nsuccessors of man may be free and independent of matter with infinite possi\u00ac \nbilities of future progress notwithstanding the complete dissolution of the \nuniverse.\u201d \n\nIf biologists in general held such views, it is quite possible that their science \nwould be regenerated. However, we venture to question the validity of Dr. \nHurst\u2019s imago mnndi in one important particular. He speaks of matter, life \nand mind as if they succeeded one another. It is more plausible to suppose \nthat, like space and time, matter, life and mind are co-eternal. The gross mat\u00ac \nter of our sense-perceptions is most adequately represented as the vesture or \n\u201cconcretion\u201d of a gross form of life associated with a correspondingly gross \nmode of consciousness or \u201cintelligence\u201d. As Professor Whitehead has remarked, \n\u201cBiology is the study of the larger organisms, whereas physics is the study of \nthe smaller organisms\u201d. According to our conception, gross matter does not \nevolve life and mind out of itself; through the continuing \u201cbombardment\u201d of \nmatter by the rays of \u201cpure thought\u201d, the Logos of mystical philosophy, the \nsubtile is separated from the gross, the refinement of matter progressing pari \npassu with the refinement of life and mind. An absolutely incorporeal state of \nexistence is as incomprehensible as a physical universe devoid of consciousness. \n\nIt is a curious paradox that Theosophy, the least materialistic of philosophies, \npostulates the eternity and the essential divinity of \u201cmatter\u201d (substance) more \nemphatically than any other system. \n\n\nTrue science and true religion are twin sisters , and separation of either fro)n the \nother is sure to prove the death of both. Science prospers exactly in proportion as it is \nreligious; and religion flourishes in exact proportion to the scientific depth and firm\u00ac \nness of its basis .\u2014 Huxley. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFRAGMENTS \n\n\nD RAW from thy well, O Lanoo, and give the thirsty to drink. \n\nLo, Lord, I have drawn many times, and the vessel, full to the brim, \nhas stood there by the wayside and no one cared to touch it. I saw \nthem pass, weary and oppressed; I offered, but they thought they had no need \nof what I had to give. It was brackish, maybe,\u2014tears are salt; yet the water \nmust be pure, for thou didst fill my well, and I have lived upon it all these \nyears. The vessel is too poor, too uninviting; I must make another that may \nbetter serve thy purpose, better meet the ever-growing want. \n\nAnd no one drank ? \n\nNo man, Lord, only others of thy humbler creatures. \n\nAnd which of those? \n\nThe ants have come, and gnats; sometimes a dragon fly spread iridescent \nwings across the surface of the water and poised and paused; birds come often, \nthough it is not easy for them. One day a limping, mangy dog.took gladly, \nand licked my hand for gratitude,\u2014which belonged to thee. \n\nI saw the grass was yellowing in the summer heat; I poured upon it, and \npoured and poured: it seemed it could not have enough. Since then the place \nabout is always fresh and green, and flowers are springing here and there. The \nair, too, draws the moisture up, and forms soft mist clouds that later fall in \nrain. The little brothers love the water thou hast placed here, and thrive upon \nit; but the human brothers, no. They thirst and die for water; but water is a \nhomely thing: they seek some nectar for their thirst, some distillation from the \nfinest flowers of earth. \n\nDraw from thy well, 0 Lanoo, and give the thirsty to drink. Is it not said: \nThe last shall be the first, the first be last? Regard not great or small. Give, \npour forth, for those who recognize their need and who take gladly, whether \ngreat or small. All are part of one vast Brotherhood. The life is there because \nthe humble take: and he who drinks the water that I give distils his nectar \nfrom it, his heart the only flower from which it can be drawn. \n\nAs thou hast said, my Lord, so shall it be. \n\nCaviI \n\n\n300 \n\n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\nXIX \n\n\n> \n\n\nReconstruction \n\nI N a little more than a week after I returned to Paris (having reported to \nmy Committee on my trip, and having wound up my simple affairs there), \n\nI was on my way to the North again, this time to settle for the winter\u2014 \nthough perhaps \u201cto settle\u201d is hardly a correct term for those most unsettled \ntimes. That departure from Paris is still vivid in my memory. My Committee \nhad given me the same camionnette, but another driver, and we had determined \nto make a very early start, loading our car the night before in order to prevent \npossible, last-minute delays; also because we had asked permission to take with \nus a French lady, eager to get back to her home near Givenchy, but who was \nfar from strong\u2014in fact, quite unable to travel under existing, abnormal con\u00ac \nditions\u2014and she would have to be picked up at her hotel and well tucked in, \nall of which would take valuable time before we could consider ourselves really \nstarted on our journey. I was up at four o\u2019clock, only to find that there was a \ncold, drenching downpour of rain which was threatening to turn into sleet at \nany moment, and by. the time I had packed my bags and, with a certain amount \nof cajolery, had persuaded a sleepy maid to bring me some hot coffee, it was \nhalf past five, and the camionnette, punctual to the dot, was at the door. The \nstaff of the small hotel had been most interested and sympathetic in regard to \nthis new undertaking of mine (I had often stopped here before, and I knew them \nall by name), but to my surprise I found a friendly little group gathered at the \nentrance, even in that dismal weather and at that early hour, and as I climbed \nin beside our invalid passenger and my new driver (a French girl, as before), \nthey all waved a kindly parting: \u201cAdieu!\" \u201cAu revoir!\" \u201cBonne chance !\"\u2014 \nand off we went, threading our way through a tangle of small streets, too nar\u00ac \nrow for the first, uncertain light of this dreary winter morning to have pene\u00ac \ntrated; slipping almost imperceptibly into the wider Boulevards running north \n\u2014Sebastopol, Strasbourg, Rue du Faubourg St. Denis, Rue de la Chapelle, \nacross the Boulevard Ney and so through the Porte St. Denis (where we had \nto stop and show our passes), then out beyond the old fortifications. How grey \nand dismal all this part of Paris looked as we splashed along! How more than \ngrey and dismal St. Denis looked! No splendour of the Kings of France still \nlingering there! A dull murk, a thick curtain of fog and sleet hung between us \nand those vanished glories of the past, shutting us into a mournful and cheer\u00ac \nless present. That last look I was ever to have of St. Denis (though I did not \nthen guess it to be my last), has left on me an indelible impress of intensest \nmelancholy. \n\nFollowing our previous route by Beauvais and Amiens\u2014where we again \n\n\n301 \n\n\n\n302 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nspent the night\u2014we went north from there to Doullens, instead of passing, as \nformerly, along the Albert-Bapaume road, for we had to repatriate our invalid \nbeyond Arras. All the way we were literally besieged by returning refugees, \nwho implored us to give them seats in our already overcrowded camionnette \nwith its overloaded springs. In Doullens itself where, in the congested streets, \nwe often had to halt, men and women alike crowded on to the steps and along \nthe running-board, threatening us with a serious breakdown. It was a dreadful \nthing to have to refuse them, and I doubt if our courage would have held out \nhad it not been for the determination of my young driver who, with full re\u00ac \nsponsibility for the safe return of the car to headquarters in Paris, at last de\u00ac \nclared that we must make our choice of getting a mile or so only on our journey, \nand then being a complete wreck, or flatly telling these poor, eager, homeless \ncreatures that they must wait for the transport afforded by the British Army; \nthat we ourselves were not prepared for transport, and could not possibly take \neven one of them. I remember an occurrence which was specially moving\u2014an \naged woman who, with set face and poor, feeble but tightly-clinging, shrivelled \nold hands, refused to get off the step where she had secured a precarious foot\u00ac \nhold, though, after asking her where she lived, we assured her that we were \nnot going anywhere near there. Sobbing piteously, but still holding fast, she \nhad actually to be pulled off, finger by finger, this being done by another refugee, \na man who, recognizing our predicament, generously came to our assistance, \nthough he had, himself, hoped for a lift. \n\n\u201cThere, there! grarimbre ,\u201d I heard his gentle, consoling voice, \u201cPatience! \nCourage! Your house has already waited a long time for your return; it can \nwait a day or two longer. Patience!\u201d \n\nI have often wondered if that pathetically desperate old woman ever reached \nher home at all, or if, when she at last got to her village, she found any home \nleft standing. \n\nFor the most part, however, these half-clad, heart-sore, yet unflinchingly \ncourageous refugees showed a magnificent spirit\u2014an unconquerable spirit \nwhich was wholly French; long, silent streams of them trudging resolutely on, \nalong the bleak, winter roads leading to the North\u2014the North where their \nhomes had once been, hoping against hope that, when they came to their jour\u00ac \nney\u2019s end, they would find some semblance of a house, and so, painfully, be \nable to gather together the fragments of their former life, starting afresh. Or \nelse you saw them waiting patiently in small, huddled groups for some British \nlorry travelling in their direction\u2014a lorry big enough to squeeze them all in. \nThe work which the British Army did among these returning refugees was \nremarkably well organized, and was the means of saving untold misery, illness \nand perhaps death. Shortly after the armistice, a regular transport sendee was \nstarted; the huge motor lorries, so recently used for the movement of troops \nand of ammunition, were now employed for the purposes of re-establishing \npeace conditions. The highroads were filled with these great camions, grinding \nalong, packed to the utmost with their human freight\u2014whole families at a time \nbeing repatriated. It saved many a long and exhausting march for the weary \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n303 \n\n\nfeet, and the Tommies were at their very best while helping the women and \nchildren and old men to make themselves comfortable on their long, jolting \ndrive. \n\nReaching what had once been the beautiful city of Arras, the old capital of \nArtois, we were shocked to see the devastation which had been wrought there; \nto see the complete destruction of the great cathedral of St. Vaast, where only \nthe noisy rooks now lived; the long, almost empty streets of tottering houses\u2014 \na broken and tortured town. We passed through it rapidly (there was little to \ndetain us), and after being directed to the highroad running toward Bdthune, \nwe moved quickly forward, at length dropping our passenger at the appointed \nspot near Givenchy, ourselves intending immediately to press on to our goal \nbeyond Douai. But we knew that we were within only a few miles of Vimy \nRidge, and the opportunity thus afforded us to visit that world-famous battle\u00ac \nground was not to be missed. So we decided to go there (passing first through \nLens, which was rather a detour ), taking our chances of finding someone at \nVimy who would point out to us the historical spots. I had long had the great\u00ac \nest desire to visit Vimy Ridge, having had the care of many boys who had been \nseverely wounded there, and who had given me long accounts of the great Cana\u00ac \ndian \u201cDay\u201d. \n\nLens was a mournful sight indeed; if such a thing were possible, it seemed \nto me even more completely destroyed than many of the towns on the Somme. \nIn pre-War days it had been one of the most important industrial cities of the \nNorth, and at the very centre of the great coal-fields which stretch all over \nthis part of France. Now it lay a silent, dismal waste of piled-up stone and \ntwisted iron girders. From the huge factories all the machinery had first been \nremoved and transported to Germany, the factories themselves then being \nsystematically destroyed by the retreating enemy; the iron and steel founderies \nhad been gutted; the coal mines flooded, making the working of them quite out \nof the question for a long time to come. Here and there, along what had evi\u00ac \ndently been the main thoroughfare running through the centre of the town, a \nkhaki figure or two could be seen at work, and I watched a little family of \nreturning refugees\u2014all they had left in the world tied up in bundles and car\u00ac \nried on their backs\u2014almost groping their way, as though in a dream, trying to \ndiscover, in that vast confusion of fallen masonry, the exact spot where their \nhome had stood. I wandered about in the grip of a terrible fascination, and, \nseeing a small gateway which, for some strange reason, had escaped destruction, \nI passed through it, following a little path which led to the back of what had \nonce been a good-sized house, and there I suddenly came upon one of the most \nfantastic sights I have ever seen in my life. Evidently I had found my way \ninto what used to be a very pretty garden, for a few broken shrubs, the wreck \nof a greenhouse and a small, shattered fountain could still be distinguished \nfrom the rubbish lying all about, and in the midst of this sorrowful disorder, a \nfrail-looking woman in the deepest mourning, her trailing black dress and her \nlong, black veil blowing about her, stood digging in the ground with an over\u00ac \nheavy garden spade which she had evidently brought with her for the purpose. \n\n\n\n\n\n3\u00a94 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nI cannot describe how forlornly incongruous she looked, busily working at her \nstrange task in the midst of that desolation, clothed in her decent black, so out \nof place in this chaos. Later I was to learn that many women were obliged to \nwear, day in, day out, the only clothes they had\u2014those in which they had \nescaped. I was so astonished at seeing her there that (although, of course, I \nknew I was an undesirable even if unintentional intruder), I could not for the \nmoment summon sufficient wits even to retreat, and so to leave her alone in \nher sorrow\u2014my feet refused to move. She heard me and looked up, and I saw \nthat her face was wet with tears. \n\n\u201c Mais madame . . . je snis desolee . . . \u201d, I began in a faltering voice, hop\u00ac \ning to excuse and explain my unwelcome presence, while beginning at last to \nmove away as hastily as I could. \n\nBut she quickly dropped that cumbersome spade, and stood up bravely, \nimpatiently brushing away the tears which were betraying her, and, seeing that \nI was a stranger, asked me in a tone of the most dignified and courteous hospi\u00ac \ntality, if there was anything she could do for me! I could not find a single \nword to say; I did not know whether I wanted most to cry or to smile at her \noffer of hospitality in those bare and unpromising surroundings. But, looking \nat her more intently, I saw in her face something which warned me that the \nlast thing in the world she would have forgiven was any show of pity. She \nwas of the upper middle class, of that refined and delicate appearance so often \nfound in French women where perhaps you least expect it\u2014in the industrial \nregions; with rather a proud, reserved face, I thought, as she stood there cou\u00ac \nrageously smiling at me in the midst of ruin and disaster. But I still could not \nfind one word to say, and again I tried to withdraw. \n\n\u201c Mais non , mais non /\u201d she called after me in protest, \u201cwould not madame \nlike to see what they have done to my home\u2014the Germans?\u201d and she pointed \nto the charred and heaped-up wreckage of her house. \u201cWould not madame \nlike to hear what they have done to us?\u201d \n\nSo we stood there talking, and she told me of her husband and two of her \nsons who had been killed in action; of a young boy of hers who had been shot \ndown at her side while trying to protect her; of her two young daughters who \nhad been deported, and that to this day, she did not know what had become of \nthem. \n\n\u201cAnd now I am digging for some of our household things which I hastily \nburied in our garden when we had to leave, because my girls must find a home \nlooking as it was when they were tom away from me\u2014I will make them forget \nour sorrow!\u201d And so mistress of herself was she, even in the midst of her \ndistress, that again she waved almost gaily toward the ruins of her house and \nover the desolation of her garden where hardly a blade of grass was left. My \nheart sank within me as I pictured the home-coming of those two girls of hers\u2014 \nif ever they came home at all\u2014after their revolting captivity, and I felt I had \nnever seen anything more tragic than this lonely but determined French woman \nwho was clinging so desperately and despite everything to her hope, refusing \nas yet to admit of a doubtful, if not actually impossible future, her long, \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n305 \n\n\nblack veil blowing about her as she stood there resolutely smiling. And as I \nturned away, I reflected sadly on the depths of heart-break which a seemingly \ngay and almost careless laughter may conceal. \n\nThe afternoon was wearing away, so we hastened on toward Vimy, and \nmy chief recollection of our rather hurried visit there is of the chill bleakness of \nthat shell-torn, wind-swept hillside, where the clayey, tenacious mud\u2014that \nmud which made the British advance in the spring of 1917 so difficult\u2014still \nlay thick and deep beyond belief. Another, far happier memory, however, is \nof a friendly Canadian Sergeant whom we came upon, and who was good enough \nto act as our temporary guide. He had himself been in the thick of the fight, \nwhen the Canadians stormed up the slope of Vimy (there were many Colonials \nstill stationed in the neighbourhood), and he knew every inch of the ground, \npointing out to us the spot from which the Canadian troops made their first \nrush; just how far the first barrage had carried them, and then how they were \nhalted because of the \u201cinfernal clay\u201d. His description was very graphic, as \nwell it may have been, since he had himself been ther.e, and he made us live it \nall over again with him. I soon began to realize at first hand, what that \u201cin\u00ac \nfernal clay\u201d was like, for as we toiled up one end of the steep and slippery in\u00ac \ncline\u2014the slope which was first attacked\u2014I could hardly pull my feet free of it; \nit clung to them like a nightmare thing. We managed to reach the crest, how\u00ac \never, and walked along it, looking down to the other side of the Ridge where \nthe Germans had been plainly visible on the run. You can see a long distance \nfrom the summit\u2014a wide sweep of country: Douai, of course; Vitry-en-Artois, \nand even the hill of Monchy\u2014and our guide, among other things, pointed to \nwhere the \u201cnine elms\u201d had stood, that famous little group of trees which had \nbeen such a landmark for many a soldier who had lost his way in the darkness, \nand about which I had already heard so many stirring accounts. He added, in \na tone of such deep regret that I realized what the disappointment must have \nmeant to those men: \u201cIf only we could have got them guns up out of that \ndamned mud, we\u2019d have been in Douai the next day,\u201d and then, in the intensity \nof his recollection: \u201cD\u2019you know, I seen some of our boys\u2014the youngsters it \nwas\u2014just cryin\u2019 because they couldn't move our guns!\u201d \n\nWe hated to leave, of course, but evening was threatening us, and we still \nhad some distance to go, so, thanking our kind Canadian Sergeant, we again \nclimbed into our car which was almost as caked with mud as we were, and \nstarted off once more along the rough road, badly marmiUe , at length striking \nacross the wide Douai plain. As we sped along, the mountainous, grey slag-^ \nheaps which, in the dusk, so strangely resembled pyramids, and which are \nso common in this great mining area, vied with the huge ammunition dumps \n(mostly old shell-cases or \u201cdud\u201d pine-apple hand-grenades); but at last we \nreached our destination\u2014the small mining town which had been chosen as my \nheadquarters, and which was on the highroad running between Douai and \nDenain. The choice of this town had been made chiefly because I knew that a \nlittle later, when a regular train service to the North had been re-established, it \nwould be a comparatively simple matter to get my cases of supplies up from \n\n\n3\u00b06 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nParis; for the present, they would have to be specially sent by camion, which \nwas both expensive and slow. \n\nThere had been another reason, however: many British troops were stationed \nin and about the town, and I was certain that this would mean unlimited help if \nthe need for it should arise. Later developments showed me to have guessed \nright, for the British Army knew that petrol was well-nigh unobtainable if \none ran short of it; it knew that, in this disordered part of the world, it was \nalmost impossible (without the necessary lorries) to remove huge cases of clothes, \nboots, blankets, from the railway to the empty schoolhouse which had been \nassigned me as a depot\u2014so it adopted me from the first moment of my arrival, \nand the debt I owe to both officers and men stationed there in that isolated and \nWar-dislocated region, would be quite impossible ever to repay. Without the \nBritish Army, I doubt if I could have got through that winter\u2019s work, for, of \ncourse, it had facilities at its command which the local French authorities no \nlonger possessed, deprived as they had been, during the four years of the German \noccupation, of practically everything they had. So the British Army furnished \nme with unlimited petrol; with tools of all kinds with which to repair a broken- \ndown camionnette; with transport conveniences for me when, later, my driver \nfell desperately ill and had to be sent back to Paris, and all the thousand small \nthings, from mending my shoes to seeing that I had the proper food when I fell \nill myself\u2014for all these kindnesses I owe the British Army. I do not in any \nway mean to imply that the French of the devastated North were not generous \nto a degree which I could not possibly forget, but the Germans had left them \nwithout even the bare necessities of life; you could not even buy a cake of soap \nwhen I first went to that town, and the people were soling their shoes with \npaper and twisted straw\u2014it was all they had; and as the food had to be strictly \nrationed, as it was of a kind which at best, did not permit of a too close scrutiny \nor of any analysis at all, what had they to offer except willing hands, and the most \ntouching desire to give anything and everything they could ? \n\nMy new work lay over a fairly wide area, for I had been given two cantons \nwhich, in this case, meant twenty-three villages, most of which lay, roughly \nspeaking, within the square of Douai and Denain on the north line, Cambrai \nand Solesmes at the south. Of course, I had my nice French girl as driver, \nto take me and my supplies about, and, as soon as I had got my first shipment \nof cases unpacked\u2014the clothing, shoes, stockings, blankets and all the rest of the \nsupplies sorted\u2014I began my rounds. I had very largely to guess at the best \nway to organize this (to me) new kind of relief work, for while my Committee had \ngiven me carte blanche as far as the actual work went, it had not offered even a \nsuggestion by way of advice as to how best to put that work through. I had, \nhowever, long since seen enough of the life in small French villages to know \nthat there was always a cure and always a maire } and that these two officials \nwere not invariably and completely in accord, each having his favourite \u201ccases\u201d, \nand his list of immediate \u201cneeds\u201d, just as each had his own perhaps humorous \nbut unalterable point of view. It devolved upon me, therefore, to keep my \nwits about me, and to discover where the truth lay\u2014not an easy matter. Of \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n307 \n\n\ncourse, the War and the terrible suffering which had been so heroically borne, \nparticularly in this occupied territory, had banished almost all the more serious \ndisagreements, but now that the worst of the danger was over, some of the \nsmall discords were springing to life again, and I found it best to keep con\u00ac \nstantly on the alert. So I set to work, in each village visiting in turn the cure \nand the mayor, telling them what it was that brought me; asking them to \nconsult together in making a list of the neediest families of their village, and \nthat on a certain fixed day, decided upon then and there, I would come again \nwith my camionnette, but this time filled with warm things for distribution. \nAll this preliminary work took a great deal of time, for the French peasant is \nhospitable and talkative and, of course, there was the endless subject of the \nWar to discuss. In most cases, therefore, before I succeeded in pinning down \neither my curt or my maire to the matter in hand, I listened to complete and \ndetailed histories of the War experiences of all the village folk\u2014those who had \nremained and those who were returned refugees. Once I had made my pre\u00ac \nliminary tour, however, things went quicker, and each week had its programme. \nThe mornings and afternoons were devoted, by pre-arranged schedule, to dis\u00ac \ntribution in this village or in that; sometimes, if we were fortunate, we managed \nto distribute our supplies in three or perhaps four villages in one day, my driver \nleaving me at my distribution while she dashed back, over the rough and muddy \nroads, to our \u201cheadquarters\u201d, to collect fresh bundles of clothes and blankets, \nprepared by me, in anticipation of our need, the night before. Then back she \nwould come, the camionnette full to the top again; pick me up, and off we would \nhasten to our next village. \n\nThese distributions were in many different kinds of buildings, according to \nwhether the village had been badly damaged, or only partly so. Sometimes they \nwould be in the semi-destroyed village church, where the good cure himself \nwould stand, half in and half out of a snow drift, beaming his thanks on behalf \nof his emaciated and miserably clad flock; sometimes in a room in the town \nhall, where the mayor (who always, to my great embarrassment, opened the \nproceedings with a long and laudatory address) would preside\u2014how the French \ndo love a speech! Occasionally these distributions had to be in one tiny room \nof the curt's tiny house\u2014a room where a red-hot stove (crammed, in our honour, \nwith all the fuel which the entire neighbourhood could collect), roared and \ncrackled; every window hermetically sealed, and every inhabitant of the village \ncrowded into it. These were times when you felt you could be quite happy \nsitting on the North Pole, but you could not, of course, say so or even look thaL \nway, because the old cure appeared so benignly unconscious that you were all \nroasting point, and he was offering you the very best of his hospitality. There \nwas always a struggle too, in finding just the right-fitting clothes for the woman \nor child who was standing patiently before you, expecting that, just because you \nwere the humble representative of a big relief organization, you could work \nmiracles. In the hurry of the proceeding, I never had time to determine whether \nthe difficulties were caused by ill-assorted sizes in the clothes supplied me, or \nwhether it lay in the remarkably varied, irrational, not to say illegal shapes of \n\n\n3\u00b0S \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nour village folk. When it was a simple matter of a coat\u2014well, any woman knows \nhow to pin a seam so as to make the coat smaller, or turn up a hem so as to make \nthe coat shorter, and mere details of that sort did not, of course, bother me, \nespecially as I always took sewing cotton and needles with me, to give to the \nperson who was to receive the over-large coat, knowing that these poor people \nseldom had such luxuries as thread of any sort. But the shoes were my despair\u2014 \nthey could never be made to fit! It seemed always a question of trying to squeeze \na number ten foot into a number three shoe, and I used sometimes to think, \nrather wistfully, of the prompt and clever way the \u201cugly sisters\u201d in \u201cCinderella\u201d \nhad met and surmounted a similar problem when they found themselves sud\u00ac \ndenly confronted with it\u2014they just chopped off their toes! While I was never \nreduced to so low a state that I seriously hoped this extreme measure would be \nadopted, I was none the less constantly on the watch for some magical recipe \nby which a transformation from over-small to over-large might be effected. \nI never found it, however, and the misfits continued to balk me to the very end. \n\nThat winter was terribly severe, and the suffering was intense. For the most \npart, a kind of community life was carried on in the villages\u2014a pooling of \ninterests. If, for instance, on returning to their village, three families found \ntheir houses completely demolished, while a fourth family rejoiced in a house \ncomparatively intact, the four families would all huddle into the one habitable \nhouse, and so at least have a roof over their heads. You often saw, to your great \nsurprise, what appeared to be evidence of much luxury, and this looked strangely \nout of place in the squalid surroundings. I remember a young peasant woman \nin a certain village, who daily appeared in a very handsome fur coat, and yet \nI knew she lived in a wreck of a house, and could never, in any case, have owned \na fur coat of that kind. I discovered that when she had been turned out of her \nvillage by the authorities who were evacuating all the inhabitants, she had been \nill in bed, and too weak to carry anything away; that some well-to-do woman, \nin a large town through which she passed, had taken pity on her distress, and had \ngiven her the fur coat, without which she would undoubtedly have died of \nexposure. But that coat was practically all she had; no warm dress kept her \nproperly clad underneath. The expensive fur garment looked luxurious, but was, \nin reality, merely a shield for the utmost want. \n\nIt was desperately hard to get my things out quickly enough to my many \nvillages, for, no matter how expeditiously my driver and I tried to work, there \nwere always fresh crowds waiting and clamouring for our clothing and blankets. \nOf course, I went over and over again to each village, for the refugees came \nstreaming back in great numbers; one week I might find five newly returned \nfamilies; the following week, ten or fifteen might have returned, and be waiting \nfor such relief as we could furnish. At least in the beginning, people in general \nwere not permitted to return until the commune to which they belonged had \nbeen able to put up shelters enough to accommodate those who had lost their \nhomes (though whether this ruling was made by the Government or by the local \nauthorities I do not remember), and the return of anyone unable, because of old \nage or illness, to work in the fields was considered unjustified. This is not \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n309 \n\n\nsurprising, with food so scarce; but as time went on, and shelters went up, the \nlaw was greatly relaxed\u2014or else no one paid any further attention to it\u2014and \nmore and more families found their way back, for the French peasant loves the \nsoil to which he belongs; he loves his home and all that the word means, and he \nwould rather suffer misery there, than try to be happy anywhere else. \n\nI think, however, it was not with the returned refugees that your sympathy \nwas greatest; it was perhaps more with those who had remained, despite the \ndanger and the distress, to live through the long years of the occupation; for \nthese had suffered a moral stress and strain which even exile does not inflict. \n\nIt would be difficult to imagine anything more cut off, more completely isolated \nthan the North of France had been during all those four agonizing years. No \nreassuring letters from outside were allowed to pass into or out of occupied \nterritory, the inhabitants remaining for the most part in entire ignorance as to \nthe fate of family and dear friends in the rest of France. They never had any \nreliable news as to the progress of the War; they saw only German newspapers, \nprinted in French, it is true, and purporting to give correctly the course of \ncurrent events, but these events were in reality so distorted (it was, of course, \nGerman propaganda) that they were nothing less than lies\u2014lies calculated to \nspread dismay and despair, though they never did! But it was a kind of living \ndeath which those people experienced, and it would have resulted in the deadliest \nform of stagnation and of paralyzed will, except for the unquenchable fire \nwithin. For no matter how cruel and unwarrantable the German oppression \nwas; no matter to what malevolent depths the Germans descended in their efforts \nto intimidate, to dishearten, to crush, they never succeeded in breaking the \nsturdy spirit of those people of the North. There was an enforced silence of \ncourse, but with it a proud and fiery endurance which was the heroic note of \nthose terrible four years. They saw all their civic rights withdrawn, their \npersonal liberty, even of the simplest kind, restricted if not wholly abolished, \nand they endured; they saw their houses systematically looted, all their cattle \nand poultry taken away, their agricultural implements removed, and still they \nendured; they watched helplessly while their women and young girls were \ndriven into the foulest kind of slavery, and still they refused to lose hope; they \nlooked on while their factories were wantonly destroyed, and their coal mines \nwantonly flooded, but they did not waver\u2014they knew the end was not yet. 1^^ \nbelieve it is a recognized fact that the Germans were even more merciless in theit^P \ntreatment of the North of France than they were, in the long run, in Belgium \nitself, for after the first terrible year there, when the organized atrocities were \nfound to be politically and internationally a mistake, and were for that reason \nabandoned, there was a general desire to conciliate Belgium because Germany \ndefinitely hoped to annex her, and hoped in this way to win back the confidence \nof the people! Whereas, in the North of France, the probability of annexation, \nonce the War was over, was far less, and Germany never halted in her policy \nof intimidation. \n\nThe North of France was one vast, cheerless ruin\u2014you could not get away \nfrom that fact; and the flooding of the mines, the destruction of the factories \n\n\n\n\n\n3\u00b0S \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nour village folk. When it was a simple matter of a coat\u2014well, any woman knows \nhow to pin a seam so as to make the coat smaller, or turn up a hem so as to make \nthe coat shorter, and mere details of that sort did not, of course, bother me, \nespecially as I always took sewing cotton and needles with me, to give to the \nperson who was to receive the over-large coat, knowing that these poor people \nseldom had such luxuries as thread of any sort. But the shoes were my despair \nthey could never be made to fit! It seemed always a question of trying to squeeze \na number ten foot into a number three shoe, and I used sometimes to think, \nrather wistfully, of the prompt and clever way the \u201cugly sisters\u201d in \u201cCinderella\u201d \nhad met and surmounted a similar problem when they found themselves sud\u00ac \ndenly confronted with it\u2014they just chopped off their toes! While I was never \nreduced to so low a state that I seriously hoped this extreme measure would be \nadopted, I was none the less constantly on the watch for some magical recipe \nby which a transformation from over-small to over-large might be effected. \nI never found it, however, and the misfits continued to balk me to the very end. \n\nThat winter was terribly severe, and the suffering was intense. For the most \npart, a kind of community life was carried on in the villages\u2014a pooling of \ninterests. If, for instance, on returning to their village, three families found \ntheir houses completely demolished, while a fourth family rejoiced in a house \ncomparatively intact, the four families would all huddle into the one habitable \nhouse, and so at least have a roof over their heads. You often saw, to your great \nsurprise, what appeared to be evidence of much luxury, and this looked strangely \nout of place in the squalid surroundings. I remember a young peasant woman \nin a certain village, who daily appeared in a very handsome fur coat, and yet \nI knew she lived in a wreck of a house, and could never, in any case, have owned \na fur coat of that kind. I discovered that when she had been turned out of her \nvillage by the authorities who were evacuating all the inhabitants, she had been \nill in bed, and too weak to carry anything away; that some well-to-do woman, \nin a large town through which she passed, had taken pity on her distress, and had \ngiven her the fur coat, without which she would undoubtedly have died of \nexposure. But that coat was practically all she had; no warm dress kept her \nproperly clad underneath. The expensive fur garment looked luxurious, but was, \nin reality, merely a shield for the utmost want. \n\nIt was desperately hard to get my things out quickly enough to my many \nvillages, for, no matter how expeditiously my driver and I tried to work, there \nwere always fresh crowds waiting and clamouring for our clothing and blankets. \nOf course, I went over and over again to each village, for the refugees came \nstreaming back in great numbers; one week I might find five newly returned \nfamilies; the following week, ten or fifteen might have returned, and be waiting \nfor such relief as we could furnish. At least in the beginning, people in general \nwere not permitted to return until the commune to which they belonged had \nbeen able to put up shelters enough to accommodate those who had lost their \nhomes (though whether this ruling was made by the Government or by the local \nauthorities I do not remember), and the return of anyone unable, because of old \nage or illness, to work in the fields was considered unjustified. This is not \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n309 \n\n\nsurprising, with food so scarce; but as time went on, and shelters went up, the \nlaw was greatly relaxed\u2014or else no one paid any further attention to it\u2014and \nmore and more families found their way back, for the French peasant loves the \nsoil to which he belongs; he loves his home and all that the word means, and he \nwould rather suffer misery there, than try to be happy anywhere else. \n\nI think, however, it was not with the returned refugees that your sympathy \nwas greatest; it was perhaps more with those who had remained, despite the \ndanger and the distress, to live through the long years of the occupation; for \nthese had suffered a moral stress and strain which even exile does not inflict. \nIt would be difficult to imagine anything more cut off, more completely isolated \nthan the North of France had been during all those four agonizing years. No \nreassuring letters from outside were allowed to pass into or out of occupied \nterritory, the inhabitants remaining for the most part in entire ignorance as to \nthe fate of family and dear friends in the rest of France. They never had any \nreliable news as to the progress of the War; they saw only German newspapers, \nprinted in French, it is true, and purporting to give correctly the course of \ncurrent events, but these events were in reality so distorted (it was, of course, \nGerman propaganda) that they were nothing less than lies\u2014lies calculated to \nspread dismay and despair, though they never did! But it was a kind of living \ndeath which those people experienced, and it would have resulted in the deadliest \nform of stagnation and of paralyzed will, except for the unquenchable fire \nwithin. For no matter how cruel and unwarrantable the German oppression \nwas; no matter to what malevolent depths the Germans descended in their efforts \nto intimidate, to dishearten, to crush, they never succeeded in breaking the \nsturdy spirit of those people of the North. There was an enforced silence of \ncourse, but with it a proud and fiery endurance which was the heroic note of \nthose terrible four years. They saw all their civic rights withdrawn, their \npersonal liberty, even of the simplest kind, restricted if not wholly abolished, \nand they endured; they saw their houses systematically looted, all their cattle \nand poultry taken away, their agricultural implements removed, and still they \nendured; they watched helplessly while their women and young girls were \ndriven into the foulest kind of slavery, and still they refused to lose hope; they \nlooked on while their factories were wantonly destroyed, and their coal mines \nwantonly flooded, but they did not waver\u2014they knew the end was not yet. I \nbelieve it is a recognized fact that the Germans were even more merciless in them \ntreatment of the North of France than they were, in the long run, in Belgium \nitself, for after the first terrible year there, when the organized atrocities were \nfound to be politically and internationally a mistake, and were for that reason \nabandoned, there was a general desire to conciliate Belgium because Germany \ndefinitely hoped to annex her, and hoped in this way to win back the confidence \nof the people! Whereas, in the North of France, the probability of annexation, \nonce the War was over, was far less, and Germany never halted in her policy \nof intimidation. \n\nThe North of France was one vast, cheerless ruin\u2014you could not get away \nfrom that fact; and the flooding of the mines, the destruction of the factories \n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n310 \n\nhad thrown an added burden oi> the authorities, for the hope by the people at \nlarge of quickly resuming a normal life was indefinitely postponed, armies of \nmen and women facing a long and uncertain period of unemployment; and im\u00ac \nmediate return to work was out of the question. So, with the War over, and \nthe hated Germans gone, it took perhaps even more courage to face interminable \nmonths of inactivity, than it had taken to live through the occupation. As \ntime went on, there was, of course, the wide-spread legend that, according to the \nTreaty, Germany would be obliged to repair the immense and far-reaching \ndamage for which she was wholly responsible; that, as compensation for the \ndestruction of the coal mines in northern France, for instance, Germany was \nto cede much of the Sarre basin, but we who were working in the Nord Devaste, \ndaily seeing the utter ruin all about us, wondered how any real compensation \nwould ever be possible. It has often been said (and justly) by those who took \nan active part in the Great War, that one of the best ways to learn what the \nGermans are like, is to have seen what they did in the occupied territories. \n\nThe work of reconstruction moved slowly, but as the winter wore on it was \nwonderful to see the signs of quickening life in this stricken area. When I had \nfirst come you could not buy even a candle; matches were, of course, quite \nout of the question. In fact, provisions of the simplest kind were unobtainable, \nexcept at the B. E. F. canteens\u2014those were not, however, available to French \ncivilians. But now, small shops began to open, here and there, with limited \nsupplies it is true\u2014such things as pins, sewing cotton, soap\u2014and I learned at \nthis time, that these homely objects can easily excite an interest out of all \nproportion to their ordinary value, when you have been without them for a \nsufficiently long period, for you would often see little groups of the village \npeople earnestly inspecting the newly arrived luxuries. Little by little too, \nanother most cheering sight augured a slow return to old conditions\u2014work \nin the fields began again, and you saw the long, deep furrows of a plough \nshare\u2014no doubt it had been hidden from the Germans in some dark cellar, \nor off in the woods, covered by underbrush; you would catch the fragment \nof a song as a woman gathered faggots in the dusk of the evening, or you would \nhear the happy barking of a dog as he entered into a game with a group of children \n\u2014children no longer playing furtively but with wholehearted gaiety, as children \ndo. It was the revival of life in a country which, outwardly, had long been dead. \n\nThe time was slipping by, however; the days had passed unnoticed into weeks, \nand the weeks, as unheeded, into months, and one day we awoke to the fact \nthat the terrible winter was over, the spring with its promise of better things \nhad come. My hour for leaving drew near; my work had come to an end for, \nquite suddenly, and to my surprise, I realized that I had been working among my \nvillages for nearly six months. Regular Government supplies were now steadily \nstreaming in, in enormous quantities, and, of course, other oeuvres such as the \nC. R. B. and the Red Cross, had long been on the spot,\u2014there was no further \nneed of any work such as ours, which was on a much smaller scale. So I made \na final round of my twenty-three villages\u2014a moving event for me, for I had \nmade many warm friends; one last distribution in the town where I had my \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n3\u201c \n\n\nsupply-depot (with a kind of farewell ceremony), and then, one glowing spring \nmorning, when hope was in the air, and the joy of renewed life was in the very \nbreezes, I left the Devastated North of France. \n\nMy Committee had very generously given me permission to run up to Brussels \nbefore returning to Paris with the car, and knowing how many places there were, \nall along the western Front, which, filled with personal associations, were very \ndear to me, it had suggested that, on my way south again, I should stop wherever \nI wanted, or make any reasonable detours , in order to visit these spots. Naturally \nI was most anxious to have a last survey of a few of the localities made vividly \nknown to me by those who had suffered there; by friends who had lost husbands \nand sons there, or where I myself had been and had witnessed, with my own eyes, \nat intervals during the long, dark years of the War, the immortal grandeur of \nthat struggle. I fervently desired to see each and all of these sacred spots again, \nthat I might hold them in perpetual memory. \n\nTo see them all was, however, out of the question, but how eagerly my young \nFrench driver and I started out, that lovely spring morning! Passing along the \nway where, not so long ago, the English and the Canadians had sent the Germans \nreeling backwards, we ran rapidly through Valenciennes, at length crossing the \nfrontier into Belgium, with an emotion, at least on my part, which I cannot \ndescribe. It was the first time I had been on Belgian soil since the autumn of \n1915 when, sorrowfully, I had been obliged to leave that heroic little country. \nIt did not take us long to reach Mons, so full of memories of the \u201cOld Con- \ntemp tibles\u201d, nor to pass a short distance along the now-famous Mons-Condd \nCanal, behind which, on that quiet Sunday, August 23rd, 1914, men of the \nlittle British Expeditionary Force had drawn up, to face the overwhelming odds \nwhich confronted them. And here they were attacked before they had had \ntime to entrench; it was from here that, at last, when all hope of holding their \nposition was gone; when complete envelopment was threatening, the great Re\u00ac \ntreat began. Once (how long ago it seemed now!) I had known some of those \nmen, and as I stood there, I thought proudly of each one of them; I tried to \nimagine what that Canal must have looked like to them in the early morning \nlight, as they ranged themselves there, with all the odds of the world against \nthem. I wished that I knew where their graves were, so that I might stand beside \nthem for a while. How quiet the country looked, after nearly five years \nrifle shot rang out; there was not even a distant cannonading; the people \ntown came and went, intent upon their business\u2014already the scars had \nto heal. \n\nThen Brussels\u2014only a day to spend there, and how many friends, how many \nfamiliar places I wanted to visit! But before I looked for anything else, I \nlooked for the Belgian flag (always it reminded me of a great tulip bed), and I \nsaw it everywhere, streaming its gorgeous red, yellow and black. There on the \nsummit of the Palais de Justice it was\u2014the Palais de Justice where, for so many \nyears, the hated German flag had been flying; where German guns had been \nplaced so that they pointed straight down the Rue Royale, trained also on the \nlower town lying in the hazy depths far below. But now, looking down into \n\n\n\n312 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nthose depths, over the soft gleaming of the ancient, gold-encrusted Hotel de \nVille, I could see the flag of liberated Belgium waving; and on the Royal Palace, \nwhere the Queen\u2019s Hospital had been installed, again floated the Royal Standard \n\u2014King Albert had come back to his own. There were no Germans anywhere \nto be seen\u2014the streets were clear of them, thank God! The lovely, small Parc \ndu Cercle, which the Germans had closed, was once more open to the public, and \nthe children were playing there. You could walk unmolested along the Rue de \nla Loi, past the Belgian Government buildings\u2014that street into which, during \nthe occupation, you could never enter without a pass, difficult to obtain; into \nwhich you were hardly allowed even to look, no, not even to watch the change \nof guard as it goose-stepped itself haughtily in and out every day, punctually, \nat high noon\u2014I daresay the German authorities were afraid that some of us \nmight laugh! That street had been the very centre of Deutschland iiber alles } \nand the unwary intruder who lacked his passierschein , was more than likely to \nget a bullet through his head, or a bayonet thrust through his heart; at the \nvery best, it would be an unceremonious \u201cHeraus and he would probably \n\nend his days in St. Giles. But now, incredible as it seemed to me, returning \nafter this long period, you could walk along the Rue de la Loi without the \nleast fear either of bayonets or of bullets. In the beautiful Cathedral of Sainte \nGudule, where Cardinal Mercier had so fearlessly hurled his resounding chal\u00ac \nlenges into the very teeth of the enemy, you could remain in peace, enjoying the \nvast, twilight spaces which you had always loved. All Brussels was breathing \nfreely again; the friends of 1914 and 1915 whom I saw, and from whom I had so \nsadly parted, had a new light in their faces, even if old shadows still lingered, \nand I came away with peace of mind and renewed hope for the future. \n\nFeeling that I could not possibly leave this part of the world without having one \nlast look at the great and magnificently tragic Ypres salient, even if it were to be \nbut a glimpse, we struck across country; through Alost which had paid so dearly \nfor its attempted stand against the first German advance of 1914; through \nGhent, so full of early memories for me\u2014memories of thousands of terrified \nrefugees, of retreating Belgian troops with the Antwerp garrison as a climax, \nof British Ambulance Units keeping open to the last, and then of that night \nat the old chateau in the outskirts of the town, where I had experienced my \nfirst sight of the enemy. It seemed to me that it had all been a million years ago. \n\nFrom Ghent we turned south, through Courtrai to Menin, and so passed along \nthe Menin road which is now one of the most famous in history. There was no \ngreat Memorial Gateway at the end of it then, as there is to-day, but the very \nair you breathed seemed rarefied because of the magnitude of the sacrifice \nwhich had been offered there. Who will ever forget the carnage of the Third \nBattle of Ypres? Who can ever think of the dismal, fetid marshes of the Yser, \nwith the mouldering duck-boards, and the sodden, rotting earth, without a \ntightening of the heart-strings? That country, so shell-tom, so lacerated, \nevery inch of which had been so fiercely contested by our weary and outnumbered \nyet still unflagging troops, all through that rain-soaked autumn, has become \nsacred ground to many of us, and will for ever remain so. Of Ypres itself\u2014 \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n3i3 \n\n\n\u201cYpres la Morte\" \u2014little, of course, was left; the beautiful Cloth Hall was a \nmass of rubble and calcined stone; the Cathedral of St. Martin was a forlorn \nwreck; the signs directing you to \u201cHell Fire Corner\u201d still told their tale of bitter \nconflict\u2014it was a wilderness of desolation. We ran hastily through Poperinghe, \neven more battered than when I had seen it last, and we went round by way of \nthe lovely, white chateau, where the hospital in which I had worked among the \nblind had stood, but there was hardly a trace of it left. The German advance of \n1918 had almost completely destroyed it. I remembered those long, sunlit \nsummer days, and those blind men groping their way about, wrapped in that \nsightless night of theirs, yet never for one moment losing heart. I remembered \n\u201cJim\u201d who had followed \u201cthe long, long trail\u201d in his last effort to help a more \nhelpless comrade than himself; I thought of my Devonshire boy with his quiet, \nreserved manner, and his inner sight\u2014he too had \u201cgone west\u201d. The whole \ncountry-side seemed strange to me without the familiar faces, and with the \nchdteau itself a cheerless heap of ruins. \n\nSpeeding south toward Lille, we passed through Armenti&res, near which, \nin the great spring offensive of 1918, the enemy, striking at a spot where an attack \nwas least expected, had succeeded for a time in breaking through the British \nlines, and when, in that supreme moment, Sir Douglas Haig had sent to his \ntroops, his now world-famous, high-hearted message: \u201c. . . Many among us are \nnow tired. To those I would say that victory will belong to the side which \nholds out the longest. . . . Every position must be held to the last man; there \nmust be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice \nof our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end,\u201d\u2014and on that note it \ncontinued. How well I remembered the great convoys of wounded which had \nflooded the large Military Hospital in London (where I then was), just after \nthat grim stand of the British forces in that part of the sector! What an untold \ndebt of gratitude we owe those men! \n\nWe reached Lille after dark, and left the next morning before daylight, as we \nwere anxious to make up lost time, so I saw little of it. Still heading south toward \nCambrai, much of which was now familiar ground to me, we passed through \nthat dismembered town, deliberately set on fire by the retreating Germans, \neven so late as a few days after their first demand for an armistice! The great \nPlace d\u2019Armes had then looked like a stretch of desert, but now, rebuilding had \nbegun. Continuing our way, we set our course for Le Catelet, St. Quentin ancL \nLa F&re, thus, with somewhat of a margin, skirting the old battle-fields of th^ \nSomme, and then running straight through those of Picardy\u2014that whole section \nbetween Cambrai and the Oise into which the Germans had first driven a huge \nsalient in their advance of 1918, and over which they had then swept in their \nlast effort to reach Paris. We were running close to the famous Hindenburg \nLine, and with the greatest interest we touched it as we passed along the St. \nQuentin Canal\u2014that part of it, at least, which stretches between Bellincourt \nand Bellenglise\u2014for this was one of the spots where, in the autumn of that year, \nduring the final retreat of the Germans, the supposedly impregnable barrier \nhad been pierced. The Canal is very wide and deep just here, with fearfully \n\n\n\n\n\n3 T 4 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nprecipitous cliffs on either bank (cliffs in which great nests of guns had been \nhidden) and you wondered how those men ever took the Canal at all, but, in the \nface of the deadliest machine-gun fire, they scrambled across, in any way and in \nevery way, storming the entrenchments on the opposite shore, thus helping to \ndestroy, for good and all, the most important line of the enemy defences. \n\nHow much we longed to stop both at St. Quentin and at La F&re! In danger \nof forgetting the good fortune which had enabled me to be there at all, it seemed, \nfor the moment, a cruel fate which obliged us to move almost uninterruptedly \nforward. I could not in reality, however, long ignore the fact that I was using \nvaluable time so generously granted me by my Committee, so we did not yield \nto the temptation to linger, but sped on, plunging recklessly into the twilight \nintricacies of the Foret de St. Gobain. We hoped to find the emplacement of one \nof the long-range guns which had bombed Paris from here, but we were quite \nunsuccessful, and we almost lost our way in the confusion of the small roads \nwhich run through it at every imaginable angle. So, at last, we definitely turned \nour faces toward Laon, and reached there just as night was falling\u2014Laon with \nits cathedral set superbly on the crest of its hill, and with that marvellous view \noverlooking the great plain stretched out below. \n\nThe next day we entered the region lying between Laon and Reims, one I \nhad long wished to go over as a kind of pilgrimage. The Heights of the Aisne \nhad already been the centre of severe fighting both in 1914 and in 1917, when \nagain, in 1918, Ludendorff had chosen it as the point at which he would attack \nthe French who held this section of the front. It was this furious onslaught \nof his\u2014at first overpowering the French and sweeping them from their position \n\u2014which yet led up to the Second Battle of the Marne, and which proved to be \nthe beginning of the end for the Germans. This was the country of the Chemin \ndes Dames, so familiar, at least by name, to everyone in the world to-day; it \nwas the country of the Craonne Plateau which has been the scene of campaigning \nfor many centuries, but I do not suppose that at any time throughout the ages, \nit even approached in appearance what it looked like to me the day I passed \nover it. Of Craonne itself, about ten miles south of Laon, there seemed only a \nfew scattered stones; of the Chemin des Dames, nothing at all remained. Every \nstep of the way the bare, churned-up earth was a ghastly, chalky-white, the \nglare of which almost blinded you; there was no living tree in sight; craters and \nshell-holes yawned everywhere; a little rank grass, much rusty barbed wire; \nyet, in that solitary, unlovely wilderness, as though in memory of those who had \ndied there, you could see, in sheltered spots, the loveliness of spring flowers \ngrowing\u2014tiny, delicate clusters of them\u2014like a miraculous raising of the dead; \nand now and again, the small enclosures of white crosses. I went into one of \nthese, and passed among the graves, and, fastened to one of the crosses, below \nthe tricolore and the fallen man\u2019s name, I saw a scrap of paper fluttering, and \nread the scribbled words: \u201cAdieu, adieu , les Francois noublient pas.\" Of \ncourse, I have never known who attached them there, or when it was done, or \nwhy, but it was not a thing you were likely to forget. What the holding of that \nground must have cost the French in blood and agony, was only too evident from \n\n\nWAR MEMORIES \n\n\n3i5 \n\n\nwhat you saw, no matter in which direction you looked, and with all my soul I \nwished that every man and every woman who had ever been guilty of even a \ntouch of neutrality, could be seeing the things that I saw that day, and have \nthem burnt into their memories for ever. Where should any of us be now, had \nit not been for men like that? \n\nAt length we reached Reims. There are no words to describe it\u2014to describe \nthe Cathedral, or what you felt when you looked at that which the Germans \nhad done. The world knows all about it\u2014and may the world remember what it \nknows! \n\nIt did not seem that we were long in passing through the country of the \nMarne\u2014for, after Reims, you somehow felt that you had seen the end\u2014and as, \nonce more, I entered Paris after my long absence, and realized her apparent \nreturn to the old, brilliant life, I felt that, nevertheless, there would be many to \nwhom the whole of France must for ever remain one vast, enduring monument \nto her dead. \n\n\nMany years have gone by since the glory of those days\u2014those days when, \nliving on the brink of defeat, of despair, of extermination, we yet never sur\u00ac \nrendered\u2014and still I seem to hear the haunting rhythm of millions of armed \nfeet, marching, marching forward. It is night, and I stand in a waste and \nravaged country, beside a torn, shell-shattered road bordered by shell-blasted, \nblackened trees, watching regiment after regiment going up the line. The faces \nof the men show signs of the long conflict; their uniforms are worn\u2014stained with \nthe smoke and toil of battle; their trench helmets are old and battered; their \npacks huge and heavy; yet those men move steadily on into the night toward \nthe bleak and frost-bound trenches which await them; they move fonvard to take \ntheir places in the ever-sleepless lines\u2014there, where the giant gun-flashes race \nacross the sky; where the star shells rise and fall over the bitter desolation of No \nMan\u2019s Land; where the deep crimson flare of a signal\u2014some lonely outpost in \ndistress\u2014stains the horizon like a splash of blood. But those men move un\u00ac \nfalteringly on toward the thunder of the guns, toward the sure death which \nawaits them\u2014they pass, and are lost in the night; the sound of those marching \nfeet dies away in the distance. Another regiment comes up; the huge pack^^ \nswing with the steady movement of strong feet; there is silence as they marcH^ \nthe silence of those who have set their faces to the enemy, and soon that regiment \ntoo has gone, has disappeared in the darkness. Then another regiment follows, \nand another, and another, and yet another\u2014long swinging columns of grey- \nblue or of khaki, of khaki or grey-blue\u2014they pass, and pass, and pass; and to me \nit seems as though they always will be passing\u2014going up the line. \n\nSometimes as the dawn is breaking in the east, I close my eyes on that deep\u00ac \nening splendour and recall to memory the splendour I have seen shining in the \neyes of the countless men and boys I have known and loved in the Great War\u2014 \nmen and boys who have fought to the death for their ideals, on land, on sea and \nin the air\u2014and then I marvel that we of to-day can so soon have forgotten them; \n\n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n316 \n\n\nthat after the sublime heights to which the humblest of them fearlessly rose, \nwe who are left can be content to sink back into the commonplace; to sink \nto the low and sordid levels of self-seeking and materiality. Did we take their \ngift only to toss it heedlessly to one side again\u2014they who were so great of \nheart; they who gave so royally and without one backward look, their youth, \ntheir happiness, their all? And when the next war comes, as come it surely will, \nI ask myself what we, whose turn it will then be to act\u2014what we are going to do? \nHaving grasped so eagerly at what those others gave us\u2014those men of unbroken \nspirit, they who, when they feared, pressed forward none the less\u2014what shall \nwe wish to give? Then, as I watch the growing splendour in the east, through \nthe sweet and lovely freshness of the morning, from the great reaches of the sky \nwhere he was so truly at home, come ringing the deathless words of Georges \nGuynemer: \u201c Tant qu'on ria pas tout donne, on na rien donnt.\u201d \n\nVolunteer. \n\n\n(The End) \n\n\nThe more we love , the more we desire to love; and the more we pay of that which \nlove demands , the greater becomes our debt .\u2014 Ruysbroeck. \n\n\nHelp your brother , Mahomed said one day , whether he be the oppressor or the \noppressed. \n\n0 Messenger of God , said someone to him , I would gladly assist my brother were \nhe oppressed , but how can I aid the oppressor? \n\nBy preventing him from doing evil , was the reply. \u2014E. D. \n\n\nI have found that a man may do a great deal of good in the world , if only he does \nnot care who gets the credit of it .\u2014 Cervantes. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PATH OF BEAUTY \n\n\nWherever thou dost turn , He speaketli to thee by traces which He has impressed \nupon His works , and by the very form of outward things recalls thee , when sinking \ndown to things outward .\u2014 St. Augustine. \n\nS OME one has said that the recognition of Truth brings with it a \u201cCate\u00ac \ngorical Imperative\u201d, a force which compels one to be like unto it. 1 his \nis true of the Arts, of that Beauty which is the form and manifestation of \nTruth. \n\nOnce in a while; we see such a manifestation, painting, drama or object, \nsomething so completely beautiful that we feel we can never depart from it, \nnor would we be other than it. This is the Categorical Imperative of Beauty. \n\nIn The Secret Doctrine we are told that at the beginning of the Manvantara, \nthe High Gods descend on earth to impress upon the infant mind of humanity \ncertain eternal truths, and that so potent is this impression that its vibration \nis never lost, but runs to the end of the cycle. This note sounded by the Manus \nflows like a fountain of sound, life-giving waters of immortality, whose waves \npass through and over us, conscious or unconscious as we may be, an ocean in \nwhich we live as do the fish in the watery deeps. How did they make this im\u00ac \npression, how sound this note? I often think of them, and I am sure it was by \nbeing, simply by being immortally Beautiful. \n\nSir James Jeans has declared that God is a mathematician. Others declare \nHim to be an engineer. Of course, we know that God is an artist. The Gods \nare artists and themselves the supreme works of art. That is why the life of \na Master is a drama of the Mysteries and transcends the tragedies of ^Eschylus. \n\nBy that absolute loveliness we are transformed. We vibrate into conformity \nwith it. That is why, to certain souls, beauty is the path to the Eternal. This \nloveliness, outside, and greater than ourselves, draws us on without thought of \nourselves. We perish in it as we become it. It arouses in us a pure, impersonal \nlove. This love is the fire which consumes our ugliness and re-creates us in its \nimage. As we contemplate it, our consciousness is joy. Is not this what is \nsaid in the Upanishad: \u201cHow could anything live, how could anything breathe, \nif the heart of being were not joy?\u201d \n\nIn all these forms it is Being itself which is beauty. Of the forms, indee(L^| \nit may be said, \u201cThine, verily, are chariots, thine are dance and song\u201d. Thei^ \ntransitory aspect is Death\u2019s; but Death is the great Initiator. By gazing upon \nthe drama of the Mysteries one seizes its spirit, and by enacting it becomes im\u00ac \nmortal. \u201cNot, verily, for love of all that is, is all this dear, but for the love of \nthe divine Self is all that is, dear.\u201d \n\nOught we not constantly to look for and to search out that beauty? Would \nwe not, rather, for is it not all joy? Plotinus has said, \u201cHe who has not \n\n\n3i7 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n318 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nyet seen Truth desires it as the Good; he who has seen it desires it as the \nBeautiful\u201d. \n\nIn what unexpected spots do we find it! \n\nI once read an article on the Royal Dancers of Cambodia. If one can judge \nby pictures and casts, the ancient Khmer art of Cambodia is second to none. \nAngkor Wat is one great mass of marvellous sculpture where are represented \nthe evolutions of Gods, Men, Serpents and Celestial Beings. Among these \nCelestial Beings, the Divine Apsarases, the Heavenly Nymphs, are everywhere, \ndancing upon wall and balustrade. I have a cast of one before me as I write. \nHer hands and feet flower out into flames. She is crowned with a high crown \nand girdled with jewels, and she smiles the same mysterious smile which we \nsee on the sculptured faces at Rheims. These Apsarases have lived and still \nlive on earth in the Royal Dancers of Cambodia. \n\nThe article of which I speak was written by Georges Groslier, Director of \nCambodian Arts, and it describes the way in which he was able to galvanize the \ndying Ballet into new life, to restore and preserve it for the world. The Ballet \nwas declining rapidly. No rehearsals, no money, no organization. After a \nshockingly poor performance, the French, for Cambodia is a French protec\u00ac \ntorate, stepped in. Monsieur Groslier proposed to photograph every traditional \npose in order, at least, to preserve that much of the art. He formed a commission \ncomposed of old men who understood the art, and of two old waitresses de \nballet. These were to regulate and to criticize the performance of the dancers \nwho posed for the pictures. \n\nGroslier found in these dancers themselves such a love of their art, such a \npride in it, such devotion, that he was able to organize regular rehearsals of the \nwhole Corps de Ballet , to inspire it with fire and to see it revive like a Phoenix \nfrom its ashes. \n\nIs there not something touching and significant in the spectacle of the French \nrescuing the art of the Cambodians from decay? They, too, have protected \nAngkor Wat, and have loved it as the descendants of the sculptors of the twelfth \nand thirteenth centuries should love it. \n\nNow, the descriptions of the resuscitation of the Ballet are \u201cpassionnant \", , \nthrilling. The dancers, all women, are a part of the Royal Court. In the old \ndays, all of them were princesses of the Blood, and virgins, for they represent \nthe Heavenly Nymphs, and perform a sacred ritual. The ancient legends which \nthey mime have four r 61 es, princes, princesses, monkeys and giants. Isn\u2019t \nthat enchantingly suggestive? One is transported at once into a fairy world, \nthat world where we moved in childhood. \n\nSometimes, one thinks that great art can be produced only within the con\u00ac \nfines of a rigid frame. Christian iconography did very well when the position \nof every figure was fixed by theology, and the inspirations of later painters \nhave varied but not improved it. Cimabue is more interesting than Correggio. \nThe personages of the Commedia dell \u2019Arte were limited, yet sufficient for all \nthe r 61 es of Terence and Moli\u00a3re. Princes, princesses, monkeys and giants; \nwhat more do you want? \n\n\nTHE PATH OF BEAUTY \n\n\n3i9 \n\n\nThe Ballet rehearses. The musicians squat in the foreground. The dancing \nmistresses are all alert. Then, the princes come forward, four by four, four \nrows deep. Imagine four rows of princes, all clad in gold, with jewelled spiked \nhelmets, gold girdles, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, shields. They come for\u00ac \nward, and to the music and to the chanted words, they dance. The faces of \nthe dancers, under their crowns of gold and garlands of flowers, are expression\u00ac \nless. Their thoughts are turned inward in a prodigious concentration of effort \nand memory. At the sound and word they must make the required movement \ninfallibly, immediately, and this movement must not deviate from the Canon \nby a fraction of an inch. Groslier exclaims, \u201cAh, the hard labour, the severe \npreparation, the subtile sculpture!\u201d \n\nAll these r 61 es must fit together. In a ballet where there appear two principal \npersonages, four followers for the princess and four officers for the prince, each \nmust choose exactly the right gesture for the sound and circumstance. Groslier \nsays, \u201cThe same rigour of composition binds together these ten persons, and, \nif you are forewarned, you can see that at the moment the Prince makes a certain \ngesture, and that gesture only, the four officers raise their left hands. All the \npersonages on the stage, whatever their number, know the particular rhythm \n(horologerie) which animates them, and also that which moves the others, since \nall these separate \u2018mechanisms\u2019, all interdependent, combine thus in one given \ncircumstance and never in another.\u201d \n\n\u201cWe see\u201d, says Groslier again, \u201cthe slow and fabulous filtering such an art \nhas undergone before reaching a perfection so final and so living that the years, \nvicissitudes and generations piled up in its memory have not diminished its \nauthority\u201d. \n\nNow, the princesses come, three by three, slowly at first, with poses, then \ngliding along. Their gestures \u201cseem to part fringes, branches, clouds\u201d. Then \nthey seem to leave the earth and to fly in the air. \n\nPerhaps this does net suggest to others, as it does to me, a whole world of \ndivine beauty. When I evoke that ballet in my imagination, I see galaxies of \nstars like Shelley\u2019s \u201cswarm of golden bees\u201d. I see the orderly revolutions \nof the planets, the turning of the spheres, the disciplined and rigorously set \ndance of the heavenly bodies, each one like a gold and jewel-decked Celestial \nNymph performing her evolutions with love and precision, all interdependent, \nall replying to one another without hesitation, all with the marvellous beauty ( \nof a conscious work of art. This dance opens out illimitable vistas on the^ \nuniverse, by correspondence, and the Milky Way and Orion and his sons take on \na significance unperceived before, something near, personal, living. \n\nThe dancers in the first row, who have no one to show them the movement, \nwould fall down in a faint rather than make a mistake which those behind them \nmight imitate. If we were to regard our duties as parts of a dance which we \nmust execute promptly, exactly, gracefully, figures in the harmonious unrolling \nof a cosmic ritual, would it not enable us to perform them gaily, not as tasks \nbut as works of art? \n\nThe most beautiful thing I have ever seen on the stage was Mei Lan Fang, \n\n\n\n\n\n\n320 THE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nthe great Chinese actor, in old Chinese plays. Mei Lan Fang plays only feminine \nrdles. He incarnates all the aspects of the \u201cEternal Feminine\u201d, all that is most \ncharming, capricious, delicate and invincible. Seeing him, one wonders what \nhas happened to the woman of to-day. But let us hastily leave this dangerous \nsubject. \n\nA princess speaks to her ladies in waiting. The princess is marvellously \nbeautiful. Her black hair hangs below her knees. She wears embroidered \nrobes, with a capelet of Imperial yellow fringed with tassels, and a great head\u00ac \ndress hung with long ropes of pearls. Now and then, her hands, with their \ngold nail guards, appear as the trailing sleeves of her robe fall back. 1 he grace\u00ac \nful handling of the sleeve is an art. The ladies, lovely creatures as alike as two \npeas in a pod under their high crowns of trembling crimson balls, move without \na sound, without a violent gesture, delicate, subdued, perfectly controlled, \nalert but effaced. The princess speaks to them and they answer, repeating her \nwords, but in a lower voice and key, like a faint echo. Somehow, just that re\u00ac \npeated sound conveyed to me something of the relations of the hierarchies, the \nGuruparampara Chain. \n\nThe princess, make no mistake, was not arrogant or imperious. She simply \nwas someone superior. That little scene was the acme of elegance. The won\u00ac \nder of a society in which things are ordered with such refinement! \n\nI have tried to remember something in Western drama that could be com\u00ac \npared with it, and I have seen the Russian Ballet in all its splendour, and Mounet- \nSully as CEdipus, but never have I seen anything which sounded so potently, \nfor me, that note of compelling beauty. \n\nIt is futile to compare and measure beauties. Botticelli\u2019s Primavera need \nfear no rival. A Famille Vertc vase is different but not inferior to Pacstum. \nHowever, these plays and the art of the Chinese theatre, set, also, in rigorous \nforms, conventions and symbols, lay before one a stage of civilization so far \nbeyond our own that we realize our unlikeness, and languish in our exile. Is \nnot the plane of consciousness of the Lodge of Masters such a state of civilization, \nsuch a place of poetry and loveliness? Do we not finally come to long for it \npassionately, from the darkness of the pit of our ugliness? \n\nThese dances and dramas which I have been describing are all man-made \narts. Is not the beauty of Nature the production of the Absolute Artist and the \nparadigm of all other arts and forms? A Master says, \u201cWe but follow and ser\u00ac \nvilely copy Nature in her works\u201d. \n\nIf the Categorical Imperative of Beauty is struck all too rarely by man, how \nconstantly, how potently is it struck by earth, sky, water, trees and flowers. \nOne can scarcely choose from out the wealth of memory a more lovely moment, \na particular object. At this time, however, I remember seeing the Cactus flower. \nIt was one of those perfect, warm Southern nights. The air was scented with \nthe spice of innumerable desert plants, mints, absinth, tansy, sage. It was \npure and silent with that vast silence of hundreds of miles of uninhabited moun\u00ac \ntains and deserts. The giant spires of cactus rose up among the enormous \nstars which seemed impaled upon their thorns. On these bare spikes opened \n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PATH OF BEAUTY \n\n\n321 \n\n\nthe cactus blossoms, white or rose, great petalled cups. Their perfume was \npoured out, as maidens, returned from the wells, pour water from their urns. \n\nIt was so beautiful that everything else ceased to be. One had no personality, \nno concerns, no psychic motions, no thoughts. Consciousness and this beauty \nbecame united. One was lifted into a state of simple being, of joy. One might \nhave spent aeons in such bliss, or did spend aeons in a moment. \u201cAs a painting \nof divine bliss; a sculptured form of sovereign happiness; a grove of trees \nerectly standing.\u201d \n\nSurely, the self-consciousness of those above us in the scale of evolution, the \nMasters, the Dhyani Buddhas, is fixed permanently in the contemplation of the \nEternal Beauty, and vibrating with it, radiates its life. Once one has glimpsed \nthat Beauty one must be delivered to its conquest. Nothing less can satisfy. \n\nWhat is this mysterious quality of Beauty? How know it? How perceive \nit? Is it form? Is it known by the eye alone? Surely it is the shadow of the \nDivine Being which falls upon our consciousness from above, and is perceived \nfirst by the spirit and last by the eye. \n\nDoubtless, the pursuance of the Path of Beauty is not without its dangers. \nOne is always being told that its followers are liable to become attached to the \nmere concrete and outward form. Well, the Path of Goodness is not without \nits dangers, either, as all who have suffered the frightful ministrations of the \nwell-intentioned can testify. Danger is our normal condition of life. We are \nin jeopardy every hour. \n\nThe effort of any one who follows an art or a religion must be the acquire\u00ac \nment of Shankara\u2019s first qualification for ch\u00a3laship, discrimination between \nthe mortal and the immortal. In a Buddhist text it is said, \u201cLet me discern a \npassionate mind to be passionate, let me discern a mind free from passion to \nbe free from passion, let me discern a mind full of hatred to be full of hatred, \nlet me discern a mind free from hatred to be free from hatred, let me discern \nan infatuated mind to be infatuated, let me discern a mind free from infatu\u00ac \nation to be free from infatuation, let me discern an intent mind to be intent.\u201d \n\nOne may well say, Let me discern an ugly picture to be ugly and a beautiful \npicture to be beautiful. Too many people think that if they are moved by a \nwork it must be good. It probably is bad. As Goethe remarked: \u201cWonder\u00ac \nworking images are nearly all poor works of art.\u201d That is because the part \nof our nature which is most easily moved is the surface. A poor work of art, \nbeing on that plane, moves it. The really profound influence of a beautiful \nwork is generally upon planes where we are dense, little alive and self-conscious* \nMore people are stirred by a cheap chromo than by a fresco by Giotto. They \nmay say, \u201cOh, it isn\u2019t the form which moves me. It is the idea.\u201d Of course, \nin a hideous religious picture the idea may well move one. Nevertheless, the \npicture is still poor and can never carry one as far as would a beautiful picture \nwhich brings into manifestation the meditations upon the Spiritual world of a \nsuperior soul. \u201cAnd the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we \nbeheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d \n\nIs it the form which is our guide in judging an object? Form and Conscious- \n\n\n\n\n\n\n322 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nness are inseparable. That is why the constant discernment of forms can guide \none to the consciousness behind them, must guide one there to have any life- \ngiving inspiration, for consciousness is the life of all forms. \n\nOr, does one start by discerning states of consciousness? The method of \ninduction or of deduction, proceeding from particulars to universals or from \nuniversals to particulars? It would seem that Theosophy constantly employs \nboth methods, correcting and confirming the one by the other. One must \n\u201cgently, with much sagacity\u201d observe form, conduct and manner, comparing \nthem with principles and laws of nature, and as diligently meditate upon prin\u00ac \nciples and laws, observing them in their manifestations. Of a truth, even in \nthis terrene world, form and consciousness are one. \n\nIt is because we allow our senses to become so dull, our perceptions so gross, \nthat we remain content with trivial things and cease to see divine Reality \nbehind forms. One recalls St. Augustine\u2019s cry, \u201cI was borne up to Thee by thy \nbeauty and soon borne down from Thee by mine own weight, sinking with sorrow \ninto these inferior things.\u201d \n\nHow often have we been told that when the perturbations of the personal \nlife are stilled, we, becoming as an untarnished mirror, reflect the untroubled \nconsciousness of the Spiritual World. Face to face with Being, we see Beauty; \nnay, we shall become Beauty, for the desire of evolution and of our hearts is not \nto see from afar, but to incarnate the God. \n\n\u201cThis world is the expression of the thought of the Eternal, therefore all \nBeing, everywhere, is the Eternal; thus behold it in all modes of being with \nserene understanding illumined by the Higher Self. That Being which is \neverywhere beheld apart from form by those possessing vision, what else can be \nthe Soul\u2019s garden of delight, for the righteous knower of the Eternal?\u201d \n\nSauvage. \n\n\nTo love is Beauty .\u2014 Anon. \n\n\nSince , 0 my soul , thou art capable of God , woe to thee if thou content thyself with \nanything less than God .\u2014 St. Francis de Sales. \n\n\n\n\nDISCERNMENT \n\n\nSpiritual Discernment is what is most wanted. \u2014H. P. Blavatsky. \n\nM R. JOHNSTON, in the opening sentence of the Introduction to his \ntranslation of Shankara Acharya\u2019s Crest Jewel of Wisdom , states: \n\u201cLiterally rendered, the title is The Crest Jewel of Discernment\u201d. \nHe adds: \u201cViveka is the winnowing of wheat from chaff, the discerning of \nspiritual reality, veiled by the mirage of the world\u2019s appearances\u201d. \n\nBy translating the Sanskrit, Viveka, as Discernment, Mr. Johnston has \nvirtually created for us in the West a term so rich in content, that a familiar \nEnglish word, by association with Eastern philosophy and occultism, is raised \ninto a higher sphere of meaning, and becomes an open sesame into new regions of \nthought and experience. The second verse of the Crest Jewel presents the theme \nof the whole treatise in a single phrase: \u201cDiscernment between the Divine Self \nand that which is not the Self\u201d. This fully accomplished, there results, not \nsimply, we are told, an intellectual clarification, but, on the one hand, \u201cliber\u00ac \nation\u201d from all that binds to the lower, the manifested, and the perishable,\u2014 \nthe not-Self; and, on the other, \u201cfully realized union with the Eternal Self\u201d. \nThis is a stupendous statement, and one perhaps hard for Western minds to \napprehend. Nevertheless, The Crest Jewel of Wisdom \u2014that Wisdom which is \nTheosophy itself\u2014boldly presents the Path to us in a term familiar to our every\u00ac \nday experience, and yet extending upward to illimitable heights. Therefore we \nare told that we may, by the right exercise of a present, though perhaps largely \nlatent, faculty, dispel \u201cthe mirage of this world\u2019s appearances\u201d, rid ourselves \nof the net-work of illusions or delusions which we have woven by imagination, \nthought, and will about the spiritual man within, and so claim our inheritance as \nsons of God. \n\nWhen highly trained lawyers, together with militant sceptics and materialists, \ncame to the great Western Master, and asked of him incontrovertible proofs\u2014 \na sign from heaven\u2014that his authority was not a pose, but that his teaching was \ntruly \u201cauthoritative\u201d, he met their demand with withering irony: \u201cWhen it is \nevening you say, Fair weather, for the sky is red. Or in the morning, Foul \nweather to-day, for the sky is red and lowring. You know how to discern thej \nface of the sky, but you are not able to discern the signs of the times. An evil \nand adulterous generation looks for a sign; and there shall no sign be given to \nit except the sign of Jonah. And he left them\u201d (cf. Matt. 16:1-4). \n\nNineteen hundred years of deeper penetration into Kali Yuga does not seem to \nhave improved the Discernment between the Real and the unreal of lawyers, \nscientists, and the official priesthoods\u2014as, perhaps, modem interpretations of \nthe sign of Jonah\u2014lay and clerical alike\u2014sufficiently demonstrate, to use one \nillustration only. Nor is Discernment a term, or an idea, generally familiar in \nWestern or Christian religious thought, though, of course, the exercise of this \n\n\n323 \n\n\n\n\n324 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nfaculty is implicit in all genuine spiritual teaching. For this very reason, a \nstudy of the Crest Jewel , and an assimilation of the meaning of the term Discern\u00ac \nment, is of special value, and will throw a richer light not only on Western Scrip\u00ac \ntures, but on our own immediate experience and needs. For the Crest Jewel \ntells us that, of the four qualifications enumerated \u201cby those possessing wisdom\u201d \nwhich are necessary to secure \u201ca firm foothold in the Real\u201d,\u2014\u201c First is counted \nDiscernment between the Eternal and the non-eternal\u201d (v. 19). \n\nSince the word Discernment is often misused in English, and confused with \ndiscrimination, it will be well to examine its ordinary connotations, as these are \nsuggestive. When Mohini Chatterji, using of course a foreign language, made \nan English translation of the Crest Jewel for The Theosophist in 1885, he rendered \nthe word Viveka, discrimination; and where Mr. Johnston wrote: \u201cDiscernment \nbetween the Divine Self and that which is not the Self\u201d, Mohini used the phrase: \n\u201cThe spiritual knowledge which discriminates between spirit and non-spirit\u201d. \nThis circumlocution not only confines Discernment to spiritual knowledge (ex\u00ac \ncluding its complement, spiritual will), but to one function only even of spiritual \nknowledge itself, and so reveals the need for further precision of thought. The \ndifference between the two terms, Discernment and discrimination, is a funda\u00ac \nmental one. We discriminate by making differences, by separating things \nconfused together or commingled. The process ends there. We discern by \nseeing apart from all other objects, or through them. Discrimination directs \nits attention and interest towards the objects or ideas considered, and without \nthese it could not function. Discernment draws down, or incarnates, an innate \nfaculty of the understanding, and exercises it by means of, or through, the \nobjects or ideas under consideration; but it is of itself eternal in its nature. So: \n\u201cWhen the question is to estimate the real qualities of either persons or things, \nwe exercise discernment: . . . when the question is to determine the proportions \nand degrees of qualities in persons or things, we must use discrimination \u201d \n(Crabbe); and again: \u201cOf discernment we say that it is clear; it serves to remove \nall obscurity and confusion: ... of discrimination , we say that it is nice; it \nrenders our ideas accurate\u201d. \n\nIt is obvious, therefore, that in the ordinary dictionary use of the terms, dis\u00ac \ncrimination is a secondary or derived function; that it is essentially dual, or \nmanasic; and that one can discriminate differences between things without any \nreal exercise of Discernment at all. To discern, while it implies the employment \nof a due measure of discrimination, is in its very nature a higher faculty, and is \nconcerned with discrimination only in so far as the latter serves the higher \npurpose\u2014viz., that of estimating \u201cthe real qualities of either persons or things\u201d. \nThis last, discrimination cannot do, though the term is constantly misused in \njust this sense, instead of Discernment. Because Discernment sees , there is an \ninner constructive or synthetic quality about its exercise, lacking in discrimina\u00ac \ntion. So Mr. Johnston\u2019s illustrations are true analogies: wheat is not merely \nwinnowed to be separated from chaff, but to be harvested for the use of man; and \na veil is pierced to see what lies on the farther side, not simply to rend the veil. \n\nMr. Judge once wrote: \u201cTrue discernment is an office of the human under- \n\n\n\nDISCERNMENT \n\n\n325 \n\n\nstanding. In and of itself it is a passive, though by no means a negative, quality. \n\n. . . Discernment belongs to the judgment of man as to qualities and things\u201d \n{The Path , V, p. 314). To bring the faculty of Discernment, therefore, from its \npassive condition into full activity, is to fulfil the first of the four qualifications \nfor chelaship. In one sense it is to render Buddhi active. Therefore, Discern\u00ac \nment cannot be limited to an intellectual perception, to a manasic faculty, alone. \nDiscrimination, which is manasic, can be exercised without Discernment; Dis\u00ac \ncernment uses discrimination. The eye of an artist may not only distinguish \nbut discriminate between correctness of line or shades of colour, but he may fail \nin the higher appreciation of quality and meaning: \u2018\u2018It is in the discernment of \nplace, of time, and of person that the inferior artists fail\u201d, suggested Macaulay \n{Machiavelli ),\u2014or in inner realities rather than in \u2018\u2018proportions and degrees\u201d. \n\nThe nearest synonyms, therefore, to Discernment, would seem to be insight \nand judgment; and all three are given as synonyms of Wisdom. But Discern\u00ac \nment is the most penetrating of the three, and comes closest to its source because \nthe most comprehensive of them all. Judgment involves the power of forming \ndecisions; insight indicates the direction in which judgment should act; Discern\u00ac \nment completes both qualities, directing insight as a mental faculty, and im\u00ac \npelling to wise action on the moral side where judgment functions. A man of \nDiscernment will both judge and discriminate rightly; but a man can both judge \nand discriminate without Discernment. In the Gospel of Nicodemus , held \ncanonical and widely read and studied throughout the first thousand years among \nChristians, Christ\u2019s answer is recorded to Pilate\u2019s question \u2018\u2018What is Truth?\u201d\u2014 \n\u2018\u2018Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? Jesus said, Truth is from heaven. \nPilate said, Therefore truth is not on earth. Jesus said to Pilate, Believe that \ntruth is on earth among those who, when they have the power of judgment, \nare governed by truth, and form a right judgment\u201d (iii, 11-14). A little reflection \nwill show that to be governed by truth requires Discernment\u2014which Pilate \nlacked, though he proved that he could discriminate between innocence and \nfalse accusations. \n\nWe see, therefore, that as Discernment passes from its passive, or latent, \naspect, into activity, it uses both intellect and will, both mind and heart, both \ndiscrimination and judgment. But its true function must not be confused with \nthe activities of its instruments, when it is active,\u2014something the Western mind \nis prone to do. Nor should the range of its exercise be limited. A correspondence, \nis complete from the highest to the physical planes; therefore a precise definition \nis difficult to formulate. But the range of its exercise need not be limited. On \nthe lower side there are commonplace examples, such as \u2018\u2018men who have lost \nthe faculty of discerning colours, and who never\u201d, wrote Newman, \u2018\u2018by any \nexercise of reason, can make out the difference between white and black\u201d. This \nsimple truth is quaintly set forth in a verse of Sir J. Davies in his Nosce Teipsum: \n\nFor though our eyes can nought but colours see, \n\nYet colours give them not their power of sight; \n\nSo, though these fruits of sense her objects bee, \n\nYet she discerns them by her proper light. \n\n\n326 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nA man must consciously possess his own \u201cproper light\u201d, must have evolved this \n\u201coffice of the human understanding\u201d, in order to see, in order to discern, on \nlower, and then on higher, planes. \u201cBut if thine eye be evil, thy whole body \nshall be full of darkness.\u201d Of the higher, St. Paul wrote: \u201cNow the psychic man \nreceiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; \nand he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned\u201d (I Cor. ii. 14). \nAnd we are told that it is \u201cA wise man\u2019s heart (that) discerneth both time and \njudgment\u201d (Eccle. viii. 5). \n\nTherefore, since we all have the ability to exercise Discernment to a greater \nor less extent on lower planes already, it is only a question of recognizing this \nfact, and its significance, to undertake raising ordinary Discernment\u2014or perhaps \none should say Discernment in ordinary things\u2014to spiritual Discernment, or \nDiscernment in spiritual things. The faculty is the same; which is another way \nof saying that any faculty is an aspect of one of the human principles; and \nDiscernment, when active, seems to be a phase of Buddhi active. If the \nlaw of Correspondences be true, and the Universe fundamentally one, \nwhat else can even ordinary eyesight be than an activity, however veiled, of \nBuddhi ? \n\nReturning now to the Crest Jewel , it is obvious that we are here receiving in\u00ac \nstruction in how to appreciate the value, and extend the exercise, of Discernment \nthroughout the whole range of life, so that in all things we may come to discern \nbetween the Real and the unreal, between \u201cthe Divine Self and that which is \nnot the Self\u201d. When we awake to some realization of our true place in the \ngreat Cosmic order, we find ourselves already a part of the complex mayavic \npicture which nature has thrown up on the screen of time, and to which we \nourselves are contributing. Moreover, at least intellectually we have been led \nto accept the proposition that this so solid seeming world is but a \u201cshadow- \nworld\u201d\u2014a reflection of a greater Reality within. Discernment is the faculty \nwhich will enable us to know this for ourselves. That which we call ourselves, \nour bodies, our thoughts, our feelings, our likes and dislikes, form a part of this \npurposed but nevertheless illusionary process. To disentangle the Real from the \nunreal, to learn to recognize the Divine Self from all that is not-Self, are the \nfirst requisites. At a certain point in our evolution we are told, or we read with \nsympathy, or a deep-seated instinct tells us, that behind \u201cthe mirage of the \nworld\u2019s appearances\u201d\u2014and inside our own field of consciousness as well as \noutside\u2014there is an Absolute Reality, \u201cwithout variableness neither shadow of \nturning\u201d, of which we are a part in our deepest nature, or more truly, with which \nwe are one, and which lies at the heart of all our life, all our experience, all our \nlove. The riddles of life, the illusions of life, the changes and chances of life \nmelt away into relative non-existence when once that oneness is claimed and is \nmade to surcharge our whole field of consciousness, instead of lying buried in \nhidden depths, wrapped in veil upon veil of appearances. The first qualification \non the Path of chelaship is to make this proposition our own to the point that we \nrecognize the futility of ordinary life lived for ordinary human ends and aims, \nand not only determine, but prefer and desire to find the Heart of the Universe, \n\n\nDISCERNMENT \n\n\n327 \n\n\nto realize in full that which we have hitherto only divined in part, to enter into \nour royal inheritance as sons of God. \n\nNow though it is quite obvious that this is a grand and beautiful thesis, it is \nabsurd to suppose that a mere assertion of its mental acceptance will at once \nachieve the desired result. The very next event on life\u2019s great calendar of \nsuccessive events will test our ability to discern the Divine Self from that which \nis not the Self, both in the quality and meaning of the outer happening itself, \nand in our own reactions to it;\u2014and probably initial failures to see and under\u00ac \nstand will meet us at every turn. But we shall already be in a position to meet \nthese recurring experiences in a new spirit, because we shall at first deliberately, \nand then automatically, seek to look below the surface, to divine their meaning, \nto search after their quality , and not merely their degrees and proportions. Our \nconcern will no longer be solely with how bad is our toothache, but what is a \ntoothache; why toothaches at all; what can and should one learn from one\u2019s \nown and other peoples\u2019 toothaches; what does Life (or Karma = the Lords of \nKarma) teach by means of toothaches,\u2014and so on, with everything submitted \nto a new and searching test, from brushing one\u2019s teeth to the conscientious \nconsideration of the relative merits, if any, of laughing gas and hypodermic \ninjections. Soon we gain a new light on that statement, \u201cThe unnecessary is \nthe immoral\u201d. \n\nIt is at this point that the Crest Jewel meets the student. The very con\u00ac \nsideration of such problems inevitably results in a changed attitude towards \nthem, so that a number of preliminary misconceptions (based usually on crude \nselfishness) are almost certainly removed, which \u201cbind\u201d one to definite and in\u00ac \nferior feelings and actions\u2014and by just so much is \u201cliberation\u201d achieved. This \nis within everyone\u2019s experience. By extension, the same exercise of Discernment \napplied to the whole, instead of to just a fragment of manifested life, will bring \nabout \u201cliberation\u201d from the whole of manifestation,\u2014and union with the Divine \nSelf ensues. The average Westerner has an ingrained notion that if he lives a \nmoral, upright life, his\u2019immortal future (if any?) is secure, and that he need not \nbother about theological niceties or profound philosophical considerations. \nThey are insoluble anyhow; even the specialists disagree. The practical, prag\u00ac \nmatic test is enough for him; so long as society keeps its head and travels along \non an even keel, that, he feels, is the most that can in fairness be expected. Life \nand nature are too complex to require more of mortal man. He is not at all \nworried about \u201cthat self of his which is sunk in the ocean of recurring life and \ndeath\u201d (v. 9); he is interested in his (that self\u2019s) bread and butter (with as much \njam as possible), and in getting plenty of each. But the Crest Jewel makes cleaj^ \nat the outset that this whole viewpoint and attitude are wrong and stultifyin\u2122 \n\u201cWorks [even good works] make for the cleansing of the heart, but not for the \nattaining of the Real; the gaining of the Real comes through discernment\u2014 \nnot even by myriads of works is it gained\u201d (v. 11; cf. w. 447-450). In other \nwords, just endless living, myriads of successive experiences in innumerable \nrecurring lives, however good, will never automatically insinuate us by easy \nstages, or even catapult us, in some final spring, into the Real, or weld us into \n\n\n328 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nconscious union with the Divine Self. Something more than just living as \nbest we can, however successful, is necessary to free us from the Wheel of \nLife. There is something additional we ourselves must initiate, must of ourselves \ndo about it; something we can begin at any point in time, or can postpone \ndoing almost indefinitely. That something is to \u201cpractise discernment\u201d. \nThe manifested Universe came from the Real; if we, clearly in manifestation, \nsucceed in eliminating from our consciousness (which is the true medium \nof manifestation) the whole of manifestation, by recognizing its illusionary \nnature, what is left but the Real? If it is we who do this, we are the Real, \nand pure Consciousness has become pure Self-Consciousness: the self has \nbecome the Self. \n\nThe hitherto occult teachings given out by Madame Blavatsky at the direction \nof the Masters, all tend to make clearer just this fundamental thesis of the \nCrest Jewel. For example, The Secret Doctrine tells us that man as now consti\u00ac \ntuted appeared on earth toward the end of the third Root Race some 18,000,000 \nyears ago. That means, perhaps, that we have all had already approximately \neleven thousand, two hundred and fifty incarnations, with quite an exhausting \nnumber\u2014if viewed in their dreary details\u2014of births, deaths, wives, husbands, \nchildren, wars, broken bones, toothaches, snake-bites, prayers, tears, sins, \nrepentances, and even the last word in fashionable hats. Therefore, by means \nof this teaching, it already becomes easier to see that: \u201cThrough discernment \nof the Real it is perceived that the imagined serpent is only a rope; and thus the \npainful fear of the great serpent, conjured up by illusion, is finally destroyed\u201d \n(v. 12). What is said of the serpent and the rope applies with equal force to \nwives and husbands, toothaches, snake-bites, and the rest. But though the \ntheory may be clear, its thorough application is by no means easy. We see a \nrope and mistake it for a snake, and we run away in a panic. We see a damsel \nand imagine she is a \u201csoul-mate\u201d, and perhaps we do not run away. The differ\u00ac \nence lies in the fact that we dislike fear and pain, and hence are prepared at once \nto co-operate with Karma in dispelling that particular*illusion, but are by no \nmeans always on the side of Karma (in its highest aspect, of course) in ourselves \ndesiring to dispel the illusions anent fairy princesses. Worldly love is notoriously \nblind, and many a man will not permit himself to examine the credentials of \nPrincess Bright Eyes, because he does not wish to have his illusions shattered, \nand to discover that said Princess is perhaps\u2014a rope. If it seems easier to dispel \nthe fear aroused by mistaking a rope for a snake than the feelings about a fairy \nprincess and so forth, Theosophy\u2014or right teaching\u2014comes to our rescue and \nsuggests that we think back over eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty \nincarnations (since the separation of the sexes), stand all those \u201csoul-mates\u201d \n(black, brown, yellow, red, white) in a row, as it were, up in the sky; recall, to \nhelp make the picture vivid, the considerable extension of a whole battalion of \nsoldiers spread out in line for review, and \u201cpractise discernment\u201d. \u201cThe certain \nknowledge of the goal comes only through discernment awakened by right \nteaching. . . . circumstances, such as place and time, merely co-operate in the \nresult. Therefore, let him who would know the Real practise discernment, \n\n\nDISCERNMENT \n\n\n329 \n\n\nfinding a Master who is a river of compassion, an excellent knower of the Eternal\u201d \n(vv. 13-15). \n\nNevertheless, to some this whole method may at first seem too simple a \u2018\u2018way \nout\u201d, almost like a trick. When a rope in the grass gives you a start, it is true \nthat all fear dissipates when you realize that it is a rope, not a snake. But home, \nwife, children, financial difficulties, aching teeth, and so forth, do not dissipate \nin the same easy way, when you not only agree with \u2018\u2018right teaching\u201d, but \npositively assert that they are all illusion, maya, a \u2018\u2018shadow-world\u201d. The tooth \nstill aches, and dividends are still omitted. It is like Faith. Faith, we are told, \nand we believe, can say to a mountain, \u2018\u2018Remove hence to yonder place; and it \nshall remove\u201d, but we find ourselves somewhat like the woman who determined \nto put this to the test, and yet when she got up in the morning and looked out of \nthe window to see if her fervent prayer of the night before had been answered, \ninvoluntarily exclaimed, \u2018\u2018I knew right along it would still be there!\u201d Woman \nand mountain were equally illusion; the trouble was that that potential centre \nof stupendous, and self-conscious cosmic forces, the woman, was so wrapped up \nin the illusion, among others, of her own limitations, created by herself through \nages, and of a mountain\u2019s imperviousness to human wishes, that she was spirit\u00ac \nually impotent and also totally lacking both in Discernment and in a sense of \nhumour. In other words, removing a mountain by faith is, practically, \u2018\u2018foolish\u00ac \nness\u201d to the \u2018\u2018psychic man\u201d. He cannot even conceive how it is done, because \nsuch things are \u2018\u2018spiritually discerned\u201d. Nevertheless, the very recognition of \nthis last fact, instead of its denial, is an evidence of a rudimentary Discernment. \nOne cannot begin to \u2018\u2018seek the Eternal\u201d at all, until so much is recognized. \nAnd this once recognized, the dawn of spiritual Discernment has brightened the \nman\u2019s horizon. So the Crest Jewel adds that then: \u2018\u2018He is fitted to seek the \nEternal, who has discernment, freedom from self-indulgence, quietude and the \nother virtues, and who ardently desires liberation\u201d (v. 18). \n\nWith this minimum degree of Discernment as a starting point, the Path can \nbe entered. The whole logic of life, and of the mutations of our thousands of \nlives, has led us to one fundamental realization: \u2018\u2018The Divine Eternal is real, the \nworld is illusion: a complete certainty of this is declared to be Discernment \nbetween the Eternal and the non-eternal\u201d (v. 20). To this at first intellectual \nunderstanding, and because of this, we gradually learn to add the remaining \nthree qualifications: Freedom from self-indulgence; then the Six Virtues,\u2014^ \nQuietude, Control, \u2018\u2018the excellent Cessation\u201d, Endurance, Faith, and Concen\u00ac \ntration; and finally, \u2018\u2018The ardent Desire for Liberation\u201d. The Crest Jewel adds \nsignificantly: \u2018\u2018Where this ardent Desire is present even in a weak or modified \ndegree, increasing through ceasing from self-indulgence, through quietude and \nthe other virtues, and through the grace of the Master, it will bear fruit\u201d (v. 29). \nSo a minimum of Discernment starts us upon the Path, and treading the Path \nbrings \u201cfruit\u201d, and that fruit is \u201cKnowing through the Scriptures, through right \nreasoning, through meditative experience, that thy true Self is the Self of all\u201d. \nThis known, we \u201cmake an end of resting in the false self, which is built up by \nthe play of deceptive appearances\u201d (v. 283). In other words, Discernment \n\n\n\n330 THE 0 S 0 PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nleads one to undertake the Path, and treading in the Path leads to further Dis\u00ac \ncernment, and so on. \n\nIt requires a certain degree of concentration and practice on the part of the \nWestern mind not to feel, after a point is reached in the argument of the Crest \nJewel , that the results to be obtained from practising Discernment, or which are \npromised to it, cannot really flow from the premises. It seems as if a jump \nmust have been made somewhere, which escaped detection as we read. How \ncan applying the process set forth in the simple and obvious analogy of the \nrope versus the snake lead, for example, to this: \u201cFrom the discernment that \n\u2018I am the Eternal\u2019, works heaped up through hundreds of millions of ages are \ndissolved, as dream-works on waking\u201d (v. 449)? Does this not seem like side\u00ac \nstepping Karma? Is it really possible that so great a result could follow from \nsuch a simple start,\u2014or at least, from a start which could be so simply stated? \nIn a way the Crest Jewel seems to recognize this difficulty, because eight suc\u00ac \ncessive times, at the crucial point in the chain of reasoning, we are brought back \nto this unescapable analogy, the rope and the snake. \u201cA false imagination \ncreated by error is not conclusive proof. . . . The appearance as the separate \nself, of the Self, the Seer, who is without qualities, without form, essential \nwisdom and bliss, arises through the delusion of the understanding; it is not \nreal; when the delusion passes, it exists no longer, having no substantial reality. \nIts existence, which is brought into being through false perception, because of \ndelusion, lasts only so long as the error lasts; as the serpent in the rope endures \nonly as long as the delusion; when the delusion ceases, there is no serpent\u201d (vv. \n197-200). It may be well, therefore, to return repeatedly to the beginning of the \ntreatise, and to make sure that the foundation of the argument is fully grasped. \n\nIt may also help in making our own the full significance of this teaching, and \nin realizing the opportunities that lie within it of opening vista upon vista to \nour conscious perception of the spiritual world, if we translate from Hindu to \nChristian terms, and back again. Christian teaching is full of suggestions, with\u00ac \nout, however, the explicit development of Hindu thought. Only an indication \nof this can be given here. Apart from St. Ignatius\u2019 famous treatment of the \nDiscernment of Spirits , Christian mystics and mystical theologians have approxi\u00ac \nmated the Eastern idea in many instances, which are of great interest for com\u00ac \nparative study. Thomas Aquinas declared, for example, that the life of con\u00ac \ntemplation is \u201cThe discernment of God by the spiritual senses\u201d. St. Thomas \nstates this as the end, or goal, of mystical contemplation, which in its turn is the \nhighest kind of life; but philosophically it does not reach so high as the \u201cI am \nthe Eternal\u201d, or \u201cThou art That\u201d of a more rigorously logical and discerning \nEastern philosophy. Similarly, and still with a certain limitation, St. Bernard \nwrote: \u201cThere are two kinds of transport in mystical contemplation: the one \nin the intellect, the other in the heart; the one in light, the other in fervour; \nthe one in discernment, the other in devotion\u201d. Scaramelli defined the infused \n(as distinct from the acquired) gift of \u201csupernatural intuition\u201d as: \u201cAn instinct \nor a light given by the Holy Spirit to discern correctly, in oneself or in others, \nthe principle from which the soul\u2019s interior movements proceed; whether it is \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDISCERNMENT \n\n\n33 i \n\n\ngood or bad\u201d. Perhaps, on the whole, Christianity is richest in practical direc\u00ac \ntion, rather than in philosophic rationale, and for the more fundamental steps \nin practising Discernment, one can turn to a wealth of literature, such as Faber\u2019s \nGrowth In Holiness , especially chapter XI: \u2018\u2018From the discernment of mortal \nsin we come to that of venial sin, from venial sin to imperfections, from imper\u00ac \nfections to less perfect ways of doing perfect things, and from that to a delicate \nperception of the almost invisible infidelities which grieve the Holy Spirit \nwithin us\u201d. Or we can go back to that extraordinary Eastern Christian mystic, \nEphraim the Syrian (4th century), who wrote: \u2018\u2018If thou canst wisely discern, \nchange thou not Time for time, that which abides for that which abides not, \nthat which ceases not for that which ceases, nor truth for lying, nor body for \nshadow, nor that which is in season for that which is out of season, nor the Time \nfor the times. Collect thy mind, let it not wander among vanities which profit \nnot\u201d. Each of these, and many others, teach one phase of the subject, or tell \nof the successive steps through which the disciple must pass; but each also in a \nmeasure fails to penetrate to the heart of the subject except by implication\u2014an \nimplication which Eastern teaching sets forth explicitly. \n\nIt is the peculiar genius of the Oriental conception, therefore, to apply that \nwhich is true of the part, to the whole; and to point out that since no one portion \nof the manifested can be conceived as Ultimate Reality, therefore the aggregate \nof all of manifestation cannot be Ultimate Reality. From this it follows that if \nwe can rid ourselves of the illusion of mistaking any portion of the unreal for the \nReal, it is a logical necessity that we can rid ourselves from mistaking the whole \nof the unreal for the Real,\u2014resting, therefore, or centring, our consciousness in \nthe Real alone. The ability to free ourselves from one illusion involves the \nability to free ourselves from all illusion; the capacity to discern in one instance \ninvolves the capacity to discern in all. Moreover, illusion itself is created by our \nSelf\u2014viz., the self by the Self,\u2014in the beginning to manifest the Self, so as later \nto establish the Self in full self-consciousness, having come to see and know itself \nin its reflections. To abide in the reflection, declaring it to be the Real, would be \nto act like children who are carried away by their own games, and who actually \nhang the diminutive pirate when he is captured. \n\nThe whole of the Crest Jewel is a study of Consciousness; and Discernment is \npresented as a primary function of Consciousness. \u2018\u2018Not by Yoga nor by \nSankhya, not by works nor by knowledge, but only through awakening to the \noneness of one\u2019s true Self with the Eternal, does liberation come, and in no \nother way\u201d (v. 58). This awakening, an awakening of consciousness, is essential. \nHow is it to be brought about? How is that of which we are not yet conscious \nto be brought to consciousness? First, by discerning so far as we can. Where \nwe do see the truth (the Real), we must be \u2018\u2018governed by truth\u201d (the Real)\u2014 \n\u2018\u2018therefore the reality of the divine Self should be sought earnestly from one \nwho knows the real (v. 62).. . . Sickness does not depart by speaking of medicine \nunless the medicine be drunk; liberation comes not through speaking of the \nEternal without immediate experience of the Eternal (v. 64). . . . So through \nthe teaching of one who knows the Eternal, through careful thought and medi- \n\n\n332 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ntation, is to be gained the pure truth of the divine Self, concealed by the working \nof glamour, and not through subtle reasoning (v. 66). . . . By constant obedience \nto the Self, the mind of him who seeks union is conquered and the impress of \nouter desires fades away\u201d (v. 279). So we have the old and familiar direction\u2014 \nObedience. But the Crest Jewel tells us that while Discernment is the fruit of \nObedience, it is also the cause of a more complete Obedience, as we gain recog\u00ac \nnition of the truth\u2014the categorical imperative\u2014of that which we should obey. \nAnd th'e Crest Jewel points out that we ourselves become that which we obey, \njust as the lieutenant, by obeying his colonel, comes to understand a colonel\u2019s \nresponsibility, and finally may become himself a colonel. \n\nIt is a fundamental point, therefore, that the whole method of teaching of the \nCrest Jewel is that of analogy, through the Law of Correspondences. As above, \nso below; as below, so above. If we wish to \u2018\u2018practise Discernment\u201d, we must \nexercise ourselves in seeking correspondences,\u2014and not only in intellectual \nmatters, such as between, let us say, the human principles and the principles of \nphysical nature (as in The Secret Doctrine , II, 593), but throughout the range of \nour entire experience of life. Life is Karma; and Karma is not a dead, me\u00ac \nchanical thing, but living; it is an expression of the will and thought and desire \nof the great Lords of Karma working on our own accumulated will and thought \nand desire, and all directed to the one end of helping us to discern between the \nReal and the unreal, between the Divine Self and that which is not the Self, \nso that we may escape from the false, and enter consciously into the true. \nSurely, if we succeed, we shall not be side-stepping Karma, but fulfilling Karma. \nIn the very beginning it was said \u2018\u2018Let there be Light\u201d\u2014and there was light. \nSo also shall there be light throughout the ages. Our attitude should be to \nprove all things, and hold fast that which is good. \u2018\u2018Therefore, discerning this \nsupreme reality of the Self, in its own nature the sum of bliss, shake off the \ndelusion built up by thine own thoughts, free thyself, attain, awake!\u201d (v. 474). \n\nS. \n\n\nSorrow not , Ananda. Have I not said to you , \u201cIn all things dear and delightful \nthere is the element of change , of separation \u201d? How then can it be possible , Ananda , \nthat what is born , what has come to be } what is put together , what is of nature to \ncrumble away , should fail to crumble away! It cannot be !\u2014 Digha Nikaya. \n\n\nAll supernatural desires , which we simply enjoy , without practically corresponding \nto them , leave us in a worse state than they found us .\u2014 Faber. \n\n\n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\nI. The Bodhisattva Doctrine \n\nJoy unto ye, 0 Men of My alba. \n\nA Pilgrim hath returned back \u2018from the other shore\". \n\nA new Arhan is born .\u2014 The Voice of the Silence \n\nM ANY Northern Buddhists believe that when the Buddha began to \npreach, he intended to give forth at once the whole of spiritual truth. \nIn this mood he delivered the teaching transmitted by the mystical \nAvatamsaka Sutra. Then, perceiving that he was not understood, he abruptly \nchanged his tactics. Thenceforth, he divulged only that portion of the truth \nwhich his auditors could assimilate, reserving the complete revelation until his \ndisciples had fitted themselves to receive it. \n\nThis account of the Buddha\u2019s method of instruction bears a certain likeness to \nthe tradition recorded by Madame Blavatsky, that the Buddha left two bodies \nof doctrine, the exoteric and the esoteric. These do not differ in essence, for they \nwere formulated by the same genius, but they make their appeal to different \nprinciples of the human being. As has been said, the one speaks to \u201cthe eye\u201d, \nand the other to \u201cthe heart\u201d. \n\nAccording to this division, the exoteric \u201ceye doctrine\u201d has been primarily \nidentified with the Hinayana School, the \u201cLesser Vehicle\u201d, which has prevailed \nin Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. It is founded upon the public sermons of the \nBuddha and upon the general rules of conduct which he laid down to guide the \nneophyte in his efforts to rid himself of sin and illusion. The motives of the \naverage Hinayana sectarian may be said to resemble those which inspire the \naverage member of a Christian Church. As the more or less pious Christian \nanticipates as a reward of his piety a future of everlasting bliss in Heaven, so \nthe Hinayana Buddhist accepts the prescriptions of the Buddha as a means to \nfinal liberation from physical existence, with its inevitable accompaniment of \nsorrow. This is not incompatible with a high degree of religious exaltation. \n\n\n\ntudes in the West have prostrated themselves in love and gratitude at the foot \nof the Cross; and multitudes in the East have taken refuge in the Buddha, drawn \nto him not merely by the desire for personal salvation but by veneration for the \nsplendour of his compassion. \n\nIt is said that esoteric Buddhism, like esoteric Christianity, assimilates to \nitself what is real and true in the exoteric version, but that the dominant motive \nof its votaries is altogether sui generis. Doubtless, the term \u201cesoteric\u201d must \nbe used with extreme caution, for one can judge the hidden teaching of the \nBuddha only by published fragments of it, which, being now public property, \n\n\n333 \n\n\n\n\n334 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nhave ceased to be esoteric, in the strict sense of the word. The fragments, to \nwhich in particular we refer, are to be found scattered through the writings of \nMadame Blavatsky, notably in the foot-notes of The Voice of the Silence. \n\nIt is significant that Madame Blavatsky interpreted The Voice of the Silence \nand many passages of The Secret Doctrine , in terms borrowed from the Mahayana \nSutras. This does not imply, of course, that the Mahayana, in its actual state, \nis synonymous with esoteric Buddhism. For centuries a number of sects, \ngenerally described as Mahayana, have been established in Tibet, Mongolia, \nChina, Korea, and Japan. Not all of them are of a high spiritual order; some \nof them are so deeply involved in tantric magic, that it is hard to recognize in \nthem an affiliation with any form of Buddhism, esoteric or exoteric. But in \nspite of the \u201cconfusion of tongues\u201d, one can find evidence of a genuine line of \napostolic succession, beginning with the \u201cauthors\u201d of the great Sutras and \ndescending through the Chinese Patriarchs and the Zen Masters. It is only \nwith this phase of the Mahayana that we are concerned in these articles. It \nwould seem to be related to another phase, represented by the Gelugpas or \n\u201cYellow Caps\u201d of Tibet (cf. The Voice of the Silence , pp. 54, 57). \n\nThe pure Mahayana, the \u201cGreat Vehicle\u201d, echoes the ideal of selfless devotion \nwhich is the nucleus of the \u201cHeart-Doctrine\u201d, as this is unfolded in The Voice of \nthe Silence. It is based upon aryajnana, the noble knowledge, the science of \nawakening \u201cthe supreme wisdom whereby one is enabled to look into the deepest \nrecesses of consciousness in order to grasp the inmost truth hidden away from \nthe sight of ordinary understanding\u201d (D. T. Suzuki: Studies in the Lankavatara \nSutra , p. 389). 1 It is the Bodhisattva Doctrine. The word \u201cBodhisattva\u201d may be \ntranslated as \u201che whose being is transformed into wisdom\u201d. A Bodhisattva is \nan aspirant of any degree who is in process of becoming a Buddha of Compassion; \nand the Bodhisattva Doctrine purports to be a description of the laws of that \nprocess. The motive of the true Mahayana devotee is, therefore, not personal \nliberation from the dominion of suffering, nor is it the bliss of personal en\u00ac \nlightenment. He seeks to share the age-long ordeal of the Buddhas who work for \nthe ultimate salvation and enlightenment of all sentient creatures, and who \nrefuse to enter Nirvana alone. The goal of the Mahayana is nothing less than \nBuddhahood itself. \n\nThe Bodhisattva Doctrine may be read \u201cbetween the lines\u201d of the Pali \nscriptures of so-called Primitive Buddhism. It is clearly hinted in the cycle of \nBirth Stories, which describe the previous incarnations of Sakyamuni, whose \nculminating life as a \u201cWorld-Saviour\u201d is represented as the fulfilment of the vow \nto save mankind that he made centuries earlier in the presence of another \nBuddha. \n\nHowever, the Doctrine only became explicit after the public organization of \nthe first Mahayana School in India, apparently during the First Century a.d., \n\n1 Unless otherwise specified, all quotations in this article are taken from this book. This admirable work is \nnot only a commentary upon one of the greatest Sutras: it is a very lucid exposition of the general principles of \nthe Mahayana. The author interprets his subject from the point of view of the Japanese Zen School, but reveals \nno sectarian bias. The present writer wishes to take this opportunity to express to Dr. Suzuki his gratitude and \nindebtedness. \n\n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\n335 \n\n\nabout six hundred years after the Buddha. The early work of the School is \nespecially associated with the name of Nagarjuna, one of the greatest of Indian \nphilosophers, whom Madame Blavatsky describes as an Arhat or Adept, and \nwhom many Northern Buddhists regard as \u201cone of the four suns which illumine \nthe world\u201d. The immediate purpose of Nagarjuna and his disciples seems to \nhave been to check the tendency of the official Buddhist philosophers to reduce \nthe Buddha\u2019s teaching to a rigid, dogmatic system. The Buddha\u2019s words had \nbeen given a dead-letter sense, and the details of his doctrine had been submitted \nto a process of dialectical hair-splitting and scholastic analysis. Like the \u201cschool\u00ac \nmen\u201d of all ages, the Hinayana doctors were obsessed by the notion that, to \nknow a thing, it is sufficient to give it a name and to insert that name in a \ncatalogue. They were so busy with the invention of a nomenclature that they \nhad little leisure to consider the realities upon which the Buddha had insisted. \n\nThe Mahay ana sages made no attempt to overturn the simple exoteric system \nwhich the Buddha had devised for the mass of his followers, but they vigorously \ndenounced the efforts of the doctors to classify states of being of which they \nknew nothing, and to set definite limits to the ideal of Buddhist attainment. \nIn a sense, the early Mahayana was primarily a movement of reform, a return to \n\u201cfirst principles\u201d, and its exponents could appeal in self-defence to the authority \nof the Buddha himself. Sakyamuni steadfastly refused, for example, to describe \nin positive terms the state of consciousness denoted by the word, Nirvana. \nHe discouraged the discussion of questions \u201cwhich tend not to enlightenment\u201d, \nand to which the human mind with its present store of experience can propose no \nreal answer, for it cannot even imagine adequately the subjects of the questions. \nHow can anyone explain the nature of Nirvana, unless both he and his auditors \nhave had some personal experience of it? \n\nThe Mahayana teachers insisted, above all, upon the experience of truth as \na preliminary to the knowledge of it. Though they accepted the authority of \nthe scriptures, they insisted that these should be used primarily as subjects for \nmeditation, as guides to inner experiment; for if a scripture be read only for \nmental amusement, it is of no more value than a romance. Some went further, \ndenying that the scriptures were authoritative in any sense. We find the \nChinese teacher, Hsuanchien, saying that \u201cthe twelve divisions of the Tripitaka \nare only lists of ghosts and sheets of papers\u201d. Even as regards the Sutras which \nwere most cherished, it was affirmed that they were like a finger pointing to the \nmoon; when the moon is discerned, the seer no longer looks at the finger. \n\n\u201cDhyana [i.e. meditation] cannot be understood by the definitions of the \nwise\u201d, said Bodhidharma. \u201cDhyana is a man\u2019s successful seeing into his own \nfundamental nature\u201d (Dwight Goddard: A Buddhist Bible , p. 26). This ideal \nof \u201cinner self-realization\u201d ( pratyatmagocara ) is most clearly stated in the Lan- \nkavatara Sutra , but it is to be found as a connecting thread in all the great \nMahayana scriptures. The Buddha is distinguished from the unregenerate man, \nbecause he knows truth by direct perception and does not depend upon words \nor mind-images or logical inferences. To know the Universe by means of this \nimmediate intuition of one\u2019s inner Self, is to realize the identity of the being \n\n\n336 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nof the Universe with the being of the inner Self. It is paranishpanna, the only \nreal knowledge, in which the knower is fully aware that the world conceived \nas a thing external to the personal self is nothing but a phantom having no \nexistence apart from the mind. This does not mean that the knower of the \ninner Self regards his personal self as any more real than the objective world, \nfor he perceives it to be only an illusion generated by \u201cunwisdom\u201d and by \nchaotic energy or \u201cdesire\u201d. Although the terminology is different, the Mahayana \ndoctrine of inner self-realization reaches the same conclusion as the Atmabodlia \nof Shankara Acharya, with its affirmation of the indissoluble union of the \nAtman , the Higher Self of man, with the Brahman , the Eternal. \n\nThe Mahayana is insistent in its testimony that nothing which appears to \nbe concrete and objective is seen as it really is, even though in one sense every \nphenomenon may be said to symbolize or to encompass a reality. One can \nbegin to understand why the Buddha refused to answer so many of his disciples\u2019 \nquestions. For instance, he was once asked whether the world is eternal or \nnot eternal. But in the light of the Mahayana teaching, such a query is meaning\u00ac \nless, for the world as a thing in itself cannot be defined as either real or unreal. \nIt is neither more nor less real than a castle in the air, than a mirage, than an \nillusion produced by a magician. It is a congeries of various phases and states \nof consciousness, and viewed from their plane, is real; but the enlightened seer \nrealizes that it is void of substance, that where we imagine things to be, in reality \nthere is nothing but chaos or emptiness ( snnyata ). Again, the Buddha was \nasked whether the saint exists or does not exist after death. In terms of the \nMahayana, this question is as meaningless as the other. What is a saint? \nHe is one whose first aim is to deliver himself from the illusion that he is a \nseparate self, a distinct personality, an ego. This is, indeed, the practical \nimport of the fundamental Buddhist doctrine of \u201cegolessness\u201d ( anatman ). On \nthe other hand, he who has gained liberation from self, is for the first time \nconscious of identity with the One Self. The One Self is anupadaka , the parent\u00ac \nless. It is undying because in truth it is never bom, being indistinguishable \nfrom the essence of being ( tathata ) which is pure, undivided consciousness \n(cittamatra ). But when the saint thus transcends himself, is he still to be called \na saint, or by what name shall we call him? According to the Mahayana, we \nshall be wise not to attempt to answer such a question. The immediate under\u00ac \ntaking is to become a saint, not to argue as to how it feels to be one. \n\nThese basic conceptions of the Mahayana may seem obscure and difficult, \nbut the idea that real knowledge rests upon experience is obvious enough, so \nobvious, in fact, that it is apt to be disregarded. As has been remarked, no one \ncan know the taste of an orange by another\u2019s description; he must experience it \nfor himself. \n\n\u201cThat which constitutes the Tathagatas in essence as well as in body is \nwisdom ( jhana ). . . . False discrimination pertains to the self, to the ego, to the \npersonality. . . . That which appears in manifestation is like a figure painted on \na wall; it has no consciousness in itself, 0 Lord of Lanka, all that is in the world \nis devoid of work and action because all things have no reality. ... It is like an \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\n337 \n\n\nimage magically transformed. ... He who thus sees things sees them truly. \nTo see otherwise is to walk in false discrimination; to depend on false discrimi\u00ac \nnation is to cling to dualism. It is like seeing one\u2019s image reflected in a mirror, \nor one\u2019s shadow in water or in the moonlight, ... or hearing an echo in the valley. \n. . . Failing to carry out the abandonment of dualism, men continue their false \ndiscrimination and never attain tranquillity. By tranquillity is meant oneness, \nand oneness gives birth to the highest samadhi [contemplation], which is gained \nby entering into the womb of Tathagatahood, the realm of supreme wisdom \nrealized in one\u2019s inmost self\u201d ( Lankavatara Sutra , I; paraphrased). \n\n\u2018\u2018[The attainment of Tathagatahood] is like a man crossing a stream in a \ndream. Suppose that while sleeping a man dreams that he is in the midst of a \ngreat river which he earnestly endeavours with all his might to cross by himself; \nbut before he succeeds in crossing the stream, he is awakened from the dream, \nand being awakened, he thinks: \u2018Is this real or unreal?\u2019 He thinks again: \u2018No, \nit is neither real nor unreal\u2019. By reason of the habit-energy of false discrimi\u00ac \nnation which has been accumulated by experience ever since beginningless time, \n\n. . . there is the perception and [false] discrimination of all things as existent and \nnon-existent. ... In the same way, Mahamati, the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas \nof the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood . . . observe that [false] discrimination \nno more rises in them since all things are seen as like maya. . . . The abodes and \nstages of Buddhahood are established in pure undivided consciousness which is \nimageless. . . . Self-realization and absolute purity\u2014this stage is my own\u201d \n(.Lankavatara Sutra , IV). \n\n\u2018\u2018An Arhat does not say to himself: \u2018Arhatship has been obtained by me\u2019. \nAnd why? Because the Arhat is selfless. Therefore is he called an Arhat. If \nan Arhat were to say to himself: \u2018Arhatship has been obtained by me\u2019, he would \nbe expressing belief in a self, in a being, in a personality. . . . Subhuti, the \nforemost of those dwelling in virtue does not dwell anywhere, and therefore, \nis he called a dweller, a dweller in virtue, indeed\u201d ( Diamond Sutra , IX). \n\nClosely identified with the affirmation that truth is known only through \ninner self-realization, is the doctrine that this self-realization is a possibility for \nall sentient beings. Every being in its inmost nature is Buddha. The mani\u00ac \nfested Universe, Mahamaya , may thus be said to provide the field in which \nthe germ of Buddhahood in the soul or monad may come to maturity, passing \nfrom potentiality to actuality. As one of the Patriarchs said: \u2018\u2018When sentient \nbeings realize their Essence of Mind, they are Buddhas. If a Buddha is under \ndelusion as to his Essence of Mind, he is then only an ordinary being. Seeing \neverything as equal in Essence of Mind makes ordinary beings Buddhas\u201d 2 \n(A Buddhist Bible , p. 267). \n\nThe conception that a Buddha is a product of evolution is present even in \nHinayana Buddhism; but in the Mahayana it is given transcendent significance. \nIn this respect, the Mahayana, like the Vedanta, was continuing the great \nIndian tradition of the Upanishads. It is one of the tragedies of historical \n\n\n* \"Within thy body\u2014the shrine of thy sensations\u2014seek in the Impersonal for the \u2018Eternal Man\u2019; and having \nsought him out. look inward: thou art Buddha\" {The Voice of the Silence, p. 26). \n\n\n\n33\u00bb \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nChristianity that the doctrine of universal spiritual evolution has not had \na place in its theology. It is clearly outlined in many passages from St. Paul, \nand the Master Christ refers to it more than once: \u201cIs it not written in your \nlaw, I said, Ye are Gods?\u201d {John, x, 34). But the Western world had to wait \neighteen centuries before the implications of the Master\u2019s words were forced \nupon the attention of Christians. It was part of the message of Theosophy to \nthe West, that Christ was not a divine accident; that he was a human being who \nby virtue of an acquired prowess and wisdom had become a Master. The ideal \npresented by Theosophy to the true Christian, is, therefore, identical with the \nideal of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Doctrine; he is assured that he can attain \nthe realization that the foundation of his being is Christ, that he himself can \nbecome a Master in the course of Nature, if he persevere in the way prepared \nfor him by his spiritual Father and Lord. \n\nThe philosophical subtilties of the Mahayana become intelligible, in so far \nas one is able to relate them to the central problem of the disciple\u2019s life, the \nproblem of evolving or unveiling his Buddha-nature. The methods advocated \nare, doubtless, often ill adapted to most minds in the East and to almost all \nminds in the West. There is comparatively little stress upon outer conduct, \npartly, it would seem, because in the Eastern mystical schools contemplation \nis emphasized rather than action,\u2014as if right behaviour must follow of itself, \nwhen an inward transformation of consciousness is accomplished. Also, as has \nbeen suggested, at least in its beginnings, the pure Mahayana was an introduction \nto esoteric Buddhism, and the discipline which it inculcates is only intended for \nthose who have permanently attained a certain degree of moral rectitude, and \nwho can be trusted to practise the social and conventional virtues without \nexternal instigation. \n\nThe general process of this contemplative discipline may be illustrated by \nreference to a term which recurs in the Mahayana scriptures. The aspirant \nis bidden to meditate upon the Tathagatagarbha , that is, upon the seed or matrix \nof Buddhahood. The word recalls the Hiranyagarbha , \u201cthe Golden Egg of \nBrahma\u201d, defined by Madame Blavatsky as \u201cesoterically the luminous \u2018fire \nmist\u2019 or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed\u201d {Theosophical \nGlossary , s. v.). In The Secret Doctrine (I, 114; II, 333), the Hierarchy of the \n\u201cElect\u201d of mankind are called \u201cSons of the Fire-Mist\u201d. It is apparent that \nthe essential meaning of the two terms is the same. Tathagatagarbha is the name \napplied to the Universe of Consciousness when this is regarded as the envelope \nof prajiia \u2022, \u201cthe eye of wisdom\u201d, which is both transcendental knowledge and \ndivine love. To meditate upon the Tathagatagarbha is to seek the spark of \nprajiia within every subjective and objective form. One cannot discover it \nwithin the recesses of one\u2019s own being, without finding it also in others, and not \nonly in mankind but in all the kingdoms of sentient creatures, visible and \ninvisible; for this prajha is one and undivided, though it seems to the \u201ceye \nof unwisdom\u201d to multiply and to differentiate itself into an infinite host of \nseparate entities. \n\nThere is no real world, according to the Mahayana, save the li Vajradhatu, the \n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\n339 \n\n\nuniverse viewed as the manifestation of Vairocana Buddha [the all-enlightening] \nwhose image is reflected in the heart of every being\u201d (p. 436). But in common \ndaily experience, the Buddha-nature is so thickly encased in the illusion of \nselfhood, that we have no awareness of it. The Mahayana philosophers explain \nthe process of .encasement in terms of the vijnanas or stages of consciousness. \n\nThe first of the vijnanas and the parent of the rest is Alaya. In one sense, \nthis word denotes the Universal Soul, and as Madame Blavatsky indicates, is \n\u2018\u2018identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with Malaprakriti in its essence, \nas it is the basis or root of all things\u201d ( Theosophical Glossary , s. v.). In the \nMahayana texts, it is frequently used as a synonym of Tathagatagarbha , but \nwith a different shade of meaning. It is \u2018\u2018a storage-house where all kinds of \ngoods are kept in storage, and it is the Alayavijnana's function to store up all \nthe memory of one\u2019s thoughts, affections, desires and deeds. The seeds thus \nstored remain in the Alaya perfectly quiescent and neutral\u201d (p. 176). Among \nthese seeds is the seed of Buddhahood, but also there are all the seeds of illusion, \nthe skandhas , generated by \u2018\u2018beginningless unwisdom\u201d. Everything deposited \nin the Alaya must manifest itself sooner or later, in some way or other, by the \nforce of vasana , habit-energy, \u2018\u2018the perfuming impression of memory\u201d. Again \nthe Alaya is compared to the sea. In its depths, it is calm; but its surface is \nperiodically disturbed by \u2018\u2018winds of differentiation\u201d. When its waves are \npermanently stilled by a certain \u201crevulsion\u201d of the whole nature, the Alaya is \nseen as the Tathagatagarbha , and the creative powers being detached from the \nidea of self, are \u201cset free for the working of Mahakaruna (great compassionate \nheart), which in conjunction with Prajiia , supreme wisdom, makes up the life \nof the Mahayana Buddhist\u201d (p. 177). \n\nWhen this revulsion takes place, the life of Bodhisattvaship really begins. \nThe danger is that it is preceded by many premonitory tremors, and that the \naspirant may be stranded in some state of intense personal bliss, where he may \nremain isolated for ages. One recalls the references in theosophical literature \nto the Pratyeka Buddha, \u201ca degree ... of high intellectual development with \nno true spirituality. . . . One of the three paths to Nirvana and the lowest, \nin which a Yogi\u2014\u2018without teacher and without saving others\u2019\u2014by the mere \nforce of will and technical observances, attains to a kind of nominal Buddhaship \nindividually; doing no good to anyone, but working selfishly for his own salvation \nand himself alone\u201d ( Theosophical Glossary , s. v.). The Pratyeka Buddha may \nbe described as only one, albeit the most exalted, of the illusory forms which \nmay ensnare even those who are far advanced on the path to wisdom. Doubtless, \nthe average Western student is in no imminent danger of becoming a Pratyeka \nBuddha, and the emphasis laid upon this menace in the Mahayana may seem a \nlittle excessive to him. However, as has been said, the Hindu becomes a disciple \nor ch 61 a with greater facility than an Occidental, but finds it more difficult to \nremain one. In any event, the problem, as the Mahayana states it, is universally \npertinent. The great allurement which leads the aspirant astray from the path \nis the sentiment of individual bliss, and this is as true at the beginning as at the \nend. \n\n\n340 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nThe essence of Bodhisattvaship is to be found in the traditional ten vows \nwhich the aspirant takes at the beginning of the Great Way. By virtue of those \nvows he forces the higher beings on his \u201cray\u201d, including the Master at its head, \nto take notice of him and thus to extend to him their conscious assistance, \nwithout which, it is said, he would inevitably fail. If anyone doubt that the \nBodhisattva needs assistance, let him meditate upon the following vows: \n\n\u201cWhen the Bodhisattva enters upon the first stage called Joy, Pramudita, \nin the career of his spiritual discipline, he makes the following solemn vows, \nPranidhana , ten in number, which, flowing out of his most earnest determined \nwill, are as all-inclusive as the whole universe, extending to the utmost extremity \nof space itself, reaching the end of time, exhausting all the number of kalpas \n(ages), and functioning uninterruptedly as long as there is the appearance of a \nBuddha. The first is to honour and serve all the Buddhas, one and all, without \na single exception; the second is to work for the preservation and perpetuation of \nthe teaching of all the Buddhas; the third is to be present at the appearance of \neach Buddha, wherever and whenever it may be; the fourth is to practise the \nproper conduct of Bodhisattvahood which is wide and measureless, imperishable \nand free from impurities, and to extend the Virtues of Perfection ( paramitas ) \ntowards all beings; the fifth is to induce all beings, in the most comprehensive \nsense of the term, to turn to the teaching of the Buddhas, so that they may find \ntheir final abode of peace in the wisdom of the all-wise ones; the sixth is to have \nan inner perception of the universe, wide and inexhaustible, in all its possible \nmultitudinousness; the seventh is to realize the most closely interpenetrating \nrelationship of each and all, of all and each, and to make every land of beings \nimmaculate as a Buddha-land; the eighth is to be united with all the Bodhisattvas \nin oneness of intention, to become intimately acquainted with the dignity, \nunderstanding, and psychic condition of the Tathagatas, so that the Bodhisattva \ncan enter any society of beings and accomplish the Mahayana which is beyond \nthought; the ninth is to [rjevolve the never-receding wheel whereby to carry out \nhis work of universal salvation, by making himself like unto the great lord of \nmedicine or the wish-fulfilling gem; and lastly, the tenth is to realize the great \nsupreme enlightenment in all the worlds, by going through the stages of Buddha- \nhood, and fulfilling the wishes of all beings with one voice, and while showing \nhimself to be in Nirvana, not to cease from practising the objects of Bodhisattva\u00ac \nhood\u201d (pp. 222-223; an abstract from the Dasabhumika Sutra , one of the chapters \nof the Avatamsaka Sutra). \n\nIt would be an error to suppose that this vast and sublime ideal represents \nthe goal of the average Buddhist either in the North or in the South. But it \nshould be noted that the conception of age-long self-sacrifice as the crown of \nspiritual endeavour has actually been incorporated in the exoteric canon of \nNorthern Buddhism. There is nothing comparable to it in exoteric Christian \ntheology, although Sainte Th6r&se de Lisieux surely responded to such an ideal \nwhen she renounced Paradise in order that she might remain in the earth- \nsphere as a helper of suffering mankind. \n\nOne might assume that there is good reason for the absence of the Bodhi- \n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\n34i \n\n\nsattva Doctrine from the Western canon; that the average Western aspirant \nneeds a more concrete motive to inspire him, nor could he make such a reso\u00ac \nlution at his stage of the way and really mean it. This may be true, but the \nstudent of Theosophy, who is also a Christian, ardently desires the coming of \nthe day when the Bodhisattva Doctrine will be an integral part of exoteric \nChristianity. Only when this occurs will Christians truly value the labours \nof their Master who must be regarded as one of those who long ago made a vow \nlike that of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. It is not amiss to recall the \nevidence of his continuing work for humanity which he has given to more than \none of the saints, notably to Marguerite-Marie. \n\nThe specific duties and powers of the Bodhisattva are beyond our compre\u00ac \nhension. The Mahayana sages made an attempt to describe some of them by \nanalogy, doubtless believing that the images thus awakened in the neophyte\u2019s \nconsciousness might quicken his zeal. There are many enumerations of the \n\u201cheavens\u201d through which the candidate for Buddhahood passes on his way to \nperfection, as well as of the expanding sphere of his contemplation. Ten degrees \nof initiation are noted, but in the great scriptures there is always the qualification, \nthat these degrees can be truly known only by experiencing them. \n\nThe following passage from the Lankavatara Sutra is typical. It refers to the \nculminating experience of the Bodhisattva when he enters the Congregation of \nthe Buddhas. \n\n\u201cIn virtue of a stock of merit accumulated for hundreds of thousands of \nkalpas , he will . . . reach the stage of Bodhisattvahood, called Dharmamegha \n(Cloud of the Law). Seating himself on a throne in the Palace of the Great \nLotus, he is surrounded by Bodhisattvas like himself and wears a tiara adorned \nand embellished with all kinds of jewels. The Buddhas will now come, . . . \nshining like the brilliant full moon with golden rays, and with their lotus-like \nhands will anoint the forehead of the Bodhisattva seated on the throne. ... He \nis like the crown prince of a great sovereign, who, being thus anointed by the \nBuddhas personally with their own hands, assumes full power. When he is \nthus sustained [by the power of the Buddhas], he will see all the Buddhas face \nto face. . . . Mahamati asked, Why do the Tathagatas sustain the Bodhisattva \nby their power?. . . Said the Blessed One: ... 0 Mahamati, if he be not thus \nsustained, he may fall into the way of thinking cherished by bad philosophers \n... and the Evil One, and will not be enlightened in the Supreme Enlightenment\u201d \n(pp. 204-205; an abstract from II). \n\nIt would seem that the last of the ten vows expresses in a sentence the quality \nwhich distinguishes him from other beings: \u201cWhile showing himself to be in \nNirvana, he does not cease from practising the objects of Bodhisattvahood.\u201d \nHe renounces the selfish bliss of the various \u201cheavens\u201d\u2014the rupa and arupa \ndeva lokas \u2014which are supposed by many of the ignorant to constitute the \nNirvana of the Buddha. This renunciation is, however, not painful to him, \nfor his heart\u2019s desire is to forego all personal reward and to co-operate unre\u00ac \nservedly with the Buddhas in their unremitting effort to share the fruit of their \nliberation and enlightenment with all sentient beings. But this complete \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n342 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nsacrifice of self is the true Nirvana. The Buddhas and their loyal disciples are \ncitizens of the highest heaven; that is why they have the power to help those still \non earth. \n\nThere is this dialogue in the Ashtasahasrika-prajna-paramita-Sutra: \u201cSari- \nputra asked Subhuti, If as you say the Bodhisattva is unborn [i.e. enlightened], \nhow is it that he works hard and suffers much for the sake of all sentient beings? \nTo this answered Subhuti, I do not wish the Bodhisattva to think that he is \nworking hard and suffering much. If he does he is no Bodhisattva. Why? If \nhe does cherish such thoughts, he cannot expect to benefit sentient beings whose \nnumber exceeds calculation. Rather let him rejoice over his doings and towards \nall sentient beings, feel like mother or father, son or daughter, and let him, \nfeeling like this among men and women, walk in the path of Bodhisattvahood. \nFurther than that, let him feel towards all beings as if they were himself, and \nthink, \u2018If I am to be completely free from all woes, let them also be so in the \nsame measure. I cannot leave them to their fate. I must save them from the \ninnumerable pains they suffer, and even if I were cut up into pieces many times \nover\u2019 \u201d (pp 215-216). 3 \n\nThis is, indeed, the consummation of the Mahayana wisdom, that Nirvana is \nnot a pleasurable sensation, however sublimated, but perfect inner self-realiza\u00ac \ntion, complete freedom from the illusion of separateness. The real Nirvani \nwho perceives his being in closest interpenetration with all being, cannot shut \nhimself off from the least manifestation thereof, without abdicating his title \nand dignity. It may have been partly to make this clear, that a distinction is \ndrawn between what is commonly called Nirvana, the abode of \u201cextinction of all \nworldly concerns\u201d, inhabited by the Pratyeka Buddhas, and Paranirvana, the \nsupreme abode, the home of the Buddhas of Compassion, their enduring state of \nconsciousness,\u2014although as a \u201cplace of bliss\u201d no Buddha of Compassion will \nremain in it, until his work for the salvation of all beings is finished. \n\nThis is in direct contradiction to the Hinayana teaching that the Buddha \npassed for ever from the sight of men at the hour of his physical death. But \nwe read in the Saddharma-Pundarika ( The Lotus of the Good Law), Chapter XV: \n\u201cThe Tathagata does what he has to do. He is unlimited in the duration of his \nlife, he is everlasting. Without becoming extinct in Nirvana, he makes a show \nof becoming extinct, on behalf of those who have to be educated. I announce \nfinal extinction even though I do not become extinct. ... In the opinion that my \nbody is completely extinct, men worship my relics, though they see me not. . . . \nWhen upright and gentle creatures leave off their bodies, I assemble the group \nof disciples and manifest myself here on the Mount of the Holy Vulture. And \nthen I say to them in this very place: I was not completely extinct when you \nthought me to be so. It was but a device of mine; repeatedly am I born in the \nland of the living. ... So am I the Father of the World, the Self-born, the \nHealer, the Protector of all creatures. Knowing them to be perverted, in\u00ac \nfatuated and ignorant, I teach final rest, myself not being at rest. What reason \n\n* \"Bear love to men as though they were thy brother pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sons of one sweet \nmother\u201d (The Voice of the Silence, p. 32). \n\n\n\n\nMAHAYANA BUDDHISM \n\n\n343 \n\n\nshould I have to manifest myself continually? When men become unbe\u00ac \nlieving, unwise, ignorant, careless, fond of sensual pleasures, and from thought\u00ac \nlessness run into misfortune, then I, who know the cause of the world, con\u00ac \nsider: How can I incline them to enlightenment? How can tHey become \npartakers of the fruits of the Buddha-laws?\u201d \n\nThus is manifested the power of the Bodhisattva known as upaya or \u201cskilful \nmeans\u201d. This endowment enables him to discern the need of each individual \nand to adapt his \u201cself-manifestation\u201d to that need. Every incarnation of a \nMaster may be said to be such an adaptation. He may be king or beggar as \nregards outer appearance; he may teach one or another doctrine. As is said, \nthe Master rules himself as well as other beings. He will consent to any sacri\u00ac \nfice, supping with publicans and sinners, undergoing what the world calls \nignominy. One of his titles is \u201cThe Good Companion\u201d, for he is the Friend who \nspeaks always to the condition of his hearers. The sense of his superiority \ndawns in their consciousness by the compelling force of his own inner purity. \n\nIt is the sign-manual of the true aristocrat, that he is ready to sacrifice wealth, \nhappiness and life at any moment to the demands of his code. It is significant \nthat Zen Buddhism, the purest of the Mahayana Schools in Japan, was the \nreligious basis of Bushido, the code of the warrior caste of the Samurai. \n\nThe deeds of the Bodhisattva are characterized as purposeless or effortless \n(anabhoga). There is an affinity between this qualification and the Taoist ideal \nof \u201cthe great submission to the course of Nature\u201d. The Bodhisattva, entering \nthe Congregation of the Buddhas, lays aside every personal purpose for ever,\u2014 \nor, it may be said, that it is impossible to distinguish between his personal \npurposes and the purpose of the Divine Nature, Dharma-Buddha , whom he \nserves. Thereby he proves that he has lost the last vestige of \u201cself\u201d. \n\nOnly one who knows that the realm of duality and separateness is an illusion, \nlike the creation of a magician, can labour effectively to deliver others from \nthis illusion. It is this labour which is called purposeless. Its motive power is \none with the motive power of the Good Law; his manifestations ebb and flow \nlike the great tides of Nature. Thus he is said to shine like the Sun, without \npartiality. The \u201ctransformation-body\u201d which he assumes, the Nirmanakaya , \npasses through space with the ease and celerity of thought. He is in the world \nand yet not of the world, as the moon reflected in a lake shines in the water and \nyet is not of the water. The Nirmanakaya represents the perfect balance \nbetween microcosm and macrocosm, between individual and universal forces. \n\nAs Madame Blavatsky makes clear, the Master who renounces Nirvana and \nco-operates with Nature for the spiritual evolution of humanity, bears the name^ \nof Nirmanakaya , as a title of honour (cf. The Voice of the Silence , pp. 67, 7 S~ 77 )^ \nHe transforms himself continuously by skilful means , attuning his appearance to \nthe keynote of each cycle; but he has this power only because in reality he him\u00ac \nself never changes, for he is united in consciousness with \u201cBuddhaness\u201d (Bud- \ndhata), that is, with the Eternal Wisdom. \n\nStanley V. La Dow. \n\n(To be continued) \n\n\nFASCISM \n\n\n4 S the Quarterly has frequently contained comment on the monarchical \n\n/-% and the democratic forms of government and their relative evils, it may \nprove of interest to give a brief outline of Fascism as it exists in Italy,\u2014 \nnot in a partisan spirit and not with any discussion of its history, its merits, \nor its possible future, but merely with the idea that there is unfolding before us \nan experiment in government, markedly different from the established forms of \npast centuries. It has held its own now for approximately a decade (and \nvenerable age comes rapidly, it would seem, in the case of governments\u2014our \nown, which boasts little more than a century and a half, is the oldest of its type \nin existence). Fascism in Italy has accomplished far-reaching and phenomenal \nresults, has achieved from most points of view a marked success, and quite \nregardless of its continued existence there or elsewhere, has probably, as a \nworkable form, won permanent recognition. What then are its significant \nfeatures? In what does it differ from other types? 1 \n\nThe outstanding feature, from one standpoint, is its emphasis on the group \nand the hierarchy\u2014the nation itself being the major group, comprised of an \nindefinite number of lesser groups, each with its own life and interests which \nmust be regulated and co-ordinated with those of the other groups. Fascism \nhas repudiated choice by ballot which is not a genuine choice, representative \ngovernment which is not representative, and the whole system of party politics \nas we know it. It asserts that there is a fallacy in pretending that citizens can \nbe represented\u2014only groups bound by common interests can be represented. \nAccordingly, the unit of the system is the productive group. The entire pro\u00ac \nducing population (employers, employees, and professional men) is organized in \nprovincial syndicates. These, in each industry, are combined into a federation \nof the whole industry; these again into two great National Confederations, all \nemployer-organizations in one, all employee-organizations in the other,\u2014that \nof the professional men being an addition to the latter group. In this way \nthere are organized: employers in Industry, employees in Industry, likewise \nAgriculturalists, Merchants, Maritime and Aerial Transportation, Land Trans\u00ac \nportation and Inland Navigation, Bankers,\u2014and a thirteenth group, the Intel\u00ac \nlectuals. All employers and employees pay fees to the syndicates (which are \nused for the work of the syndicates, not as taxes), and members are subjected to \nrigorous discipline. No one is compelled to join, and other syndicates than \nthose recognized by the state are permitted,\u2014but as everyone (member or not) \nmust pay the fee to the legally recognized syndicate, which in turn has complete \nauthority to make contracts and to arbitrate difficulties for members and non\u00ac \nmembers alike, there is little question of the result. \n\n1 For those who would pursue the subject further,\u2014among recognized authorities here drawn on are: Making \nthe Fascist State, by Herbert W. Schneider, and The Fascist Experiment, by Luigi Villari. \n\n\n344 \n\n\n\n\nFASCISM \n\n\n345 \n\n\nAbove these organizations in the hierarchy is the Ministry of Corporations, \nwith Mussolini at its head, assisted by a National Council of Corporations, com\u00ac \nposed of the provincial political secretaries, and a Central Committee repre\u00ac \nsenting the various regions of Italy, and elected by the National Council for one \nyear. This body has disciplinary authority. \n\nThere is the Parliament, of course, and by a reform of February, 1928, a new \nsystem of electing its members was inaugurated. Each of the thirteen National \nConfederations mentioned above nominates its representatives, eight hundred \nnominees in all. The list is sent to the Grand Council of the Fascist Party, \nand four hundred names are selected from it. This official list of four hundred \nis then submitted to the whole body of syndicate members, to be accepted or \nrejected, en bloc. In the event of their rejection, which is equivalent to a vote \nof lack of confidence in the government, the law provides for re-election of a \ndifferent sort, the details of which need not be gone into here. \n\nAs will have been evident, the organizations already mentioned are in a \nhierarchy of vertical formation,\u2014employees, employers, and so on up the scale, \nbeing entirely separate. Quite apart from this, there are national guilds which \nmight be regarded as in horizontal formation, combining all the associations in \nany given industry, employers and employees together, and uniting the various \nclasses. These supervise conditions within the industry, and arbitrate questions \nthat have not gone so far as the Labour courts. There is also a national welfare \norganization, the Dopolavoro, to which every organization, employers\u2019 and \nemployees\u2019 alike, must contribute. \n\nThe Prime Minister is appointed by the King, and is responsible solely to \nhim. The State, it is explained, is the legal incarnation of the nation. It is \nnot a state of syndicates, but \u201ca state above syndicates\u201d, and it must be strong \nenough to dominate and give direction to the activities of the syndicates. Add \nto this the concept that the nation is not merely the aggregate of now living \nindividuals, but a composite of an unlimited series of generations,\u2014and we have \na fairly complete picture, except that no mention has as yet been made of the \nstatus of the individual. \n\nThe individual, in Fascist theory, plays a very subordinate part. The \ncorporations must develop his forces and capacities and use them to the best \nadvantage,\u2014he must not be submerged in this respect. But, regarding the \nnation as the organism, and the syndicates as the cells composing it, the indi^ \nvidual is merely an atom, or perhaps less. At any rate, unless a contributed \nto the life of the state, he has no part in the Fascist system at all\u2014he must be a \nproducer. The drone, the parasite, has no place. Labour, it is asserted, is the \nfoundation of human welfare and progress, and everyone who devotes himself \nto production and progress in any form whatsoever is regarded as a worker. \nThe general Fascist concept is poles-removed from modem individualism, \n\u2018\u2018the rights of man\u201d and individualistic theories of government. Emphasis is \nlaid on the right of the state, but only on the duty of the individual. \u2018\u2018The more \nordinary type of Fascist will frankly admit that he does not believe in liberty; \nthat liberty has long since become a meaningless term. . . . Mussolini points \n\n\n346 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nout that the mass of the Italian people at this particular time neither need nor \nwant liberty. They want peace, work, bread, roads and water, and they are \nwilling to work for these things.\u201d \n\nThis, from actual practice; from Fascist theorists there is a comment \neven more noteworthy: \u2018\u2018A state which presupposes liberty denies it precisely \nbecause it presupposes it; for there is no liberty outside the life of the spirit \nwhich, unlike natural beings, does not presuppose itself, but creates, conquers \nand evolves itself. A man becomes free; he is not so by nature. . . . The state \nis liberal in fact and not merely verbally, if it promotes the development of \nliberty considered as an ideal to be attained and not as a natural right to be \nguaranteed.\u201d \n\nNot a basis, then, of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but \nan ideal of individual sacrifice for the good of the nation. Mussolini, who has \nthe gift of seeing the emergency in the commonplace, has repeatedly declared \nthat Italy is in a permanent state of war. Conditions are such that the Italian \nmust fight, not for happiness, leisure, or liberty, but for work. \u201cImagine a \nLiberty Loan poster that would read: \u2018Subscribe to the Loan and you and your \nchildren will enjoy the serenity of labour!\u2019 Yet that is precisely the appeal \nmade during the recent loan drive.\u201d (This striking comparison was published \nseveral years ago, at a time when, in America at least, such an attitude toward \nemployment was more difficult to comprehend than at present.) The theory \nand the consistent aim is to find satisfaction, enjoyment and self-realization \nin one\u2019s work, not in getting free from it, and it is claimed that the social\u00ac \nist\u2019s emphasis on shorter hours and more leisure merely betrays the fact that \nhe does not want to work. Each citizen, it is declared, must be completely at \nthe disposal of the state. \u201cNothing for the individual; everything for Italy.\u201d \nIn other words, the individual must find his own happiness in the national or \ngroup life and well-being. If not, he is no real part of the nation. \n\nMuch of the idealism of Fascism suggests rules for disciples rather than for \nthe rank and file,\u2014a standard so far in advance of ordinary human nature as \nto seem visionary. Such a sentiment, for instance, as: \u201cFascism has revived \nthe primitive Christian joy of martyrdom. A true Fascist thinks only of his \nduty, and regards any sacrifice which he may be called upon to make in the \nperformance of it a privilege.\u201d The success of its practical application in Italy \nis comprehensible only by taking into account\u2014first her phenomenal leader, \nwho galvanizes the country, blends its elements by a special electrolysis, and \nevokes the response to his own most positive spirit. But it is necessary to take \ninto account Italy\u2019s inheritance from the past as well. One of the leaders of the \nFascist party, in a letter from the front, in 1916, wrote: \u201cI will not hide from you \nthat I love war; we grew up with an unsatisfied longing for greatness, a longing \nnourished by mediaeval duels, by Garibaldine achievement or rather by the \nrevolutionary exploits of Garibaldi, by plumes and songs, and we found our\u00ac \nselves keeping accounts and scribbling for ten cent magazines. We were \nmalcontents then and shall be after the war; for the present I am at my post. \nI assure you modern war is not merry; nevertheless I like it.\u201d Someone in dis- \n\n\n\n\nFASCISM \n\n\n347 \n\n\ncussing religion has said that the doctrinal expression of religious faith takes on \nthe colour of the age, and the age is made up of the cross-currents of thought \nfrom every field of experience; that it is useless, for instance, to attempt to \nunderstand the teaching of Saint Augustine or the origin of the Papacy, without \nfull knowledge of the prestige of the imperialism of Rome; that the Papacy could \nnever have originated in the democratic atmosphere of the Athens of Pericles. \nSomewhat of the same thing is true of government. It, too, takes on the colour \nof the age, is the resultant of cross-currents of thought from every field of experi\u00ac \nence. For that reason, to explain the success of Fascism to-day, it would be \nnecessary to look back, not only to the glory of Rome and her genius for organi\u00ac \nzation (as Mussolini himself is doing), but to the many cross-currents of subse\u00ac \nquent centuries, here a period of aesthetic exaltation, there of revolutionary or . \npatriotic exaltation, again of religious exaltation,\u2014old, forgotten, far-off things \nin Italy\u2019s long life. \n\nAmong the misunderstandings of Fascism, one sometimes hears it referred to \nas a despotism. In refutation of this, Signor Valli writes that if it be true that \nMussolini came into power in an irregular and revolutionary manner, yet \u201che \nat once secured repeated votes of confidence in a Chamber elected under the \nauspices of Signor Giolitti, and the enthusiastic approval of the Senate where \nthe immense majority of the members had been nominated by his various prede\u00ac \ncessors.\u201d The same Chamber and Senate later voted the continuing power of \nthe Fascists, \u201cbut, above all, we should never forget that apart from its Parlia\u00ac \nmentary situation, the Fascist Government is strongly supported by the enor\u00ac \nmous majority of the people at large outside Parliament, the people who do not \nbelong to any party, but simply judge by results, and find the Fascist regime \npreferable to any of those which preceded it and presumably better than any \nother combination possible at the present moment.\u201d \n\nOther misconceptions lie in regarding Fascism as the same as socialism in \nthis or that particular. One book reviewer recently went so far as to term it \n\u201ca weak and timid imitation of Russian Sovietism\u201d! It is the opposite of social\u00ac \nism, for one reason because instead of the socialist formula of international \nsolidarity and class struggle, it proposes inter-class solidarity and national \nstruggle; in other words, it views capital and labour, not as antagonists, but as \ngroups to be co-ordinated to a common end (and in this, it has been extraor\u00ac \ndinarily successful). It is unlike socialism in that the latter trys to level down \nthe highest classes to the standards of the lowest, while Fascism works for the^fc \nelevation of the lowest classes to the highest standards. It is unlike socialisrr^^ \nin that it defends capitalism as an institution, also in that it defends private \nproperty and inheritance, recognizing a chain as it were: no private property \nmeans no incentive to save; no saving means no capital; no capital means no \nproduction; no production means economic paralysis. Capital then, must be \nfreed from impediments and utilized to the full, or the Fascist syndicates them\u00ac \nselves will suffer. Another point of unlikeness: instead of using strikes and lock\u00ac \nouts as a political weapon, Fascism has practically brought them to an end. No \nstrikes in the public services are tolerated. Arbitration of disputes is com- \n\n\n348 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\npulsory; the Labour courts are a part of the judicial system of the country; \nand employers or employees who foment labour troubles are punished by fine \nand imprisonment. Fascists themselves claim that the whole spirit of the \nmovement is the exact opposite of socialism\u2014as witness the attitude toward \nwork already mentioned; though here, as in many other directions, they realize \nthat to hold an ideal and to embody it are two different things, that real nobility \nof spirit cannot be expected from the mass of humanity, except as a result of \nmoral discipline, and that the syndicates therefore must be educational insti\u00ac \ntutions, training the people (particularly the youth of the country), developing \nin them the spirit of duty and sacrifice, and producing in the future a new class, \ndrawn from lowest as well as highest, but a genuine aristocracy, or, as is defi\u00ac \nnitely stated, a Samurai, to which only the best and truest citizens may hope \nto gain admittance (the party was closed to new members some years ago \nexcept to the boys, who enter it on graduating from the junior Fascist organi\u00ac \nzations). In keeping with this aim is the claim that Fascism is not a political \nparty so much as a mystical sentiment, a moral code, a rdgime of life, a life in \nitself, and no aspect of ordinary daily activity is too small or too private to come \nwithin its sphere. \n\nIn the achievement of these aims, there is a powerful ally in the Militia, the \narmy of Blackshirts which, all over Italy, is a continual and spectacular reminder \nof Fascist strength, and not only a reminder, perhaps, but a partial explanation \nof the continuing power of the party. The words of Mussolini are significant: \n\u201cTo-day I assume the command of the Militia. You must certainly under\u00ac \nstand the import of this deed. The order is: Absolute and unquestioning obedi\u00ac \nence, and be ready always and everywhere to defend our regime which to-day is \nour country.\u201d Originally, they were an irregular armed force, a party organi\u00ac \nzation merely. The bond which brought them together was a sense of outrage \nover the results of the war, which they regarded as a betrayal of the heroic dead, \nand as a nullification of splendid achievement. Their aim was to crush out Bol\u00ac \nshevism, remedy the deplorable condition of the country at the time, and set \nup a strong government, inspired by national ideals. Their course, after Musso\u00ac \nlini\u2019s access to power, was characteristic of the keen vision of their leader. To \nthose who confidently hoped that this irregular force would now be disbanded, \nhe is said to have replied, \u201cWhoever touches the Militia, gets lead.\u201d By Royal \nDecree, the Milizia volontaria (after first being disbanded in its irregular form), \nwas created, \u201cat the service of God and of the Italian Fatherland\u201d, taking its \norders from the head of the Government (Mussolini), and as one of the regular \narmed forces of the monarchy. It now takes the oath of allegiance to the King, \nand its function is \u201cto assist, together with the armed forces for public safety \n(the police and the carabinieri) and the Army, in the maintenance of internal \norder and to prepare citizens for the defence of Italian interests in the world\u201d. \nNo one is admitted whose patriotism is regarded as doubtful. Anti-fascists \nobject to its receiving its orders from the Prime Minister, and assert that, still \nmerely a party organization in reality, it has no claim to being regarded as a \nState institution. Whatever the right or wrong of such points, the incalculable \n\n\n\n\n\nFASCISM \n\n\n349 \n\n\nvalue of an organization like this, binding the whole nation together in disci\u00ac \nplined obedience, is obvious. \n\nIn its function of \u201cpreparing citizens for the defence of Italian interests in \nthe world\u201d, it provides pre-military and post-military training for the youth of \nthe country. The boys are enrolled in the Avanguardisti and the girls in their \nown organization, known as the Balilla. (In 1925, the former numbered 90,000, \nincreasing in 1926 to 211,000; the girls\u2019 organization was even larger both in its \nexpansion and its total number.) As a result, \u201cthe whole youth of the country, \nin case of a general mobilization, could be called up already trained, armed and \nequipped.\u201d \n\nAside from military training, the Fascist regime included (Jrastic reforms in \nthe entire educational system. The matters of education and of religion are, \nof course, closely bound together, and for any real understanding of the reforms, \nit would be necessary to take into account conditions in Italy at the beginning \nof the rdgime\u2014the position of the Vatican, the relations of Church and State, \nthe intense anti-clerical feeling resulting in no religion being taught in any \nGovernment or municipal school, and so on. It is too long and involved a \nsubject to go into here. Suffice it to say that the noteworthy feature of the \nreform is the effort to stop the cramming of brains with disconnected facts, \nmemorized for an examination, and to develop the faculty of learning and to \nprepare good citizens. To this end, in the Government schools, the number of \npupils is limited, and the less capable students excluded (there are other schools \nopen to the latter, though these do not give higher education). Methods and \ncurriculum both are aimed at bringing about more thorough education and \nhigher standards. Further, all examinations\u2014before the reform, arranged by \nthe teachers themselves\u2014were thereafter conducted by an examining board, \nand made intentionally more difficult. \n\nAs for religion, it was decided to introduce the subject in the elementary \nschools, and the crucifix was placed in each class room. This measure aroused \nmuch feeling\u2014indignation on the part of the anti-clericals, consternation on the \npart of the teachers, who were required to take examinations in religion and \nteach the subject in order to hold their positions; and as religion was to be pre\u00ac \nsented thereafter in such manner as to \u201cexplain its moral and spiritual value\u201d \n(that is, explicitly not as taught by the priests, though still orthodox Catholic \ndoctrine)\u2014the feeling in clerical circles may be left to the imagination. \n\nDuring the first year or two of the party\u2019s existence, Fascists were violent^ \nanti-clerical, and its leaders were both anti-clerical and, it is said, anti-religious. \nLater the policy changed. \u201cBecause the Italian nation is Catholic and what\u00ac \never is national must be Fascist,\u201d Fascism announced itself as wholly Catholic. \nOn this point there is some by-play on both sides, for, while Fascism gained vastly \nby its \u201cspiritualization\u201d, giving the impression to many that it is the defender \nof the faith,\u2014the Church would find anything but gain in becoming \u201cnational\u201d. \nIt was, indeed, suggested some four or five years ago, by a former correspondent \nin Rome of the London Times , that the Vatican, which is Italian, would go out \nof its way to \u201cquarrel\u201d with Mussolini, so as to impress non-Italian Catholics \n\n\n350 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwith the internationalism and impartiality of its attitude. It was suggested, \neven, by the same authority, that the Vatican must maintain the appearance \nof being persecuted by the temporal powers of Italy. \n\nHowever this may be, much ill-feeling seemed to have been aroused when \nthe Fascists took the vitally important step of ordering the Church to disband \nthe Catholic scouts, so that the Avanguardia and the Balilla should become the \nsole organizations for the boys and girls of the kingdom. It was the last step \nin depriving the Church of its power over the children of the country. By way \nof compensation, it was agreed that the youthful members of the Fascist organi\u00ac \nzations should be sent to the priests for instruction once a week, but, as is pointed \nout, the Church has this one comparatively dull hour a week in which to keep \nits hold on the coming generation, while the State, by means of uniforms, badges, \nsalutes, marches, and its adroit tactics in nationalizing religious holidays and \nsaints\u2019 days, is captivating imaginations, linking social and political life, and \ninstilling its own ideal for which thousands are ready to make any sacrifice. \n\nSome opponents of the system see in it all a step toward general irrekgion in \nthe future. This would not seem necessary. Religion, as ordinarily understood, \nholds an inconspicuous place in the system, it is true, but may this not be an \nadvantage in view of the nearness of the Vatican? The consecrated work of \nIgnatius Loyola at once suggests itself\u2014and the evil ends, to which, subse\u00ac \nquently, it was so often turned. The Vatican does not change its ways, or its \nmotives,\u2014and welcome grist for its mill would doubtless be the devotion, exal\u00ac \ntation and self-giving which the Fascist movement is evoking; but with no \ngood to come of it for Italy or for the world. There is a wide field for specula\u00ac \ntion here, but one may surmise that the beings who mould the destinies of men \nhave a definite reason and purpose for current developments in Italy; that for \nforty millions of people to accept with zealous co-operation, training in obe\u00ac \ndience, sacrifice, devotion to duty and to a cause, means the welding of an \ninstrument; and that, under existing circumstances, it is far safer for the life of \nthe spirit (by which is meant here, not necessarily a high degree of spirituality, \nbut the quickening and outpouring of the Italian genius) to find its expression \nfor the time being in channels other than those usually recognized as religious. \n\nThe answer to this, as to many another question which naturally suggests itself \nwith regard to Fascism, lies concealed in the future. While Mussolini\u2019s leader\u00ac \nship continues, it is impossible to judge the system on its own merits solely, or to \nforesee what results would follow his removal, either by death or other cause. \nOf course, the idea that he is responsible for all that has been accomplished, \nthat it is his single will that holds it all together, has been scoffed at as the \n\u201cMussolini myth\u201d. But myths, as we know, are apt to conceal a truth. No \none facing fairly the actual facts of Mussolini\u2019s life can fail to recognize his \nintense patriotism, stupendous achievement, dynamic power and force, greatness \nof purpose. The real test of Fascism will come when men of smaller stature, \nshorter vision, different ideals, undertake to carry on the work. Many of the \nFascist principles are a two-edged sword. Take the concept of no liberty for the \nindividual, every individual completely at the disposal of the state,\u2014and, in \n\n\n\n\n\nFASCISM \n\n\n35i \n\nimagination, apply that at the dictate of the Prussian spirit and aims, or the \nRussian! Avcountless points, too, the application of Fascist principles is almost \nentirely a matter of interpretation. From the beginning, its flexibility has \nbeen stressed, its willingness to change, its freedom from party programme. Its \nprogramme can be altered to fit every need\u2014not in the spirit of opportunism, but \nin the sense that, unhampered by a preconceived \u201cplatform\u201d, it endeavours to \nproceed steadily toward one goal, the well-being of the Italian people, the \nembodiment of an Italian national entity. This has advantages, of course; \nit means the utmost latitude at every point, but it calls for keen vision, unerring \njudgment, a steady eye to the goal\u2014the \u201cinstinct of equilibrium\u201d which Musso\u00ac \nlini says accompanies him in the gravest, the most strenuous and the most critical \nmoments. Given the animating spirit, and we have authority for it that even \ndry bones will live, but what they achieve and whither they turn, depends on the \nsource and nature of the inspiration. Fascism per se has yet to be put to the \ntest. \n\nJ. c. \n\n\nThe man who is truly free , is always free. \u2014R. 0 . \n\n\nThe other side of an emergency is always an opportunity .\u2014 Dean Burroughs. \n\n\nTo this day I thank difficulties. They were more numerous than the nice , happy \nincidents. But the latter gave me nothing. The difficulties of life have hardened \nmy spirit. They have taught me how to live .\u2014 Mussolini. \n\n\n\n\n\nA RESPONSE TO THE THEOSOPH= \nICAL APPEAL \n\n\n\niHEOSOPHY is all-inclusive. It includes the essence of all great reli\u00ac \n\n\ngions, philosophies and sciences. So, when Madame Blavatsky brought \n\n\nTheosophy to the West, she brought a doctrine which clearly points to \nthe mountain top of Bodhisattvaship\u2014and beyond, but which also points \nto an intermediate peak of chelaship: a condition of consciousness and service \nleading directly from the place where man now stands to the more remote \npinnacle of Bodhisattvaship. Let us consider this appeal which Theosophy \nmakes to enlist in the glorious warfare of the soul, and, more particularly, the \nopportunity for members of the Society to respond directly to that appeal; let \nus consider it in very simple phrases, because when one speaks of the particular, \nthe more simple the words used, the more universal is the portrayal. \n\nLet us look backward for a moment that we may the better look forward. \nNo rigorous requirements were placed before us when we applied for member\u00ac \nship in the Society. We were not even asked to join; we did so voluntarily. \nWe were not asked to believe in Masters, in Bodhisattvas, nor in chelas. The \nonly request made was that we should be in sympathy with the main object \nof the Society: \u201cto form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, \nwithout distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour\u201d\u2014to believe in the Ideal \nof the Society, within which is the potentiality of chelaship, although perhaps \nwe did not know of that potentiality at the time we became members. \n\nAfter we became members we were left free agents to study such subjects, \nand to set our own time for doing so. However, most of us accept chelaship as a \npossibility. If we did not there would be little incentive in remaining as members. \nIt is the natural result of reading and studying theosophical literature, made \navailable by Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Judge, Mr. Charles Johnston and others. \nSo we cannot for long remain as members of the present outer expression of the \nLodge Movement without realizing that something is required of us. That \nrequirement, inherent in a true membership, will lead us to a more diligent study \nof the literature. This, in its turn, will lead to more than a mere intellectual \nacceptance of theosophical principles, for we cannot study that richly divine \nand compelling literature without coming under the spell of its contagion; \nwithout realizing that the author of The Secret Doctrine , for example, must \nhave had access to old and time-tried truths, and to those who have guarded \nsuch records through the ages. Thus, of our own accord and by our own free \nwill, we are brought to acknowledge that there must be those who are far in \nadvance of us, each real member discovering for himself a belief in the existence \nof Masters, and of the Lodge of Masters. Because we have discovered that for \nourselves, it is an integral part of our consciousness, a living thing, and we long \n\n\n352 \n\n\n\nA RESPONSE TO THE THEOSOPHICAL APPEAL \n\n\n353 \n\n\nto find the means of serving the Masters and of working for that for which the \nGreat Lodge works. \n\nFor what do the Masters work? For the eventual salvation of mankind. \nHow do they work for it? We know that a General in time of war does not \nwork with his troops en masse , but through a few loyal and trusted subordinates. \nSurely the Masters are no less practical and logical than a General in command \nof armies. Even the casual perusal of the history of the last quarter of various \ncenturies will show that effort for the spiritual regeneration of mankind has been \ncarried on by a mere handful of valorous workers. Perhaps at this point there \nwill dawn upon us the inner significance of the one request made of us when we \napplied for membership in the Society: that we should be in sympathy with its \nIdeal, as expressed in its main object. Does it not seem plausible that the Lodge \nwould work now as it has in the past, through a comparatively few loyal and \ntrusted servants? Through the Ideal of the Society in which there is the potenti\u00ac \nality of ch\u00a3laship? As we work for the Ideal, then; as we give ourselves to it, \nthe door is wide open for us to work continuously and consciously for the same \npurpose and for the same cause as that of the Lodge. Here we have found a \nway of directing our efforts to serve the plan of the Masters through the medium \nused by the Lodge itself. Our efforts, formerly of a general character, become \nmore specific, more focussed. At this juncture it may be that we come more \ndirectly under the attention of the Master who stands at the head of our ray, \nor to the attention of one of that Master\u2019s chelas,\u2014as those who in time of war \ncompose a mobile unit for special work may be known to the General, or to one \nof his staff. Our literature makes clear, however, that there is no Theosophical \nescalator or funicular which will carry us from where we are to the peak of \nchelaship. We have to do the climbing. Yet we find that we do not have to \nmake the entire journey alone and unaided, for as we climb there is a lift, as we \npush from below there is a draw from above. Divine force co-operates with \nthose who honestly are attempting to serve spiritual purposes. \n\nNow let us look forward. As we turn to our literature with this new sense \nof direction in mind, we shall be impressed with all that is said about desire. \nIt will show us that we have misapplied the force which is abundantly ours \nduring Kali Yuga, and have used it in gratifying personal desires; that we have \nbuilt up a body of personal desires, a Kama Rupa, and that this body, as a body, \nmust be killed, but that the force back of it must be retained and redirected. \nIt is desire with which we have to contend; it is desire which we have to trans^ \nmute. It is this great power which, because of our misapplication, we have used \nfor the personal, or lower self, that we must redirect so that it re-becomes the \ngreat power of the Higher Self. Paradoxical as it may sound, we must trans\u00ac \nmute desire by desire. \n\nIs it so paradoxical, when desire has been back of our acts? Let us put a few \nsimple questions to ourselves, and see if we do not know already more about that \nseeming paradox than at first we might suppose. Why do we go to one place \ninstead of to another? Because we desire to go there. Suppose we put our \nquestion in a more impersonal way: substitute for ourselves the artist who \n\n\n354 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nworks for the love of his art. Why does he go to one place instead of to another ? \nBecause he desires to do so; but he chooses the place because it affords him the \nscenery he wishes to portray on his canvas. The artist had an ideal for which \nhe worked, so he had transmuted some of his desire from gratifying mere self- \nindulgence by using it for something larger than self. What the artist did \nunconsciously, perhaps, we, students of Theosophy, must do deliberately. \n\nBy changing the phrasing of the question and by bringing ourselves back into \nit, we may make a rather pleasant discovery: we have started already to make \nthe transfer, and in the right direction. Why did we join The Theosophical \nSociety? Because we desired to join. Right there we turned some of that force \ntoward the Movement. \n\nWe should not be surprised, then, when we turn to such a manual and guide \nas Light on the Path to discover that desire is mentioned specifically in nine of the \nfirst twenty-one numbered rules, and indirectly mentioned in several others. \nNor shQuld we be confused by any seeming contradiction between what is said \nin the first three numbered rules, and rules thirteen, fourteen and fifteen, as may \nhave been the case formerly. It should be clear there is no conflict between \n\u201ckill out desire of comfort,\u201d and \u201cdesire possessions above all\u201d; that if we work \nfor ease and comfort for ourselves, we cannot work for the Ideal of the Society; \nthat unless and until we kill out such desire we cannot be free to desire \u201cthose \npossessions\u201d which \u201cmust belong to the pure soul only, and be possessed there\u00ac \nfore by all pure souls equally, and thus be the especial property of the whole \nonly when united.\u201d And I think the word comfort as used in Light on the Path \nis meant to convey more than its usually accepted sense. \n\nThe fact is, the first twenty-one numbered rules in Light on the Path are, \namong other things, a treatise on the transmutation of desire by desire. They \nshow that as we kill out desire for something for self, we can and should supplant \nthat desire with the desire for possessions which may be shared with others; and, \nfurther, that we turn desire from the interests of self by focussing it on interests \nwhich are other than those of self: as in the case of the artist, or in our own case, \nonce we have definitely pointed desire toward working for the Ideal of the Society. \n\nThus far I have dealt with one side of the picture only: with our efforts in \nresponse to the theosophical appeal. There is the other side: that is, the \npurpose and the power wielded in us by the Ideal as we give ourselves whole\u00ac \nheartedly to serving it. As devotion to art for art\u2019s sake can make of the artisan \na master craftsman, as loyalty to the mobile war-unit can make of each soldier \na first-class fighting man, so there is the power within the Ideal of the Society \nto transform to its likeness those who serve it with sufficient intensity and con\u00ac \nstancy of desire. It can take that service based on desire and transmute it into \na service of love. Love is the great power. It is love which unites the ch\u00a3la \nto his Master, and sends him out into the world to do his Master\u2019s work as \nthough it were his own. \n\nOf a truth, humanity\u2019s to-morrow depends upon our response to-day to the \nappeal Theosophy makes to enlist in the glorious warfare of the soul. \n\nG. M. W. K. \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\nT HE Philosopher asked if anyone had tried to visualize the problem which \nconfronts the Lodge at the present time. \u201c \u2018Fools rush in where angels \nfear to tread\u2019 \u201d, he quoted, \u2018\u2018but I believe none the less that we gain more \nby boldness than by moral and intellectual stagnation, and the mere reading of \nother people\u2019s ideas, unless it arouse independent and constructive thinking in us, \nis little better than stagnation. \n\n\u2018\u2018The problem of the Lodge\u201d, he continued, \u2018\u2018as we see it, can at best be only \na distorted shadow of the difficulties which really confront them, for Masters \ndeal with forces of which we see no more than certain superficial effects. None \nthe less, let me plunge in,\u2014and almost any point will serve to start from. Thus, \nI was reading the other day some Addresses delivered by a High Church Anglican \nclergyman who at one time had been a missionary in Africa. \u2018I have known \nAfricans walk\u2019, he said, \u2018for something like five hours on a Saturday night in \norder that they may be at Mass on Sunday morning, for the simple reason, as \nthey put it: \u2018\u2018If the Lord Christ was coming to meet them they could not stay \naway.\u201d \u2019 Sheer superstition, many would say. But what is superstition? Put \nit this way: if you were a Master, and someone were to walk for five hours \nthrough the darkness and dangers of the veldt in the expectation of meeting you, \nwhether in the semblance of a consecrated wafer, or a log of wood, or an image all \ndolled up in spangles,\u2014would you not go out of your way to do something for \nhim, to give him your blessing in some form or other? And, apart from any gift \nof yours to him, would not that man infallibly benefit spiritually, in character and \nin will, as a result of his sacrifice, especially if, as the missionary claimed, it was no \nsacrifice but was done purely for love? Compare that man\u2019s state with the state \nof another negro, a more \u2018enlightened\u2019 negro, who believes that God is every\u00ac \nwhere, that God will speak to him in his own heart, at any time of the day or \nnight, if he but condescend to listen. No five hour walk for him; no such folly \nas a consecrated wafer! He can get up and go to bed as the spirit moves him; \nhe can conduct his own \u2018service\u2019 to suit himself; he can \u2018listen\u2019 and then be \n\u2018lifted up\u2019 to his heart\u2019s content; he can spout \u2018mysteries\u2019 to make all around \nhim cringe. Even supposing that he tries, according to his lights, to lead a goo^ \nlife, he will do this, primarily, according to his lights, derived in large measure \nfrom his interpretation of Biblical texts. The first man presumably looks up \nto his priest, for it is the priest, in any case, who \u2018consecrates\u2019 the wafer; the \nsecond need not look up to anyone, except to God, and God will always be on, \nas well as at, his side, seeing that the man himself is God\u2019s interpreter. \n\n\u2018\u2018I wonder whether the universality of the problem involved in that mess, is \nsufficiently evident, without further elaboration. The point is that a belief which, \nin comparison with another, may be regarded as \u2018enlightened\u2019, is at least as dan\u00ac \ngerous, and often more so, than the rankest superstition,\u2014depending entirely \n\n\n355 \n\n\n\n356 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nupon the person who adopts it. If the Lodge were to disseminate its light, its \nunderstanding, widely, the spiritual progress of humanity would be retarded \nby a million years. \n\n\u201cSuperstition and enlightenment are relative terms. One of the many ways \nin which the world, and most philosophers, have shown their imbecility, is by \ngeneralizing about \u2018human needs\u2019, when, as a matter of fact, the need of no \ntwo people on the face of the earth is the same. I knew a man once (he is an \nofficer of one of our biggest and most powerful corporations) who thought that \nany kind of manufacture was primitive, infantile, and unworthy of his attention \nunless tools were set for the production of at least one hundred thousand units, \nwith all arrangements made, through distributors and agents, for the disposal \nof these \u2018over the counter\u2019. People need chairs; very well, grind out 100,000 \nchairs, shop cost $2.14, to retail at $10.00, cost to distributor $5.60. They want \nantiques, do they? Very well; cancel that order and grind out 100,000 antiques, \nquick; add 200 per cent., to shop cost to cover extra labour and necessary de\u00ac \npartures from standard to show individual workmanship, with retail price $30.00. \nThe same principle is applied medically: it does not matter if you are tall and \nthin, or short and fat, if you are phlegmatic or nervous, fiery, airy, watery or \nearthy, if you are white or black, yellow or red,\u2014granting you have influenza, \nyou need Medicine A., scarlet fever, Medicine B., mumps, Medicine C., and so \nforth. In the same way with religion: if you are a Protestant, everyone ought \nto be a Protestant, if a Roman Catholic, everyone ought to be the same, if a \nTheosophist,\u2014but really, there ought to be a limit! Can it be that any student of \nTheosophy is so hopelessly ignorant of his own subject as to imagine that every\u00ac \none either could or should be a Theosophist? I trust not. \n\n\u201cOf all genuine \u2018persuasions\u2019 (I exclude, of course, forms of black magic such \nas Voodoo), Theosophy, being true, is necessarily one of the most dangerous. \nIt is not, and never can be, narrowly defined in creeds\u2014for then it would cease \nto be Theosophy, would cease to be true; but this leaves it at the mercy of every \ncrank and visionary who chooses to adopt it as his label, and goodness knows \nthey have not been slow to parade themselves accordingly. It leaves it at the \nmercy also of anyone whose conceit is sufficiently turbulent to make him, in \nhis own eyes, the sole judge of his duty and obligations, regardless of his associates \nand fellow-students. It cannot too often be re-stated that once a man falls into \nthe habit of indulging his lower nature, at any point, he will interpret his religion \n(no matter what), his philosophy\u2014even his Theosophy\u2014so as to condone, and \nfinally to justify, his self-indulgence. \n\n\u201cHere is a Frenchman, for instance, who writes a book which has been trans\u00ac \nlated into English and published under the title of The Return of the Magi. He \nbelieves in Theosophy, as he interprets it; he believes in a White Lodge, in \nMasters, and also in the existence of a Black Lodge. He seems never to have \nheard of Judge, but is familiar with the writings of Mrs. Besant and of Lead- \nbeater. \n\n\u201cAvowedly he prefers the lesser to the greater members of the Lodge because \nthe greater are \u2018too perfect\u2019, and it comforts him to discover, or to think that he \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n357 \n\n\nhas discovered, frailties which correspond to his own. Speaking of Lao-tsze he \nsays: \u2018What one remembers of him\u2014and remembers with a certain satisfaction \n\u2014is that he had a bad temper*. I do not know on what possible ground he can \nattribute a bad temper to Lao-tsze; but that is immaterial: what I object to is \nthe perversity, the vanity, of such an attitude, and the miserably wrong twist \nhe gives both-to the spirit and the letter of Theosophy,\u2014a twist which becomes \nmonstrous when he speaks of sex, as when (referring to the vows of the Rosi- \ncrucians) he undertakes to comment on chastity. Shades of H. P. B. and Judge, \n\u2014how they would have suffered! Even \u2018the ordinary man\u2019, of whom he speaks, \nknows better; even the most ordinary and exoteric of Christians, if sincere, holds \nto an infinitely higher, purer and truer standard. The cause of such a distortion \nis, of course, obvious. It simply means that, as Emerson said, \u2018we find what we \nseek*. \n\n\u201cEvery effort of the Lodge to help humanity is perverted in the same way. \nConsider the efforts of the Christian Master, first in one denomination and then \nin another, to spiritualize the religion which exists in his name. See how the \nChurch of Rome, to reinforce its authority and its claim to a monopoly of the \nmeans of salvation, has exploited the revelation to Marguerite Marie of the \ncontinuance of that Master\u2019s suffering. See how Protestantism has misused the \n\u2018power from on high\u2019 which has been poured into \u2018Revivals\u2019, sometimes con\u00ac \nverting it into mere emotionalism, sometimes into bigotry, and nearly always \ncheapening and vulgarizing that which in itself is as crystalline and pure as the \neverlasting snows. Give men manna from heaven, and they will not swallow it \nunless smothered in an onion sauce, with some pickled eel thrown in for seasoning. \nIt is the fault of the personality we have built up,\u2014\u2018that old serpent, called the \nDevil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world\u2019. \n\n\u201cSome of you, twenty years ago or more, met Samuel Stokes when he visited \nNew York from India. Originally from Philadelphia, he had gone to India as a \nmissionary, and later, under the auspices of the Bishop of Lahore, had founded \na religious order called the Brotherhood of the Imitation of Jesus. Its members \nlived as Indian ascetics live, believing that, as disciples of Jesus, they could do \nno less, and hoping, in this way, to appeal directly to the Indian people. There \ncan be no question of the devotion and sincerity of Stokes and his associates at \nthat time; nor can I question the fact that on one occasion the Christian Master \nmade himself known to Stokes, comforting him and giving him new strength \nwhen Stokes had fallen exhausted on one of his expeditions. Stokes related thi^j \nexperience, in poetical form, in a little book called The Love of God , with an \nIntroduction by the Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, who said - \u2018The \nauthor of this little volume is by birth an American, aged twenty-six [in 1908], \nwho, having seen\u2014whether in the body or out of the body God knows, but in any \ncase with convincing clearness\u2014a vision of the Lord Jesus, toilworn and travel- \nstained, trudging on foot along an Indian high road, has found in that vision a \ncall to give his life, from love of his Master, to the service of his Indian brothers, \nin literal imitation of the poverty, humility, and self-sacrificing devotion of the \nearthly life of Jesus.\u2019 \n\n\n358 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cWould you perhaps like to hear Stokes\u2019 own account of his experience? It is \nnothing so unusual\u2014merely one of the Christian Master\u2019s countless efforts to win \na soul who might perchance become a torch-bearer among men; but the signifi\u00ac \ncance of the denouement cannot well be appreciated unless you have the picture \nbefore you.\u201d \n\nMost of us had read the poem years ago, but were glad to hear it-again; so the \nPhilosopher read these extracts aloud: \n\nI slept, or seemed to sleep, but all at once \nI felt a hand upon my shoulder laid. \n\nToo weak I was to rise, but panting lay, \n\nStriving to pierce the blackness with my eyes. \n\nYet feared I not, for from that gentle hand \n\nThere flowed a power which thrilled my soul to life;\u2014 \n\nA power which told of love past human ken. \n\nOf sympathy with all man\u2019s woes, of peace \nAnd joy to come upon a world forlorn, \n\nOf sin o\u2019ercome, and Heaven opened wide. \n\nAt last, in awe I whispered tremblingly: \n\n\u201cO thou who, speaking not, dost comfort give! \n\nO thou who, in one moment, by a touch, \n\nHast given peace so great that all those things \nWhich dragged me down and filled me with despair \nSeem far away, or easy to be borne! \n\nThou in whose presence my poor restless soul \nCeases to cry for rest and lies at peace,\u2014 \n\nWho art thou? \n\nOh, tell me, art thou human or divine? \n\nIf human, then in what place dost thou dwell? \n\nMay I bide with thee\u2014ever be thy slave? \n\nWherever thou dost lead I\u2019ll follow thee; \n\nFor whether thou art God or man, I know \nThat thou art he in whom help may be found. \n\nOh, I have wandered all this wide world o\u2019er \nSeeking for peace, but always sorrow found. \n\nAnd now, at last, when I, about to die, \n\nHad laid me down, that peace has come to me. \n\nLeave me not, therefore, wheresoe\u2019er thou art; \n\nHave pity on my sorrows, for \u2019tis thou \nWho, taking all away, can\u2019st give me rest.\u201d \n\n\nFrom out the dark a voice came clear and calm, \nQuite low, and yet so full of melody, \n\nSo full of pathos, ringing so with love \nThat my poor soul, all thrilled and dazed with joy, \nCould scarce make out the meaning of the words. \n\u201cO little lamb, I came to seek thee here. \n\nThou askest who I am and where I dwell. \n\nI am thy Shepherd\u2014though thou knewest not, \n\nI have been seeking thee the whole world o\u2019er, \n\nAye, calling, but thou would\u2019st not answer me. \n\nFor I have loved thee, my poor little one\u2014 \n\nSo loved that I did shed my blood for thee. \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n359 \n\n\nHad\u2019st thou but known it, I was ever by, \n\nBut thou would\u2019st never yield thyself to me. \n\nFor thou wast seeking peace in lands afar, \n\nAnd little thoughtest thou that at thy side \nThe giver walked and sought his gift to give; \n\nYea, sought to give, but thou would\u2019st never take. \n\nThou soughtest peace below, but thou hast found \nIt is not there, so I have come to help, \n\nAnd give thee what thou long hast sought in vain.\u201d \n\nThen silence fell; and yet I felt the hand \nStill sending forth its message to my soul. \n\nI did not speak, for something said within: \n\n\u201cKeep silence, listen, pray!\u201d \n\n\u201cIt was a wonderful beginning. Later, instead of meeting with opposition, \nthe Bishop of his diocese encouraged Stokes in every possible way (almost a \nmiracle in itself, in India). \u2018He was enthusiastic, and looked upon the founding \nof this new Order as the greatest event that had happened to the Church in the \nPunjab during his episcopate. He laid his hands upon them [Stokes and his \nassociates] at a solemn and beautiful service in Lahore Cathedral.\u2019 Obviously, \nby repercussion on the Protestant churches of England and America, the move\u00ac \nment might have accomplished much, as it cannot be doubted, after such a \nbeginning, that the Christian Master would have reinforced it in so far as it was \nmade possible for him to do so, and always with the qualification that Masters \ncannot and will not interfere with the free will of individuals. What was the \nresult? I learned of it only the other day, from a book, What I owe to Christ , \nby C. F. Andrews, who, if it had not been for illness, would have joined the order \non its formation. The story is this: Stokes, as head of the order, at first minis\u00ac \ntered to the lepers in their Asylum in the Simla Hills. Settling down among the \nHill people, he learned in the course of time that they regarded his Christian \nservice as a form of self-seeking with a view to his own spiritual advancement. \nThey would tell him that it was easy for him, in his homeless, celibate state, to \nacquire merit, and thus escape from the bondage of rebirth, but for them it was \ndifficult because of family cares and the need to earn a living. This misunder\u00ac \nstanding of his motives, purpose, and message, troubled Stokes inexpressibly. \nAndrews says: \u2018He struggled with this crucial problem, night and day, waiting \nin earnest prayer to God for an answer. During much of this time I was with \nhim, and he consulted me frequently about his own inner difficulties. ... In \nhis own mind from the very first, since the day when the problem had really \ngripped him, there had seemed to be only one real answer. ... He should reside \namong them [the Hill people] as one of themselves, marrying into their own Hill \nclan. Thus he would make himself in every respect one with them.\u2019 Andrews, \na weak reed, adds that Stokes convinced him \u2018by the argument\u2019. The Bishop \nof Lahore was not convinced; he appears to have reminded Stokes of his vows. \nThe end of it was that Stokes married a Rajputni woman, born in the Hills, a \nChristian, whose grandfather was a Chinaman. \u2018Thus\u2019, says Andrews com- \n\n\n\n\n\n360 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\nplacently, \u2018his children have the blood of three different races flowing in their \nveins.\u2019 \u201d \n\n\u201cIn other words\u201d, interjected the Historian, \u201cinstead of converting the Hill \npeople, Stokes allowed the Hill people to convert him. What a tragedy! I \nremember him well. ... I wonder how that Master felt about it. A cruel blow.\u201d \n\n\u201cI am wondering\u201d, said the Ancient, \u201cwhether we in our way have been more \ntrue to the heavenly vision than was Stokes. Still\u2014thank God\u2014there is the \nbalance of this day, and perhaps to-morrow.\u201d \n\n\u201cExcuse me\u201d, asked the Student, turning to the Philosopher, \u201cbut do you \nhappen to know if Stokes met the woman he married, before or after he allowed \nthe Hill people to convert him,\u2014in principle?\u201d \n\n\u201cI do not know\u201d, the Philosopher replied; \u201cbut I see what you mean, and I \nagree with you as to the probabilities. In any case, the marriage of course \nsmashed the Brotherhood of the Imitation of Jesus into less than a rubbish heap. \n\n. . . But the main point to my mind is the problem which confronts the Lodge, \nas I said to begin with. It is a problem which necessarily confronts each member \nof the Lodge also, and even, on a much smaller scale, everyone who attempts, \nconsciously, to serve a Master. Somebody once said: Many are they who find \nJesus; few are they who, finding, understand what they have found. And the \nsame is true of Theosophy. The veil between us and the spiritual world is lifted \nfor us, perhaps only for a moment, perhaps for weeks or months together, or \nagain and again at intervals. Always there follows the need to interpret what has \nbeen seen, the injunction to do as we have learned. A spiritual experience, no \nmatter how real, can bear good fruit only to the extent that will and intelligence \nco-operate,\u2014a trinity of effort. Andrews, the author of the book I have been \nquoting, is an illustration of what usually happens. His world swamped him. \nBrought up on a dead-letter though devout interpretation of the Bible\u2014as an \nIrvingite\u2014when he was about twenty he experienced conversion, deep and real. \nNo need to go into particulars, as so many similar conversions are related in \nVarieties of Religious Experience , by William James,\u2014which all of you have read: \nat first crushed to the earth by a conviction of sin and impurity, a sense of peace \nand forgiveness came to him with equal strength, as \u2018the gift of God through \nChrist\u2019. \u2018What,\u2019 he writes, \u2018had broken me down completely and made a new \nman of me\u2019, was the realization that there had been a sacrifice. \u2018He had given \nhimself for me\u2019. Not long afterwards, deeming the Irvingites too literal, he \nleft them and joined the Church of England. Then he was ordained, having a \nterrible time over the Articles of Religion, which of course, being in no sense a \nmystic, he interpreted as literally as his father had interpreted the Bible. Finally, \nafter working in missions in England, he went as a missionary to India, not only \na sincere and honest Christian, but with an abiding sense of Christ\u2019s continued \ngift to him: a minor, but none the less real effort on the part of the Christian \nMaster to win a soul who might have become a spiritualizing factor in Church \ncircles. To cut a long story short, he, like Stokes, instead of converting his \nenvironment, allowed his environment to convert him: as I have said, his world \nswamped him. Still calling himself and believing himself to be a follower of \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n361 \n\n\nChrist, he became literally and in fact a follower of Gandhi and Tagore, making \nTagore\u2019s ashram his headquarters; he has become literally and in fact the em\u00ac \nbodiment and exponent of all the most modem infatuations,\u2014Pacifism included. \nAs much a literalist as in his youth, \u2018the poor\u2019 mean only one thing to him,\u2014 \nthose who lack physical food and clothing: those who are starving spiritually, \nwhile dressed in fine raiment and perhaps over-fed, mean nothing. In the same \nway and for the same reason, he regards Albert Schweitzer, Kagawa of Japan, \nand Sundar Singh, as those who have come nearest \u2018to the imitation of Jesus\u2019 \nin modem times. A man like Cardinal Mercier, who lived in a palace, and who \nwas the reverse of a Pacifist, would be classed, presumably, as an unfortunate \nmistake. Joan of Arc would be a well-meaning but misguided girl who, because \nshe lived in the \u2018dark ages\u2019 before Tolstoy, must be excused and forgotten. \u2018The \ndead wrappings of the past\u2019, he writes, \u2018have always tended to constrain and \nconfine the insurgent spirit of man. Christ comes again to his own right in our \nday [largely thanks, it would seem, to Gandhi and Tagore]. He comes to set us \nfree.\u2019 \n\n\u201cFree from what? From vanity and self-assertion, from pride and hypocrisy, \n\u2014or just comfortably free to do as we choose, or uncomfortably free to do as \nsome Soviet may ordain? And why \u2018insurgent\u2019 spirit? But enough. The \nauthor\u2019s only significance lies in the fact that he is typical; for he was helped to \na good start, and has turned all that into active harmfulness,\u2014and this with due \nregard for his many \u2018good works\u2019, and for what most people, I suppose, would \nregard as a saintly life. \n\n\u201cSo I return once more to my main question: what can the Lodge do that will \nnot be misunderstood, misapplied, perverted? I am not supposing that anything \ncan reach this world from theirs without a certain amount of discoloration on its \nway through. I am making allowance for the fact that every shade of dis\u00ac \ncoloration may be needed to meet the infinitely varied needs of human nature; \nbut there is a difference, as I see it, between discoloration and perversion. The \nSalvation Army, for instance, has brought things down to a very primitive \nplane; but it appeals to, and is intended to help, very primitive people: no one, \nin my opinion, could justly characterize it as a perversion. The so-called Oxford \nGroup movement, headed by Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman, which recently held \na mass-meeting in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria, is not only discoloured\u2014 \nand depressing\u2014but is just as much of a travesty as the work of Andrews.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhy \u2018depressing\u2019?\u201d our Visitor interjected. \n\n\u201cBecause their movement provides such a commentary on what numbers of \npeople want when they want religion; it proves that, though converted from \ncocktail parties in the outer sense, they crave a sublimated form of the same thing \nin their religious experience. To speak frankly, they want the same common \nfamiliarity, the 3ame self-exposure (both duly sublimated), the same utter lack \nof reverence, of dignity, of refinement. Those among their converts who perhaps \nnever went to a cocktail party in their lives, make it evident that they enjoy \nthe atmosphere of one, in religious guise. One of our contributors, who was \npresent at the meeting in New York, told me that the first woman to speak \n\n\n3^2 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nparaded her former cocktail parties as though the superiority of her present \nstate were proved by her past, and that several men, speaking later, said know\u00ac \ningly: \u2018Oh yes, I used to go to Marie\u2019s parties\u2019\u2014for they make a great point of \ncalling one another by their first names, on the platform as much as in private: \nit is supposed to be evidence of Christian amity. An English Knight, over sixty, \noffered to relate privately incidents of his former career, not as a man ashamed, \nbut facetiously, so as to draw laughter, especially from the women on the plat\u00ac \nform. The \u2018hit\u2019 of the evening was a mutual forgiveness scene between an Oxford \nwoman and a German Frau, which the Chairman drove home as a lesson to the \nauthorities in Washington,\u2014all Buchmanites being ardent Pacifists, regarding \nthe aggressor (Germany), and invaded Belgium and France, as in the same \ncategory, and, at least in international matters, forgiving anything in everybody, \nwhether repentant or not. Do not imagine that I am basing my opinion on \na report of one public meeting. The book, For Sinners Only , written by one of \nthemselves for propaganda purposes, reveals the same tendencies, including the \nhabit of lowering all spiritual values and standards by speaking of themselves \nas having attained absolute purity, absolute honesty, absolute love, absolute \nunselfishness, and by describing as \u2018radiant saints\u2019 the well-meaning but some\u00ac \ntimes half crazy converts of a Rescue Mission. \n\n\u201cI am not suggesting that the world is any more inclined to-day than in the \npast, to pervert good things to wrong ends; though it does seem to me that the \nLodge, having tried every imaginable avenue of approach, in vain, may well be \nconfronted with a peculiarly difficult problem at the present time, especially as \nit has become almost impossible to confine an experiment to a locality,\u2014every \nsort of \u2018movement\u2019 becoming internationalized as soon as launched, as part of \nthe penalty paid for mechanizing inter-communication. There is good reason to \nbelieve, for instance, that the Albigensian movement sprang from the work of \nAdepts; but although it remained pure so long as it reached the few only, after \nthey had been tried and tested and proved worthy, there is no doubt that it \ndegenerated dreadfully when its essential truths were proclaimed to the many,\u2014 \nthough at that stage, thanks to the lack of facilities, the contagion did not spread \nmuch beyond sections of southern France. That the movement was suppressed \nby the Church with fiendish cruelty, is notorious; but that its followers had \ngone \u2018clean off their heads\u2019 is proved by the fact\u2014which their most ardent defen\u00ac \nders admit that, in the south, sons of the noblest families often married the \nlowest women \u2018in order to regenerate them, to lead them one step forward up \nthe long path to perfection.\u2019 It was their belief in reincarnation, strangely \nenough, which they twisted to this abominable conclusion: can you imagine a \nmore wanton obliquity!\u201d \n\n\u201cHas it ever occurred to you\u201d, asked the Student at this point, \u201cthat it is \nmuch less dangerous \u2018to start something\u2019 among Anglo-Saxons than among \nLatins, if the \u2018something\u2019 be connected with religion, just because the Anglo- \nSaxon is not fundamentally religious, while the Latin is? There are exceptions, \nof course, but it is unusual for your Anglo-Saxon to be wholesale about any\u00ac \nthing, least of all about religion. Consequently, he can adopt a belief, such as \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n363 \n\n\nthat in reincarnation, with very little result, one way or the other, while your \nLatin, if he adopts it, will do so with passionate intensity,\u2014which, as you have \nshown, is likely to mean, during Kali Yuga, that he will give effect to it in some \nextreme and dangerous way. It is easily conceivable that Theosophy is \nbeing kept deliberately from France and Spain and Italy until, in the distant \nfuture, they become less unready. Meanwhile it was given to America and to \nEngland because, though they were quite unready, it could not do much harm \nthere anyhow!\u201d \n\nThe Engineer now joined us. He was wreathed in smiles. \u2018\u2018Things have \nbecome so bad\u201d, he said, \u2018\u2018that they are amusing: the New York banks have \nbeen shut\u201d [It was the morning of March 4th, and the earlier editions of the \nnewspapers had not carried this information.]; \u2018\u2018no one can draw any money; \n\nI hope you have all been hoarding.\u201d \n\nOur Visitor showed surprise. \u2018\u2018Hoarding!\u201d he exclaimed. \u2018\u2018Surely that would \nnot be ethical?\u201d \n\n\u2018\u2018Why not?\u201d said the Engineer. \u2018\u2018If more people had always hoarded, as they \nhave in France, there would have been no depression and no panic; nor would \nthere have been any Stock Market boom in 1929: we should have remained on \na level keel. It is because people turned all their money over to their banks or to \ntheir brokers, that first the boom, and then the depression, and finally the \npanic came. The banks used their deposits to make money quickly for their \nstockholders, some lending huge sums in Germany, for instance, at a much \nhigher rate of interest than was obtainable here, and shutting their eyes, pre\u00ac \nsumably, to the risk (/ should have said, certainty) of losing it, perhaps blinded \nby greed, and in any case dead to all the lessons of the Great War. It was the \nFrench peasant, by keeping his gold in a stocking until really needed, who \nenabled his Government to pay five milliards of francs to Germany after 1871, \nand to pay the entire sum well in advance of due dates, thus ridding his country \nof the German troops who had remained in occupation.\u201d \n\n\u201cIncidentally\u201d, remarked the Student, \u201cthe receipt of that money proved to \nbe the culmination of Germany\u2019s moral ruin.\u201d \n\nOur Visitor was not convinced, however. \u201cThere may be something in your \nargument\u201d, he said, \u201cas applied to ordinary times; but the New York banks \nwould not have been obliged to close their doors to-day, if it had not been for \nthe sudden and immense demand for gold and currency, largely for hoarding, \nwhich followed the collapse in Detroit, Cleveland and other big cities. It should \nhave been a point of honour, at that juncture, not to reduce one\u2019s balance.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt might rather have been a point of honour not to have needed , at that \njuncture, to reduce one\u2019s balance,\u2014to have been so prudent as to have kept \nin one\u2019s own control enough to have tided one over an interval in which the \nbank might be closed. \n\n\u201cThe withdrawals, the last minute efforts to \u2018hoard\u2019, were, of course, prompted \nby fear\u2014the spread of mass hysteria and panic, which always creates what it \ndreads. People ought to have acted long before; not from fear but from caution; \nand if they had so acted the banks themselves would have been in far sounder \n\n\n364 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\ncondition to meet any strain. But on what ground is it, or can it be \u2018a point of \nhonour\u2019 to the ordinary citizen to keep an unsound bank open, or to leave his \nown money in it if he believes it to be unsafe? The banker\u2019s duty is one thing; \nthe depositor\u2019s another. Indirectly and unintentionally, you are echoing those \namong the leaders of \u2018big business\u2019 whose panacea throughout has been to \nspend, spend, spend. Instead of its being one\u2019s duty to help keep the New \nYork banks open, thus supporting a system which is inherently unsound and \nwrong, I claim that it would have been far better for the country if the New \nYork banks, as a result of public distrust, had been compelled to close their \ndoors some three years ago. If that had happened, and if Washington had not \nfurther prolonged the agony by its futile attempts to suspend or offset the law \nof supply and demand,\u2014business, by this time, would have been on its feet \nagain. \n\n\u201cIn the old days, money-lending was the unclean business of Jews; it was \nthe function of banks to hold the money of their clients in safe-keeping. If I \nam not mistaken, instead of paying interest on deposits, they charged for their \nservice. Little by little, the banks became money-lenders, using the money of \ntheir clients for this purpose, primarily for the benefit of the owners (stock\u00ac \nholders) of the bank: an illogical and absurd proceeding. In the old days, \nagain, it was a disgrace to borrow; it meant that you were living beyond your \nmeans. But since, in this country and elsewhere, man\u2019s chief purpose in life has \nbeen, not to earn a living but to make a fortune, it has become a common saying \nthat a fortune can only be made with borrowed money; therefore borrow, and \nthe more you can borrow, the better off you are. Gambling has taken the place \nof business, and is now known as business. A man with a salary of five hundred \ndollars a month, would buy a house for ten thousand dollars, pay five thousand \nin cash, which perhaps he had borrowed but perhaps had saved, and would \nmortgage the house for the balance, gambling that he would continue to draw \nhis present salary, that this would steadily be increased as he grew older, and \nthat therefore he would always be able to pay the interest on the mortgage. \nThen a Life Insurance agent would point out that the man might die, and that \nhis wife might be unable either to pay the interest, or to pay off the mortgage, \nor to sell the house. So it became \u2018good business\u2019 to insure his life for ten thou\u00ac \nsand dollars at least, and to gamble again that he would continue to receive a \nsalary large enough to pay both the interest on his mortgage and the premiums \non his Life Insurance. Then bad times came (they always come); the man was \nlaid off; ceased to draw any salary; could not pay the interest on his mortgage, \nand lost his house; could not pay the premium on his Life Insurance, and lost \nthat. Buying on the instalment plan, from automobiles to fur coats, was simply \nan extension of the same system, all of it gambling, all of it a method of putting \nthe future in pawn.\u201d \n\n\u201cDo you mean that you are opposed, then, to the capitalist system and to \nprivate ownership as such?\u201d asked our Visitor. \n\n\u201cI certainly am not. On the contrary, no other system would be tolerable. \nTo condemn a system because human nature has misused it, would be as childish \n\n\nON THE SCREEN OF TIME \n\n\n365 \n\n\nas to condemn religion because that has undergone a similar fate. What I am \nadvocating is a return to more conservative and sane methods under that \nsystem. The world has become the victim of its desire, which was to \u2018get rich \nquick, with as little work against* the grain as possible\u2019. It was this desire which \ncontrolled almost every class of society, with the Labour Unions in the lead. \nI do not believe that real wealth is produced except as a result of very hard \nwork and great self-denial,\u2014that is, of sacrifice. Real wealth, even material \nwealth, is the product of moral forces acting upon physical things, and I include \nintelligence under moral forces for the excellent reason that the moral has no \nforce without intelligence. \n\n\u201cNor am I suggesting that bankers and brokers and \u2018Wall Street\u2019 in general, \nare less honest than other classes. They are at. least as honest, and in many \nrespects much more so than others, for in no section of the community can a \nman\u2019s word, about money, be accepted as readily in place of his bond. \u2018Wall \nStreet\u2019 has come into e xistence\u2014and its European equivalents\u2014in response to \nthe insistent demands of the rest of the country. If every broker on \u2018the Street\u2019 \nwere suddenly to accept my thesis, and were foolish enough to infer that he should \nbegin life all over again in some other occupation, the only result would be a new \ncrop of brokers, inexperienced, unqualified, and less honest because devoid of \nbackground and tradition; and the new crop would spring up for exactly the \nsame reason that a new crop of theatres or churches or newspapers or colleges or \ngroceries would spring up, if any of these groups were to renounce their activities. \nThe law of supply and demand is a reality, not a dream; and it is a real law \nbecause it is a spiritual law, inherent in the nature of things on all planes. \n\n\u201cWith men like Hearst and Samuel Untermyer yelling abuse at their betters\u2014 \nUntermyer clamouring for the government ownership (which means control by \npoliticians) of all railroad, telephone, gas, electric lighting and other utility \ncompanies\u2014I am particularly anxious to emphasize the fact, which Theosophy \nmakes so clear, that it is the people of a country, in the mass, who create the con\u00ac \nditions of which they complain. Just as the circumstances of my life are abso\u00ac \nlutely of my own making; just as it would be folly and worse if I were to complain \nof the result, so is it true that a nation\u2019s financial institutions and methods reflect \nits commercial cravings, even as its churches reflect its religious cravings,\u2014to \nuse a very strong word, in that case, for what is usually a very feeble flutter. \nIn other words, to condemn its bankers would be as unfair and as stupid as to \ncondemn its clergy,\u2014no matter what you may think of their collective wisdom.\u201d \n\n\u201cYou must surely admit, however,\u201d our Visitor urged, \u201cthat if borrowing had \nbeen eliminated from business during the past fifty years, this country\u2019s progress \nwould have been far slower than it has been.\u201d \n\n\u201cI admit it gladly\u201d, was the reply. \u201cI admit with similar gladness that our \npopulation would have been much smaller, as, throughout that period, we should \nhave been minus an immense number of low class immigrants, nearly all of whom \ncame here in the hope of making money in a hurry. I admit that fortunes would \nbe smaller, taxes lower, everything fewer; but beg to suggest that quality might \nbe better. The plant that grows a yard in the night is not, as a rule, wholesome. \n\n\n\n366 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\n\u201cOnce more, to avoid misapprehension, I am not suggesting that it is wicked \nto borrow: that would be absurd. Nor am I suggesting that to carry on a \nbusiness with borrowed money, even persistently, is wicked, but only that it is \nregrettable and unwise. I do not consider a Mohammedan with a harem, wicked, \nespecially if his father had one before him. There are men of absolute integrity, \nboth among borrowers and lenders. All I can say is that I should prefer to be \nneither the one nor the other. It is, unfortunately, nearly always easier to get \ninto a situation than out of it,\u2014as even your Mohammedan, at times, doubtless \nrealizes also, while, in his case, it might well be cruel if he were to abandon his \nharem in mid career. After all, common sense must govern.\u201d \n\n\u201cSo far as \u2018hoarding\u2019 is concerned\u201d, commented the Professor, \u201cit is really \nthe same situation as with food. It is the modern household\u2019s lazy and improvi\u00ac \ndent habit to depend wholly on day-to-day buying in the city stores: to keep \nnothing in the house against emergencies. The result is that any interruption of \ntraffic, delaying the flow of food to the city, becomes immediately a grave \nemergency. Everyone then requires food, and there is not enough to go round\u2014 \nor may not be enough. Anyone who then lays in a supply for the future and to \nstock his empty store rooms, is accused as a food hoarder,\u2014because he is late in \ndoing what he ought to have done long before. Had everyone steadily hoarded \nfood, from the time it was plentiful, the interruption would have caused no \ncrisis; and it is those who have hoarded, and whose needs in consequence can \nbe met by their own resources, without drain upon the diminished common \nstock, who really save the situation. \n\n\u201cIs the connection clear\u201d, the Ancient now asked, \u201cbetween the Philosopher\u2019s \noriginal question, and the Engineer\u2019s thesis, as I think he called it? It ought to \nbe. \u2018Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they \nhave sought out many inventions.\u2019 Yet, thank heaven, there is always a way \nout, a way through, a chance to make a crooked path straight, whether in our \nown lives or in the world around us; and when all ways seem closed, the wisdom \nof Masters provides, the Everlasting Mercy guides, if only, learning the lessons \nof the past, ready to sacrifice self , we fight forward toward the best and noblest \nwe can see.\u201d \n\nT. \n\n\nGod is a good worker , hut He loves to be helped .\u2014 Basque Proverb. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\naflfiM' \n\ng;i==i& \n\n\n\nThe Land Locked Lake , by Lt. Col. A. A. Hanbury-Sparrow; Arthur Barker, \nLtd., London, 1932; price, 7s 6 d. \n\nThis is a book of the War, and one whose vivid, human appeal it would be \nhard to overstate, but which may have a special and deeper interest for the \nthoughtful student. Its author, scarce twenty-one when the War broke out, \nwas then a subaltern in Great Britain\u2019s regular army, sent to France with the \nfirst expeditionary force, and for more than three years was almost constantly \nat the front with his regiment. A brief \u201cAuthor\u2019s Note\u201d, taking the place of \na Preface, sets forth its aim and vouches for its sincerity. \n\n\u201cThis book is true in that it describes, faithfully I believe, what I saw and \nfelt during the War. But that was inevitably based upon incomplete knowledge. \nOf set purpose I have tried to eliminate at every stage of the tale later informa\u00ac \ntion and maturer judgments. This method may cause pain to some, but it was \nunavoidable if I was to succeed in the task I had set myself. This was to unfold \nthe War in so living a way, that the younger generation might succeed where \nwe had failed; that they, seeing the War for what it truly was\u2014an intense \nspiritual experience\u2014might be inspired to link up its lessons to the needs of \nthe Age, and to lead its land-locked waters to the parched river of life.\u201d \n\nAs a story, the book sweeps us on from adventure to adventure, but beneath \nand through them all is the author\u2019s search for his own soul. He has to face \nfear; and at first has nothing with which to front it but pride and duty. Then \nhe learns to call upon his patriotism and the will to give and sacrifice himself. \nYou \u201cthink you are doing it splendidly, and then crack! Fear has shot past \nyour head and only the instant application of will can save the whole structure \nof conduct from utter collapse. Will to what? Bravery? No, the will to the \nself-sacrifice of not-self. For the life of man oscillates between the two poles oL \nself and not-self. As the Greek philosopher long ago pointed out, all abstract\" \nqualities go in opposite pairs, beauty and ugliness, cleverness and stupidity, \ncowardice and foolhardiness: whatever you take, there is its opposite. Even so, \nman lives between the two poles of self and not-self, and free will consists in \nthis\u2014in steering his course between the two poles. Fear makes a man turn to \nthe pole of self, self-sacrifice to the pole of not-self, nor is it till the man has \nattained the wisdom of seeing that fear is foolishness, and has acquired the \npower of acting up to his wisdom, that he can be called free. . . . The current \n\n367 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n368 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nof fear deflects the moving coil that is you to the pole of self. In your fight \nagainst it you react to the pole of not-self, and whilst you are there you remain \nin an abnormal state of exaltation. Yet to whichever pole you swing, you are \nnot free, for your action has been dictated by fear.\u201d \n\nHe learns, and teaches, the great lesson of the power of discipline\u2014that the \nmen must be made to feel, in every moment, their officer\u2019s supporting will, as a \nhorse must feel its rider\u2019s. He shows, in incident after incident, how the pres\u00ac \nence or absence of this discipline makes the exact difference between victory \nor defeat,\u2014so that it is literally true that no small part of the winning of a \nbattle may lie in the insistence that buttons be kept polished. \n\nYet all that he learns\u2014all the wisdom and gallantry and fortitude that he \nreaches for and makes his own, are not enough. Outwardly they keep him to \nthe mark, but inwardly, through more than three long years of pounding, of \nwound following wound, they weaken and begin to fail him. In none of them \ncan he feel that he has laid hold upon what he seeks and needs. He feels, recur\u00ac \nrently, that he should be able to find it in religion; but of religion he has none \nat all\u2014not even the instinct of prayer, so far as his pages enable us to judge. \nAnd there are none about him from whom he is able to gain what he himself \nhas not. \u201cUnfortunately, the chaplains could do little to contribute. For it \nwas quite definitely \u2018bad form\u2019 to argue the fundamentals of religion with such \nmen, lest you shook their belief. That was the situation in a nutshell. . . . \nThe trenches aroused in men a very deep respect for the inmost life of the \nother fellow. And so the chaplains were let alone.\u201d \n\nIt is in this lies the tragedy of the book and of the author\u2019s long, heroic trial. \nThe end of his soldiering is not made wholly clear, but enough is said to show \nthat Passchendaele broke him. \u201cWhen I got out again in April, I only lasted \nthree months, as I simply couldn\u2019t stand it any longer.\u201d And in his book, too, \nhe feels that he has failed. Almost at the end, he cries out his consciousness of \nthis: \u201cHow utterly I have failed in this book to reproduce the fullness of the \nWar. Perhaps the theme is too great for words. You older generation who \nstayed at home, you A. D. C. equivalents of my generation who stayed behind, \nyou youngsters who stayed at school, let me tell you this! You know nothing \nof the War, you can\u2019t. It\u2019s utterly impossible you could. You can know noth\u00ac \ning of the anguish and agony that the cream of the nation transmuted to Glory, \nand, in so doing, perished. You writers of sex-filled war books! Stick to your \nsex and leave the War alone. Its mysteries are not for such as you. Its Guar\u00ac \ndian lets none save the noble pass the threshold\u201d. \n\nWhy is there this sense of failure left upon author and reader alike? He \nteaches us the lesser mysteries, but the Greater elude his search. The anguish \nand the agony, yes, and we believe the nobility and the glory, too, he has known \nand shown us; but the resurrection life of the Spirit that can rise from the \nhuman life laid down, the ecstasy of self-giving to a love that is not of the \nworld, that can grow strong on suffering and not be weakened by it,\u2014this, \nwhich does not fail in the hour of need, and which the War opened to many \nsimpler souls, he never found, and its radiance never lights his book. There- \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n369 \n\n\nfore the book, like the picture of the War which it presents, remains predom\u00ac \ninantly terrible, rather than uplifting and transforming. It is war seen from \nbeneath, never from above. \n\nTo those who have loved and reverenced the England that was, it is not \nthe least grievous of the signs of our times, that the spiritual world has become \nso hard of conscious access to the English genius: that even where they serve, \nthey know not Whom they serve; and even where they contend against the \nwrong, they know no joy in the victory of Right. In the literature of the great \nWar, it is easy to list book after book in French, which shows the War as it was \nto the higher, rather than the lower nature of man,\u2014as it was to the soul con\u00ac \nsecrated in a true and whole-hearted devotion. The Maximes sur la Guerre by \nRen 6 Quinton, Meditations dans la Tranche by Antoine Rddier, Mes Cloitres \ndans la Tempete by Martial Lekeux, Maurice Barr&s\u2019s Les Diverses Families \nSpintuelles de la France , or Jacques d\u2019Arnoux\u2019s Paroles d'un Revenant , may \nserve as examples, suggesting many others. But with what can they be matched \nin English? We think of Donald Hankey\u2019s A Student in Arms, and Austin \nHopkins\u2019s Religio Militis, and a few others. But even these few are not of the \nsame order, nor are they typical of more than themselves. M. \n\n\nCrusade for the Anemone, by Princess Marthe Bibesco; The Macmillan Com\u00ac \npany, New York, 1932; price, $2.00. \n\nThis is not a book to be read in a hurry, or with a mind distracted by many \nthings. Rather should jt be chosen as a companion in solitude, for the reader \nwill wish to have plenty of time to gather anemones with the author, in the \nfields of Palestine. The book is more a record of interior experience, than of \nmanifold outer incident; it is the record of a mind and heart quick to penetrate \nouter semblances, thereby reaching the quiet places which lie behind all that \nis depressingly obvious and impermanent. For that reason it may be read with \nthe deepest interest and sympathy by anyone who is at all drawn to a mystical \ninterpretation of life, no matter what his religion, or to what denomination \nwithin that religion he may belong. Within the very small compass of this \nsmall volume there are five letters, some of them written to friends who are still \nliving, others addressed to those who have passed through the valley of the \nshadow\u2014letters tender, humorous, full of insight. The author, \u201cto whom \nflowers are living words\u201d, tells us that the anemone belongs to the family of \nthose spoken of as \u201cthe lilies of the field\u201d which Solomon in all his glory could \nnot rival, and that although she went to Palestine at a season of the year when \nthis \u201cflower of the wind\u201d did not ordinarily blossom, nevertheless, just before \nshe entered Jerusalem, a bouquet of them, thrown unexpectedly in at her car\u00ac \nriage window by someone outside, was the first thing of all to greet her arrival. \nIt proved to be a talisman, for by its means she could reconstruct the hallowed \nplaces of her dreams. She protests against the passion of the \u201cdevout\u201d for \nthe building of crude shrines; she wants to see the sacred spots over which these \nshrines now stand, once more open to the winds, the sun, the rain, as they were \n\n\n\n370 \n\n\nTHE0S0PHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nof old. In this she will certainly have the sympathy of many if not most of her \nreaders. She feels cramped and depressed in Jerusalem, because of the con\u00ac \nfusion caused by all these mediocre erections which to her are wholly inappro\u00ac \npriate, so, with her imagination, she occupies herself \u201cin destroying and then \nin rebuilding Jerusalem\u201d. And this is what she does wherever she goes: to \nTiberias at twilight, to watch the night fall over the lake; to the ruins of Caper\u00ac \nnaum at dawn, where the wind from the sea blows memories of the past to her; \nto Nazareth, where the almond orchards in full bloom are a true and living \nshrine\u2014those other, man-made shrines being lifeless. \u201cAll that is heaven and \nall that is earth draws me. All that men have built repels me. Here I seek \nonly the living rock.\u201d As we close this very unusual and beautiful book, it is \nwith the sense of soul refreshment which poetry always brings, for, like all \npoets, the author touches things which many of us cannot feel, and she sees \nthings to which the eyes of too many of us are blind. \n\nOne wishes that Princess Bibesco knew something of Theosophy; it would \nundoubtedly be of great interest to her, and it would certainly explain many \nthings\u2014such, for instance, as when she writes of Jerusalem: \u201cI was invaded by \nthe overpowering feeling of having been here before.\u201d To the student of The\u00ac \nosophy this would not be surprising; he would, of course, believe that she had \nbeen there in some former life, and was merely remembering. \n\nIn many ways it is a pity to read Crusade for the Anemone in any but the \noriginal, the author being well known for the classic purity of her French, but \nthe translator is to be congratulated on what he has accomplished; it must \nindeed have been a difficult task. T. D. \n\n\nThe Great Pyramid in Fact and in Theory , by William Kingsland; Rider & \nCo., London, 1932; price, 305. \n\nAny work which purports to throw light on the subject of the identity of the \nGreat Pyramid (this should read, \u201cthe pyramids and many similar ancient \nrelics\u201d) with the work of the Lodge in prehistoric times, is naturally of interest \nto readers of the Theosophical Quarterly. We are therefore attracted by \nsuch a title and preface, and search through the text expecting to find a sub\u00ac \nstantial exposition or addition to the numerous publications already available. \n\nUnfortunately, Mr. Kingsland\u2019s work fails to give what we are led to expect. \nIn this book (a promised Part II is not at hand), he confines himself rigorously \nto commenting on the geometry and measurements of the Great Pyramid, and \ndoes that, over the shoulders of such men as Piazzi Smyth, Petrie, the Edgar \nbrothers, and Davidson and Aldersmith. Pyramid investigation has reached \nthe point where all investigators have discovered and proved the existence of \nrelations between Pyramid chronology and measurements, and fragments of \nancient wisdom\u2014once esoteric, now breaking out into the \u201copen\u201d. Pyramid \nresearch appears, indeed, to have exhausted the possibilities of deduction and \ninference that can be made from the data supplied by surveys. Chronologists \nand Biblical interpreters are now pushing their conclusions beyond the point \n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n37 i \n\n\nwhere such conclusions can be strongly fortified by the existing data; they in\u00ac \ndulge in conjectures, not always warranted by the facts; get themselves mired \nin suppositions that are founded on a basis which has been stretched beyond a \nsolid foundation; detect unavoidable flaws in each other\u2019s work, and expose \nthem. One may take the different theories of Pyramid investigation, hang \nthem on the same peg, and watch them destroy each other till nothing tangible \nis left\u2014save the conviction that once there was really something there which \nnow has disappeared. Mr. Kingsland seems to have entered the field in such \na spirit of criticism of his predecessors, and to have taken up the subject from \nthat direction and in that attitude of mind, rather than by directly attacking \nthe problem and using, instead of abusing, what others have done. \n\nThere are some outstanding flaws in his attitude which may possibly justify \nattention. He informs us that Davidson\u2019s and Aldersmith\u2019s work on the Pyra\u00ac \nmid is too mathematical and too technical to be popular. His own work is \nentirely of that kind, and in addition utterly lacks the thorough, complete and \npainstaking research evident in Davidson and Aldersmith. There is much \nwhich suggests that his mathematical and technical equipment is inadequate \nto his subject, and that he may thus be betrayed into misunderstanding and \nmisrepresenting what he both borrows and criticizes. He shows that there is \nprobably real justification for assuming that the ancient Egyptian cubit equals \n20.612 British inches, but he fails to note that this is merely a reference scale \nfor measurement, and does not alter in any way whatsoever the relative pro\u00ac \nportionality existing amongst the numerous significant measurements of the \nPyramid. \n\nHe also tries to break down the argument by which several others have at\u00ac \ntempted to show that there is definite relation between certain base measure\u00ac \nments of the Pyramid and the length of the year (365.242+days); but all the \nexperts, Mr. Kingsland included, are here on very doubtful ground, since their \nstatements are based upon the assumption that the lengths of the solar day \nand year are the same now as they were many thousands of years ago when \nthe Pyramid was built! How do they know that such is the case? Astronomers \ndo not know. The most the latter will say is that, so far as they can detect, \nthe time periods are the same now as they were 1,000 or 2,000 years ago, and \nthat is all. These are comparatively short periods against which to balance the \nfacts known to the ancients, and to some modems, that in very ancient times \nthe contour of the continents was different, which caused different tidal effects, \nand that the inclination of the axis of the earth (the obliquity of the ecliptic) \nwas very different, which also involved different tidal effects, as well as altering \nthe seasons and the distribution of ice, changing the gravitational conditions \nand thus operating on the length of the day. All of this is yet to be proven by \nmodem science and to be found in the historical and chronological measure\u00ac \nments of the Pyramids. \n\nOur author exhibits diagrams giving specific and numerous measurements. \nOn comparing these with Davidson\u2019s and Aldersmith\u2019s, one is more struck with \nthe similarities than with the differences. We wish that he might have begun \n\n\n372 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwhere the Edgar brothers and Davidson and Aldersmith left off, instead of \nsimply picking trivial flaws in their work, without applying their thorough \nand comprehensive analysis. We have ourselves little fault to find with \nthe work of the various persons criticized by Mr. Kingsland, but only with \ntheir attempts to apply exclusively the measurements related to ancient, long- \nrunning cycles, as recorded by the Pyramids, to modern current and World \nWar events. \n\nWe do not know what Mr. Kingsland has in store for us in his second volume, \nbut we feel sure that there already exists ample mathematical and geometrical \ndata for identifying the Pyramid as being a great and important work, incor\u00ac \nporating knowledge preserved in the Lodge,\u2014provided more attention is given \nto Lodge records, now published, and less to minute differences in surveys and \nmeasurements. The Pyramidists think they are analyzing the Pyramid. They \nhave that question upside down. It is the Pyramid, with its massive, silent, \nirresistible logic and involved ancient esotericism, which is forcing them con\u00ac \nstantly to re-orient their point of view, until they wake up to a realization of \nits symbology. \n\nIf you were to acquire a comprehensive interior visualization of occult, esoteric \nwisdom, and should attempt an objectivation, a materialization, you would neces\u00ac \nsarily find that you were able to express or expose only one aspect or phase of \nthat unified conception along one particular line. Objectivation must always \nmean fragmentation. If, reversing this, you have at hand an exoteric phase \nof an esoteric generalization, you may have insuperable difficulty in tracing an \ninvestigation back from the particular to the general, and are liable to go off \nat a tangent; but if you can get \u201con top\u201d of the question and look \u201cdown\u201d, \nthere is no difficulty whatsoever in recognizing and identifying the particular \nfor being what it is and where it belongs. The Pyramid investigators must \neventually get \u201con top\u201d of their problem, and look down and not up, and then \nthey will achieve a comprehensive vision of that thing which is now, to them, \nan enigma. A. B. R. \n\n\nThe Orient in American Trancendentalism, A Study of Emerson , Thoreau, and \nAlcott, by Arthur Christy, Ph. D.; Columbia University Press, New York, 1932; \nprice, $4.00. \n\nThis fascinating volume of 382 pages continues the interesting pioneer work \nbegun two years ago by Professor Carpenter\u2019s book, Emerson and Asia (see \nTheosophical Quarterly, Vol. xxvm, p. 202); and with changing tides of \nopinion and values, it ought to be of great influence in bearing people to a safe \nharbour. Just one hundred years ago, Emerson left America to seek fresh \nhope in new fields, for in 1832, at the age of 30, he appeared to be a failure, \nhis health a wreck, his domestic peace a wreck (through his wife\u2019s death), and \nhis life work as a clergyman also a wreck. Yet from that wreck of earth, Heaven \nconstructed another great success, Emerson, with his Concord friends, becom\u00ac \ning a god (\u201cof tradition\u201d, alas!), honoured to-day by the lips of New Englanders \n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n373 \n\n\nand others whose hearts and minds, unfortunately for them, are \u201cfar from \nhim\u201d. When \u201csensual, avaricious America\u201d rediscovers its sage, it will find \nhim not an isolated and eccentric recluse but\u2014thanks to Professor Carpenter\u2019s \nbook and Dr. Christy\u2019s\u2014a prophet who brought to the crude, ignorant Western \nworld the ripened wisdom of the ancient, civilized East. \n\nBom and bred in the East, Dr. Christy handles his subject with unusual \nsympathy and understanding, in a book that is not academic sawdust but is \nreally vital. Recognizing that the Concord approach toward the Orient \u201cwas \nnot that of the theologian, metaphysician, or specialist in comparative reli\u00ac \ngions\u201d, but that \u201cof the poet and mystic\u201d, he has centred his own attention \nupon the literary and mystical results of Oriental Wisdom that flowered in \nConcord. A single passage will reveal the difference between Dr. Christy\u2019s \nvital understanding and the sterile misunderstanding of the East that is too \noften found. Thus, on page 19, he writes: \u201cAs has already been intimated, \nphilosophy in ancient India was not developed among the priests. Indeed, \nHindu philosophy in no way abetted the cause of the priests. ... It was \nthrough others than members of the Brahman priestly caste, even through \nthe Kshatriyas\u201d [the warrior caste] \u201cand through sceptics and unbelievers, \nobnoxious fellows to the priesthood . . . that India continued to probe for \nReality.\u201d \n\nThis book is the product of painstaking effort. Among other labours of \nlove, the author examined the librarian\u2019s records at Harvard for the purpose \nof learning what books Emerson had used in his student days; that investi\u00ac \ngation proves that from his 19th year Emerson was occupied with Eastern \nScriptures. \n\nSympathy and understanding mark Dr. Christy\u2019s book (though one will \ndiffer from many of his interpretations), and also courage. To maintain his \nown opinions and conclusions, he has had to go counter, at times, to those of \nhis elders and his superior officers, Drs. Canby and Erskine, Professors Van \nDoren and P. E. More. Whenever placed in so unenviable a position, he has \nacted with true courage, and, therefore, with modesty. \n\nThe last paragraph of Dr. Christy\u2019s \u201cConclusion\u201d will show what a \u201cfind\u201d \nthis doctoral dissertation is for religiously minded readers: \u201cThe mystery of \nthe attributes of God it is not for us to solve. Our province is here not to ques\u00ac \ntion the wisdom and method of His governance of the Universe, or the conclu\u00ac \nsions at which the Concord men arrived. It is enough for us to realize and in \nfinality restate the chief reason why Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott turned \nEastward, a gesture which brought all the consequences we have studied. They \ncould not live with an absentee God, and they were of Sankara\u2019s temper, San\u00ac \nkara, that great sage of ancient India, who on his deathbed prayed that he \nmight be forgiven for having frequented temples, since by doing so he had \nseemed to deny the omnipresence of God. All that the Concordians thought \nand did was consequent to this fact. We may be assured that when this is the \ntemper of the best minds of the East and West, the twain do meet in the sym\u00ac \npathies of the mystical bond, which is universal.\u201d Ph. D. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n374 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nAn Idealist View of Life , the Hibbert Lectures for 1929, by S. Radhakrish- \nnan; The Macmillan Company, New York; price, $4.00. \n\nIt is Dr. Radhakrishnan\u2019s thesis, that the world is in dire need of a new \nrevelation of spiritual truth. He does not mean that this revelation should \nbe new in the sense of being different from the wisdom of the ancients; but \nthat it should be based upon a re-discovery of the Divinity above and within \nthe order of Nature. An Idealist View of Life is a confession of faith in the \nability of modem man to find God as He was found by the sages and mystics of \nother ages. Men like Gautama and Jesus could speak with certitude of the \nspiritual world, because they actually lived in it and saw its denizens face to \nface. So, to-day, one can gain a direct knowledge of the Divine through the \ndiligent cultivation of the inner faculties which we possess but so seldom use. \nAs Dr. Radhakrishnan points out, the actual crisis in religion is due less to \nthe attacks of its enemies, than to the lack of real experience and understand\u00ac \ning among its defenders. It is no wonder that men are everywhere seeking \nsome substitute for religion\u2014such as communism, for instance\u2014if the so-called \nrepresentatives of religion have not proved for themselves the creed which they \nprofess. \n\nDr. Radhakrishnan is an authority on Indian metaphysics, and his own \nthought reveals the paramount influence of the Vedanta. Very fortunately, \nhe does not suggest any particular form of \u201cyoga practice\u201d as a quick and easy \nway to mystical experience. Moreover, he is a man of broad culture and with \ncosmopolitan sympathies, and he does not claim for the Hindu mind a monopoly \nof wisdom. It is part of his purpose to show that the tmths of the Vedas have \nbeen independently discovered by saints and philosophers in the West. The \nRishis, he says, \u201care not so much the authors of the tmths recorded in the \nVedas as the seers who were able to discern the eternal tmths by raising their \nlife spirit to the plane of the universal spirit\u201d (p. 89); but as he makes clear, \na Rishi may be bom anywhere. \n\nThe following is typical of his general point of view: \n\n\u201cThe Western mind lays great stress on science, logic and humanism. Hindu \nthinkers as a class hold with great conviction that we possess a power more \ninterior than intellect by which we become aware of the real in its intimate \nindividuality, and not merely in its superficial or discernible aspects. For the \nHindus a system of philosophy is an insight, a darsana. It is the vision of tmth \nand not a matter of logical argument and proof. They believe that the mind \ncan be freed by gradual training from the influences of speculative intellect as \nwell as past impressions, and that it can unite itself with the object whose nature \nis then fully manifested. . . . Intuitive insight is identical with freedom. \n\u2018Whoever knows \u201cI am Brahman\u201d becomes this all.\u2019 \u2018He who knows that \nsupreme Brahman becomes that Brahman itself.\u2019 We cannot know Brahman \nfully and truly unless we partake of its essence, become one with it. . . . Brah\u00ac \nman, which symbolizes the absolute reality, means also holy knowledge, in\u00ac \ntuitive wisdom. Intuitive wisdom becomes personified as the first principle of \nthe universe. He who knows it knows the essence of the cosmos. . . . The \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n375 \n\n\ngeneral tendency of Hindu and Buddhist thought is to take hold of the aspira\u00ac \ntion of the human soul after a higher life, and treat this fact as the key to the \ninterpretation of the universe\u201d (pp. 127-129). \n\nThe student of Theosophy will find much valuable material in these pages. \nDr. Radhakrishnan deserves recognition and respect for his erudition and \nlucidity, for his discernment of what is of universal significance in the Indian \nscriptures, for his understanding of the profound analogies between the reli\u00ac \ngions of the Orient and the religion of Christ. Above all, one is grateful for his \nillustration of a tolerant spirit. It is unfortunate that his tolerance is not \nsufficiently large to embrace Theosophy which he includes among other \u2018\u2018crude \nand amazing cults\u201d (p. 52). Possibly his excuse is that he has only heard of \nTheosophy in connection with the travesty of it which has had so much pub\u00ac \nlicity in India. In any case, we can assure him that Theosophy is not a cult, \nmuch less a crude and amazing one. \n\nIt is really tragic that a book with so many excellent qualities should be \nmarred by a few passages which reveal, in our opinion, a complete misunder\u00ac \nstanding of the character of the spiritual man. For example, he says: \u2018\u2018No \nman on earth has ever maintained spiritual poise all through his life. The \nJesus who declared that men must not resist evil if they are to become the \nsons of the Father who makes his sun shine upon good men and bad, . . . \nwas the same Jesus who cursed the fig-tree and drove the tradesmen from the \ntemple\u201d (pp. 113-114). In other words, while Jesus did not resist his personal \nenemies, he did not hesitate to declare war against his Father\u2019s enemies. What \nis the paradox? We wonder what Dr. Radhakrishnan has to say concerning the \nsimilar martial proclivities of the Avatars of Vishnu, Rama and Krishna. This \npacifist view of spirituality is not that of the Rishis; it reminds one painfully of \nGandhi and his swaraj. One ventures to suggest that it is not the least of the \ncauses of India\u2019s present degradation. \n\nHow did this pacifism come into being? Perhaps, the long supremacy of \nthe priestly Brahmans has much to do with it. In any event, it is closely asso\u00ac \nciated with the cult of \u201cinaction\u201d which is so vigorously condemned by the \nBhagavad Gita (Chapter III). Also it has flourished in conjunction with a \ndelusion, prevalent for many centuries in India, that it is possible to leap to \nthe Absolute in one bound. Nothing is quite so futile as to try to behave like \nthe Absolute, before we have learned to behave like men. S. L. \n\n\nThe Buddha and the Christ: An Exploration of the Meaning and of the Purpose \nof Human Life; the Bampton Lectures of 1932; by Canon Burnett Hillman \nStreeter; The Macmillan Company, 1933; price, S2.50. \n\nThe primary value of this volume lies in the fact that a man of the eminence \nof Canon Streeter in the Anglican Church should actually have been commis\u00ac \nsioned to deliver the Bampton lecture on such a topic. An avowed student \nsince 1913 of \u201cComparative Religion\u201d, Canon Streeter, on his appointment as \nBampton lecturer, made a special and extended tour of Japanese religious and \n\n\n\n376 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nuniversity centres, discussing Buddhism with the heads of various Buddhist \nsects, studying their scriptures, witnessing the life lived by differing types of \nadherents to Buddhism, lecturing to learned Buddhist audiences as a Christian \napologist, and receiving their return criticism in friendly controversy. This \nspecial study followed an equally intense survey of the most recent scientific \ntheories of life, its meaning and purpose, as popularized by Jeans, Eddington, \nEinstein, Balfour, Thomson and others,\u2014a study which bore fruit in a recent \nvolume, Reality , which attempted to show that \u201cScience and Religion are two \nparallel avenues to a knowledge of Ultimate Reality\u201d. As a result of this earlier \nvolume, Canon Streeter tells us he realized that \u201cReligion\u201d could not safely \nbe limited to Christianity; so he had undertaken an investigation of the other \ngreat world religion, Buddhism. \n\nThis volume, therefore, explores the meaning and purpose of human life in \nthree comprehensive sets of terms,\u2014Christian, Buddhist, and modem scientific. \nTo the student of Theosophy, the outcome is a very curious book. The same \nground has been covered in our literature, time and again. The problems raised \nare familiar. As one reads, one is met with a tolerant spirit, sympathy, occa\u00ac \nsional humour, strong convictions temperately expressed, and much condensed \nthinking. The manifest effort throughout has been to seek out the truth, and \nthe method of approach has been in large measure the Theosophic Method. \nBut the net impression is singularly weak and inconclusive. One\u2019s interest in \nsuch themes as the meaning of Pain, or of Immortality, is aroused only to be \nleft suspended between the various solutions offered. The Christian, and even \nthe scientific position, are presented with more cogency than the Buddhist, as \nmight perhaps be expected; but one also feels that the author\u2019s fear of indulging \na Christian bias has robbed him of decisiveness. Moreover, exoteric, philo\u00ac \nsophic Buddhism no more represents the whole teaching of the Buddha than \nChristian theology to-day represents the heart and mystery of Christ\u2019s teaching \nand example. Of the latter, Canon Streeter appears to have at least intuitive \nrecognition; of an esoteric Buddhism, none at all. As one reads, one misses \nthe illuminating insight of Mr. Johnston\u2019s many expositions of Buddhism, \nbased on the teaching of Madame Blavatsky, to which readers of the Quar\u00ac \nterly have become accustomed. The conviction grows that no true synthesis, \nno \u201cExploration of the Meaning of the Universe and of the Purpose of Human \nLife\u201d can be successful without a grasp of certain fundamental principles\u2014 \nprinciples which are Theosophy. For example, Canon Streeter\u2019s criticisms and \nrejection of what he conceives to be the Buddhist teaching of Karma and Re\u00ac \nincarnation, and of Nirvana, hardly seem pertinent to what students of The\u00ac \nosophy understand by those terms\u2014so wide are they of the mark. Similarly, \nGnostic elements in Christianity are dismissed on the assumption that everyone \nagrees now-a-days that they are worthless philosophically. Again, he suggests \nthat Plato was too great an artist to commit himself specifically about after\u00ac \ndeath survival, and so cast his ideas avowedly in a \u201cmyth\u201d; and that Christ, \nlikewise, repeatedly used the purely poetic image of a \u201cMessianic Feast\u201d to \ncharacterize life in the next world. In effect, therefore, we are to suppose that \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n377 \n\n\nhowever great the religious or philosophical teacher, nobody really could , or \nin any case has , told us more about the mysteries of life than a highly educated \nand conscientious University don can discover by diligent reading and thought \nto-day. What does not meet with modern intellectual approval, is rejected, \neven though a Gautama or a Jesus taught it. \n\nAs a result of this attitude, the net impression of the book is unfortunate. \nThe best that Canon Streeter has to offer us in the way of a constructive sug\u00ac \ngestion is borrowed from Chinese and Japanese canons of art: \u201cThe primary \naim of art is not realistically correct representation but the communication of \na spiritual apprehension\u201d (p. 299). Buddha and Christ being great artists, \nlead us towards, communicate to us, a new \u201cspiritual apprehension\u201d. Science \ndefinitely fails us here, and, \u201cTo understand Reality these [art, poetry, music] \nmust be studied alongside of science\u201d (p. 298). So far so good; but when Canon \nStreeter tells us that supreme achievement in an art \u201cin the last resort is a \nmatter of flair \u201d and that \u201cthe same thing holds in the matter of morals\u201d (p. \n240),\u2014we wonder whether \u201cthe Purpose of Human Life\u201d is to produce men \nwith a flair for morals, or whether he realizes the implications of such a thesis \npropounded in these Freudian days. \n\nThe book as a whole may be regarded as a splendid advance over anything \nsimilar produced by the generation which called forth H. P. B.\u2019s Open Letter \nto the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is significant to find the Bampton Trus\u00ac \ntees inviting a lecturer, not merely to compare Buddhism and Christianity, \nwith whatever light science may throw added, but to do this looking specifically \ntowards a better restatement, or solution, of life\u2019s meaning and purpose, and \nto have found a Canon of the Church of England eager to undertake the task. \nBut the very effort is foredoomed to inadequacy until such time as theologians \nas well as scientists open their minds to the existence of the Wisdom Religion, \nand bend their energies to the assimilation of iis profound truths. Q. \n\n\nThe Other Spanish Christ , by John A. Mackay; The Macmillan Company, \nNew York; price, $2.50. \n\nMost North Americans are inclined to forget entirely the whole continent \nof South America. Dr. Mackay\u2019s book will not only make them aware of its \nintense life and enormous possibilities, but will arouse in them questionings \nas to their own problems and preoccupations. It is a most interesting work, \nfull of information and ideas, and written with a profound religious under\u00ac \nstanding and broad tolerance. \n\nDr. Mackay first discusses the Spanish character and the religious ideas \npeculiar to the Iberian temperament. He then takes up the history of these \nideas in the Latin American countries south of the Isthmus of Panama, leaving \naside Mexico because its religious history and anti-clerical struggles require a \nvolume to themselves. \n\nThe Iberian temperament will always be a fascinating study, and to those \n\n\n\n378 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nwho love it, a source of pride and sadness and of a hope that its great potentialities \nmay some day develop into a purified power. The history of the Conquest is \nfull of extraordinary paradoxes and contrasts. The Conquistadores managed \nto combine blind religious dogmatism with an unbounded lust for gold and \nruthless cruelty. The banner of Spain still bears the colours of blood and gold, \nsangre y oro. Yet, along with them went men with a spirit of heroic charity \nand self-immolation. Pizarro and Las Casas! \n\nRicardo Rojas, in El Cristo Invisible , says that only in the sixteenth century \ndid the fourth of the Magi reach Bethlehem. Dr. Mackay remarks, \u201cThe \ncopper-coloured king came to Bethlehem, but it would seem as if, unlike the \nthree visitors from the East, it was the Virgin Mother who impressed him most. \nAt least he adopted the \u2018young child and his mother\u2019, and adapted him to his \nprimitive pagan taste.\u201d He continues farther on: \u201cBut however much over\u00ac \nshadowed by His Mother, Christ, too, came to America. Journeying from \nBethlehem and Calvary, He passed through Africa and Spain on His long \nwestward journey to the pampas and cordilleras. And yet, was it really He who \ncame or another religious figure with His name and some of His marks?- Me- \nthinks the Christ, as He sojourned westward, went to prison in Spain, while \nanother who took His name embarked with the Spanish crusaders for the New \nWorld, a Christ who was not bom in Bethlehem but in North Africa. This \nChrist became naturalized in the Iberian colonies of America, while Mary\u2019s \nSon and Lord has been little else than a stranger and sojourner in these lands \nfrom Columbus\u2019s day to this.\u201d \n\nAnd what is the nature of this Christ \u201cbom in Tangiers\u201d? He is either an \ninfant in arms whom one can patronize, or he is dead. \n\n\u201cIn Spanish religion Christ has been the centre of a cult of death. And yet, \nparadoxically enough, it was the passion for fleshly life and immortality that \ncreated this interest in death.* The dead Christ is an expiatory victim. The \ndetails of His earthly life are of slight importance and make relatively small \nappeal. He is regarded as a purely supernatural being, whose humanity, being \nonly apparent, has little ethical bearing upon ours. This docetic Christ died \nas the victim of human hate, and in order to bestow immortality, that is to \nsay, a continuation of the present earthly, fleshly existence. The contempla\u00ac \ntion of His passion produces a sort of catharsis, as Aristotle would say, in the \nsoul of the worshipper, just as in the bull-fight, an analogous creation of the \nSpanish spirit, the Spaniard sees and feels death in all its dread reality in the \nfate of a victim. The total sensation intensifies his sense of the reality and \nterribleness of death; it increases his passion for life, and, in the religious realm, \nmakes him cling desperately and tragically to the dead Victim that died to give \nhim immortality. \n\n\u201cThe Spanish religious passion for life has not, however, aimed at life in the \nqualitative Johannine sense; it has been a craving not for regeneration, but for \nimmortality, for \u2018total immortality in its vilest and sublimest meaning\u2019. Its \nsupreme dread has thus been death not sin.\u201d \n\nHe quotes a tragic and terrible passage from Miguel de Unamuno describing \n\n\nREVIEWS \n\n\n379 \n\n\nthe Dead Christ of Palencia, which ends with the cry, \u201cAnd Thou, Christ of \nHeaven, redeem us from the Christ of earth\u201d. \n\nFor there is \u201cThe Other Spanish Christ\u201d, the Christ of the great Spanish \nmystics, the Christ upon the Cross of Velasquez. He is the Living Christ. \n\u201cHenceforth the love of Christ will be the compelling motive of his life and not \nthe hope of reward or the fear of punishment, either in this life or in the life to \ncome. Religion is here a quality of life and not the simple prolongation of \nexistence. It is the passionate response of love and not a sordid appeal for \nthings. . . . Christ is for him our Life, our new, eternal life. He does not \nimmortalize life as it is, but transforms it into what life should be. The evi\u00ac \ndence, moreover, that we shall never die is not that we believe in our immor\u00ac \ntality but that we love.\u201d \n\nDr. Mackay proceeds to find the influences of this Other Spanish Christ, first \nin Spain and then in Latin America. Unfortunately, the Monarchy in Spain \nwas too bound up with the church, and sincerely religious people have been \nunable to dissociate the principle of kingship from the abuses of the curia. Dr. \nMackay is one of them. His rejoicings over the new-born Republic strike one \nwith consternation, and they are doomed, we fancy, to fade out before the \nreality if it be viewed without sentimentality. His chapters on new spiritual \ncurrents in South America are intensely interesting. He describes these move\u00ac \nments, Catholic, Protestant or social, with great detachment and impartiality. \nAmong these movements he discusses the influence of \u201cTheosophy\u201d. Unfor\u00ac \ntunately, Dr. Mackay knows nothing of the real Theosophy but judges it, as \ndoes Count Keyserling, whom he quotes at great length, by its travesty at \nAdyar. He seems to derive his information about Madame Blavatsky from a \nbook by Dr. J. N. Farquhar where she is described as \u201cunsavoury\u201d and an \nimpostor. When we see him place reliance upon such a source without real in\u00ac \nvestigation of the facts, we become doubtful of the correctness of his other \nstatements. Judging, however, by his evident desire to be impartial and \ncharitable, we feel that Dr. Mackay would be willing to be corrected in this \ninstance. Apart from these points on which we must disagree with him abso\u00ac \nlutely, his book is profoundly interesting and suggestive. We cannot but wish \nthat Dr. Mackay might become aware that it is in Theosophy that the teaching \nof a Living Christ, of Living Masters, is to be found. St. C. LaD. \n\n\nOne purpose of reading is to make us keenly aware of what had been dim per\u00ac \nceptions .\u2014 Commonplace Book. \n\n\n\n\nQuestion No. 377. \u2014The Theosophist believes that there is no such thing as chance, and that all \nhappenings are dictated by some need of the soul . How can this be expressed in the case of the \nsorrmv of another without seeming detached and unsympathetic? \n\nAnswer. \u2014There are many kinds and degrees of sympathy, as many kinds, perhaps, as there \nare people; for the power to give true sympathy, and equally, it may be added, the ability and \nwill to receive it, are without limit. The need of every soul is different; the expression of our \nsympathy for the troubles of a child (whether that child be five years old or fifty) would not \nbe the same as when we were wishing to share the sorrows of a grown man or woman. True \nsympathy, however, does not lie in the outer expression, but in the inner understanding of \nthat which is at the root of the sorrow of another\u2014whether that understanding be flattering \nto the sufferer\u2019s lower nature, or the reverse, for, in the last analysis, our sufferings are too often \nwholly self-made. Therefore, in the profoundest sense, such sympathy is a matter of the \nheart. During some sorrow\u2019 of our own, we must all have recognized the difference between a \nfriend who sincerely and with genuine kindliness says, and perhaps mistakenly does a great \ndeal, and one who says almost nothing, and w\u2019ho seems to do little, but who, as we know in \nevery part of us, really understands, and upon whose love and loyalty we know we can depend \nto the death. When a friend has this kind of sympathy, it is a living thing , and we sense it as \nwe do all really living things, knowing that however great the detachment may appear, how\u00ac \never outwardly remote our friend may seem, soul is speaking to soul. But for this silent, \nformless sympathy to do its w\u2019ork, it must be truly alive. \n\nSo it is usually our ow\u2019n fault, and due entirely to our own limitations, if we convey the impres\u00ac \nsion that we are \u201cdetached\u201d in the cruder sense, or unsympathetic toward the sorrow of another. \n\nT. A. \n\nAnswer. \u2014Why should we appear detached and unsympathetic? We must take people \nas we find them, speak to their needs on the plane on which they are. On that plane, their \nsorrow is real to them, and our hearts may, perhaps, instinctively go out to them in sympathy, \nespecially if by chance we are able ourselves to see something of the probable purpose and mean\u00ac \ning of their sorrow, and realize that they do not. We win them, we draw them, through our \nsympathy, which, being real, enables us, perhaps, to say at the time some simple thing in their \nown terms, arresting their attention, and affording something of consolation or hope which \nthey can grasp at the point at which they are. If they are left with a feeling of sympathetic \nunderstanding on our part, the way may be clear for us later to impart gradually to them some\u00ac \nthing of a real comprehension of what has happened, and of the reasons for it; but we must \nreach them, gradually, through sympathy. There is nothing whatever to be gained by telling \nsome one plunged in grief that everything is all right really, and explaining just why, and all \nabout it: quite the contrary. C. R. A. \n\nQuestion No. 378. \u2014We are told that matter as we know it is not matter, but merely a reflection , \nreal matter being invisible to us. I do not understand. \n\nAnswer. \u2014The Ancient Wisdom tells us that the visible universe is embodied consciousness, \n\n380 \n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 381 \n\na reflection of Reality. The Ancient Wisdom also tells us, however, that \u201cmatter\u201d, or its \nequivalent, exists on every plane of manifestation, growing denser and farther away from \nReality as it descends in the scale of life, but that the \u201ceyes\u201d with which to \u201csee\u201d it, must also \nexist on every plane. Every student of Theosophy knows that man, a small universe in himself, \nis composed of seven principles or \u201csheaths\u201d; that the real is not the physical man with whom \nhe may daily converse; that, on the contrary, his real friend is the invisible soul, the spirit \nliving within the outer, visible vehicle. He cannot see in actual form or substance the soul \nor spirit of his friend, but he may see these reflected in the face of his friend when he smiles, \nor hear them in his friend\u2019s spoken thoughts. And after all, how much there is, even on the \npurely physical plane, that we cannot see, yet which we know is there. We see a \u201csolid\u201d \nstone, but we cannot see unassisted, the infinitesimally fine, whirling particles\u2014the molecules \nand atoms\u2014of which it is composed. We watch a small rainbow move slowly across our wall, \nand we know that it is there because a shaft of light is falling on the bevelled edge of our \nmirror on the other side of the room, and that the rainbow moves along its tiny course because \nthe earth is revolving around the sun, and the sun itself is moving onward in its eternal ways; \nbut can we actually see the sun and the earth moving, or the particles as they are split up in \nthat ray of light, save in the result \u2014the little rainbow? \n\n\u201cEyesight\u201d on all planes must not only be developed but also perfected. We could not \nactually see a Master with our ordinary eyesight, unless he were manifesting on the physical \nplane, yet some stirring of our inner senses (a dawning inner sight\u2014embryonic sight on a higher \nplane) might convince us that that Master was close at hand. In Light on the Path we are told \nthat an Adept might live in the same house with us without our recognizing him for what he \nwas\u2014an Adept. Our outer eyes would see the physical man, the vehicle; it would need inner \neyes to see and recognize the Adept. So it is with \u201cmatter\u201d. What we now see is the vehicle, \nthe reflection of the Reality within; when we begin to develop inner eyesight, we shall begin to \nperceive something more akin to real \u201cmatter\u201d. T. A. \n\nAnswer. \u2014The querent\u2019s difficulty in understanding is at least reasonable, because it would \nseem as if the whole of manifestation were directed to the end of enabling us finally to under\u00ac \nstand just this truth. It must, therefore, be both difficult to learn, because, so to speak, it \nrequires such an outlay, and also immensely worth while. A series of essays in the October, \n1929, Quarterly under the title \u201cWhy I believe this to be a Shadow World\u201d, offered six \npertinent attempts to answer it. A generation or two ago, physicists defined \u201cmatter\u201d in terms \nof the primitive stuff we contact in everyday life; but the logic of their own experiments with \nearth, stone and metal, brought them to realize that these things were but tangible and sensible \nsemblances of inner, mobile forces. Change the force, and you changed the semblance, or the \n\u201cmatter\u201d. With the earlier limitations of their instruments for experimentation refined almost \nbeyond belief, the modem physicists still cannot penetrate behind the veil of matter, or within \nits refined forms to the essence that lies behind its outer expression. We are told that only a \ntrained occultist can see the \u201creal matter\u201d\u2014the substratum or essence that lies behind so many \nmanifested forms. And such a trained occultist seems to indicate to us that all matter, in\u00ac \ncluding \u201creal\u201d matter, is but a passing form in the periodic manifestation of spirit, which dis\u00ac \nappears during Pralaya. Wherever one begins, therefore, in the scale or hierarchy of evolution \n\u2014with stones, or thought-substance, or what not\u2014that plane is but a reflection of something \nhigher. Contemplation, or experience, of the Universe itself, moreover, forces us back and back, \nuntil we reach \u201cGod, who is our home\u201d. Q. \n\n\n\nNOTICE OF CONVENTION \nThe Theosophical Society \n\n\nTo the Branches of The Theosophical Society: \n\n1. The Annual Convention of The Theosophical Society will be held at 64 Washington \nMews, New York, on Saturday, April 29th, 1933, beginning at 10: 30 a. m. \n\n2. Branches unable to send delegates to the Convention are requested to send proxies. \nThese may be made out to the Secretary T. S., or to any officer or member of the Society \nwho is resident in New York or is to attend the Convention. These proxies should state \nthe number of members in good standing in the Branch. \n\n3. Branch Secretaries kre asked to send their annual reports to the Secretary T. S. These \nreports should cover the significant features of the year\u2019s work and should be accompanied \nby a complete list of officers and members, with the full name and address of each; also a \nstatement of the number of members gained or lost during the year; also a record of the place \nand time of Branch meetings. These reports should reach the Secretary T. S. by April 1st. \n\n4. Members-at-large are invited to attend the Convention sessions; and all Branch mem\u00ac \nbers, whether delegates or not, will be welcome. \n\n5. Following the custom of former years, the sessions of the Convention will begin at 10; 30 \na. m. and 2; 30 p. m. \n\n6. On Sunday, April 30th, at 4: 30 p. m., tea will be served at 64 Washington Mews, to \ndelegates, members, and their friends. \n\nIsabel E. Perkins, \n\nSecretary , The Theosophical Society , \n\n_ t P- O. Box 64, Station 0 , New York, N. Y. \n\nFebruary 21st, 1933. \n\n\nNOTICE OF MEETINGS \n\nThe regular meetings of the New York Branch of The Theosophical Society are held on \nalternate Saturday evenings, at 64 Washington Mews, which runs from the east side of Fifth \nAvenue, midway between Eighth Street and Washington Square, North. No. 64 is the first \nstudio east of Fifth Avenue, on the north side of the Mews. The meetings begin at half-past \neight, and close at ten o clock. There are meetings on,\u2014 \n\nApril 8th and 22nd. \n\nMeetings after Convention to be announced later. \n\nOut-of-town members of the Society are invited to attend these meetings whenever they \nare in New York. Visitors who may be interested in Theosophy are always welcome. 7 \n\n382 \n\n\nINDEX TO VOLUME XXX \n\n\nBergson\u2019s View of Mysticism; Stanley V. LaDow . 108 \n\nMadame Blavatsky\u2019s Forbears; Charles Johnston . 12 \n\nCave .11, 107, 205, 300 \n\nChuang-Tze, II; Stanley V. LaDow . 17 \n\nConvention 1922; K (Reprint). 56 \n\n7 . C . 344 \n\nDescartes and the Eastern Wisdom; Stanley V. LaDow . 213 \n\nDiscernment; 5 . 3 2 3 \n\nDudley , Stuart . 260 \n\nFascism; J. C . 344 \n\nFragments; Cav 6 .11, 107, 205, 300 \n\nE.T. H .27, 122, 206 \n\nJohnston , Charles . 12 \n\nJudge , W.Q .27, 122, 206 \n\nKarma and Battle; Stuart Dudley . 260 \n\nG.M.W.K .148, 352 \n\nLaDow , Stanley V .17, 108, 213, 333 \n\nLetters from W. Q. Judge, V, VI, VII; E. T. H .27, 122, 206 \n\nMahayana Buddhism, I; Stanley V. LaDow . 333 \n\nMaterial Wealth and Celestial Economics; Qucesitor . 241 \n\nMaxims of Rend Quinton, The; G.M.W.K . 148 \n\nMeditation, A; B.A.R . 258 \n\nMitchell , J.F.B .130, 220 \n\nMyths of Plato, The; L. S . 238 \n\n\nNotes and Comments.5, 99, 195, 291 \n\nA Deluded Cock and a Very False Dawn; \u201cBrave New World\u2019\u2019; \u201cA \nNew Education for a New Time\u201d (5). Is There Purpose In Evolution?; \n\nThe Universality of Life; The Biochemical and the Biopsychical; The \nScience of Consciousness; The Interpretation of Dreams; The Evil \nEye; Physical and Spiritual Dynamics (99). Theosophy and Foreign \nMissions; An Advance Towards Religious Tolerance; The Illusion \nof Humanitarianism; A Model for Missionary Activity; Co-operation \nand Competition; When Nature Clashes with Economics; Economic \nPlanning; Economic Law and Moral Law (195). The Law of Analogy; \n\nThe Power of Imponderables; Imponderables in Biology; Units of Life \nand Units of Matter; Bacteria in Meteors; Aphanobionts; The Essen\u00ac \ntial Divinity of Matter (291). \n\nOn the Screen of Time; T .49, 170, 265, 355 \n\nOne Purpose of the Theosophical Society; J. F. B. M . 220 \n\nParable of the Persian Beggar, The; M . 119 \n\nPath of Beauty, The; Sauvage . 317 \n\nPsychoanalysis; L.S.W . 135 \n\nQucesitor . 241 \n\nQuestions and Answers. 95, 190, 287, 380 \n\nReprint: Convention 1922; K . 56 \n\nResponse to the Theosophical Appeal, A; G. M.W. K . 352 \n\n\nReviews: \n\nAncient Beliefs in the Immortality of the Soul; Clifford Herschel Moore 280 \n\n383 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3^4 \n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY \n\n\nAncients Civilizations of the Andes; Philip Ainsworth Means . \n\nAngelus Silesius; trans. by J. E. Crawford Flitch . \n\nL\u2019Art Religieux apr&s le Concile de Trente; Emile Mdle . \n\nBeginnings of Man, The; E. 0 . James . \n\nBlack Elk Speaks; transcribed by John Neihardt . \n\nBlessed Spinoza; Lewis Browne . \n\nBuddha and the Christ, The; Canon Burnett Hillman Streeter . \n\nEdmund Burke; Rev. Robert H. Murray , Litt.D . \n\nCosmic Problems; J. S. Mackenzie . \n\nCrusade for the Anemone; Princess Marthe Bibesco . \n\nDante: The Divine Comedy; Arthur H. Norway , C. B . \n\nEarlier Religion of Greece, The; Sir Arthur Evans . \n\nFortune to Share, A; Vash Young. . \n\nFragments, Vol. I; Cav$ . \n\nGeneral Botany for Colleges; Dr. R. E. Torrey . \n\nGolden Sequence, The; Evelyn Underhill. .:... \n\nGreat Pyramid in Fact and in Theory, The; William Kingsland .... \n\nIdealist View of Life, An; 5. Radliakrishnan . \n\nIndian Monk, An: His Life and Adventures; Shri Purohit Swami .. . \n\nLand Locked Lake, The; Lt. Col. A. A. Hanbury-Sparrow . \n\nMeditations on the Gospels; Bishop Ottokar Prohaszka . \n\nMoral and Religious Aphorisms; Benjamin Whichcote . \n\nMystic Will, The; Howard Brinton . \n\nMysticism East and West; Rudolf Otto . \n\nLa Mythologie Asiatique Ulustrde; Librairie de France . \n\nNicholas of Cusa; Henry Bett . \n\nOrient in American Transcendentalism, The; Arthur Christy , Ph.D. . \n\nOther Spanish Christ, The; John A. Mackay . \n\nPeace Veterans; Roger Burlingame . \n\nPerson of Evolution, The; W. D. Lighthall , LL.D . \n\nPolitical Philosophy of Confucianism, The; Leonard Shihlien Hsii. . . \n\nSt. Augustine\u2019s Conversion; W. J. Sparrow Simpson , D.D . \n\nSamaritans of Molokai, The; Charles Dutton . \n\nSecret Fire, The; E. J. Langford Garstin . \n\nSecret of the Golden Flower, The; trans. by Richard Wilhelm . \n\nSpinoza, Liberator of God and Man; Benjamin De Casseres . \n\nTheurgy or the Hermetic Practice; E. J. Langford Garstin . \n\nThought Transference (or What?) in Birds; Edmund Selous . \n\nTongues of Fire; Grace H. Turnbull . \n\nVision of God, The; Rev. Kenneth E. Kirk . \n\nWar Memories; Princess Marie de Croy . \n\nWheel of Life, The; Rev. A. Henderson . \n\nWisdom of Egypt and the Old Testament, The; W. 0 . E. Oesterley , D.D. \n\nRichness of Life; J. F. B. Mitchell . \n\nB.A.R . \n\n\n93 \n\n280 \n\n282 \n\n278 \n\n182 \n\n283 \n\n375 \n\n181 \n\n183 \n\n369 \n\n188 \n\n279 \n\n184 \n\n94 \n88 \n\n284 \n\n370 \n374 \n\n281 \n\n367 \n\n185 \n\n89 \n\n186 \n186 \n286 \n\n183 \n\n372 \n\n377 \n\n184 \n\n94 \n\n181 \n\n286 \n\n93 \n\n183 \n\n88 \n\n283 \n\n183 \n\n93 \n\n188 \n\n90 \n\n282 \n188 \n282 \n\n130 \n\n258 \n\n\nSauvage \n\n\ni54, 3i7 \n\n\nL.S . \n\nTrees; Sauvage . \n\nT . \n\nVolunteer . \n\nWar Memories, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX; Volunteer \nL.S.W . \n\n\n. 238 \n\n. i 54 \n\n49 * 170* 265, 355 \n39 * 159 * 225, 301 \n39* 159* 225, 301 \n. 135 \n\n\n\nSTANDARD BOOKS \n\n\nBlavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled. Vow. I and II.\"\u00ab \n\nComplete in one book.cloth, 7.5o \n\nKey to Theosophy . doth . 2 - 26 \n\nSecret Doctrine, The, Vols. I and II and Index.. -doth, 10.00 \n\nComplete in one book, without subject-index volume, 7 *50 \n\nTheosophical Glossary .doth, 2.25 \n\nTransactions of the Blavatsky Lodge .doth. 2.50 \n\nVoice of the Silence .fabric, 1.00 \n\nGave. Fragments, Volume I. boards, 1.50 \n\nVolume II. boaraa, 1.50 \n\nVolume III. boarda, 1.50 \n\nGerard, John, Letters to Friends .boards, 1.75 \n\nHillard, Katherine. Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine, .doth, 3.00 \nJohnston, Charles. Bhagavad Gita .Translated, amiotet^j^do^ 1.25 \n\nCrest Jewel of Wisdom, The .doth, 1.25 \n\nGreat Upanishads, The, Volume I . doth, 1.50 \n\nParables of the Kingdom, The .paper, .bo \n\nPATANJALI\u2019S Yoga Sutras .Translated, annotated; doth, 1.26 \n\nSong of Life, The .paper, .75 \n\nJudge, William Q. Bhagavad Gita .Edited; doth, 1.25; leather, 1.50 \n\nEchoes from the Orient .paper, .25 \n\nLetters That Have Helped Me, Volume I and II, each, .cloth, 1.00 \n\nOcean of Theosophy .doth, 1.00 \n\nPatanjali\u2019s Yoga Aphorisms .doth, 1.00 \n\nKeightley, Archibald. Theosophy as an Influence in Life paper, .20 \n\nLaDow, Stanley V. Plotinus ...paper, .50 \n\nMitchell, Henry Bedinger. Meditation, Special edition, .20 1 paper, . 5 \u00ab \n\nTalks on Religion . doth, 1.5c \n\nTheosophical Society and Theosophy, The .paper, .2c \n\nSinnett, A. P. Esoteric Buddhism .doth, 2.5c \n\nOccult World, The .doth, 2.51 \n\nWalker, E. D. Reincarnation . doth, 1.71 \n\nIdyll of the White Lotus. doth, 1 . 3 ? \n\nLight on the Path.doth, .75 \n\nThrough the Gates of Gold.doth, i.a< \n\nTHE QUARTERLY BOOK DEPARTMENT, \n\nP. O. Box 64, Station O, New York. \n\n\nDbvotional: Bhagavad Gita: Crest Jewel of Wisdom; Fragments: The Great Upani- \nshads; Letters That Have Helped Me; Utters to Friends; Light on the Path; The Par\u00ac \nables of the Kingdom; The Song of Life; Through the Gates of Gold; Voice of the Silence. \n\nPhilosophical: Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine: Isis Unveiled; Key to Theosophy; \nPlotinus: Reincarnation; The Secret Doctrine; Talks on Religion; Theosophical Glossary \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFounded by 1$. P. Blavatsky at Hew Vork in 1875 \n\n\nHE Society does not pretend to be able to establish \nat once a universal brotherhood among: men, but \nonly strives to create the nucleus of such a body* \nMany of its members believe that an acquaintance \n\n\nwith the world's religions and philosophies will \nreveal# as the common and fundamental principle \nunderlying these# that \u201cspiritual identity of all Souls with the \nOversoul 99 which is the basis of true brotherhood l and many \nof them also believe that an appreciation of the finer forces \nof nature and man will still further emphasize the same idea* \nThe organization is wholly unsectarian# with no creed# \ndogma# nor personal authority to enforce or impose; neither \nis it to be held responsible for the opinions of its members# \nwho are expected to accord to the beliefs of others that \ntolerance which they desire for their own* \n\nThe following proclamation was adopted at the Conven* \ntion of the Society* held at Boston# April# 1595: \n\n\u201cThe Theosophical Society in America by its delegatesand \nmembers in Convention assembled# does hereby proclaim \nfraternal good will and kindly feeling toward all students of \nTheosophy and members of Theosophical Societieswherever \nand however situated* It further proclaims and avers its \nhearty sympathy and association with such persons and \norganizations in all theosophical matters except those of \ngovernment and administration# and invites their cor\u00ac \nrespondence and co-operation* \n\n\u201cTo all men and women of whatever caste# creed* race# or \nreligious belief# who aim at the fosteringof peace, gentleness# \nand unselfish regard one for another# and the acquisition of \nsuch knowledge of men and nature as shall tend to the eleva\u00ac \ntion and advancement of the human race# it sends most friendly \ngreeting and freely proffers its services. \n\n\u201cIt joins hands with all religions and religious bodies whose \nefforts are directed to the purification of men's thoughts and \nthe bettering of their ways* and it avows its harmony there\u00ac \nwith* To all scientific societies and individual searchers after \nwisdom upon whatever plane# and by whatever righteous \nmeans pursued# it is and will be grateful for such discovery \nand unfoldment of Truth as shall serve to announce and con\u00ac \nfirm a scientific basis for ethics \u2666 \n\n\u201cAnd lastly* it invites to its membership those who, seek- \nin# a hifcher^Iife hereafter, would learn to know the path to \n\n\nApplications for membership should be addressed to the \nSecretary T. S., P. O. Box 64, Station O, New York.","title":"The theosophical quarterly. Vol. 30 1932","tradition":"Theosophy","translated_text":null,"word_count":223267}