{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_57667/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_57667","id":"gutenberg_57667","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57667","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Theosophy","Theosophy -- Study and teaching"],"text":"Produced by Donald Cummings, Bryan Ness and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Changing World and Lectures to Theosophical Students\n\n\n\n\n                           The Changing World\n                                   and\n                        Lectures to Theosophical\n                                Students\n\n               Fifteen Lectures delivered in London during\n                        May, June, and July 1909\n\n                                   by\n                              Annie Besant\n\n                  President of the Theosophical Society\n\n                              Chicago, Ill.\n                      The Theosophical Book Concern\n                      Room 426, 26 Van Buren Street\n\n            London, Eng.: The Theosophical Publishing Society\n                                  1910\n\n\n\n\n    _5000 printed August 1909_\n    _2500    \u201d    April 1910_\n    _2000    \u201d    November 1910_\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n                                 PART I\n\n                         LECTURES TO THE PUBLIC\n\n                          _THE CHANGING WORLD_\n\n    LECT.                                                         PAGE\n\n    1. THE DEADLOCK IN RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ART                    1\n\n    2. THE DEADLOCK IN SOCIAL CONDITIONS: LUXURY AND WANT FACE\n       TO FACE                                                      25\n\n    3. THE NEW DOORS OPENING IN RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ART          47\n\n    4. BROTHERHOOD APPLIED TO SOCIAL CONDITIONS                     75\n\n    5. THE COMING RACE                                             103\n\n    6. THE COMING CHRIST                                           132\n\n    7. THE LARGER CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS VALUE                      155\n\n    8. THE PLACE OF THEOSOPHY IN THE COMING CIVILISATION           183\n\n                                 PART II\n\n                    LECTURES TO THEOSOPHICAL STUDENTS\n\n\n    1. THE SIXTH SUB-RACE                                          209\n\n    2. THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE                                        226\n\n    3. THE CATHOLIC AND PURITAN SPIRIT IN THE THEOSOPHICAL\n       SOCIETY: THE VALUE AND DANGER OF EACH                       245\n\n    4. THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE                                        262\n\n    5. ADDRESS ON WHITE LOTUS DAY, 1909                            279\n\n    6. THE NATURE OF THE CHRIST                                    297\n\n    7. THE THEOSOPHICAL STUDENT IN FACE OF REVELATION,\n       INSPIRATION, AND OBSERVATION                                317\n\n\n\n\nPart I\n\nLectures to the Public\n\nThe Changing World\n\n\n\n\nLecture I\n\nThe Deadlock in Religion, Science, and Art\n\n\nFriends: if you stand on the seashore when the tide is flowing inwards,\nand if you watch the waves as they ripple up, one after another, each\ncoming a little further than its predecessor, each in turn breaking and\nmaking way for its follower\u2014in the inflowing tide you have a picture of\nthe evolving races of mankind. And if you watch the method of the flow,\nyou will notice that that which is the most prominent at the moment\nis not the one which creeps furthest up the sands. The wave which is\nbreaking into foam, which is rippling over the pebbles, which throws\nup the broken water, which falls back on to the land and makes music,\nsound, melody as it breaks\u2014that is the wave which is nearly over; it\nis the wave whose course is run. But if you watch you will notice that\nwhile your attention was caught by the noise of the breaking wave, by the\nfoam of the billow that was almost over, silently, imperceptibly almost,\nvisible only to the eye that watches, another wave is rising behind it,\nsilently, without break, without noise, without attracting attention;\nbut the wave that is rising silently behind the breaker\u2014that is the wave\nwhich will follow on the billow that has broken, and will run further up\nthe sands than the breaking wave had gone.\n\nIn that familiar picture, which every child who has gone to the seaside\nknows so well, is a figure of the great tide of evolution, in which races\nare waves and the ocean humanity itself. And each great wave\u2014the great\nwave that comes at intervals\u2014is a race, and the smaller waves that come\nbetween are the sub-races which the race bears. Just as with the water,\nso with humanity: as one sub-wave is breaking, having reached its highest\npoint, another is rising silently behind it, which shall rule the world\nwhen the breaking wave has spent its force. Then, from time to time, to\nthose who have eyes to see, on the crest of the breaking wave appears the\nmighty angel that we call the Spirit of the Age, and his feet are on the\nwave, and his locks mingle with the rays of the sun, and he cries out in\na voice of thunder: Behold I make a new heaven and a new earth in which\nrighteousness shall dwell.\n\nIn such a day, in such a time, we of the present age are living. The wave\nof the sub-race to which we all belong, or nearly all of us, _that_ is\nbreaking on the shore of time; the wave behind it of the race that shall\nbe, to whom the new heaven and the new earth shall be a habitation\u2014_that_\nis the race which is coming to the birth, which, in its turn, shall\nrule this changing earth. For many and many a century, nay, even for\nmillennia, the slow course of evolution goes on quietly without much\nobservation, and then suddenly comes a change\u2014a change of a dying and\na birthing race, a transition stage, a transition age in which all\nmovement is rapid, in which catastrophes are frequent, in which sudden\nchanges make themselves felt, in which men grow in a year more than their\nforefathers grew perhaps in a century. In such a transition age again\nthe world is standing at the present time. Behind us, the long centuries\nthrough which the great Aryan race has been sending out wave after wave\nof humanity in successive billows, sweeping over Asia and over Europe,\none after another rising, growing, ruling, and then passing to its fall.\nDuring all the time of a sub-race, the world rolls down what have been\ncalled the grooves of change, steadily, quietly, without much of jolt or\nof trouble; the wheels running fairly smoothly, continuously, with little\nof shock. And then, again, the time comes when a new sub-race must be\nborn, when another shall succeed and the old shall pass away.\n\nIf you look around you now, on every side you will see the signs of a\nclosing age; thoughts which have reached a point beyond which they cannot\ncontinue on the old lines and in the old methods, that which I have\ncalled a deadlock; in all the most important departments of human thought\nand human activity, rapid, extraordinarily rapid, growth. The changes\nwhich the elder amongst us have seen are marvellous exceedingly, change\nsucceeding change, and each change greater than the one before it, until\nthe whole of society seems to be rushing onwards swiftly without a pause,\nand men wonder what the next thought will be, what the next development\nwill forebode.\n\nIt is not, of course, for the first time in human history that such a\nperiod as this has come upon the world. Look back to the time when the\nsub-race preceding the Teutonic was at the zenith of its power, and see\nthen how troubled were the minds of men. It was the time that was marked\nby the birth of Him who is known in western lands as the Christ\u2014a period\nof swift transition like our own, of marked and sudden changes. And if to\nthe people of that day you had said, as I am now saying to you: \u201cYou are\nin one of the great transition periods of the world\u2019s history; the race\nthat is dominant and imperial is really reaching its zenith, and after\nthe zenith comes the slow descent, inevitable, sure\u201d; if you had said to\nthe people of the time that among them would come a mighty Teacher who\nshould revolutionise the future world and change the very foundations of\ncivilisation; who should change the type of religion for the foremost\nraces of the world; who should lift up a different ethical code, and\nmake that virtuous which before had been despised, and that which had\nbeen looked down upon the topmost crown of saintship\u2014if to the people of\nthat day you had spoken such words, they would have laughed at you as\ndreamer or threatened you as madman. For why should the world change on\nits appointed ways, and why should the feet of the world seek to tread\nnew and untrodden paths? And yet there were many who felt a change was\ncoming; yet there were prophets and seers who spoke of a coming kingdom\nand a coming Teacher, and changes which should alter the face of the\nworld. Of little use to look back to those far-off times if you repeat in\nyour own day the blindness of the people then; for surely in these two\nthousand years men should have learned something more of wisdom, their\neyes should have gained something more of insight, and the signs of a\nclosing age should be more palpable to them than in the days of their\nforerunners in the closing age of Rome.\n\nEven at that time a future was spoken of where changes should again\noccur, where a great Teacher should again appear, where a new age should\nbe born, a new heaven and a new earth should be seen. It is in that next\ntransition age, then, that you and I are standing; and although many\nof you may say, as they would have said of old, that I am a dreamer or\nam mad, none the less will I strive to tell you this evening, and the\nSundays that follow, something of the signs by which you may judge for\nyourselves whether a great change is not coming over the world, whether\nthere is not coming a new kingdom and a mighty Teacher, whether in our\ndays again, as in the days of the past, the world is not to take on a new\nform and a nobler type of humanity to live and rule on earth, for many\nare the signs of the age that is closing, and many the signs also of the\nday that is dawning upon earth. In this and in the following lecture we\nshall be dealing with the dying, not the race which is to be born; and if\nin some ways, therefore, these two lectures may seem a little gloomy or\na little grey, then I would remind you that the night must come before\nthe dawn, and the greyness of the sky before the sunrising. If we can see\nbehind the greyness the first faint gleams of the rose-tipped fingers\nof the dawn, ah! then we need not mind that the night is still with us,\nfor the night is closing, and we, the children of the day, shall see the\nrising of the sun.\n\nI have taken for this evening three great departments of human\nthought\u2014Religion, Science, Art; and our task now is to see whether,\nlooking over the world of religion, of science, and of art, we can find\nthat the old methods have carried us as far as we can go, that they are\nbreaking in our hands, that we no longer can use them for opening up new\nvistas of thought and hope for man. On every side there is a feeling of\nuncertainty, a feeling, I might almost say, of distress; a questioning\nwhat is truth, what is reliable? where can we find some rock on which we\nmay put our feet amid all the buffeting of various opinions, of doubt,\nnay, of scepticism and unbelief?\n\n\nI.\u2014RELIGION.\n\nWhat is the position of the religious world to-day? First of all,\nthere have been working in it now for many long years certain forces\nundermining the religion of the time; and when I speak now of religion, I\nmean the religion of the West, for I am speaking in the West; although I\nmight show you that in other parts of the world as well the same forces\nare at work, though not quite so prominently, and have brought about\nthere to some extent the same results. Now, it is not from the mouth of\na Theosophist like myself that I would ask you to take the testimony as\nto the difficulties in which the religious world finds itself to-day, and\non the most important points of which I shall touch, after drawing your\nattention to the destructive forces that have been undermining religion,\nI shall take my testimony from bishop and from clergyman in their\npublished writings, which all may read who will. The undermining forces\nthat I allude to are chiefly three, and each destructive; the absence\nof construction is one of the signs of the day that is closing. First,\nas you know well, the undermining which has been done by scholarship\nin Christendom, in which what is called the higher criticism has been\ntearing to pieces the documents on which historical Christianity has been\nbuilt up\u2014taking one after another, examining, studying, scrutinising,\ncomparing one kind of language with another kind in the same document;\npointing out marks of different ages where a single writer was supposed\nto have been speaking, and gradually collecting from all sides different\nreadings, placing them side by side, and finding them to a very great\nextent mutually destructive. So far has that gone, as you know, that, not\nso very long ago, the whole of this line of investigation was condemned\nby the authoritative head of the great Roman Catholic communion. The\nhigher criticism, the historical dealing with Church teaching and Church\nhistory, the analysing, scrutinising, investigating spirit of our own\ntime\u2014the whole of that, with all its results, has been condemned and\nforbidden to be taught within the teaching establishments of the great\nRoman communion; the results of historical criticism have been banned,\nand, most fatal of all policies, kept largely out of the knowledge of\nthose who are to become the teachers of the generations that are to be\nborn. Is there any wonder, if you look at it only from the outside point?\nFor where religion is a matter of authority, of books, of successions, of\nhistorical events, there criticism must always destroy; the form changes,\nand cannot remain stable in a transitory world, and we find the ancient\ndocuments shorn of their ancient value; we find inspiration, limited and\nfettered to words instead of the spirit, failing to hold its own against\nthe critical scholarship of the day. One defence after another is thrown\nup, only to be abandoned before the approaching tide, as children throw\nup castles in the sand, dreaming that sand castles can stop the flow\nof waves. You know, on every side questions have arisen in regard to\ndocuments; most disheartening and discouraging if religion were a matter\nof books and words, and not a matter of the living and divine spirit in\nman, which no criticism is able to destroy. For, out of it all, thought\narises and all criticism itself has birth. But, for the moment, in that\ntearing to pieces of the documents, one great inroad is made on the\nreligion of the time.\n\nThen, if you turn to another destructive force that has been undermining\npopular religion, you find it in arch\u00e6ological research; you find it in\nwhat is called comparative mythology, built up out of the results of\nthat research; unburied cities, unburied libraries, unburied tombs\u2014they\nhave all given up their longhidden secrets, and those secrets have\nbeen used as weapons against the religion of the West. Dates have been\nthrown overboard, hundreds of years have been lengthened into millions;\narch\u00e6ology, geology, antiquarianism of every kind, researches into\nlong-dead races have all given the same result, shaking the very\nfoundations on which it was thought, however wrongly, that religion\nmust be built. Out of all this undermining, this destruction, from the\ncontinuously critical spirit of man, have arisen doubt and question\nand half-scepticism, and only a hope instead of a knowledge, only an\naspiration instead of a living faith. And beyond those minor questions\nof religion which can be touched by this kind of destructive criticism,\nbeyond and above those, the central ideas of religion have been thrown\ninto the Crucible of Reason. The idea of God Himself has been under\ndiscussion, argued about, reasoned about, and the conception of God\nhas changed. Who now dreams of troubling himself much about Butler\u2019s\n_Analogy_? Who now would spend his time poring over Paley\u2019s _Evidence_?\nThese are out of date, and they do not deal with the questions of the\ntime; for the thought of Evolution has affected religion, and the central\nconception of Deity has not been able to escape the corrosion of that\natmosphere of thought. Here, again, outward demonstrations are failing,\noutward reasonings fail to satisfy. Reason, though piled upon reason,\ncan give no more than a reasonable probability, so long as you watch\nfor God only in the outer world, and not in His highest manifestation,\nthe Spirit which lives in yourself. The idea of an extra-cosmic God is\ngradually disappearing from the world of thought. The idea of a God who\nmade the universe as a piece of machinery, and stood outside it while\nthe wheels were turning and the bands were working\u2014that idea has almost\npassed away; and instead of that a God immanent in everything, a God who\nis a life and not a mechanician, a God who is an informing Spirit and\nnot an outside creator\u2014that nobler, more exquisite idea is dawning on\nthe religious world to-day. But still, to see Him only immanent in the\nuniverse, that is not the final answer of religion; there is something\nmore that is needed than the God who is found within the universe\nand within man, that mighty truth which is spoken out in an Eastern\nscripture: \u201cI established this universe with a portion of Myself, and I\nremain.\u201d That is one of the new avenues of thought, of escape from the\ndestructive forces of the thought that we are considering.\n\nAlong another of the great Christian concepts there is much of trouble\nand of difficulty to-day. I take here, for a moment, one of a series of\nremarkable articles that appeared in the _Hibbert Journal_ for January\nlast, one perhaps of the finest numbers that have been issued, dealing\nwith this question of the time. One of these articles has a strange title\nwhich marks out the crux of many a mind to-day; the title is, \u201cJesus or\nChrist?\u201d; not \u201cJesus Christ,\u201d not \u201cJesus and Christ,\u201d but \u201cJesus _or_\nChrist?\u201d; natural enough if it were written by a Theosophist, but this\nis written by a minister of a Christian church, and he confesses, with\nwonderful candour and boldness, the difficulties that all must face who\nare dealing on the one side with a spiritual ideal and on the other with\na man. He asks whether the claims made are on behalf of a spiritual\nideal, to which provisionally the word \u201cChrist\u201d may be applied, or\nare they predicated of Jesus; he then goes through a number of these\ndifficulties (many of you would do well to read the article at your\nleisure), pointing out in how many cases in the New Testament you come\nacross limitations, acceptance of the thought of the time, and many\nother difficulties which clash with the idea that this was Very God of\nVery God. \u201cNo condemnation,\u201d he points out, \u201cin the Sermon on the Mount\nis passed on the harsh and cruel law of debtor and creditor, nor would\nefforts for legal reform find any encouragement from the words attributed\nto the Master here. On non-resistance and oath-taking the rule attributed\nto Jesus is absolute. Yet, as a whole, Christendom has openly violated\nit throughout its history.\u201d He then speaks of the view which is taken of\nman in relation to woman, of the \u201ciniquitous principle of sex-inferiority\nas against woman,\u201d a principle that \u201chas inflicted infinite suffering\non half of the human race.\u201d And so he goes on, taking up point after\npoint, and declaring that this conclusion can no longer be avoided\u2014that\nto identify Jesus with Christ is to \u201cmake God a Being who is omnipotent,\nyet limited in power; omniscient, yet defective in knowledge; infinitely\ngood, yet One who declines \u2018to turn any part of His knowledge as God into\nscience for man.\u2019 \u2026 It would be an abuse of language to say that this is\na mystery. It is flat contradiction.\u201d Now when a clergyman can write like\nthat in a publication that goes almost exclusively among the educated\nclasses, you can realise how great is the difficulty which is confronting\nmodern thought with regard to the personality of Jesus and the larger\nrevelation of the Christ.\n\nIt is not possible that questions like this can remain always unanswered,\nthat they should ever be asked and no reply be found; Christendom\ninevitably must work its way to some reasonable solution, and find how\nin that marvellous personality there was a divine revelation as men have\nhoped and believed, and how there is an answer, although orthodoxy as yet\nmay not be prepared to give it. And if you pass from religion proper,\nas we may say, to the great domain of morals which is so closely bound\nup with it, see how difficult is the position at the present time. Now,\nsince I was last here in London, you have had a Moral Education Congress,\nto which no less than twenty-two of the European Governments sent their\nbest representatives. Intense interest was felt in the question of\neducation as part of religion or apart from it. It is one of the most\nserious social questions of the day, one which society must answer: Shall\nmorals be based on religion and sanctioned by religion, or can they find\nstanding ground apart from, separate from it? Now, the ordinary popular\nanswer of the day is rather in favour of the second\u2014that morals should\nfind an independent ground apart from the sanction of religion. And\nthat is not unnatural, because the quarrels of religious bodies, their\ndisputes over the question of education, have practically wearied the\nmind of England, and men and women get impatient with the struggles over\ntrivialities where the moral training of tens of thousands of boys and\ngirls, the future citizens of the country, is concerned. If you take\nthat Moral Education Congress, the point was put very strongly and very\nplainly. Here, again, in this number of the _Hibbert_ that I am dealing\nwith, we find a very brief article speaking of that and of the relation\nof education to religion; and the writer speaks of one remarkable speech\nat the Education Congress, in which it was declared that while children\nshould be taught \u201cthe respect due to the idea of religion \u2026 they are to\nbe taught that the chief mode of honouring God consists in each doing\nhis duty according to his conscience and his reason.\u201d Now that is a\nstatement that would find very wide acceptance at the present day, and\nyet its value or its lack of value depends on two words, \u201cconscience\u201d\nand \u201creason.\u201d If the conscience be unenlightened, there will be very\nlittle useful service done to man by the boys and girls who follow that\nconscience as men and women. The enlightened conscience is truly the\nfoundation of a State, but the unenlightened may lead men into every\nkind of crime. The inquisitor followed his conscience when he racked the\nheretic and sent him to the stake. Laud followed his conscience when\nhe persecuted, tortured, mutilated Puritans who would not bow before\nhim. Conscience has committed the greatest crimes against nations and\nagainst individuals; conscience must be enlightened before it is a safe\nguide. And so also with reason. If the reason is developed, illuminated,\ncultured, trained, that reason might indeed, be followed along the path\nof life; but a reason that is not exercised according to the laws of\nlogic and right thinking may be as irrational as though the name of\nreason were not applied to it. It is not enough to teach that men should\nfollow conscience and reason unless you train the reason and illuminate\nthe conscience.\n\nNow, how is that to be done? It has been done in the past by religion\nto a very great extent. Can society afford to try to teach morals apart\nfrom religion? Difficulties naturally arise here, and the Bishop of\nTasmania has very bravely drawn the attention of the empire to the\ndifficulty which is in the face of religious teaching. He points out that\nthe Old Testament is not a book which, as a whole, can be used for the\ninstruction in morals of the Christian child. Can the Old Testament, he\nasks, be used in that way? and the answer is in the negative. He points\nout that you can find in the Old Testament magnificent moral passages\nand splendid moral inspiration, but that is by a process of selection,\nin which you apply the moral conscience to discrimination in ancient\nwritings. Bishop as he is, he is brave enough to declare that the Old\nTestament as a whole ought not to find its place in the education of\nthe child. Now, suppose that we admit\u2014and most thoughtful people would\nadmit\u2014that you must select and choose carefully, that is not a sufficient\nanswer to the question. Can you effectively teach the child morals\nwithout falling back upon religion? Are you prepared to admit that you\ncan teach a certain class of virtues without religious sanction; not\nthose which are the favourite virtues, we may say, of the present day\nof competition and of struggle? You can teach a child to be prudent,\nthrifty, cautious; you can teach him the value of acquisitiveness, and\nthe duty of providing for the future. All that kind of virtue you may be\nable to teach on a purely utilitarian ground, as it is called, but, as is\nagain pointed out in a remarkably able article on \u201cThe Social Conscience\nof the Future,\u201d certain old-fashioned traits, once considered to be\nvirtues, are now commonly accounted to men for vices. Non-resistance, for\nexample, \u201cis now considered cowardice; meekness to-day is usually spelt\nweakness; taking no thought for the morrow is known as improvidence;\nunworldliness is generally viewed as a phase of sentimentality.\u201d That\nis all quite true. But how are you going to teach the virtues that\nhitherto have been rooted in religion\u2014virtues without which no State can\nendure? For you cannot teach the civic virtues on a basis of enlightened\nselfishness. That is a point that all educators of the young must\nremember. Self-sacrifice, compassion, the willingness to endure for the\nsake of others, the taking of the burden of the weak on the shoulders\nthat are strong, the realisation that duty is greater than rights, and\nresponsibility more vital than self-protection\u2014how are you going to teach\nthose virtues on the basis of selfishness? Now I have argued that in the\nold days, and have tried to show, in the time when I was a sceptic, that\nyou might train people to self-sacrifice and self-surrender by an appeal\nto the humanity within them, and the sense of duty to the race; but that\nappeal fails the most readily in the cases where the virtues are most\nrequired.\n\nIt appeals to the noble, but the majority are not noble; it appeals to\nthe unselfish and the heroic, but the majority are of mediocre courage\nand of very limited unselfishness; it appeals to those who do not need\nit, and it leaves cold and unmoved those who need it most. Will you go\nto the millionaire who has built up his vast fortune by the ruin of\nhundreds of families, and speak to him of the beauty of self-sacrifice\nand the splendour of self-surrender? The answer of people of the selfish\ntype is: Why should I sacrifice myself for the future? or, as the\nwitty Frenchman put it: \u201cWhat has posterity done for me that I should\nsacrifice myself for posterity?\u201d You may say that is very mean, very\nselfish. It is; but then, those are the people who want the compulsory\nforce of moral strength applied to them. Where are you going to find it?\nFor without self-sacrifice no society is secure; without self-surrender\nof the small to the great, of the individual to the social self, there\nis no possibility of national life, no stability in the social system;\nand those are virtues that grow out of religion, not out of what is\nfalsely called utility. The greatest utility for the nation is that which\nunderstands the relationship between the part and the whole, and that is\nonly taught by religion which knows the larger Self, which knits man to\nthe whole, makes him realise relationships, makes him know he is not a\ncreature of one little globe, but a creature of the universe; that he is\na cosmic life, and not a planetary. That is learned by religion only, and\nby the deathless immortality of the divine Spirit in man; without that,\nno morality will endure; and you will make a fatal blunder if, because of\nthe passing follies of religionists, you throw religion out of its place\nin education, of which it is the inspiration and the strength.\n\nThese are some of the problems you have to deal with in this deadlock,\nas I have called it, of religion. In fact, you want a new religious and\nmoral synthesis; and you cannot find that without the higher inspiration\nfor which man is groping now.\n\n\nII.\u2014SCIENCE.\n\nLet us leave that deadlock\u2014(I will try to solve it in another\nlecture)\u2014and let us take the deadlock in science. Now that is very\ncurious at the present time. Science is essentially in the West, as it\nis everywhere, a matter of observation, of measurement, of estimating\nquantities and understanding relations. But our science is coming to the\nend of its powers along these lines in a very curious and marked way. It\ncannot get its apparatus more delicate than it has got it; its balances\nare marvels, measuring inappreciable parts of an almost inappreciable\ngrain. Nothing more exquisite than the delicacy of scientific apparatus,\nnothing more a testimony to the accuracy of the scientific mind. And\nyet how the apparatus is failing the scientist! how his observations\nare becoming increasingly difficult! What can he do with the atom? The\nchemist, the physicist, can he follow the atom and make that still a\nmatter of observation, or does it wholly escape him? is the chemist,\nthe physicist, now obliged to turn to the mathematician to make for him\nan atom which will answer the demands of the science which is unable\nto discover it for itself? All the later arguments on the atom, if you\nnotice, are based on mathematical formul\u00e6; they cannot observe; it is too\nfine, delicate, minute\u2014it escapes them. Even the chemical atom, which is\nfour degrees below the ultimate physical atom, is a matter on which they\nare compelled to reason because they cannot observe. But a science which\nreasons without those reasons being based on observations is no science\nas the West has known it up to the present time. All scientific reasoning\nis supposed to be based on observation; and if, instead of that,\nscientists have to fall back on reason where observation fails them,\nthen a new method must be discovered, and new ways must be trodden. I\ndo not say there is no new method; I do not say there are not new ways;\nbut they are not the methods and the ways of the science of our own time.\nAnd there comes in this difficulty: the minute is escaping science by\nits minuteness, the subtle is too subtle for its investigation. If that\nbe true\u2014and it is true of chemistry and physics, and true also to a very\ngreat extent of electricity\u2014we find that all the sciences are coming up\nto the borderland in which their methods fail them, and their senses no\nlonger answer to the delicacy of the waves that beat upon them from the\nouter world. They are leaving behind them the gross and the dense; that\nis conquered, it is theirs; the subtle and the rare, those escape them;\nand the instruments of brass, of glass, nay, even of sensitive needles,\nthey are not fine enough nor subtle enough to carry investigation further.\n\nIn other realms of science the same difficulties are arriving.\nPsychology\u2014where have all the facts of the new psychology come from?\nFrom scientific men? Not a bit of it! From frauds and charlatans, from\nmesmerists and spiritualists and theosophists, and all these \u201cists\u201d\nthat popular science looks down upon and says are entirely outside the\npale of scientific respect. And yet from these they gather their facts,\nfrom these they are obliged to take the strange new psychological facts\nthat are revolutionising all the ideas of consciousness and the powers\nwhich lie hidden in the human mind. Those facts are accumulating from\nthe hands of all these improper people, and when science gets them it\ncannot explain them. It can only rearrange them and rename them, and\ncall mesmerism \u201chypnotism,\u201d and clairvoyance \u201cautoscopy.\u201d But all that\nrelabelling and all that rearranging cannot veil the fundamental fact\nthat it has no theory into which these facts can fit, and no explanation\nwhich arranges them in a rational order. In psychology, as in chemistry,\nphysics, and electricity, there is a deadlock.\n\nAnd medicine, what about that? Doctors are beginning to think less and\nless of drugs. In my young days an honest doctor once told me that he\nsometimes gave coloured water and bread pills to people whom he knew\nwould get on much better if they did not have drugs, but they were so\ndetermined to have them that he was obliged to give them something so\nhe gave them harmless things. That idea has grown. Doctors have less\nand less faith in drugs, and they admit more and more widely that their\nmedical science is very largely a hand-to-mouth thing, empirical, based\non no true theory\u2014experimental, as they say. But, in despair of finding\nthe right road to health, they have gone down the terrible byway of\nVivisection, trying to wring from Nature, by the torture of her more\nhelpless children, the secrets which otherwise they were unable to find.\nBut that is a fatal road; it is leading medicine further and further\naway from any true science of healing, and is turning it into a science\nof poisoning instead; medicine is becoming a matter of balancing one\npoison against another, so that in the middle of the balanced poisons\nyou may be able to get some miserable remnant of health. When doctors\nfind something they do not understand, they say: \u201cOh, let us try it on an\nanimal; better try it on an animal than a man.\u201d Yes; but if the animal\ndoes not give the same result, and if that which is poison to man is\nnot poison to the animal, then the results of your experiment may be a\nwidespread, unintentional poisoning added to the intentional poisonings\nof the day. There comes in one danger, that perhaps may make people\nrather less ready to take the results of vivisection. Take henbane: goats\nfeed quite comfortably on henbane; it would kill you. If, when people\nwanted to know the effects of henbane on the human system, they tried it\non goats, many human deaths would have followed on the result of that\nparticular use of the experimental method. What is being done with all\nthese miserable results of this mistaken and blinded science, all these\nserums and toxins, and all the rest of the things which they are now\npouring into the human body? They are lowering the vitality of the race;\nthey are diminishing the disease-resisting power of the man. I do not say\nthat you cannot make a man immune for a time by slowly poisoning him,\nso that when a dose of the poison comes it will have no effect. You can\ndo it with arsenic; you can put so much arsenic into a human body that\nthe arsenic-poisoned person can take a dose of arsenic without death.\nDo you tell me that is health? I say it is disease, and that all these\nmiserable methods are lowering the vitality of the human body, and making\nit a prey to innumerable diseases under the pretence of saving it from a\nfew. Health is not got by poisonings, however carefully graduated. Health\nis brought about by pure living, pure food, moral self-control, and by\nbecoming the master and not the slave of your appetites and passions. It\nis a road that leads to death, and not to life, when you want to live\nevilly, and be cured of the results of evil living out of the things\nwhich are wrung from the tortured bodies of the animal kingdom. And\nso there again there is a deadlock, for even the vivisectionists are\nbeginning to be a little afraid of the results that they have drawn from\ntheir investigations. There are answers to the problems of disease, but\nthey do not lie along this line.\n\n\nIII.\u2014ART.\n\nWhat of art? Now, very many people, I am afraid, in this and other\ncountries, do not realise that beauty is a necessity of daily life for\nthe human being, and when he does not get it he is less man, less woman,\nthan he ought to be. It is not a question as to whether you should have\na beautiful thing as a luxury; it is a necessity, and it should be the\ndaily bread of life. Nations which knew the value of beauty made their\ntowns beautiful; their works of art were made common property, their\nbuildings were exquisitely proportioned, their architecture magnificent,\nand out of all that, open always to the masses of the people, grew a\nbeauty of form and a beauty of mind that cannot possibly grow up in\na nation where the towns are allowed to be hideous, where the air is\npoisoned, and where all the common things of life are ugly instead of\nbeautiful. There is one thing in India that I have often complained of;\nit will not strike you here so much as it would inevitably strike you\nthere. The old Indian life was a life full of beauty. Even now, out in\nthe villages, life is beautiful. The garments of men and women alike are\ngraceful, flowing, exquisite in colour. If you see an Indian peasant\nwoman working in the fields she is a picture to paint, for the grace\nof her drapery, for the beauty of the colours that she wears; and if\nyou see her going to the village well to draw water, she will carry on\nher head some vessel, it may be of beaten bronze or copper, it may be\nof kneaded clay, it will always be beautiful in form and exquisite in\ncolour, Nowadays, since our civilisation has spread its power through\nIndia, things are changing; aniline dyes are replacing vegetable dyes;\nkerosene oil tins are replacing the exquisite vessels of the older days.\nIn the old days in a village, when there was a wedding, every house\ncontributed some of its beautiful vessels for the village festival; but\nnow those have been cast aside, and miserable tin vessels take their\nplace. It is only a small thing, you may say; I assure you it is a very\ngreat thing; for to kill out the sense of beauty which comes by living\nin contact with Nature\u2014for Nature is beautiful everywhere, and contact\nwith her beautifies the human face and form and mind\u2014the killing-out of\nthat sense of beauty which grows out of the mountains and the rivers,\nand the meadows and the groves, that is a national loss, and spells\nnational decay. The garden cities you are beginning to build, those\nare not mere fancies of fanciful people, but a wise attempt to get the\npeople out of the hideousness of bricks and mortar as they are used in\nEngland, into the country, where life still is fair, and where sunshine\nand colour are supreme. The life is poor where there is no beauty, and\nlife itself grows common, vulgar, where beauty is not a dominating force.\nIt is one of the great revelations of God Himself, for beauty lies in\nperfection of harmony, in exquisiteness of outline, in loveliness of\ncolour, and all those things are characteristics of the Divine Workman,\nwhose manifestation is always in beauty, while wisdom and power underlie\nit. You may see it in your own works of art. They are not creative but\nimitative, and that is the sign that art along that line has reached its\nending and must find a new inspiration. Sometimes people say you cannot\nimprove upon Nature; but you can show them what there is in Nature which\nthe blinded eyes of ordinary people do not see. Take a flower: true, the\nflower is beautiful; a little nature-spirit made it, and caught as much\nof the divine thought of beauty as that small intelligence was able to\nconceive; do you tell me that when the artist comes the divine life is\nnot far more largely evolved in him than in that little nature-spirit,\nthat he cannot catch more of God\u2019s thought in the flower than the\nnature-spirit was able to express? And that is what the great painter,\npoet, musician does; he hears and sees and tells the thoughts of God more\nfully than you and I can do with our dull ears and our limited vision and\nour clumsy tongues. It is there, but we cannot see it. The artist is the\nrevealer of the divine beauty in form, and unless he can do that he is no\ntrue artist at all. The artist has yet to come to this civilisation\u2014the\nman who can see through the forms of the present the divine idea which is\nstriving to express itself in new ideals, new hopes, new powers. These\nare wanted for art, and these shall come in the days that are dawning;\nand a new art shall be found in the new heavens and the new earth.\n\nSo, although I have taken you to-day along a dreary path\u2014for I have been\nspeaking of the passing, and not the coming\u2014it is because I want you to\nrealise in the signs of the world around you that you are in the midst\nof a closing age; not only that you may know it\u2014that is little\u2014but that\nout of the knowledge of the closing you may prepare for the race which\nis to be born. For unless you understand, you cannot guide your steps\naright; unless you understand, the world will be a mere puzzle, and not\nan expression of the divine thought. The age that is closing has done its\nwork, has trained the concrete mind, has trained the scientific thought,\nhas developed power and strength and energy\u2014all good gifts of God, to be\nused for nobler purposes than they are used for to-day. There is nothing\nto regret, nothing to be sorry for, nothing to wish otherwise in the\nworld that is dying. It has done its work; but it is ours to come out of\nthe dying world into a world that is new, and it is out of the dying into\nthe coming world that I would fain try to lead your thoughts, and perhaps\nyour lives as well.\n\n\n\n\nLecture II\n\nThe Deadlock in Social Conditions: Luxury and Want Face to Face\n\n\nFriends: I am to speak to you to-night on a subject which is a little\noutside our ordinary theosophical lectures. The Theosophist, as a rule,\nstudies and talks about causes more than effects, concerning himself\nmore with the getting rid of the causes of misery than with the effects\nthat grow out of those causes and show themselves as particular forms\nof misery. Because of that he is sometimes called unpractical. But that\nis a misuse of words; for to understand the causes of misery and to\nremove them is far more practical than cutting off the tops of the weeds\nwhile you allow the roots to remain underground to reproduce new weeds\nto-morrow. To say that study with the discussion which grows out of it is\nunpractical is very much as though you declared that it was a practical\nthing to send out nurses and doctors to a field of battle to cut off\nlimbs that had been shattered and to nurse the cripples back to health,\nand denied that to try to remove the causes of war was practical. Now,\nI admit that sending out nurses and doctors is a practical thing, but\nI allege that to work for the substitution of arbitration for war is a\ngreat deal more practical. So with the particular things with which I am\nto deal to-night. I am dealing with effects, but only with a view to lead\nyou on to the study of causes, and to the fundamental changes that will\nhave to be made in the building up of a greater and nobler civilisation.\nPart of the way to turn men\u2019s minds in that direction, and to give them\nthe necessary impulse of working for the higher and the greater, is to\nshow them the intolerable nature of conditions among which we are living\nto-day. In doing that, I am by no means going astray from the teaching\nand the example of that great and misunderstood woman to whom I owe all\nthat is happiest and best in my life, H. P. Blavatsky. Some of you who\nare students of Theosophy may remember that in her _Key to Theosophy_\nshe speaks about the misery of the East End of London, and utters words\nof praise for the attempts which were being made to change it. She did a\ngood deal more than speak words of praise; for one day, after I had been\ntelling her of some of the piteous sights that I was seeing day by day as\nmember of the London School Board, as it was then, for the East End of\nLondon, I had on the following morning a little characteristic note, in\nwhich she enclosed a couple of sovereigns, saying: \u201cYou know I am only\na pauper, but give these to the little children who asked you yesterday\nfor a flower.\u201d Similarly, that quick sympathy with human suffering came\nout in an instance in which very few of us, perhaps, would be prepared\nto follow her example. She was going to America, and only had just money\nenough to buy her ticket across; she bought it, and on the wharf she\nsaw a crying woman with some little children. She asked why they were\ndistressed, and the woman told how she had bought bogus tickets from some\nscamp, and so could not go across the ocean to join her husband. H. P.\nB. walked back to the ticket office, got her first-class ticket changed\nfor steerage tickets for herself and that unfortunate woman and children,\nand passed the voyage in the steerage part of an Atlantic liner\u2014a very\npractical proof of the brotherhood which she proclaimed. So that, after\nall, I am not really going very far apart in taking up this particular\nsubject of human misery and human suffering, showing you, what I dare say\nyou know well enough, some of the cases which should stimulate to action.\nAnd if you say to me: It is an old story that you are telling us; then my\nanswer to you will be that until the evils are remedied it is necessary\nto repeat the story over and over again.\n\nNow let us look over this great civilisation, and see what I have called\n\u201cThe Deadlock in Social Conditions.\u201d First let us remember, as a kind of\npreliminary atmosphere, that the great civilisations of the past have\nperished from this startling contrast of luxury and misery, and that what\nhas happened over and over again in the past might quite well repeat\nitself amongst us to-day. For we are no stronger in our civilisation\nthan were the civilisations of Rome, of Assyria, of Egypt; and we find\nin the Egyptian civilisation just the same sort of questions arising\nthen as arise now, as though the world really had not progressed in\nthis respect. In some of the unburied tablets and sculptures we find an\nedict about the wages of the workpeople, and how they were to be told\nnot to be discontented, and not to refuse to work because they were\ndissatisfied with the amount of wage that they obtained; and in another\ncase we find directions being sent in order to meet the difficulties\nthat had been caused by what we in our own time should call a strike of\nworking people. The difficulties are very old, and the world has not yet\nsolved them. It is in the hope that the coming civilisation will solve\nthem that I am drawing your attention again to them to-night. Now even\nhere we have what we call our submerged classes, and those form one-tenth\npart of the population\u2014a terrible proportion if you come to think of\nit. Sometimes, when there has been a mutiny in an army, a regiment is\ndrawn up rank after rank, and every tenth man is marked out to be shot\nwhile the others go free. That is the condition of our civilisation\nnow\u2014every tenth person is marked out to misery. In India the proportion\nis even larger. The submerged classes there amount to one-sixth of the\npopulation, but, on the other hand, they are not nearly as miserable as\nare the corresponding classes here: they are more despised, but they are\nfar happier, partly because the belief in which they have grown up, under\nthe thousands of years that lie behind them in that civilisation, has\never been that a man\u2019s condition in the present is due to causes that\nhe himself has set going in the past. So that those people, instead of\nblaming their neighbours, blame themselves for the discomfort of their\nown position, and sometimes determine that their next birth shall be a\nhappier one by making the very best they can of the disadvantages here.\nThen again, poverty there is really not as terrible as here; you read of\na famine that sweeps away hundreds of thousands of the people, but is\nthat really so very much more terrible than the continual condition of\nunderfeeding in which our submerged classes live? The Registrar-General\ndoes not mark them down \u201cDied of Starvation\u201d\u2014that would be shocking the\npublic taste; but if you look into the matter you will see that when the\nstarved sempstress going home carrying her work is struck by an east\nwind that whistles through her thin clothing and strikes on her underfed\nbody, she is put down in the report as \u201cDied of pneumonia, bronchitis,\nor consumption,\u201d but in karma\u2019s record she is marked down \u201cDied of\nstarvation,\u201d for it is the perennial underfeeding that brings about the\ngreat mortality among the poor. I need only take a very few cases as\nexamples in order to show you what this poverty means. I have taken them\nout of casual papers during the last week: from my own experience of the\npast I know them not to be exaggerated, but these particular cases happen\nto be going on just now. One of them is the case of the women who sew on\ncards the hooks and eyes which we buy very cheaply in the shops. Such a\nwoman sews nearly 47,000 hooks and eyes for 1s. 2\u00bdd.\u2014a thousand almost\nper farthing. Think what it means. Naturally she pulls in her children\nto help her; and so the children, who are obliged to go to school, for\nwe have compulsory education, when they come back from learning their\nlessons have to sit down and set to work linking the hooks and the eyes\ntogether so as to save a little of the mother\u2019s time, and the children,\nwho ought to be playing and building up strong and healthy bodies, are\nkept there hour after hour preparing the hooks and eyes for which the\nmother is to receive the princely payment that I have mentioned. Take\nanother case that everybody knows\u2014shirt-making: 1s. a dozen for men\u2019s\nshirts, and there is a fair amount of work in those; even that is not\nthe lowest depth, for the woman who takes them out to make at 1s. per\ndozen lets them out again at 8d. per dozen to a woman more miserable\nthan herself. And so the thing goes on, home after home, person after\nperson. This and the preceding case I am taking from the last issue of\n_The Christian Commonwealth_. Another case is mentioned there of a woman\nwho had been working along these lines; her particular work, I think,\nwas 5d. per dozen for collars, and find your own thread. She was brought\nup as a typical case before the Royal Commission. We are always ready to\nappoint Royal Commissions, but not very much comes out of them after they\nhave taken evidence. She was asked by a Member of Parliament: \u201cHow do you\nand your children live on what you get in this way?\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t live,\u201d\nwas the answer of the woman, and she spoke truly. She worked sometimes\ntwenty hours a day, from six o\u2019clock in the morning till two o\u2019clock next\nmorning, in order to get enough to feed her children and herself. I could\ngo on for hours giving you cases like this, but I only want typical ones,\nin order that you may realise the conditions in which so many are living\nwhile we are comfortable and at ease.\n\nPass on from that part of this terrible poverty which nothing apparently\nis able to touch to the next question that links itself very easily to\nwhat I have been saying\u2014woman labour in general, and especially in many\nof the manufacturing industries. When women began to work at mills, and\nso on, it was looked upon as a good way for the women to add something\nto the comfort of the home. How has it worked? It has worked to drive\ndown the wages of the men, and make the home more miserable even in money\nmatters than it was before; and then the home has ceased to be a home,\nfor there is no home where the mother leaves the children behind her,\nand goes out into the mill to earn the pence or the shillings wherewith\nthose children are to be fed. It has been encouraged for the reason\nthat a manufacturer gave very honestly and frankly before another Royal\nCommission. \u201cOh,\u201d he said, \u201cI prefer to employ married women because\nthey are more docile.\u201d That is true. The married woman is very much more\ndocile because, when the question of any resistance comes, she thinks\nof the children who need food in the home. The baby hands are the hands\nthat make her docile; it is the baby fingers feeling her bosom for the\nmilk that will not come that makes the mother\u2019s heart docile, yielding\nto everything for the sake of the little child. It has only made the\ncomplications of the labour market worse; it has only driven the men out\nto be unemployed in the streets, while they who ought to be mothers in\nthe home are working in the factory instead. So the labour market only\nbecomes more choked, the wages are rendered yet more miserable, and the\nmen are thrown out while the women are employed, though the men cannot\ntake the woman\u2019s place in the home, and take care of the babies and look\nafter the little ones; only a mother can do that, for nature has made\nmothers for that work, and the father cannot take their place, however\ngentle and loving he may be. So you get another problem there, hard to\nsolve, difficult to set right, and one that is ever growing more and more\npressing for solution, that is ever intensifying the misery of large\nnumbers of the working population.\n\nPass on, again, from that\u2014you see I am only touching each point\u2014and\ntake a question of national import, the deterioration of the physique\nof the people who live in our large cities. That has been going on now\nfor generations, and it has been shown very plainly in the lowering\nstandard of height for enlistment in the Army. On the other hand, if\nyou look at the well-to-do classes you will find rather an increase\nin strength and physique amongst them, especially amongst the women,\nbecause these take so much more part in outdoor life than they did in\nthe past, and so you find they are growing taller and stronger, but the\ngreat mass of the population is growing shorter and weaker. But it is\nthat great mass of the population from which the majority of your nation\ncomes. They reproduce most rapidly; they are the people who swell the\nRegistrar-General\u2019s returns; from them the future nation is most largely\nproduced; and it is no good to have upper classes strong and vigorous\nand well-fed if the mass of your population is deteriorating in strength\nand vigour. There, again, you have one of these pressing problems which\nit is necessary to answer; for these problems are like the questions\nof the Sphinx: the Sphinx put the question, and if the man could not\nanswer it, the Sphinx devoured him. And so with these problems in social\norganisation; the question is put, and the penalty for not answering is\nto be devoured, and for the civilisation to pass away.\n\nRemedies of sorts are being put forward by doctors and sociologists;\nsterilisation of the unfit is one of the favourite nostrums or quack\nremedies of the day. But such remedies are worse than the disease, for\nthey are brutal, and lead to deterioration of _morale_ as well as of\nphysique. You must go down to the root of the causes that make these\nthe unfit, and not bring them forth from the social organisation by the\nmyriad, and then try to find means to check their numbers; and so on that\nside, again, this insoluble difficulty is facing us.\n\nEven these are not all the problems which are set for us by our Sphinx\nfor which solution is demanded. We have seen terrible poverty, we have\nseen the question of woman employment, we have seen the question of\ndeterioration of physique and swift multiplication of the unfit: what\nabout the criminal population? We manufacture habitual criminals at a\nvery rapid rate. We take up young men or young women, and we send them\nto jail for a week, a month, a year, five years, ten years. It goes\non accumulating until the habitual offender gets sentences which will\noutlast his physical life. But that has done nothing to cure the man,\nthat has done nothing to turn him into a good and useful citizen. The\nlaw, when it grips him, ought to turn him into a better type of man.\nInstead of that, he comes back over and over again, until the very\nhabitual criminality that the law has very largely made is brought up as\na reason for the magistrate to inflict upon him a heavier penalty. But\nthat is not wisdom; it is folly. Very often a bright, clever lad, full\nof spirit, falls into crime. It is only one chance in a hundred if he\nis rescued, and does not gradually drift into the ranks of the habitual\ncriminal. Surely at this stage of civilisation there must be some better\nway; and there is a better way, as I shall try to show you when I come to\ndeal with brotherhood applied to social life.\n\nIf we go beyond these extreme cases, and look at the ordinary questions\nof supply and demand, of production and distribution, notice how society\nis gradually coming to a point where things cannot go on as they\nare, and yet where to change them means the dislocation of our whole\nproductive and distributive system. We can see it best, perhaps, if we\ngo to America, because in America there are not the softening influences\nwhich to some extent at least still prevail here, where society was once\nbased on a more human foundation, instead of merely on the question of\ncash. We see what our systems are if we go over the water to America,\nwhere they have full play, without anything to prevent their complete\ndevelopment. There are one or two things that strike us in America of a\nrather remarkable character. First, the growth of the man who builds his\nown enormous fortune on the deliberate wrecking of the small fortunes of\nothers. Let me give an example. A large number of people, mostly rather\npoor, gather together into a company in order to build a railway that\nis wanted for the development of the country where they are. They want\nquicker communication, they want better carriage of grain, of goods, and\nthey build a railway. It is working fairly well, it is paying, perhaps\nnot very largely, but still fairly satisfactorily. A much cleverer\nman than those people comes along, and he sees that that particular\ndistrict is one that is likely to open up to a very large extent\u2014one\nwhere railways will become most valuable property. He sets to work to\nbuild another railway that runs over the same ground as the first; it\nis not wanted except to make him rich. He then begins to destroy the\nother railway by charging smaller fares and lower freightage; he goes on\ndoing that, putting in his capital, because his rates do not pay, until\nthe other railway is driven down to the impossible level at which he\nhas fixed prices and fares: when the shares of that other railway have\nsunk down to nearly nothing in the market, he steps in and buys them\nall up; when he has bought them all up he lets his sham railway go to\npieces, and the whole of the district is in his hands, and he piles up an\nenormous fortune. On the other side of his fortune is the loss to all the\nshareholders who put their money into that railway in order to improve\nthe means of communication in the place where they were living. They have\nbeen sacrificed that he might make enormous wealth. Such men are called\n\u201cwreckers\u201d in America, but they are honoured in society; they build\nhospitals, and even churches; they do all kinds of things with fragments\nof the wealth that they have taken; but I tell you that, although not by\nthe law of the country, yet by the law of righteousness, these men are\nworse and more to be condemned than the burglar who steals the jewels of\na lady or the gold plate of a millionaire. He is punished heavily when he\nis caught, and he deserves to be punished; burglary is obviously wrong;\nbut worse than that open burglary that the law punishes is the hidden\nburglary of the brilliant brain against the stupid brain, which robs\npeople of the result of their labour in order to accumulate it within the\nwrecker\u2019s store.\n\nOther forms of this robbery are what are called \u201ctrusts\u201d and \u201ccorners.\u201d\nThey have been trying, I see, to make a corner in wheat, and another\nspeculator has been able to checkmate the original speculator by pouring\nin millions of bushels of wheat. But people are not fed any better\nwhichever speculator wins; it is only a problem as to which of the two\nshould be able to make the largest profits; and then the trusts are built\nup, whereby a few men are able to make enormous fortunes and kill out all\nthe smaller men. Now our American brethren are getting a little tired of\nthat, and they are trying to find out some way in which they can prevent\nit\u2014some Act of Congress, some law which should prevent the trust. But\nwhat law can you possibly pass to prevent the trust, which is only the\nnatural outcome of competition gone mad? What can you do to prevent that\nwithout crippling also every one of your industrial concerns which are\nbased on the same principle of cut-throat competition? There is where\nthe deadlock comes in again. The whole thing is built up on one man\nfighting against another, one man trying to overreach another, one man\ntrying to make better bargains for himself, no matter what happens to his\nneighbour\u2014that is the whole method of what we call our commercial system.\nIf that be so, how are you going to interfere with its natural outcome,\nwith the inevitable result which grows out of it?\u2014the same principle,\nonly carried a little to excess, and so shocking the conscience that\nwas not shocked when people were ruined piecemeal, but is shocked when\nthey are ruined by hundreds and by thousands; yet each one of those who\nwere ruined piecemeal suffered as much, his lot was as unfortunate. How,\nthen, can you cripple the excess without undermining the whole? There is\nanother of the problems which are set, and yet in the very midst of it\nthere is a gleam of a brighter future, for in that great alchemy with\nwhich the mighty Chemist of the world\u2019s laboratory changes the forces\nthat destroy into forces that construct, there are signs that these\ntrusts which have grown out of the greed and selfishness of men will\nreally be organisations of industry which will be useful to the community\nin the future, when Brotherhood has replaced competition, and when\nthought for others takes the place of only thinking for oneself. And so\nwe see possibilities even in the midst of the troubles.\n\nLet us glance at another side of this problem\u2014the attempts which are\nbeing made to improve social conditions in newer countries, as they\nare called, say, Australia. In Australia the working classes have got\neverything that they are asking for here; it is called the working-man\u2019s\nparadise. Every boy of twenty-one can vote; think of the magnificent\nfreedom of it! Every girl of twenty-one can vote; what more would you\nhave? No need of agitation there. But, unluckily, the boys care much\nmore about football than they do about questions in Parliament, and\nthe girls, perhaps, are thinking more of bonnets and hats than of the\nway in which their votes ought to be cast. They have all got the vote\nand they do not know what to do with it, and that is a very common\nthing. It does not occur only in Australia. Has it ever struck you that\nyou are paying in happiness for what you call liberty, if you mean by\nliberty the right to cast a vote? No matter what your qualifications,\nthat is quite outside the question; no matter whether you know anything\nabout the questions, that is not of the least importance; no matter if\nyour head is as empty as ever it can be, it counts just as much at the\npolling-booth as the head of the wisest statesman, thinker, most highly\ntrained economist or historian. It is an admirable way of governing when\nyou come to look at it from the outside standpoint. Let us see how it\nworks in Australia where they have it: you have not got it yet; you are\non the way to it. All these people have votes, and the great majority, as\nis always the case, are ignorant. There has been class legislation over\nhere, and they have class legislation over there\u2014it is not a good thing,\nonly there it is just the other way up; and the effect of ignorant class\nlegislation is even worse than the effect of educated class legislation.\nLet us see how it works. First, it works for a gradual diminution of\nefficiency along the ordinary lines of work, on which, remember, the\nwhole prosperity of the country depends. The boy who is a free man does\nnot care to be an apprentice, and it does not to do tell the boy he has\ndone his work badly, because he is a free Australian, and off he goes,\nand he won\u2019t work any more if you tell him he has not worked well. But,\nyou know, nature is a very awkward thing to come striking up against in\nyour political and social life, and her laws do not get modified as you\nmight think they should. The boy who won\u2019t learn becomes the workman\nwho is wanting in skill, and so the level of efficiency in production is\ngetting lower and lower. If they want a piece of good machinery they have\nto send over here to get it\u2014although there is a very heavy price put upon\nimporting it into Australia\u2014because the work there is so badly done that\nthe machines won\u2019t work properly after they are made, and that is one of\nthe results that we are seeing at the present time. Another one is, that\nunemployment is increasing. There are men in the streets there just as\nthere are here, clamouring for work, and asking the Government to give it\nto them; and how do they get there? Very many of them because they must\nnot work under a certain wage, which is not a possible wage to pay for\nthe kind of work that they can do. Suppose you happen to have a little\ngarden; you want to have your paths weeded and your grass cut. That is\ngardener\u2019s work. Now a gardener must not work under 10s. a day, and your\npoor professional man who is at a discount in the matter of votes, and\nhas a fixed income, cannot afford to pay 10s. a day to have his paths\nweeded, so he goes to weed them himself, and the would-be gardener goes\nout, and is unemployed in the streets, and calls on the Government to\nfind him work. There is a very serious side to that beyond the question\nof unemployment. If you are going to make the men who should give better\nwork to the country than the weeding of paths weed their own paths for\nthemselves, then you are putting a check on the whole of the higher kinds\nof labour on which the nobler national life depends, for it is as true\nnow as it ever was that man does not live by bread alone. If you are\ngoing to make every man do manual labour, you can get nothing more than\nthe kind of paradise that you find in \u201cLooking Backward,\u201d which is more\na paradise for the respectable suburb than for a nation that needs art\nand beauty, music and literature. Those things want leisure to produce\nand time to perfect. There must be education behind them before they can\nbe produced, and it is a very bad arrangement to press all your nation\ndown to a low level of comfortable eating and drinking and amusement,\nand forget the mightier things that make a national life\u2014the products of\ngenius, the creative exertions of thought. There is one of the greater\ndangers. You cannot blame the poor people. \u2018As long as a man is hungry,\na good meal is the one thing he wants, and that must be his ideal. But\nnations ought not to be built up on the crude ideas of the ignorant\nand the hungry. That is the duty of wisdom. But see how difficult this\nquestion becomes; see how it is even in this country, where still\neducation is a very great weight in popular affairs, even though the vote\nignores it. A man may know his own trade, and be able to give very good\ncounsel and advice as to what is necessary for that one particular trade\nin which he is working; but a nation is not made up of one trade; it is\nmade up of a hundred different occupations, every one interlinked and\ninterrelated with all the others, and you cannot legislate nationally by\nsimply looking at a single occupation or a single class. You must see\nhow your law reacts on the whole of the complicated organism; otherwise\nyou ruin your nation while you lift up a single trade, and that is what\nis happening in Australia. Certainly some of the trades are very well\nprovided and arranged for, but the rest of the elements that ought to\nmake a nation are disregarded, and life for them is made impossible; and\neven within the limits of a trade, sometimes things are marvellously\nstupid. Let me give you one example. Melbourne is a large city, and\noccasionally it has very hot weather. The trades unions there have made\na law that milk shall not be delivered more than once a day on Sunday;\nthe poor man wants his holiday, and it is very selfish of you if you\nwant to make him work on Sunday, so that milk may only be delivered in\nthe morning. Now the difficulty is that the cows have not yet come into\nthe trades unions; they do not realise that on Sunday they are only to\ngive milk once a day and not twice. Without the slightest regard for the\nbeauty of social arrangements, they wilfully persist in giving milk in\nthe afternoon as well as in the morning. But the unfortunate milkman must\nnot sell it, because if he did he would be turned out of his trade union,\nand that would mean destruction. So he has to keep it; and if the weather\nis hot it is not quite so good in the morning, in spite of the boracic\nacid, as it was the night before. So he mixes up the fresh milk of the\nmorning and the stale milk of the night before, and sells it all as\nfresh milk: and though you may not discover it in the milk-can, the baby\ndiscovers it in the milk-bottle, and the death-rate of the children goes\nup in the summer because of this admirable arrangement which has been\nmade with regard to the distribution of milk. That is not the way that\nnations can really be governed; and there are all sorts of restrictions\nof that kind which constantly come up against you in the home, and make\nyou feel that life is not in any sense free. Things of this sort can\nonly succeed if certain conditions are willingly accepted by all the\npeople who have to work under them, and not when they are imposed for the\nbenefit of a particular trade or an unwilling and reluctant population.\n\nLet us go one step further; we need not go out to Australia now. We\nhave to replace competition by co-operation. You may say that is being\nvery largely done. Certainly very much has been done in co-operative\ndistribution; Lancashire and Yorkshire are full of successful\nco-operative works. How many are there of co-operative productive works?\nThe idea has been tried a good many times, but it has always broken down\nfor two reasons: first, that in production you want one clear, strong\nbrain which is a despot over the production; you cannot do it by boards\nand committees and popular votes, and all the rest of it, because in\nthat commercial production there are many things to think of; very swift\nchanges may come about, and the one able man is able to seize the right\nmoment and to lead his affair to success, where divided councils and\ndelay and discussion spell bankruptcy. That is one of the difficulties\nwith regard to this production. There is something still more serious\u2014the\nwant of trust. The people don\u2019t trust each other; they are suspicious\nof each other. They suspect each other of personal ends, instead of\nhonestly co-operating for the public good. So they change their officers\ncontinually, and there is no continuity of policy. That fault of want of\ntrust, want of confidence, imputation of bad motives, is fatal and must\nremain fatal until people can grow out of it into Brotherhood. At the\npresent time, when one man born among the working classes, as they are\ncalled, by ability and skill, eloquence and application, rises into the\nhigher social ranks, his bitterest opponents are to be found in the class\nwhich he has quitted; and when he finds, as he must find\u2014because again he\nstrikes up against great natural laws\u2014when he finds that Trafalgar Square\nremedies are not workable when you come to put them within the four\ncorners of an Act of Parliament, then people call him traitor, deserter,\nrenegade, and the best he can do will not win him trust and confidence.\nHow is that to be dealt with?\n\nOh, you say, you will have to change human nature before your plans\nwill work. Exactly; that is precisely what has to be done. Do you think\nit is impossible? Human nature is changing every day; human nature is\ncontinually in a state of flux. The human nature of the Middle Ages is\nnot the same as the human nature of our own time. When knight-errants\nwent plunging about, fighting and the rest of it, it might very well\nhave been said: \u201cOh, you have to change human nature before you can get\npeople to sit quietly down and submit to the law, instead of knocking\ntheir oppressor on the head.\u201d Quite true; but human nature has been\nchanging through those centuries, so that instead of riding out to right\nyour own wrong, you call in the nearest policeman and submit it to the\narbitration of the law. Why should not human nature go on changing? As a\nmatter of fact it is changing before our eyes, and the changes that are\ncoming in it are the unfolding of the divine Spirit in man; the outer\nforms change to embody the unfolding Spirit, and the lower human nature\nis always changing, and gradually producing itself in higher and higher\nforms. In the very midst of this struggle and competition, this misery\nand conflict, you can see, if you will open your eyes, the germs of a\nnobler, higher, more brotherly civilisation. How different is the social\nconscience from what it was even a century ago; how different the common\nfeeling of responsibility when wrong things are done and misery is left\nunalleviated! How many more of the classes that are called comfortable\ncannot remain comfortable while they know misery is outside their doors;\nhow many are beginning to recognise the great fact that whatever one has\nearned one holds as a steward, and not as an owner, in a world where all\nmen are brothers, and where the duty of the family is the duty of each!\nThat thought is spreading further and further, wider and wider; but the\ngreat change must come from above, not from below. Starving, ignorant men\ncan make riots, sometime even revolutions; but only wisdom and love can\nbuild up a new civilisation that shall endure. I remember that one day,\nwhen H. P. Blavatsky was asked: \u201cAre you a Socialist?\u201d her answer was, \u201cI\nbelieve in the Socialism that gives; I do not believe in the Socialism\nthat takes.\u201d There lies the keynote of the future. When those who have\nare ready to sacrifice, then the dawning of the new era will be seen in\nthe sky that is over our earth; when wealth and education and power are\nheld as trusts for the common good, ah! then will come the laying of\nthe foundations of a better and a nobler State. When the educated man\nand woman remember: \u201cThis education of mine, bought by the ignorance of\nthousands who have laboured in order that I might be educated, really\nbelongs to them, and I must give it back to them in service, in order\nto pay the debt that I have contracted to them\u201d; when the wealthy man\nfeels: \u201cI am a steward, not an owner of this wealth which has come out\nof the labour of thousands; let it help the uplifting of thousands\u201d\u2014then\nBrotherhood is beginning to show itself upon earth. When the gentle\nand the refined realise that gentleness and refinement are meant to be\nshared, and not shut up away in drawing-rooms to guard them as though\nthey were delicate Dresden china that must not be used for fear it should\nbe broken\u2014when that day comes, we shall be nearer the beginning of a\ngreat social change. It must be by renunciation, by self-abnegation, that\nthe foundations of that great brotherly civilisation will be laid. In a\nfamily, the elders think of the youngers; and when food is short, it is\nthe elders who go without it in order that the little ones may be fed. So\nin every social movement the note of the higher is renunciation, the note\nof the lower is love and co-operation; then they will blend together,\nand each will bring what he has to give, none will despise another, for\neverything is equally necessary for the building up of a nation. The\nstrength of the navy, the genius of the philosopher, the skill of the\nworker, the keen brain of the organiser\u2014the whole of these must make a\ncommon work; and none should either despise or envy, for it is one work\nwhich is being made by all for the good of everyone.\n\nIf you say to me: \u201cThat hope can but be a dream,\u201d my answer to you is,\nthat as man is divine there is nothing too great for him to imagine or\ntoo exquisite for him to achieve. Think highly of yourselves, highly of\nyour divine possibilities; realise that you are Gods in the making,\nand that you can build anything to which you can aspire. Thought is the\nmightiest power; the thought-image first, and then its materialisation in\nthe physical world. But it is not enough to think; the materialisation\nhere has to be made; and there are signs of that in the great Christian\ncivilisation which is still the dominant power in Christendom. For men\nare beginning to talk now not of heaven away beyond the clouds, but of\nheaven here on earth; of the kingdom of Christ on earth that shall surely\ncome, not only in the ideal but in the actual; a civilisation based on\nbrotherhood, wisdom, love. That is what is going to be done in the world\njust now opening up before us. Men are no longer content to be happy\nafter death, they want to be happy on this side of death as well; and\nthey shall be, unless the prayer that you who are Christians utter day by\nday is only a lip worship and not a reality: \u201cThy will be done on earth,\neven as it is done in heaven.\u201d It is on earth the new great civilisation\nis to come, that Brotherhood is to be realised, that the nations of the\nfuture are to be built on the type of the family, and not on a type of a\nstruggle of wild beasts in the jungle. That is the future to which we are\nlooking; and if on this Sunday and last Sunday I have drawn the darker\nside, it is to show that because things are at a deadlock, therefore He\nwho holds the key of every lock is near to His return on earth. In the\nSundays that lie before us I hope to work out that second side of the\nsubject, to show you how these things are passing away, and how it has\nbeen declared in the higher world, and the cry is echoing in the lower:\n\u201cBehold, I make all things new!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nLecture III\n\nThe New Doors Opening In Religion, Science, and Art\n\n\nFriends: On the preceding evenings on which I have addressed you we have\nhad our attention turned backwards to the past, or we were glancing at\nthe present. We are now to turn our eyes to the future, and, starting\nfrom the basis of the present and of certain facts which are already\nshowing themselves amongst us, to consider what new doors are opening\nin Religion, in Science, and in Art; what new avenues of knowledge are\nbeginning to show themselves stretching to far-off horizons\u2014horizons, in\nfact, which are not really the limit of those avenues, but only the limit\nto which we can at present pierce. I am chiefly concerned to endeavour\nto show you that this promise of the opening of new doors is a great\nreality; that the sounds are around us; that, as it were, the doors are\nalready a little open, and we have the right to think that as man evolves\na little further those doors will open wider and wider, so that the race\nmay pass through them to a wiser and a happier future. In order to make\nthis intelligible and clear, I shall have to ask you for a few moments\nto consider with me a certain view of man\u2019s nature and constitution, a\nview which was practically universal among the ancient religions of the\nworld, which is indicated, although not fully carried out perhaps in\ndetail, in the more modern faith of Christendom, which is revived amongst\nus, and is being taught all over the world by means of the Theosophical\nSociety; not a new view, but a very old one, clothed only in new garments\nin deference to the advancing mind of man. Now this view I must put\nroughly, but without that statement the method of the opening of the new\ndoors would remain unintelligible. It is briefly this: That every human\nbeing is fundamentally a spiritual intelligence, appropriating to himself\nportions of matter in the various types of worlds in which he lives; that\nthat spiritual intelligence commences the great world-cycle as a germ\nor seed of divinity; and just as if, where you had an ordinary seed, a\ngrain of corn, that grain would not grow and develop the powers within\nit unless it were planted in the soil, the soil whose juices nourish\nit, unless it were rained upon, and unless the sun shone upon it, so is\nit with the divine germ, the human Spirit. It is planted in the soil\nof human experience, whose juices shall gradually enable it to unfold\nits divine possibilities. It is watered with the rain of human tears,\nthe tears of sorrow and of pain; it is vivified, strengthened, enabled\nto grow by the sunshine of human joy and human delight; and out of the\ncontact of experience, out of the rain of sorrow and the sunshine of joy,\ngradually, generation after generation, century after century, millennium\nafter millennium, the divine germ becomes a divine man, perfect in the\nmanifested powers of Deity enfolded within him from the first.\n\nBut in order that that \u00e6onian evolution and unfolding may go forward,\nit is necessary that this divine germ should come into contact with\nmatter. Hence veil after veil of matter enwraps, is appropriated by, this\ndivine germ, and he draws around himself\u2014as he descends from the highest\nheavens down to the earth, through region after region of ever-densifying\nmatter\u2014and appropriates veil after veil, in order that by contact with\nthat matter, which alone can give him experience, the powers within him\nmay unfold and the matter that he appropriates may become his servant,\nhis instrument of manifestation. So when we look at any one of ourselves\nat the stage that we have reached to-day, we find a spiritual being many\nof whose powers have unfolded, but some of whose powers remain not yet\nunfolded into manifestation, and we find, clothing, as it were, that\nunfolding Spirit, the veils of matter of which I spoke, no longer mere\ninchoate veils, but bodies more or less definitely organised for the\npurposes of the unfolding life. On our physical plane, in the world in\nwhich we are to-day, that appropriated matter is now highly organised,\nand has become the servant of the intelligence of the Spirit to a very\nlarge extent in the more highly developed human beings. It has had\ndeveloped in it, age after age, those organs of knowledge that we call\nthe senses; five in number at the present time, as mankind has passed\nthrough five of those great Races that I likened to the waves of the\nhuman ocean when I first addressed you on this subject. You may remember\nthat then I spoke of ourselves as being in the fifth of those great\nwaves, and also in the fifth sub-wave, as we may say, into which the\nlarger wave divides itself. Even looking back along our experience in\nthe present cycle of human growth, we can see these senses developing\nfrom their earliest inception up to the present point of keenness that\nthey have reached, one sense developing in all its stages through one of\nthe great Races.\n\nIn order that you may not think that that is quite removed from\nexperience, let me ask you for a moment to look at a fairly prominent\nfamily of the fourth race, the one that preceded our own, which is now\nliving in Burma, part of the Indian empire. In that fourth race as a\nwhole the sense of taste was the one that was gradually evolving, the\nsense of smell being only germinal and rudimentary, not developed. Now\nif you go among the Burmans to-day and inquire into their diet, you will\nfind that one favourite article of diet is fish; but not fish freshly\ndrawn from sea or river, but fish that has been caught for some time,\nburied in the ground until it has become fairly aged, and then unburied,\nto form a delightful dish on the Burmese table. Certainly you can well\nrealise the fact that in that fourth Race people the sense of taste is\nvery different from what it is amongst yourselves, with perhaps one\nexception that I ought to make, that I believe even now in the sense of\ntaste in some people finds gratification in game and venison that are\neuphemistically called \u201chigh.\u201d Well, the fish that the Burman eats is\nvery high; one might almost, if it were not rude, perhaps apply to it a\nword more like calling a spade a spade, and call it rotten. Now no one\ncould eat such food as that and find it pleasant if the sense of smell,\nwhich has so much to do with the more delicate savours of taste, were\nalready well developed among the people; and I take that as a striking\nillustration, one that has come also under my own observation, in order\nto make clear what I mean when I say to you that with each race one sense\nis developed and the next sense to it is only germinal, and shows itself\nout in the following race, through which it grows to higher and higher\nperfection. So that the mere fact of the five senses of the present is an\nindication of the point at which humanity is standing, and a proverb\u2014and\nthere is often much truth in proverbs\u2014about a man being frightened out\nof his seven senses, although at present he has only five, may serve\nas an indication of the widespread and ancient tradition that man has\ntwo races still through which he will evolve, and senses which will be\ndeveloped as those races gradually develop upon earth; so that in the\nsixth Race, with which I shall have to deal in these lectures this day\nfortnight, \u201cThe Coming Race,\u201d we shall be looking for the development of\na new sense, the sense which will make the next world on the other side\nof death as palpable to us in the physical body as the physical world\nis palpable at the present time. For in man that form of vision will be\nthe next to develop; and as his next higher body, the astral, becomes\nrightly organised, then in the physical brain will develop _pari passu_\nthe organ whereby the knowledge of that world will come into the physical\nconsciousness, and thus enormously widen our outlook, and make palpable\nwhat now is hidden from the eyes of most.\n\nTaking this view of man, that he is an unfolding spiritual\nconsciousness, we find that he creates for himself, as he unfolds,\nmore highly organised bodies of matter, so that the double growth is\ngoing on in every one of us, higher stages of unfolding consciousness,\nsubtler bodies of matter by which that consciousness can express itself\nclearly and definitely; to every change in consciousness a vibration in\nmatter answering; to every vibration in matter a change in consciousness\nresponding; so that there are side by side the unfolding of the Spirit\nand the development of a more delicate and more highly organised body,\nthe difference showing itself in the nervous system as well as in the\nmere outer configuration of the body. Glance again at that fourth Race,\nstudy its nervous system, and you will find it very different from your\nown. While like your own in outer configuration, while the differences\nbetween the brain and the general distribution of the nerves to the body\nare not great, if you go into the question of the organisation of that\nnervous system you will find that an enormous gulf divides the fourth and\nthe fifth great Races of mankind. Again, if you want a proof, look at the\namount of pain or the amount of physical injury which can be endured,\nsay, by the Chinaman, in comparison with what you can bear. Notice that\nan enormous laceration inflicted on the body of the Chinaman leaves him\nready to recover rapidly, while a similar injury to you would kill you\nby nervous shock. It is not the question of the mutilation\u2014that and the\nloss of blood might be the same in each\u2014but the fifth Race man dies from\nnervous shock, where the fourth Race man with the coarser nervous system\nis able to recover, is able to re-establish the nervous equilibrium.\n\nAnother point you may notice among yourselves to-day, emphasising as\nyou do in your own Teutonic sub-race the characteristics of the great\nAryan Race to which all these branches that are spread over the West as\nwell as in India belong. Looking at that, you will find, as you come\ninto your own Teutonic sub-race, that nervous diseases increase; and\nthey are increasing very rapidly at the present time, far more rapidly\napparently than at any other period in human history. The strain on\nyour present nervous system is beginning to be too great, for it is\nevolving a little more rapidly than the outer world is evolving to meet\nit; and hence, in order that you may not suffer from continual nervous\ndiseases, it is necessary to begin to refine and to purify your lives,\nleaving the grosser passions behind you which in the course of evolution\nyou now ought to have outgrown. As the next sub-race is born\u2014and it\nis beginning at the present time\u2014the nervous system will become more\nand more delicate, and keener sense-organs will appear in the children\nin larger and larger numbers. Our present organs of sense will first\nbecome intensified. Then, after much intensification, the newer organs\nwill begin to show themselves\u2014those which will unfold to us the world\non the other side of death. To this world our astral bodies belong,\nand our nervous system will become finer, and thus make it possible to\nregister our investigations more completely in our physical bodies. That\nwill be one point that we shall have to bear in mind in looking for the\nnew doors that are opening. But not only the physical body is growing\nfiner, but in addition to that our next body is organising itself and\ngradually unfolding its powers, the body that we shall wear on the other\nside of death as well, the body that we are wearing now through which\nour emotions are showing. For when we pass through death we do not pass\nunclothed into another world; we throw off this denser garment of the\nphysical body, but penetrating that, interfused with that, intermingling\nwith that now is the finer matter of the world on the other side of\ndeath, growing ready for our use in that further world, and organising\nitself gradually for the experiences that there we shall meet. And in\nthe next race, as I shall try to show you more fully hereafter, that\nbody will become highly organised, greatly developed, a thorough vehicle\nof consciousness as the physical body is to-day, and by the growth and\norganisation of that the new doors will open before us in Religion, in\nScience, and in Art.\n\n\nI.\u2014RELIGION.\n\nLet us see, first, how this will affect Religion. The unfolding of the\ndeeper strata of consciousness will bring our inner selves, the Spirit,\ninto more and more direct touch with the spiritual regions of our\nuniverse. I am now not dealing with the finer worlds of matter, but with\nthe spiritual realities which belong to the spiritual life. The nature of\nGod, the consciousness of His presence everywhere, the recognition of His\nlife as an indwelling power\u2014all these will become fundamental realities\nfor the unfolding Spirit in man. I pointed out to you, when dealing with\nthe deadlock in religion, with regard to the idea of God, that no amount\nof reasons addressed to the intellect could ever lead us to an absolute\ndemonstration of the existence, the reality of God. Probability, yes;\ncumulative evidence, yes; but demonstration, no. When a thing is once\ndemonstrated, no further challenge arises about it; when once a fact is\ndemonstrated, no one any longer asks: Does that fact exist? and we have\nbeen in the region of arguments about God, and not of that spiritual\nknowledge of God which is eternal life. How is that to be reached? Not\nby any effort of the reasoning intelligence, not by any upreaching of\nthe merely emotional nature, but by the unfolding in man himself of that\nSpirit which is divine in its essential quality, which, because itself\ndivine, can respond to divinity without, and, because itself is God,\nknows that God of which it is the offspring. This is the ultimate truth\nof religion, the human experience of communion with God in the depths\nof the human Spirit; for religion is only a groping after God, a search\nafter God; ceremonies and rites, churches and scriptures, they are all\nexternal; they can never reveal God to the Spirit, which is of His own\nlikeness and image.\n\nOnly the Spirit can know Him, only the Spirit can find Him; while it\nsearches through matter it can only hope He is, but the unveiled Spirit\ncan feel the unveiled Godhead, and by the identity of nature can know\nthat God is, and is itself. And as this inner spiritual life more and\nmore awakens in the religions of the world, man will know the truth of\nthat great saying of the Christ: \u201cThe Kingdom of God is within you.\u201d\nAs you go down into the depths of your own being, there shall you\nfind Deity, the conviction that God is and must be. For you can strip\naway from yourself everything that is not He, until only He, the one\nSelf of all, remains. You can mutilate your body and lose your limbs,\nbut _you_ remain. Your emotions can grow worn out and be withered, but\nbehind your emotions _you_ still are there. Your mind may grow weaker,\nfeebler, may become, as it were, paralysed for reasoning, and yet _you_\nare there, behind the failing mind; and if you are willing to pass on\ninto spiritual experience, to let your emotions be quieted, to let your\nmind be still, then in the silence of the emotions, in the tranquillity\nof the mind, you shall find a deeper consciousness, a deeper life, a\nmore real individuality; and as the emotions are still and the mind is\nsilent, in the innermost depths of the Spirit you shall find yourself\nand God. And then, contemplating that mighty and eternal life, you\nshall feel that you share it, that you are part of it, that you cannot\nbe separated from it, and, in a great gush of experience that never\nagain you can doubt, you shall know the reality of Deity in finding the\nreality of yourself. That is the ultimate conviction that nothing can\nshake\u2014that the human experience that many a man has had, that for him has\ntransformed the world; that is the sure ground of the religion of the\nfuture, that the rock on which a true faith alone can be based; and it\nis written, and truly written, in an ancient Hind\u016b scripture, that the\nonly proof of God lies in the witness of the Self. On that rock religion\nwill base itself, fearless of all attack, of all assault. No question\nof chronology can move it, for every man can gain that experience for\nhimself; no criticism and destruction of scriptures can tear this in\npieces, for it is ever renewing in the perennial life of the Eternal\nSpirit; no churches, in failing, can shake it, for it is this that made\nchurches, to help in its own searching; nothing outside can touch it,\nfor it lives in the innermost heart of man. And in that, ever-opening\nnew experiences, fuller knowledge, deeper understanding, more abounding\nlove, and unchanging peace and bliss. Everything else may go, but this\nremains unchanging; and as out of this all has come, the perishing of the\ntransient matters not, for the Eternal Source remains.\n\nBut that is not the only new door, though the most important one, which\nopens to religion. You remember that I said, that with the unfolding\nconsciousness a more delicately organised body was evolved. And so we\nfind that new senses, new powers awake in the material tabernacle with\nthis unfolding of the divine Spirit in man. The senses which belong to\nthe higher worlds are very near to the opening in every one of you; and\nif you ask me why I say it, my answer is very simple, because, taking,\nsay, any dozen of you, dulling the physical senses by what is called\nmesmerism, or hypnotism if you will, so that you cannot see physical\nthings, cannot hear physical sounds, cannot taste or smell or touch so\nthat the senses answer to objects outside\u2014under those conditions in about\nten out of every dozen these inner senses are able to make themselves\nmanifest, are able to bear witness to the existence of a subtler world.\nNow when you find that by an artificial process of that kind an ordinary\nman or woman can be made what is called clairvoyant or clairaudient, or\nable to touch and feel things that the ordinary physical touch does not\nreveal; when you find that by stilling the physical these rudimentary\nsenses are able to work\u2014within limitations, but still to work\u2014it is a\nfairly clear proof that man is on the threshold of unfolding those senses\nthat now are rudimentary, and that need an artificial condition in order\nto show themselves. But they do show themselves under that artificial\ncondition. If they were not there they could not show themselves, no\nmatter how much you might paralyse the dense physical body; it is only\nbecause they are there that they can function. But when the rougher\nsenses are active, those stronger vibrations dull the delicate vibrations\nof the rudimentary and dawning senses. It is only because they are\npresent, but only partly developed that you are able to make them\nmanifest in the great majority which might be taken from a meeting such\nas this.\n\nNow, not only is that true\u2014and I mention that first because that is\npractically universally recognised by science now\u2014but they may be\nartificially stimulated without the help of mesmerism at all. While\nthat is a rough-and-ready way of doing it with anybody, the other means\nrequires a consciousness unfolded to the point where the fact of these\nsenses is recognised as probable, and then a deliberate and sustained\neffort to bring these senses into working order. Now that is done by what\nis known generally as meditation, and meditation is only concentrated\nthinking. Anyone who is able to pay attention, any one who is able to\nthink steadily on one subject for a little time without letting the mind\nwander, is ready to begin meditation; and most of all are those ready\nto begin it, although at first sight they might not look promising, who\nare capable of being seized upon by a single idea of a high and lofty\ncharacter; which, as it were, takes possession of them, obsesses them\nif you will, so that they become martyrs, heroes for the idea which has\ngripped them. I do not say that is the highest state\u2014it is not; it is not\nbest to be possessed by the idea, but to possess the idea\u2014that is a stage\nhigher still. But the power of being possessed by an idea shows that you\nare climbing upwards towards the realms of the ideal; and many a man or\nwoman who is marked out as a fanatic, as unwilling to be reasoned out\nof their foolish ideals, the dreamers of the world, the Utopians, the\npoets who dream of a coming golden age, those men and women who despise\nthe present, sometimes irrationally, in the wild enthusiasm of the idea\nthat has possessed them, they are treading on the threshold of that\npower of concentration of the mind which, when they have mastered their\nideas, should carry them far on\u2014on to the next stage in human progress.\nIt is by meditation that these senses are artificially awakened; that\nis, you quicken the normal workings of evolution by knowing the laws\nof thought, and utilising them to bring about that which you desire.\nIt is only artificial in the same sense that a cattle-breeder, when he\nwants to breed a particular type, uses those laws of nature that help\nhim, and avoids or evades those that would hinder him. He clears out of\nhis way all the opposing forces and energies, so that those he wants\nmay have free play. So with the laws of mind; if you know the laws of\nmind, the laws by which consciousness evolves, then you can use them\nscientifically to develop in yourselves the highest powers of the mind,\nand use those powers of the mind to organise your subtler body, so that\nit may become a vehicle of consciousness, may be obedient to your will\nto know. That is already stirring within you; hence the nervous troubles\nthat you have; but when you understand the law, you can evolve the finer\nnervous system without peril to health. Only this demands rules which\nmany people kick against, a physical self-mastery that is not popular\nin the luxurious and ease-seeking civilisation of our time; to make\nyour physical body only an instrument, to allow it to eat only what you\nchoose for it as best suited to your purpose, to allow it to drink that\nalone which suits your aim, to allow it to sleep just as long as, and no\nlonger than, conduces to that object that you have set before yourself\u2014to\nmake the body the servant, and not the master, or even the equal, of the\nSpirit\u2014that is the regimen which has to go with the quicker evolution of\nthe astral body and the keener senses which belong to it. Many are doing\nit amongst us now; nature is doing it, but not so rapidly as man can do\nit by working with nature.\n\nOn the western coast of America, along the Californian district, where\nthe electric conditions are very peculiar, one of the games the children\nlike is to run along the carpet, rubbing their feet along the carpet as\nthey go. This charges them so highly with electricity that if you turn on\na gas-jet they can put a finger to it and light it. These are things that\nare well known over there, and with that peculiar electrical condition\nthe tension of the nervous system is higher, and so these senses\nare very much more common there than they are in our damper and less\nbrilliant electrical atmosphere. That, however, is coming for all; there\npartly by natural conditions; here, if you choose to do it, by deliberate\nworking with nature along the line of evolution.\n\nNow, what will be the effect of evolving those astral senses? That the\nnext world will form part of this world to you, so that in religion a\nlarge number of things that now are matters of faith will become matters\nof everyday knowledge. There will be no need then to talk about human\npersonality persisting on the other side of death, for you will see your\ndead all around you, as some are able to see them even now. Death will\nbe only going into another room in the house that we are all living in,\nand even the walls will become transparent, so there will be no real\nseparation; it will no longer be necessary for the clergy to preach about\nthe life on the other side of death, for all the congregation will see\nthat it exists; it will be no longer necessary to talk about the results\nin that life of what we are doing here, for the results will be open\nbefore our eyes, as they are open to the eyes of the seers of to-day;\nthere will be no need then to say that death cannot divide, for all will\nknow that their beloved are with them\u2014tangible, visible, audible.\n\nNow, these things are so to an ever-increasing number of our own race at\nthe present time; they will become general as evolution proceeds. And\nthe result of that will be that very many of the secondary teachings of\nreligion will become palpably true to the great majority; not only the\nquestion of the life after death and the conditions that rule there, but\nalso the value of many church rites and ceremonies that the sceptical\nand materialistic mind of the moment looks on with scorn and contempt as\nancient superstitions. There is such a thing as the sacramental life;\nthere is a bridge between this world and the next in those sacraments\nof the Churches possessed by every great religion, and not by the\nChristian alone. Much of that has been lost to western Christendom by\nthe Reformation, which rejected the occult because it had been abused,\nand superstition believed without understanding. But, none the less, in\nthe great sacraments of the Church there remains a potency which without\nthat sacrament you cannot reach, a real communication of the spiritual\nto the material, a real down-flowing of the higher life: a thing which\nis visible to the eye of the seer, although invisible to the normal\nworshippers in the churches. And gradually, as these senses become\ncommon, those ancient traditions will again be justified in the minds\nof all, and men will again know that in those divinely given offices of\nreligion there is a mighty potency, a living spiritual reality. You do\nnot need them when you have opened up your Spirit to the higher realities\nof the spiritual world, but how few there are who are really open to\nthese in their daily lives; the sacraments are the bridges that unite\nthe worlds, and it is foolish to throw them aside until you have built a\nperpetual bridge within yourself.\n\nAll along those lines you will readily see how many doors will open\nin religion where knowledge will justify what humility and faith\nhave received. And along those lines religion, without ceasing to be\nspiritual, will be rational and scientific as well, and you will realise\nthat Occult Science justifies religion, and can make a rational and\nscientific defence for many of its rites and ceremonies, for many of\nits teachings that now rest on authority and tradition. I have not time\nto go further along that line; I have indicated to you the ways along\nwhich the doors are opening both in the spiritual unfolding to the higher\nrealities, and the unfolding of the higher senses which will gradually\nbring the next world within man\u2019s ken.\n\n\nII.\u2014SCIENCE.\n\nLet us turn to Science, and see how far similar doors are opening there\nfor the science of our day. You may remember that I pointed out to you\nthat science was now rather at its wits\u2019 end as regards observation. It\nseems to have reached the limit of the delicacy of its outer apparatus.\nHow shall it continue to observe? By means of those same senses that\nI have been speaking of in relation to the verification of religious\nteachings, but in science you can begin a little lower down. In the\nphysical world of matter, our own world, science is now recognising not\nonly solid, liquid, gas, but also ether, and beyond ether, possible\nfinenesses arising, so that there may be many ethers, as indeed was\nsuggested in that famous classification of vibrations which Sir William\nCrookes gave in one of his addresses a few years ago. Let it stand for\nthe moment as a matter of observation of higher sight that there are\nmore ethers than one that science will gradually conquer. But science\nis not yet able to see even the chemical atom, and that is only on the\nplane of the gas, the third fineness of matter. The atom escapes by its\nsubtlety, by its minuteness, and yet it would not be a very difficult\nthing for most of you to develop in yourselves the power of seeing as\nfar as that, for it is only physical matter. It is not now the seeing\nof another kind of matter altogether, like that of the astral world; it\nis only the making a little keener of your present physical sight. Now\nI wonder how many of you, if you were on board ship, quiet, with the\nair very pure, if you looked into the atmosphere around you, would see\ndancing in that atmosphere a number of tiny brilliant sparks. Probably a\nlarge number of you. Try it next time you happen to be out on the sea.\nSit with your back to the sun, otherwise your eyes will become dazzled;\nfix your gaze at the distance at which you can see an object clearly, so\nas not to strain the eyes; focus your eyes, say at a distance of four or\nfive yards away, not near enough to cause any strain by the crossing of\nthe eyes; you must not cross the axes of the eyes, that is, you must not\nsquint; that, prolonged, will injure the eyes. Let them look quite easily\nout a few yards away from you into the empty air, and stay quite quietly\nlooking at that point. Probably most of you presently would begin to see\na number of brilliant little sparks dancing like motes in a sunbeam.\nOne word of warning I must give you: if, in fixing your attention on\none of those, it slowly glides away out of sight, round the corner as\nit were, then it is only something in the retina, and the humour of the\neyes carries that gradually away; anything that gradually slides out\nof sight belongs to the physical retina of the eye, and is not outside\nyourself. But if they dance up and down in every direction, exactly as\nthe dust in a ray of light coming through a shutter, then you may be sure\nthat you are seeing something in the air beyond your ordinary vision.\nLook at them easily, not straining your vision, but with the will to\nsee\u2014every organ of sense is evolved by the will of the Spirit behind\nit\u2014the will to see more plainly, and gradually you will find that those\ndancing sparks of light can be stopped by your will to look at them,\nuntil they will, as it were, hang in the air like minute sparks without\nthe rapid motion. You have begun then to develop etheric sight, and going\non steadily along similar lines you would find that before very long\nthe atom of the chemist would become visible to you. Of course, this is\npossible to any clairvoyant who possesses real clairvoyance, and not\nonly a dim response to vibrations outside that are not understood. Two\nyears ago, under favourable conditions, two of us who had developed some\nof these higher kinds of sight set to work on the atoms of the chemist.\nWe examined some fifty-five or fifty-six of them, drew the forms, and\nsince then have examined all the rest that are known to science. Those\nforms fall into classes; they can be drawn so that anyone who is now\nable to see them can test his own vision if he pleases by that which we\nhave put on record; and you will find in that work, which we published\nunder the name of _Occult Chemistry_, pictures of the chemical elements,\nobservations as to their breakings up into finer and finer forms of\nether, and possibly to the trained chemist suggestions of experiments\nby which he may guide his own investigations, and by utilising what we\nhave seen as scientific hypotheses to him, although facts to us, may\nbe able to follow these subtle and elusive particles of matter further\nthan he has been able to follow them by any instrument that he is able\nto manufacture. For when a thing is once done, it is possible then to\nverify it over and over again; when once the pictures have been made, it\nis easy for others to see them and verify their details; and along that\nline opens up a whole vast series of new observations by man developing\nwithin himself instruments of observation keener than those he possesses\nby his apparatus and his machinery. Along that line physical research\nmay go. As these senses become commoner and commoner, investigations may\nbe carried on by scientists into the subtler worlds on whose thresholds\nthey now are standing, until we shall be able to have a chemistry founded\non direct observation which shall carry us right up to the ultimate atom\nof the physical plane, and make practicable those so-called dreams of\nthe Alchemist, which are only practicable by bringing together atoms\nof a finer kind than the gaseous, and so leading to aggregations that\nmake the elements along the lines that the chemist desires, he doing in\nhis laboratory what nature has done outside. And so along that line to\nchemistry, to electricity, new powers of observation will extend the\nbounds of science.\n\nAnd in medicine the same is true. Now medicine is to some extent,\nespecially on the Continent, profiting by this clear seeing. It is not an\nuncommon thing in a Paris hospital for the doctors to look for someone\nwho is sensitive, to hypnotise that sensitive person, to half awaken\nhim, so that he is what is called \u201clucid\u201d or \u201cclairvoyant,\u201d to take him\nthen to the bedside of the patient and get him to describe the inner\ncondition of the organs of that patient. Diagnoses are being made in that\nway now in several of the Paris hospitals, enormously facilitating the\nwork of the physician, and even of the surgeon. It is only seeing by what\nyou call the R\u00f6ntgen rays. The human eye can develop the power to see\nby those rays, and then you don\u2019t want your screens and all the rest of\nyour apparatus, for direct vision will do what is now done imperfectly\nby apparatus. Once, in speaking about this, I pointed out that all that\nthe doctors had done was to give a new label to a power that had been\nrecognised by many right back in the last century. They don\u2019t call it\nclairvoyance\u2014I use that word\u2014they call it internal autoscopy. After all,\na rose by any other name smells as sweet. Clairvoyance is just as useful\nwhen it is described in seven syllables as when it is described in three\nthe power is the same; and that is now being used, as I say, for medical\npurposes. As that extends, as the action of drugs can be watched, as the\nphysician can see what he is doing instead of groping, then medicine\nwill become what it ought to be\u2014a science of healing; and instead of the\nmiserable practice of vivisection you will have the clairvoyant vision,\nwhich directs alike the scalpel of the surgeon or the prescriptions of\nthe physician.\n\nBut that is not the only door which is opening before medical science.\nDoctors are beginning to realise the enormous value of the power of\nmind in the treatment of disease. Along this line the way has been led\nas usual by the great hosts of people who are banned as charlatans by\nmodern science\u2014Christian Scientists, Mental Scientists, faith curers of\nall sorts. These are the things that are leading the medical profession\nslowly along sounder lines of cure, along safer methods of healing. Most\ndoctors will now admit that to get the mind of the patient with them is\nto double the value of their drugs; most doctors will admit that the\nuse of the imagination by the patient is an immense help in the curing\nof any disease. On every side you may see that these methods are being\ntaken up by medical men, and are being rendered more and more scientific.\nWhat is the law that underlies them all? That the mind creates; that\nthe mind is the one great creative power in the universe, divine in the\nuniverse, human in man; that as the mind can create, so can it restore;\nthat where there is injury, the mind can turn its forces to the healing\nof the injury; that where harm has happened to the body, the mind can\nbring a remedy and strengthen the action of the drugs that are given\nby the physician. And I see now that in the Anglican Church there are\nseveral guilds of healing by the action of prayer\u2014which is concentrated\nthought\u2014by the touch of consecrated oil\u2014which is a sacramental\nfunction\u2014and by the faith of the patient, which is the determination\nof the mind to work in the direction which is desired by the sufferer.\nNow there is nothing new in that, nothing that has not been known in\nthe world for thousands of years. It was pushed out of sight by a\nscience that depended only on material means; it is coming back with the\nsupremacy of mind over matter, and with the recognition which science\nis now making, that it is life which is the evolver and the moulder of\nmatter. As medicine goes along that line instead of along the lines of\ntorture, the doctor will again become the healer instead of the poisoner\nthat he too often is to-day.\n\nIn psychology the same is true; new doors are opening there. These higher\nbodies of man that I spoke of at the beginning, as they become organised,\nbring us into touch with one region after another of the universe around\nus, answer to vibrations from the outer world far away from our physical\nglobe, bring us into contact with the subtler regions, the regions of\nthought as well as the regions of Spirit. As our consciousness makes its\nvehicles more plastic, more useful, more keen, more subtle, we shall find\nthe consciousness far larger than we dreamed of, until at last we shall\nrealise that this human consciousness of ours is only like a vast body\ntouching delicately, as it were, the surface of the physical matter of\nthe globe, putting a little more of itself down into the physical brain\nthat is more sensitive, but ever transcending the physical, and using the\nhigher, finer matter for its keener instrument, until at last we shall\nrealise that genius of every kind is only the manifestation of a larger\nconsciousness that each of us possesses, only we are not able to make it\nwork through the denser matter of our brain. And we shall realise that\nall that the Prophets have said, all that the great Mystics have told us,\nall those things are only the fruits of a wider consciousness contacting\na wider world, and that before psychology is unfolding an enormous range\nof possibilities, in which man will be in touch with other worlds than\nthis, and in which he will climb higher and higher, until he realises\nthat he is cosmic, not planetary, and belongs to a vaster system, and not\nonly to one tiny world. Along those lines, and along many another, then,\nthe finer sense is opening to science new doors, new avenues of knowledge.\n\n\nIII.\u2014ART.\n\nAnd what of Art? Here, again, these senses will be the builders of the\nnew art, the givers of the new ideals; and there are already signs, in\nthe world of painters more especially, of new powers which are opening,\nnew splendour of colour, and new wedding of emotion to colour also. A new\nschool of painters is beginning to grow up, some in this country, one at\nleast in Belgium, several in Hungary. I was looking at their paintings\nonly three or four days ago, in which new use of colour is being shown\nto indicate the higher emotions of the mind, in which the painter is\nthrowing into forms of new beauty, glorious in new brilliancy of colour,\nthe higher thoughts and emotions which show themselves especially in\nreligious feelings. There was one painting that was hanging in the\nhall in which we were holding our International Congress, which from\nthe further end of the hall seemed as though it were impossible as a\nmere painting on opaque canvas. As you looked at it from a distance it\nseemed as though the colour were transparent, as though the canvas were\ntransparent, as though there were a light beyond the painting shining\nthrough the colours from behind. Now, there is something of that quality\nin the paintings of Mr. Mortimer Menpes which he did in Japan. It shows\nso strongly that I remember, in one exhibition of his paintings, that\npeople looking would hardly believe that a light had not been hidden\nbehind the painting, so extraordinary was the brilliance that seemed\nto shine through; but if you talked to that great colourist, you would\nfind that he sees colours in quite a different way from you, or at least\nI will say I found he saw them in quite a different way from my normal\nsight, and in talking to him about the colours that he saw, I was able to\nrecognise, having unfolded some of the higher vision, that he was seeing\nastral colours, and not physical, and that the effort to throw those upon\nthe canvas brought about the remarkable results which everyone wondered\nover, though they did not understand. Now there are many artists who are\ngrowing up along that line, who are groping after new possibilities of\ncolour as well as after new ideals which they seek to limn, and you will\nfind in the more modern paintings of that school, at present so small but\nwith the promise of the future in it, that they are seeking after new\nforms of beauty; that they are trying to translate some of the higher\nvisions that belong to worlds of matter subtler and finer than our own;\nthat they are beginning to draw down from the ideal great thoughts, which\nthey are putting at present imperfectly into form and colour, but in\nwhich is the promise of the Art of the Future, where larger worlds shall\nbe drawn upon, where a vaster Nature shall unfold herself to man, where\nnew colours and new possibilities of outline shall be found in every\ndirection, and where human genius shall have a wider range, because a\nwider world and wider powers will come within the power of the painter.\n\nAnd so we shall see it also in music. That is beginning to show signs\nof the coming art\u2014subtler harmonies, minuter distances between notes,\ntendencies to quarter-notes as well as half-notes, quarter-tones; and\nalready there are one or two musicians who are beginning in their\nmelodies to play with these subtler kinds of tones, making strange new\nmusic\u2014music which the public ear is not yet accustomed to, which it\nchallenges when it hears it, but which is the Music of the Future, when\na vaster range of sound shall appeal to ears more finely organised than\nours, and when the ears of a new race shall demand from its musicians\ngreater delicacies of musical sound than have yet been mastered amongst\nus; and there is a new possibility there. That has been seized in India,\nalthough little put at present into music that the West would love. If\nyou go to India you will find some strange rules of music there: there is\nmusic for the sunrising, and music for the high noon, and music for the\nevening hours, and music for the stillness of the night. Nature has her\nsounds in all the different times of her unfolding, from dawn to sunset,\nand sunset to dawn, and these finer notes are attuned to these mysteries\nof Nature, so that unheard melodies may be mirrored in the music of human\ninstruments. The Indian musician would not play to you a melody of the\ndawn when the sun was setting; he would say it was against religion to do\nit, for to him all things are religious. It is a subtler harmony between\nman and Nature; and not without significance, again, was it that, at the\nCongress I have just spoken of, a Russian lady teacher\u2014for the Russian\nis very sensitive, a young nation with possibilities of the future in\nit\u2014brought to us what she called \u201ccoloured sounds.\u201d She had learned to\ntranslate into musical sounds the colours of the sunset and the colours\nof a forest, so that in music she could play sounds that made arise in\nthe mind the same emotions as would be aroused in the mind that looked at\nthe glory of the clouds in the sunset, or that sat in the wood and saw\nthe delicate shadings of the trees; the same emotions in the one case\nseen in Nature, in the other heard in music, and both changeable the one\ninto the other, eye and ear, and ear and eye. Along those lines many new\npossibilities lie\u2014new melodies, new delicacies, new exquisite harmonies\nin sound.\n\nSo art will go forward here, with these keener, subtler organs, further\neven in one way than science along the line of observation, for art\nreaches out by emotion where science is only observing, and so the poet\nis very easily the prophet, and the artist very easily the seer; and as\nthese powers increase and multiply, a new race arises in which the powers\nare inborn. Can you not dream some of the new possibilities in Religion,\nin Science, and in Art?\n\nYou think it is all a dream, all a fancy! But to say that, you must be\nmaking the preposterous claim that evolution is over, and that you are\nthe highest products which Nature is able to bring to birth. We are far\nhigher than the savages: should there not be races higher than we are?\nSurely Nature\u2019s power is not exhausted; surely she, who has gradually\nbuilded up the exquisite mechanism of the human retina from the pigment\nspot in the nervous ring of the medusa, surely she can evolve these eyes\nfurther and further, to greater power of sight. It all grows out of the\nSpirit, and of the Spirit there is no ending. If you see to-day with\nyour eye it is because the Spirit in you willed to see, and by that will\nbuilt up the organ which made the will effective in the material world;\nand that same Spirit that evolved you in the past is living in you now,\nand is your innermost Self; its powers are not exhausted, its inspiration\nis not over, it is still the architect of the human body, as the divine\nSpirit is the architect of the universe. Ever to higher and higher\nforms of matter, ever to loftier and loftier stages of consciousness,\neverlastingness stretches in front of us, as everlastingness stretches\nbehind us. As we have climbed, so we shall climb; as we have come upwards\nfrom the dust, so shall we ascend to the stars; for the Spirit of God\nwithin us knows no limitation either in time or space, and the evolution\nof the future should be a millionfold more splendid than the evolution\nwhich has made us what we are.\n\n\n\n\nLecture IV\n\nBrotherhood Applied to Social Conditions\n\n\nFriends: I wish to deal to-night with the question of the principle of\nBrotherhood as applied to human life; how we may use it to solve some\nof the problems that we find around us at the present day, how we may\nuse it to make possible the transition from one stage of civilisation\nto another, so that the transition may come in peace and goodwill,\nand thereby may last, rather than in anger and revolution, which can\nonly mean a brief period of the new order, and then another struggle,\nprolonged ill-will, and misery. But if Brotherhood is to be applied to\nthe solution of our difficulties, the first thing that is necessary is\nto try to understand what is meant by Brotherhood, and what it implies.\nNow, Brotherhood by no means implies what is called equality, for just\nas you do find Brotherhood in nature, so do you not find equality; in\nfact, the very name Brotherhood carries our thoughts to the constitution\nof the family, implies at once the inequality of elder and younger, of\nwiser and more ignorant, of those who guide and those who obey; so that\nif man is to aim at a society in which equality is to be the watchword,\nthen the principle of Brotherhood must be entirely thrown on one side.\nThe disadvantage of taking the war-cry of equality in trying to make a\nsocial system, or even to fight a social battle, is that natural law is\nagainst you, and that you are dealing with a fiction, not with a fact.\nThere is nothing more obvious throughout the whole realm of nature\nthan the inequalities of which natural order consists; and if you turn\naside from the vaster order of the various grades of living things, and\nconfine yourselves only to the study of man, there the same principle of\ninequality is perpetually asserting itself. It is not only the difference\nof age which always comes in, in the question of a family; it is the\ndifference of capacity, of power, of characteristics, of qualifications.\nWhat sort of equality is possible between the strong and healthy man\nand the cripple or the invalid? what sort of equality between the man\nwith eyes and the blind? between the man who is dowered with genius and\nthe man who is weighted by dulness and stupidity? Inequality is the law\nof nature, not equality; and it is of no use to try to build a social\nsystem on that which is only a fiction, thought out in the study of\ndoctrinaires, but breaking down the very moment it comes to be applied\nto human life. That famous declaration of the American Republic: \u201cMan is\nborn free,\u201d and on that freedom basing equality, is denied by every fact\nof human life. Man is born a babe, helpless and dependent; and if the\nbabe were left to the enjoyment of freedom, he would have very little\nchance of growing into youth and maturity. A babe is not born free, but\ndependent on all those around him for the possible continuance of his\nlife; and if it were not that he is born into a system of affection and\nobligation, there would be no chance for the human babe to survive the\nfirst hours of his infancy.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact, one full of significance, that the two societies\nin the world which recognise Universal Brotherhood both also recognise\na hierarchical order. Take the great fraternity of Masons. They lay\ndown the principle of Universal Brotherhood over the whole surface of\nthe globe, but there is nothing more rigid in its order and in the\nauthority committed to the officers than a Masonic Lodge. Hierarchy is\nthere recognised as the very condition of liberty. If you turn from\nthat proclamation of Universal Brotherhood to the Theosophical Society,\nexactly the same thing is seen. You have there the recognition of a\nhierarchy that guides the destinies of humanity, and presides over the\nevolving growth of man\u2014a mighty hierarchy, where wisdom only gives the\nright to rule, and where the commands of wisdom are gladly carried\nout by the less wise, who recognise the authority of those wiser than\nthemselves. And that, in truth, is the condition of liberty. For without\nthat hierarchical order, where wisdom rules and ignorance obeys, there\nis no possibility of anything that is worthy to be called by the name\nof liberty. As I shall want to put to you at the close of what I have\nto say to-night, we have never yet seen liberty upon earth outside the\nranks of that great human hierarchy; we have only seen the rule of\ndifferent classes, the rule of one group over another; but never have we\nseen liberty, for man is not yet sufficiently evolved to understand the\nconditions under which alone liberty can exist.\n\nIn looking at this strange fact, that the only two societies that\nproclaim Universal Brotherhood also admit a hierarchical order, let us\nsee how far in the great Brotherhood of man there are any foundations on\nwhich a hierarchy can be based. I am coming, now, away from that great\noccult hierarchy of which I spoke into the ordinary humanity known to us\nall. In the family, where the principle of Brotherhood is recognised,\nand where duty and responsibility go with age and knowledge, there we\nhave, as it were, a rough outline as to what a State should be. But how\ndoes the principle of age come in as regards mankind? For unless there\nbe something in the human race which bears an analogy, at least, to the\nprinciple of age within a family, we shall find it difficult to vindicate\nBrotherhood, much less to make it the foundation-stone of society in\nthe centuries to come. Now, it is as true of humanity as it is true of\nthe members of a family that there is a difference of age. Exactly on\nthe same lines by which the members of a family are born one after the\nother, and in all those different ages make up the family circle, so is\nit with the great family of man. The human and intelligent Spirits that\nmake up that vast family are not of the same age, have not all been born\ninto individual existence at the same time. Side by side with the idea\nof Brotherhood comes out the natural law of reincarnation\u2014that there is\na difference of age in the individualised human Spirits, and that there\nare elders and youngers in the great human family. These differences\nof age do not go necessarily with any of the distinctions of castes\nor classes that you find in modern society, although the great caste\nsystem of India was founded upon this principle of the different ages\nof the reincarnating Egos. Long ago, however, has that passed away, and\nyou have not now manifest on earth that same definite order as in the\nearlier days of our Aryan ancestors in India. Still, you can tell the\nyounger or the older soul by examining the characteristics that the man\nor the woman brings into the world at birth; by looking at the character,\nthe marks of the being older or younger leap into sight. The younger\nsoul, unable to acquire any large amount of knowledge, with very little\nmoral faculty showing itself, very selfish and desirous to grasp the\npleasure of the moment without any care for what may be the result of\ngrasping it in the time that follows, the trivial, shallow, easy-going\nway of life, the being carried away by the ever-changing fancy, and\nwith no strong underlying thought or principle or will on which you can\nreckon, very changeable, very frivolous, easily carried away by every\npassing whim of the moment\u2014those are marked out as the younger souls,\nwho have little experience of life behind them in which character has\nbeen builded, in which will has been evolved. And when you come across\nthose of calm judgment, great capacity for acquiring knowledge, power to\nturn knowledge into wisdom, steadfast in will, steadfast in principle\nready to look to the future beyond the passing attractions of the moment,\nready to sacrifice a temporary gain for a larger happiness\u2014in such men\nand women you have the marks of the older souls, whose past experiences\nhave gradually developed capacities, and who have brought with them into\nthe world the fruits of long-reaped harvests. That great principle of\nReincarnation must ever go hand in hand with Brotherhood if Brotherhood\nis to be applied, if it is to be made a working principle of ordinary\nlife. For it is out of these differences of age between us that grow up\nall the possibilities of an ordered and happy society amongst ourselves.\nWhen the young souls come into places of power and wealth, then ill is\nit for the nation, for then children rule instead of men. But well is it\nfor a people where wisdom is the test of weight and authority, where the\nwise and the thoughtful and the learned are those who are held to have\nthe greatest claim to social distinction, where knowledge and power go\nhand in hand, and where experience is the guide of righteousness, the\nstandard of honour. Only as those facts are recognised\u2014and they grow out\nof the knowledge of reincarnation\u2014only on that stable law in nature can\nyou build securely and strongly the society that shall endure.\n\nBut it is sometimes said: If you are going to build a society on these\ngreat principles, then you have to change human nature, because human\nnature is selfish, superficial, readily swayed, and you cannot build\na society which is truly great out of trivial and superficial people.\nThe wise are always in the minority; how, then, will you gain for them\nthe right and the power to rule? It is true that human nature will have\nto change very much from what it is to-day, but then it is changing\nall the time\u2014it is no new thing to change human nature. Human nature\nis perpetually changing as century succeeds century and civilisation\nsucceeds civilisation; and when we once understand the law of life, and\nrealise the mighty power of thought in the building of character, and\nunderstand that law of inviolable sequence which Theosophists call karma,\nworking in every department of human life and not only in non-intelligent\nnature, when we realise the time that reincarnation gives us, and the\ncertainty that that law of inviolable sequence gives us, then we begin\nto understand that human nature is a very malleable thing; and just in\nproportion as we understand the law, so shall be the rapidity of the\nchanging. Do you think that human thought is weak as a force to change\nhuman nature? Is it not rather true that thought is the power which\nbrings about all mighty changes?\u2014first the ideal, then the action. Let\nme give you two striking examples of the only two nations in Europe that\nhave attained national unity during our own lifetime; one Italy, the\nother Germany. I only take them as examples of nations that out of many\nStates and warring interests have reached unity as a nation; and how was\nit done? It was done by the holding up of the ideal in both cases, the\nideal of national unity. Not until German poets had sung of the German\nFatherland for many and many a long year, not until that ideal of the\nFatherland rose strongly and clearly in the minds of the young, not until\nthe poet had made the ideal was it possible for the soldier to come\nforward with the statesman and build those States into one. And so also\nwith Italy. Long before there was any talk of revolution or war, long\nbefore there was any idea of appealing to the sword, Italian thinkers\nhad spoken of Italian unity, Italian patriots had held up the ideal of\na united Italy; and it was only when the ideal had fired the hearts of\nthe young that there was strength enough for the self-sacrifice that\nfollowed the sword of Garibaldi, and made it possible for Italy to become\na united people. For it is out of the ideal that enthusiasm grows, out of\nthe ideal and the longing to realise it that the power of self-sacrifice\nis generated. What we need to do, then, to change human nature, is to\nhold up great ideals before the young of our time, and those ideals\nshall fire their hearts to passionate enthusiasm, until self-sacrifice\nshall be a joy and not a sacrifice at all, in order that the ideal they\nworship may become realised upon earth. Along those lines human nature\nwill change; for, never forget that Human Nature is divine, not devilish;\nthat a God is at the heart of every man, unfolding the power of divinity;\nhence the power of the ideal to fire and the power of thought to mould\nthe lines of character.\n\nLet us pass on from principles to practice, and see which of the social\nproblems shows good hope of resolution by applying this principle of\nBrotherhood, with its corollaries of reincarnation and karma. Evidently\nour first tool is education. In the plastic bodies and brains of the\nyoung there lies the greatest possibility of a speedy upbuilding of\na noble social feeling. As I pointed out in the first of this course\nof lectures, the attempt that is being made in many directions now\nto separate religion and morals, and to give an education from which\nreligion shall be excluded\u2014that, for the reasons which I then gave you,\nand need not repeat, is foredoomed to failure. Now, it is quite clear why\npoliticians and the public, impatient of the quarrels of many sectarians\nand denominations, want to throw religion aside altogether, and not bring\nreligious controversies into the schools. But if you apply the principle\nof Brotherhood to religion, it surely is not too much to hope that in a\ncountry where the vast majority are at least nominally Christian, some\nsort of agreement might be come to on essentials for the teaching of the\nyoung. In India you have sectarian religions as you have here, great\ndivisions in the schools of religious thought; and it was said some\ndozen years ago in India, quite as strongly as you hear it said now in\nEngland: It is impossible to teach religion to Indian boys and girls, for\nthe strife of sects makes unity impossible, and how should you teach the\nchildren without deciding on what to teach them? That seemed, as it seems\nover here, a great obstacle in the way of religious teaching, and yet in\nfour or five years that question was solved in India so far as concerns\nHind\u016bism, the religion of the enormous majority of the people. What was\ndone? The principle of Brotherhood was applied. Some of us, in concert\nwith some theosophical Hind\u016bs, gathered together a small committee to\nmark out what were the essential doctrines of Hind\u016bism, and what were\nunessential and sectarian. After that sketch had been made, we set to\nwork to get scholars to collect from Indian scriptures passages which\nbore upon these doctrines characteristic of Hind\u016bism, and, with that\nmaterial gathered together, a Theosophist sat down and wrote a text-book\nof Hind\u016bism. Having written it, a hundred copies were drawn in proof, and\nsent to the heads of all the great Hind\u016b sects and schools of philosophy.\nThey were asked to read it through, to strike out anything they objected\nto, to mark in anything they thought essential; and when these books had\ntravelled round in that way the whole circle of the quarrelling Hind\u016b\nsects, they came back again into our hands with all the emendations and\nsuggestions. Once more we sat round the book, examined the criticisms,\nadopted the widely supported suggestions, with such success that, when\nthe elementary and the advanced text-books on Hind\u016bism were issued,\nthey were taken up by all the sects over India and adopted as a fair\npresentment of the fundamental doctrines of Hind\u016bism. They have been\ntaken up in school after school, adopted by prince after prince, so that\nwhen the great Mussulm\u0101n ruler of Hyderabad in the Deccan wanted to give\nhis Hind\u016b subjects Hind\u016b education in the whole of the State schools,\nhe simply took these books and placed them in every school, so that the\nHind\u016bs among his people might be instructed in their own faith. The same\nthing was done by the English Government in the Princes\u2019 College in\nR\u0101jput\u0101na, because they found that secular education made princes who\nwere immoral and unfit to rule. During the last eight years these books\nhave spread everywhere, everywhere accepted and everywhere used. Do you\nmean to tell me that the divisions among Christians are so much deeper\nthat they cannot do what the Hind\u016bs have done, or that you have not more\non which you agree than on which you disagree; and that you could not\nteach the children that in which you are united, and leave them in their\nmanhood or their womanhood to add the sectarian parts of the doctrines\nfor themselves? In India, to show you the effect of this, one of the\ndirectors of public education asked me: \u201cCannot you write, Mrs. Besant,\na text-book for the Christians?\u201d My answer was: \u201cYes, I could write it,\nbut I don\u2019t think they would use it.\u201d It must come from so recognised\nChristian authority. I quite grant that a Theosophist would do it better\nthan anybody else, because the Theosophist has no quarrel with any form\nof religious belief, and because the whole of his study leads him along\nthe lines of recognising the points of union rather than the points of\ndivergence; but it need not be done by a Theosophist, only by some one\nwith the spirit of Theosophy in him, and that only means the spirit of\nthe Divine Wisdom, of which every separate religion is an expression, so\nthat there ought to be no quarrel with any.\n\nSupposing that to be done for the whole of the Empire wherever Christians\nare found, see how enormous would be the gain; and it would not be\nso difficult. There are certain doctrines you all accept if you are\nChristian at all: you would only have to put those into a rational,\nintelligible form, and then gather from your own Scriptures the verses\nwhich support and give them authority to all who look on those Scriptures\nas authoritative. I have had in my mind an idea that may possibly\nbe carried out, of trying whether it would not be possible to write\na Universal Text-Book of Religion and Morals, with texts from every\nScripture of the great religions, from all the Bibles of mankind, drawing\nthe authority in support of the universal doctrine, and in that way\nmaking a book that Christian and Hind\u016b, Pars\u012b, Buddhist and Mussulm\u0101n\ncould use; for all their Scriptures might be quoted in support of the\ngeneral doctrine, and each might then add its own specific teachings to\nthat great broad foundation, showing the real Brotherhood of faiths.\nThat is a dream, but I think it may become a reality.\n\nAlong that line, then, in our education we must have religious teaching,\nin order that we may have a firm foundation for morals. With regard to\nother teaching, what would grow out of the principle of the State being\na great family, with children of many ages and varying capacities that\nought to be equally trained? There would grow up a system of education\nin which one broad common basis would be given to every child alike up\nto about the age of ten or eleven years, and then there would come a\ndifferentiation according to the capacities of the children. You would\nno longer, when a child has musical capacity, insist that that child\nshall get a smattering of three or four other arts, so that he is not\ngood in any one, but only superficial in all. If you saw musical ability\nyou would let the other points go, and music would form the predominant\npart of the education of such a child. If you found power of colour,\npower of form, then along the plastic or the painting art the child would\nhave developed his natural capacity; and slowly and gradually you would\nlearn that the power of art must pass into the handicrafts of the nation,\nand that large numbers of your boys and girls should be trained to the\nhandicraft as against the machine-made product; because there you have\nthe possibility of general beauty coming back to life, and there alone\nwill the sense of beauty be cultivated throughout the nation. Where you\nsee the tendency is literary, there you should not insist, especially as\nyou do with girls still, that they should all play a little music, and\nall do a little drawing, and all learn a little singing; you would let\nall that go, and you would cultivate the literary faculty where you found\nit, and make that the special point of this more specialised education.\nWhere you found the scientific faculty, there you would make that the\nmost important part of the educational curriculum, remembering only that\nyou must add to scientific training something of literature and the\nideal, otherwise your science will tend to produce vulgarity and lack of\nthe wider understanding of human life. Where you find mechanical power,\nthere you will cultivate that especially, always remembering that no boy\nshould leave school until he has learned some method of being useful to\nthe State while earning his own livelihood. Unskilled labour should be a\nthing of the past in every department of human life. It is necessary that\nyou specialise at an age which is early enough to enable a boy to learn\neffectively that which is to be his livelihood in later life. A good deal\nof mistake is being made in the education of the day, where, when the\nboy has to earn his livelihood along some line of manual work, too much\nof the literary is given to the sacrifice of manual dexterity. You want\nfar more practical training in your schools than you have to-day, and the\ncontinual pointing-out that one form of human activity is not inherently\nnobler than any other form; that the man who uses his hands well is as\nhonourable in the use of them as the man who uses his brain well. What is\ndishonourable is that either brain work or manual work should be badly\ndone. Your really destructive spirit along all these lines is: \u201cOh, it\nis good enough; it will do.\u201d There is nothing that will do unless it\nis done as well as you are able to do it; otherwise it is slop work,\nand degrading in itself. It is not the kind of work you do that makes\nyou either honourable or dishonourable; it is the spirit in which you\ndo it, and the quality of the work that you turn out. Until you can get\nthat through the nation, as it is not to-day\u2014until you can give back to\nthe workman the dignity of the artist, and not want every carpenter to\neducate his boy superficially so that he may be a clerk instead of a\nhandicraftsman, spoiling your crafts and overloading your offices\u2014until\nyou can bring back that balance of human duty and human labour, there is\nlittle hope of a sane and healthy society amongst you.\n\nPass, again, from that to another thing that is badly wanted in\neducation; but I think that is learned more in the playground than in\nthe classroom\u2014discipline, the sense of duty to a larger life. That may\nsound rather a grand sort of description to give of the effect of a game\non a boy, but it is true. Where a boy is a member of a team\u2014cricket,\nfootball, hockey, what you like\u2014that boy will never be a success unless\nhe learns to think of his side and not of himself, and that is a larger\nself than his own personal claims. It is in the playground that the\nboys and girls learn many a lesson which makes them better citizens in\nlater life\u2014the sense of order, the sense of discipline, the doing your\nwork in your place, wherever you are put in the field. You may have one\nplace or another in the cricket field or the football field, but the\ntest of the boy is that he does his work well in the place where he is,\nand does not want to be somewhere else when his captain has placed him\nthere. That moral discipline of the playground is more valuable than\nthe discipline of the classroom, for it is voluntary, gladly obeyed,\nand it is stimulated by an ideal, unalloyed by fear. Hence the value of\nthe playground, and the value of teaching boys really to play. For the\ngreatest danger of these so-called democratic nations is that they have\nno sense of discipline, no sense of order, no sense of obedience; without\nthese no nation can be great. When you get, as you sometimes do get, a\nthing that happened last time I was in Australia, that an apprentice\nboy at a mine, because he was reproved for not doing his work rightly,\nat once left work, and then the whole mine struck in order to defend\nthis young scamp\u2019s liberty\u2014there is not much chance of building a nation\nout of materials like that; you have only got a heap of marbles with no\ncohesion, with no binding sense of duty nor sense of responsibility, and\nout of those materials you can never make a State. Without discipline,\norder, obedience, no possibility of greatness. But all that has to grow\nout of the education definitely based on these ideas of Brotherhood, of\nreincarnation, and law.\n\nPass from that department of life, and turn to a very important\nquestion\u2014Penology, the treatment of criminals. What is the criminal?\nCriminals fall into two great classes: one class of young souls, and\nthey need to be educated; another class of souls whose development has\nbeen lopsided, so that the intellect has grown, but the conscience has\nnot developed side by side with it\u2014by far the more dangerous criminals\nthose, and far more difficult to deal with. Now, the young soul is very\nlargely a savage, the man at so low a stage of human evolution that\nearlier in the evolution of our race he would have been guided into some\nsavage tribe in some island or desert, where the rough discipline of that\nsavage life would have begun the hewing of him into shape\u2014rough, hard,\ncruel, but gradually building up that young soul into a sense of duty\nto his tribe. Now, as things have changed, and human evolution has gone\nforward rapidly, there are not places enough in the world where those\nconditions are available for the gradual training of these younger souls.\nThe civilised nations, as we call them, have been spreading everywhere\nover the world\u2019s surface, have been driving these miserable people out of\ntheir possessions, have taken their lands, largely murdered them, have\nappropriated the land and dispossessed the earlier possessors into the\nnext world. What has become of all those? They have got to come back,\nand they tend by natural law to come to the nations who have been most\nactive in sending them out of their possessions. It is quite natural, if\nyou think that we live under law, not by chance; and it is not, perhaps,\nif I may say it with all respect, very wonderful that the people of Great\nBritain have a rather extra share of those unfortunate savages to look\nafter. They come into the slum, and there they are born really savages.\nIf you look at them you call them congenital criminals. But they are\nreally young souls, without morality, without much brains, with a certain\ncraft and cunning and cleverness, but fundamentally young. Then you find\nothers who have come out of that lowest condition of savagery, but who\nare not yet at the point where the restraints of the society that suits\nthe older souls are tolerable to them. And so you get a great crop\nof occasional criminals, with the tendency to turn them into habitual\ncriminals. Then you have that other class I spoke of, the lopsided\npeople, whom I said were the most difficult to deal with; men who are\nreally clever, but turn their cleverness to plundering their fellows\ninstead of using it within the limitations of the law. That is a large\nclass. Sometimes they just go over the edge of the law, sometimes they\njust keep within it, but from the social standpoint, remember, there are\nmany social criminals who always keep on what is sometimes called the\nstreet-side of the law\u2014that is, they do not go within the jail\u2014such a\nman as one I spoke of the other day, who had wrecked the railway system\nof a whole district in order that out of that wreckage he might build\nhimself up an enormous fortune. He is not a burglar from the technical\nstandpoint, he is not a thief that a policeman might catch hold of, but\nin the sight of karma, and in the sight of the eternal justice, that\nman who by legal means has robbed thousands of others of their means of\nlivelihood is a worse thief than the one who has picked a pocket and is\nthrown into jail. There are a good many things in a civilised country\nwhich lie very nearly along the line of legal or illegal theft, a good\ndeal of which goes by the name of company-promoting, where it is just a\ntoss-up whether there is really fraud that can be proved; but with the\nremarkable fact that while the companies always perish, and the people\nwho took shares are beggared, the company-promoter comes out at the top,\nand becomes quite a successful person. Now all that, from the social\nstandpoint, is utterly immoral, but we cannot call them criminals in the\ntechnical sense, although now and then they go a little too far, and then\nthe criminal law catches them.\n\nHow should those be dealt with who are really the young souls? how shall\nwe avoid turning them into habitual criminals as we do now?\u2014for is there\nanything more miserable and more shameful than that a man should go back\ntime after time till fifty, sixty convictions are registered against him\nin the police court, and the sentence grows longer and longer because he\nis a habitual criminal? He has been manufactured into that. You ought\nnot to treat a man who has committed a crime against your legal system\nby consigning him to prison for seven days, or a month, or a year,\ngrowing longer and longer and longer after every return to temporary\nfreedom. You don\u2019t use people who are ill like that; you never find a\ndoctor committing a small-pox patient to a hospital for seven days,\nnor a fever-stricken one for a month; they are committed until they\nare cured, and that is the way in which you should deal with anyone of\nmarked criminal propensities. You should not punish, you should only\nhelp; and you should take that child-soul and train him into decency of\nliving. For one thing, you should never have in your prisons any form\nof useless labour as a punishment. The criminal who is really a savage\nalways dislikes labour; he is always idle\u2014that is part of his youth; and\nif you give him a form of labour that is punitive and not useful, you\nonly increase his natural disgust for every kind of labour, and make\nhim hate it more thoroughly when he comes out of jail than he did when\nhe went in. Taking up shot and carrying it to one side of the prison\nyard, and then carrying it back again, or the useless torture of the\ntreadmill, these make criminals, they do not cure them.[1] You want, when\nthe criminal comes into your power, to take him in hand as you would\ntake a younger brother who does not know how to guide himself, and it\nis your duty as the elder to guide him; you need to train him in some\nhonest trade whereby he might gain a livelihood; you need to discipline\nhim, not cruelly, but firmly and steadily; you need to lay down the very\nwholesome law that if a man will not work neither shall he eat, and teach\nhim in the prison to earn his dinner before he enjoys it. You need to\nset him to work at trades whereby he may earn his own living within the\nwalls of the jail; and if, after you have taught him a trade so that he\ncan earn his living, and outside the jail have found him an opportunity\nof decent livelihood\u2014if then he refuses to work, and comes back again\ninto your hands, then you should keep that discipline upon him until he\nreally is cured, even though it be for many and many a year, for you are\ntraining him into better character. You might make the prison life less\nof a disgrace than it is now; give him rational amusement, amusement that\nwill cultivate, instead of having him deadened by the continual feeling\nof disgrace within the prison walls. You may restrain him\u2014that may be\nnecessary for the welfare of society; but you should treat him as a\nyounger one in the national household, to be gradually trained up into\ndecent living; let the willingness to live the decent life be the only\nkey to the door of the jail.\n\nBut you may do much before there is any need to send them to prison at\nall. There is a system which is just beginning here, called the Probation\nSystem, one that has been worked in America with very great success,\nand one that a late member of our Society, Miss Lucy Bartlett, has had\nthe immense privilege of introducing into Italy, so that it has been\nmade the law of the land. Now what is that system? When a young boy or\ngirl commits a first offence, he is not sent to jail if someone, a good\ncitizen, of decent standing and good life, will come forward in the court\nand say: \u201cI will take charge of that boy or girl, or young man or young\nwoman. I will be his friend and look after him.\u201d Then the sentence is not\none of imprisonment; it is a sentence which is over the lad\u2019s head for a\ntime; and if he will not be helped, then it is allowed to take effect.\nBut, as a matter of fact, that is very seldom the case. This man or woman\ncoming forward out of the more leisured classes of society, and becoming\na friend to that younger brother or sister, is, in the great majority of\ncases, a means of redeeming that younger one from evil into good; the\nolder makes a friend of him, takes him out sometimes, talks with him,\ntrusts him really as a brother or a sister, and great is the redeeming\npower of human love in restoring self-respect, and great the desire for\napproval. Those are the motives that are brought to bear on one who has\nonly just set his feet on the path of criminality, and that in most\ncases brings him back to virtue; and the friendship that began in the\nprobation goes on through the rest of life, strengthening, helping,\nteaching both the helper and the helped. The system has been in operation\nfor some time now in America, long enough to test it; in Italy only\nfor some two or three years, too short a time; man after man and woman\nafter woman of the leisured classes has come forward to act as friend\nand helper of the one who has come within the grip of the law. Surely no\nbetter application of Brotherhood to criminal treatment could be found\nthan that; it is the realisation of the duty of those who are beyond the\ntemptation to vice to their youngers who have fallen under its power.\n\nI can hardly leave this subject without saying a word on Capital\nPunishment. That, of course, cannot find defence from anyone who realises\nthe principle of Brotherhood. Some of you may remember the saying of a\nwitty Frenchman: \u201cQue messieurs les assassins commencent\u201d; but it is\nnot from the lower that reforms begin, but from the higher. You cannot\nexpect your murderer to respect human life if you have taught him by\nyour criminal legislation that the right penalty for murder is to\nmurder again. True, one comes from passion and the other from the law;\nbut if the law does not teach respect for human life, how should the\npassions of the criminal honour that sacredness? It is not only from that\ngeneral principle that you make human life cheap by destroying it, but\nfrom another even more important. You cannot get rid of that murderer\nof yours; you can only get rid of his body, and his body is the most\nconvenient prison in which you can keep him. You can lock up his body\nand prevent him from committing any further murders, but you cannot\nlock him up when you have driven him out of his body by the hangman\u2019s\nnoose; you have not killed him, you cannot kill him, you have only\nkilled his body; and you have driven him out into that next world which\ninterpenetrates this world, and whose inhabitants are with us all the\ntime; you have sent him out into that other world hating, cursing, full\nof anger and revenge against those who have cut short his life. He acts\nas the instigator of other murders; he stimulates other criminals into\nthe last possibility of crime. Have you ever noticed that a brutal murder\nis sometimes repeated over and over again in the same community until you\nget a cycle of murders of one particular kind? I know, of course, that\nthe Press, in reporting every detail of those horrors, adds the forces\nof imagination to the power of temptation which comes from the man you\nhave sent to the other side. In a civilised country no such details of\nbrutal crime should ever be given; people should understand that that\nstimulates the faculty of imitation, and so makes repetition of the crime\nmore likely. Another reason why you should never send a man out like that\nis, that when the criminal is in your hands, remembering the lives that\nlie in front of him, you should try to give him something to take with\nhim into the other world which he can turn into capacity and moral sense;\nyou should remember he will come back again to a physical body, and it is\nyour duty to make that next birth of his as much an improvement on the\npresent as it is possible for human thought and human love to make it. We\nhave a duty to these young souls around us in order that they may profit\nby our civilisation, and not suffer from it as they too often do to-day.\n\nWhen you turn to economics, what will be the result of Brotherhood there?\nThe detailed working out of that problem will certainly need the keenest\nintellects in order to devise some scheme of production and distribution\nwhich shall make human life less burdened on the one side, less full of\nuseless luxury on the other. But not along the rough-and-ready lines\nof the Socialism of the streets are these great and difficult problems\nrightly to be solved. You need to solve them by the most careful\nconsideration of all the problems which are interlinked the one with the\nother. Some system of general co-operation, of general profit-sharing, or\nsomething along those lines, will be the principle on which the changed\nconditions will go; but while you will make the lot of the toilers far\nlighter and happier, you will never give to the ignorant the control\nover that on which their food supply depends; for that means ruin. Let\nme give you one illustration to show you what I mean. There have been a\nlarge number of strikes in this country for years and years past, and\nthere is no doubt that many of those were brought about by the greed of\nthe employing class, and by the unfair treatment of the workers; but none\nthe less they have in more than one case\u2014in fact, in many cases\u2014reduced\nthe workers to a lower condition than they were in before. I was up at\nTyneside the other day. Newcastle with its adjoining ports, Sunderland,\nand the whole coast along there, was once one of the great shipbuilding\ncentres in England. Strike after strike made shipbuilding impossible to\ncarry on, because the men could not pay their way. The result is that\nit has ceased to be a great shipbuilding district; that the trade has\nlargely gone away from the Tyneside, and that those parts are falling\ninto decay. You cannot blame the men who struck; they tried to get better\nconditions for themselves; they did not understand the difficulties\nof all these large commercial firms, and that they might readily make\nshipbuilding impossible for the shipbuilder by pressing for a particular\nrate of wage which was not too much for them, but more than at the time\nthe exigencies of the trade enabled the shipbuilder to pay. And so on\nand on in endless cases. Careful thought and deliberate judgment are\nwanted. Many proposals have been made by the trades unions themselves\u2014a\nsliding scale of wages, arbitration boards, and so on\u2014all steps in the\nright direction. But your difficulty with arbitration boards is that\ntheir decision is not always accepted. When people go to arbitration\nthey hope to get a decision on their own side; when it does not come\nout, they are not always willing to submit. When I was in New Zealand\nlast year there had been a great struggle between employers and men; at\nlast both applied to the arbitration court, but when the decision was\ngiven against the men, the men refused to go back to work. You cannot\nplay that way with these great economic questions; no one trade should\never decide entirely for itself what should be the rate of wage that it\nis possible for the employers to pay, for the question is complicated\nby many considerations; it is not one trade, but it is the balance of\nall trades on which the ultimate decision has to turn. Hence the need of\nability, of power to understand, of wide study of economic questions\nwhich no handiworker is able to give. There is where the difficulty comes\nin, and where there is need on both sides of a spirit which shall seek\nthe common good; otherwise at the end there is only more trouble than\nbefore, and the trade vanishes where the conditions for carrying it on\nare made impossible. Exactly the same thing is going on now in Australia.\nThe men who know conditions of mining and things of that sort are laying\ndown the wages which shipping companies must pay to their sailors. When a\nP. and O. boat, for instance, goes within the waters of Australia, they\nwill soon be compelled to pay their men at the particular rate of pay\nwhich has been fixed on economic conditions in Australia. What will be\nthe result? The P. and O. boats will not go; they cannot ruin themselves\nto please the Australian working-men; hence the means of communication\nwill be very largely cut off; and when the harm is done, it is too late\nthen to cry out for the remedy. Those are the kind of things that are\ngoing on in every direction with the coming of manual workers into power,\nbecause the attempt to rule has come before the conditions of rule have\nbeen understood.\n\nIt is very much the same when you come to deal with all questions of\nWoman\u2019s Labour. Woman claims the right to labour, but very often she has\nforgotten that employers can play upon certain characteristics of the\nwoman that nothing can alter, because they are fundamental and natural.\nWhen a woman has taken up the trade of the wife and the mother, and then\ngoes out to work in the mill, leaving the children behind and the baby\nuncared for save by hired care, then wages are driven down because she\nis willing to work for lower wages, knowing the misery of the children\nshe has left at home; then comes the playing-off of the wife against the\nhusband, of the woman against the man; the children are the sufferers\nfrom the taking away of the mother to work in the mill, and the man is\nturned out to walk the streets because cheaper female labour has taken\nhis place. These are some of the complicated difficulties that arise out\nof what seems the simple thing of allowing a woman to sell her labour.\nWomen and men can never be equal in the labour market, because the woman\nis the childbearer, and there comes in the difference, and the question\nof the nation\u2019s health and vigour. She can never command the same wage as\nthe man, because, as I once heard brutally said when I was complaining\nabout the starvation wage of some match-girls: \u201cThere is always another\nway the woman has to increase her income.\u201d That is true, pitifully true;\nbut it puts her at a disadvantage in the struggle of the labour market.\nThat which seemed so promising at first has only increased the stress of\neconomic conditions, has turned the man out into the streets while the\nwoman is trying to do the double work of the mill and the home. That is\nan impossible condition of things, for which a remedy will have to be\nfound.\n\nAnd so to deal with these economic questions we want the best brains and\nthe best hearts, the widest knowledge and the deepest sympathy. Those,\nand those only, can solve these terrible economic problems of the time.\nYou cannot solve them by any rough-and-ready means, nor by any quick and\nsudden means. You must solve them by wisdom and by love, and by realising\nthe nation\u2019s interest is a common interest, not of class against class,\nbut of union of all for the common good of the community.\n\nBut then it is said: What about politics? On the detail of that, frankly,\nI have naught to say, for I am concerned only with principles. But one\nthing I would like to put to you, coming back to that point of liberty\nwith which I started. People have supposed that liberty means a vote. You\ncould not have a bigger blunder. Liberty and the vote have practically\nnothing in common. The vote gives you the power to make laws, to coerce\nother people; it by no means gives you necessarily liberty for yourself.\nWe have never yet had, as I said, liberty upon earth. We have had class\nlegislation of every kind in England, but liberty never. Go back in\nhistory and you find the Kings ruling, and that built up the one nation\nof England. Then the Barons ruled, and they did not on the whole do so\nbadly, for England was called Merrie England then, and certainly no one\nwould dream of applying that name to it now. Then there came the England\nof Parliaments, getting duller and duller, deader and deader; then the\nEngland of Commercialism. And who is our ruler now? Neither King nor\nLords nor Parliament altogether, but on the one side King Purse, and\nKing Mob on the other. Neither of those is a ruler who is likely to\nmake this nation great. Liberty is a great celestial Goddess, strong,\nbeneficent, and austere, and she can never descend upon a nation by the\nshouting of crowds, nor by the arguments of unbridled passion, nor by\nhatred of class against class. Liberty will never descend upon earth in\nouter matters until she has first descended into the hearts of men, and\nuntil the higher Spirit which is free has dominated the lower nature, the\nnature of passions and strong desires, and the will to hold for oneself\nand to trample upon others. You can only have a free nation when you\nhave free men to build it out of\u2014free men and women both; but no man is\nfree and no woman is free who is under the dominance of appetite, or\nvice, or drunkenness, or any form of evil which he is unable to control.\nSelf-control is the foundation on which alone freedom can be built.\nWithout that you have anarchy, not freedom; and every increase of the\npresent anarchy is paid for by the price of happiness, which is given\nin exchange. But when Freedom comes, she will come down to a nation\nin which every man and every woman will have learned self-control and\nself-mastery; and then, and then only, out of such men who are free,\nout of such women who are free, strong, righteous, ruling their own\nnature and training it to the noblest ends\u2014of such only can you build up\npolitical freedom, which is the result of the freedom of the individual,\nand not the outcome of the warring passions of men.\n\n\n\n\nLecture V\n\nThe Coming Race\n\n\nFriends: Some of you who have been attending this course of lectures may\nremember that in speaking of the new doors opening in religion, science,\nand art, I made a somewhat hasty and imperfect reference to changes that\nwould be taking place in the human organism and an unfolding of the\nhuman consciousness, and I promised, in that brief statement, to return\nto the subject when I was to deal with \u201cThe Coming Race.\u201d The nature,\nthe character of that unfolding of consciousness, the changes in the\nbodily organism of man that will accompany those unfolding powers in\nconsciousness, and make it possible for them to be manifested in our\nphysical world\u2014those changes naturally fall under the heading which I\nhave taken for to-night\u2019s discourse, \u201cThe Coming Race.\u201d For it is of one\nof these great changes in the type of humanity that I have specially to\nspeak to you to-night. In order to lead your thoughts to that rationally,\nand without gaps or chasms, I shall ask you to consider with me for a\nfew moments certain great principles of study which we find continually\nused by the Mystics of the past, and in our own day adopted to a very\nconsiderable extent by modern science. The reason why science has\nadopted them is the same reason that made Mystics originally work them\nout, and that is, that science in our own time has been dealing with such\nenormous periods of growth, with such vast extent of these periods, that\nthe scientific man cannot observe; that he is obliged to try to find a\nprinciple by which, observing what is near, he may be able, by a process\nof induction, to discover what is far off.\n\nNow, this principle is called the principle of correspondences. You\nfind it, as I said, used by Mystics of all types in the past: the great\nscientist-mystic, Swedenborg, of Sweden, based a very large part of his\nthought on the system of correspondences, of trying to discover what was\nfar off and extensive by a study of that which was near and comparatively\nsmall. So in our own day with regard to science; and I remind you first\nof that in order to show you that in using this principle we are on\nground which is recognised as being firm and stable, and is adopted\nin all the greater researches which have to deal with the distant and\nthe extensive. Science has made specially good use of this system of\ncorrespondences in two lines of its thought: one, that of evolutionary\ngrowth, illuminated by the study of embryology; the other, that of\nthe evolution of consciousness in humanity at large, illuminated by\nan observation of consciousness in the child, the youth, and the man.\nIf, for a moment, we stop on the great evolutionary series or cycles\nof the past, we shall at once recognise that direct observation is\nonly possible to a very small extent. It is true that by the aid of\ngeology many buried skeletons of the past may be brought to the surface\nand examined, and thus light may be thrown on the various classes to\nwhich the skeletons in the time of the living animal belonged. Fossil\nremains certainly help us to a very great extent in trying to study the\nevolutionary past of our globe; but, as everyone knows who has studied\nthe geological record, that record has large gaps occurring in it from\ntime to time. It is exceedingly imperfect, exceedingly unsatisfactory,\nand only along some limited lines of evolutionary study is it possible\nto find from the fossils of the past the principle of life as it has\ngradually grown and branched upon our earth. Hence, in the difficulty of\nthus unveiling the past, evolutionists have turned to the study of the\nnear, the growth of the individual, the stages through which his body\npasses, especially during ante-natal life, and it was very largely the\nstudy of embryology that threw light on the evolutionary truth. For it\nis observed, in tracing the growth of the human body of the individual,\nthat it passes through certain clear, definite, marked stages. There is a\nstage at which the characteristics are those of the fish, bringing about\nsome very curious results as regards especially the distribution of some\nof the nerves; then a stage which is that of the reptile; then a stage\nwhich is that of the mammal; and so on up to the highest in the mammalian\nkingdom, man himself. From the standpoint of mere observation from\noutside, without use of reason, this sequence invariably followed would\nsay little, would signify little; but when man looks at that with the eye\nof reason, and not only observes the succession of certain stages, but\napplies his reason to solve the problem as to why those stages constantly\nappear, then it is he realises that in the body of the individual the\nwhole evolutionary course of nature is traced and repeated; that in\nthat highest, the human, form all the past history of the evolution of\nforms is broadly indicated; and that while, of course, details cannot be\nobserved, the great succession is seen there, the invariable sequence\never repeated in the highest, the noblest form. And, working back with\nthe light of that, science was then able to recognise very clearly the\nevolutionary stages of which geology yielded up its imperfect fossil\nrecord; for there it found the great age of the fishes, with no higher\nform of vertebrate life existing; then it found the age of the reptiles,\nthen that of the mammals, finally the human kingdom; and looking over the\npast in that way, illuminated by the observations of the present, science\nrecognised the truth of that ancient principle of correspondences which\nserves as a clue in distant regions where observations well-nigh fail\nus, and enables us, by the use of analogy, to trace our way among the\nlabyrinths of the past.\n\nIt is not only along this line of \u00e6onian evolution and embryological\ngrowth that science has found help from this application of the principle\nof correspondences. It has found that not only in the state of bodies\nbut also in the state of minds the same principle serves as its best\nclue once again in the labyrinth of the past. It has found out that the\nstages of human consciousness may be traced from the earliest stage\nof the will to live, then upwards through the unfolding consciousness\nof the child, in the stage of passions of the youth, in the stage of\nmentality dominating the maturity of man; and it goes along these lines\ninto very much of detail, showing us how at a certain stage the child is\nreproducing the savage condition of consciousness; how a little later\nit grows out of that into the passional and barbarous; then through\nthat into the emotional, where art and beauty begin to show themselves\nas outgrowths from human nature; and then on, at later stages, to that\nsplendid mentality which it regards as the crown of human consciousness.\nAlong these lines, which will be familiar to all the thoughtful and the\ncultured amongst you, science has been led to new discoveries, has been\nable in this fashion to find out many of the hidden things of nature.\n\nBut while this is true, there is a point at which science always stops.\nIt uses correspondences to explain the past; it never struck science to\nuse them to try to forecast the future; and naturally, for along the\nscientific line such forecast of the future is practically impossible;\nscience works by induction, not by deduction, gathers together\ninnumerable facts, arranges them, classifies them, compares them, and\nout of all that gathering, arrangement, and comparison it tries to find\nby a process of logical induction some great principle in which all the\nclassified facts find their explanation, and thus a law is discovered.\nBut further than that induction cannot take us. It cannot take us beyond\nthe facts that are observed. Nothing in the facts observed presages\nthat which is to come; and it is only when you use the other logical\nmethod\u2014not that of induction, which is the scientific plan, but that of\ndeduction, which we find in the philosophies of the past, which we find\nin the one perfect science, the science of mathematics, the Platonic\nmethod as against that of Aristotle\u2014it is only then that we find it\npossible by a process of deduction not only to explain the past, but also\nto draw out a chart of the future. And it is by using that noble form\nof logical thought that Occult Science has ever been able to presage\nthe future from the principles that it finds existing in the universe,\nunfolding stage by stage. I want, if I can, now to show you how that\nmethod may be applied; how, knowing the nature of man, we may be able\nfrom that to indicate not only the past through which he has come from\nfar beyond the range of what is recognised as history, but also to throw\na light along the road that mankind will travel in the future, seeing the\nheights up which he will climb, realising the powers yet hidden within\nthe partially unfolded and evolved man.\n\nThere is one other thing that will help us a little as well as the\nprinciple of correspondences, but, so far as I know, this other clue\nof ours has not been adopted or used in modern science. I say, so far\nas I know, for science is going on so rapidly at the present time\nthat it is not possible to keep abreast with all the details of the\nlater investigations. This second principle is called the principle\nof reflexion. As you may have a mountain reflected in a lake, and all\nthe peculiarities, the outlines, the foliage on the mountainside, will\nbe reproduced in the calm water of the lake that washes the foot of\nthe mountain; as in that reflexion the highest in the object will be\nreflected as the lowest in the image, and as at every intermediate point\nwhere the mountain is reproduced in the image, the reflexion of the\nmountain, there will be a reversal, the higher being the lower, and so\non, until you come to the point of junction between water and mountain,\nand there the nearest to you on the mountain will be reflected in the\nnearest to you on the water\u2014just so may we in studying man understand\nsomething of him by regarding him as a reflexion of divinity, the great\nthreefold aspect of divine life showing itself out in man. But you may\nask me: What do you exactly mean when you say reflexion? I mean the\nreproduction of similar characteristics in a grosser and denser form\nof matter. That is what we mean by reflexion thus applied. Just as the\nmountain which you see by the air is reflected in the denser water, so\nare spiritual attributes reflected in grosser matter; or, otherwise\nexpressed, the same, or rather a similar characteristic, works in grosser\nmatter; therefore with powers more limited, therefore with faculties less\npotent. That is the use we make of this term \u201creflexion\u201d in theosophical\nliterature. The characteristics are the same, but because of the denser\nmatter their manifestation is limited and confined. So the great Will\nwhich brings the universe into existence is reflected in the Will to\nLive in man; and as that is the highest manifestation of Deity, so,\nreflected in man, does it appear at the lowest stage of evolution as the\none prominent characteristic of the dawning human consciousness. In the\nbabe, that will to live is practically the only sign of consciousness,\nshowing itself out in groping movements, whereby the will to live is\nstriving to come into contact with the outer world and discover something\nof its environment. And so the second great manifestation of Deity, the\nWisdom-Love which in the Christian nomenclature shows itself out in the\nperson of the Son, that reflected in human nature comes out as the\nemotions, the refined, gentle, unselfish emotions that form the second\ngreat stage of human consciousness, beginning with the lowest stage of\npassion, and gradually rising unbroken to the loftiest manifestation of\nemotion; and then the third, the creative activity, which, again, in the\nChristian nomenclature would be the creative Spirit, shows itself out\nin man\u2019s one creative power, the power of the mind, of which one of the\nexpressions is imagination, that which creates with the intellectual\nforce of man. The correspondence, you see, is complete, but how limited\nthe manifestation compared with the manifestation on the planes of\ndivinity. Hence this limited reflexion, this limited reproduction, we\nterm the law of reflexion; and we very often find it hand in hand with\nthe law of correspondences, giving us a clue once more to guide us\nthrough difficulties and obscurities where direct vision might fail.\n\nLet us begin at that point I spoke of with regard to the human being.\nNow, by this process of deduction, and seeing in man the image of the\nSupreme, we are not compelled to stop our study when we have taken these\nthree stages\u2014the stage of the will to live showing itself in activity,\nthe stage of passion and emotion, the stage of mentality; for we see\nthat above those there shine out the three same attributes of Deity in\nsubtler, finer form that we call the human Spirit, and that this human\nSpirit, reproducing in itself the three great aspects, tells us of the\nfuture, as the lower reflexions tell us of the past. So that we cannot\nonly trace, as science does, the unfolding of consciousness through the\nvast ages of the past, but we can follow it onwards into the future,\nwhere that higher repetition of divinity is gradually unfolding, and\ntrace out for ourselves man\u2019s higher qualities, the later stages of human\nevolution.\n\nNow, it is true that in this the theory is not complete and perfect\nunless you recognise the fundamental truth of Reincarnation. No\notherwise can you trace the unfolding of the divine Spirit in man,\nsave by giving him time and environment by which these successive\nstages may be accomplished. For, looking at humanity, we see that very\nmany men disappeared in the savage state, where only the preliminary\nstage of human consciousness had been unfolded; others we find coming\ninto the world above the savage state, but showing out only passions,\nstrong, selfish emotions; others, again, further on, showing out mental\npowers, and in them the mind becoming predominant. But unless you admit\nhere a sequential unfolding of the individual consciousness, you will\nfind yourself surrounded by complicated difficulties when you try to\nunderstand human evolution; for if you follow those consciousnesses\nonwards, thinking they are never to return to the school of life to learn\nthe lessons that they have not learned in the infant school of savage\nlife, then you will have to posit a heaven or heavens, one of which\nis full of these souls that have only accomplished savagery on earth;\nanother that is full of those that have reached the emotional stage\nwithout having started and laid the foundation of the savage; a third\nthat show forth mind, but not the will to live of the savage, nor the\nemotion of the half-cultivated man. And so you get a world on the other\nside more fantastic than rational, and you realise that somehow or other\nin your scheme of things you must make room for _post-mortem_ evolution;\nand the very moment you adopt that, that moment you have accepted the\nprinciple of reincarnation, even though you may choose to carry it on in\nother worlds rather than in the present.[2] With that, of course, other\ndifficulties arise, but on those I need not for the moment dwell, as I\ndo not want to deal fully with reincarnation now. But suppose you accept\nit, then the whole thing is rational before you\u2014a spiritual intelligence\nunfolding in one stage after another, and building each stage on the one\nthat preceded. If you apply that to the evolution of the reincarnating\nindividual, you see the stage of the child, the stage of the youth, the\nstage of the man, and you await the unfolding of the spiritual man. Or if\nyou choose to look at it in the vast cycles of the past, then you will\nrealise that you have before you animal man, passional man, intellectual\nman, and you can hardly stop without thinking next of spiritual man\u2014the\nfour stages that you can trace by this principle that I spoke of, the\ndeduction from the divine life leading you onwards to the stage not\nyet unfolded, save in some lofty specimens of humanity. And when you\nhave just seen these stages so thoroughly reproducing at each point\nof enlarging sight the other in yourself\u2014the four stages visible\u2014the\nthree and the dawning of the next; then in the whole reincarnating life\nof the individual the same three and the dawning of the next; then in\nevolution the same three and the possibility of the next\u2014it does not\nseem strange then to come on to the races, as the Theosophist does, and\nto see in the early human race\u2014that which is really the first that can\ntruly be called human, although there preceded it a semi-animal man\u2014the\nbirth of our present humanity. We call it the Lemurian Race; and it is\ninteresting that Haeckel points to the lost continent of Lemuria as that\nwhich was the cradle of the human race; so does modern science every now\nand again touch on these teachings of the elder world. In that Lemurian\nRace was shown the strong will to live; then came the Atlantean, that\nwhich lived on the vast continent of Atlantis, the existence of which\nis being recognised more and more by science by logical necessity, as\nit cannot get geological evidence or antiquarian evidence, the greater\npart of the continent being whelmed beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Still,\nantiquarian research gives us something by pointing out to us identities\nof racial characteristics in places now separated by that same vast\nAtlantic Ocean. And arch\u00e6ology shows us in ancient Egypt, in the style\nof its painting, in the symbols that it used, nay, even in some of the\nhuman types that it limned, exactly the same symbols, the same types,\nthe same outlines of philosophical and religious thought as in Southern\nMexico, in a civilisation long since disappeared, that was swept away\nby the Aztec civilisation, which had become ancient and corrupt when\nthe Spaniards invaded Mexico. In those two far removed portions of the\nearth\u2019s surface, separated by the Atlantic, we find the repetition of\none in the other. And there are many other reasons on which I need\nnot now dwell, similarities of fauna and flora, certain architectural\nlikenesses, and so on, which are all leading scientific men onwards to\nthe recognition of the great continent of Atlantis. Just as the men of\nthe Lemurian continent showed out only that will to live in clumsiest\nform, so did the men of the Atlantean continent show out passion,\nappetite, desire, the whole of their civilisation showing the marks\nof this predominant passional nature; that which might be expected in\ntheory showed itself out in fact. With that went\u2014as always goes with\nthe passional and non-intellectual type\u2014a great development of what in\nthese days we call the lower form of psychism. We apply that term, as our\nknowledge of these powers grows more precise, to the way of seeing the\ninvisible, hearing the inaudible, and so on, that we find in some members\nof the animal kingdom; that we find largely developed in savage nations;\nthat we find showing themselves out sometimes among the dwellers in\nmountains and in vast spaces where the air is pure, where nature is still\nin a fairly primitive condition. It is not precise, exact science under\nthe control of the will; it seems to be responsive to impressions of\npassions, emotions; very rarely, if ever, to impressions from the mind.\nAnd so, looking back on the great Atlantean peoples, we see them showing\nout these forms of psychism that we connect with the higher animal and\nwith the lower human evolution before mentality has been very largely\ndeveloped, before the nervous system characteristic of the modern man has\ndominated the sympathetic system more characteristic of the animal. And\nthen we come to a time when we can glance backward and see the method\nof the evolution of a new race, giving many an indication to help us\nin our study of the Coming Race of our own time. For, looking back into\nthat far-off history, we see a selection going on among the Atlantean\npeople, and we notice that the selection was made not amongst those\nwho had carried the Atlantean type to its highest and most triumphant\npoint, but, on the contrary, from a subdivision of that race\u2014a sub-race,\nas we call it\u2014in which those qualities did not show which had made\nAtlantis great and mighty, but in which there were more germs than in\nthe triumphant Atlantean of the coming development\u2014that of the mind.\nSome of you will be familiar with the name of the Toltec, the race, or\nrather sub-race, in which the Atlantean civilisation touched its highest\npoint. Not from those were the germs of the Aryan race chosen; rather\nfrom the succeeding sub-race, in which, as I said, mental qualities\nwere beginning to assert themselves, with the inevitable result that as\nthose qualities became manifest, the others, the psychic, fell into the\nbackground. Look round to-day and you will see how true that still is\nwith the ordinary uncultivated, untrained psychic; how very low is the\nstage of the intelligence, very little mental power going hand-in-hand\nwith that lower kind of psychism; and so the people who were chosen to be\nthe germs of our own great Race were not amongst the most admired of the\nAtlantean civilisation, but were rather looked down upon as not showing\nout these faculties which then were regarded as the most valuable, as\nfalling below the triumphant type of the Toltec, as people of little\naccount, and yet people who had in them the promise of the future. Then\nthe gathering of those together, the isolating of them from the rest of\nthe then civilised world; the deliberate breeding of them into a type\nwhich was aimed at. For all the great types of human kind exist in the\nmind of the Logos before they are made manifest in the matter of our\nearth\u2014first the idea, then the manifestation; and the seven great types\nwhich were to make up the humanity of our globe in the present cycle of\nits existence, those existed as Ideas in the Platonic sense of the word,\nthose were the types towards which the great Powers guided the evolution\nof humanity; and when the highest point was being touched at the fourth,\nthen came the preparation for the birth of the fifth. The same great\nlaws which, on a far lower scale, are used by the ordinary scientific\ngardener or scientific breeder of cattle, when he is trying to develop a\nnew type that exists in his mind, remember, before he tries to work it\nout in petals of flower or flesh and blood of animal, that ideal type\nto which the scientific breeder directs his efforts, those laws help\nhim to-day which, on a far loftier level and for mightier purposes,\nwere used by the great Ruler of the Coming Race in order to shape the\nideal type that now we know as the Aryan. If you compare one of the men\nof Kashmir, in Northern India, with your best Caucasian type, you will\nfind they closely resemble the one the other, evidently replicas of the\nsame type. I choose the man of Kashmir especially, because he is fair\nof skin, owing to his living in a temperate clime, and because from the\nshutting in of his land from communication with other countries, due to\nthe difficulty of reaching his fellows\u2014owing to that the type has been\nkept purer there than probably anywhere else upon earth. Fair of skin,\nblue- or violet-eyed, with hair brown in varying shades, with features\nsharply cut, delicate lips, thin and well-formed nose, there you have one\nof the finest types of human beauty existing upon earth. You find that\ntype reproduced over and over again, with varying modifications as the\nsub-races develop, but the one type is everywhere visible; and in the\nshape of the head, with the forehead largely developed, with the place in\nthe brain where all intellectual faculties can be made manifest, in that\ntype of head you have the type of mentality, the Race that is to carry to\nthe highest point the possibilities of the human intellect. As you come\ndown, looking at the sub-races, the same strange point strikes you as we\nsaw with regard to the psychic Atlantean, and the comparatively psychic\nsub-race from which our own was gradually built up. Compare together the\nrefined Roman, luxurious, well-built, cultured, and the Goth, who was\nthe origin of the Teutonic sub-race; there again you see the same thing,\nthe contrast with the regnant type of the apparently lower type, the\none that has in it the promise of rising higher than its predecessor.\nJudging by analogy, following along similar lines of thought, we can very\nreadily understand to-day that the type of the Coming Race will not be\nthat which is the triumph of the present, but rather those in whom the\ncharacteristics of the present are less developed, but which have in\nthem the germ of something more, which can unfold in the far-off future\ninto a greater splendour, a diviner manifestation. So that when we are\nlooking for those who are the beginnings of the Coming Race, we should\nnot look for them to-day among those in whom our Aryan peoples show\nout the highest types of mentality, of intellect, of power, of thought.\nTheir work is to carry on the present civilisation to the zenith. Who\nbut they can lead it to the highest point? They have developed the mind\nwhich is the great characteristic of this fifth Teutonic sub-race;\ntheirs the mission, theirs the privilege, to guide that sub-race to its\nhighest point of achievement. They only, whose intellect is so loftily\ndeveloped, are fit to guide the present civilisation to the point of\nglory which it has yet to reach, and it is they who are the leaders of\nthe triumphant type of to-day, they to whom our present race looks up\nas the ideal of all that is most splendid in intellectual power. Not\namongst them, then, should we seek the beginnings of the Coming Race, of\nthe Race that shall be; for, using our principle of correspondences, we\ncan see that now we must look for the germinating of the spiritual man,\nnot of the intellectual; that which is beyond intellect, that which is\nhigher than the scientific mind, the qualities that have shone out in the\ngreat religious teachers of the past, the qualities that characterised\nthe Buddha, the Christ, are the spiritual qualities as apart from the\nintellectual; and it is the germinating of those qualities now which will\nmake the origin of the Race that is to be.\n\nBut we can see in the race of the present signs of the changing evolution\nwhich shall gradually show out the coming type of consciousness, which\nshall gradually adapt the bodies to the fuller manifestation of the\nqualities that shall gradually unfold. For what is the great mark of such\nspiritual types of humanity, what the quality that shines out above all\nothers wherever they appear upon earth? It is that quality that to-day\nwe name Brotherhood, the recognition of that unity of life which makes\nfor all-embracing compassion and boundless self-sacrifice. Those are the\ntypes that we see in these great Ones of our race, they who have unfolded\nthe spiritual nature, who show out the glory of the Spirit. It is very\nmarked that in every one of those mighty Teachers of the past this is the\nquality which above all others shines out as their distinguishing mark\namong the men of the generation in which they are born. The love of the\nhelpless and the weak, the effort ever to raise those who are downtrodden\nand oppressed, the effort to share, to uplift, to make happy\u2014in a word,\nto save; that is the great spiritual characteristic of all the Saviours\nof the world, and therefore at the present time those are making ready\nfor the beginning of the Coming Race who show out in conception and in\npractice their belief in the universal Brotherhood of man. They may be\nless developed in intellect, that is not what is for the moment wanted\nfrom them; they may be less glorious in the triumphs of the mind, that\nis not the material that is needed specially for the Coming Race; it\nis these higher qualities of the Spirit that must be looked for by the\nLeader of that Race as the material which gradually He can mould into\nthe type He has in His mind, and so out of those germinal possibilities\nevolve the Man that shall be.\n\nNow let us pause for a moment and ask what are the special marks of\nthat Race in consciousness and in body. In consciousness, clearly the\nrecognition of unity. That is essential; for what the intellect divides\nthe Spirit unites. The recognition of life in each rather than of the\nseparated form, the recognition of the one Self in all rather than the\nseparated selves that are marked out by the separated bodies, that will\nbe the great mark in consciousness, the new unfolding; wherever that\nrecognition of unity is made, there is one of the signs of the Coming\nRace. And then, side by side with that, growing inevitably out of it, a\nbreadth and liberality of tolerance will mark those in whom the sense\nof unity is beginning to unfold. All that is narrow and exclusive, all\nthat tends to separate one from another, all that emphasises differences\ninstead of emphasising likenesses, all those are against the unfolding of\nthe consciousness that knows the One in the many, and recognises Divinity\nin all. With that unfolding consciousness will come a type of body of\nwhich there are beginning to be many amongst us to-day. When there is\ngoing to be a variation which will start a new evolutionary type, it\nis always noted that those out of whom the variation grows are what is\ncalled unstable. Instability is the mark of progress, or of degeneration.\nThere is the instability of health, but also of disease; and with the\nchanging type of the nervous system you find this instability present\nin both its forms. If you look around you at the present time, what is\none of the marks of the bodies in the most advanced races of the earth?\nNervous troubles of every kind, and most marked amongst the most highly\ndeveloped. It is needless to draw your attention to that; everyone knows\nit. The greater tension of the nervous system shows itself out amongst\nus in all kinds of different ways; saddest of all, in the extraordinary\nincrease of madness in the most highly civilised nations of the world.\nLunatic asylums are always multiplying, for as soon as a new one is built\nit gets filled, and another is demanded. That is the sad sight when\nwe are looking around, looking for the Coming Race; the present race\nsuffers by the very conditions that that race has made for itself; all\nthe separative conditions of competition, struggle, class and individual\nand trade antagonism, all these are destructive to the evolving nervous\nsystem of man. The environment is impossible, the conditions ruinous for\nthe evolution of a finer, more delicate nervous organisation; and yet the\nresistless force of nature presses onwards against the human race, forces\nit onwards whether it will go or not, and the evolutionary forces cannot\nbe opposed save at the risk of destruction.\n\nNow that is one of the lessons that needs to come out of these studies\nfor the immediate guiding of our own lives to-day. We are living in an\nenvironment that is destructive of the higher evolution, and at our peril\nwe leave it as it is when the Coming Race must inevitably be born. If we\nwould go on we must adapt ourselves, and that adaptation is the crying\nneed of the time. For amongst us to-day are being born children in whom\nthis finer nervous organisation is showing itself already, children\nof delicate nervous type, but not necessarily at all unhealthy; often\nperfectly healthy, but with the nervous system so delicately poised that\nit is always in danger of jar and injury. There must be many amongst you\nwho know that out of your own personal experience as fathers and mothers;\nthere may be born into your family a little child whose nervous system\nis so delicate, so exquisitely poised, that the child is very readily\nthrown out of balance, and suffers quite abnormally. One thing that it\nis very necessary for the fathers and mothers of the time to understand\nis, that as these children come to them for protection, for training,\nfor help, they must remember that they have there organisms which suffer\nand enjoy more keenly than organisms that are less delicately, less\nexquisitely balanced. Such a child feels pain where a child of rougher\ntype would pass through unnoticing. The intense joy which, on the other\nhand, marks such an organism is always balanced with periods of intense\ndepression. Such children should be guarded as far as possible from\nall that can jar and trouble. It is useless to try to make them live\nin the surroundings that suit those whose nervous systems are not so\nfine. On the contrary, it is the duty of the parent to try to provide\nfor such children gentler and more harmonious surroundings, realising\nthat without those the delicate instrument would be jarred and thrown\nout of tune, so that that from which the most lovely melodies might have\nbeen drawn will be only an instrument fit to be thrown away, destroyed.\nThink for a moment of the conditions under which you are living now in\nLondon. During the last ten years London has become almost intolerable\nto live in, if only for the noise, the continual rattle, the shrieking\nand hooting that fill the streets; the shaking of the very earth itself\nunder the heavy vehicles of all sorts that we place upon it. London is\nbecoming a city where to live in peace you would want to go about with\ncotton-wool stuffed into your ears and spectacles over your eyes so\nthat you might not see too clearly, and with your nose closed so that\nyou might not smell the horrible smells with which the streets are\ncontinually filled. Literally, what will have to be done is this: all\nthe more refined and cultured people will have to go out of these huge\ntowns and leave them to the people who like them. For remember, there\nare many people who like them; there are plenty of people who enjoy\nthe rattle and the noise and the tumult of a London street. There are\nplenty of country peasants who, if you bring them up to London, like it\nenormously; but if you take the London lad or lass and put them down\nthe country they say how frightfully quiet and dull it is. Why not let\nthe great cities go to the people who like them, who will be helped\nto evolve by them? For, mind, that which is destructive to a delicate\nnervous system is the necessary stimulus for the evolution of a nervous\nsystem of a lower and coarser type. I do not want to abolish all these\ngreat cities at all; but I would say to any who feel the suffering which\ngrows out of the noise and the rush and the hurry. Your place is no\nlonger here, and, above all, it is no place for the children. For the\nfiner the organisation of the father and the mother from the nervous\nstandpoint, the finer will be the nervous organisation of the child; and\nif they suffer from it, their best policy is to leave London for the\ncountry, and surround themselves and the children of the Coming Race with\nsweeter and better environments. It is not only that these vast towns\nthat are deforming and defacing England are an impossible environment\nfor the Coming Race; we must also adapt ourselves to the new conditions\nby changes of food, by changes of method in ordinary living. The food\nthat the great majority of people now use, flesh, is utterly unsuited\nto the finer type of nervous organisation. You may notice how people of\na finer type shrink from it instinctively. Children of a finer type,\nwhen they realise that meat was a living thing, will turn aside from it\nwith disgust, and leave it untouched. That instinctive dislike is one\nof the things that will be growing very much amongst the little ones;\nmore and more will they revolt against the use of flesh. But it would\nbe wise not only to notice how that revolt is growing, but deliberately\nto avoid the use of such articles of diet yourself, if you desire to\ntrain your bodies into a preparation for the Coming Race. For the body\nwhich is nourished on flesh and on the many forms of alcohol is a body\nwhich will be thrown out of health by the opening up of the higher\nconsciousness; and nervous diseases are partly due to the fact that the\nhigher consciousness is trying to express itself through bodies clogged\nwith flesh-products and poisoned with alcohol. For, let me take a point\nof very great importance which has direct bearing upon this. As the new\nbodies develop, and the higher, more nervous organisation of the physical\nbody grows, the next of your bodies, the astral, will become more and\nmore highly organised year by year. The organisation of that next body\nof yours, of finer matter than the physical, is going on very rapidly\nat the present time under the pressure of thought, which all educated\nand cultured people use at least to some extent. As that body becomes\nmore highly organised, its special sense-organs come into activity, and\nthen we have what is called a higher psychism, which is not the result\nof an astral body unorganised and vibrating to every passing wind of\nemotion, but of a body highly organised, with its own senses developed,\nand those senses seeking to express themselves through the grosser body\nof the physical plane. Now there is one organ in your brain which is the\nsixth sense, the sense through which all these astral cognitions, astral\nemotions, will show themselves down in your own waking consciousness,\nand that is the body which very much puzzles many of our doctors and\nscientific men\u2014the pituitary body. That is not, as many of them think, a\nmere vestigial organ left from the past; it is that, but it is also the\norgan of which the finer internal differentiation is making the sense for\nthe higher psychic powers of the Coming Race. Now that is matter of fact\nknown to the occult student, because he sees that development going on\nin his own case and in the case of others around him; and in proportion\nas that finer and well-organised astral body hands down into the brain\nthe various things which it cognises, so does he find the pituitary body\nfunctioning, so does he experience changes that go on in that. Now, that\nbody, according to one of the latest discoveries of modern science, is\nat once affected by the vapours of alcohol; it is one of the glands of\nthe body which are most readily poisoned, and even a very small amount\nof alcohol poisons the pituitary body, and chokes its highest evolution.\nObviously, then, if you want to ease that, if you want at this stage of\nevolution to put a little evolutionary pressure even on the bodies of\nthe fifth Race, and thus ease that, one of the first things that should\nbe said to you is: Never touch alcohol at all in any form, for if you\ndo the vibrations of the alcohol poison the very means of communication\nbetween the astral and the physical bodies, and the developing of them\nto higher purposes is one of the marks of the Coming Race, the means\nwhereby it will sense the astral world in waking consciousness; hence\nthe instruction that you will have from everyone who is speaking of this\nand understands the conditions: Do not only give up all forms of flesh,\nbut also take care that your diet is free from every trace of alcohol.\nNow, these are laws of nature that you cannot get over; and if you make\nup your mind to cling to the fifth Race way of diet, then you must be\ncontent to remain fifth Race, and go no further. No one wants you to go\nfurther than you wish to go, but the conditions are unchangeable, and\nthe more that is recognised the better will it be. Above all, with those\nchildren that I have been mentioning, take care not to try to force them\nin any way, nor to induce them to take those articles of diet which will\ninjure their growing delicacy of nervous organisation, and destroy that\ndeveloping organ in the brain by which they will bring their knowledge\nthrough into ordinary life.\n\nThen let me remind you of the way in which this may be done. Let us\nsuppose that you desire to hasten the coming of the Coming Race; let\nus suppose that you are not willing to wait for the slow processes of\nnature, lasting hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years, but\nwant to co-operate with nature, as we ought to do to-day, having reached\nthe stage of evolution that we have reached, where human intelligence\ncan quicken the workings of nature. The first thing that you must do\nis to make meditation a part of your daily life. Now, meditation has\nthree stages: first, the reining in of the wandering mind, the checking\nof its thinking from one point to another continually in activity; then\nthe fixing of that controlled mind on a single object of thought; then\nthe contemplation of that object in order that it may be reproduced in\nyourself. That process of meditation is the way in which the unfolding\nconsciousness may be definitely stimulated, and there is no other healthy\nand sane way. By a daily practice of that sort, the fixing of your mind\neither on the ideal Self or on some ideal of virtue that you desire to\nreproduce within yourself\u2014as you follow that practice of meditation,\nthe higher consciousness develops, and you change your contact with the\nworld. Let me take a case. You come across a man who is very untruthful.\nNormally he may deceive you for a time until you get evidence that\nappeals to the mind, until you can argue logically and prove that the\nman is not truthful; a slow process, but one that needs to be used in\nthe present stage. What will be the process of recognising untruth where\nthe spiritual nature has begun to develop by the process of meditation?\nYou would meditate on truth; that is the first step. By that regular\ndaily meditation on truth you make your subtle body vibrate, so that the\nnature of your subtle body becomes that which answers to truth; then\nwhen a man who is untruthful comes along you do not have to reason; by\nthe direct process of intuition you recognise that man as false; he\njars you just as a false note jars on a musical instrument. There is\nno process of reasoning, no need to go into evidence, no need to seek\nfor proofs; you feel him, see him to be false, by intuition instead of\nreasoning. Now, I know a case of that kind in India, although I don\u2019t\nsuppose you will quite copy my Indian friend, for he was a man who, from\nhis boyhood upwards, had meditated every day upon truth, and he had done\nit for forty years. That is a long time from the western standpoint. The\neffect of that was that he had so tuned himself to the note of truth\u2014he\nhappened to be a judge\u2014that no evidence could deceive him, however\nplausible; he knew when a man was lying by the jar that he felt within\nhimself. I only mention that as a special case to show you the method by\nwhich this meditation unfolds the inner powers, so that, instead of the\nslow processes you are accustomed to, a direct intuition tells you the\ncharacter of the person with whom you come into touch. I might go through\nthe whole string of the virtues; the principle is the same everywhere.\nIn addition to meditation, you must practise. You must practise in\nyour daily life the keenest sympathy that you are able to develop; by\ndeliberate effort, force yourself into sympathy with everyone whom you\nmay happen to meet; make yourself feel as that person feels; and above\nall, practise it with those who are lower in evolution than yourself, for\nthere sympathy becomes most useful, and the practise of feeling as the\nless-evolved feel enables you to lift them up nearer to your own level.\nYou must not only practise sympathy, too, in your daily life; you must\npractise the absence of the sense of separateness, the most difficult\nthing in the world to do for all of us who belong to this Teutonic\nsub-race. Our sense of individuality is so strong that in everything we\nfeel \u201cmy,\u201d \u201cmine,\u201d \u201cmy property,\u201d \u201cmy books,\u201d \u201cmy house,\u201d \u201cmy friends\u201d\u2014a\ncontinual repetition of the \u201cmy.\u201d You must get rid of that; you must get\nrid of the feeling which instinctively claims something that you call\nyour own as against other people. Now, it is not an easy thing to do;\nand the first stages are very disagreeable, jarring the fifth sub-race\ntype of mind. Try to get rid of your sense of individual ownership in the\nthings that are yours. How often you hear a generous-tempered man say:\n\u201cOh, I would have given it to him at once if he had asked for it, but I\ndid not like his taking it!\u201d Why not? Because you feel separate; because\nof \u201cI\u201d and \u201che,\u201d \u201cmine,\u201d \u201chis.\u201d The next Race is not going to have that\nsense so strongly developed; and if you want to take part in the building\nof it, the sooner you get rid of it the better for yourselves. Practise\nnot minding having your things taken away and used by anybody who wants\nto use them. It sounds strange to you, but it is a commonplace in India.\nMy Indian friends, when I first knew them, used to be astonished when\nI said to them: \u201cMay I use such-and-such a thing?\u201d \u201cWhy, of course, if\nyou want it,\u201d was the invariable answer; and at last I got to realise\nthat that was a very much higher position towards objects of property\nthan the self-assertive owning. Similarly, in India, when you have a\ngarden, anybody who likes comes in, sits under your trees, lights a\nlittle fire, and cooks his dinner there if he likes. When one day, again,\nin my very early days, before I understood this, I said to somebody:\n\u201cOh, but do you like people coming into your garden like that without\nasking permission?\u201d \u201cWhat else is a garden for?\u201d was the reply. That is\nthe natural feeling there because of the communal life which has been\nuniversal for thousands of years. You think of the use of the thing and\nthe man who wants to use it; that he wants it is the reason why he should\nhave the use of it. That is a very long way from our fifth sub-race way\nof looking at property. Practise that, then, in order to get rid of this\nutterly exaggerated sense of separation which we find in our social life\nat the present time. This habit of self-sacrifice\u2014sacrificing your own\nwhims, wishes, wants, every day of your life, for the sake of making life\neasier for those around you\u2014that will be one of the characteristics of\nthe Coming Race. And as you do it, you will gradually find that you won\u2019t\nmind; that the pleasure of making another person satisfied is far greater\nthan the pleasure of having a thing for yourself; that the words of the\nChrist are literally true: \u201cIt is more blessed to give than to receive\u201d;\nnot a duty but more blessed, more happy, so that the joy that comes out\nof the sharing utterly swamps any feeling of self-sacrifice. That, again,\nwill be the great social type of the Coming Race.\n\nSee how practically, then, this thought of the Coming Race bears upon\nour living of to-day. Those who would prepare themselves for the part of\nthat changed type of man must begin building it up in their character,\ntheir emotions, their minds to-day, by meditation, the opening of the\nconsciousness by practise, the training of the life into expressions\nalong higher lines. That race will be the builder of a universal\nreligion, in which sharing what each has of truth will be the only form\nof missionary effort. That Race will be the builder of a brotherly\ncivilisation, in which the need of every man will be the measure of what\nhe has given to him; in which the power of every man will be the limit\nof his responsibility. Those will be the great changes that will come,\nand you, if you will, may take part in that changing; you, even in the\npresent civilisation, may hold to the higher ideal, and try to make it\nacceptable to the minds of your fellow-men. But our hope is mostly in the\nyoung, in those who have not yet been hardened in the brutal competition\nwhich marks the commercial and class life of to-day. The young lads and\nthe young girls, still plastic, still easily fired by great ideals, with\nnervous systems finer in many cases than ours, and hearts warmer than\nthose that have been chilled in the experience of life\u2014in them lies the\nhope of the future. For they shall make ideals, they shall create them in\nthe world of thought, and out of the world of thought those ideals shall\nbe sent into the world of matter, and make the Coming Race, which shall\nbuild a civilisation happy, glorious, beautiful, and free, but in which\nit shall be realised that the greatest freedom expresses itself in the\ngreatest service.\n\n\n\n\nLecture VI\n\nThe Coming Christ\n\n\nFriends: Looking back over the long story of the past we can see certain\nmighty, grandiose figures emerging from the great crowd of human beings,\nmen who tower far above their generation, who are giants, as it were,\nwith pigmies around them; however far we look back such figures are ever\nto be seen, until at last the mists appear to roll across this great\nvista of the past, and even through those mists we can discover the\noutlines of great Ones who teach and bless mankind. To the great mass of\nstudents these figures, standing out in the past, appear very closely to\nresemble each other. We cannot, as it were, distinguish Them with regard\nto Their knowledge or Their power; all are so far above the men of the\ntime, so far above the most advanced humanity of our own day, that it\nseems impossible to throw Them into any kind of order, or to understand\nhow far They are part of one great group of mighty Beings; what relation\nThey bear to each other we cannot see; what Their rank in the hierarchy\nof the superhuman we are practically unable to say. But as the occult\nstudent tries to study the past, there are certain indications that he\ncan grasp which serve as a kind of guide as to these mighty Beings. He\nsees great world-cycles of different extent, embracing longer or shorter\nperiods of time, and he is able to trace some relation between these\nmighty Beings and the cycles of the world, the point of time at which\nThey appear, at which They manifest. And by this study of the past,\nassisted by occult methods, these periods in the world\u2019s story and these\nTeachers of the world\u2019s humanity fall into quite definite relations.\n\nWe can notice, looking back, that there are four great ages through\nwhich the world passes in its long evolutionary history, ages that are\noften referred to in what are called the mythologies of the past, ages\nwhich are characterised very differently the one from the other, and in\nwhich the whole cycle of the world\u2019s story is divided. It may be noticed\nthat at the beginning of each of those huge cycles a very great figure\nappears, as though, when the world was entering on a new phase of life,\nit were necessary that a special benediction should descend upon it, a\nspecial light should shine out. When we ask who are the great Ones who\nmark these longest periods in human history, we are told that They are\nBeings belonging to past worlds, belonging to other planets than our\nown, planets and worlds older in the scale of manifestation; that They\nhave passed through all the struggles of an evolving life, that They\nhave formed part of a humanity that long since has passed away and been\nnumbered in the records of the universe, too far off to touch a world\nlike ours; that, reaching through human to superhuman growth, They have\nfinally joined their consciousness with the consciousness of the Logos\nHimself, expanding to His consciousness, uniting with His nature, and\nyet never losing that centre which is the result of Their long evolution\nup the human and the superhuman ladder. Holding that centre in all the\nlife of God, it is possible for Them to draw around Themselves again a\ncircumference which shall enable Them to become manifest in any world,\nin any race. Where a centre is, a circumference can ever be drawn; and\naround such a centre in Deity itself, of the Son made one with the\nFather, from such a centre a new circumference of a human life may be\ndrawn, and such a Being, mighty in His Deity and yet veiled in humanity,\nmay appear to enlighten and to bless the world. Among the Hind\u016b people,\nwhose teachers have carried them far along occult lines, whose sacred\nscriptures are full of occult indications, a special name is given to\nthese pre-eminent manifestations. They call them by a Sanskrit word\nwhich means those who descend. The name avat\u0101ra may be familiar to you,\nperhaps. But it is the significance of the name on which for a moment I\npause. They have climbed up to unity with the God head: They descend to\nhumanity in order to preserve and help. Such are the mightiest figures\nthat appear in any world, on any globe, through the long course of its\nevolution. Egypt signified that mystery under a special name: they called\nit the birth of Horus. Christianity has symbolised it under another\nname\u2014Divine Incarnation; and the Christian will tell you\u2014accurate in\nthe spiritual fact, although at times confused in the definition of the\nlife\u2014that the Second Person of the Trinity descends upon earth, and\nhe regards the Christ of Judea as being such a manifestation of the\nMost High. The main fact that such a revelation may come to man is a\nfundamental spiritual truth. It ought never to be lost from sight; and in\nevery great religion it has ever been said that it is from that aspect\nof the Logos that these manifestations descend upon earth. Christianity\nrecognises but a single manifestation; Hind\u016bism recognises nine that\nhave passed and one that is to come. In Zoroastrianism you find the same\nconception. Religions, living and dead, have ever groped after that\nhighest of truths; only it must never be lost sight of that He who is an\nAvat\u0101ra, the highest of divine manifestations, has been in some other\ncycle of life a man among men, and that it is because of that long-past\nexperience that a return to those conditions is possible at any time.\n\nLeave that aside for a moment, and take another great type that shines\nout. There is no name for the next type I am just thinking of except\nin Eastern lands, where they call him \u201cThe Enlightened,\u201d the Buddha.\nIn the West that name is constantly connected with the last of those\nmanifestations, with the great Being born into the world nearly six\nhundred years before the Christian era. He is called the Buddha. But\namong the people of the faith that He gave to the world the belief is\nthat there were many before Him, that there shall be many after Him; that\nHe is only one among the great host of revealers of the divine, and that\none of those is born in every world, in every Root Race. So that in every\nworld there are seven of such Beings, one manifesting in every Race; but\nwhen He has appeared, then He passes away from earth, having finished\neven the superhuman evolution, and passes on, as those that I mentioned\npassed in other worlds, in other times, in order to unite Himself as\nthe Son with the Eternal Father, so that in a world later than our own\nsuch a one may return as an Avat\u0101ra, one who descends. But note that the\nBuddha, mighty as He was, climbed to His greatness through the humanity\nof our own globe. Climbing step by step up the long ladder of human life,\nof superhuman unfolding, He touched the last rung of that ladder when\nHe was born as Gautama into India some twenty-five centuries ago, and\nthen, having finished His work, passed onward into what is there called\nNirv\u0101na, the highest condition available for the superhuman, that of\nunion with the divine, though without loss of the centre of which I spoke.\n\nConsidering that great Teacher, let us ask what He was before He became\nthe Buddha, and then passed away from earth, His teaching work being\nover. Before He took that last and greatest of the Initiations along the\nline He followed, He had manifested several times before on earth, and\nmanifested in the same great Root Race, the Aryan Race, to which we all\nand so many others belong. For before that last step was taken there was\nanother high office that He filled for thousands and tens of thousands\nof years. I do not want in any way to confuse you with unfamiliar names,\nand yet it is a little difficult to avoid them, because I want a name\nthat stretches back to manifestation after manifestation; and our own\nfifth sub-race, the Teutonic, has been on earth so brief a time, living\nin the western world, that it has not yet created the general name which\nwe can use with regard to these past manifestations. The eastern name\nis a word which translated means \u201cthe Wisdom-Truth,\u201d the Bodhisattva;\nthe name matters little provided that you take it for the moment that\nit signifies an office, and the office is that of the Supreme Teacher,\nnot only teacher of men, but teacher, as they would say, of Gods, as\nyou would say, of Angels and Archangels. For you must remember that the\nShining Ones of the East are the same as those to whom over here you\ngive the names of Angels and Archangels. The East calls them by a name\nwhich merely means \u201cthe shining\u201d; and though it is often translated over\nhere as \u201cGod,\u201d much confusion of thought thereby is made as regards the\ngreat eastern faiths. For they, like Christianity, proclaim the unity of\nGod, the one all-pervading life; and those whom they call the Shining\nOnes, the Devas, are but manifestations of that light, the Angels and\nArchangels of Christianity or of Isl\u0101m. And He who is the Supreme Teacher\nhas for His pupils Archangels and Angels as well as men; He is the one\nwho is the Teacher of all, whether in the body of flesh or outside of it\nas spiritual intelligences; there is no other Teacher in earth or heaven\nabove that mightiest One who fills this supreme office.\n\nNow, such a Teacher, the Supreme Teacher of the worlds, makes Himself\nmanifest as man at the beginning of every sub-race. I have talked to you\nso much of Races and sub-races that the terms will not be unfamiliar;\nand if I remind you that we are all of one great Root Race, the Aryan,\nwhether you take the first sub-race in India; or the second along\nthe basin of the Mediterranean in the ancient days; or the third in\nancient Persia; or the fourth giving birth to the ancient Greeks and the\nRomans, and then spreading westwards through Spain, France, Britain,\nup to the North of Scotland, and then across to Ireland, the mighty\nKeltic sub-race; or the fifth, the Teutonic, now peopling Germany,\nBritain, America, and their offshoots\u2014if you think of those, the one\nRace including all the divisions, you will be able readily enough to\nfollow the manifestations of the Supreme Teacher. Just as in the larger\ncycles there are manifestations of great Beings, so has every successive\nsub-race the appearance of this great Teacher as man, to give it the\nreligion under which the civilisation shall develop, to give it the\nbenediction which starts it on its evolution in the world.\n\nLooking backwards to the sub-races that preceded the fifth, the Teutonic,\nto which the greater part of you who are present here belong, we can mark\nin each the appearance of the Supreme Teacher, taking a different name,\nbut ever the same immortal Individuality under the veil of that name.\nOne name that is known to all of you who are students of the past was\nthe name He took when He led forth from Central Asia the second of the\ngreat emigrations that passed westward, which \u0101ryanised large numbers of\nthe people dwelling in Arabia, in Northern Africa, in the whole great\nbasin of the Mediterranean. He then bore the name of Hermes, a name\nfamiliar to every student of antiquity, especially to the students of\nEgyptian thought, for it was largely in relation to that that this mighty\nmanifestation was made, and in much of the so-called Hermetic literature\nthe name of Hermes, the Thrice Greatest, is preserved. It was a name\nfirst worn in Lemuria, but in this case was used by the Supreme Teacher\nmanifesting for the second sub-race.\n\nLet me pause a moment to say one word of explanation, to meet a\ndifficulty that may readily rise in the minds of the more scholarly\namongst you who have looked back to these past tales. You find the same\nname appearing from time to time along the same tradition. That has ever\nbeen so in the past. The name of the great teacher himself has been\ntaken up by his successors, who renewed his teaching and carried on the\ntradition that he left; and so in the vast spaces of time that have\nelapsed since that Hermes first appeared in the second root-race of the\nAryans, others took up the tradition, carried on the teaching, and the\nname was ever repeated. It is the eastern way. No disciple dreams of\nteaching there under his own name; it is under the name of his Master\nthat he gives his wisdom to the world; and that not to conceal, but\nbecause it is held that to the teacher the credit belongs of that which\nthe pupil may be able to expound, and so, in humility, in veneration, in\ngratitude to the mightiest, those who follow Him write under the name\nthat they worship, and so hand on His wisdom, although in generations\nmuch later than Himself. It causes much of confusion, much of difficulty\nwhen the people with the western historical sense go turning over these\nancient writings and applying their own canons of interpretation to\npeople who were ancient long before those canons were invented. What is\ncalled the historical sense is a very different thing in the East from\nthat in the West. Historical sense here means a sequence of names, dates,\npersons, and that is what is regarded as important; in the East it means\nthe God unfolding in the various types of humanity that may appear; and\nthat which they are interested in is not a special individual who has\nwritten this, that, or the other, but the teaching, the tradition, handed\non from age to age, and ever marked out from the first Revealer, the name\nof Him who gave the knowledge to mankind. I do not want to dispute which\nis the better way. I only mark the difference that you may realise that\nin the likeness of the name there is no attempt to deceive the reader,\nbut only to mark the line of the tradition.\n\nIn the second sub-race, then, appeared Hermes. Ages rolled on. The third\nsub-race was to be born; the emigration to found that sub-race rolled\nwestwards into Persia. Once more the \u201cWisdom-Truth\u201d led the emigration.\nTo that people he was known as Zarathustra, more often called among us\nZoroaster. Fourteen of those are known in the old story of Persia, but\nthe first, the eldest of them all, He alone was that one Supreme Teacher,\ncoming down to His disciples, building the policy of Persia, handing down\nto those who came after Him the tradition that went by His name; and\nevery great high-priest of that religion worthy to bear the mantle of the\ngreat One, he also is known in history as Zoroaster; and, as I have just\nsaid, some fourteen of those are named.\n\nThe time came for the fourth sub-race, the Keltic; the same great Being\ncame forth again under another name, the name known to every student\nof Greek thought as that of Orpheus. The Orphic Mysteries, the Orphic\ntradition\u2014these are phrases familiar to every student of the mighty past\nof Greece. But the scholars, as a rule, with regard to him will say,\nas was said in regard to Hermes: This is not an individual; it is only\na name for a succession of individuals. There is a truth in that, for\nthere was such a succession. The blunder lies in not realising that such\na succession must have an originator, and that the first and mightiest\nof the teachers, to whom everything ran back, is not necessarily a myth\nmerely because He is so great. Those who started the Sun Myth have done\na great deal of harm in clouding the story of the past, and it is only\nas the buried remains of that past are brought up and studied by the\nscholars of the time that people find that many of the so-called Sun\nMyths were mighty Teachers and mighty Kings in the childhood of our race.\nThat has become more and more palpable as the excavations go into deeper\nand deeper strata, uncover more and more ancient civilisations; so that\nthose who have been made into myths are now taking on again a semblance\nof humanity, but humanity so great, so divine, that it seems scarcely\npossible to believe that such Beings lived in the guise of men on earth.\nBut you can trace down that Orphic tradition through all that was\nmightiest and most beautiful in Greece; you can trace in by the Mysteries\nI mentioned, by the names of the great Greeks who declared that they took\ntheir inspiration from that tradition. So we come to the last of the\nincarnations of that great Being until He appeared as Gautama, became the\nBuddha, passed away as teacher from the worlds.\n\nNow I have mentioned those mighty ones of the past because without that\nit might seem only a dream when I speak of such possibilities in modern\ntimes as well. I have traced the four latest appearances of Him who is\nthe \u201cWisdom-Truth,\u201d the last of the four manifestations before, appearing\nto take His last Initiation as the Buddha, He passed away and became the\nSon united with the Father, no longer Teacher, no longer Guide of our\nhumanity. But there is never a break in the great succession; in that\nmighty succession of religious Teachers the chair of the Teacher never\nremains unfilled; there is ever a wise one to fill it, the wisest who is\nliving upon earth; and when one lays down the sceptre of the Teacher,\nwhich is the symbol of His rule, another is waiting by the steps of the\nChair of Wisdom to take that seat of Supreme Teacher as His predecessor\npasses away from earth. For never is the world left without its Teacher;\nnever is mankind left orphaned, without the mighty One to guard and save;\nas one passes away, His function over, another steps in to fill the seat\nand carry on the teaching of mankind.\n\nWhen Gautama was initiated as the Buddha, another then became what I\nhave called the \u201cWisdom-Truth,\u201d the Bodhisattva. His first manifestation\nupon earth was at the beginning of the next sub-race. That you will very\nreadily see, and for that reason I have been tracing down those names,\nsub-race after sub-race, that you might realise the relation between the\nnew departure of mankind and the manifestation of the Supreme Teacher. So\nwhen the fifth sub-race was being born, when there was the slow growth\nof the Teuton in the forests of Germany, when the germs, the seeds of\nthat new sub-race were being sown over Northern Europe, then was made\nmanifest again the Supreme Teacher, and He came to the world once more\nto found a new religion, once more to bless a dawning civilisation. The\nreligion that He founded, the civilisation that He blessed, gave to him\nthe Greek name, the Christ. Let us pause for a moment on that western\nname\u2014name, again, of an office. For it was not the name of the Buddha\nthat He wore; it was not the name of an individual. As we look at the\ndominant Greek thought of the time we find that that thought embodied its\nhighest triumph in a certain institution known as the Mysteries. There\nwere Mysteries in ancient Egypt, in ancient Persia, in ancient India, in\nall the countries of that elder past; and among the Greeks also there\nwere Mysteries\u2014the Orphic Mysteries, to which I alluded, and many others\nknown to the students of Grecian history under many names of Grecian Gods\nand Goddesses, as we call them, of the Teachers of the past. In those\nMysteries there was a certain grade marked with the name Christos; these\nMysteries the reflexion on our earth and in our poor worldly mirror of\nthe great Initiations that belong to the Occult Hierarchy that guides the\nreligious destinies of men, a shadow of those supreme Initiations thrown\ndown upon the mirror of earth for the helping of ordinary humanity. This\nkind of reflexion is indicated, for instance, in the Christian Testament\nwhen it is said that Moses, the great leader of the Jews, made all things\naccording to the pattern shown to him in the mount\u2014a well-known ancient\nphrase, the Mount of Initiation\u2014an indication to the people who followed\nhim as lawgiver that the temple which he outlined, which for a time\nwas seen in the tabernacle that accompanied the Jews in the wilderness,\nand then received its more gorgeous presentment in the Temple of King\nSolomon, was formed after the pattern of the heavenly things. So the\nheavenly and the earthly are thus related as object and image, and the\nobject, which is the great Initiations of the Hierarchy, was imaged here\nin the civilisations of the past in the Mysteries, by which, by many\nordeals and in many difficult ways of training and of discipline, the\nbest men and women of the older civilisations were guided upwards from\nthe human to the superhuman path. In those Mysteries there was this\ngrade, the Christos, the anointed one. It was the grade of the Initiate\nwho had triumphed over suffering, the grade of the Initiate who had\ncarried the cross, the grade of the Initiate who was to know no more\ncompulsory death or compulsory birth, that which marked him as having\ncrossed the threshold of the superhuman, and being ready to enter on that\nhigher grade of manifested life. Natural, inevitable, that in a time\nwhen Greek thought was marking the highest point of human attainment and\ndominating Europe, the Greek name should be taken to describe the mighty\nOne revealed as Teacher upon earth. What nobler name could be chosen,\nwhat title more significant, what symbol more instructive, than to call\nthe teacher who appeared and was slain by the name of the Christ?\n\nIn the early days of Christianity, as most of you probably know, a\ndifference, which is being revived in our own day, was drawn between\nJesus the Hebrew and Christ the anointed Teacher. Look back to all\nthose schools of philosophic and learned teachers in the early days of\nChristianity, who, when ignorance triumphed after the fall of Rome and\nConstantinople, were branded with the name of heretics\u2014those who were\ncalled the Gnostics, the knowers. A significant name. If you turn over\nthe pages of Origen, one of the greatest teachers, remember, in the early\nChurch, you will find many passages in his exposition of Christianity in\nwhich he says that it is necessary for the Christian Church to have in it\nmany Gnostics, who should serve as the foundation on which it should be\nbuilt, as the pillars on which it should be reared. He used the word in\nthe sense of knowers, not alluding to the many schools classed together\nunder that name. In a famous passage Origen points out that, while it is\ntrue that Christianity is for the unlearned, while he says it is medicine\nfor the sinner, it is not out of the sinners and the unlearned that the\ngreat Christian Church could be builded; and he goes on to say that,\nwhile that is true, and there is medicine for the sinner, the Church\nmust be buttressed by the Gnostic, not by the sinner, by those who know,\nnot by those who are ignorant. That was well provided for in those early\ncenturies of Christendom, for they also had their Mysteries, just as\nhad the older religions around them. Turn over the pages of those early\nChristian bishops and doctors of the Church, the pages of S. Clement of\nAlexandria\u2014canonised as saint for his learning and his holiness\u2014turn over\nalmost any of the pages you will of those earlier Christian teachers,\nwho learned from the lips of those who had received their teaching again\nfrom the lips of the followers of the Christ Himself, and you will\nfind continual references to the Mysteries of Jesus. You will find the\nrules laid down by which alone admission to those Mysteries could be\nwon; you will read in the pages of S. Clement the proclamation of the\nhierophant to whom the candidates presented themselves, he who had in\nhis hands the key of that kingdom of heaven, and you will find that as\nthey stood before him he told them that only those who for a long time\nhad been conscious of no transgression might come and learn the teaching\nwhich Jesus gave secretly to His disciples. Those were the old words of\nchallenge ere the door of that kingdom of heaven was flung open, and only\nto such men and women was admission to the Mysteries possible. There\nthey learned the inner secret teachings, those that are indicated in the\nGospel story; for you remember how it was written of the Christ: \u201cFor\nwithout a parable spake He not unto them\u201d; you remember how, when the\ndisciples asked for explanation, His answer was: \u201cTo you it is given to\nknow the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to others in parables.\u201d You\nmay remember, again, how it was said that when His disciples were with\nHim in the house, then He told them things which to the multitude without\nHe refused to reveal; and you may remember the further promise that He\nleft, when He knew that His own earthly life was drawing to a close:\n\u201cI have many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now.\u201d The\nChristian tradition of the Mysteries declared that those many things were\ntold afterwards, when the disciples were more ready to receive, when the\npupils were fitter to be taught. Origen tells us that all those teachings\nwere kept in the Christian Mysteries, and made the secret teachings of\nthe Church, given only to those who were worthy.\n\nIn those days when many knew, when many understood, a distinction was\ndrawn between Jesus and Christ. I alluded to it, you remember, in the\nfirst of this course of lectures; and I did so deliberately, intending\nto return to it when, having dealt with the many intermediate questions,\nI should arrive at the lecture on the Coming Christ. For there was a\ndifference between the human body of the mighty disciple Jesus, born in\nBethlehem, and the divine Power that came down upon that body at the\npoint of time marked as the Baptism, when it is written, the Spirit of\nGod came down upon Him and abode with Him; there you have marked the\nComing of the Christ, the consecration of the Supreme Teacher. That\ndistinction you find recognised in the Epistles, though no attention is\ndrawn to it further in the Gospels after that startling and suggestive\nstatement; but if you take the Pauline epistles you find yourself in\nquite a different atmosphere from that of the history as told in the\nGospels; you find there the name of Christ in a new meaning, a mystical\nmeaning of profoundest import; you find S. Paul declaring that he does\nnot ask to know Him after the flesh, it is the inner Christ he seeks;\nyou find him saying of that mystic Christ that He has to be born in the\nbeliever\u2014a statement that could never have been made of the physical body\nof Jesus. You find him declaring that that mystic birth of the Christ in\nhuman souls is to be followed by a growth of the mystic Christ within\nthe believer, until at last he has reached the measure of the stature\nof the fulness of the Christ. That is the mystic Christian life, the\nChrist born in the soul, unfolding His divine powers as the Christian\ngrows in wisdom and in love, showing Himself more and more manifest\nas the human life unfolds to the divine, until the perfect Christ is\nmanifest and the Son of God is seen again on earth. But that old mystical\nidea slipped out of the Church teachings, and only remained in the\nTestament, marked but not understood. And so He who was the inspiring\nSpirit, the Supreme Teacher, the all-pervading life of His Church, became\nthe outside Saviour, who by a physical sacrifice was said to have made\natonement between God and man; and you had a vicarious atonement, a\nlegal substitution, instead of that identity of nature which made the\nChrist and the believer one. That is the change which came over Christian\nteaching in those long ages of darkness that followed the vanishing of\nthe Mysteries that had kept the flame of knowledge alive, until there\nwere no longer pupils willing to be taught, and by the absence of the\npupils the teachings of the Masters were withdrawn.\n\nSo we realise that with the revival in our own days of the mystic\nteaching and the realisation that there is a life in Christianity which\nis rightly marked out by that holiest of names, we begin to see in that\nspreading new life in Christian churches, in the revival of that idea\nof the possibility of the divine growth in humanity, we see one of the\nsigns of the coming of the Christ, preparatory to His next manifestation\nupon earth. For it would scarcely have been worth while merely to amuse\nyou for an hour with the story of the past if it did not bear on the\npresent and the future, on the repetition of the old-world tale, of the\nremanifestation of that mighty Son of God. For that reason, to make, as\nit were, the gulf less wide between the ordinary thought and the thought\nof the Occultist, I spoke about the earlier manifestations, marking each\nsuccessive sub-race of man; and if you have followed along the line of\nwhat I have been putting to you Sunday after Sunday of the stage at which\nthe world is standing now, of the transition age in which we are, of the\nclosing age that is passing, of the opening age that is coming, of all\nthe signs which show the ending of the one, of all the signs which show\nthe beginning of the other, then without shock or jar should come to you\nthe present idea that we may well be looking again for a manifestation of\nthe Teacher, the Supreme Teacher of the worlds, who was last manifest as\nthe Christ in Palestine. Let us see what that would mean.\n\nUnless all that I have been telling you during the past five weeks is a\nmere dream; unless the very facts that I have pointed you to are utterly\nwithout significance, you ought almost to have thought yourselves into\nthe point to which I fain would lead you now\u2014that we are on the threshold\nof a new manifestation, and that the mighty Teacher again will appear as\nman among men. Now, to say that to any people may only make them think:\n\u201cBut why for us?\u201d So might the Jew have questioned when last He came on\nearth. That a thing so great, so transcendent, and so rare, should come\nto earth at any particular time, to be measured by only a few years of\nmortal time\u2014that that should be now seems too strange, too beautiful, to\nbe true. And yet He came before; why not again? If at the birth of the\nfifth sub-race, why not at the birth of the sixth? Some must be on earth\nwhen any such manifestation takes place; some generation of men and women\nmust be born around the coming of a Christ; and there is no valid reason\nthat any one of you can give why this age should not be such a time, and\nthe people of this age the recipients of the new flood of spiritual life.\nStrange, because it happens seldom, but sure, because it happened at\nsimilar crises in the story of the world; and the strangeness of it does\nnot mark it as untrue when you see the signs of the coming all around\nyou, if your eyes should be open to recognise what they mean. For an\nexpectation is spreading everywhere of the coming of some mighty Teacher,\nand here and there on earth the expectation has taken voice, nay, has\neven had a human messenger and herald to proclaim it. In Persia such a\nmessenger came in the one who was called the B\u0101b, who declared the coming\nof a mighty one, followed by another said to be yet greater than himself,\nand yet a third, the Abbas Effendi of the present time, certainly a great\nspiritual teacher, but one who still declares that the mightiest is yet\nto come, who is to bind together the eastern and the western worlds.\n\nNot only along that line has this expectation shown itself, but among the\npeople of Isl\u0101m in a strange combative form, natural to their fighting\nraces, showing itself, therefore, as leader in battle to be ruler in the\nfuture; and through Africa you see it in this expectation of the Mahdi,\nwhich has given so much trouble during our own time.\n\nI only mention these to show you that the thought is spreading and\nthe expectation growing; for ever the world grows expectant before the\nmighty One returns to reveal Himself on earth. Such a coming of the\nChrist the occult world is looking for\u2014for the same great Being who\nappeared in Palestine, for He is still the Supreme Teacher, the same\nindividual. Who may say what name He will bear? But what is of import to\nall of us is: Shall we recognise Him when He comes, or shall we be as\nblind of vision, as hard of heart, as were the Jews among whom His last\nmanifestation occurred? It is so easy for us looking back through the\nglamour of the centuries in which the great Christian Master has been\nthe head of Christendom, and seen as perfect man with the irradiation\nalso of the Christ upon Him\u2014for the Church has made no distinction\nbetween the two all these later years\u2014it is so easy for us to look back\nthrough all those centuries and say we should have known Him had we\nbeen there. But that has happened so often. Was it not His reproach to\nthe people of His day: \u201cYour fathers slew the prophets, and ye build\ntheir sepulchres\u201d? There are always plenty of people ready to rear the\nsepulchre of honour to the name of the prophet of the past; how few in\nany age of the world have recognised the prophet of their own day! That\nis not only true of the Supreme Teacher, but of others a little beyond\nthe knowledge and the power of their own day; ever they have been met\nwith hatred, ever the world has cast them out, has tortured or has slain\nthem. Why should we in our own day, then, be any wiser? Why should the\nfifth sub-race, the most combative of all the nations, the most critical,\nthe most sceptical, the most unwilling to recognise the higher, the\nmost self-assertive\u2014why should we have eyes open to see a greatness that\nhas never been recognised in the past? That is the problem that may well\nexercise our minds, in order that we may try to develop in ourselves the\npower to recognise should He come in our own day. For one great rule\nruns all through nature: that you can only recognise that to which you\ncan respond. It is true of the outer nature and our physical eyes. We\ncan only see each other because in the retina of the eye there is the\nether that answers to the external waves of light. Similarly in moral\ncharacteristics, and, above all, in the spiritual nature, we can only\nrecognise in proportion as we reproduce. If in ourselves there is some\nopening up of the spiritual nature, if in ourselves there are some of the\nqualities which shine out so gloriously in Him, if in us there is some\ntouch of that nature which in Him has risen to divinity, ah! then it is\npossible that we may throb responsive to Him when He comes, hidden, as He\never has been, beneath the veil of flesh. But that that may be so we must\ngo outside the thought of our time to that of the time that is coming;\nnot the combativeness of the fifth, but the compassion of the sixth\nsub-race must find its home in our hearts. And if one may judge from the\npast, when He comes He may again be despised and rejected of men, for the\nspiritual ideal is not an ideal to which the heart of our own age quickly\nresponds. You can see it in the characteristics of the Christ: \u201cwhen He\nwas reviled He reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not.\u201d\nBut amongst you that would show great poverty of spirit. Not to revile\nback when you are reviled, in the mind of the modern day, is to mark the\nreviling as true. That is the spirit of the time. If you are slandered,\nlibelled, abused, go into court and drag the slanderer there; if not, you\nare guilty. That is the common opinion of the time. One who has learned\nthe lesson of the Christ, who before His accusers answered nothing,\nthat man is condemned by the popular mind of the day. He would answer\nif he could, because they would answer if they could; but the measure\nof the Christ is not the measure of those who bear His name in the\ncombative civilisation of the time. And so when He comes again, reviled\nand slandered as He must be if He be far beyond our knowledge and our\nunderstanding, the common verdict will go against Him as it went against\nHim before. We may not murder; that is too merciful in these modern days.\nWe prefer rather that the victim shall live to be tortured than to give\nhim the mercy of a swift, a ready death.\n\nAnd so, looking over the world at the moment, there seems little\nlikelihood that when He comes He will be welcome. A few will recognise\nHim as they ever have done, and maybe, as the characteristics of the\ncoming race are those of spirituality, there will be more to welcome\nHim, for the spiritual life is spreading to-day, and those who are of\nthe Spirit will know the law of the Spirit; and I would fain leave you\nwith the thought to-night that that is a truth, that the Supreme Teacher\nwill again ere very long be incarnate upon earth, again made manifest\nas Teacher, again walking and living amongst us as last He walked in\nPalestine. Splendid as is the hope, mighty as is the inspiration, there\nis nothing too glorious to be possible for the ever-unfolding Spirit in\nman, and the hope of to-day is that that spirit is spreading, despite\nthe characteristics of our time; that men are becoming more liberal,\nmore tolerant, more ready to recognise that which is true and just. And\nit may well be that we have reached such a time of evolution that the\npopular mind of the day will be transcended by large numbers of the more\nspiritually minded, and that when He comes again He will be able to stay\namongst us more than the three brief years that marked His last ministry.\nThat, then, is the word, the thought I leave with you: to develop in\nyourselves the Spirit of the Christ, and then at His coming you shall\nrecognise His beauty. Learn compassion, learn tenderness, learn good\nthoughts of others rather than evil, learn to be tender with the weak,\nlearn to be reverent to the great; and if you can develop those qualities\nin you, then the coming Christ may be able to number you among His\ndisciples, and the welcome that the earth shall give Him shall not again\nbe a cross.\n\n\n\n\nLecture VII\n\nThe Larger Consciousness and its Value\n\n\nFriends: During the whole of the lectures, of which the discourse of\nto-night is the last, I have taken for granted the existence of a larger\nconsciousness in man than that which we know at the present time as our\nphysical or waking consciousness. Over and over again I have had occasion\nto allude to it, once or twice I dwelt for a few moments upon it, but I\ncould not interrupt the course of what I had been putting to you by any\ndetailed description of the larger consciousness, or of the instruments\nof that consciousness, the body or bodies of man. It seemed to me that\nthe work I had been trying to do would remain somewhat imperfect unless\nI tried to place before you, ere quitting the subjects I had been\ndealing with, something with regard to this larger consciousness in\nman; a consciousness which exists in every one of us; which functions\nintermittently in all of us; which is in course of unfolding in humanity\nat the present time. And side by side with the unfolding of the\nconsciousness there goes a continual evolution of the bodies in which\nthat consciousness expresses itself, and it is that subject that I want\nto deal with to-night, trying to put before you clearly and definitely\nthe theory which is studied by Theosophists with regard to this matter, a\ntheory which some of us have proved to be true by our own investigations,\nand\u2014which is a far more important thing\u2014confirmed by the great Scriptures\nof the world\u2019s religions, the testimony which has been given to man by\nseers, by prophets of the highest, the most inspired, order. Sometimes\nwe are inclined to lay more stress on contemporary evidence than on the\nevidence that comes from the great Scriptures of the world. It seems\nto me as though that were a little along the line of hiding the sun by\nholding a plate quite close to the eyes. For it is quite clear, when\nyou come to think of it, that testimony which may be given nowadays by\nhalf-developed students cannot in the nature of things be nearly as\nvaluable as that of the great prophets and seers of humanity, embodied,\nhowever mystically and allegorically, in the great Bibles of humanity.\nIn fact, the testimony of the modern-day investigator should be checked\nand governed by those mightier and wider revelations, and it is always\na point of satisfaction, a point of confirmation to the modern and\npartially developed seer when he finds that his own investigations\nthrow light on some of the statements of these Scriptures, and that the\nBibles of the race become more illuminating in some of their obscurer\npassages by the light that he may have been able to gain by his own\ninvestigations. I am not, then, pretending for one moment that anything\nI put to you now is comparable in value with what you might find out\nfor yourselves, if spiritually illuminated, in these great Bibles of\nreligions. But I do think that the investigations of to-day help us to\nunderstand those great revelations, though much that is there said is\nnecessarily obscure to us because of the immense difference in knowledge\nbetween the speaker and the student; therefore, though we may call our\nknowledge to-day a farthing light, it may be of value in the deciphering\nof these great manuscripts of the past, so that even a little knowledge\nof our own may enable us to go more deeply into those great wells of\ntruth which have come down to us from antiquity, which have been given to\nus by the Saviours of the world.\n\nIn order to make what I have to say clear to you, I shall have to ask\nyou to pardon me if I go in the beginning a little into definition and\ndetail. If you want to study your own body, comparatively simple as that\nis, you must be willing to learn the difference between a bone and a\nnerve, between an artery and a vein, and so on through the whole of the\nmore or less familiar terms which the physiologist uses in explaining\nthe anatomy and the physiology of the body. No person can have clear and\ndefinite ideas if he is not willing to study the mere nomenclature of\nthat which he wishes to understand; and while it is quite possible to\navoid using words of other languages, it is not possible to avoid some\ndemand on the consecutive thought-power of the student if he desires to\nbe anything more than a mere superficial hearer, without any definite\nunderstanding of the subjects which he supposes himself to be studying.\nThere is a very good and simple description of man\u2019s constitution in\none of the Pauline epistles, where a triple division is given, and a\nperfectly accurate division, although subdivisions again are possible\nand practicable; but for my purposes now that division into three, and\nthen certain subdivisions of each, will be sufficient to give you a very\nclear and definite idea of consciousness in man; and then by your own\nexperience you can decide how much of the larger consciousness comes into\nyour waking consciousness, or how much of you is still without vehicle of\nexpression, still without the power of manifesting in worlds related to\nour own.\n\nThat division, as all of you will at once know, is Spirit, Soul, Body. It\nis curious how indefinite the mass of Christian people are with regard to\nthe meaning of the first two terms, Spirit and Soul. I am not quarreling\nwith the fact that different definitions may sometimes be given; I am\nquarrelling with the fact that most Christians have no definition at all;\nthat they use the words interchangeably; that they constantly talk of\nman as a duality, always using the word body; sometimes using the word\nSpirit, and sometimes soul, for all that which they exclude from the\nbody. Thus you hear people talking about spirits manifesting in various\nways; sometimes you hear about the human soul and its immortality, and so\non. But a clear, distinct definition of what is Spirit, what is soul\u2014that\nfor the most part is wanting among even the students of theology. Let\nus see if it be not possible to define them in a way which may at least\nbe clear. You may, of course, differ with the division for the reason\nthat you may think some other dividing line is better; I am concerned\nchiefly, for the moment, with giving you a clear definition, and then\nyou may correct or amend it according to your own thought or your own\nknowledge. The definition will, of course, govern me in all that I\nsay to-night. First of all, then: What is Spirit? Spirit is a germ of\nDivinity unfolding itself gradually in human evolution, appropriating\ncertain kinds of matter which it gradually organises into an instrument\nfor self-expression\u2014we may shorten that by saying a germ of Divinity\nencased in matter. That germ of Divinity, as you might naturally expect,\nshows out in itself the triple division of its Divine parent. Just as\nyou find God, manifesting in a universe, ever manifesting three supreme\nattributes, sometimes personified into what is called a Trinity, so you\nwould naturally expect to find in the germ that which you find in the\nparent\u2014that the triple nature of Divinity should show itself out in the\ntriple nature of the Spirit which is man. And that is so. You find Spirit\nshowing itself forth in full Divinity, taking for a moment the Christian\nnames as most familiar, in the form of Power in the Father, in the form\nof Wisdom in the Son, in the form of creative Activity in the Holy\nSpirit. If you will take those names for the time as being most familiar\nto your own thought, and therefore introducing nothing of difficulty to\nyou\u2014if you will remember those accepted ideas for the time, and translate\nthem into terms of consciousness, limited, because these are not all\nfully unfolded in man, you will be able readily to distinguish in man\u2019s\nspiritual nature, and even more distinctly for the moment in the lower\nreflexion of that with which I will deal presently\u2014you will be able to\ndistinguish the threefold division, and so to obtain, as it were, a\nclear picture of your own spiritual nature. That which in Divinity we\ncall Power, the Will by which the worlds exist, shows itself out in our\nown spiritual nature as Will. The Wisdom which upholds the worlds shows\nitself out in the human Spirit also as the pure and compassionate Reason,\nwhich is the Wisdom, the Christ, in man. The third, creative Activity,\nshows itself in intellect, the highest, the noblest form of creative\nActivity\u2014the intellect, the pure intellect in man is the third reflexion\nin man of the creative Activity of God. And if you link what may be less\nfamiliar with the familiar, it will be very easy for you to keep the\nthread of that which I desire to put before you. Think first of all,\nthen, that the Spirit, the germ of Divinity in man, has to show out in\nthe gradual unfolding of its hidden powers these three supreme attributes\nwith which you are familiar in the thought of Divinity itself.\n\nThen, passing from that highest part of our nature to what S. Paul calls\nthe soul, what is the Soul in relation to the Spirit? It is the temporary\nreflexion in grosser matter of the eternal Spirit; the image of that\nwhich is the eternal object; the reflexion in the mirror of a world of\nthat eternal life which passes from world to world, unfolding, but is\nnever subject to the transitoriness which marks the ever-changing worlds.\nThe soul in man is the Spirit working in grosser matter; and hence in\nour own natures, so familiar to us\u2014for now we come into a region that\npsychological science deals with and tries to define and understand\u2014we\nhave, when we look at our own consciousness, the soul, the reflexion\nof the Spirit in grosser matter. We have the mind reflecting the pure\nintellect with all its activities\u2014imagination, judgement, reason\u2014all\nthese powers of the mind. Then we find a part of our nature that we call\nthe emotional; there we have the reflexion of that pure and compassionate\nWisdom that I spoke of which shows itself in the lower worlds by Love,\nthe highest and loftiest of the emotions, the root whence all virtues\nspring. For the same principle of unity which expresses itself as\nWisdom in the spiritual world expresses itself as Love, which draws the\nseparated lives together in the world where matter has overcome Spirit,\nwhere Spirit is blinded by matter. The unity that the Spirit knows the\nsoul seeks by Love, which is the attribute that draws toward unity,\nand that which in the spiritual world is known, in the lower world is\nsought by this exquisite attribute of the soul. And that which in the\nhigher world we call Will becomes Desire in the lower. For the difference\nbetween Will and Desire is that Will is self-determined, whereas Desire\nis determined by the attractiveness of objects outside the consciousness.\nYou are moved by Desire when some pleasure attracts you, some pain\nrepels you, when your activity goes along the road that is determined\nby an outer attraction, an outer repulsion; you are moved by Will, the\nspiritual attribute, when the whole of your inner nature, drawn up to\na single point, self-determined, sends that nature along the road that\nwithin yourself you have chosen, whether it leads to pleasure or pain,\nwhether it leads to gain or loss in the lower world. Will is determined\nfrom the spiritual Self; Desire is guided and stimulated by objects in\nthe lower world. Hence that which is Will in the Spirit is Desire in the\nsoul. And so you find the soul represented by these three well-known\nattributes: Mind, with all its powers; Emotion, the root emotion being\nlove; Desire, the reflexion of the determining power in this lower world.\n\nWhen you come down into everyday life you find the whole of these make\nup your waking consciousness, showing itself out in the denser matter\nof the brain; in your waking consciousness you know the working of the\nmind; in your waking consciousness you know the working of the emotions;\nin your waking consciousness you know the working of desire; so that\nthe waking consciousness, the limited, the conditioned, the smaller\nconsciousness, is that which is within the limitations of your brain or\nphysical body, but is none other than the larger consciousness which\nshows itself in the subtler worlds as soul, in the spiritual world as\nSpirit. If you realise clearly that outlining, with its subdivisions,\nyou will find that consciousness is a unit, and the differences are\ndifferences of the material in which it is working rather than in itself.\nThe triple division is the only one, whether you look at it in the brain,\nin the subtle body, in the matter of the world where the Spirit rules.\nEverywhere consciousness is one, expressing itself in three modes, by\nthree qualities, but everywhere a unit, yourself, the reality within you.\n\nWhat is Body? For there is a third factor in S. Paul\u2019s definition of\nman. Naturally the body also has in it the same triple differentiation\nas the consciousness. And so we find a spiritual body, the clothing of\nthe Spirit in the highest worlds of consciousness. We find also what S.\nPaul, again, calls a natural body. There is a natural body, he says, and\nthere is a spiritual body. But that natural body divides itself into\ntwo\u2014the subtle body in which the soul is working; the dense body in\nwhich the waking consciousness is working, the reflexion of the highest.\nThose two naturally go together, and might well be classed roughly as\nthe single natural body, for it is transitory, impermanent, belongs to\nthe three worlds of change\u2014the physical world, the intermediate, and the\nheavenly; has a certain life through which it passes in the three worlds,\nand then gives back its elements to the worlds to which they respectively\nbelong. Whereas the spiritual body is a relatively permanent thing, lasts\nthrough the whole of the long life of the individual, passes through\nbirth after birth, death after death, knows neither birth nor death in\nits own nature, passes through them, but is not affected by them\u2014the\nspiritual individuality, the real man, is eternal in his own nature,\nand has a permanent clothing of the matter of the spiritual world,\nunfolding his powers, organising his matter, but remaining ever the same\nin essence, the consciousness ever living in those worlds, the matter\nthe same, only becoming more and more definitely organised. In that\nspiritual body remains the memory of all the experiences through which\nyou have passed; in that spiritual body resides your true individuality,\nthat knows neither birth nor death; in that spiritual body which is ever\nyours all the experiences of the past are gathered up, and part of those\nexperiences is put forth, birth after birth, in order that the soul may\nclothe itself in new bodies for new experiences and new developments. So\nthat the part of you that lasts is the Spirit in the spiritual body; the\npart of you that changes, the soul in the temporary body, whether you\ntake the subtler or the denser parts.\n\nSupposing you accept that definition of man in his triple division, it\nwill be easy enough then to follow out step by step what the higher\nconsciousness is as apart from the lower, the larger as apart from the\nsmaller. You will start with the great conception of a living Spirit\ncoming down into denser and denser matter, with the object of acquiring\nthat matter and subduing it to his own purposes, appropriating it,\nwrapping himself up in it, and temporarily blinded by the veil, but a\nveil that he is going to turn into an instrument, so that by it he may\nknow all the worlds, and come into contact with every portion of the\nuniverse. For that he appropriates the matter of every world; for that\nhe wraps himself round in these material garments; and working upon\nthese, he turns them to his own purposes, shapes them by his own will,\nmoulds them in order that he may use them for that which he desires to\neffect\u2014contact with matter, the condition of his becoming master of the\nworlds; and by making matter his servant and his instrument, all the\nworlds become open before him, and he can function in any one of them.\nThat the pure spiritual being cannot do. He can only function in worlds\nof the Spirit, those lofty eternal regions where Divinity itself resides\nand manifests without the blinding effect of the denser matter that we\nwear. But just as Divinity emanates these coarser forms of matter in\norder that the spiritual germs may be sown therein, and therein gain the\nexperience by which their powers will be unfolded from within; just as\nDeity is manifest in matter, so must the germs of Deity grow therein,\nuntil matter is subject to them as it is to the Father of light, whence\nthey come.\n\nSo, in looking at this consciousness unfolding and these bodies becoming\norganised, we can trace throughout the purpose of that long unfolding\u2014to\nmake the Spirit master of matter, to enable him to act in every world;\nand when we catch a glimpse of that great purpose, we realise how perfect\nis the plan, how complete our triumph will be. First we notice, when we\nare looking at the lower forms of consciousness in ourselves, that we\ncan understand a certain relation between matter and Spirit which we are\ntold exists all the way up to the highest spiritual world. And so far as\ninvestigation has been carried by the students of to-day, they find that\nrelation in each successive world that they enter and finally subdue.\nIt is a relation, then, that runs right through between consciousness\nand form, between Spirit and matter; it is this: that every change in\nconsciousness has a corresponding vibration in matter, and that every\nvibration in matter has a corresponding change in consciousness. We are\ntold that that relation is imposed by the Logos Himself in His first\nshaping of the matter side of His universe; that all the vibrations of\nwhich He makes the atoms capable answer one by one to changes in His own\nconsciousness, and that throughout the whole of His universe, in all\nthe mighty realm of spirit-matter that He rules, this correspondence\nis universally, unchangeably found\u2014for every change in consciousness\na corresponding change in vibration, for every change in vibration a\ncorresponding change in consciousness.\n\nLet us see how that would work if anyone whose eyes are a little opened\nlooks at the aura of a person\u2014the lowest part of that aura, if you will,\nin etheric or astral matter: let us say, astral. You will notice a large\nnumber of colours continually flashing through it and changing; and if\nyou examine those colours, every one, as you know from your ordinary\nstudy, representing a certain definite vibration in matter\u2014every colour\nis nothing more than a certain vibration in matter, a vibration with a\ndefinite wave-length\u2014if you watch those changing colours in the aura you\nwill find that they are either generated by a state of consciousness or\ngive rise to it. Suppose, for instance, you find a person in a mood of\ndevotion, engaged perhaps in prayer\u2014you can see them by the score in any\nChristian church. Watch the astral aura of that person, and you will find\nthat the whole of it is vibrating in a way that gives you the colour of\nblue, blue everywhere predominating, the whole of the aura suffused with\nthat colour. But you will also find, if there is in that congregation\na quiet person who was not feeling devotional when he came into that\ncongregation, that gradually his astral body will be affected by the\nvibrations in the astral bodies near him, and that those vibrations\nimposed upon him from without will produce a devotional mood within him.\nYou can start it, then, at either end: either the mood producing the\nappearance, the vibration, or the vibration producing the mood. Take it\nin another form: have you never felt when you yourself were perfectly\ngood-tempered and some very irritable person came up to you, have you\nnever felt that you yourself were becoming irritable?\u2014not that you had\nanything to be irritable about, but merely because the other man was, and\nit needs considerable control, control over the astral body, to prevent\nthe irritation of the person who comes near you from affecting your own\npreviously placid mood. If you have not observed this, keep watch over\nyourself during the coming week, and you will find how continually you\nreproduce the emotions of the people with whom you come into contact.\nWhat is the mechanism of it? Very simple. That person\u2019s astral body is\nvibrating in consonance with the emotion he is feeling. Those vibrations\nof his astral body set up vibrations in your astral body, a perfectly\nmechanical thing. But because it is your astral body, the matter you have\nappropriated, those vibrations in it produce in you the corresponding\nmood of irritation. Hence the common ethical precept given by every\ngreat teacher, to return good for evil. That is by a deliberate effort\nof the consciousness to throw yourself into the mood which is opposite\nto the evil mood of the person with whom you come into contact. If\nyou do that, then your own mood will overbear in your astral body the\nvibrations imposed upon it from without, and your astral body will begin\nto vibrate in correspondence with your own good emotion instead of with\nthe evil emotion imposed from outside. The further result of that, if\nyou be strong enough, will be to correct the bad vibration in the astral\nbody of the man who is near you, and so, by correcting that vibration\ninto harmony with your own, to produce in him your own good emotion,\ninstead of having your emotion controlled by his. That is the ordinary\nscience of the emotions that every aspirant for the higher life is set to\npractise in his daily life. He is first told the theory, so that he may\nunderstand what he is doing, and then he is set to the practise, so that\nby the practise he may realise the truth of the law that his teacher has\nexplained. Sometimes the ethical teacher only says: \u201cLove your enemies,\ndo good to them that hate you.\u201d With the unspiritual hearer the question\nwill very readily arise, \u201cWhy should I give love when hatred is given\nto me?\u201d Only knowledge will enable you to understand the wisdom that\nunderlies this precept of all the great teachers of the past. Speaking in\nan age when authority was valid, and when people were willing to accept\nthe precept from one whom they recognised as greater than themselves,\nthey only proclaimed the law, and the docile hearer tried to obey. In our\nown more critical and combative age it is necessary to justify wisdom to\na more critical and carping generation, and so the full explanation is\ngiven which shows you the scientific truth which underlies the ethical\nprecept.\n\nThat runs through the whole of the working of our bodies, the whole of\nthe changes in our consciousness. You can work it out step by step,\nor you can read the working out which has been made by a thoughtful\nstudent,[3] and so you will have a veritable science of the emotions, and\nyou will go out into the world a source of peace, a source of blessing, a\nsource of all good emotions, helping the weaker by your own knowledge and\nyour own strength, and so enabling them to climb more quickly by giving\nthis helping hand out of the knowledge that you have learned.\n\nBy that fact, then, we have power over matter, we can throw it into the\nvibrations we desire. We can do more than that: we can shape it into\norgans of expression for the consciousness that is unfolded within us.\nUnderstanding these laws, we begin to realise that by these bodies we may\ncome into touch with the various worlds around us. Let us see, again, the\nmethod. When first the spiritual germ descends into matter, gathering\nround itself the matter that it needs, that matter is like a mere cloud.\nIt is still so in the highest regions for most; it is becoming organised\ninto definite instruments of consciousness in the three lower worlds\nin all the more advanced members of our present race, to a very large\nextent in all of you. If you pause for a moment on the physical body,\nyou will see exactly what is meant by the phrase: the organising of the\nbody. You have here now in your physical body a valuable instrument,\nfirst for acquiring knowledge of the outer world, and then for acting on\nthat world, carrying out the knowledge you have gained. You have, as you\nknow, in your body two sets of nerves, called sensory and motor: by the\nsensory you gather knowledge from without; by the motor you act upon the\nouter world, utilising the knowledge you have gathered to bring about\nthe results that you desire; and your physical body is well organised\nfor its work. By the evolution of the senses, by the gradual growth of\nthe whole nervous system, by the development of your brains, you have\nlargely become master of this densest world, the physical world, to which\nyour body is related. All that is needed further is a comparatively small\nevolution\u2014the development of the other two senses, the conquest of the\nrealm of ether, that which science is now investigating. So far, then,\nyou have one instrument, the instrument of your waking consciousness.\nThrough that, spirit and soul alike are working, the powers of the soul\nshowing out as far as the density of the matter will permit. Coming into\ndenser matter is very much the same as if you brought a light through\nthicker and thicker glass. The light would remain the light, but that\nwhich would show out through the glass would be less and less according\nto the opacity of that glass. So with the light of the spirit shining\nthrough the soul and the body. Your next work is the organisation of the\nnext finer body of matter, that which I called the subtle. In that your\nemotions are working, in that your thoughts are working, and to a very\nlarge extent your mental and emotional bodies\u2014we call the emotional the\nastral\u2014are organised at the present time. But here more variety comes in.\nSome of you will have your astral body so well developed that it is fit\nfor separate working in the intermediate world. Some of you will have it\nwell developed so far as consciousness is concerned, but not so far as\nthe reception of impressions from the outer intermediate world. That is,\nyour consciousness will be working there in that finer matter that has\nnot yet sufficiently organised the astral body to receive impressions\nfrom without.\n\nGradually, as evolution goes on the organisation of the astral body\nwill go on in everybody, but it is possible, as I suggested to you a\nfew Sundays ago, very largely to quicken that evolution, and gradually\nto make the astral body what it ought to be, as perfect an instrument\nfor contact with the astral world as the physical body is for contact\nwith the physical world. That is, of course, what a very considerable\nnumber of people have done, and they are able to act either in or out\nof the physical body. We will take both cases in a moment. Take the\nfiner part first of the subtle body\u2014the mental body. In most of you\nthat also is fairly organised, but, again, it is organised for working\nwithin yourself, but not receiving from the outer mental world all that\nhereafter it will be able to receive and utilise, and only a few of you,\ncomparatively, would be able to leave the denser and the astral body\nbehind, and live in the heavenly world, in full consciousness, working\nthere as thoroughly as you can work in the physical world.\n\nWhat signs are there by which you can judge how far the organisation of\nthe astral and the mental bodies is going on, so that if you work to\nquicken their organisation you will be able partly to judge how far your\nwork is effective? Let us take the working in the body, the physical\nbody, first. As these other higher forms of consciousness begin to become\nco-ordinated with the physical, and to hand on to it the impressions\nthat they receive, the mental body is becoming highly organised; when\nthe person possessing it is strong in science, physical science, above\nall in the grasping of principles, in the power of observation, in the\nability to draw conclusions from the observations that have been made,\norganisation is improving. Among the scientific men of our own time\nthat mental body will be very highly developed, chiefly for use in the\nwaking consciousness, very imperfectly as yet for direct reception on\nthe higher planes. The higher development of the astral body will show\nitself in forms of art and of high emotion, and just in proportion as\nthose are transmissible to the waking consciousness may you realise\nthat the astral body is becoming more definitely organised. When the\nbody of the intellect, the lasting body, part of the spiritual body, is\nbecoming organised, then it is that you find fine metaphysical ability,\ngreat philosophical profundity of thought, the highest conceptions of\nidealistic art, the highest achievements in idealistic literature. Those\nare the faculties that belong to the beginning of the spiritual body\nin man, transcending the transitory, beginning to shape the permanent\ninstrument of the Spirit. Where you have great talent, where the mental\nbody is highly organised, where you have the highest genius, there the\nspiritual body is beginning its organisation. For that highest genius is\nthe flashing down from the organised spiritual body into the lower nature\nof knowledge which in those regions alone can be gained; and when art and\nliterature become illuminated by the Spirit, then you have the mighty\ngeniuses of history that outlast the passing generations and shine out in\nthe world of thought.\n\nWhat signs may we find other than those of the organisation of these\nbodies through which the larger consciousness will work? Genius is the\nhighest of all, save that which I spoke of as the manifestation of\nthe Christ, the Wisdom Spirit in man. But if we leave those loftiest\nmanifestations of the larger consciousness alone, what signs may we find\namongst ourselves of the growing organisation of those higher bodies and\nthe unfolding of the larger consciousness? There are very many signs\nto-day of the organising of the astral body, and it is in the lack of\ndiscriminating these from genius that we find a great absence in power in\nthe new psychology. You find the organisation of the astral body showing\nitself forth in the power to receive impressions directly from the astral\nplane, and the power to translate them into the waking consciousness.\nIn the body those first signs are seen in telepathy where it is well\ndeveloped, where people are able to communicate with one another without\nthe ordinary physical means of communication, and that is not so very\ninfrequent a thing among the more thoughtful of our own time. That is a\npower you can develop, if you like, by definite and regular practice;\nonly remember that all development of power means regular practice and\npatient and reiterated experiment. One finds, for the most part, that\nafter a few weeks or months of practice people are apt to drop the whole\nthing if they have not in that time gained startling results. That\nis not the way that powers grow. The law is sure, that if you choose\nto concentrate your mind so as to make a clear image, that will be\nreproduced in astral matter. Then by an effort of the self-determined\nwill you can send that astral thought-form to whomsoever you choose; and\nif you practise that day after day, week after week, nay, even month\nafter month and year after year, you will find that you will ultimately\ndevelop the power of sending thought clearly and definitely, so that\nyou will be able to communicate with the absent as surely, as certainly\nas any physical-plane communication can be sure and certain. Practice\nalong these lines can do you nothing but good. It increases the power\nof the will, it increases the concentration of thought; but remember\nthat without concentrated thought and fairly strong will you are bound\nto have a very long practice before you will have results tangible in\nthe outer world. The person who cannot keep his mind steady for a couple\nof minutes at a time, the person who cannot concentrate definitely on\none thought, such a person certainly cannot transfer that which he is\nunable to create; and for a very considerable time people will have to\npractise by creating the thought-image before they will have anything\nto be definitely sent to another. But that is one of the means of\norganising the astral and the mental body as an instrument of the larger\nconsciousness. Some people, of course, have it by nature, as you say, but\nwhat does that mean? Only that they have practised it in previous life.\nNo one gets anything for nothing from nature. On the other hand, nature\nis a good paymaster, and pays the exact wages that we have earned, never\nwithholding anything. If you can do it easily, it is because you have\ndone it before; if you find it difficult, it is because you are beginning\nthat definite kind of work. But no one obtains it without labour, no one\ncan develop it without long and continued practice. But there is one form\nin which the astral body shows its organisation when you are out of the\ndense body and not in it, in the form of dream. Whenever you go to sleep\nyou leave your dense body behind. Some dreams belong only to the brain;\nit is because people do not distinguish dream from dream that so much\nfoolish ridicule is sometimes cast on the dream-state altogether. It\nis perfectly true that there are dreams which grow out of conditions of\nthe physical body, where a little change in the circulation, a momentary\nblock in some vessel of the brain, will cause a dream, incoherent,\nsenseless, without meaning or illumination. That is the physical dream;\nit may be caused by any disturbance of the body\u2014indigestion, a hundred\nother things. The dream that shows that the astral body is becoming\norganised is a dream in which some definite knowledge is conveyed, in\nwhich some definite warning is given, in which something is added to you\nthat you had not before, or in which you come into contact with someone\nwho has passed out of the physical conditions through the gateway of\ndeath, and whom you may meet in the astral world when you yourself have\ntemporarily dropped the dense body. Those dreams are coherent, rational,\nsometimes illuminative. Remember how many dreams have now been put on\nrecord in which a man has gained in the dream-state knowledge that he\nhad not in the waking state. How often that knowledge gained in the\ndream-state has enabled him in the waking state to cover over some\ngap that he was before unable to bridge. You will find in Myers\u2019 book\non _Human Personality_ some of these dreams given, although not very\ndefinitely explained, and if you find in your experience that those are\nbecoming more frequent, then you may be sure that your astral body is\nbecoming a vehicle of consciousness, an instrument by which consciousness\ncan work in the other world. It is true that in some dreams, especially\nof warning, the thought may be thrown into your mind from without when\nyou have not found it out for yourself, but have been informed of it\nby another. Such a warning may come through, given you by some friend,\nsome helper, someone whom you love, who may have passed onwards, and so\nhas the advantage of the astral vision. But in all those cases there\ncomes into the waking consciousness something from the larger, and as you\nperfect the astral body all those come more and more within your control.\nAs it becomes organised there is less and less need to leave it in order\nto exercise its powers. You will find yourself seeing, hearing, while the\nphysical senses are active, while the consciousness is working normally,\nthe waking consciousness in the brain; so that slowly and gradually\nyou will unify the physical and the astral bodies and live in the two\nworlds continuously at one and the same time, finding those worlds\nintermingling and interworking; and so you will gain that much of the\nlarger consciousness which belongs to the expression of the soul through\nthe subtle astral body.\n\nExactly on the same lines with the heavenly worlds, the mental world,\nyour evolution will go on, and for this there is one condition regarding\nthe consciousness, there is one condition regarding the instrument for\nthe unfolding of consciousness\u2014regular and steady meditation. There is no\nother way. If you find anybody telling you that by any physical means you\ncan really unfold your consciousness, tell them that they do not realise\nwhat they are talking about. You can start a little astral consciousness\non the lowest parts of the astral world by causing vibrations in matter\nin the physical that affect the astral, and so bring about a change in\nconsciousness in that lowest part of the astral world, but you can\ngo no further. I have seen in India men who, by the use of difficult\nphysical means that none of you would care to use\u2014for they bring about\nthe gradual spoiling of the physical body\u2014I have known them able to leave\nthe physical body and live for the time being in the astral, but in that\nastral body they were unconscious, not conscious; they were not coming\ninto touch with the astral world, nor using the larger consciousness\nat all. They had only forced themselves into that world in the astral\nbody where it was not organised enough for the reception of impressions,\nnor the consciousness unfolded to understand them, and they had injured\nthe physical brain and rendered that practically useless for physical\nutility; so that they had lost both worlds instead of gaining the higher\nthat they sought. When one has seen that happen in India one realises\nthat those methods are not methods that it is desirable to spread in\nthe West; and it is along that line that so many of those pseudo-occult\nbooks are going which come to us from America, promising that if we\nfollow those practices we shall be able to get the better of other people\nin business transactions, and hypnotise them for our own advantage and\nour own gain. Wherever you find that the method of working and that the\nobject aimed at, be sure that you are dealing with a form of unfolding\nand of evolution that can only injure; it cannot really serve. The worst\nof it is that those forms tend to atrophy the parts of the brain that\nyou want to bring things through after a higher consciousness is active\nand the higher body is organised. By this means you injure the brain,\nand with the brain the connecting link between this world and the next,\nso that you injure yourself along that line as well as along the other,\nand make yourself incapable, until you have a new body, of that higher\nunfolding at which you aim. There you have the danger of people picking\nup fragments of an ancient science of the East, without realising all\nthe protection with which in the East that science is surrounded; and\nif even there one finds occasionally such cases as I have mentioned, of\nthe ruined physical frame and the undeveloped astral body, then how much\nmore dangerous it is when given to people of different physical heredity,\nwithout the conditions which in the East are ever imposed! Meditation,\nthen, is the one safe way of unfolding the consciousness, and thus\norganising the vehicle; and the other condition is purity of thought,\npurity of desire, purity of physical life. That is the matter side of the\ntraining. Your thoughts must be pure, otherwise your mental body will be\nunfit for higher development; your desires must be pure, or your astral\nbody will not be fit for that unfolding at which you aim; your physical\nbody must be pure, otherwise when the developed mental and astral pour\ndown their power on the physical, the physical will be unable to answer,\nand you will have hysteria instead of the wider consciousness you seek.\n\nThose, roughly, then, are the conditions: meditation for the\nconsciousness, purity for the evolution of the instrument. If you are\nwilling to accept those conditions, then the path of the higher evolution\nopens before you, and according to your courage, your perseverance, and\nyour ability will be the rapidity with which you can tread that path.\nThe object before you should be the helping of others, the gaining of\nthese powers in order that you may be more useful, not in order that you\nmay be greater than your fellow-men. Of the purity of your motive there\nis only one test: are you using the powers you have now for the helping\nof your race? If you are not, then no profession that you will use the\nhigher powers for good will be effective in bringing you help in their\nunfolding. I have met many a man, many a woman, who is anxious to be\nan invisible helper\u2014that is, a worker on the astral plane\u2014but I do not\nalways find that those people are visible helpers as far as their present\npowers go. And I do not understand why people should want to go about in\nastral slums when they keep carefully away from the physical slums which\nare already within their reach. So far as you can go by your own power\nyou have the right to go, but if you ask for help from those more highly\ndeveloped\u2014from the great Teachers of the race\u2014then you have to bring\nin your hands the proof\u2014and that proof is life, and not words\u2014that as\nyou are using well the talent you have you deserve to be helped in the\ngaining of others. There is the underlying meaning of those strange words\nascribed to the Christ, that he who has much, to him shall be given.\nThose who have used well that which they have, those alone have claim to\nbe helped in gaining more; for by their life they have shown that they\ndo the best with what they possess, and that is the guarantee that with\nmore they will utilise that also for the race. And so in the old rules of\ndiscipleship it was said that when the disciple came to the Teacher he\nmust bring with him in his hands the fuel for the fire; it was the fire\nof sacrifice, and the fuel was everything that the pupil possessed in\nmind, body, and estate; and he brought that in his hands as offering to\nthe Teacher, and then alone was he accepted by the one who knew. And so\nin these days also that higher evolution, quickened by the power of the\ngreat Ones, can only be opened up to those who bring in their hands the\nfuel for the fire of sacrifice; you must be willing to give up everything\nyou have, and own nothing, material or immaterial; you must hold\neverything you have and everything you are at the service of the great\nOne from whom you ask the gift of knowledge. When that is brought the\ngift is never refused; when that door is thus knocked at it never remains\nclosed. True it is that the gateway is narrow; true it is, now as of old,\n\u201cStrait is the gate, narrow is the way, and few there be that find it.\u201d\nBut the fewness does not depend on the grudging of the Teacher\u2014it depends\non the want of self-surrender by the disciple. Bring all you have and all\nyou are, lay it at the feet of the Master of the Wisdom; He will open the\ngateway, He will guide you along the path. But dream not that words are\nheard in that high atmosphere where the Master lives and breathes: only\nhigh thoughts can reach Him, only noble acts can speak the thoughts you\nhave conceived; for voice there is the life that is lived, and only the\nlife that speaks of sacrifice can claim the teaching at His hands.\n\n\n\n\nLecture VIII\n\nThe Place of Theosophy in the Coming Civilisation\n\n_A Public Lecture delivered in the Queen\u2019s Hall, London, at the British\nConvention, July 2nd, 1909._\n\n\nIt has been my lot now for many years to visit England either every\nyear or every other year, in order to try to spread throughout the\ncountry the truths of the ancient wisdom which in these days we call\nby its Greek name of Theosophy. This year it has been my special\nduty to place on record in the capital of the empire a certain line\nof teaching with regard to the changing conditions of the times, to\ndraw the attention of the thoughtful to the signs all around us of a\nchanging civilisation\u2014signs of an age that is passing\u2014signs of a dawning\ncivilisation that may be seen on the far horizon of our day. And I had\nthought that I should only reach as to this the few thousands that\nmay be gathered together Sunday after Sunday in a London hall, but by\nthe generous kindness of the _Christian Commonwealth_ these lectures\nhave been spread far and wide. To-night I am taking up something\nof the thought that there has been more fully expressed, with the\nspecial intention of showing you the part that Theosophy will play in\nthat coming civilisation, the nature of the work that it is doing in\npreparation for the civilisation on the threshold. I have worked out in\nthose lectures in some detail what here I must only state, that just\nas you can find in watching the evolution of a man that at different\nages of his life he is dominated by different parts, as we may say,\nof his consciousness\u2014as we find emotion dominating him in youth, mind\ndominating him in his maturity, the wisdom of the Spirit in his age\u2014so\nwe may see, in glancing abroad over the civilisations and the races\nof men, that a similar succession may be observed, and that hence an\nindication of the future may be obtained. For we can see in the race\nthat preceded our own, and still is living and active, the great Keltic\nrace, how high emotion is the dominant note, and how the expression of\nthat emotion finds itself best in poetry and in art. We can see that\nin the Teutonic race intellect is the dominant note, and that mind in\nall the spheres of its triumph shows itself out among the peoples who\ngrow from that stock, of which our own nation is a branch. That being\nof the past and the present, it is not irrational to look now in the\nunfolding humanity for the growth of the next principle, the next mark\nin the opening consciousness, the development of the spiritual nature in\nman, which succeeds the intellectual as inevitably as that succeeds the\nemotional, and places the crown of wisdom and all-embracing love on the\nbrow of the humanity which has passed through youth, is passing through\nits manhood, is going onwards to the full maturity of its evolution.\nSo in the coming civilisation we shall expect to find spirituality the\nprevailing mark, dominating religion, dominating science, art, and\nsociety, and we may rationally look, as spirituality grows, and shapes\nand moulds the coming civilisation, that in the sphere of religion we\nshall see ever-increasing unity; in the sphere of science we shall find\nnew methods of investigation, new powers to use in thought; that in the\nsphere of mind we shall find nobler ideals, more inspiring power; and in\nsociety we shall find spirituality showing itself, laying the foundation\nof society in self-sacrifice, building it up by self-control, and marking\nBrotherhood as its ultimate goal and achievement.\n\nSuch, very roughly, are the signs that we think will mark the coming\ncivilisation. What has Theosophy to do with that civilisation: what its\nplace, its part, its duty? That is the question that I am to try to\nanswer to-night. And fairly the questions might be asked in speaking of\nTheosophy by those who know little of it save the name\u2014and how little\nof it is known we can often see in the allusions we find to it in our\ndaily Press\u2014naturally the questions might arise: What is Theosophy?\nWhence does it come? Briefly, those preliminary questions, then, should\nbe answered. Theosophy, in the first place, as its name implies, is the\ndeclaration that man as a spiritual being can directly know God who is\nSpirit. It is the proclamation of the ancient Gnosis as against the\nagnosticism of the closing years of the nineteenth century. Secondly,\nit is a body of doctrines which are common to all the great religions\nof the world; doctrines which we find explained, more or less perfectly\nand fully, in every great religion of the past as well as in every great\nreligion of the present; a collection of teachings, spiritual in their\nnature, universal in their spread, endeavouring to guide man along the\nway to perfection, training him in life, illuminating him in the hour of\ndeath. It does not deal with any special rites, any special ceremonies,\nany special part of the teaching of religion which is not universal,\nwhich is not everywhere to be found. So far as those are concerned, the\nspecialties of every religion, it studies them, it explains them, it\nshows the occult meanings which often lie behind the outer garment of\nceremony, behind the ordinary rites of worship, behind the symbols that\nyou find in every faith; but while it explains them, illuminates them,\nenforces their real value, it does not strive to persuade people to\nadopt one religion rather than another, but, instead of giving up their\nown religion for another, it counsels them to find in that religion the\ndeep truths that all faiths have in common. Hence it endeavours, where\nreligion is concerned, to bring peace instead of war, to make religion a\nhealer rather than a divider, a peacemaker rather than a battle-cry among\nmen. And in searching out these essentials of every religion, and drawing\nthese out and setting them before the minds of men, it justifies its\nclaim to its name of the Ancient Wisdom, of that Divine Wisdom in which\nall the great religions have their root.\n\nSuch, very roughly and briefly again, is Theosophy in its essence: a\nGnosis as regards the relation of man to God, a statement of fundamental\nspiritual truths common to the great religions of the world. In a moment,\nin dealing with its work in the religion of the future, I will mention\nthose doctrines one by one, so that you may see for yourselves how they\nmay be traced in all the scriptures, living and dead, and in all the\nreligions of the world. I put first the blunt statement of what Theosophy\nis, in order, if possible, to clear away the clouds which ignorance and\nprejudice have spread around it.\n\nTaking it, then, that the coming civilisation is to be spiritual, that\nthis Theosophy is to have a definite place and work therein, let me\ntry to point out to you the nature of the work, the lines along which\nTheosophy labours to prepare the way for, as well as to influence,\nthat coming civilisation for which we look; and when I say to prepare\nthe way for, it is because we believe that every great religion has a\ncivilisation attached to it, and according to the nature of the religion\nthe civilisation that it moulds will be; and because we also believe that\nat the beginning of every civilisation a great Teacher appears in the\nworld to give the impulse to that civilisation and to shape the religion\nthat will mould it. Hence, with our looking for a coming civilisation, we\nlook also for the manifestation of a great, a divine Teacher.\n\nBut I said, people might ask not only what is Theosophy, but\u2014Whence does\nit come? It is the latest\u2014I do not say the last\u2014of the great impulses\nwhich, one after another, in the long past of history, have founded the\ngreat religions of the world. Those impulses ever come from a mighty\nBrotherhood of Teachers made up of the past Founders of religion,\npresided over by the Supreme Teacher who rules and guides and inspires\nthem all\u2014a mighty Brotherhood of Teachers of the world, coming from time\nto time to found a religion, to shape a civilisation. Such impulses were\noften repeated in the past, to be again repeated in the century which now\nis running its course amongst us, history in very truth repeating itself,\nand bringing at the appointed time a new civilisation, preceded by a new\nspiritual impulse.\n\nThat impulse on this occasion has differed from all that went before\nit in that it founds no new religion, builds no new barrier, does not\nmark out believers and unbelievers, does not try to proselytise, but\nonly to inspire. For, as I just said, Theosophy goes to all religions\nas a peacemaker, and does not strive to draw away from any faith those\nwhom the law has brought to birth beneath its shelter. So its first work\nin preparation for the coming civilisation is to try to bring about a\nbrotherhood of religions, not destroying any, not trying to make any\nless potent than they were before, but endeavouring to transform them\nfrom rivals to brothers, so that each religion may recognise its kinship\nwith other religions, and they may become one mighty family, instead\nof warring and separate creeds. Now, to that high end it brings the\nknowledge of facts which have largely been used against religion, but\nought really to be used in its service. Those of you who have reached\neven middle age will remember how in the latter part of the nineteenth\ncentury there grew up among the sciences of the time a science which\nwas named Comparative Mythology. You will remember how that science\ngrew; the oldest among you may remember its very beginnings. It sought\nout of the past religions, as well as out of the present religions, to\nprove that religion grew up out of ignorance, and only became refined\nas it grew older and spread among more cultivated people. It used the\nresearches of the arch\u00e6ologist, the discoveries of the antiquarian,\nas weapons against the religion which dominated Christendom, where\nscience was most powerful and most active. It took up doctrine after\ndoctrine of the Christian faith, and pointed to the existence of those\ndoctrines in other times, in other civilisations, among the religions\nof the past, both living and dead. It brought information from the\nopen tombs of Egypt, and gathered together the fragments of Egyptian\nknowledge as they were traced on the papyrus, on the leaf that was put\non the bosom of the mummy. It gathered them together, and out of those\nscattered fragments it made what we know well as the Egyptian _Book of\nthe Dead_. It did the same with Chald\u00e6a, the same with Nineveh, the same\nwith those replicas of Egyptian temples that were unburied in far-off\nMexico\u2014temples thousands of years older than the Aztecs, who slew their\nworshippers and destroyed their civilisation, the Aztecs, who themselves\nwere thousands of years old when Cortez and his Spaniards treated them\nas they had treated their forerunners. It brought from those unburied\ntemples similar teachings and similar ideas. It gathered, again, similar\nteachings from the books of China, with its immemorial traditions; from\nthe scriptures of India, from the fragments of the Zoroastrian tradition,\nfrom the books of the Buddhist nations, from Greek and Roman. Piling up\nall the evidence it had gathered, it made out of that the science of\nComparative Mythology. It was the deadliest weapon that was ever forged\nagainst dogmatic Christianity, because founded on knowledge of facts\nthat none could deny. Then it was that it became the duty of Theosophy,\njust then born into the world, to come forward to acknowledge the truth\nof the facts, and to add many others to the store, but to point out\nthat instead of Comparative Mythology there should be built a science of\nComparative Religion, showing that that which had been universally taught\nwas truth, and not lies; was verity, and not delusion. It defended every\nreligion by the universality of religious beliefs; and it pointed out\nthat a truth did not cease to be a truth because it was ancient, did not\ncease to be a truth because it ruled in ancient times as well as now; it\njustified religion by the very arguments that were used to discredit it,\nand traced it to a universal Ancient Wisdom, instead of to the ignorance\nof the savage, refined in modern days. It brought to that contention\nmany an argument on which I have not time to dwell, but that you can\nvery easily read for yourselves, if it be unknown to you, in the many\npublications that have been written along these lines. And now, in order\nto utilise that for the coming time in the building of the Brotherhood of\nReligions, we proclaim in every country, to every faith, among the people\nof every religion, the common heritage, the spiritual verity, the primary\ndoctrines that are found in every faith. What are they? They are but few,\nalthough far-reaching. They could be counted on the fingers of two hands,\nand even than that, so few are they.\n\nThe first great doctrine that every religion teaches is the unity\nof God; the second, that God in manifestation is ever triple. In\nphilosophy they speak of three qualities or attributes; in religion\nthey mostly personify, and speak of a Trinity or a triple form. But\nwhether philosophical, or personified in religion, you have ever Power\nor Will, Wisdom, Activity, and you can find those in the Trinity of\nevery nation, whether you take in the Christian creed the Father, the\nembodiment of Power, of Will, the Son, the Wisdom everlasting; the\nSpirit, the creative Activity by which the worlds are made. Or you\nmight take it equally well in Hind\u016bism, and there you would see the\norder reversed: the Creator, who is the embodiment of Activity; the\nPreserver, the embodiment of Wisdom; the Regenerator, the embodiment\nof Power. And so might I take you to ancient and dead religions, and\nto ancient and living religions, and show you ever the same. For those\nprimary truths of God are everywhere proclaimed, one in His nature,\ntriple in His manifestation. And then, after those first two truths,\nyou come to the third: the vast family of the Sons of God, the great\nhierarchy of spiritual intelligences\u2014archangels, angels, shining ones;\ncall them what you will\u2014that mighty family of Sons of God, amongst which\nhumanity finds its own place in process of evolution. Then you come to\nthe fourth great teaching: that you have the unfolding of consciousness\ngoing on continually, and shaping ever finer and finer bodies for its own\nexpression; that which science calls evolution, but which religion has\never called reincarnation, the method of perfecting the germinal seed\nof divinity into the divine man, when the human evolution is complete.\nThen, fifthly, the worlds in which these changes go on: our earth, the\nintermediate world, and the heavenly; and man, with bodies of matter\nbelonging to all the worlds, so that he may be in contact with each.\nAnd then the sixth great teaching of universal law\u2014law in the world of\nmind as well as in the world of matter; law which builds character as\nwell as builds the outer world; law unchanging and inviolable, which,\nbecause we can know, we can utilise to the building up of ourselves into\nnoblest ideals. And then, closing these doctrines that are common to\nevery religion, we find the idea of the Teachers who preside over human\nevolution, who inspire religions, who guard the spiritual progress of\nmankind. Those are the truths universal, those are the teachings which\nevery religion has had and has; and so we find in these religions,\nby their unity of teaching, the reality of Brotherhood that we seek\neverywhere to spread. For of what avail to change from one faith to\nanother if in the new religion you only find the same old truths,\nthough ceremonies and rites may differ? And we see in this Brotherhood\nof Religions one value to mankind which one religion only could never\nhave given to us. Just as you see the light of the sun broken up into\nmany colours, and those colours giving all the beauty to earth which\nyou see in the nature around you; just as you know that those colours\nthat constitute white light can be recombined again into the white light\nwhence they sprung, so is it with religions. The great truths, the great\nvirtues are as one\u2014the great white light of truth; they are broken up by\nthe prism of the intellect, and the many religions ray out, each with\nits own colour; they are recombined by the prism of the Spirit, and once\nagain are blended into the unity of truth.\n\nIf you look at religions you will see how true that is. Every religion\nhas a note of its own, a colour of its own, that it gives for the helping\nof the world. Go back to ancient Egypt, and you find the note of the\nEgyptian religion is knowledge, so that Egyptian religion became the\nmother of Egyptian science, and science spread from Egypt westwards\nover Europe. Go to the Far East, and you will find in India that the\nspecial note of Hind\u016bism is the all-pervading nature of Deity, and the\nall-compelling duty which is the law for every individual. Go to Persia\nin her ancient days, and there the note of purity was struck\u2014purity of\nthought, of word, of act. Go to Greece, and you will find her note was\nbeauty\u2014beauty in architecture, beauty in sculpture, beauty in painting,\nbeauty in the perfection of her philosophy, which made the Beautiful of\nequal rank with the True and the Good. And in Rome you find the note of\nlaw, law all-compelling; and in Christianity the note of self-sacrifice,\nwhich has in it the promise of the future; and in Isl\u0101m the proclamation\nagain of the divine unity. And so every religion with its own note, every\nreligion with its own colour; blended together they give the whiteness of\ntruth, blended together they give a mighty chord of perfection.\n\nNow that you could not have had with one faith and one creed.\nHuman thought is too narrow, human brain cannot grasp at once this\nmany-noted chord of perfection; and so many religions, each with its\nown characteristic, as though the Divine Name were to be spelt out by\nthe religions, and each gave a single letter, all the letters together\nmaking the name of the Blessed One. When you look on religion in that\nway you realise how mighty a thing it is, how its strength is in unity\nexpressed in diversity; how each religion should learn from others and\nshare with others that which is its own specialty. And surely that does\nnot lower religion, but makes it greater; surely it does not make it less\ncompelling, but more attractive. Is Christ less when He taught \u201cLove your\nenemies,\u201d because we know that the Buddha said, six hundred years before\nHim, \u201cHatred ceases not by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love\u201d? Or\nis it not more beautiful to see in the Buddha and the Christ proclaimers\nof the one eternal law, coming at different times to different nations,\nbut ever with a single truth, ever with one code to teach to men?\n\nNow in trying to do this work\u2014which, of course, is taken in detail when\none is dealing only with that side of thought\u2014Theosophy is preparing for\nthat common spiritual religion, the one Divine Wisdom, of which all the\nreligions of the world shall see themselves as branches, while the trunk\nand root of truth are one. That is the great work, then, in the coming\ncivilisation, which it is the duty of Theosophy to labour at; and hence,\nin one of its early teachings, it was said it was to be the corner-stone\nof the religion of humanity. For the religion of humanity will be the\nBrotherhood of Religions that I have been describing, where no religion\ncan be spared, for each has something special, but where all religions\nwill be seen as one, because they give similar truths in different forms.\n\nLet us pass from that, and ask what Theosophy is to do in the coming\ncivilisation, in the science of that time. Science in the coming days\nwill pass into subtler worlds, or subtler matter. It has practically\nconquered the grosser, denser forms of matter; it is now going onward\nto the subtler and the finer. And there lies its difficulty: that the\nmethods which did for the grosser, the apparatus that measured the\ngrosser, are not applicable for the subtler. And when I say \u201cthe gross,\u201d\nthink how fine even its apparatus is, for quite lately I had sent to\nme an article in a scientific journal which spoke of an apparatus that\ncould measure the forty-millionth of an inch, and yet that is coarse\ncompared with the subtleties of the matter that lies beyond that, which\nscience must conquer in the coming days. Now of what value can Theosophy\nbe there? It is bringing, by training, the possibility to man in our\nmodern days of quickening his own evolution, and running ahead of the\nslow working of the laws of nature unguided by human intelligence. It\nis bringing, and proclaiming everywhere, a system by which man can more\nrapidly unfold the powers of his consciousness, and also may more rapidly\ndevelop the organs of finer matter that are related to those worlds of\nfiner matter which science will soon enter and begin to conquer. It is\ntelling people how to develop the finer senses, and showing them the line\nalong which the very few have gone in the past, but along which myriads\nshall tread in the future, the next great stage of human evolution, the\norganising of the finer body in man. It is bringing that to the help of\nscience in order that by the evolution of the finer body the finer world\nmay become the object of observation, exactly on the same lines, exactly\nby the same laws, that your grosser physical bodies to-day enable you\nto investigate the grosser physical world around you. There are eyes\nthat are keener than these organs evolved from the pigment spots of\nthe medusa; there are ears finer and subtler than those of our body,\nexquisite as they are in their mechanism and in their delicacy; there are\norgans of sense transcending the physical. Within the physical brain is\nan organ evolving which shall be the connecting link between those finer\nsenses of the finer body and the grosser senses of the body of flesh that\nwe wear; an organ that many of our scientists think is an organ that is\npassing away, because it is larger in the earlier stages of evolution\nthan in the highly developed man; it is the pituitary body. It is not\na question of size, but of inner complexity of organisation; and that\norgan is not simply what science calls it, a vestigial organ\u2014that is,\none belonging to the evolution of the past\u2014it is truly a rudimentary\norgan, one belonging to the evolution of the future. And the fact of that\nhas been proved by bringing life-currents, electric currents, to bear\non that particular organ, so that the results of the finer senses are\ncommunicated to the brain, and we bridge what some people think the gulf\nbetween the world of physical matter and the world that is called that of\nastral matter.\n\nThose experiments are now so familiar to some of us that it is impossible\nfor us to agree with the notion that that organ in the brain has no\nfuture, as we find it can be stimulated and organised more finely, and\nused in this definite fashion; we know that what a few are doing now\nmany shall do to-morrow, and those who have done it are only a step in\nfront; others are treading on their heels, and may outstrip them soon in\nevolution. But here comes the difficulty, especially for the nations of\nwestern Europe, who, from climatic and other reasons, have taken so very\nlargely to a diet of flesh, in which also alcohol plays a large part.\nNow flesh and alcohol are not suitable materials for building up the body\nof our ordinary life, which is to be made sensitive enough to receive the\nvibrations from the finer matter of which I have been speaking. Doctors\nhave just discovered what was published by Madame Blavatsky many years\nago\u2014that alcohol has a direct effect on the pituitary body, and poisons\nthat body, tending to cause inflammation. Have you ever wondered why\nit is that alcoholic excess leads to what is called delirium tremens,\nin which people see things that do not exist to the ordinary people\naround them? It is because they have poisoned that very organ by which\nvibrations come from other worlds; and although what they see is largely\nabnormal and irrational, it is none the less the result of action on\nthese irregular and poisoned bodies, which vibrate under the stress of\npoison instead of under the stress of thought, as they should do. And\nthat which doctors now have discovered and are publishing as a warning\nto people, that has ever been known in occult science, and one of the\nconditions of giving the details of the methods whereby that body may be\nrendered active, has been abstinence from alcohol, and for the simplest\nreason. So long as you are not using any of these methods, it does not\nso very much matter whether that body be poisoned or not. You may live\nlong with a poisoned pituitary body; but the very moment that you begin\nto work upon it, to make it active, to throw into it new currents of\nlife and energy, then the poison and the energy together bring about\ninflammation of the most intractable kind, causing severe pain, as well\nas brain mischief. And it is for that reason that the methods have\nnot been publicly given, and are only given to those who are pure from\nthe taint of alcohol. Along those lines, then, you will very likely\ncome up against rules that many of you will not care to adopt. We do\nnot say adopt them; we only say they are the conditions of the finer\norganisation. Natural laws do not change for people\u2019s wishes and whims.\nIf you want electric sparks from a machine you must make the conditions;\nyou must have dry air, not air full of moisture. It is no good saying\nthat dry air is not so comfortable to breathe as moist air. You are not\nobliged to have electric sparks, but if you want them you must conform to\nthe conditions laid down by nature, and not follow your own whims. And\nthat is true everywhere. Presently people will find that it is true when\nthey want to investigate some of the spiritualistic phenomena; they have\nnot discovered that yet. They think they can lay down the laws, and then\nget the results which can only be gained by obedience. The other day I\nwas reading a rather curious report of investigation into spiritualistic\nphotographs; and when I saw they had not obtained any, I could not help\nwondering how many physical photographs they would be able to get if they\nmade it a rule that they should not put a dark cloth over the camera,\nand that, above all, they should not take the photographs away into the\ndark room, because that gives all possibilities of cheating and of fraud.\nPresently you will find out that finer nature has her laws quite as much\nas grosser nature, and that you can no more get results without obedience\nto those laws than you could get your photograph if your plates were\nexposed to the light. When that is learned, progress may be more rapid.\n\nAlong that line, where these rules are laid down for the organisation\nof the finer bodies, there is another matter that comes in: it is of no\nuse to develop the finer bodies, unless the consciousness of the higher\nworlds is unfolded, and the only way to do that is by the old way of\nstrenuous and regular meditation. Theosophy brings to the Western world\nthe yoga of the East, by which the man who practises so trains and\nrefines his brain that he makes it sensitive without making it diseased.\nThere is where the difficulty is found in the West. Sometimes, when a\ngreat rush comes down from the higher worlds into the body of some great\nsaint or some great genius, there is brain trouble and brain disturbance;\nhysteria is found. Naturally, because you are overstraining your\ninstrument. And if you want to be able to receive those great downflows\nfrom the higher world, then you must begin to tune your instrument to\nvibrate to the swifter vibrations that come down. You can do it, and\nthere is no danger unless you go to excess. If day by day you would give\neven ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, to strenuous thought and\ncareful concentration, you would gradually make your brain constitution\nmore complex and finer than it is. Thought is really the creator of the\nbrain. As you think, your brain grows; just as if you exercise your\nmuscles, your muscles grow and develop. It is all law, and thought is\nthe force which renders the brain more complex in its organisation. The\nIndian yogi practises that, and by practise year after year, builds up\nthe brain of the coming race out of the brain of the race that is.\nHe makes it finer, subtler, more responsive, and he does it without\nthe sacrifice of physical health; and that is a thing that any one of\nyou may begin, if only you will be moderate and not excessive. Never\nconcentrate to the point of making a feeling of dulness and heaviness\nof the brain; never concentrate to the point of pain; dulness and pain\nare the danger-signals of nature, that you are trying to change matter\nmore rapidly in its arrangement than is possibly consistent with health.\nTherefore you need moderation; but, given moderation, nothing but good\ncan come out of the practise of meditation and concentration; and by\nthat you will not only make your brain more sensitive, but also keep it\nsane and healthy, and you will have none of those miserable hysterical\nsymptoms which have so blurred the value of the knowledge that has come\nthrough the seer or the saint. Along those lines, then, Theosophy works\nwith science to show the road of development of science in the coming\ncivilisation.\n\nWhat has Theosophy to do with regard to art in that civilisation?\nGlance at the results of your civilisation to-day on the beauty of the\nland. Go to Sheffield, which is built in what was one of the loveliest\nvalleys of the Midlands; notice, as you come near it, the beauty of the\ncountryside, the wooding of the undulating land, the exquisite beauty\nof rivulet, of forest, and of grass; and then, out of all that beauty\nof Nature, you plunge suddenly into the hideousness of Sheffield. You\nfind the atmosphere thick with black smoke. No tree will grow in many of\nthe districts, no flowers even on the sills of the houses of the poor.\nThe atmosphere poisons vegetation; what do you think it does to the\nmen, women, and children who breathe it? And Sheffield is not alone.\nGo to Glasgow; see the hideousness of that, the second metropolis of\nScotland. Go to Birmingham, to Manchester, to any of these great cities\nthat so largely make the wealth of England. But sometimes it seems to me\nthat what you pay in beauty is too heavy a price even for your wealth,\nand that England was happier as well as healthier when she had fewer\nmillionaires, but also fewer stunted and deformed specimens of humanity\nin her slums. Look at the faces of the men, women, and children of one or\ntwo of those cities I have mentioned. Look at the faces of the Glasgow\ncrowd as it tramps back from its labour to the slum. Those faces are not\ncivilised; they are brutal, many of them\u2014animal, more than human. Oh, you\nwho think that beauty is only a luxury, look at the humanity you breed,\nwhere ugliness is the mark of the cities, instead of the beauty that\nhas been destroyed. You must learn to understand what beauty means. It\nmoulds the body, and ugliness does the same. Out of your hideous cities a\nhideous humanity grows up. The restoration of art is a matter of life and\ndeath, not a matter of luxury and of enjoyment. Artists are wanted in our\ntowns much more than on the walls of our galleries. Only a few go into\nthe gallery, but men, women, and children live in the town. Until the\ntown is beautiful, as in Greece it was beautiful, the coming civilisation\nwill lack one mark of the civilised man. And Theosophy teaches reverence\nfor beauty, whether it be natural beauty or beauty formed by the skilful\nfingers and keen brains of men\u2014reverence for the human body. No nation\nhas a right to breed the bodies that we see in the population of the\nslums. It is all very well that in the richer, the upper classes you\nfind men and women healthy, strong, magnificent to look at; but if they\ncan be what they are, all ought to be able to share in the conditions\nthat create that beauty. And art will not do its duty until it holds\nup for all to see the power that resides in beauty, and its moulding\ninfluence on civilisation; art should be ever painting and holding up\nto us the ideal in its beauty, for it is the ideal that makes the real.\nThe artist should show the ideal, and the craftsman should reproduce it;\nand until your craftsmen honour their labour, there will be very little\nhope for art to thrive amongst us. Art is no art when it only paints\nthe commonplace and the ugly. Sometimes, on the walls of a gallery, you\ncome across a picture made up perhaps of a piece of cheese, and a boiled\nlobster, and a string of onions, and one or two corpses of birds thrown\nin for the sake of their plumage. That is not art. Art is beauty, and to\npaint things like that is to degrade art, no matter how well they may be\nreproduced. \u201cOh,\u201d I have heard a person say, \u201chow beautiful that cheese\nis. I could cut it!\u201d You can cut cheese anywhere; and you don\u2019t want to\ngo to a gallery, and an art gallery, so-called, in order to see it. Put\nthis beside the pictures of the ancient masters, and see what art means\nand what the travesty of art. Theosophy has to try to breathe into the\nartist the idea of the splendour of his calling, the divinity of his\npower. He can see what we cannot see, and hear what we cannot hear; let\nhim give us what we cannot reach for ourselves, and be again the priest\nof the Beautiful for men. Then shall the civilisation grow into beauty,\nhuman as well as inanimate, and the right place of beauty shall come into\nour civilisation, the place it held in ancient Greece.\n\nAnd what shall Theosophy do in the coming civilisation for\nsociety?\u2014society as we see it to-day, which is a battle, not a social\norder; which is an anarchy, not an organism. I know it is often thought\nthat changes will only be brought about by the menace of the starving,\nby the dread of revolution. Oh, it is not thus that Theosophy looks on\nman, in whom it sees the growth of a spiritual, a divine nature. You will\nthink me a dreamer, perhaps; and yet I tell you a truth when I say that\nnot by the uprising of the miserable, but by the self-sacrifice of the\ncomfortable will the future society be realised on earth. I know that\nthat is not the idea of to-day. I know that, amongst those who suffer,\nsuch a sentiment would be met with ridicule and scoff; but it is not\nthose who suffer misery who can build a wise and happy social system.\nIt wants the best brains and the best hearts; it wants leisure to think\nout and to plan, and love to carry into effect. You can make a riot,\nyou can make a revolution by starving desperate people, but there is no\nstability in that which follows revolution. You cannot take, but you can\ngive; and the spirit lives by giving, and knows the joy of sacrifice.\nDo you imagine that sacrifice is painful, that sacrifice means sadness\nand gloom? I tell you there is no joy on earth like the sacrifice of\nthe lower nature to the higher, and the giving to others of the higher,\nthat asks nothing for itself. Along those lines our Social Redemption\nwill come, along the lines of those who are willing to give and willing\nto sacrifice, for the gift that is compelled by law or force is always\nresented, and is resisted as much as possible. Outer compulsion is met\nby violent resistance, but the inner compulsion that is the compulsion\nof love, that meets with no violence in resistance; it pours itself\nout in joy. And there lies the future, there the basis of the coming\ncivilisation.\n\nI said, in the beginning, it would be built on self-sacrifice, and that\nwas the thought that lay behind the words. I see, spreading through\nthe comfortable, through the rich, those who are well dowered with the\ngoods of earth, a spirit of noble discontent, not for themselves but\nfor others, not for themselves but for the poor. I come across the\nrich and highly-placed who ask, \u201cWhat can we do to relieve the misery\nwe see?\u201d\u2014who suffer by sympathy, not by compulsion; and it is from\nthem the redemption of society will come. It seems, perhaps, to-day a\nfar-off dream, but man grows faster than we are apt to realise. There\nis nothing too noble, nothing too beautiful, nothing too divine for man\nto achieve; for man is growing godlike, however slowly, and the seed of\nDeity within him is beginning to flower in some hearts. Wherever one who\ndoes not suffer is unhappy for those who do; wherever a human brain that\nmight amuse itself finds joy in labour for the helping of the nation;\nwherever a human heart which has all that love can give it cannot be\nhappy, but goes out in love to the outcast\u2014there lies the promise of the\nfuture. Such brains and hearts were counted by units, perhaps, even a\ncentury ago, by tens a little later; they are beginning to be counted by\nhundreds now, and to be found in places where none may dream that there\nare those who are longing to give and strive for a better social state.\nIn those who are growing into the spiritual life; in those who cannot\nbe happy while others are miserable; in those whose meals are rendered\nbitter by the starvation of the poor; in those whose luxury is a burden\nbecause of the want of the miserable\u2014in those will you find the builders\nof the new civilisation, those who shall sacrifice that others may be\nhappy. That is the future to which we look, that the future for which\nwe labour, proclaiming everywhere the ancient words that \u201cjoy lives in\ngiving, and not in taking\u201d; repeating again the old message, \u201cIt is more\nblessed to give than to receive\u201d; saying once again the old truth, that\nonly where self-sacrifice is found, there is also found a religion and a\ncivilisation that can endure.\n\n\n\n\nPart II\n\nLectures to Theosophical Students\n\n\n\n\nLecture I\n\nThe Sixth Sub-Race\n\n\nI have chosen for the subject of my lecture to-night one which I think is\nimportant\u2014the Sixth Sub-Race. Both outside and inside the Theosophical\nSociety a certain amount of good-humoured ridicule has been cast on\nthe way in which Theosophists talk about Races, Sub-Races, Root-Races,\nCycles, Rounds, and so on, some people condemning such talk as\nexceedingly unpractical. Really that is not so. When our great teacher H.\nP. Blavatsky traced for us _The Secret Doctrine_, that wonderful panorama\nof the past evolution of the Races on our globe, she was not only giving\nus the story of the past, but also presenting us with the key to the\nfuture. And I propose to-night to try to show you how it is possible for\nthe Theosophist who has carefully studied the principles underlying past\nevolution, to apply these to the evolution of the future, and so learn\nhow he may best co-operate with the divine plan which is slowly working\nitself out. The advantage of Theosophical teaching is that it gives us a\ndefinite scheme into which the evolution of mankind, stage by stage, fits\nwithout difficulty and without blunder.\n\nNow, if we think for a moment of what we call the larger and the smaller\ncycles, we can realise that the large scheme of the Races, the smaller\nscheme of the sub-races, and the evolution of man himself, all go along\nparallel lines. Understanding one, we can understand all. I will pause\non the evolution of the Races, in order to remind you of the repetition,\nwithin the limit of each race, of the smaller sub-races. We need not go\nvery far back. It will be enough to consider the Race that preceded our\nown, the great fourth Root Race, and our own. The fourth Root Race was\nthe Atlantean. I only allude to it in order to remind you that from the\nmidst of that race the Fifth Race, in its turn, arose. Now the choosing\nout of a new Race is the task of a particular Personage in the Occult\nHierarchy, whose only name, so far as we know it, is that which has been\nborrowed from the Hind\u016b, the Manu, the Man, or the Thinker, the ideal or\ntypical man. The Manu forms in His own mind, after the master conception\nof the Planetary Logos, the plan of the man that is to be, which He will\ngradually realise along the lines of natural evolution. These laws of\nevolution are used by the Manu with scientific knowledge, and therefore\nwith certainty. In the same way that a scientific breeder, dealing with\nthe animal kingdom, can breed towards a desired type, so, on a higher\nplane, does the Manu of the Race mould by the same laws of evolution\nthe physical form of the Race He desires to evolve. And always the type\nis formed in the matter of the higher planes before it is reproduced in\nthe matter of the lower, the mental and emotional characteristics being\nfirst conceived, and then a physical body which will best express them.\nThe Manu chooses the type according to the particular qualities which\nare to be evolved, which are marked out for Him by the basic plan of\nthe constitution of man himself. Looking at your own nature, you have\ncertain distinct departments: the physical body; the astral body; the\nmental body; the body of the higher mind, the causal; and then that\nof the pure, compassionate Reason, the buddhic. Now if we take those\nthree types, the emotional, mental, and buddhic, we have the three with\nwhich we are immediately concerned. Desire, or emotion, was the great\ncharacteristic of the fourth Race. The mind was the slave of the lower\nfeelings; that race had as its motive power the development of the desire\nnature. But in the sub-races of the fourth Race the other principles had\nalso to be evolved, but to a very poor degree; and as time went on, the\nfifth sub-race of that began to develop the lower mind. Out of that fifth\nsub-race the selection of the Manu of the time was made, and He chose out\ncertain families that He thought He could shape into the required type.\nThe first choice was not successful, the people proving too stiff-necked\nand too little plastic to be moulded into the Race that was to be;\nbut it left behind it, in the history of the world, that marvellously\ninteresting people, the Hebrew, and that idea of being a \u201cchosen people\u201d\nsurvives even to this day. The second and successful selection had as its\nissue our own fifth Root Race. Now, side by side with the evolution of\nthe sub-race, came the evolution of the Root Race which was to succeed,\nand that is why I have referred to the past. As the fifth sub-race of the\nfourth Root Race was developed, the beginnings of the fifth Root Race,\nthe great Aryan Race, appeared one million years ago.\n\nWe can leave our fourth Race with its sub-races, having only regarded it\nfor the purpose of throwing light on the present. The evolution of the\nfifth Race went on, and sub-race after sub-race was born. The earliest\nof all settled in Northern India, and gradually conquered that great\npeninsula, the first sub-race of the stock of the Aryans. There came\nout after that the second sub-race, which wandered westward, as all the\nlater sub-races did; then came the third, the Ir\u0101nian; then the fourth,\nthe Keltic; and the fifth, the Teutonic. So far we have come in the\nhistory of the sub-races of our own fifth Root Race. Now, notice that\nthese overlap each other as they develop. The first of these sub-races is\nstill a mighty power in Asia, showing signs that its day is by no means\ndone, and that the Indians, if they have behind them a civilisation of\nhundreds of thousands of years, have also before them a mighty future,\nthe first signs of which are being seen in the India of to-day. Signs,\nsome encouraging, some disturbing for a time, are being seen on every\nhand that new life is being poured into its veins, signs of the birth of\na new Indian nation. Of the second sub-race we have not any nation at\nthe present time. Along the Mediterranean Basin it has left many traces\nof its civilisation, which are being unburied by our arch\u00e6ologists; but\nso little mark, so to speak, did it leave on history that a large number\nof its wonders were deemed to be legends and myths. The next sub-race,\nthe great Persian race, is almost outworn. The Persians of to-day have\nlittle in common with the Ir\u0101nian of the past. The chief traces of\nthem, in fact, are on the Indian continent, the Pars\u012bs, a race which has\ndwindled and is gradually passing away. But when we come to the fourth\nsub-race, the Keltic, we see great possibilities in that still. It gave\nbirth to the older Greece, the country of Beauty and Philosophy. It gave\nbirth also to Rome, with her remarkable ruling powers. It spread over\nEurope, founding one nation after another from itself, and spreading\ninto Ireland and Scotland, made there possibilities that have not yet\nall flowered into effect. In Ireland you have a strange mingling of the\nremains of the fourth Root Race with the fourth sub-race of the fifth; a\ngreat deal of the Atlantean influence still exists, many of the tutelary\ndeities of Ireland, the gods of the mountains, being largely they who\nmingled with Atlantean life and thought, and are still exercising their\npotent influences over the younger though still ancient Keltic sub-race.\nThere, again, we have great possibilities of revival and of growth, for\nthe fourth sub-race and the sixth sub-race are necessarily interlinked.\nJust as the emotional nature stretches upwards and causes sympathetic\naction in the spiritual nature, so with the Races and sub-races that\nrepresent these principles upon earth; the fourth and the sixth Races,\nlike the fourth and sixth sub-races, are closely intertwined. Ireland has\nnot been kept apart for nothing; the separation between the Kelt and the\nTeuton is not without its meaning. We shall find among that Keltic people\npossibilities of spiritual power, and we may look possibly for some\nmighty influence to flow thence into the great Christian organisation of\nRome, who is now on the balance as to whether she is to sink down along\nthe line that the Papal Encyclical seems to trace for her and become\nthe enemy of the Spirit of the Age, or whether the Modernist party in\nthe Roman Church is to rise into power, purify and vivify that ancient\nCommunion, and make her again what she ought to be, the Church of Saints,\nthe type and symbol of the purest and loftiest form of Christian thought.\nIt may be that Ireland will co-operate also in the great purification\nwhich I pray may come to the Roman Communion, and make its revival\npossible. And that is closely connected with the sixth Root Race, and\ntherefore partly with the sixth sub-race.\n\nNow, after the fourth sub-race came our own; and when we find that this\nfifth sub-race, the Teutonic, is carrying on so rapidly the development\nof the concrete and scientific mind, when we notice that it is beginning\nits last conquest, the conquest of the air, then, if we have learned\nthe lesson of the past, we may learn to see the signs of the sub-race\nwhich is to succeed it. But these sub-races overlap each other, and it\nis at the moment of the zenith of the one that the next is born. Go\nback to the zenith of the fourth sub-race, when the fifth was beginning\nto develop, when Rome was mighty, then it was that the Goths in German\nforests were beginning to be born into Europe; and to draw together into\ntribes, which were to grow into nations. Quietly and silently the new\nsub-race was being born while its predecessor was reaching the highest\npoint of the civilised world of its time. Slowly it began to develop its\nown peculiarities and powers, and from that day the Teutonic sub-race\nhas grown stronger and stronger, more and more dominant, and, though a\nsmall minority compared with the population of the world, is dominating\nthat world by the force of its scientific mind, spreading everywhere, and\nmaking itself the very crest of the advancing wave.\n\nBut let us turn away our eyes from the dazzling glow of the present to\nlook for the quiet places where the birth of the future is beginning to\nappear. Just because the fifth sub-race is so strong and dominant, we\nlook over the world for the beginnings of its successor, which shall rule\nthe world not by the force of the concrete mind, but by the force of the\npure and compassionate Reason, which will conquer not by power but by\nlove, not by competition but by co-operation, and found, therefore, an\nEmpire that will long endure. For it is true now as ever that \u201cThey that\ntake the sword shall perish by the sword,\u201d and the Empire that is to\nlive will be the Empire that wins its way by love and benediction, that\nis a teacher and a defender, and not only a ruler. The sixth sub-race,\nthe Coming Race, will be born with the sixth Root Race in it, which is\nto grow so much more slowly. The coming of the sixth sub-race you may\nalmost begin to see around you. It is not to be born in a single place,\nnot to belong to a single nation, for it is the type of humanity, of the\nunifying Wisdom, and out of all nations and all peoples and all tongues\nit will gather together its chosen for the new type of thought which is\nto be born. And what that type will be we can easily outline by thinking\nof the characteristics of the buddhic principle in man. What are those\ncharacteristics? First of all, union, and hence in the outer world\nco-operation. The very essence of all action in the sixth sub-race will\nbe the union of many to achieve a single object, and not the dominance\nof one who compels others to his will. The work of the future will not\nbe, \u201cDo so-and-so and follow me,\u201d but, \u201cLet us advance together to a\ngoal that we all realise as desirable of attainment.\u201d If you are looking\nfor the sign of anyone who is beginning to show the marks of that sixth\nsub-race to-day, you will find it in those who lead by love, sympathy,\nand comprehension, and not by dominance of an imperious will; for the\nqualities of that sub-race will be found scattered here and there through\nthe sub-race which it is gradually to supplant. You may trace out the\ncoming of the sixth sub-race in the scattered people found in our fifth\nsub-race, in whom tenderness is the mark of power. Anyone who desires to\ntake part in the building of that race needs to develop now the power\nto work with others rather than against them, and so, by a continual\ncommon effort, to replace the spirit of antagonism and competition. It\nis a synthesising spirit which we shall find in the forerunners of our\nsixth sub-race\u2014those who are able to unite diversity of opinion and of\ncharacter, who are able to gather round them the most unlike elements\nand blend them into a common whole, who have that capacity for taking\ninto themselves diversities and sending out again unities, and utilising\nthe most different capacities, finding each its place, and welding all\ntogether into a strong whole. That is one of the characteristics which\nmarks the type of being out of whom this sixth sub-race will gradually\ndevelop. A strongly marked characteristic will be compassion. That\nvirtue is comparatively rare in the energetic, strongly individualised\nWest. Compassion is that quality which is at once affected by the\npresence of weakness, answering to it with patience, with tenderness,\nand with protection. You may notice how very often amongst ourselves,\ntaking the ordinary fifth sub-race type, the presence of weakness is\nprovocative. It does not call out compassion, but impatience\u2014very\ncharacteristic of the fifth sub-race. Quick to understand and grasp\na fact, it is impatient with the weakness and mental dulness which\ncannot easily appreciate the differences which seem to it so clear.\nThe typical fifth sub-race civilisation is a civilisation that sees in\nweakness a field to exploit, a thing to enslave, something to trample\nunder foot, in order to rise on it, and not to help to exist for itself.\n\u201cInevitable,\u201d you say, \u201cin a bustling civilisation like this, that the\nweak should go to the wall.\u201d I do not deny that it has been inevitable\nin the development of the strong individualism of the present. That\nindividualism is a priceless result, cheaply bought even by the suffering\nit has caused. Without that strong individualism you would not have the\nfoundation on which the great co-operative civilisation could be built.\nFor you cannot synthesise weaknesses, and it was necessary to make the\nstrong and patient individuality in order that you might have something\nto blend together into a harmony in the future that is yet to be born.\nIt is a very shortsighted view of human nature which sees in the growth\nof a particular quality a thing which is wholly undesirable; for there\nis nothing which is wholly undesirable in the evolution which is guided\nby perfect Wisdom and perfect Love. The most unlovely product of the\nfifth sub-race civilisation will be one of the bricks that will be built\ninto the foundation of the sixth sub-race and of the sixth Root Race.\nFor out of the strong individuality the strong virtues can be built,\nand compassion is a virtue of the strong, and not of the weak. The\nfeeble, sentimental sympathy that comes with the poor and undeveloped\nnature is not compassion. It has no power of healing in it, and no power\nof protection. The person who, seeing a suffering or wrong, or even\na physical accident, goes into hysterics over it, is not the strong\nhelper who heals and protects. It is not the skilful nurse who goes into\nhysterics over the agony of the patient in pain, leaving that patient\nto suffer while she is having the cheap luxury of sentimental tears. It\nis only out of the strong natures you can build up real compassion. The\ncompassion which does not help is useless, and help can only be given\nwhere knowledge guides feeling, and understanding shapes the remedy.\nHence out of these strong individualities, when their object has been\nchanged and the greater Self has taken the place of the smaller self, out\nof those the sixth sub-race, which has pure Reason for its dominating\nprinciple, will gradually appear. When in yourselves you find the germs\nof compassion, and know that that is to be part of the dominating\ncharacteristic of the coming sub-race, then cherish these germs to the\nutmost. But remember that they must grow out of the germinal feeling of\nsympathy into the strong power to uplift and to save; for compassion\nis the great mark of the Saviour. And the Saviour is never weak, but\nstrong, and out of his strength grows his compassion. You can test it\nfor yourself. Having to deal with someone who is very slow, you are\nimpatient. Why? Because you are weak. You are not strong enough to make a\nquestion clear with slow and deliberate intent, not strong enough to bear\nwith the stupidity and feebleness.\n\nThe next great thing you want is the sense of unity, and that you can\nnever have unless you are strong. There is nothing harder in the world\nthan to pierce through a man\u2019s weakness and his poor qualities, which\nare on the surface, and to see within the growing power of the God.\nYet that is what you have to do if you would be truly wise. You see in\nthe people around you to-day a large number of faults. How far do you\nsee behind every fault the seed of divinity which will develop into a\nvirtue? Has the old Platonic idea ever struck you, that there is no\nstrong dividing line between the vice and virtue except the quantity\nwhich is present? The undeveloped virtue is a vice; the virtue in excess\nis also a vice. The golden mean between the two is the virtue. Take a\ncommon illustration\u2014cowardice on one side, recklessness on the other.\nCourage is the mean between the two. And so in everything excess is\nvice, whether a defect or a surplusage, and the perfect equilibrium\nbetween them alone is virtue. If you would realise that for yourselves,\nwherever you see a vice in your neighbour, you will look through the\nvice to the virtue that shall be, and in the greatest faults of the\npresent you learn to see the promise of the future. You find a person\nintolerant. He thinks you are a fool because you cannot see the same way\nas he. This is apt to wake in you a similar intolerance. But if you saw\nthrough the intolerance the growing though undeveloped love of virtue,\nif you saw through the intolerance the passionate desire to find the\nright and do it, the passionate hatred of all that does not seem right,\nyou would be very patient; for presently the flower of the virtue will\nblossom out and show the beauty which all the time was within. You hear\nabuse, or slander, or calumny. You think it is hateful. But the person\nwho is doing it in his ignorance is mistaken, and that is a reason for\ncompassion, and not for anger. The more cruel the ignorance may make a\nperson, the greater the demand for the compassion, which, because it\nunderstands all, overcomes all; nay, does not even overcome, because to\novercome would mean separation; but realises the unity between oneself\nand another, and takes the weakness of another as one\u2019s own. Now these\nthings are well enough known in principle. Why not practise them? Why,\nin difficulties like those we have been passing through, should there\nbe angry words on both sides? The Theosophist who understands has no\nroom for anger, but only room for compassion. These are the things that\nin the sixth sub-race we shall want. All these must begin to grow now,\nand germinate in the heart of every one of you who would take part in\nthe building of that coming sub-race. And hardest of all to develop, in\na race where separateness has been the type of greatness, is the sense\nof unity. This sense of unity and of compassion will be a strength and\npower which is only one for service, which makes the measure of strength\nthe measure of responsibility and of duty. And so your character will\nbe marked\u2014if you are a candidate for the sixth sub-race\u2014will be marked\nby a great sense of duty, and a great indifference to what are called\n\u201crights.\u201d There is a splendid word of Mazzini that \u201cevery right grows\nout of a duty discharged.\u201d That is utterly true. It is the discharge of\nduty out of which inevitably the right grows, and then the right comes\nnot by combat, but by the inevitable necessity of nature. Because where\neveryone discharges his duty, everyone enjoys his rights without conflict\nand without demand. The mark of our own sub-race is the demanding of our\nrights. But to those who know the law of karma there is nothing that need\nbe claimed, because you possess all which is yours. The karma brings\nto you everything to which you have a right; and if what is called an\ninjustice is done you, it is only the balancing up of an ancient wrong.\nYou think people can hurt you. Then you do not believe in the law of\nkarma. It is your own hand that strikes you, and no one else\u2019s. No one\ncan injure you or wrong you, no one can commit any injustice against you.\nThe whole of that which you suffer comes out of your past. These people\nare mere puppets who come forward to claim the debt that you have to\npay. If you really believed that, then the man who demands a debt from\nyou would be your friend whom you would welcome; for karma\u2019s debts are\nnever demanded twice. There is no error in her account. But, as a matter\nof fact, hardly any of you believe it in actual life. What you profess\ndoes not make one scrap of difference. You do not believe unless you live\nwhat you say you believe. And if you believed it, you would know that\nno slander could wrong you, no injury hurt you, and that the words of\nthe Christ on His way to His Passion were absolutely true: \u201cYou could do\nnothing at all against me except it were given you from above.\u201d That is\nthe secret of the patience of the Christs; they know the law, they live\nby it and accept it. And that utter belief in Law, and therefore the\nrecognition of duty, that is another of the great marks of the race that\nis to be. Every one of you who works that out now in life, who, in face\nof an apparent wrong, is calm and receptive, who takes an injustice as\na debt that is paid and cancelled, that man or woman is a candidate for\nthe coming sub-race, and for the Root Race that shall be gathered out\nof its midst. For the sixth Root Race is to be taken out of the sixth\nsub-race that is now being born, and according to the qualities you make\nin yourselves will be the effectiveness of your candidature for both.\n\nAnd now look at another side of that growing sub-race. I have laid\nmost stress on qualities, because qualities shape form; but it is also\ntrue that the bodies of that sub-race will show a different type from\nthe bodies of the present\u2014will be far more sensitive to all the finer\nvibrations of matter, built up within the finer aggregations. And side\nby side with the development of the finer and more nervous physical\nbody will be inevitably the greater organisation of the body that comes\nnext, the astral, with its corresponding senses. Now notice how in the\ndifference between the fourth and fifth Root Races it is the nervous\nsystem which is the greatest physical difference. Compare the nervous\nsystem of a Chinaman, or Japanese, with the nervous system of an Aryan,\nand you will see the enormous gulf that separates the two Races. A\nfourth Race man will recover easily from a tremendous laceration that\nwould have killed a fifth Race man by mere nervous shock, and it is in\nyour nervous system that there will be the great difference between\nthe fifth and sixth Root Races, and the change will show in the sixth\nsub-race. You have to solve one of the hardest physical problems; to\nhave a sensitive, delicate, complicated nervous system hand in hand with\ncomplete health. You can easily strain your system into sensitiveness,\nbut that is different to refining it into sensitiveness, making it\nresponsive to the most delicate vibrations from without, but with a\nperfect sanity and health. On that you can also work. By the deliberate\nuse of meditation for the refining of the brain you can gradually build\nup\u2014if you do not carry it to excess\u2014an extreme sensitiveness, and at\nthe same time perfect balance and sanity and health. You must not think\nthat with fifth Race bodies you can bring about at once sixth Race\ncharacteristics; but within the limitations imposed upon you by your\nfifth Race bodies you can gradually develop an increasing sensitiveness\nwhich will react on the astral body, and organise and develop that at\nthe same time. And you will find, if you will notice the people round\nyou, that there are being born at the present time more and more children\nwho show this delicate sensitiveness, hand in hand with generosity, with\ntenderness, with broadness of mind, with quick and keen intelligence.\nThese are children who will gradually develop into the type of the new\nsub-race. When they become numerous, and become fathers and mothers\nin their turn, then they will gradually prepare for the birth of the\nchildren who will belong to the sixth Root Race. Within the one the other\nwill be born. Hence all of you who are parents will do rightly and wisely\nto study carefully the characters and types of the children whom karma\nplaces in your hands for training. If you see in them the dawning powers\nof the coming sub-race, this greater sensitiveness, this tendency to see\nwhere many are blind, do not force it by unwise admiration, do not check\nit by equally unwise unbelief. Let the children of to-day grow up among\nthe healthiest possible conditions, but also amongst the most refined\nthat you can give them. Remember that in the training of the higher\nemotions beauty is an essential factor, and that without the bringing\nof beauty into home and daily life the birth and growth of the coming\nsub-race will be hindered. You have to war against the ugliness of the\npresent-day civilisation. You have to strengthen the tendencies which\nare beginning to show themselves, and which make for beauty. You must\nrealise that beauty is an essential part of utility; and that it is the\nmost narrow-minded utility which thinks that beauty can be left on one\nside, and that the ugliness in daily life is not a retarding factor in\nthe growth of the more refined sub-race that will partially take birth\namongst us. These are very practical things. They deal with your daily\nlife, with the home of every one of you, and the duties that fall upon\nyou there. You must not let your Theosophy be outside your daily life.\nIf Theosophy is to be the moulding force of the race that is to be born,\nit must show itself out in your lives, in your thought and action. It is\nthe great privilege of the Theosophical Society to be the nucleus of\nthat coming Root Race, and amongst our members there should be some at\nleast ready to take part in the building of the sixth sub-race. You would\nnot be amongst us if you had not had in you something to draw you along\nthe lines of this swifter evolution. You hardly appreciate the forces of\nthe past which have brought you into the Society. Some come in and drop\nout again. They are those who are coming in touch with it for the first\ntime. Others come in and stay in for years, and then drop out. They are\nin a stage a little further on, and have been in it before, and will\nreturn to it in lives to come. There are some who, gripped by it from the\nbeginning, never move again in their utter fealty to its ideals, whom no\npersonalities can throw out of it, who belong to Theosophy rather than\nhave Theosophy belonging to them. These are they who have been in it many\na time before, and will come into it again, to live and die in it over\nand over again, life after life. Well for you who are here to-day that\nin the trials of the last few years you have not allowed personalities\nto blind you to principles, nor real or imaginary faults in persons\nto make you shrink in your loyalty to Theosophy itself. Persons die;\nprinciples live. Men and women pass away with their virtues and faults,\nbut the Theosophical Society will endure generation after generation.\nWell for you if in the storm you have been able to stand firm; great the\nbenediction that comes upon you that in the day of trial you have not\ndenied your Master, in the day of suffering you have not forsaken and\nfled away.\n\n\n\n\nLecture II\n\nThe Immediate Future\n\n\nYou may remember that when we last met I spoke to you about the sixth\nsub-race, and my speech this evening turns on the same set of ideas,\nalthough from a different standpoint, rather more special to the Society\nthan to the world at large. In this lecture I am concerned rather with\nthe view of the nature of the Theosophical Society which was held in\nits earliest days, dropped a little out of sight, and is now being very\ngenerally recalled, so that the Society should rise to the height of its\nopportunity and do the work that lies before it in the immediate future.\nIf you will turn back to the days of H. P. Blavatsky in India you will\nfind she was fond of dwelling on a particular relation held by two of\nthe Masters, primarily to the Society, and secondarily to the coming\ncivilisation of which the Society is the herald. She used to refer her\nHind\u016b friends to the statements in their own Pur\u0101nas, in which it was\nsaid that two Kings would come at the end of the Age, and that to them\nwould be given the kingdom of the new and opening Age. These statements,\nwhich are often repeated, raised in the hearers the inquiry, \u201cWho are\nthe two Kings?\u201d and then she gave them a hint that the two Kings of\nthe Pur\u0101nas were the two Masters who were the real Founders of the\nTheosophical Society. That set the keen brains of the students to work.\nThey promptly began to try and find out what were the names of the two\nKings. One of these students found it, wrote a paper, which was published\nwith H. P. Blavatsky\u2019s approval, giving the names of the two Kings\u2014Moru\nand Dev\u0101pi\u2014two names mentioned in many of the Pur\u0101nas in relation to\nthe past history of the Hind\u016bs, one of them, Moru, belonging to the\nSolar Dynasty, descending directly from R\u0101ma, one of the Avat\u0101ras\u2014that\nbefore Shr\u012b Krshna\u2014a great King, said to have retired from his throne\nand to have gone to Shamballa, there to wait until he was recalled to\nlead the human race; the other, whose name was given as Dev\u0101pi, was the\nelder brother of the famous King of the Lunar Dynasty, to which the next\nAvat\u0101ra belonged. He was the elder brother of the father of Bh\u012bshma, and\nhe similarly gave up his right to the crown, retired to the same place,\nand the same phrase is used with regard to him, that he was to wait\nthere the coming age. Now H. P. Blavatsky was very much delighted at the\ningenuity of her students, and said that the outline was correct, and it\nwas published. H. P. Blavatsky often referred to this function of the two\nMasters who were responsible for the founding of the Society. As in these\nlatter days that idea of the Masters as the Founders of the Society has\nbeen challenged, I may perhaps say I have myself seen that fact stated\nin the writing of the Master \u201cM.\u201d I have read the letter in which He\nsays that He and His fellow Adept \u201cK. H.\u201d had taken on themselves the\nresponsibility of a new spiritual movement in the world; that there was\nsome doubt in the Lodge as to the wisdom of the movement at that time;\nand that they were allowed to take that step only on the condition that\nthey should found and work the Society through others whom they could\ndirect and control. Then He went on to say that He had chosen a disciple\nof his own, H. P. Blavatsky, and that He had sent her to America to\nlook for another disciple, H. S. Olcott, and that these were the outer\nfounders of the Society. Hence to me and to many others who believe that\nthese letters are genuine the nature of the origin of the Society cannot\nbe a matter of doubt.\n\nStarting, then, from that standpoint, we find certain things were said\nby H. P. Blavatsky as regards the nature of the Society, and certain\nthings by the Masters themselves. Both are very important for us in\nconsideration of the immediate future. The first of these things was\nindicated by hints which the more advanced students could understand\u2014that\nthe inner purpose of the Society was to prepare the world for the coming\nof a new Race, and to be itself the nucleus of that Race; that one of\nthe Teachers was to be the Manu of the race, the other the Bodhisattva.\nNow those exact facts were unpublished at the time, but they passed from\none to the other among the more advanced students of that period. Coming\ninto the Society in 1889, this particular fact did not come within my\nknowledge until 1895. After the Coulomb struggle the Society for a time\ndropped away from the occult path on which H. P. Blavatsky had started\nit, and these ideas fell out of sight and were forgotten except by a\nlimited number. In 1895 they were re-communicated to myself by my\nown Master, and have since been passed on to the older members of the\nTheosophical Society.\n\nLet us pause for a moment on the statement with regard to the Manu and\nBodhisattva. Every Root Race has for its guide a great Adept, much higher\nthan the great ones we call the Masters, and that office filled by a\nmighty Being is an office the name of which indicates simply the man, the\nthinker. The connotation is the ideal, typical man, making rather the\nemphasis on the article \u201cthe.\u201d The name is peculiarly suitable, because\neach of these Manus at the head of the Root Race is the type of the\nRace over which he is to preside. The types of the seven Races are part\nof the plan of the Planetary Logos, and that plan is worked out, stage\nafter stage, by the Manus of the races. It is left to the Manu Himself\nhow He shall proceed with His work. He takes the responsibility of the\nmethod He chooses. When the time comes to plan out the new Race, then the\ncoming Manu begins to take up His office, and always in connection with\nanother great Brother of His own rank, who is called the Bodhisattva.\nThe Manu of the Fifth Race, as you know, collected His people together\nout of the fifth sub-race of the Fourth Root Race, sent out messengers\nto call them together, brought them together, moulded them generation\nafter generation, and at last evolved them to the necessary physical\ntype. For the work of the Manu is double: to choose out those who show\nin consciousness the germs of the new stage which is to evolve in the\ncoming Race; then, having chosen them out and stimulated that germ within\nthem, to set to work to shape the necessary bodies. Now in that far-off\ntime our own Manu of the fifth Root Race had to choose materials out of\nthe fifth sub-race, and He did not choose at all those who were regarded\nas the best specimens of the day. Remember that the fourth sub-race,\nlike the fourth Root Race as a whole, showed out very powerfully all the\npassional characteristics and the psychic qualities which accompanied\nthem. It was the fourth sub-race, the Toltec, which made the great\nEmpire, with the city of the Golden Gate as metropolis, that whose armies\nspread over the known world, conquering everywhere, and in that sub-race\npsychic qualities naturally played a great part. You will remember that\nat the earlier stage of great emotional and passional manifestation,\npsychic qualities are very largely developed before the development of\nthe lower mind. That evolution belongs to the astral body as a whole,\nworking not through the astral chakras, but through the astral centres\nconnected with our physical senses. The fourth sub-race carried all that\nto the highest point. Children in the schools were picked out for their\npaths in life by clairvoyance; and in all matters of policy, statecraft,\netc., clairvoyants were consulted, so that by the exercise of the psychic\nqualities they might get the best possible knowledge to be had at the\ntime. Now the characteristics of the fifth sub-race were the diminution\nof psychic power and the germinating of the seed of mind, and these\ntwo things necessarily went together, so that, as that fifth sub-race\ndeveloped, the people of it were rather looked down upon by the highly\nevolved psychic sub-race which preceded it. These people seemed to be\ninferior; they could not use the powers which put their predecessors in\nthe very forefront of civilisation, and made this world and the astral\nworld almost one and the same. The children born with very little of\nthese psychic powers, the men and women who showed still less of it, were\nby no means thought to have within them the promise of the future. Yet\nout of these the Manu chose His material, because they showed the germ of\nthe mind which was specially wanted as the characteristic of the coming\nRace. It did not matter that it was only a germ, or that they were much\nless effective than the people of the mighty civilisation in which they\nappeared. He was looking to the future, and so these people were by no\nmeans the people whom the Atlanteans of the day would have chosen if\nconsulted in the matter. But the great people do not always consult with\nthe smaller people, who are so very sure of the rightness of their own\njudgment. They have an uncomfortable way of following their own ideas;\nand, as the Master \u201cM\u201d once said of some people who remarked that He\ndid not come up to their idea of an Adept, \u201cThe mark of the Adept is\nnot kept at Simla.\u201d And that sentence is rather a good one to remember.\nSo also the mark of the disciple is not kept in London or in Chicago,\nbut in a very different part of the world, and to that those who know\nsomething about it try to conform. So the choice of the Manu of the day\nwould have been regarded as a very poor one by the wise folk of the time.\nNevertheless he carried away his people and built them up into a great\nRace.\n\nNow there is something very instructive in that when we try to understand\nthe method of His choice in the light of the past, and the analogy of\nprinciples. For we can see that if the germs of a sixth sub-race\u2014from\nwhich, later, a sixth Root Race will be born\u2014are to be chosen out by Him\nfrom the materials that the fifth sub-race affords, then the nature of\nHis choice probably will not be that which would be made by the leaders\nof that fifth sub-race itself. Theirs to carry on to the highest point\nthe concrete, scientific mind, which is the glory of their sub-race.\nTheosophists sometimes ask: \u201cWhy do not the great men of Science come\ninto the Theosophical Society?\u201d Simply because they have their own work\nto do; and their work at present is not to build the future civilisation,\nbut to lead to its highest point the present one. In the future, when\nthey shall have led that civilisation to the highest point, and when\nit has taken its place at the head of the world\u2019s thought, then will\ncome the time for these great minds to be reborn into another race, and\nbuild on the splendid intellectual foundation they have laid. The work\nof the world is the end that the great Ones consider, and these strong\nscientific minds to-day are needed by the world to carry on the present\ncivilisation to the highest point. How unwise it would be to take them\naway from the work that no one else can do, and set them to other work\nthey would do badly, not having turned their energies to the particular\nqualifications that are wanted for it. And so in the wise plan of the\nManu of the fifth Race, the flower of the fifth or Teutonic sub-race\nis taken in order that it may be raised up to the highest point of the\nm\u0101nasic civilisation, and be carried on to its zenith of splendour\nof scientific knowledge. But meanwhile it is His duty to help in the\nbuilding up of the other types\u2014still his Race is the sixth sub-race\u2014and\nso to co-operate with His successor the Manu of the sixth Root Race.\nFor remember the Manu of all the sub-races of a Root Race is the same.\nHe is the Manu of the whole Race; when the time comes for beginning the\nnew Root Race, then the Manu of the Race that is regnant co-operates\nwith the Manu of the Race which is to come. Hence He who is to be the\nManu of the sixth Root Race, the Master \u201cM,\u201d the Moru of the Pur\u0101nas, He\nhas begun His work. And He has begun it in a humble and insignificant\nfashion, as the world would say, by striking the keynote of Brotherhood,\nand by drawing into a Society those whose hearts thrill responsive to\nthat note. And why? Because the higher emotion that answers to universal\nBrotherhood, to love of all, without distinction of race, sex, caste,\ncolour, or creed\u2014that is the emotion, that is the germ of the buddhic\nprinciple in man, the principle of unifying, of drawing the separated\ntogether, of blending into one separate individualities, and making them\nrealise the spiritual unity which overshadows and underlies them all.\nHence universal Brotherhood is the only thing which is binding on members\nof the Theosophical Society. Nothing else. The Theosophical teachings\nas to Karma, Reincarnation, or the Masters, are not binding on the mind\nor conscience of any member. This is an important point. It is not only\nbecause a truth is better seen by the unfettered intellect than by an\nintellect on which a dogma is imposed, though that is of importance; but\nbecause the material which can be moulded into the Coming Race is the\nmaterial that can recognise the necessity and the beauty of universal\nBrotherhood, and if that be recognised, nothing else for the moment is\nnecessary. Hence that is the only binding principle. Hence, also, the\nattempts to narrow it down, prompted by those Dark Powers who do not\ndesire that the Society should grow and prosper for thousands of years\nto come, the attempts to put in a little restraint here and a little\nobstacle there, judging for the moment, and not for the future. That is\nthe inner meaning of having that one thing alone our bond of union. And\nso the Manu made that the keynote to attract those who would answer,\n\u201cYes; that is the very thing I want to join in and help.\u201d And so the\nnucleus of the great sixth Root Race began to be formed. But that is not\nan immediate future, although already beginning. The sixth sub-race is\nthe immediate future; under the rule of the Manu of the fifth still, but\nco-operating with the Manu of the Sixth, in order that those who show\nsigns of being fit material for the Coming Race may have a preliminary\npractise of the virtues of that race. Hence the stress that H. P.\nBlavatsky laid on this inner side of the working of the Theosophical\nSociety; and hence the need, because the time is passing rapidly,\nto make public what has been kept private in the past of this inner\npurpose, which has really dominated the Society from within, although not\nrecognised without.\n\nLet us see how that immediate future should be recognised in its\ncharacteristics, and thus prepared for. First of all we must understand\nthe words spoken long ago under the inspiration of the coming\nBodhisattva, that the Theosophical Society was to be \u201cthe corner-stone\nof the future religion of humanity.\u201d Now every sub-race has a special\nreligion, as it were. The religion of the fifth sub-race is Christianity.\nWhat is the future religion of humanity in this sense? It differs from\nall that have gone before. It is no longer an exclusive and separatist\nfaith, but a recognition that in every religion the same truths are\nfound; that there is only one true religion, the Divine Wisdom; and\nthat every separate religion is true just so far as it incorporates the\nmain teachings of that Divine Wisdom. The one supreme religion is the\nKnowledge of God; to that everything else is subsidiary. Just in so far\nas any special religion puts within the reach of its followers the means\nfor rising to that supreme knowledge, in so far is that religion worthy\nof its place. And when that supreme test is not thoroughly answered\u2014when\ndogmas, and ceremonies, and rites become more important than this inner\ntruth of the gaining of individual knowledge of the Supreme\u2014then the\nreligion becomes narrower, weaker, unspiritual, until a time comes when\neither the religion must die or a new impulse must be poured into it to\nbring it back to its original position, a channel for the knowledge of\nGod. Now, in the past many religions have done their work and passed\naway, and we come to the present time, when certain great religions\nare living. And when the great new spiritual impulse came, it was not\ncharged with the building of a new religion, but with the vitalising of\nthose great existing religions, to make them realise their underlying\nfoundation; they were vivified in order to help them to rise to a\nmore spiritual and mystic interpretation of their teachings; and when\nthat was done, they were to be blended together into a brotherhood\nof Religions, so that all should recognise the Divine Wisdom as their\nroot. That was the first work of the Theosophical Society. It was done\nall over the world. See how in India Hind\u016bism was revived; in Ceylon,\nBuddhism. Ask the ordinary missionary who comes over here, who is not\ngenerally very broad-minded, and he will tell you that the great opponent\nof Christianity in the East is the Theosophical Society. Then, if you\npress him and ask, \u201cBut are Theosophists antagonistic to you?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d he\nwill say, \u201cbut they strengthen the other religions, and thus prevent our\nmaking converts.\u201d And that is true. It is not our business to convert\npeople from one religion to another, but to try to make every one\nrealise the splendour of his own religion. Naturally, in India\u2014except\nin Travancore, where there has been a Christian Roman Catholic colony\nfrom the very early centuries of the Church\u2014Christianity is an alien\nreligion, and only grows by injuring the older religions of the land.\nNaturally, then, the missionaries look on the Theosophical Society as\nan opponent, because it has been the great factor in the revival of\nHind\u016bism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and is beginning to be a factor\nin the revival of Muhammadanism. Now, when you see that, and when you\ncome to the West and see how the same influence has been widening the\nChristian Church, how mystical Christianity is spreading everywhere in a\nway that would have seemed incredible some three years ago\u2014see how narrow\nit was, and look now, how everywhere the mystic thought is spreading, and\nsee how, in the Roman Catholic Church, the spreading of this spirit has\nbecome so wide that the Pope is forced into fulminating against it, and\nin the Modernism that he condemns we find Theosophy mentioned as one of\nthe forms\u2014you will realise that that part of the work is almost done. I\ndo not mean that we are not to continue spreading abroad more spiritual\nideas, but that the work has been done so effectively already that it is\nalmost passing into the hands of the religions themselves. The clergy\nare now preaching so much Theosophy that it hardly seems necessary to\ncontinue preaching the parts they have adopted. The Theosophical teaching\nas to the nature of the Christ in His birth in the human form, and His\ngrowth into Divine Manhood\u2014how common a doctrine that is now within all\nthe Churches of the West. The fact of Reincarnation is also becoming more\nand more widely accepted\u2014a doctrine no longer to be laughed at, but to\nbe carefully argued over, and forming a part of the deepest thought of\nthe Christian world. So that while we must still go on with that part\nof the work, there are other parts of our work now that we ought to be\nready to take up. That religion of the future which is to include all\nthe religions as sects within itself, all of them going on into the\nfuture, but recognising themselves as a Brotherhood, that is to be the\ndominant religious thought of the great sixth Root Race, and in the sixth\nsub-race we shall find it spreading everywhere. Now, how mighty will be\nthe advantage; because the moment all religions are seen to be branches\nof one stock, then each religion can share with others the specialty\nwhich it has been its duty to develop in the world. And nowadays, when\nthe Christian goes to India, instead of trying to convert the Hind\u016b,\nwhich he can never do, what he ought to do is to offer to share with\nhim that great special characteristic of Christianity, the principle\nof self-sacrifice, and the helping of the weaker by the stronger\u2014the\ndominant note of Christianity. It is the doctrine of the Cross, the\nemblem of self-sacrifice, of the coming down to the depressed in order\nto lift them, leading them up side by side with ourselves. That is the\nnoblest thought of Christendom, typified in the mystic Christ; and that\nyou might well offer to share with the Hind\u016bs, for that does not come\nout so strongly in their great Faith. Rather will they bring to you in\nexchange the doctrine of the immanence of God. Two things, Dr. Miller\nhas written, Hind\u016bism brings to the world: the immanence of God, and the\nsolidarity of man. When religions exchange their best instead of finding\nout each other\u2019s weaknesses, then you have outlined the religion of the\nfuture. Our work in that future is to continue what we have so well\nbegun, and spread this liberal, thoughtful, religious ideal through all\nreligions, destroying none, but permeating all.\n\nNext we have to consider what we ought to do in the training of the\nnext generation; for there is great need that the Theosophical ideal of\neducation should spread through Western minds, and especially through\nBritain and its empire. Religious education at the present time is in\nperil; how great that peril is may be measured by the Moral Education\nCongress gathered together in London last year to try to find a moral\nbasis that should furnish education apart from all the sanctions of\nreligion\u2014a hopeless task, but none the less a sign of the peril of the\ntimes. Now, we have had secular education in India. It has been the\nEnglish education the Government has given there. It could not give any\nother because of the different religions of the country, and it was bound\nnot to help any one of these to the detriment of the others. The moral\nresult has been disastrous. It has fostered selfishness, indifference to\nthe country, lack of public spirit. It has given us a race of men who\nhave acquired from the West its superficial qualities, but not its inner\nstrength, not its inner capacity. And the troubles you have in India now\nare largely the result of this anti-religious education, which has made\nhundreds of the best Indian type skeptics, a thing which has only been\nchecked with the growth of the Theosophical Society throughout India. We\nhave turned back that irreligious wave, with the result that the Indian\nGovernment to-day regards the Theosophical Society as the most likely\nagency for training the youth of India along lines of freedom and order\nat the same time. They realise that we have put our finger on the weak\npoint in their own system, and that our plan of giving to the child the\nreligion of his parents is really the way to solve that religious problem\nin India. Now, over here you have to face the problem how to preserve\nreligion while letting dogmatism go; how to find a common ground, a few\ncommon principles, which all Christians inculcate, leaving to a later\ntime in life the special sectarian divisions which the young man and\nwoman can acquire later if they wish. Now, in that the Theosophical\nSociety may well play a great part in the immediate future, strengthening\nall the influences which make for the keeping of religion as an integral\npart of education, helping to soften the bitter sectarianism, and\npersuade the different denominations to remember that they are Christians\nmore than that they belong to this, that, or the other denomination. If\nwe succeed in that, then the service to the education of the empire will\nbe supreme.\n\nAlong other lines we want, if we can, to persuade the public mind to\nbecome a little more receptive of new ideas; to lose a little of its\npride, and learn a little humility. Unless we are quite sure that\nwe are at the very top of human evolution, and that nothing greater\nthan ourselves can be evolved, then it would be the part of wisdom to\nrecognise that the next type, which is the type of the future, must be\ndifferent from the type of the present, and, in the beginning of its\nevolution, new and strange. You may remember how J. S. Mill, in speaking\nof liberty, laid immense stress on originality, and complained that\nmodern methods were tending to make all come to a single level; to do\naway with the eccentric, even with the original. Now, for growth, variety\nis wanted. Where there is no spontaneous variation in types, you have\nstagnation. And yet every one of us is so fond of our own particular line\nof thought that we take it almost as an offence if someone starts a new\nthought which we cannot at once fit into our own mental grooves. Now, we\nmust try to correct that, first in ourselves, and then in the public at\nlarge, especially in view of the coming of that mighty Teacher I have\nspoken of. When He comes, the type of the sixth Root Race, He must be\nvery different from all of us, otherwise He would not be the type of the\nnew departure. How can we avoid treating Him when He comes exactly as\nour predecessors of the fourth sub-race treated Him when He came last to\nstart the fifth? It is so easy for all of us, looking back to the mighty\nFigure of the Christ, to realize something of its splendour, but we see\nHim through the glamour of the religion which has made His name supreme\nin many of your hearts. Try and put yourselves back in time, and see how\nstrange that new type would have then seemed to you, how against all your\nprejudices. So different was He that He raised an antagonism so bitter\nthat they could not bear Him amongst them for more than three years,\nand then murdered Him. It is hard for us to realise that. We are apt to\nthink, \u201cIf I had been there, I would have stood beside Him; I would not\nhave been amongst those who slew Him.\u201d And yet there is no particular\nreason to think we should not have done the same. It is a great lesson\nfor the immediate future. For when He comes again to bless this beginning\nof a sixth sub-race, the buddhic, He will show out the qualities of\nBuddhi prominently, and those are by no means very acceptable to the\nmodern world. Look fairly at your own minds and see how you stand on your\nrights. It is the spirit of the time. If you have not what you think your\nrights, you make a clamour for them. For the m\u0101nasic civilisation that\nis the proper way, but those who want to go on in the new future that is\ndawning have to throw all that aside. You must relinquish your \u201crights.\u201d\nIf you are trampled on, you must recognise that it is only yourself of\nthe past trampling on yourself of the present: no one can trample on you\nexcept a person who embodies your own past injustice, and is working out\nthat which you yourself have created. That is a very unpopular view, as\nunpopular as the Sermon on the Mount. And so along many other lines of\nthat which is admirable from the popular standpoint\u2014power, dominance,\nthe spirit which tramples down all opposition. How different from that\nof the Wisdom which rules, but rules from within, \u201cmightily and sweetly\nordering all things.\u201d And if you will think over this in detail and work\nit out, you will find you will have to change your ideal of what is\nadmirable, and build up on ideal on the basis of Spirit and unity, and\nnot on rights and claims. And that is one reason why the Theosophical\nideals very often find themselves rejected in the outer world. Those are\nthe qualities needed for the world as it shall be; and if we are to be\nbuilders of that immediate future, we must develop them in ourselves.\nBut you may say: \u201cIs it not rather a big assertion to make that this\nTheosophical Society is really a nucleus of a great Root Race; that it is\nthe beginning of a sub-race? What right have you to make such a claim?\u201d\nThe answer is, that looking back to the last choice, we should expect\nto find the beginning of the new Race and new sub-race among those who\nwere not the leaders of the present, but had in them the germ of the\nfuture. That is why our people are gathered not from the leaders and\nthe thinkers, but from the loving, the compassionate, the brotherly. It\nseems a feeble thing, this power of Brotherhood. It is the mightiest\nthing in all the world. And although it is true that we cannot expect to\nfind amongst us men and women of magnificent intellect and overwhelming\npower of thought, we may expect to find amongst us the compassionate,\nthe gentle, and the loving, and those give the plastic material which\nwill yield itself to the fingers of the Manu to be moulded into a new\ntype, a higher evolution. Hence, from time to time the great shakings\nthat take place to shake out those who are too purely intellectual, and\nwho do not think the word Brotherhood is a word that ought to be heard\nso much amongst us. The Masters have chosen Brotherhood as our mark, and\nwe cannot march in Their army if we will not bear Their sign. And so,\nif mind makes us too self-assertive, too sure of our own superiority,\nthen we must be shaken out of this movement. So do not in this immediate\nfuture be troubled if we still continue to go along our own quiet road of\nattracting the loving and the gentle rather than those who are mighty in\ntheir intellectual power. The thing of vital importance is the Spirit of\nBrotherhood, and that we must never let go. And remember, in the whole\nof the struggles of the future, as in those of the past, that they must\nalways rage round persons, and those who think more of personalities\nthan of principles are inevitably shaken out. If you make a person\u2019s\npresence or absence a reason for being in or out of the Society, you are\nshowing the spirit of separation, which cannot realise a principle, but\nthinks only of the passing and transient personality. What can it matter\nwhether any one of you agrees or disagrees with Mr. Leadbeater, or with\nMr. Mead, or with anyone else? These are all persons. The principle of\nthe Society remain unshaken. Presidents are elected and Presidents die,\nbut the Society goes on. What folly, then, to give up a place in a mighty\nmovement because the person temporarily at the head of it is a person who\ndoes not exactly fit into the shape you have made as your own particular\nideal. It does not matter. The Society is not bound by its President any\nmore than by anyone else. It is bound only by its great central principle\nof Brotherhood. And so all of you who have stood through the past shaking\nhave shown that you care more for principles than for persons, and it\ndoes not matter whether, so to speak, you have agreed or disagreed with\nthe President so long as you have stood firm within the Society; for\nthere lies the principle, whilst the other is only personality. Cling,\nthen, to that principle to which you have clung through the past storm;\nrecognise that whether a person be right or wrong, noble or ignoble,\ngreat or small, that is a matter of secondary importance. The work of\nthe future lies in the movement, and not in the hands of any particular\nindividual who may happen to be here. Whether you or I come back to\nthis great movement in other lives depends on ourselves, and not on the\nopinion that anyone else may happen to have about us. None can throw us\nout of it if we are worthy to remain in it; none can keep us in it if we\nare unworthy to be part of it. And realising k\u0101rmic law, realising the\ngreatness of the movement and its work in the future, let us join hands,\nwhether we agree or disagree with each other on any other matter save\nthat of Brotherhood, and go forward into the future that is unfolding\nbefore us, brighter than ever the past has shone; go forward to the\nmaking of the sub-race out of which the Root Race shall spring, under\nthe banner of our Manu and our Bodhisattva, the mighty Ones of years and\nmillennia to come.\n\n\n\n\nLecture III\n\nThe Catholic and Puritan Spirit in the Theosophical Society\n\nThe Value and Danger of Each\n\n\nI want to try to trace out the somewhat difficult subject of the place of\nthe Puritan and the Catholic Spirit in our Society. I want to show that\nboth types are necessary in every great movement; that both have their\nvalue and place, yet also their dangers. And if we realise that both are\nnecessary, it may help each type to be tolerant as regards the other, and\nto see that each has its dangers.\n\nNow, all the world over these two types are found; they are, in fact, two\nmarked temperaments, intellectual and emotional, into which, roughly,\nyou might throw almost all thoughtful and educated people, and even\nthe thoughtless and ignorant, for those also will show similar types,\nalthough naturally less attractively, because more extreme, than they\nmay be among the class of people who at least are seeking to understand\nthemselves, and to gain some measure of equilibrium. Looked at from\nthe outside, the Catholic type is certainly the more attractive, and\ntherefore I want to impress upon you the value of the Puritan type;\nbecause, being less attractive, its value is more likely to be\noverlooked. If the Puritan spirit were completely lost, mankind would\nlack that vigour and strength and tendency to free thought and free\njudgment which are so essential to human evolution. Unfortunately, it has\noften been united with a very cold and forbidding exterior; and if we\ntake the two types as we find them in the reign of Charles I., certainly\nthe Puritan is not very attractive from outside\u2014hard, rather sour,\nforbidding, and austere. But it is not quite fair to judge the Puritan by\nthat type in the reign of the Stuarts. It is not fair to pick out a type\nat the moment where these two difficulties face it\u2014danger to itself, and\nthe extreme evil of the type it is opposing. It is hardly fair to take\nthat moment for a judgment of the value of the temperament in itself.\nBut even if you take the Puritan of the time of Charles I. and Cromwell,\nyou can hardly help noticing, if you go beyond externals, the extreme\nmoral value of that type amid those difficult and dangerous surroundings.\nAustere as it was, it was the austerity that was trying to guard itself\nagainst continual danger of pollution, and naturally it ran into\nextremes, as all reactions run, with the inevitable result that another\nreaction followed on the first, and you had the loose and profligate\ntype of the Court of Charles II. It is the types I want to disentangle\nfrom these special manifestations, and, looking at them apart, from all\nconditions that may emphasise one characteristic or another.\n\nNow, in what does the Puritan type exactly consist? It seems to\nconsist in an attitude of protest and criticism rather than of ready\nacceptance of the prevailing thought of the time. The Puritan mind is\nessentially critical, and critical in the modern sense of the term,\nwhich, instead of making the critic a judge, makes him an opponent and\ncondemner. We must remember, however, that the true critical spirit is\nabsolutely necessary for human progress, even though it often slips into\ncondemnation and cynicism. The Puritan is always intellectual (I am\nspeaking of the purer type), a man in whom mind is predominant. He is of\nthe type that tends to separation rather than unity; he stands alone,\nsufficient for himself (I say that rather than \u201cself-sufficient,\u201d the\nsecond form connoting a rather unpleasant quality). We must realise the\nstrength of this type. The strength may slip into austerity, but that\nvery largely grows out of the religion to which the Puritan may happen to\nbe attached. You do not find him in his more aggressive form unless he\nis protesting against something he regards as dangerous and mischievous.\nNaturally, under these considerations he is thrown into the attitude of\ncombat, and hence all that is harshest and most hostile inevitably comes\nto the surface. But that is not a necessary part of the Puritan spirit.\nLooking at him as the intellectual man in whom emotion in this particular\nlife is comparatively weak, or if not weak, repressed; seeing that in him\nthe mental qualities are those which in this incarnation he specially\nendeavours to develop; understanding that the mind can only be developed\nwhere the qualities of analysing, comparing, and judging are active,\nyou can readily see how, in the face of opposition, these qualities\nwould turn into antagonism and protest. But I do not think antagonism\nand protest are a necessary part of the Puritan spirit. In peaceful\ntimes your Puritan would be distinguished rather as the analytical or\nintellectual man, most valuable to any community into which he may be\nthrown at the time. For you cannot develop the mind without developing\nthese analysing qualities: synthesis comes later, the one belonging to\nthe lower, the other to the higher Manas. Both need to be developed.\nWhile the lower Manas is developing, you must have these qualities of\nanalysis, comparison, and judgment without which it is not possible to\nlay a strong foundation for any belief. You must recognise the utter\nnecessity for the challenging, questioning, even doubting and sceptical\nspirit. Only by means of this can error be detected, and the traditions\nthat come down from the past be gradually purified of the accretions that\nhave come to them during the ignorant periods through which they may have\npassed. To be sceptical is no fault, but rather a virtue. If there is to\nbe progress at all, there must be challenging of that which has come down\nfrom the past, so that, testing, analysing, criticising, you may be able\nto separate the truth from the error. How would religion become ever more\nand more spiritual if men are only to inherit, and never to examine and\nunderstand? And since no religion or other form of thought can ever come\ndown through centuries without picking up a large amount of error, if we\nhad not this critical and challenging spirit all religions would grow\ninto superstitions, and that which is most valuable for the race would\ngradually be covered under a mass of ignorant error. Hence at certain\ntimes in the history of the race a great outburst of the Puritan spirit\nis necessary. That alone will bring about fundamental changes, religious,\nmoral, and social; that alone has the courage to go forward whilst in\na minority, and test with the test of reason every belief and every\ntradition. We must not, then, blind ourselves to the immense value of\nthis spirit in the intellectual development of man. For always, inasmuch\nas religious and social order has come by some great Teacher enormously\nbeyond his own generation in religious, moral, and social development,\ninevitably his teachings, handed down generation after generation, will\nin many respects tend to be covered with superstition.\n\nLet us pause for a moment and see what the word \u201csuperstition\u201d means.\nI do not think I can give a better definition than my old one:\n\u201csuperstition is the taking of the non-essential as the essential.\u201d\nI think that you will find that that covers all the cases which you\nwould call superstitions\u2014a truth originally; but in every truth there\nare necessary and accessory parts. As the understanding of the truth\nis clouded, the accessories take on too large a value in the minds of\npeople, until at last the accessory is everything and the essential\nnothing.\n\nI told once an Indian story which marks out clearly what is superstition.\nThere was once a very holy man in the habit of offering a sacrifice\nby pouring butter into the fire\u2014one of the ordinary Hind\u016b ceremonies.\nMorning after morning he duly performed this rite. He was much admired\nby his neighbours, and the regularity of the discharge of his religious\nduties led them to consider him a model worthy of imitation. This good\nman happened to have a cat. As he was kindly-hearted and affectionate,\nthe cat loved him, and used to come up and interrupt his religious\nservice; so he put a collar round the cat and tied it to the bedpost\nto prevent interruptions. Time went on, a few generations passed, and\nthen all of the people who copied this admirable saint not only offered\nthe sacrifice, but also considered it a part of the rite to have a\ncat tied to the bedpost. Still more time went on, until at last all\nthat remained of the original ceremony was the cat tied to the bedpost\nand nothing else. Now there is superstition: the harmless accessory\nhad become necessary, until it occupied the whole of the worshippers\u2019\nminds. This is often the case in religions which have lasted long, and\nhave had many ignorant adherents. They cannot distinguish between the\ninner meaning and the outer form; and gradually the outer form becomes\neverything, and the inner meaning disappears. Then comes the time when,\nsuperstition having taken the place of truth, there rises up the critical\nintellect of man, attacks the whole, and challenges the authority. Only\nsometimes the critic is not evolved enough to recognise the truth at the\nsame time that he wars against the error. More often he takes the whole\nas superstition and tries to destroy it completely. There you have the\nhistory of many reformations. Take the great Reformation of the sixteenth\ncentury. If you look back to that you will see that an enormous amount\nof valuable truth was thrown aside in trying to get rid of the surface\nerror with which the truth had been covered. And so in tracing down the\ngrowth of the Puritan spirit from the time of Luther, through Calvinistic\nSwitzerland, up to Scotland with John Knox, and then looking at it as it\nspread over England, and became so powerful under James I. and Charles\nI., you will recognise that in the whole of that there is a gradual\nthrowing away of everything that the mind could not grasp and understand,\nand consequently a great loss of the spiritual side of things. The result\nof that historically has been that the truth that was thrown away in the\ngetting rid of the error came back again a little later. And so with\ncertain fundamental tendencies in man, against which the Puritan of that\ntime set himself utterly\u2014the use of images in public worship, the use of\nmusic, the use of garments different from the everyday garments, and so\non\u2014all these points that he threw aside as part of the Papal abomination\ncame back again, slowly, steadily, gradually spreading through the whole\nof the Anglican Church. So that you have this remarkable object-lesson,\nwhich it would be well for all Puritan-spirited people to remember.\nYou may visit a cathedral to-day. Outside the cathedral you will see\nthe statues which were broken by Cromwell\u2019s soldiery; and inside the\ncathedral, on or round the high altar and chancel, you will see the\nmodern statues placed there in order to help the devotional spirit in the\ncongregation.\n\nI have purposely taken the Puritan spirit outside the Theosophical\nSociety so that you may look at it apart from any special question of\ninterest to our own Society. If you see the value of that in religion,\nyou will welcome its presence in the Theosophical Society. You will\nrealise that that spirit is wanted in order to balance and keep in check\nwhat might otherwise be the excess of the Catholic spirit. You will\nrealise that our critical friends are doing us an immense service in\ntheir criticism, and that it only becomes mischievous when the critical\nspirit grows into antagonism and dislike, which need not at all accompany\nit, and should not accompany it in a well-balanced and thoughtful mind.\nWe must have that spirit amongst us, otherwise the enthusiastic will\nrun away too rapidly and fall into error. The chill that sometimes it\ncauses is a very valuable element for mental growth. We do not want to\nhave nothing but chill\u2014that will prevent growth altogether; but if we\nwere more tolerant with each other, then we might have the advantage of\nthe chill, which would keep the intellectual atmosphere clear and sharp,\nwithout having the very life chilled out of us by criticism.\n\nLet us now pause on what we mean by the Catholic spirit. By that I\nmean the spirit which is reverent of tradition, which is willing to\nsubmit to reasonable and recognised authority, which is willing to take\na great plan and co-operate in it, and realise that the presence of\nthe architect of the plan, if He be a person highly developed, say a\nMaster, is enough to give it authority, and that there is no lack of\nfreedom or dignity in accepting the plan of a greater, and working it\nout to the utmost of one\u2019s ability. It is the spirit which, largely\nemotional, when it rises into love of the higher and becomes devotion,\ncauses sympathetic vibrations on the buddhic plane, and so begins the\nawakening of the Spirit above the intellect. Again, with this Catholic\nspirit you always find the love of beauty. It is artistic. It seeks to\nclothe thought in forms of beauty. It loves ceremonial, takes a pleasure\nin harmonised expression of thought, and desires that everything round\nit should be emotionally satisfactory as well as intellectually sound.\nMoreover, its mind is eminently teachable, where the Puritan is not.\nHence it is far easier to lead it along the path of what is called\nOccultism. The Catholic mind very readily recognises that those above\nitself in development may be able by guidance and teaching to help it\nto reach knowledge which, unaided, it would be unable to achieve. The\nPuritan would walk alone; the Catholic would utilise every assistance\nthat can be given in evolution, including the assistance of human beings\nmore highly developed, as well as of spiritual intelligences. And so\nyou have round it an atmosphere which readily responds to impulses from\nthe spiritual worlds, and always with this spirit you find the tendency\ntoward Occultism of various kinds. I do not think you ever find that\ntendency in connexion with the Puritan spirit. You may find with the\nPuritan spirit sometimes a lofty form of mysticism, a recognition of a\nSpirit as the Life of the universe, and an attempt to realise that Spirit\nwithin oneself. That you may reach largely by way of the intellect,\nand emotion is not necessarily concerned in it. Intellectually you may\nrealise unity, and then pass into the mystical ideal of the One in the\nMany, to be recognised in each. And you do find occasionally in the great\nPuritans of the past a very noble, though somewhat stern and cold, form\nof mystical belief; whereas the moment you come to Catholic mysticism,\nyou find yourself in an atmosphere charged with emotion. The Catholic\nMystic is swept up in a great surge of emotion to the Object of his love;\nthe Puritan Mystic calmly, almost coldly, recognises the greatness of the\nObject of his worship, intellectually tries to realise, and by that to\nsome extent unifies himself with It. You have an example of the Puritan\nMystic in Cromwell. Read his letters, read the letters of the man, wrung\nout of his heart by the strain of doubt and despair, and clinging, in\nspite of all temptation, to his belief in the reality of a Divine Power\nwhose instrument he was. You will rise from that reading with a new idea\nof the strength of the man, and realise that with all that strength there\nwas the recognition of the strength of God and of his own strength as\nbeing only an instrument in the divine hands. But you never find the\nPuritan Mystic the expression of love, of passionate affection, that are\nso common among the Catholic Mystics; and more than anything else is the\ndifference marked when you come to deal with Occultism.\n\nAnd there, in our own Society, is a point we ought to pause upon. The\nCatholic type amongst us will be one that will readily respond to the\nidea of the Masters, the Puritan less quickly. The Catholic mind in the\nTheosophist will not only recognise the ideal of the Masters, but will be\nfired with a desire to tread the path that They have trodden. There will\nbe a looking up of reverence, an outstretching of the hand for guidance;\na realisation that by that dependence more rapid progress may be made\nthan along any other line. That which is invisible will exercise a potent\nattraction; he will always be trying to know something of the invisible\nworlds and their inhabitants, he will always be reaching out toward these\nworlds and trying to expand his consciousness into communication with\nthem. He will be willing to train himself with that in view, and you\nwill have in him the possibility of the Occultist which you will not find\nin the Puritan type. For you cannot begin this part of occult knowledge\nalong the purely intellectual lines. The intellectual exertion will check\nat once the evolution of the other vehicles. The moment you begin to\nthink: \u201cWhat am I doing? Is it imagination? Is it hallucination?\u201d you\ncheck the growth of the subtler faculties of the man. You are obliged\nfor a time to go on without questions, feeling, sensing, groping, and\nrefusing to allow the mind to come in with its analysing spirit, that\nchills everything down so much that these budding faculties, as it were,\nshrink back from the touch of the frost, refusing to unfold. \u201cWell,\u201d\nyou say, \u201cthere is a danger. The person may become overcredulous, may\nbe utterly led astray.\u201d True. It is the necessary danger of all such\nresearch. Only step by step do you learn by experience to distinguish\nbetween the true and false, between the thought-forms created by yourself\nand the inhabitants of other worlds into which you are penetrating with\nhalf-opened eyes. But remember that distinguishing does not do away with\nthe reality of the thought-form. Your own thought-forms which surround\nyou when you first pass on to the astral plane are real forms in astral\nmatter. They deceive you, yes, because they are your own creations, and\nonly give you back the things you are thinking about. They repeat to you\nyour own thoughts, and there lies the element of danger. But you can only\noutgrow that by experience, exactly in the same way that the baby learns\nthat it cannot catch hold of the glittering thing at the end of the room,\nbut, to reach it, must cover a great deal of space. You do not think it\nheartbreaking because the baby makes mistakes. You are content that he\nshall learn. Why not be as philosophical about yourselves? You know that\nthey will grow out of their ignorance by experience. So will you. Those\nwho always want to be right are people who will never make Occultists.\nThe Occultist must be ready to plunge forward, and possibly tumble into\na bog, but be ready to go on again afterwards, learning by experience\nto understand. Those who will not face this have not enough of the\nCatholic spirit to make Occultists, and had better leave it for another\nincarnation.\n\nThere is another danger, one especially seen here\u2014the dependence upon\nanother. I have often been asked: \u201cHow can you develop independence\nand judgment if you are always trying to do the will of another, whom\nyou call your Master?\u201d The answer is simple. You look to your Master\nfor direction, and He may point you to some work to be done. You take\nthe work because He told you to do it. So far you are the obedient\nservant; but your judgment, your reason, all your thought-power, all\nyour initiative, are taxed to the utmost in the achievement of the task.\nA sensible Occultist never goes running to his Master and asking, \u201cHow\nshall I do this?\u201d He knows that is not the Master\u2019s work. The Master has\ndone His part in saying \u201cDo that.\u201d How you do it tests you, and brings\nout your strength and weakness. And the Master is far too wise to prevent\nyour bringing out your strength and discovering your weakness by doing\nfor you what He has told you to do. Hence the Occultist develops all\nhis faculties in the attempt to do his Master\u2019s will. The two things\nwork well together, and he does not become weak but strong in realising\nthat the Master is greater than he, and knows far better the plan of the\nwork, while he himself, in carrying out his own portion of it, finds full\nemployment for every faculty of brain and heart.\n\nIt is scarcely possible for the typical Puritan to become an Occultist in\nthe life in which this side is being so strongly developed. You cannot\nunderstand everything when you go into unknown worlds; and unless you\nare willing to be ignorant, there is no possibility of discovering new\nknowledge. Every pioneer of science\u2014to quote, I think, Faraday\u2014\u201cruns\nabout like a dog with his nose to the ground, trying to find out a\ntrail.\u201d That is exactly the way of the experimenter. You must search for\nyourself for the trace which will guide you to the desired knowledge;\nand if you will not do that, you must take the results of others, and be\ncontent with these results for this life.\n\nBut, now, how will these two types of spirit work when they come to, say,\nsuch a question as that of Mr. Leadbeater? You will have at once the\nworking of the critical intelligence which sees faults more readily than\nvirtues, and bad motives more readily than good. That is its weakness.\nBut it also has its value in pointing out certain dangers into which\nthe Society might otherwise slip. The Catholic spirit will be far more\nready to take it for granted that one from whom they have learned much,\nwhom they know to have far vaster knowledge than their own, may have\nsome other reason which they do not see, which would justify to the doer\nwhat he has done, and they do not feel that curious sense that they\nmust save their neighbours\u2019 souls, whether their neighbours desire it\nor not. They are content to say, \u201cThis is my road, that is his\u201d\u2014a wider\nand more generous spirit. Nevertheless, I think we should do well also\nto recognise that the presence in the Society of the critical and even\njudging spirit has at some times its value. But it is not a foundation\non which anything can be built, and that is sometimes forgotten. You\ncannot build an enduring edifice on the grounds of protest against\nsomeone else. It cannot endure. It is curious to notice that the same\npeople who condemn personality when the tendency of the personality is\nlove and devotion, are the people who show personality most strongly when\nthey antagonise and dislike. I admit to the full that principle should\nguide, not personality; but I cannot admit that a love for a personality\nis wrong, whilst a hatred of a personality is right and admirable. Both\nmay put persons above principles if the two come into clash. And it is\nputting a personality above a principle when you desert the Theosophical\nSociety, forgetting the great principles which make it immortal, and\nleave it, protesting against it, because one or two people hold views\nwith which you do not agree. It is the _ne plus ultra_ of personality.\nMr. Leadbeater and Mrs. Besant are both comparatively old, and cannot\nat the most live very long. What utter folly, then, to desert the great\nprinciples incarnated in the Society because of the antagonism of two\ntransitory personalities! If Theosophy be anything at all, then it is\neverything in life, and is not to be given up for anyone, whether saint\nor criminal. Suppose a hundred murderers were members of the Society, is\nthat any reason why you or I should go out of it? It seems to me that the\nfact that we disapprove of that so much is a reason for staying in the\nSociety, in order to strengthen it in the hour of its peril and to carry\nit through.\n\nWe need in the whole of this to study our own nature first, and find out\nour weak points, and then to guard against that weakness in the time\nof storm and stress. And we need, more than that, to realise that very\noften when people oppose us, they oppose us because of their virtues,\nand not because of their vices. That is, that the people who are utterly\nagainst me now are against me because of their virtues. They are wrong\nin the view they take\u2014they misconstrue; that does not matter. But the\nfundamental reason why they oppose is because they believe that I am\ncondoning what is wrong. That is a good feeling and right. But it is not\nright when it goes into hatred and calumny, when people go about telling\nabominable stories of all kinds which are utterly false, using them as\nweapons to injure. But, none the less, the beginning lay in a virtue\u2014the\ndesire to guard the Society from harm; and that ought to be recognised\neven when it has run into excess. If we can do that, then, in the midst\nof struggle, we shall be learning the true Theosophical spirit, which\nsees the good first, and only recognises the excess afterwards. And my\nsuggestion is: \u201cTrain yourself, in your ordinary thinking, to see first\nthe good of a person or thing, and only afterwards allow yourself to see\nthe weakness or evil.\u201d Then you will get all the good of your critical\nspirit, and be guarded against much harm. But if you see the bad side\nfirst, you are likely not to see the good side at all. These things test\nour members, and show whether we are fit to go along this great path or\nnot\u2014show whether we are ready to be part of that great Sixth Race which\nis coming, or whether we are so wedded to our own opinions that outside\nthose we can see nothing good.\n\nThe trouble is practically over, but we should remember its lessons\u2014a\nwider tolerance, a sterner self-criticism, and a more charitable attitude\ntowards our fellows. You cannot be too hard in criticising yourself,\nnor too tolerant and charitable towards your neighbour. Remember that\nin every one of us the Self is endeavouring to express something of\nhimself. In our own case we have the right to criticise every obstacle\nput in the way of His manifestation, to be hard in our judgment of\nourselves, pitiless in our condemnation of our every fault and weakness.\nBut we cannot govern the manifestation of the Self in another; hence our\ncriticism is useless and impertinent\u2014does not help, but hinders; for if\nthe other person is wrong, as you think he is, then your harsh judgment\nmakes an added barrier in his way when the Self in him is trying to guide\nhim back to the right, whereas your charity, your tolerant respect, will\nhelp him to realise the noblest in him. Hence the lesson of this great\nshaking should be criticism of ourselves and charity to all around us.\nRecognition of our own type, clear self-judgment, so that we may walk\naright and help others as much as may be; and, above all, so to purify\nour own characters that we may be channels for the life that flows in the\nSociety, and may not soil it as it passes through ourselves. The Society\ncan never die by attacks from without, nor by desertions from within;\nit can only die when its members are careless of their own thought,\ntheir own character, their own ideas; that, and that alone, can make the\nSociety unworthy of the guidance of its Teachers. It was once said: \u201cSo\nlong as three men remain in the Society worthy of our Lord\u2019s blessing it\ncannot perish.\u201d That was a word spoken by a Master in the days when the\nSociety was weak and struggling, and when the few people that belonged\nto it feared it would never survive the storm that shook it in the time\nof the Coulomb attack. Think of that if any other storm should approach\nus\u2014although we are not likely now to have another for the next twelve\nyears; but when a storm comes, remember that inspiring idea, that as long\nas three remain in the Society it cannot perish; and add to that the vow\nregistered by the Higher Self: \u201cIf others depart, I will be one of the\nthree.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nLecture IV\n\nThe Sacramental Life\n\n\nI am to speak to you to-night on a subject of deep interest to those who\nregard the religions of the world from the standpoint of Occultism. In\nall the great religions we find what are called \u201csacraments,\u201d to take the\nWestern name; and in all religions the object is the same\u2014the endeavour\nto spiritualise the ordinary life of man; to make it possible for men\nand women living in the world, blinded by their bodies, unable to rise\nabove the material limitations\u2014to enable those men and women to come\ninto direct touch with higher worlds and higher beings, and so, from the\ndefinite sacramental act, to pass on until the whole life may become a\nsacrament by the radiation of spiritual life through the material coating.\n\nNow different religions have different numbers of sacraments, although\nthe essence remains the same. In Hind\u016bism the sacraments are very\nnumerous. Ten are recognised as of universal application, but the number\nwill run up to thirty or forty if you take all the ceremonies that are\ndistinctly recognised as having this character among the more orthodox\nHind\u016bs. The number, after all, is immaterial; it is the fundamental\nidea which is important. As knowledge of the meaning of the sacraments\nspreads, especially in the Western world, it will be found that many\nthings that have been put aside as superstitious will come back with\na new light and power. Certain ideas which were cast aside at the\nperiod of the Reformation were thrown aside rather by reaction than\nfor any defensible reason. The way in which many of the thoughts and\ndogmas of the Roman Catholic Church were pressed among the people, the\nwidespread ignorance of meanings while forms were carefully observed,\nnot unnaturally brought about a powerful reaction when reason began to\nchallenge the ceremonies. As occult knowledge had practically fallen into\nthe background among the great mass of the Roman Catholic priesthood,\nthere came rejection of that which could not be rationally explained.\nAs we are able to see the justification for very much that then was\nrejected, however, we realise that many of these things will come back.\nAnd if we think, it is not unnatural that these should return. Going back\nto the early days of religion (I am thinking now of Christianity, but\nit is the same in all the great religions), we find the Founder and his\nimmediate disciples who shape and mould the religion. As these men were\nmen to whom the spiritual world was familiar, and as their duty was to\nmake bridges between the ordinary mass of men and the great spiritual\nteachings of religion, it was inevitable that in the forms of worship\nlaid down by them there should be in the background occult truths. Hence\nwe find in the early Church the great institution of the Mysteries; and\nI shall want, later on, to show the relation between the Mystery, the\nSacrament, and the great legend of the Holy Grail.\n\nLet us now consider what a sacrament really is. I do not think we can get\na better definition than in the Catechism of the Anglican Church: \u201cAn\noutward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace\u201d\u2014something that\nis outer, tangible, that the senses can appreciate, a material object;\nthen, with that, indissolubly connected, certain facts of the invisible\nworld, so that the outer sign is able to act as a channel for the inner\nreality. But also, under the heading of \u201coutward and visible sign,\u201d you\nwant something beyond the material object; you want a material gesture\nand material words. These three things are always present in a sacrament;\nsome material object which is the immediate channel, certain sounds or\nwords which make a change in the subtle material mingled with the denser\nmaterial of that object, and a gesture called often the \u201csign of power,\u201d\nas the words are called \u201cwords of power.\u201d Now the gesture must be one\nthrough which magnetism can be thrown on to the object which is affected\nby the words.\n\nLet us see how those facts are bound together in the sacrament itself,\nand what is their connexion with the constitution of man and of the\nworlds in which he lives. The worlds with which the man is connected,\nfor our present purpose, we can take as the physical, astral, mental\u2014the\nthree worlds in which turns the wheel of births and death. He is in those\nthree\u2014either in all of them together, as when in the physical world;\nin two of them, as when in the astral world; in one only when in the\nheavenly world. For remember that only in the physical world are the\nthree bodies available that connect him with all of the three at the\nsame time. In these three worlds, then, man is continually living. He\nis related to them by his physical body, astral body, and mental body,\nso that you have a living intelligence, a spiritual being, who, by means\nof the matter that he has appropriated in these three worlds, is able to\ncome into contact with each of them. But now arises the question: Given\na spiritual intelligence clothed in this triple veil of matter; given\nthe fact that that spiritual intelligence, by the veil of matter, is in\ncontact with three worlds\u2014how shall he be able to come gradually into\nconscious connexion with each, so that the stream of spiritual life,\ncoming down from the spiritual world, may at once purify the matter of\nhis bodies, illuminate his consciousness in these three stages, and so\nbegin the great work of spiritualising the whole man? That is the problem\nthat religion has had to solve. So far as ordinary Protestantism is\nconcerned, the body has been cast aside as a very temporary possession,\nonly occupied by the spiritual intelligence during one brief life,\nand hardly worth troubling about. Hence the body has become very much\nneglected from the ordinary standpoint of Protestantism, and the reaction\nagainst that has taken the form of materialism, so that you find people\nrejecting the view of the worthlessness of the body, and falling into a\nmaterialism in which the body is made the most important thing. Instead\nof that, in the earlier days of the great faiths, the body was regarded\nas a valuable possession, a thing to be made holy, to be sanctified, in\norder that it might be a fitting instrument of the spiritual intelligence\ntherein embodied.\n\nAnd so, in all these earlier days of religions, continual relationships\nwere being made, first between the spiritual world and the lower worlds,\nand then between the embodied intelligence and the bodies that that\nintelligence is wearing. Hence the sacraments which should touch both\nbody and consciousness, which should sanctify the material vehicles\nwhile illuminating the spiritual intelligence, which should make the\nwhole man really spiritual in order that the object of incarnation might\nbe accomplished\u2014that matter in all the worlds should be rendered the\nobedient servant of Spirit. That was the object of the sacrament. Hence\nthe necessity for the material object in order that it may come into\ntouch with the dense body. Hence the need of the signs in order that,\nby the vibrations set up, sent on to subtler planes, the subtler bodies\nmight be set vibrating, and be able to receive the downfall of spiritual\nlife. Hence also the need for the gesture, so that the magnetic force\nsent out in the consecration might link together the denser and the\nsubtler matter by this bond of magnetism, and in that way might make\nthe whole of the material object a vehicle for the higher life while\npreparing the bodies for the reception of that downflow.\n\nNow let us, in order to work out these principles, take the sacrament\nof Baptism. In this you know that you have the whole of these three\nconditions of a sacrament present\u2014water, the material object; the\nwords of power; the consecration of the water. You have the words of\nconsecration, praying God to sanctify this water to the mystical washing\naway of sin; and then you have the sign of power\u2014the cross made over the\nwater\u2014in order that the magnetism from the fingers of the priest may\nmagnetise it, and be the link between the physical water and the astral\nmatter which interpenetrates it.\n\nI pause for a moment on the phrase \u201cwords of power.\u201d The whole\nunderstanding and use of such words depends on the fact that every sound\ncauses certain definite vibrations. Wherever there is a sound there is\na correlated vibration. Now a mantra, or word of power, is a certain\ndefinite succession of sounds made by an Occultist in order to bring\nabout certain definite results. That is as much a scientific fact as a\nfact that none of you would challenge\u2014that you can by producing a musical\nnote set up vibrations in a glass or rod or string which is sympathetic.\nYou remember the experiments of Tyndall. He would show how by a certain\nsound you could shiver a piece of glass. What really happens? The glass\nbegins to vibrate. As the vibrations are made by the note, it repeats\nthem; if it is more than the glass can respond to, the particles are\ntorn asunder and the glass is broken. Exactly a similar line of thought\nconducts you to the use and meaning of the mantra. The Occultist tries\ncertain sounds. He finds out what are the sounds that bring about the\nvibrations that he desires. Having discovered that experimentally, he\nputs those sounds into a definite order and then gives a sentence which\nwill reproduce that sequence of sounds whenever the sentence is uttered.\nThis sequence of sounds causes vibrations, which in their turn set up\nvibrations in the subtle bodies. The more the mantra is repeated, the\nmore powerful the result. Hence the use of repetition that you find so\nmuch in Church formul\u00e6. Hence the use of the rosary, so that you may not\nhave the jar of counting in producing the vibrations that you require.\nNow it is obvious that a mantra cannot be translated without losing\npart of its power. It may still have a power from the thought which is\nin it, but the sequence of sounds is affected. Hence the special value\nof the mantra apart from the thought which the words embody. Hence the\nwisdom of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches in using their words of\npower as given by the Occultists who devised them. Unfortunately, in\nthe Reformation, occult knowledge being at a discount, it was thought\nyou could translate the words of power without losing the effect. You\nkeep the effect caused by the thought; you lose a very large part of\nthe mechanical effect caused by the sounds. What is lost of ordinary\nmechanical effect has to be brought about by devotion or will-power;\nwhereas if you produce the vibrations mechanically, you then have all\nyour devotion and will-power left undiminished to bring about the higher\nresults. There is the value of the scientific ways of dealing with the\nbodies. It is not a question of consciousness now, but of the bodies, and\nonly secondarily of the effect on the consciousness of the vibrations\nof the bodies; yet that also cannot be left out. Just as a change in\nconsciousness brings about a certain vibration, so does a vibration bring\nabout a corresponding change in consciousness. Hence to set up right\nvibrations helps the consciousness to remain in a certain condition,\nand we naturally find that in the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches the\neffects produced by the words of the sacrament are greater than these\nproduced in Churches where the words of power are translated. One\nadvantage that comes out of that is that, in the first case, where the\npriest is using the words that themselves make the vibrations, the man\u2019s\ncharacter, devotion, and knowledge are not as important as they are in\nthe case where the mechanical effect is lost, and the priest must supply\nby his own devotion and will-power that which could be more readily\nproduced by the mantra. It is out of that that has come the statement\nthat the unworthiness of the priest does not destroy the worth of the\nsacrament. Certainly it is not as potent where the priest is unworthy,\nbut where the mechanism is perfect, the worker not being perfect is less\nimportant.\n\nNow if a clairvoyant watches what is done when a sacrament is taking\nplace, he sees that on the repetition of the words of consecration\nand the making of the sign of power a visible change occurs in the\nconsecrated object. It is most marked if we turn to the Mass, or Holy\nCommunion. You have there on the altar the sacred elements\u2014the bread\nand the wine. According to the Roman Catholic doctrine, at the words of\npower, what is called \u201ctransubstantiation\u201d takes place. That teaching\nhas been very much misunderstood by the ordinary Protestant. He does not\nrealise that in every visible object there is an invisible and formative\nidea; that that idea, working along ordinary lines, produces one of the\nordinary objects that you see around you; but that if the idea be changed\nby the use of a word of power, a mantra, that that change of the idea\nproduces a change of astral matter, and in the etheric and even dense\nphysical matter also a change of vibration is set up. And although it\nis true that in the densest matter the vibration is not powerful enough\nto alter the arrangement of the particles, it is true that in all the\nmost important part of that object a change has occurred, and it is that\nchange which is indicated by the word \u201ctransubstantiation.\u201d No instructed\nRoman Catholic ever was foolish enough to think anything save that which\nI am now putting to you. Now if that idea seems strange, let me remind\nyou of a simple fact which will throw light on the whole thing. Students\nof organic chemistry are familiar with isometric compounds. Those\ncompounds are made up of exactly the same number of the same chemical\nelements. Nevertheless, the chemist will tell you that according to\nthe inner arrangement of those elements will be the qualities of the\nthing. You may have in some of the higher carbon compounds (even so low\ndown as where you have entering into the base only four carbon atoms)\nan arrangement or rearrangement of those elements such as to give you\nentirely different qualities\u2014in one case a poison, in the other harmless.\nThat change of arrangement makes all the difference. Is it so strange,\nthen, that in changing the inner arrangement the qualities change? In\nthe invisible worlds these things can be seen, so that that piece of\nopaque bread, when the words are spoken, utterly changes in appearance,\nbecoming luminous and shining out in every direction. Now the moment\none sees that, one begins to realise what a sacrament means from the\nmaterial standpoint. You are dealing with an object that can be changed\nin its qualities. You are reconstituting the subtle portions of that by\nthe forces you are bringing to bear on it. With what object? In order\nthat, from the planes above the mental, spiritual power pouring down may\nfind a vehicle which is able to assimilate it and carry it down to the\ndensest plane of matter, and by that vehicle may be passed on to those\nwho are partakers of the sacrament. And not only do you see that change\nappearing in the elements, but you see also that that change draws to the\naltar numbers of those whom the Hind\u016bs call Devas, and the Christians\ncall Angels, who lend their powers to the helping of the worshippers, and\nchange the atmosphere of the whole place to which they throng.\n\nNow the moment anyone sees this, he realises that much has to come back\nto some of the religious sects of the West in order to make them what\nthey ought to be. And the result of losing sight of all this inner part\nof the Christian ceremonies, rites, and formul\u00e6 has been the tendency\nto grow more and more materialistic, until you find that the ordinary\nProtestant knows of nothing as between himself and God, nothing of the\nwork of all that mighty hierarchy of spiritual intelligences who form the\nladder between earth and heaven. Hence the gradual disappearance from the\nmodern mind of the teaching of the ministry of Angels. How much of it\nhas slipped out of knowledge, and how much all life has lost of beauty\nby the passing away of these links between the higher and lower worlds.\nWhen a person takes the sacrament, you have there the actual physical\ntouch all along the material lines, a real purification of the body as\nwell as illumination of the intelligence. But you may say: \u201cDoes it all\nturn on this outward ceremony\u2014these words and signs?\u201d No. There is, in\naddition to that, in the consciousness of the worshipper, a tremendous\npotency which assimilates that which pours down from the higher worlds.\nAnd although it be true that that potency is very much more readily\nassimilated when all the material coverings have been tuned and made\nready to receive it, none the less is it also true that even where that\npart of the sacrament is wanting it is a veritable means of grace to\nthose who realise the inner meaning, although not understanding the\nimportance of the outer form. I think that there is little doubt that,\nas Occultism spreads, this will all come back to the Churches; for it is\npart of the Theosophical mission to restore that which has been lost, to\nbring to knowledge again that which has been forgotten.\n\nAnd there are also other things in relation to this which will come\ninto modern life again as the truth of the sacrament is recognised. So\nmany discussions there have been about the Apostolic Succession, the\npassing of power from one to another by a sacrament, not recognised as\na sacrament in some part of the Anglican Church, but recognised by the\nRoman Catholic Church as the Sacrament of Holy Orders. There, again, a\nphysical passing of magnetism; there, again, a definite succession, a\nhierarchy which is an image of the hierarchy in higher worlds. For always\nreligions have reflexions of the realities of the higher worlds, and\nthese reflexions have their power and their use. Now, in the ordinary\nProtestant community, and even in the great Anglican Church itself,\nonly two sacraments are normally recognised\u2014the sacrament of the altar\nand that of the font. Outside those, as you know, the Greek and Roman\nCatholic Churches have others in addition to that of Holy Orders above\nmentioned\u2014all of them, from the standpoint of the sacramental life,\nimportant. They have the Sacrament of Confirmation; but that ought surely\nto be recognised as a sacrament everywhere, for you have there the\nessential parts of the sacrament and the conveying of a spiritual power.\nSo also they have the Sacrament of Penance, in which the spiritual power\nis again conveyed which enables the penitent by effort and repentance\nto regain spiritual strength when it has been injured by sin. So you\nhave also the Sacrament of Matrimony, and the loss of the sacramental\nside of marriage has led very largely to its degradation in Protestant\ncountries. So also the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, which is, curiously\nenough, coming back among Protestants. Look at the accounts of the Guilds\nof Healing established in the Church\u2014no less than three in the Anglican\ncommunity. They have restored the sacramental use of oil, founding\nthemselves upon a passage in the New Testament: \u201cIs any sick, let him\ncall the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him\nwith oil in the name of the Lord\u201d\u2014a sacramental act. You have the oil as\nthe vehicle of the magnetism, the name of the Lord as the word of power,\nand in putting on the oil ever the sign of the Cross is used. Now it\nis a very significant thing that that has been brought back definitely\nby members of the Anglican Church, priests and laity, to-day; and one\nwonders very much why in the Roman Catholic community, with the occult\nknowledge of its leaders, it has that use of sacramental oil only at the\ndeath-moment, when its great value cannot be utilised. That is one of\nthe points I cannot quite make out in studying the ritual of the Roman\nCatholic Church.[4]\n\nNow, supposing that you recognise that fact of a sacrament, how would\nit affect your ordinary daily life? It would gradually discipline your\nmind to realise that all life is sacramental, rightly understood; that\nevery outer action should be connected with a spiritual truth; and in\nthis way all your actions would cease to be hindrances, and would tend\nto become helpers. Among the Hind\u016bs this is largely recognised, for all\nthe great actions of the daily life with them are sacramental. Every true\nHind\u016b, on waking, prays that as his eyes open to the light of the day, so\nhis Spirit may open to the light of the inner Self. In his daily bath,\nas he pours the water over his body, his prayer is, that as the water\nwashes the body, so may the mind be cleansed and the heart purified. All\nthe bodily actions are consecrated as the reflexions of the spiritual\nlife, and the effect of that is to make a disciplined, self-controlled,\nbalanced character. The daily training gradually makes the whole life\norderly; and it is not without significance that in the religions where\nthe sacramental life is realised, there it is that you find the type of\ncharacter that all speak of as the Saint\u2014a man who is ever alive to the\nrealities of the higher world; the man who lives in the Spirit, although\nalso living in the body.\n\nNow I said that this idea was connected with the Mysteries and with the\nGrail. Let me try and show you how; and in this I am using the thought of\nthe great French writer, Schur\u00e9, who, writing on the mystical idea in\nthe music of Wagner, pointed out the close resemblances and differences\nbetween the sacrifice of the Mass and the legend of the Grail. Now it\nis a historical fact, apparently, that with the disappearance of the\nMysteries from Europe and the Christian Church, this legend began slowly\nto work its way among the European nations. There were the Mysteries of\nJesus, and those played in the Christian Church exactly the same part\nthat is played by the Yoga training, say, in Hind\u016bism or Buddhism. There\nwas the life of the ordinary sacraments for the ordinary believer. Those\nwere the means whereby the true believer came into touch with the higher\nworlds. But when a man had learned all he could in the outer circle of\nthe Church, when he had used the sacramental means of grace so that he\nwas able to say that his life was pure, that he had been \u201cfor a long\ntime conscious of no transgression,\u201d then he was allowed to present\nhimself as candidate for the Mysteries of Jesus. Within those Mysteries\nthe realities replaced the outer mechanism of the sacrament. There, no\nlonger by gift from without, as in the sacrament, but by effort and\nstruggle the vision of the spiritual life was attained. And when those\nMysteries passed away, not because there were not teachers, but because\nthere were no pupils ready to be taught, then it was that this story of\nthe Grail was given as an announcement, however veiled, that the ancient\nPath still remained open to the worthy aspirant. For what is the inner\nmeaning of the Grail, and how do the main points of it connect with the\nChristian sacrament? Different, yet similar. In the one it is the outer\nform of bread and wine, symbolising the body and blood of Christ; in the\nother, the sacred cup, in which it was said that once a year the blood\nof Christ shone out with brilliant and purifying light. In both an outer\nsymbol. But in the sacrament that outer symbol is given to the believer,\nand, without effort of his own, the greater Self outside him gives to\nthe weaker Self within. But in the Grail it is by effort and struggle,\nby temptation and resistance, that the vision becomes possible. He has\nentered on the Path where outer aid is withdrawn, and where the inner\npower must replace the outer assistance. In the Church sacrament, faith\nis the means whereby the truth must be attained. In the inner, vision and\nknowledge take the place of faith, for the successful knight sees the\nvision of the Grail\u2014the Cup, with all its glory, is revealed before him.\nAnd so in the outer a dogma is taught, in the inner there is knowledge.\nBut what is a dogma? Knowledge imposed by authority. In the Grail it is\nan inner revelation, a true initiation into the Mysteries; and it is that\ninner revelation which takes the place of dogma, a revelation which comes\nby inner illumination instead of being taught by the outer authority of\na Church. And so you find that in that vision the dove appears\u2014symbol of\ninspiration. The inspiration of the inner revelation is ever there, and\nthat inner revelation belongs to the body of the Initiates, the elect\nout of all humanity. They hand it on to the world outside, that which is\nknowledge to them becoming dogma to the outer world. And so you can see\nthat in the Grail legend the teaching of the Mysteries was symbolically\nconveyed, and those who were able to pierce through the meaning of the\nlegend had their feet placed upon the Path where the symbols became\nreality; the principle running through was identical. And so the lesson\nwas taught that for those who cannot yet themselves build a bridge to\nthe higher world, the outer sacrament is given as the bridge to unite\nthe two; but when the man is able to make his own bridge, the sacrament\nfor him is no longer necessary. He can reach the worlds above without\nthe assistance of the bridge, and then he becomes the Knight of the\nGrail. That is still true. The Churches must ever give the sacraments,\nbecause the masses of their believers are not yet evolved enough to be\nable to build their own bridge. For those who have reached the point in\nspiritual manhood where the other worlds are known and are ever present\nin consciousness, for them the value of the sacrament is over, and the\nreality of the inner life no longer needs the grace that is conveyed by\nthe sacrament.\n\nNow if you realise the facts I have been putting to you, if you\nunderstand what the sacrament means and what its value is, you will never\nspeak lightly, contemptuously of it, remembering that those who need it\nreceive in it a real power, and that those who have gone beyond that\nnecessity are those who are ever the tenderest to the souls that still\nrequire it, and are careful that with their wisdom they do not bewilder\nthe ignorant, that they do not lessen the means of grace for those who\nare unable to reach knowledge for themselves. And inasmuch as it is the\nduty of the members of the Theosophical Society to know these facts of\nthe different worlds, and to use them for the helping of others, they\nhave the duty of trying to bring back the realisation of all the immense\nvalue which may be found in these rites which are little understood\nby the more skeptical communities to-day. That your mission and your\nprivilege. Whether in your own religious communities you still find help\nor not in these outer veils of spiritual things, that is a comparatively\nsmall matter. As long as they help you, use them to the utmost; and when\nyou no longer need them, then treat them with the reverence which is due\nto them, and explain them to those who do not understand them. Not very,\nvery long will pass before all and much more than I am saying to you will\nbecome common knowledge in the Churches. Yours the privilege of knowing\na little sooner than the outside world; not because you are specially\nfavoured, but in order that you may carry knowledge to the outside world.\nFor every one of you ought to lead the sacramental life, and that means\nthat you shall be a channel by which the spiritual forces shall pour\ndown and spread through you to those who surround you, vivifying and\nspiritualising the world. That your privilege, from the knowledge that\nhas come to you; that your duty, for knowledge brings responsibility. And\njust in proportion as you understand the occult truths out of which the\nesoteric religions have sprung, so will you try to make those religions\ndeeper, more vital, more spiritualising to all that belong to them, so\nthat you may truly act as servants of religion, for such servants every\nlover of the Divine Wisdom should be.\n\n\n\n\nLecture V\n\nAddress on White Lotus Day 1909\n\n\nAll over the world to-day the sun in rising has seen in country after\ncountry men and women gathering together to bear in memory those who have\npassed onward through the gate of death, but who, in passing through the\ngate, have remained even more living than they were when they carried the\nburden of the flesh; men and women who have left their names behind them\nas workers for the Ancient Wisdom in its modern dress, and whose memories\nremain dear and precious because of the work they did, because of the\nmessage they spread.\n\nWe have listened this evening to verses from the _Bhagavad-G\u012bt\u0101_, to\nlines from _The Light of Asia_. In India, on the early morning of to-day,\nwords were read from that same sacred Scripture of the eastern land,\nspoken there in its ancient tongue, the Sanskrit. In town after town,\nvillage after village, the memory of those same lives is kept in mind.\nThere also _The Light of Asia_ has been read, and the sacred memory of\nthe Buddha has been recalled. And all over India, from the Northern\nHimalayas down to the South, thousands of the poor have been fed by the\nbranches of our Society in memory of those who lived, of those who\npassed away, some of whom have come back to earth again. And as the sun\ncame onwards along its western path, it lighted up other countries also,\nwhich kept the same memory, used the same books, spoke the same names,\nand so across Italy, and Russia, and Germany, and then in France, and now\nhere, and a few hours hence across the Atlantic, in America, the same\nmemories will be recalled, the same books will be read, the same thoughts\nwill be spoken and will spread from heart to heart. For all round the\nglobe this day is kept sacred in memory of those who died, as men say,\namongst us, but who live to carry on the mighty work that here they took\nup for the brief day of mortal life. And we think of our dead, our truly\nliving, not with sorrow, not with mourning, but with glad hearts and\nthankful lips, for we know that death is nothing but a passing from one\nworld to another, a dropping of one body for the more effective wearing\nof a subtler, finer, more powerful one than that which, outworn, is cast\naway. For we have learned, and some of us know practically, that that is\ntrue which is written in that same Eastern Scripture of which we heard\nsome verses to-day, that the Dweller in the body throws aside the outworn\nbody as a man throws aside garments outworn; and as the man takes new\ngarments for his wearing, so does the Dweller in the body take new bodies\nfor his wearing, for new days of a never-ending, an immortal life.\n\nAnd we think of those who have gone onward to-day\u2014not only of our\ngreatest, but of all who have worked and striven for the same great\ncause. And perhaps it is fitting that first in that great roll we should\nsend message of love to the one who has left us last, who laboured\nso long and so faithfully in France\u2014Dr. Pascal\u2014the General Secretary\nthere, who only a few weeks since passed to the rest so well deserved.\nA weary time had he in the passing; years of weakness, of suffering, of\never-decreasing strength. And many ask, when they see so long an illness\nand so much of pain, when they see a life that was bright and helpful and\nfull of service set to this world in so long a twilight of sadness and\nsuffering, sometimes they ask: \u201cWhy should one who served so well have so\nlong and so sad a passing to the other side?\u201d But people do not always\nunderstand that, when a man has worked well and done good service, ere he\ngoes to his rest for a little time on the other side, it is well for him\nto pay the debts incurred, which otherwise would hamper the new life when\nit comes back to earth; and that there can be no better karma\u2014sad as it\nmay seem to the outward sight\u2014than when these ties of the past are fully\npaid before the day of passing comes, so that the new birth is unshadowed\nby the shadows of the past, and debt is paid which otherwise would be\ndemanded when the new life is born. So that in a life like that, which\nhas ended sadly, as men say, with body failing and brain failing, looking\nat that with seeing eyes we see the preparing for a better birth, a\ngreater service, and we know that it is well that the debt was paid, and\nthat the new life shall come unencumbered with the sad heritage of the\npast. And so to our friend to-night we send messages of love and gladness\nthat the debt is paid, thankfulness that he has passed over, so that he\nmay come back again to work under conditions fairer, nobler, more full of\npromise than those in which he worked so bravely and so nobly through the\nlife that now has closed.\n\nAnd as we look back we see the faces of many friends, all of whom we\ncommemorate\u2014some of our own country, some of other lands, some near at\nhand, and some far off, who have passed to the other side in order that\nthey may return. For you remember that it is written: \u201cCertain is death\nto the born, and certain is birth to the dead.\u201d And those who have passed\nonward are some of them turning their faces earthward once again, because\nthe times demand fresh workers, and much is to be done in the years that\nare dawning upon us.\n\nAnd one man stands out strongly in the minds of all, our President, the\nPresident-Founder, who passed away only two brief years since, and who\nis residing in his Master\u2019s home, but not altogether resting as men call\nrest, inasmuch as he is ever eagerly working for the Movement he loved\nand loves, and longing for the day when he shall be permitted to take\nagain a body to do once more the work to which for many lives he has been\ndevoted.\n\nAnd there rises the greatest name of all, H. P. Blavatsky, the name of\nher who threw down the body she was wearing on this 8th of May, which,\nfor her dear sake, was chosen as the day of commemoration of all our\nworkers who have passed onward\u2014her name dearest and nearest to our\nhearts, the Messenger of the Lodge, she who was chosen to bring back\nto a world in darkness the light which she carried so bravely and\nunflinchingly through a life of suffering and toil. And strange is her\nrecompense, that she, round whom so many quarrels arose, she who was a\nsign of storm and dispute through the warrior life that she led, she\nwho saw the Society well-nigh crumble round her in those days of the\nCoulomb plot, when all over the world it seemed that Theosophy was doomed\nto popular contempt, and deserted by most who at one time had welcomed\nit; she who, wherever she went, met storm and trouble, who perhaps was\nmore loved and more hated than anyone of our own time, she has now the\nrecompense that hers is the one name which is everywhere beloved through\nthe great Society of which she and her colleague were the founders, and\nalso among those who have gone out of it through the past years, those\nwho left it in the Judge secession, those who have gone out since;\nhers is the one name that unifies, to whom all look back as teacher\nand as friend. And a great and a beautiful lesson grows out of that,\nthat although life separates, death unifies; and those who in life went\naway, as it seemed, from the movement that she made, look back to her\nas founder, and round her name, among the prominent people inside and\noutside the Society, there runs to-day absolute unanimity, and a peace\nwithout one ripple of dissent.\n\nAnd to me that seems a very beautiful thing, that the name that was the\nname of strife and of combat has become the one name which is recognised\nas the foundation of the Movement everywhere, no matter by what passing\nchanges that Movement may have been affected. And it carries with it a\nvaluable lesson. These changes that we think so much of do not matter;\nall the storms and troubles are of no account; on this great advancing\ntide of truth and light, it matters not what apparent storms may come,\nwhat rocks may be in the way, what angry waves may rise and break,\nwhat feelings may be expressed\u2014the whole of it vanishes in the face of\nthe great unifier, Death; and those who were rent asunder because they\nthought more of personalities than of principles, they catch sight again\nof the principle when death has smoothed away the difficulties of the\npersons over whom they quarrelled. And so, looking back to her to-day, we\ncan see in her life and death a presage of the future. None of the storms\nmatter, and none of the secessions and divisions count in the great work.\nThey are all mere trivial incidents of passing days, and the one great\nLife rolls on, only the richer for the divergence, only the fuller for\nthe differences which it catches up and blends into one.\n\nAnd on this day, looking backward to those who have gone through death\u2019s\nportal, shall we not also look forward to those who are coming back\nthrough birth\u2019s portal to work in the Movement in the future as they\nworked in the Movement in the past? How far has it struck you, during the\ndays of storm and stress through which you have been passing, that to\nthose who believe in Reincarnation and Karma there is no possibility of\nreal separation, no possibility of lasting discord? For those who went\nfar away apparently from the Movement, or who left it by the gateway\nof death, see on the other side the fundamental unity, even though on\nthis side, for a while, they may have been blinded by the superficial\ndifferences, and join together in the work from which, on this side\nperhaps, for the moment, they had let themselves slip away for some\ntrivial discord, some passing divergence of opinion. Take that great man\namongst us round whom raged the last great struggle, the one before the\nstruggle which is now nearing its close\u2014W. Q. Judge\u2014one of the greatest\nand noblest workers in our Movement, even though in the last days of\nhis life he made the great rent in the Theosophical Society which cost\nus for the time pretty well the whole Society in America. He again,\nwinning clearer vision on the other side after something of difficulty\nand something of struggle (for the man was strong, and was not easy\nto move or change even when the physical body had been cast away), he\nafter a while worked his way through the mistake that had been made, and\nhas again thrown his life force, his enormous energy into the Movement\nof which the outer partial manifestation here is the Theosophical\nSociety, and into that Theosophical Society also. For remember that the\nTheosophical Society is only the partial manifestation of that great\nstream of Life which is flowing in the other worlds, and of which some\nappears here. This great Theosophical stream is like one of those rivers\nwhich flows underground, and then bubbles up above the ground so that\nall can see. And the river of the Ancient Wisdom, with its source in\nthe Great Lodge of the Masters, is out of sight for the greater part of\nits course, in worlds greater and higher than this, and then comes up\nabove the earthly surface and shows itself partially in what we call\nthe Theosophical Society; and into that River of Ages lives which have\npassed onward throw their energy from the other worlds, so that they are\nworking in the same Movement and strengthening the same current, and are\nnot apart from us, but with us all the time.\n\nAnd then there are some others to whose return amongst us we have the\nright to look forward. One whom I may remind you of, who has not passed\nthrough death\u2019s gateway, although out of sight for so long, is that\nfaithful chel\u0101 of H. P. Blavatsky\u2014Damodar\u2014who left India after the great\nCoulomb struggle, went up into the Him\u0101layan region, and found his way to\nhis Master\u2019s home near far-off Shigatze. He has been living and working\nthere ever since, and is now a man of middle age, but his return ere\nvery long we may without fear look forward to. He will come back to us\nwith all the gained knowledge that he has won during these many years\u2019\ntraining in the presence of the Teachers Themselves; he has already shown\nhimself in India, not physically, but preparing to come back when the\nMovement is ready for his work, and the getting ready of it is the work\nwhich we have to do in the few years in front. For ere many years have\ngone we may look for his coming as a leader and teacher amongst us.\n\nAnd of those who passed through death\u2019s gateway some have already come\nback, H. P. Blavatsky amongst them; so that in the years that come many\nof you will see that strong life again manifested amongst us to take\nshare in the working of the Society, for which he is working now as ever\nbefore. Remember how a Master said of him: \u201cThe brother whom you know as\nH. P. Blavatsky, but we\u2014otherwise.\u201d One who was spoken of in such words\nby the Master M. does not leave the work to which he has put his hand\nbecause the worn-out body was thrown aside for the time\u2014the brother whom\nwe know as H. P. Blavatsky, but They otherwise, the great and strong\ndisciple will again come amongst us to work more powerfully than in the\nwoman\u2019s body that last time he wore. And others, too, who worked with\nhim in the earlier days\u2014Subba Rao, whose name many yet know; he is now a\nlad of nearly fifteen, in the Indian body once more, born in fact in the\nsame family (using the word \u201cfamily\u201d in the wider Indian sense), a lad of\nfifteen, very soon to be ready again to take up his work.\n\nAnd there are others, less well known, who have been reborn, and who are\npreparing to take part in the great forward movement which is so soon\nto begin. But before that work could begin it was necessary to have the\nshaking through which we have been passing during the last three years.\nI have told you often that from time to time these shakings recur, and\nare necessary before a great time of onward progress. Few of you probably\nwill remember the progress that was made after the Coulomb trouble, but\nmany of you will remember the spring forward which the Society took after\nthe American secession. History repeats itself in small cycles as well as\nin large ones, and before the great forward movement could take place it\nwas necessary that the shaking should occur once more, to shake out for\nthe moment those who were not ready to go forward.\n\nWhat is the great difficulty before the world? When those who know more\nand are able to teach are to come forward and live among the men and\nwomen of the time, and bring to them the treasures they have harvested\nof the Wisdom of the ancient days, the one thing that stands in the way\nof their reception is the spirit which is not able to recognise greatness\nwhen it sees it, but meets it with suspicion, doubt, slander, calumny;\nwhich ever supplies evil motives where there is no understanding of\nthe reasons for action, and so paralyses those who know, and builds up\nbarriers which even they cannot overstep. You saw it in the life of H.\nP. Blavatsky. Look back to that life of hers; see how her efforts, her\nendeavours to teach and spread the Wisdom, the message with which she\nwas charged, were everywhere frustrated. And that has been so now for\nvery many centuries. When the greatest of all Teachers came, that mighty\nTeacher whom in the East we call the Bodhisattva, whom in the West we\ncall the Christ, when He came\u2014mightiest of spiritual Teachers, the very\nspirit of Wisdom and love incarnate\u2014He could not live three years in this\nworld ere He became so insupportable to the people of His day that they\nslew Him, while His love for the Father was denounced as blasphemy, His\nteaching denounced as coming from the devil. And that same spirit has\nbeen seen ever since. The great teachers have ever been met with the same\nspirit, and we have to change it. The chief mission of the Society at the\nmoment is to prepare the way of the Lord, and the only preparation that\ncan be made is to substitute reverence for greatness instead of suspicion\nand hatred. And because that is the immediate work which lies before\nus, it was necessary to shake out of the Society those whose spirit was\nrather suspicion of greatness than acceptance of it when seen. For the\nimmediate work is the preparing of the world for the coming of greater\nOnes, in order that the new impulse may be given when the new sub-race\nand Root Race are to be born.\n\nThat is the immediate work, the preparation for the coming of some\nof those whom I have been mentioning\u2014Damodar, Subba Rao, H. P.\nBlavatsky\u2014not, remember, with flourish of trumpets, or with anyone\ndeclaring \u201cthis is so-and-so\u201d and \u201cthis is someone else,\u201d with the\nexception, perhaps, of the first named (Damodar), who went as a boy to\nhis Master, and is now middle-aged, but will be recognised by old Indian\nfriends. But others will be coming in new bodies, unknown, with no proof\nof who they are. They will have to make their way, they will have to\nprove their apostolate, and probably their views of things will be very\ndifferent from the views of many of those in the Theosophical Society.\nInevitably so; for people whose eyes are opened to more than one world\ncannot see things, as those see them whose eyes are blind save to one;\nthose who see the wider horizon will have different thoughts from those\nwho are cabined in by the life and conventions of their day. And that is\nwhy the great Ones are always misunderstood, for They must be other than\nthose to whom They come, else how could They teach? And that is where\nyour General Secretary spoke very truly in saying that the mind often\nmisleads, and the things we \u201cthink\u201d cover over the things we \u201cknow.\u201d Now\nthe things you know, you know by the light of the Spirit which is within\nyou; by that intuition which is the voice of the pure, not the impure\nreason, speaking above the mind and through the mind, but very often in\ncontradiction to the mind. And in order to hear that voice of intuition,\nso far as I know, there is only one way, that when once you see the Light\nshine out through any human being, you hold to that human being, no\nmatter what the mind may say. That is what spells success, and that was\npre-eminently the case with H. P. Blavatsky, for anyone more confusing\nto the ordinary mind you could not possibly come across\u2014awkward, athwart\none\u2019s conventions in every way; in speech, manner, actions, the very\nreverse of all that you would expect. When I first met her and saw in her\nthe power of the Master, from that day to this I have never challenged\nand never doubted her. And very, very largely because of that have come\nthe knowledge and power that I have won not by reasoning and arguing\u2014\u201cWas\nshe right or wrong?\u201d \u201cWould it not have been better if she had been\ndifferent from what she was?\u201d\u2014but having once seen in her the Light of\nTruth, refusing to see anything else except the Messenger of the Master.\n\nAnd that is what you need in the coming days, that is what some of you\nhave been winning through the storms of the last three years\u2014to realise\nthat when once you have known a teacher to be a teacher you shall cling\nto that knowledge, no matter what clouds for a time surround, no matter\nwhat storms for a time may hide; for that means intuition, which is above\nthe concrete mind; it means the testimony of the God within you to the\nGod without you, and that cannot lie. And we have to spread that through\nthe whole Society in order to make the way possible for those who will\nbe coming amongst us during the next few years, and the greater Ones who\nwill come later if we can welcome the Messengers, but not otherwise. Our\nyears of mortal life are not those by which time is reckoned in the great\ncycles of the occult world. It is true that we say: \u201cProbably between\nthirty and forty years hence a great Teacher will come back, the greatest\nTeacher, the Teacher of Gods and men.\u201d But a date like that, which is\ncounted by the revolutions of the world, is always a doubtful thing from\nthe occult standpoint; for time there is measured by consciousness, and\nnot by the turning of the sun. Efforts may shorten or failure may retard\nthe date, and hence it is always rather vaguely put; and if, when these\nless great ones came we were not able to receive them, if we are repelled\nby the superficial appearance and have not the intuition to recognise the\nMessengers, that will inevitably delay the coming of the greater Ones.\n\nAt different times different virtues are wanted. To know the virtue of\nthe time and to develop it, that is wisdom. At one time courage is the\ngreat thing wanted; at another time recognition of spiritual greatness,\nand the power to hold to it, and that is the virtue wanted now. Not in\norder that you and I as individuals may take part in this great work, but\nin order that the world may be prepared, that the way of the Lord may be\nmade straight, so that He may come. For He cannot come to be a curse to\nthe world instead of a blessing, as He would be if the world were wholly\nunprepared. And so greater and greater Ones will be coming in order that\nthe greatest of all may be welcomed when He appears amongst us.\n\nSome of you think, but you think mistakenly, that you would recognise,\nsay, a Master, or even a Christ, if He appeared. Are you so sure? They\nnever have been recognised by the people of their time save by a small\nminority, and why should we be different? The Christ was not recognised\nwhen He came last; His Messengers have not been recognised since, save\nby a minority. They are so different from the people of their time that\nthere is much to get over before you can recognise them. And it is a\ngood practice sometimes to throw yourself back to those days in Judea\nwhen the Son of Man trod the earth. Realise what He would have seemed to\nyou then, not what he seems to you now through the vista of centuries\nof the adoration of millions of men. What would he have seemed as the\nvagabond travelling about on foot, with a number of half-educated\npeople round Him, disturbing the peace of society, antagonistic to the\nrespectabilities of His day, looked down upon by the aristocracy of\nthe time? See Him as they saw Him, and ask yourself: \u201cShould I have\nrecognised the Christ?\u201d And that is where the test has been, right\nthrough these last three years, and where it will be as the people I\nhave been speaking of gradually come amongst us again. If you would\nrecognise them when they come, try to cultivate the power which answers\nto greatness without, by cultivating greatness within, remembering that\nspiritual recognition is the recognition of all those who are kindred to\nyourself. If you have the virtue in you of the spiritual man you will\nknow spiritual men when you meet them; but if you cannot answer to Him,\nthen He will pass you by unknown, and probably disliked.\n\nNow our work is clear before us: to try to change the public opinion of\nthe world into the attitude which is sometimes called disparagingly\nhero-worship, which is essentially the thing we need at the present\ntime\u2014the power to know the hero when we see him. \u201cNo man is a hero,\u201d\nit is said, \u201cto his valet.\u201d And people think that that means that he\nis small when seen close by. Not so; but that the small soul which is\ntypified by the word \u201cvalet\u201d cannot appreciate the greatness of the hero\nnear whom he stands. The servant soul does not recognise the greatness\nof the hero, and therefore the hero is no hero to him. Only the heroic\nrecognises the hero; and if you can develop that in yourself which is\nlike a Master, then, and then alone, will you know a Master when He\ncomes. And the best way to cultivate it is for a time to let go that\nspirit of criticism which makes people so superior to those around them.\nCultivate the faculty of admiration rather than that of criticism.\nTry, when you meet a person or when you read a book, to see the good\nthings in the book or person, and not the faults. And the faults in the\npeople around you, these are no business of yours; and if you would once\nunderstand that and live it, your path would be so much easier. So many\nof you are so anxious to get other people out of their faults that you\nreally have no time to look after your own steps and put them in the\nright way. The faults of the other people will work out through karma,\nand they are not your business\u2014a hard but true lesson. Of course, if\nyou are a master or a teacher, and have others in your charge, their\nfaults are then yours to correct; but you are not, generally speaking,\nmasters or guardians, and you have no responsibility to criticise or put\nothers right. Take out of your friends the value of the good and let\nthe faults go. You need not say they are virtues, you need not pretend\nthat you think wrong right; but you can say: \u201cThat part of the man is not\nmy business; let me help the God in him to manifest, and let the other\nside in him wear out in its own way.\u201d If you can do that you will be\nmore useful now than in any other spirit, and it is that lesson I would\nask you to take with you. Think of H. P. Blavatsky and of those who have\npassed away in the spirit that they helped us, and not in the spirit that\nwould blind our eyes to their value, and then carry that spirit on to the\npeople around you, and in every one round you try to see the God, and\nlet the rest go. Admire the admirable, and leave aside the regrettable;\nfor in doing it you will help them more to conquer their faults than by\ncriticism.\n\nSeeing the God in them, and loving and trusting, that will help them\nto grow out of the limitations, of the blunders and errors that are\nhindering the divine manifestation. And remember that is what is wanted\nnow, not for yourselves only but for every one around you, so that when\nthe Teachers come They may be able to remain in the world amongst us.\nThey dare not come yet, because even in the Theosophical Society They\nwould not be welcomed. A Master who came amongst you now would not\nfor the most part be very much liked by you; His ways, His views, His\nthoughts would be so different, He would raise suspicion and dislike.\nWe saw it in the earlier days when They came out more, and were met by\njudgment and criticism, until one of Them said, in the fashion in which\nThey look at ignorant criticism; \u201cThe standard of the Adept is not kept\nat Simla, it is kept at Shamballah and I try to accommodate myself to\nthat.\u201d There is a great lesson in that for all of us. The standard of\nthose who are passing onward into the higher life is not the standard of\nthe judgment of the people around them, but the standard that the Masters\nhold up before them, to which they are ever trying to conform. Think of\nthat in your attitude to the people around you; remember that on you,\nand on people like you everywhere, depends the success or the failure of\nthe next great manifestation of the divine life on the earth; that this\nTheosophical Society, spread everywhere over the world, is literally the\nJohn the Baptist to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ; to fill\nthat part is your work and duty\u2014and need I say, your privilege, your\nhighest honour?\n\nTo leave the Society now, in the days which are just dawning, surely it\nis bad karma enough, and you should only feel the tenderest thoughts of\npity towards any who go out from us in the days when to belong to the\nmovement is the greatest crown that can be given for any nobility of\npast life that any one of us may have had. No words of harshness or of\ncondemnation, nothing that will make it harder for them to return, but\neverywhere gentlest and most tolerant speech\u2014this is our duty to our\nimmediate brethren; and to the world what I have told you.\n\nAnd so from this White Lotus Day look forward more than backward,\nrather to the work that is coming than to the difficulties that are now\nwell-nigh over. Remember, for your strengthening, that the only great\nshaking has been here and in America, nowhere else. You can count on your\nfingers practically in other countries those who have been shaken out.\nYou have had the struggle and have come out well. It is practically over\nnow. There may be some slight effort made now to make things difficult,\nbut what does it matter, with such hopes before us, with such strength\nbehind us, with such knowledge within us? Why should we allow ourselves\nto be ruffled by anything that can take place in this outer world of\nmen? We have been through many such struggles in past lives, shall have\nto go through many greater ones in lives to come; why make too much\nof present-day trouble? Those whose lives are in eternity need not be\ntroubled with even what seem to be great difficulties to the men and\nwomen of the world. And so to you I would say: Gather together on the\nDay of Memory, but turn it now more into day of looking forward. Let the\npast go; it has done its work, it is over. Turn your eyes to the work\nthat is opening before us, more splendid than any work of the past. And\nremember it is not the Messengers who may stand in front who are the\nstrength of the Society, but that the life comes from the Masters and the\nstrength from the Lodge. Knowing that, you need not mind even if those\nof us who are well known in the world make mistakes, are attacked, or\nevil spoken of. Never yet a Messenger of the Lodge that went through life\nwithout being evil spoken of, and you need not grudge us the sign of our\napostolate; for such has ever been the sign of the Messengers through\nall ages. Rather rejoice with us that the stress for the time is over,\nand the days of going forward are upon us; do not let the remnant of the\ntrouble shake any one of you, but know that the Masters are with us, and\nwhere they are no failure can come.\n\n\n\n\nLecture VI\n\nThe Nature of the Christ\n\nDelivered to the Christo-Theosophical Society, at the invitation of Sir\nRichard and Lady Stapley, Tuesday, May 25, 1909.\n\n\nIt is with pleasure that I find myself amongst you, as I have often found\nmyself before. I think my membership in the Theosophical Society is of\nabout the same length as the life of your Society. We both began our\ncareers, so to speak, about the same time, in the same year.\n\nThe subject that I have taken is in many ways a difficult one, and one\nthat may very naturally arouse differences of feeling. It is, however,\none which is being discussed very much in the Christian Church at the\npresent time, and it is for that reason that it seemed to me that it\nmight be useful if we could exchange thoughts on a subject of enormous\nimportance. I also want to make certain suggestions which I think may\nbe welcomed in regard to an idea to be found in the East, which perhaps\nis not quite familiar over here; and which presages a unity greater and\nprofounder than could be reached, I think, in any other way. Naturally,\nI am putting only my own views, and they commit no one but myself. These\nquestions that touch alike the intellect and the heart must always be\ntreated reverently by those who realise the Brotherhood of man, and they\nare also ideas of the profoundest importance with regard to the future of\nreligion and of civilisation.\n\nIn the _Hibbert Journal_ of January last the subject that I have taken\nfor our talk was to some extent discussed from the standpoint of one who\nI suppose would be called an extremely liberal Christian. The writer is\nthe Rev. R. Roberts, Congregational minister, of Bradford; his name is\nstill in the Congregational Year-book, but I heard that he was not at\npresent ministering in any pulpit. I take his view as my starting-point\nthis afternoon. The title of his article is at first sight a little\nstartling from the ordinary Christian standpoint, \u201cJesus or Christ?\u201d\nand he distinctly puts forward the view, and argues for it with a good\ndeal of ability, that we have to do at once with one supposed to be a\nhistorical person, and then apparently with what he could only regard as\na Mystical Ideal.\n\nSo far as I can gather from what he says, he does not regard the Christ\nas historical, though he does not very clearly draw the line as to how\nhe would separate, historically, the Jesus of the Gospels from that\nIdeal which he names \u201cThe Christ.\u201d He says that he and many other people\nfind themselves beset by certain difficulties: \u201cAre the claims to be\npresently set forth made on behalf of a spiritual \u2018Ideal\u2019 to which we may\nprovisionally apply the word \u2018Christ,\u2019 or are they predicated of Jesus?\u201d\nThen he goes on to say that insistence on limitations of knowledge,\nrestrictions of outlook, evasions of issues, and disillusionments of\nexperience, true enough of a historic Jesus, may not be wholly relevant\nto a spiritual \u201cChrist Ideal,\u201d expanding and enriching through the ages\ninto \u201cthe Christ that is to be.\u201d Then he says it would be still less\napplicable to one who is regarded as the \u201cfulness of Godhead,\u201d \u201cVery God\nof very God.\u201d That, practically, is his thesis, and he tries to show in\nthis article that very many difficulties might be avoided if Christians\nwere willing to recognise a Christ Ideal side by side with the historical\nJesus. In that way they might evade some of the difficulties which are\npressed against the conception of Jesus as the Christ by large numbers\nof people who find their faith challenged and themselves in difficulties\nby these objections which are put to them both inside and outside the\nChurch. He quotes Dr. Fairbairn, writing on _Christ in Modern Theology_.\n\u201cIf He knows as God while He speaks as man, then His speech is not\ntrue to His knowledge, and within Him a bewildering struggle must ever\nproceed to speak as He seems and not as He is. If He had such knowledge,\nhow could He remain silent as He faced human ignorance, and saw reason\nwearied with the burden of all its unintelligible mysteries? If men could\nbelieve that once there lived on this earth One who had all the knowledge\nof God, yet declined to turn any part of it into science for man, would\nthey not feel their faith in His goodness taxed beyond endurance?\u201d That\nview (which appears to be adopted by Mr. Roberts) does not seem to me\nnecessarily at all a sound one, and it is by no means certain that a man\nspeaking in a particular age to people among whom great limitations of\nknowledge existed, and with a particular object before Him\u2014not to enlarge\nthe bounds of science, but to deepen spirituality and lay a strong\nfoundation of morals\u2014that such a Teacher, however highly illuminated,\nhowever much speaking as the very Spirit of God, would say all that He\nknew with regard to external facts and external phenomena, with the\ncertainty of making very difficult the reception of His message on\npoints enormously important\u2014on points, in fact, of vital and essential\nneed for the higher spiritual progress of man. Hence it does not appear\nto me that Dr. Fairbairn\u2019s issue is at all well taken. Every great\nteacher\u2014not for the moment considering the special divinity of Christ or\nJesus\u2014who is speaking to people less instructed than himself is under a\nsimilar difficulty. If on matters of ordinary scientific knowledge he is\nilluminated where they are not, the very fact that he presses that upon\nthem would bewilder and confuse. You cannot enable the human intellect\nto evolve at what might be called a supernatural rate. It is capable of\ngrowth, and often of rapid growth, but if you try to force it beyond the\nrapid natural growth, you will only perplex, bewilder, and confuse; and\nif your aim is not, broadly, to increase scientific knowledge, which\nman will inevitably find out for himself after a time, but to help him\nto the things which need spiritual illumination in order that he may\nreceive them, then such a difficulty as is put here as to the inner\nbewilderment which would be felt by the speaker to speak as he seems, and\nnot as he is, would not be bewilderment at all, but a quite deliberate\nlimitation of what he said, with a view to the effectiveness of his work,\nand that which he desired to give to the people of his time. That is\ntrue necessarily of every great prophet, of every highly inspired man;\nand the greatness of the inspiration would chiefly be shown, not in the\namount of physical knowledge which he might give, but rather in his\navoidance of certain difficulties which, when the race grew more learned,\nmight come in their way and complete their ideas. That is to say, he\nwould evade the scientific difficulty as far as he possibly could, and\nwould do it deliberately, knowing that that was not his particular\nwork, and that he could not do his own work if he turned aside in this\ndirection. So that, as far as I am personally concerned, looking on this\nfrom the standpoint of the Theosophist and Occultist, these difficulties\nto me do not exist. I realise that they must always be found where one\nwho is superhuman\u2014I object to the word supernatural\u2014comes in any age of\nthe world\u2019s history in order to teach a new conception of religion, and\nin order to adapt what he is giving to the civilisation which he intends\nto influence.\n\nIt appears to me that it is a perfectly rational and necessary thing\nthat the growth of knowledge from the ordinary standpoint should be\nleft to work its way out along the lines of intellectual development;\nanything less than that will check intellectual growth inevitably, for\nintellectual growth can only come about by the freest of thought, the\nfreest of discussion, the most absolute liberty to challenge everything\nand to controvert anything which appears to be illogical. The condition\nof intellectual growth is that of complete freedom, and any sort of\nlimitation which is put upon it by the knowledge of a great teacher\nwill only check that intellectual evolution which is essential for the\nfuture growth of man. Many similar difficulties, of course, are made\nwith regard to all inspired Scriptures, and for that reason it seems to\nme that it is well that we distinguish definitely between the spiritual\nwork of the spiritual teacher and the scientific investigation of the\nscientific student; that it should be realised that these two departments\nof human activity work under different laws to a very great extent, and\nthat that which is spiritually known cannot always be justified to the\nintellect until that intellect becomes spiritually enlightened\u2014that\nis, that you have to deal in man with a being who is fundamentally a\nspiritual being, in whom the divine Spirit becomes incarnate, embodied,\nbut in whom that divine Spirit is going to unfold along three great\nlines of unfoldment which we find in all human consciousness, which we\nrecognise as in the divine nature itself. It has to unfold to an ordered\nActivity which should be truly in harmony with the laws of nature, which\nare the expression of the divine nature in this manifested form. It has\nto unfold along the Intellectual line, and that unfoldment must be left\nutterly unfettered. It has also to evolve along that line which in its\nlowest stages is emotion, in its higher stages is religion; and that\nspiritual unfolding, the highest characteristic of Spirit showing itself\nout as Will, has to be developed from above more than from below, to come\ndownward by illumination more than to climb upward by reasoning. Unless\nwe can understand this complicated nature of man in whom divinity is\ngradually unfolding and mastering matter at every stage of its unfolding,\nmastering, purifying it, ultimately spiritualising it; in all its\nearlier stages limited by the matter that it has yet failed to master,\ngradually making it plastic and ductile, and then in its higher stages\nhaving utterly subdued it to its own purposes\u2014unless we can understand\nthat that is a rough outline of human evolution, we shall constantly\nfind ourselves in difficulties between the intellectual growth and the\nspiritual unfolding. Hence whenever a man comes to earth in whom divinity\nis far more manifestly unfolded than in his fellow-men, he can only shed\ndown upon them illumination from the spiritual region, stimulate their\naims, but not control their intellect. If that be realised, then the\nwhole of these difficulties, which are being made at the present time\nabout the obvious limitations outwardly of the knowledge of the supreme\nChristian Teacher, will entirely fall out of court, and you will see that\nHe was speaking to the people of His day in the way that He could best\naffect them in order to help forward their evolution from the standpoint\nwhere they were, and was not the least intent on showing out His enormous\nknowledge, which would only have crushed rather than assisted.\n\nSuppose for the moment you can take that way of looking at human\nevolution\u2014and it seems to me the most rational way of looking at it\u2014then\nwe come to deal with this special manifestation of the Teacher who was\nthe Founder of Christianity, a Hebrew speaking to Hebrews, and having\nto reconcile the speaking to the people of His day with the speaking to\npeople of generations after generations, through centuries and perhaps\nmillennia to come, then we should be perfectly able to realise that we\nare here face to face with one of those supreme divine manifestations,\nand that in studying it we must be ready to separate between the Teacher\nof religion and the man speaking to the men of His day, and accepting\ntheir limitations in order that He might reach them effectively. I\nwant to carry you very much further than that in what I say; all that\nmight very well be accepted by any rational and intelligent Christian,\nespecially if he finds himself able to realise that what is said of the\ndivinity of Jesus is true at a very much lower level of all His brethren,\nthat all men are fundamentally and essentially divine; that that which\nwas said by the great teacher S. Paul: \u201cKnow ye not that your body is\nthe temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?\u201d and that\nwhich was answered by Jesus Himself, when he was challenged for calling\nHimself the Son of God: \u201cIs it not written in your law, I said, Ye are\nGods, and ye are all the children of the Highest?\u201d is literally true. If\nyou realise all that is implied in that statement, that He is the first\namong many brethren, you will see that every Son of Man is potentially,\nand will hereafter be actually, a Son of God, meaning by that that Deity\nwill unfold within him, and that a manifestly divine humanity is the\nnatural goal of evolution.\n\nOne realises, in looking at an article like this, that by the mystic\nChrist\u2014that is what the writer means\u2014he means that in the Epistles a\nsomewhat different view is taken from that of the Gospels, the one\ndealing specially with an historical person, the other with an indwelling\nSpirit. He realises that when the Apostle Paul declares to his converts\nthat he is travailing in birth for them until Christ be formed in them,\nwhen he says in another passage that they are to develop to the measure\nof the stature of the fulness of Christ, he is holding up before them\na picture of the birth in the soul of this divine Spirit that he spoke\nof as Christ, and the gradual unfolding of that into the perfection of\ndivine manhood. That is perhaps the most inspiring ideal that can well be\nput before Christian people, that not only outside them but within them,\nnot only as an outer helper but as an indwelling Spirit, this idea of\nthe Christ is to be realised, and that that unfolding of the Christ in\nman is a real fact in religious consciousness, making that highest stage\nof human evolution when the man becomes perfect, and there only remains\nbefore him the superhuman evolution after the human is finished.\n\nBut I want to put to you rather a different idea of this relation between\nJesus and Christ. I recognise to the full the value of that mystic ideal,\nI have not one word to say against it; in fact it is one that, when I am\nspeaking to Christians, I constantly proclaim\u2014the absolute necessity of\nthat indwelling presence. But there is another view of this great Being\nwhich may be less familiar to you, which is the view taken by those who\nare sometimes called Occultists, in a very special sense of the term.\nLet me put it to you quite baldly for the moment, and then work it out\na little more. The view that we take of that great Teacher who came to\nthe world some two thousand years ago is, that the child who was born\nand who grew up into manhood until the time of the Baptism was a man\nof marvellous purity, of extraordinary spiritual intuition, but a man\nthat we should call a disciple; that it was his to train and guard that\npure body in preparation for the incoming of the indwelling Christ, and\nthat in the Gospel story it is the event of the Baptism which marks the\ncoming of the Christ. Let me just recall the words to you for a moment:\n\u201cWhen Jesus went down into the water, the heavens opened, and the Spirit\nof God came down upon Him like a dove, and abode upon Him. And a voice\nwas heard from heaven saying, \u2018This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him.\u2019\u201d\nNow it is clear that that event, marked out so distinctly in the Gospel\nstory, must connote something of enormous importance. There was no need,\nas it were, for Him who was to be the Teacher to be baptised, and to\nreceive the downcoming Spirit of the Most High, unless in that there was\nhid some profound spiritual truth, unless something was there afterward\nthat was not there before; and it is _then_, from the occult point of\nview, that the _Jesus_ became the _Christ_. But let me put it to you even\na little more closely. Here, of course, is where the point of difference\nwill probably arise in the minds of many in regard to what I am saying,\nfor all might be willing to recognise that that might imply a great\ndownflow of spiritual energy, of divine life. From our standpoint Jesus\nthe Hebrew, the individual, the spiritual man, stepped out of the body\nthat he had been dwelling in through all those years and preparing for\nthe coming of his Lord, giving it over as a holy temple for the incoming\nof the supreme Teacher, so that the body became the habitation of the\nsupreme Teacher for the three years of the ministry. Now that view, as\nmany of you who have studied Christian history will know, was very widely\nheld in the early Church; although it was condemned later as the Gnostic\nheresy, none the less it was quite orthodox until its formal condemnation\nwithin the Catholic Church, until the time that it was expelled. You\nfind it in many of the early writings of the learned Christian teachers,\nyou find it warred against by some others of the Christian teachers and\ndoctors and bishops of the time, but none the less it was a view which\nhad very wide prevalence in the early Church; it was accepted by large\nnumbers of profoundly learned men; and although ultimately condemned as\na heresy in the forms in which it was put, it might none the less not be\nimprobable, even from the standpoint of the orthodox, that some truth was\nhidden in it in the broad sense, even if the form in which it was put\nforward in the Church of those days was justly condemned. My own view is\nthat they were right, not in all the details of the way in which they put\nit, but in the fundamental fact. Let us suppose for a moment that they\nwere so; then the question would necessarily arise\u2014who is the Christ? And\nit is there that, as I said, there was one view that might be unfamiliar\nto you in the West, yet which, it seems to me, should be to the Christian\na view full of beauty and full of hope for the future. There is only one\nSupreme Teacher of mankind. There is a great office above all those whom\nwe Theosophists speak of as Masters\u2014a Master of Masters, so to speak\u2014the\none Supreme Teacher. In Christendom you speak of him by the Greek name, a\nname which, as you know, was taken from the Grecian mysteries, of which\na particular grade of initiation bore the name of the Christos, and the\nAdept who reached that grade was spoken of as the Christos. That was the\nname which was adopted in the early Church, according to the account in\nthe Acts, to designate this great Teacher who had come to the world, and\nwe should say, rightly adopted. It is an instance of spiritual insight\nrecognising a great truth.\n\nBut now, supposing I ask you to go to the people of other religions for a\nmoment, the ancient religions that we find in the eastern world. Suppose\nI ask a member of the most ancient of those, the Hind\u016b faith: \u201cDo you\nrecognise in your religion one supreme World-Teacher above all religions,\nand not belonging to one exclusively\u2014a universal Teacher?\u201d\u2014he would say,\n\u201cof Gods and men\u201d; over here you would say, \u201cof Angels and men,\u201d because\nthe word there, Deva, is equivalent to your word Angel. He would at once\nsay: \u201cWhy, yes; of course we recognise one Supreme Teacher at the head\nof all spiritual life and impulse, and we call him (pardon me if I use\nfor the moment their name) the Jagat-Guru\u2014the World-Teacher.\u201d Supposing\nI went to another great religion there\u2014the Buddhist\u2014and I asked a member\nthe same question: \u201cDo you recognise in your religion a Supreme Teacher?\u201d\nhis answer would at once be, \u201cWhy, of course we do. There is only one\nwho holds the place of Teacher over all Gods and all men; one Teacher\nonly who is the Teacher of the world. We call Him the Bodhisattva\u2014the\nWisdom-Truth.\u201d No nobler name could be given to Him; He is the Wisdom and\nthe Truth; not the Buddha, as you may have expected me to say; He was\nnot the Teacher. When He reached Buddhahood He passed away from earth.\nIt is while He is going onwards to Buddhahood that He is known by this\nname of Wisdom-Truth, or Boddhisattva. During the whole of that period\nof teaching He has this name; and then when the supreme illumination\ncomes to Him his office is finished, and He passes away from earth. Of\ncourse, as we know, the last Buddha remained in his body for some time,\nstill teaching, but none the less the office of the Teacher is not to the\nBuddhist the Buddha, but he who is to be the Buddha\u2014what you would call\nthe Christ glorified and ascended, not the Christ on earth teaching and\nsuffering. It is interesting to notice how in the various religions these\nsame points arise and these same differences are seen under different\nnames, so that we see that in these two greatest of eastern religions a\nSupreme Teacher is recognised. Now, from the occult standpoint, it is\nthat Teacher who came as the Christ; and, supposing that all Christian\npeople recognised that fact, they would reach the hearts of the eastern\nworld far better than they do now, if, instead of telling them they must\nworship the Christ, they would say to them, \u201cYou are already worshipping\nHim under a different name,\u201d which is supremely true; for it is the same\nBeing who holds that office through all these thousands of years, the\nsame supreme Perfection. He only comes into manifestation in order to\nhelp His younger brethren; He leaves that body when its utility for the\nmoment is over; when, being so great in comparison with the people to\nwhom He came, they could no longer tolerate His presence.\n\nNow that is the view of the nature of the Christ which you would find\namong, say, Occultists or well-instructed Theosophists. They recognise\nin the Christ of Christendom the Supreme Teacher of the world, but they\ndo not admit that He will come only once to the world; they reverence\nand honour Him now as still the Supreme World-Teacher, but they do not\nidentify Him with the great disciple who took the Jewish name as Jesus,\nand who is now amongst us as the Master who is the Guide and Helper of\nthe Christian Church. There is the point where the difference would come\nin. The orthodox Christian would claim Him as supreme over all religions,\nbut he would hardly recognise difference between the disciple who has\nbecome the Master with the special Christian Church in His charge, and\nthe Supreme Teacher who, while He certainly ever sends His benediction\nupon Christianity, sends it also upon the other great religions of\nthe world. This is where I feel the difference might come in between\nmyself and many of you. To us the great Master Jesus, who is, as you\nwould also acknowledge\u2014those of you, at least, who are members of the\nChurch of England\u2014thus still dwelling in a human body, still embodied\nliterally, has that power which the Master on the higher planes of being\nhas, of being spiritually in touch with all who call upon Him, with\nall who look to Him for guidance, but none the less still possesses a\nphysical body. This is a point of enormous importance (although not as\nimportant as spiritual omnipresence), for it means to us, and it means\nto many Christians who think with us, and are Theosophists with us, a\npossibility of a close and personal relation, as of a disciple to a\nMaster, which goes somewhat beyond the spiritual communion which every\ntrue Christian has with his great Teacher. How should I put that to\nconvey exactly what I mean in clear and definite language? I must put\nit, I think, by giving a general principle with regard to these great\nBeings whom we speak of as Masters, divine men, men made perfect, which\nworks through the whole of that great Brotherhood. They have many ways\nof working in the world; through their own subtle, spiritual bodies\nthey work, sending out floods of blessing over the whole world; but, in\naddition to that spiritual impulse and spiritual blessing which flow\ninto every heart that opens itself to receive them, with an ever present\nand potent power, there is an even closer and more specialised communion\nbetween the Spirit as embodied and those who are still wearing human\nbodies themselves, a possibility which the saints have realised of that\npersonal and individual and specialised communion with their Master where\nthey saw Him, heard Him; where to them He became, not only a spiritual\npresence, but an individualised Teacher, and even Friend; where they\nknew themselves as disciples, and knew Him as Master, which is the\ngreat mark, after all, of those who are specifically called the saints.\nFor that close and intimate and specialised relationship the body is\nnecessary; and hence, although sceptics have very often challenged that\nArticle of the Church of England where it says that \u201cHe did truly take\nagain His body, with flesh and bones, and all things appertaining to the\nperfection of man\u2019s nature,\u201d it does convey a fundamental and essential\ntruth: the great Teacher is not only a spiritual Presence, He is a human\nthough divine Being, who can be specifically and personally known. And\nif this latest impulse of Divine Wisdom which we call Theosophy is to be\nof use to Christendom, it will be along these lines of gradually winning\nChristians back to a conception that has been very largely lost\u2014that\ntheir touch with their Divine Master must be much closer and more\nrealised in the brain and human heart as contact of disciple and Teacher,\nthan when they are thinking of Him as Deity, when they are regarding Him\nas the second Person in the Trinity. How far that will commend itself\nto many of you it is, of course, impossible for me to say; but let the\noutline, at least, be clear, so that it may be definitely understood.\nIt is the conception of a Christ for whom a body was prepared, and\nprepared by His own well-loved disciple, who guarded, tended, trained it\nthrough the years of childhood, of youth, and of early manhood; a body\nsurrendered to the incoming mighty Personage, who is the Supreme Teacher\nof the world, incoming at the point marked by the Baptism, worn until\nthe time of the death, so that through the whole of that teaching, the\nministerial life, it was not Jesus but the Christ who was the Teacher who\nfounded Christianity. That body is laid aside, but He is still Lord of\nall religions, and He gives to His well-beloved disciple who became the\nMaster Jesus this religion specifically as his charge, his work in the\nworld. Other religions would have other Masters, but only one Supreme;\nothers would look to other divine men made perfect, but would recognise\nbeyond them this Master of Masters; and hence all religions draw together\nin the Supreme Teacher, and find there unity in that greatest and\nmightiest of all. So that every religion looks up to the one Teacher\nthrough Masters who specifically belong to the various faiths of the\nworld. That is the view which is very generally held in the Theosophical\nSociety, although none is bound to accept it, inasmuch as we impose no\ndogmas upon anyone; it is the view which is taken by those who have been\nmost thoroughly instructed in this matter; and it seems to me that it is\none of extreme interest to thoughtful people, even if they do not find\nthemselves able to accept it.\n\nThat is, then, the view of the nature of Christ that I would submit to\nyou; and if you look at it you will see that the whole of the criticisms\nto which I have referred fall to pieces, and no longer need disturb\nthe hearts or consciences of any; for it would be recognised that you\nhave here a manifestation of the same great Being, but not a unique\nmanifestation, who adapts Himself to the needs of His time, gives out\nso much of His wisdom and truth as He thinks can be accepted by the\npeople of His day and generation, but who, in giving it, gives with it\nan inspiring Spirit, which enables future generations to find more and\nmore in that teaching, and as they themselves develop spiritually, to\nfind ever greater depths in the teaching which had been given by the\nChrist. You will see how naturally that view passes on into the future,\nand why it is that many of us, believing that a new civilisation is\ndawning upon earth, also believe that the same Supreme Teacher will again\nbe manifested, again to tread the earth as He trod it in Jud\u00e6a, again to\nenlighten the world with spiritual wisdom, again to strike the keynote of\na new civilisation, gathering all the religions of the world under that\nsupreme teaching of His own, so that we look forward to a coming Christ\nas well as backward to a Christ in His last manifestation on the earth.\n\n\n\n\nLecture VII\n\nThe Theosophical Student in face of Revelation, Inspiration, and\nObservation\n\n_A Lecture delivered to the British Convention of the Theosophical\nSociety, July 4th, 1909_\n\n\nFriends: Those who seriously take up the study of Theosophy should\nnot be satisfied with the mere reading of the voluminous theosophical\nliterature poured out into the world through the centuries of the\npast, and continuing to flow into it in our own days. They should, in\naddition, if they have any innate faculty for such investigation, prepare\nto develop the faculties by which they may verify for themselves that\nwhich they are told by others. But in all cases much theoretical study\nis desirable before passing on into the practical, and in most cases it\nmay not be possible to develop the subtler senses within the limits of\nthe present incarnation, although a good foundation may be laid for such\ndevelopment in the next. Hence theoretical study must form a large part\nof the training of every theosophical student, and his attitude towards\nsuch study is a matter of serious importance. He needs to discriminate\nbetween the books he reads, and to suit his attitude to the type of the\nbook; he must seek to understand what is meant by Revelation, what by\nInspiration, and to distinguish revealed from inspired literature, and\nboth from the records of observations.\n\nSome Scriptures which are regarded as authoritative lie at the back of\nall the great religions. Thus Hind\u016bism has the Veda. The word means\nknowledge, and this knowledge is of that which is eternally true. It is\nthe knowledge of the Logos, the knowledge of the Lord of a universe;\nthe knowledge of what _is_, not of what _seems_; the knowledge of\nrealities, not of phenomena. This abides ever in the Logos; it is part\nof Himself. In its manifested form, as revealed for the helping of man,\nit becomes the _Ved\u0101s_, and in this form goes through many stages, until\nfinally little of the original remains. All Hind\u016b schools of philosophy\nacknowledge the supreme authority of the Vedas; but after this formal\nacknowledgment is made, the intellect is allowed to range freely at its\nwill\u2014to inquire, to judge, to speculate. Rigid as Hind\u016bism is in its\nsocial polity, it has ever left the human intellect free; in philosophy,\nin metaphysic, it has ever realised that truth should be sought, and no\npenalty inflicted on error; error being sufficiently penalised by the\nfact that it _is_ error, and breeds misfortunes under natural laws. Even\nto-day that ancient liberty is maintained, and a man may think and write\nas he will provided that he follows in practise the social customs of\nhis caste. The Hind\u016b divides all knowledge into two types\u2014the supreme\nand the lower. In the lower he places all his sacred books\u2014following in\nthis the dictum of an Upanishad[5]\u2014together with all other literature,\nall science, all instruction; in the category of the supreme he places\nonly \u201cthe knowledge of Him by whom all else is known.\u201d There you have\nHind\u016bism in a nutshell. When once supreme knowledge has been attained and\nillumination has been experienced, all Scriptures become useless. This\nis asserted plainly and boldly in a well-known passage in the _Bhagavad\nG\u012bt\u0101_: \u201cAll the Vedas are as useful to an enlightened Br\u0101hmana as is a\ntank in a place covered over with water.\u201d[6] What need of a tank when\nwater is everywhere? What need of Scriptures when the man is enlightened?\nRevelation is useless to the man to whom the Self is revealed.\n\nIn the early days of Buddhism the Vedas held high place, for the Lord\nBuddha, as Dr. Rhys Davids says, \u201cwas born and brought up, and lived and\ndied a Hind\u016b.\u201d[7] But the charter of intellectual freedom for Buddhists\nis contained in the wise advice of their Teacher: \u201cDo not believe in a\nthing said merely because it is said; nor in traditions because they have\nbeen handed down from antiquity; nor in rumours, as such; nor in writings\nby sages, merely because sages wrote them \u2026 nor on the mere authority of\nyour own teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing,\ndoctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness.\nFor this I have taught you: not to believe merely because you have heard;\nbut when you believed of your own consciousness, then to act accordingly\nand abundantly.\u201d[8] Even revelation, for the Buddhist, must be brought to\nthe touchstone of reason and consciousness; there must be a response to\nit from within, the interior witness of the Self, ere it can be accepted\nas authoritative.\n\nIn the Christian and Muhammadan faiths\u2014both largely influenced by\nJudaism\u2014the authoritative nature of revelation is carried further than in\nany earlier faith. In modern days the yoke of a revealed Scripture has\nbeen much lightened for Christianity by the growth of the critical spirit\nand by the researches of scholars. The modern Christian student is little\nmore hampered by his revelation than is the Hind\u016b by his. A conventional\nreverence is yielded, a lifting of the hat, and then the student goes\nfreely on his way.\n\nWhat is Revelation? It is a communication from a Being superior to\nhumanity of facts known to Himself, but unknown to those to whom He makes\nthe revelation\u2014facts which they cannot reach by the exercise of the\npowers that they have so far evolved. These facts can be verified at any\ntime by one who has climbed to the level of the Revealer, who may be an\nAvat\u0101ra, a Rishi, a Founder of a religion. They \u201cspeak with authority,\u201d\nthe authority of knowledge, the one authority to which all sane men\nbow. We do not find that these great Beings wrote down Their teachings\nThemselves; They taught, but They did not record. Some follower, some\ndisciple, it may be after the lapse of many years, even of centuries,\nwrote down what he or his forefathers had heard; hence the revelation\u2014and\nto this rule there is probably no exception\u2014is inevitably to some extent\ncoloured, narrowed, distorted by the transcriber. That which was heard\noriginally by those round the divine Teacher exists indeed in the\n\u0101k\u0101shic records, and may ever be recovered thence by those who have\ndeveloped the inner senses by which those records may be read. In many\ncases true records will have been made at the time by highly qualified\npersons; but such precious books are kept securely in the custody of\ntheir chosen guardians, in secret temples, in rock libraries, available\nfor the study of high Occultists, but of none other.\n\nThe Muhammadans would claim that in the case of their sacred book there\nis more certainty that the very words of their Prophet were preserved.\nAnd doubtless to this is due the overwhelming authority of _Al Qur\u0101n_ in\nthe minds of the faithful of Isl\u0101m.\n\nWhat should be the attitude of the Theosophical Student towards\nrevelation? He should treat the Scriptures of the world with reverence,\nremembering their origin, but none of them with submission, remembering\nthat they are transmitted to him by varied channels. He should call to\nhis aid the best scholarship, should gain all the light he can from\narch\u00e6ological and historical researches, and use his best critical\njudgment in separating the essential truth revealed from all the\naccretions that may have grown up around it. If he has developed his\nhigher psychic qualities, he should try to trace and disentangle the\nancient from the modern, search the \u0101k\u0101shic records for comparison,\nconfirmation, or contradiction of the revelation as it has come into his\nhands. How immense might be the services of such Theosophical Students as\nthey become more numerous and better equipped for this gigantic task. And\nwithout this external equipment much may be done by inner unfoldment;\nhe may unfold within himself his own spiritual powers; he may seek in\nprofound meditation the truth which shines in the revelation beneath many\na veil of ignorance and misconstruction; he may so purify his life that\nhis bodies will become translucent of the light of the spirit within him,\nwill illumine the written words. \u201cThe things of God knoweth no man but\nthe Spirit of God.\u201d But that Spirit dwells in every child of man; and\nas His light shines out, the divine things are revealed to the pure in\nheart. Until the inner Spirit thus responds to the revealed teachings\nand statements, the Theosophical Student must hold his judgment in\nsuspense before the claims of any revelation. It is not true _for him_\nuntil he can re-echo it in the voice of his own Spirit, his deepest Self.\nUseful and beautiful it may be; worthy of profoundest study and reverent\nresearch are the world\u2019s Bibles. But until they are affirmed by the\nSpirit within submission cannot be yielded, lest that should be given to\nthe errors of men which is due only to the divine Spirit.\n\nWhat is Inspiration? The raising of the normal human faculties by some\nextraneous influence through grade after grade of intellectual, moral,\nand spiritual power, up to the point where the extraneous influence may\neven expel the man from his body and use it for the expression of another\nindividual; where the new possessor is a Being at a height utterly\ntranscending man, inspiration may pass into revelation. Some may think\nthe word should be restricted to the raising of the powers of the subject\nfrom above their normal capacity to the highest point of their possible\nexercise, short of the expulsion of their owner and his replacement by\nanother individual greater than himself.\n\nThe lower grades of inspiration are within the experience of very many.\nHave you never felt, when listening to a speaker whose knowledge and\npower transcended your own, that your mental faculties were lifted to a\nhigher level than that to which you could rise unaided? On such occasions\nyou grasp questions that hitherto have eluded you; you see plainly, where\nbefore there had been obscurity; the field of thought becomes illumined,\nand objects are seen in hitherto undreamed-of relations\u2014you feel that\nyou know. On the following day you desire to share with a friend the\ntreasures you acquired, and you begin to recount the luminous exposition,\nto describe the great horizons which opened before you. You fail: where\nis the light, where the far-off scenes over which your eyes had swept?\nYour mind has sunk again to its normal level; the inspiration has passed\naway. As with the intellectual, so with the moral faculties. You had seen\nan unknown beauty, had felt an overwhelming admiration for the lofty\nand the pure: what has become of the warmth, the ardour? Are the cold\nashes of the intellectual approval all that remains of the throbbing\nheart, the passionate delight in the moral ideal? Why does it now look so\ncold, so grey, so unattractive? You were raised to a higher level than\nyou can reach unassisted; but none the less has the moral ideal and its\npower been shown to thee \u201cin the Mount,\u201d and the fact that you have once\nexperienced its all-compelling power will render you more susceptible to\nit in the future, and the day will come when that which you felt when\ninspired by another shall become the normal exercise of your own moral\nfaculties.\n\nComing to higher grades of inspiration, we may know, some of us, what it\nis to stand in the presence of the Masters, and to feel the marvellous\nuplift of Their presence. There is no need for words, no need for\nteaching; Their presence is enough. From that presence we go out again\ninto the ordinary world, to feel the difference of its atmosphere from\nthat of the Holy One. But, _we have known_, and the memory remains an\nabiding power.\n\nThose who have written or spoken under inspiration have been thus\nuplifted, their own intellectual and moral faculties have thus been\nstimulated, and raised far above their normal level. It is still they who\nwrite or speak, and their own characters and temperaments colour what\nthey say, leave their own impress on what they write. But they write and\nspeak far more nobly, far more powerfully than they could do unassisted.\n\nAnd so we may rise from grade to grade of inspiration until we reach the\nstage at which the mind and emotions of the man no longer sway his body,\nbut the body is wholly taken possession of and used by One greater than\nhimself. Then it is no longer the man himself who speaks, but \u201cthe Spirit\nof\u201d his \u201cFather who speaketh in\u201d him; his own limitations are struck\naway, his own idiosyncrasies vanish, and the inspired utterances flow\nforth unsullied. Then inspiration may range into revelation.\n\nThe process of all this is a very simple one. We know that by the\ncorrelation between changes in consciousness and vibrations of matter,\neach change in consciousness is accompanied by a vibration of the matter\nappropriated by the consciousness and forming its body; each vibration\nof the matter of a body is accompanied by a change in the embodied\nconsciousness. Either one of the pair may be the initiator; the other\never responds. When two or more people are together, one more evolved\nthan the other or others, the more evolved person, thinking, desiring,\nacting, sets up in his own bodies, mental, astral, and physical, a series\nof vibrations which corresponds to the changes in his consciousness;\nthese vibrations cause similar vibrations in the mental, astral, and\nphysical matter intervening between himself and the less advanced person\nor persons present. These vibrations in the intervening matter cause\nsimilar vibrations in the neighbouring body or bodies. These vibrations\nare immediately answered by corresponding changes in the embodied\nconsciousness or consciousnesses, and the person or persons concerned,\nthus placed _en rapport_ with one more advanced, think, desire, act on\na higher level than would be possible for them on their own initiative.\nThey are able to understand more keenly, to feel more warmly, to act more\nnobly than they could do unassisted. When the stimulus is removed they\ngradually sink back to their normal level, but memory is left, and they\nremember that they \u201chave known.\u201d Moreover, it is more easy for them to\nrespond a second time, and so on and on, until they establish themselves\non the higher level permanently. Hence the value of companionship with\nthose more advanced than ourselves, of living \u201cin their atmosphere.\u201d\nWords are not necessary; little speech may pass; but insensibly the\nsubtle body is tuned to a higher key, and only, perhaps, when the\ncompanionship is interrupted do the younger become conscious of the\nchange which has thus been brought about by contact with the elder.\n\nSimilar results may be brought about by reading the writings of those\nwho are more evolved than we are. A similar series of changes is set up,\nthough less powerfully than by the living presence. Moreover, intent and\nreverent study may attract the attention of the writer whether he be in\nor out of the body, and may draw him to the student, and thus cause the\nlatter to be enveloped in his atmosphere quite as potently as though he\nwere physically present. Hence the value of reading noble literature:\nwe are keyed up to its level for the time, and such reading, steadily\npersevered in, will lift us to a higher level and establish us thereon.\nHence the value of a brief reading before meditation, lifting us into\nan air more favourable to the work of meditation than we can start from\nunassisted. Hence the value also of \u201choly places\u201d for such meditation,\nplaces where the atmosphere is literally vibrating at a higher rate than\nour own; and hence the advice so often given by the instructed, to keep,\nif possible, a room or closet set apart for meditation, such a place soon\ngaining an atmosphere purer and subtler than that of the surrounding\nworld. It is of little use for the theosophical student to be acquainted\nwith these laws if he does not utilise them to his own helping, and to\nthe helping of those around him.\n\nWhat should be the attitude of the theosophical student towards the\ninspired man or the inspired book? He should be receptive, stilling all\nhis normal vibrations so far as is possible, and opening his whole nature\nto the impact and influx of the waves of vibration that pour forth upon\nhim. But his attitude should be more than receptive: he should gently\nendeavour to attune himself and to co-operate with the inflowing waves.\nHe should try to strengthen the sympathetic vibrations, so that the\naccompanying changes in consciousness may be as complete as possible. For\nthis he must pour out to the inspiring Object his love, his trust, his\ncomplete confidence and self-surrender, for thus only can he attune his\nbodies into sympathy with those of the Inspirer. He must, for the time,\nempty himself of his own ideas, his own feelings, his own activities,\nsurrendering himself to reproduce, not to initiate. As the unruffled lake\ncan mirror the moon and the stars, but as that same lake rippled by a\npassing breeze can yield only broken reflexions, so may the lower being,\nsteadying his mind, calming his desires, and imposing stillness on his\nactivities, reproduce within himself the image of the higher, so may the\ndisciples mirror the Master\u2019s mind. And so, also, if his own thoughts\nspring up, his own desires arise, will he have but broken reflexions,\ndancing lights, that tell him nought.\n\nIf you are going to read one of the inspired books of the world\u2014_The\nImitation of Christ_; _The Golden Verses_ of Pythagoras; _The Light on\nthe Paths_; _The Voice of the Silence_\u2014it is well to preface the reading\nwith a prayer, if that be your habitual way of raising your consciousness\nto its highest mood, or with the repetition of a mantra, or the soft\nchanting of some familiar and beloved rhythm, in order to bring yourself\ninto a sympathetic condition. Then read a phrase, re-read, brood over it,\nsavour it mentally, suck out its essence, its life.\n\nThus shall your subtle body become, to some extent at least, attuned to\nthat of the inspired writer, and repeating his vibrations, shall set up\nin your consciousness the corresponding changes. Priceless is the value\nof inspired books: they are steps of a ladder set up between earth and\nheaven, a veritable Jacob\u2019s ladder, on which descend and ascend the\nangels of God.\n\nThere remains a third class of books worthy of the attention of the\ntheosophical student, but towards which his attitude should be entirely\ndifferent from those which he adopts towards the revealed and the\ninspired. These are books containing the observations of students more\nadvanced than himself, observations carried on upon planes above the\nphysical, observations made by students who are evolving in knowledge\nof, and in power on, those planes, and have not yet reached the stature\nof the Perfect Man. There are books such as _The Secret Doctrine and\nEsoteric Buddhism_, written by disciples, which are not records of the\ndirect observations of students, but are rather transcriptions of the\nteachings of Masters, into which errors may creep by misunderstandings\nof those teachings. H. P. Blavatsky herself told us that there were\ninevitably errors in _The Secret Doctrine_; and as we have in that\nwonderful book her own descriptions of the pictures shown to her by her\nMaster, there is an opening for possible errors of observation: these are\nprobably not serious, as she was carefully overlooked and aided during\nthe writing. These two books stand apart from the bulk of our literature,\nthe Masters having been largely concerned in their production. The books\nI have in mind are those written by disciples, using their own normal\nfaculties, faculties still in course of evolution; books relating chiefly\nto the astral, mental, and buddhic planes, to the constitution of man,\nto the past of individuals, nations, races, and worlds. We are gradually\naccumulating a large amount of literature of this kind, a literature of\nobservations by students using superphysical faculties. With regard to\nthis, certain things need to be borne in mind.\n\nFirst: the students in question are in course of evolution, and the\nfaculties of which they make use to-day, which have become their normal\nfaculties, are more developed and reach higher planes than those which\nthey used ten or fifteen years ago. Hence they see now very much more\nthan they saw then, both in quantity and quality, and this enlarged\nsight must inevitably give reports differing in fulness from that of the\nearlier and narrower vision.\n\nSecondly: this greater fulness will change relative proportions and\nperspective. A thing which seemed imposing and independent when seen\nalone, may become subordinate and comparatively insignificant when seen\nas a part of a larger whole. It may change form and colour, seen with\nsurroundings which become visible only when it is looked at with a higher\nvision. That which was a globe, sailing through space, to the physical\neye, becomes the free end of a continuous body, materially attached to\nthe sun, when seen with superphysical sight. Was it false to describe it\na globe? Yes, and no.\n\nIt was and is a globe on the physical plane, answering to all that is\nmeant by a globe down here. In subtler regions it is not a globe, but a\nbody, the tip of which is a globe only to gross vision, vision to which\nits continuation is invisible.\n\nThirdly: the keener vision detects intermediate stages before unseen, and\nshows a series of changes between two which, to the less acute sight,\nwere in immediate sequence. Thus, in the earlier observations, it was\nsaid that the ultimate physical atom broke up into astral matter. When\na similar phenomenon is studied twelve years later, it is seen that the\nphysical atom breaks up into an immense number of inconceivably minute\nparticles, and that these immediately group themselves into forty-nine\nastral atoms, which may or may not, again, combine into astral molecules.\nAgain, a whirling wall was mentioned: keener vision sees no wall, but an\nillusory enclosure, caused by rapid motion, like the fiery circle traced\nby a whirling fire-tipped stick. So, in the continuous light of gas or\nelectricity, a whirling disk of black and white rays shows grey; put out\nthe lights, and let the darkness be rent by a lightning-flash, the disk\nhangs motionless, every black and white ray distinct. Which is the true\nobservation? The eye in each case bears true witness to what it _sees_.\nThe different conditions impose upon it different visions.\n\nOther differences also arise, but these may serve as samples. Are, then,\nbooks relating to observations useless? They only become useless, even\nmischievous, when the theosophical student treats them as revelations\nor inspirations instead of as observations. Observation is the basis of\nscientific knowledge; the correction of earlier observations by later\nones is the condition of scientific progress. The student of optics,\nwhen confronted with the black-and-white rayed disk, the grey disk, the\nwhirling disk hanging motionless, does not conclude that the conflicting\nobservations make observations useless. He searches for and finds the\nconditions of light, of the constitution of the eye, which explain the\nequally true though contradictory reports. He submits the observations\nto renewed experiment and to the scrutiny of reason, until from the\ncontradictions emerges the many-sided truth.\n\nWhat should be the attitude of the theosophical student to books of\nobservations? To all such books you must take up the attitude of the\nscientific student, not of the believer. You must bring to bear upon them\na bright intelligence, a keen mind, an eager intellect, a thoughtful\nand critical reason. You must not accept as final, observations made by\nother students, even though those students are using faculties which\nyou yourselves have not as yet developed. You should accept them only\nfor what they are\u2014observations liable to modification, to correction,\nto reviewal. You should hold them with a light grasp, as hypotheses\ntemporarily accepted until confirmed or negated by further observations,\nincluding your own. If they illuminate obscurities, if they conduce\nto sound morality, take them and use them; but never let them become\nfetters to your mind, gaolers of your thought. Study these books, but do\nnot swallow them; understand them, but hold your judgment in suspense:\nthese books are useful servants but dangerous masters; they are to be\nstudied, not worshipped. Make your own opinions, do not borrow those of\nothers; do not be in such a hurry to know that you accept other people\u2019s\nknowledge, for ready-made opinions, like ready-made clothes, are neither\nwell-fitting nor becoming.\n\nThere is a dangerous tendency in the Theosophical Society to make books\nof observations authoritative instead of using them as materials for\nstudy. We must not add to the number of blind believers who already\nexist, but to the number of sane and sober students, who patiently\nform their own opinions and educate their own faculties. Use your own\njudgment on every observation submitted to you; examine it as thoroughly\nas possible; criticise it as fully as you can. It is a poor service you\ndo us when you turn students into popes, and, parrot-like, repeat as\nauthoritative, statements that you do not know to be true. Moreover,\nblind belief is the road to equally blind scepticism: you place a\nstudent on a pedestal and loudly proclaim him to be a prophet, despite\nhis protests; and then, when you find he has made some mistake, as he\nwarned you was likely, you turn round, pull him down, and trample on him.\nYou belabour him when you should belabour your own blindness, your own\nstupidity, your own anxiety to believe.\n\nIs it not time that we should cease to be children, and begin to be men\nand women, realising the greatness of our opportunities and the smallness\nof our achievements? It is not time to offer to Truth the homage of\nstudy instead of that of blind credulity? Let us ever be ready to\ncorrect a mistaken impression or an imperfect observation, to walk with\nopen eyes and mind alert, remembering that the best service to Truth is\nexamination. Truth is a sun, shining by its own light; once seen, it\ncannot be rejected. \u201cLet Truth and falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth\nput to the worse in a fair encounter?\u201d\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] I am told that these punishments are no longer used in English jails.\nIf that be so, a step has been made in advance.\n\n[2] The _principle_ of reincarnation is accepted, in this sense, by many\nSpiritualists, who deny that man returns to earth. With them another line\nof argument would be followed to prove the necessity of reincarnation on\nearth.\n\n[3] See _The Science of the Emotions_, by Bhagav\u0101n D\u0101s, Theosophical\nPublishing Society.\n\n[4] A Roman Catholic friend tells me that it is also used in cases of\ngreat danger, and that a friend of hers was thrice raised by it from what\nthreatened to be a deathbed.\n\n[5] _Mundakepanishat_, I. i. 5.\n\n[6] _Loc. cit._, ii. 46.\n\n[7] _Buddhism_, p. 116.\n\n[8] _Kalama Sutta_ of the _Anguttara Nikaya_.\n\n\n\n\n                              TOPICAL INDEX\n                                   TO\n                              THE CHANGING\n                                  WORLD\n\n                                   BY\n                              ANNIE BESANT\n\n                             ARRANGED BY THE\n                           CHICAGO LODGE, T.S.\n\n                         FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS\n\n                            Copyright 1910 by\n                        THEOSOPHICAL BOOK CONCERN\n                      26 Van Buren Street, CHICAGO\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n    A\n\n    Abbas Effendi, spiritual teacher and prophet, 150\n\n    Adept, mark of, 231\n      standard of, at Shamballah, 294, 295\n      (see Masters of Wisdom, also Manu).\n\n    \u0100k\u0101shic records, contain original revelations, 321\n\n    Age, signs of closing, 3\n        in religion, 7-16\n        in science, 16-21\n        in art, 21-24\n        in social conditions, 27-46\n      transitional, 4, 5, 149, 150\n      signs of opening, in religion, 54-63\n        in science, 63-70\n        in art, 70-74\n        in social conditions, 75-102\n\n    America, social conditions in, 34, 35, 36\n\n    Ancient Wisdom, a great river, 285\n      truths of, Theosophy, 183\n      religion traced to universal, 190\n\n    Angels, and Archangels, 137, 191, 271\n      disappearance of the teaching, 271\n\n    Archaeology (see comparative Mythology), 113, 188, 189\n\n    Archangels (see Angels).\n\n    Aristotle, 107\n\n    Art, beauty a necessity, 21, 22\n      in India, 21, 22\n      imitative, not creative, 23\n      new, created by new senses, 70, 77\n      colour and sound, coloured sounds, 70, 72, 73\n      reaches out by emotion, 73\n      colour and emotion, sound and emotion, 70, 71, 72, 73\n      and Theosophy in the coming civilization, 200, 201, 202\n      restoration of, a necessity, 201\n      is beauty, not common place, 202\n\n    Artist, the, priest of the beautiful, 202\n\n    Aryan Race, fifth root race, 3\n      ideal type of, 116\n      to develop mind, 118\n      greatest development of mind, 118\n      sub-races of, 137, 138, 212, 213\n      fourth sub-race, emotional, 184\n      fifth sub-race, 214, 215\n        characteristics, 217, 218\n        dominant note, 184\n      selection of stock for and development of, 229, 230\n\n    Astral aura (see Aura).\n\n    Astral body of next race, 53, 54\n      organized under pressure of thought, 124\n      activity of its sense organs, 125\n      its senses and psychism, 125\n      and the pituitary body, 125\n      vibrations and emotions in, 167\n      organization of, 170, 172, 173, 174\n      and dreams, 175\n      unifying with physical, 176\n      false methods of organization, 177, 178\n      organized by meditation and purity of life, 178, 179\n\n    Astral colours (see Colours).\n\n    Astral senses, 51, 53, 57, 58, 59\n      effect of development, 60-63\n      builders of new art, 70, 73\n      methods of development (see astral body), 177-179\n\n    Atlantean Race, the fourth, predominant traits, 114, 211\n      source of the fifth root race, 115, 210\n      fourth sub-race of, the Toltec, 115\n      fifth sub-race of, the Semitic, 115, 230, 231\n        new root race, 115, 211\n        chosen from, 115, 211\n        developed mind, 211\n\n    Atlantis, continent of, 113\n\n    Atom and science in the West, 17\n      the chemical, our power of seeing, 64\n      experiments in seeing (see Clairvoyance), 64, 65\n      vibrations of, and consciousness of the Logos, 165\n      physical, earlier and later observations compared, 330\n\n    Atonement, vicarious, 148\n\n    Aura, colours of the astral, 166\n      colours of, and consciousness, 166\n      vibrations of, and consciousness, 167, 168\n\n    Australia, social condition in, 37-41\n\n    Avat\u0101ra, description of, 133, 134, 135\n\n    Aztecs (see Mythology), 113, 189\n\n\n    B\n\n    B\u0101b, messenger in Persia of coming Christ, 150\n\n    Baptism, a sacrament (see Sacraments), 266, 267\n      marked incoming of the Christ (see Christ), 306\n\n    Beauty, a necessity, 21, 22\n      human, finest type of, 116, 117\n      what it means, 201\n      theosophy teaches reverence for, 201\n      in ancient Greece, 193, 203\n      an essential part of utility, 224\n\n    Besant, Annie, joined Society in 1887, 228\n      facts re-communicated to her in 1895, 229\n      referred to as temporary personality, 258\n      her opponents, 259\n      and H. P. B., 290\n      her message to the T. S., 296\n\n    Bhagavad-G\u012bt\u0101, referred to, 279\n      quoted, 280, 282\n      on scriptures and the enlightened man, 319\n\n    Bibles, of the race, testimony of, 156, 157\n\n    Birmingham, 201\n\n    Blavatsky, H. P., practical proof of Brotherhood, 26, 27\n      on socialism, 44\n      and \u201cThe Secret Doctrine\u201d, 209\n      referred to, 26, 227\n      disciple of Master M., 228\n      and inner side of T. S., 234\n      tribute to, on White Lotus Day, 1909, 282, 283, 284\n      her return, 286, 287\n      her endeavor frustrated, 288\n      a messenger of the Masters, 290\n      and Mrs. Besant, 290\n      and errors in secret Doctrine, 328\n\n    Bodies, evolution of, 49, 52, 54\n      the instruments of higher consciousness, 155\n      natural, triple differentiation, 162\n      spiritual and natural, 163\n      spiritual, 163\n      physical, organization of, 169, 170\n      subtle, organization of, 170\n      mental, organization of, 171\n      spiritual, organization of, 172\n      signs of organization of astral (see Telepathy, also Dreams), 173\n      astral, organization of, 170, 171, 172, 173\n      unifying physical and astral, 176\n      departments of man\u2019s nature, 211\n      of sixth sub-race, 222\n      value of scientific way of dealing with (see Pituitary Body,\n        also Astral), 268\n\n    Body, human, of Jesus, 147\n\n    Books, and the Theosophical Student, 318\n      revealed, 321\n      inspired, 327\n      of observations, 328, 329, 330\n        when useless or mischievous, 331\n\n    Brotherhood, H. P. B.\u2019s example of, 27\n      showing itself, 45\n      applied to social conditions, 75\n      not equality, 75, 76, 77\n      societies which recognize, 77\n      and reincarnation, 78, 79, 80\n        karma, 81\n        religion, 83, 84, 85\n      family and state, 78, 86, 87, 88\n      and education, 82, 89\n        capital punishment, 95\n        economics, 97, 98, 99, 100\n        politics, 101, 102\n      of religions, 237\n      mightiest thing in all the world, 242\n      chosen by Masters as our mark, 243\n\n    Bodhisattva, the supreme teacher, 137\n      manifests in every sub-race, 137\n      last manifestation as the Christ, 149\n      will again appear, 149\n      (see Hermes, Zarathustra, Orpheus)\n\n    Buddha, Wisdom-Truth.\n      spiritual man, 118\n      \u201cThe Enlightened\u201d, 135\n      one in every Root race, 135\n      the, belongs to our race, 136\n      Gautama, last manifestation, 136\n      former manifestations in Aryan race, 136\n      passed on, Son united with Father, 142\n\n    Buddhi, qualities of, (see Christ), 241\n\n    Buddhism, revived in Ceylon, 236\n\n    Buddhists, their intellectual freedom, 319-320\n\n\n    C\n\n    Catholic Spirit, emotional temperament, 245\n      definition of, 252\n      its mind teachable, 253\n\n    Catholic Spirit, easily lead along path of Occultism, 253\n      and Mysticism, 253\n      type of, responds to idea of Masters, 254\n      and Occultism, 255-256\n        the Leadbeater question, 257-258\n\n    Chald\u00e6a, 189\n\n    Christ, the time of birth (see Rome), 4, 5\n      \u201cJesus or Christ\u201d (see Hibbert Journal), 10, 11, 147, 298, 299\n      type of spiritual man, 118\n      supreme teacher of fifth sub-race, 142, 143\n      the Divine Power, the Spirit of God, 147\n      signs of His coming, 148, 149\n      looked for by occult world, 151\n      shall we recognize Him, 151, 152, 153, 292\n      characteristics of, 152, 153\n      The Wisdom, 160\n      words of, 222\n      the Mystic, emblem of self-sacrifice, 238\n      showed new type to fifth sub-race, 241\n      will show qualities of Buddhi, 241\n      His reception and treatment, 288\n      \u201cChrist in Modern Theology\u201d, 299\n      time of His coming, 291\n      His powers, 303\n      unfolding of in Man, 305\n      and Jesus, relation between, 305\n      view taken of Him by occultists, 305\n      His incoming marked by Baptism (see Baptism), 306\n      the, who is He?, 307\n      the world teacher, 309\n      not Jesus, founder of Christianity, 312\n      not a unique manifestation, 313\n      will again be manifest, 313\n\n    Christos, office of, 143\n      the anointed one, 144\n      grade of initiation in Mysteries, 144, 307\n\n    Christian life, mystic, 148\n\n    _Christians Commonwealth_, 183\n\n    Christianity, early days of, 145\n      mysteries in, 145\n      and comparative Mythology, 189\n      keynote in, 193\n      mystical, spreading, 236\n      should give idea of self-sacrifice, 238\n      how to preserve it, 239, 240\n      and revealed Scriptures, 320\n\n    Church, the early, and the Gnostics, 145\n      the early, and the Mysteries, 263\n      Anglican, referred to, 272\n      Guilds of healing in, 273\n      must ever give sacraments, 277\n\n    Civilizations, of the past\u2014perished, 27-28\n      of men, a succession is observed, 184\n      the coming prevailing mark spirituality, 184\n        and Brotherhood, 185\n      religion in coming, 184-185\n\n    Clairvoyance, under hypnotism (see R\u00f6ntgen rays), 67, 57, 58\n      slight, seeing atom, 64\n        Aura, 165-166\n\n    Clairvoyant vision of sacrament, 269\n\n    Clement of Alexandria (see St. Clement)\n\n    Colour, new, given by new senses, 70\n      new, to indicate higher emotions, 70\n      Astral, seen by some painters (see Mortimer Menpes), 71\n      and sound, coloured sounds, 73\n      in Astral aura, 166\n      each religion has its, 192\n\n    Comparative Mythology (see Mythology)\n\n    Conscience must be enlightened, 13\n      and matter, development of, 52\n      human, 69, 74\n      and correspondences, 104\n      evolution of, three stages, 106-107\n      first dawn of, will to live, 109\n      second, of emotions, 110\n      third, power of mind, 110\n      coming type of, 118\n      mark of, in coming race, 119-120\n      higher, and flesh and alcohol, 124\n      unfoldment stimulated by meditation, 127, 176\n        purity, 178\n      of Logos, Great Beings in, 133\n      the larger, 155\n        and bodies, 155\n        higher, evidence of, 156-157\n        threefold division in man (see St. Paul), 159\n        waking the, 159-162\n        and form, relation between, 165\n        of Logos and atomic vibrations, 165\n        signs of unfolding, 172\n        man dominated by, 184\n        next principle to unfold, 184\n        unfolding taught in every religion, 191\n      and vibrations of matter,   325\n\n    Correspondences, principle of, 104\n      used by Mystics, 104\n        science, 104\n        Swedenborg, 104\n      theory of, used to explain past and forecast future, 104-107\n      and embryology, 106\n      in evolutionary stages, 106\n\n    Cortez, 189\n\n    Coulomb Plot, 283\n\n    Crime (see Penology)\n\n    Cromwell, Oliver, and Charles I. (see Puritan Spirit), 246\n      example of Puritan Mystic (see Reformation), 254\n\n\n    D\n\n    Damodar, tribute to, 286\n      his return, 289\n\n    Deduction in ancient philosophies, 107\n      and the science of mathematics, 107\n      characteristic of the Platonic method, 107\n      explains past and forecasts the future, 108, 110\n      used by Occult Science, 108\n      later stages of evolution traced by, 111\n      and reincarnation, 111\n\n    Desire and will, 161\n      determined by attractions outside (see Emotions), 161\n\n    Dev\u0101pi, sketch of, 227\n      Bodhisattva of the sixth race, 228\n\n    Devas, 137\n      drawn to altars of sacraments, 271\n\n    Dreams, physical, 175\n      show organization of Astral body, 175\n\n\n    E\n\n    Economics, conditions in England, 97, 98\n      in Australia, 99\n      and Brotherhood, 97, 98, 99, 100\n      problems solved by whom (see Social Conditions) (see Supply and\n        Demand), 100, 101\n\n    Education, and morals, 12\n      in the Old Testament, 14\n      and religion, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 86\n        social problems, 82, 86, 87, 88\n        Brotherhood, 82-89\n      in play, 88, 89\n      religious, in peril in England, 238\n      in India, influence, of Theos. Soc., 239\n\n    Egypt, ancient, compared with Southern Mexico, 113\n      Book of the Dead (see Comparative Mythology), 189\n      religious keynote, knowledge, 193\n\n    Emotions, colour and sound, 70, 71, 72\n      art reaches out by, 73\n      Wisdom-Love reflected as emotions, 109, 110\n      fourth root-race (see Atlantean), 114\n      root of, 161\n      science of (see Science of Emotions by Bhagav\u0101n D\u0101s), 167, 168\n      dominant note of Keltic sub-race (see Aryan), 184\n\n    Epistles, the, deal with an indwelling Spirit (see Christ, also St.\n        Paul), 147, 304\n\n    Esoteric Buddhism and the Masters, 328, 329\n\n    Evolution, slow course of, 3\n      of Divine germ, 48, 49\n      of bodies and senses, 49\n      of new race, 114, 115, 116\n      of nervous system, 121\n      higher, and environments, 121\n      hastening, by meditation, 126, 127\n      of consciousness into Divine Man, 191\n      human not at the top of, 240\n      goal of, a manifest Divine humanity, 304\n\n\n    F\n\n    Fairbairn, Doctor, on \u201cChrist in Modern Theology\u201d, 299\n      issue not well taken, 300, 301\n\n\n    G\n\n    Garibaldi, referred to, 82\n\n    Gautama Buddha (see Bodhisattva), 141\n\n    Genius, 172\n\n    Germany attained national unity, 81\n\n    Glasgow, 201\n\n    Gnosis, ancient (see Theosophy), 185\n\n    Gnostics, necessary in Christian Church (see Origen), 145\n\n    Gnostic, heresy, 306\n\n    God, extra cosmic, 9\n      immanent, 10\n      spiritual knowledge of, how reached, 55\n      \u201cThe kingdom of God is within you\u201d, 55\n      existence of, how demonstrated, 9, 55, 56, 57\n      manifesting triple nature (Trinity), 159\n      consciousness of, and vibration of atom, 165\n      unity of, taught in every religion, 190\n      in manifestation ever triple, 190\n      vast family of, 191\n      how we may help, to manifest, 294\n\n    Gospels, the, deal with an historical person (see Christ), 147, 304\n\n    Goths, 117, 214\n\n    Grail (see Holy Grail).\n\n    Greece, keynote of religion, beauty, 193\n      ancient, beauty in, 203\n\n\n    H\n\n    Haeckel, 113\n\n    Hebrew people, 211\n      and the Founder of Christianity, 303\n\n    Hermes, the Thrice Greatest (see Bodhisattva), 138\n\n    Hibbert Journal, article \u201cJesus or Christ\u201d, 10, 11, 298, 299\n      \u201cChrist in Modern Theology\u201d, 299\n\n    Hierarchies, recognized by Masons and by Theosophists, 77\n      based on Brotherhood of Man, 78\n      of superhuman beings, rank in, 132\n      of spiritual intelligences, 191\n      not known to Protestants, 271\n      and apostolic succession, 272\n\n    Hind\u016bism, a text book of, 83, 84\n      revived, 236\n      its two great teachings, 193, 238\n      and secular education, 238, 239\n      sacraments numerous in, 262\n      all great actions are sacramental, 274\n      and the Veda (see Veda), 318\n      in a nutshell, 319\n      and freedom of intellect, 318, 319\n\n    Historical sense in East and West contrasted, 139, 140\n\n    Holy Grail, legend of, the Mysteries and Yoga, 275\n      and the Ancient Path, 275\n      inner meaning, 276\n      connection with Christian Sacrament (see Sacraments), 277\n\n    Humanity, submerged classes of, 28, 29, 30\n      deterioration of physique, 32, 33\n      stunted and deformed (see Social Conditions), 201\n\n    Human nature changing, 43, 44, 80\n      changed by thought, 81\n        great ideals (see Mind), 82\n\n    Hypnotism used by physicians (see Science), 67\n\n    Hysteria, how produced (see Nervous System), 199\n\n\n    I\n\n    India, art in life of, 21, 22\n      social conditions in, 28, 29\n      Burmans, illustrate sense development, 50\n      music of, 72\n      the caste system, 79\n      religion of, 83, 84\n      Kashmir type of Aryan, 116, 117\n      false method of developing consciousness, 177, 178\n      the Yogi in, 199, 200\n      a mighty past and a mighty future, 212\n      White Lotus Day, memorial services in, 279\n\n    Induction and science, 107\n      limited to observed facts, 107\n\n    Initiates and inner revelation, 276\n\n    Initiations reflected in Mysteries, 143\n      of the Hierarchy, 144\n\n    Inspiration, what is it?, 322\n      and revelation, 322, 324\n      lower, within experience of many, 323\n      and the Masters, 324\n      in writing and speaking, 324\n      and true mediumship, 324\n      process of, simple, 325\n      through companionship, 326\n      through books, 326\n\n    Inspirational reading and meditation, 326\n\n    Inspired books, 327\n      men and books and the Theosophical student, 327\n\n    Intellectual growth, condition of, complete freedom, 301\n      and spiritual unfolding, 303\n\n    Intuition, above concrete mind, 290\n      light of spirit within, 289, 290\n      must be developed by Theosophists, 290\n\n    Iranians, 213\n\n    Ireland, people belong to fourth sub-race of Aryan, 212\n      kept apart, 213\n      Keltic race highly emotional, 184\n\n    Italy obtained national unity, 81, 82\n\n\n    J\n\n    Jesus, mysteries of (see St. Clement), 146\n      and Christ, 147\n      divinity of, 304\n      quoted, 304\n      and Christ, relation between, 305\n      to guard pure body for the Christ, 305\n      stepped out of body, 306\n      and Christ, view held in early Church, 307\n      the Master, guide of Christian Church, 310\n      still dwelling in human body, 310\n      possibility of personal relation with, 310\n      His work in the world, 312\n\n    Judge, W. Q., secession, 283\n      tribute to, on White Lotus Day, 1909, 285\n\n\n    K\n\n    Karma, and brotherhood, 81\n        human nature, 81\n        reincarnation, 81\n      law of, inviolable sequence, 81\n      law of, 221, 222\n      paid in this life (see Dr. Pascal), 281\n      belief in, 284\n\n    Keltic, fourth sub-race of the Aryan root-race, 140\n      Orpheus leader of (see Races, also Aryan), 140, 141\n\n    Kings, Moru and Dev\u0101pi (see Masters of Wisdom), 227\n\n\n    L\n\n    Law, universal, 191, 192\n      one eternal, taught by Christ and Buddha, 194\n      natural law does not change, 198, 199\n\n    Leadbeater, C. W. L., and the Catholic and Puritan spirit, 257\n      a transitory personality, 258\n      cause of great shaking of T. S., 260\n\n    Lemuria, lost continent of, 113\n\n    Lemurian, third root-race, characteristics of (see Races), 113\n\n    _Light of Asia_, 279\n\n    Lodge, Great, of the Masters, source of wisdom, 285\n      the, its messengers, 296\n\n    London, conditions of living in, 122, 123\n      life contrasted with country life, 123\n\n    Love, wisdom expresses itself as, 161\n\n\n    M\n\n    Mahdi, in Africa, 150\n\n    Man, divine, 45, 46\n      a spiritual intelligence, 48\n      the real spiritual individuality of, 163\n      dominated by consciousness, 184\n      spiritual, mark of, 118, 119\n      nature of, 211\n      can achieve all things, 204\n      is growing Godlike, 204\n      constitution of, and sacraments, 264, 265\n      body of, and Protestantism, 265\n      the spiritual, will know spiritual men, 292\n      God in, help the God to manifest, 294\n      a spiritual being in whom Divine Spirit will unfold, 302\n      spiritual nature to unfold along three lines, 302\n\n    Manchester, 201\n\n    Mantra, words of Power, 267, 268, 269\n      and experiments of Tyndall, 267\n      sound as used in, 267\n      use of, in Greek Church, 268\n\n    Manu, the thinker, 210\n      evolves race, 210\n      chooses type, 211\n      guide of root-race, 229\n      type of race, 229\n      of fifth root-race, his work, 229, 230\n\n    Masons, fraternity of, 77\n\n    Masters of Wisdom, 180\n      their teachings withdrawn, 148\n      Brotherhood of Teachers, 187\n      preside over human evolution, 192\n      two related to Theos. Soc., 226, 227\n        Kings, Moru and Dev\u0101pi, 227\n      and their pupils, 256, 257\n      quoted, \u201cthe standard of the adept\u201d, 294, 295\n      how to know a Master, 293\n      their way of working in world, 311\n      the uplift of their presence, 324\n      and inspiration, 324\n        _The Secret Doctrine_, 328, 329\n        _Esoteric Buddhism_, 328, 329\n\n    Matter appropriated by spirit, 164\n      Deity manifest in, 164\n      spirit master of, 165\n      and spirit, relation between, 165\n      power over, 68, 69, 168, 169\n      vibrations of, and consciousness, 325\n\n    Mazzini, 221\n\n    Medicine, deadlock in, 19, 20, 21\n      hypnotism and clairvoyance used by physicians, 67\n      and vivisection (see Clairvoyance), 67\n      power of mind in treatment of disease, 68\n\n    Meditation, concentrated thinking, 58\n      artificially awakens senses, 59, 60\n      quickens evolution, 126, 127\n      three stages of, 127\n      stimulates unfolding consciousness, 127\n      develops instrument used in unfolding consciousness, 176\n      used for organization of finer bodies, 199\n      and inspiration, 326\n\n    Menpes, Mortimer, description of painting, 71\n\n    Mexico, 189\n\n    Mill, J. S., 240\n\n    Miller, Dr., 238\n\n    Mind, creates and restores, 68\n      supremacy over matter, 68, 69\n      characteristic of Teutonic sub-race (see Aryan), 118\n\n    Moral Educational Congress, 238\n\n    Moru, sketch of life, 227\n      letter quoted, 227, 228\n      Manu of sixth root-race, 228\n      co-operates with Manu of fifth root-race, 233\n      has begun His work, keynote brotherhood, 233, 234\n\n    Music, the new, 72\n      of India, 72\n        Russia, 73\n      every religion has note of its own, 192\n\n    Myer\u2019s book on Human Personality, 175\n\n    Mysteries, Orphic, 140, 141\n      Greek thought in, 143\n      Christos, grade of, 143\n      reflexions of initiations, 143, 144\n      of Jesus (see St. Clement of Alexandria), 146\n      of Kingdom of God, 146\n      in early church, 263\n      followed by legend of the Holy Grail, 275\n      of Jesus took place of Yoga in Hind\u016bism, 275\n\n    Mysticism and Puritan and Catholic spirit, 253\n\n    Mystic Puritan, example in Cromwell, 254\n\n    Mythology, comparative, 8, 188, 189\n      and dogmatic Christianity, 189\n        comparative religion, 190\n\n\n    N\n\n    Nerves, sensory and motor, 169\n\n    Nervous system, of fourth and fifth races compared, 52\n      increase of nervous diseases, 53\n      of sixth sub-race, 53, 222, 223\n      evolved according to law, 60\n      changing type unstable, 120\n      greater tension causes madness (see Psychology), 121\n      its finer evolution, conditions impossible, 121\n      delicate type of, 121, 122\n      in coming race, 121, 122, 123\n      flesh food unsuited to finer type, 124\n      of Chinese and Japanese compared with Aryan, 222, 223\n\n    Nineveh, 189\n\n\n    O\n\n    Observation, basis of scientific knowledge, 331\n\n    Occultism and the Catholic spirit, 253\n      in the church, 263\n\n    Occultist, possibility of, in Catholic type, 254, 255\n      not found in Puritan type, 255\n      must be willing to learn by experience, 256\n      develops faculties in doing Master\u2019s will, 256, 257\n      and the mantra, 267\n      records of revelations accessible to him only, 321\n\n    Olcott, Col. H. S., referred to as founder of T. S., 228\n      the President Founder, tribute to, 282\n\n    Old Testament in education, 14\n\n    Origen\u2019s writings, 145, 146, 147\n\n    Orpheus, leader of fourth sub-race (see Bodhisattva), 140, 141\n\n\n    P\n\n    Pars\u012bs, 213\n\n    Pascal, Doctor, tribute to, 281\n\n    Path, the, 275, 276, 277\n\n    Penology, criminal population, 33, 34\n      criminals and their treatment, 89-91\n      habitual criminals, 92\n      probation system, 94, 95\n      capital punishment, 95, 96\n      criminal of lopsided development, 91\n      prison labor, 92, 93\n\n    Periods, the present a transitional, 4, 5\n      related to Mighty Beings, 133, 134\n      four great world, 133\n\n    Persia, keynote of religion purity, 193\n\n    Persians, 212\n\n    Philosophy, Hind\u016b, and the Vedas, 318\n\n    Pituitary Body, use of, development of, 125\n      affected by flesh and alcohol, 125, 126, 197, 198\n      connecting link between grosser and finer senses, 51, 196\n\n    Plato, his philosophy, 107\n\n    Politics, liberty and the franchise, 101\n      class legislation in England, 101\n      liberty, 101, 102\n      freedom and self-control, 102\n\n    Protestant, knows nothing of hierarchy, 271\n\n    Protestantism, its attitude towards physical body, 265\n      and materialism, 265\n      recognizes two sacraments only, 272\n\n    Psychic, low grade of intelligence in undeveloped, 115\n      qualities developed before lower mind, 230\n\n    Psychism, powers of, where found, 114\n      higher, how produced (see Astral Body), 125\n\n    Psychology, new, the, 18, 19\n      range of possibilities (see Nervous System), 69, 70\n      soul in relation to spirit (see Soul), 160\n\n    Pur\u0101nas, 226, 227\n\n    Puritan Spirit and intellectual temperament, 245\n      value of, 245, 246\n      in reign of Charles First and Cromwell, 246\n        Charles Second, 246\n      description of, 247, 248\n      outburst of, necessary, 248\n      and intellectual development of man, 249\n      growth of, and loss of the spiritual, 250, 251\n      in Theosophical Society, 251, 252\n      and lofty form of Mysticism, 253, 254\n        Occultism, 255-257\n        the Leadbeater question, 257, 258\n\n\n    R\n\n    Races, root and sub, 1, 2\n        religion of, 235\n      and senses, 49, 50\n      choice of new, 210\n      fourth and sixth, closely interlinked, 213\n      Lemurian, dominant characteristics of, 113\n      Atlantean (see also Atlantean), 113\n        passion and lower psychism of, 114\n        characteristics of Semitic sub-race, 115, 230\n        highest civilization in Toltec, 115, 230\n      Aryan (see also Aryan), 3\n        source of, 229, 230\n        second sub, Hermes leader of, 138\n        third sub, Zarathustra leader of, 140\n        fourth sub, Orpheus leader of, 140, 141\n          interlinked with sixth sub, 213\n          reached its zenith, 214\n        fifth sub, the Christ leader of, 142, 143\n          characteristics of, 151, 152\n        sixth sub, physical characteristics, 53, 222\n          mental and emotional characteristics, 152, 154, 232\n          general characteristics, 215, 216, 217\n          interlinked with fourth sub, 213\n          candidature for, 222\n      the coming, source of, 215\n        type of, 117-119\n        body of, 120-121\n        consciousness of, 119-120\n        preparation for, 127-130\n        religion and civilization of, 130, 131\n        candidature for, 215\n\n    Reason, irrational or enlightened, 13\n      unstable condition of, 120\n      and madness, 121\n      the pure and compassionate, the Wisdom, the Christ in man, 160\n      the pure and compassionate, shows itself in lower world as love, 161\n\n    Reflexion, principle of, 108, 109, 110\n      of the Great Will, 109\n        Wisdom Love, 110\n        Creative Spirit, 110\n      the law of, and correspondences, 110\n\n    Reformation, the, 250\n      reaction from the (see Puritan Spirit, also Cromwell), 263\n      the, and Occult mantras, 268\n\n    Reincarnation and brotherhood, 78-80\n        karma, 81\n      necessary to theory of reflexions, 111, 112\n      and unfolding consciousness, 191\n      the fact widely accepted, 237\n      belief in, 284\n\n    Religion, difficulties of, in the west, 6-9\n      and education, 12-16, 86, 238, 239\n        brotherhood, 83, 237\n      a search after God, 55\n      in India (see also India), 83, 84\n      universal text book of, 85, 86\n      great teachers of, their spiritual qualities, 118\n      coming race builder of a universal, 130\n      founders of, 187\n        and disciples, 263\n      source of great spiritual impulses, 187, 188\n      comparative (see Ancient Wisdom), 190\n      doctrines taught by every, 190-192\n      each, has its note and colour, 192\n      in Egypt, India, Persia, Greece, Rome, 193\n      each sub-race has a special, 235\n      of the future, 235-236\n      Christian Church broadening, 236\n      mystical Christianity spreading, 237\n      problem of, 265\n      Protestantism and the body, 265\n      spirituality and the lower world, 266\n      all recognize a great world teacher, 308, 309\n      draw together in the Supreme Teacher, 312\n\n    Revelation and the Self, 319\n        Buddhist, 319\n      authoritative nature of, in Christian and Muhammadan faiths, 320\n      defined, 320\n      source, 320\n      method of recording, 320\n      attitude of Theosophical student toward, 321\n      must be affirmed by the Spirit within, 322\n\n    Roberts, Dr. (see Hibbert Journal), 298, 299\n      view not sound and why, 299, 300, 301\n\n    Rome, closing age of, 4, 5\n      social conditions, 27\n      mighty, 214\n      religious note of, law, 193\n\n    Roman, type of, and Goth, 117\n\n    Roman Catholic Church and higher criticism, 7\n        Ireland, 214\n      the mystic spirit in, 236\n      attitude toward Theosophy, 263\n      use of mantra in, 268, 269\n      Sacrament of Holy Orders in, 272\n      use of sacramental oil, 273-274\n      reference to its Priesthood, 263\n\n    R\u00f6ntgen rays (see Clairvoyance), 67\n\n\n    S\n\n    Sacraments, found in all great religions, 262\n      their object, 262, 266\n      in Hind\u016bism, 262, 274\n        Roman Catholic Church, 263\n      definition of, 264\n      and constitution of man, 264, 265\n        Baptism, 266, 267\n      Holy Communion, 269\n      transubstantiation explained, 269, 270\n      from material standpoint, 270, 271\n      and materialism, 271\n      and Apostolic Succession, 272\n      Confirmation, 273\n      Penance, 273\n      Matrimony, 273\n      Extreme Unction, 273\n      and daily life, 274\n      must be given by church, 277\n\n    Sacrifice and discipleship (see Self-sacrifice), 179, 180\n\n    Saint, where found, definition of, 274\n      his Master and himself as disciple, 311\n\n    Saint Clement of Alexandria, writings, 145\n      \u201cMysteries of Jesus\u201d, 146\n\n    St. Paul, writings on the Mystic Christ, 147\n        nature of man, 157, 158\n          soul, 160\n      definition of man, 162\n      birth of Divine Spirit in the Soul, 304, 305\n\n    Schur\u00e9, writings on mystical idea in Wagner (see Grail), 275\n\n    Science, in west, 17, 18\n      and ether, etheric sight, 63, 64, 65\n      chemistry founded on direct observation, 66\n      bounds of, extended, 66\n      hypnotism and clairvoyance used by physicians, 67\n      direct vision and vivisection, 67\n      geology and evolution, 106\n      and principle of correspondences, 104, 105, 106\n      induction and deduction, 107, 108, 110, 112\n      deduction and reincarnation, 111\n      in coming civilization, 194, 195\n      and Theosophy in coming civilization, 195, 196\n\n    _Science of the Emotions_, by Bhagav\u0101n D\u0101s, 168\n\n    Scientific observation, 17, 18, 63, 331\n      progress depends on correct observation, 331\n\n    Scriptures, authoritative, back of all great religions, 318\n      and the enlightened man, 319\n      revealed, in Christianity, 320\n\n    _Secret Doctrine, The_, by H. P. Blavatsky, 209\n      possibility of errors in, 328\n      record of teachings of Masters, 328, 329\n\n    Self-sacrifice, keynote in Christianity, 193\n      and social redemption, 203\n      the basis of the coming civilization, 204\n      religion and civilization, 205\n\n    Senses, evolution of, in races, 49, 50, 51\n      new organs of, in sixth sub-race, 51, 53, 57, 58\n      artificially awakened by meditation, 59, 178, 179\n      astral, effect of development, 60-63\n      new, builders of new art, 70, 73\n\n    Sex-inferiority (see Woman Labor), 11\n\n    Sheffield, description of, 200\n\n    Sir William Crookes, on vibrations, 63\n\n    Social conditions, present, intolerable, 26\n      contrast of luxury and misery, 27\n      submerged classes, 28, 29, 30\n      physique, its deterioration, 32, 33, 201\n      multiplication of criminal population, 33, 34\n      in America, 34, 35, 36\n        Australia, 37-41\n      unemployed, 39, 40\n      trades unions in Melbourne, 41\n      competition replaced by co-operation, 42\n      woman labor, 29, 30, 31, 99, 100\n\n    Socialism, H. P. B. on, 44\n\n    Society and Theosophy, in coming civilization, 203\n      its redemption through self-sacrifice, 203\n\n    Soul, difference in age, the caste system, 79\n      the old and the young, 79, 80, 89, 90\n      lopsided development, 91\n      the young, its treatment, 92, 93\n      in relation to spirit, 160, 161\n      represented by three attributes, 161, 162\n      in temporary body, changed, 163\n\n    Sound, the music of the future, 72\n      and colour and emotion (see Senses, Vibration, Mantra, Tyndall), 73\n\n    Spirit only can know Him, 55\n      God in innermost depths of, 56\n      architect of human body, 74\n      higher qualities of, for coming race, 119\n      of the Christ, develop in yourselves, 154\n      definition of, 159\n      triple nature of, 159\n      in relation to soul, 158-160\n        spiritual body, 163\n      becoming master of matter, 164\n      and matter, relation between, 165\n      in man unfolds along three great lines, 302\n\n    Spiritual realities belong to spiritual life, 54\n      qualities of Great Teachers, 118, 119\n      type of humanity, mark Brotherhood, 119\n      body relatively permanent, 163\n        and memories of past, 163\n      greatness and the Theosophical Soc., 291\n      work of the spiritual teacher, 302\n      teacher sheds illumination, not control intellect, 303\n\n    Spirituality mark of coming civilization, 184\n\n    Subba Rao, tribute to, 287\n\n    Submerged classes (see Social Conditions).\n\n    Sun Myths, 141\n\n    Superstition, definition, 249\n      illustrated by Indian story, 249, 250\n      in religious reformations, 250\n\n    Supply and demand in America, 34-37, 41\n      Melbourne, 41\n\n    Swedenborg, 104\n\n\n    T\n\n    Telepathy and organization of the Astral body, 173\n      how developed (see Senses), 173, 174\n\n    Theosophy, name, 183\n      what is it? Whence does it come?, 185, 186, 187\n      its work in religion, 188\n      and comparative mythology, 189\n        religion, 190\n      work of, in coming civilization, in religion, 194\n        science, 195\n      and Yoga of the East, 199, 200\n      work of, in coming civilization, in art, 200, 201, 202\n        society, 203\n      its ideals in education must spread, 238\n        influence on education in India, 239\n        ideals rejected by men, 242\n      must teach relationship of disciple to Teacher, 312\n\n    Theosophical Society, considers causes rather than effects, 25\n      teaching of, its advantage, 48, 209\n      its members at different stages, 225\n        drawn into swifter evolution, 225\n      two masters related to, 226\n      founders of, 227\n      inner purpose of, 228\n      brotherhood, only binding principle, 233, 234\n      and scientific men, 232\n      corner-stone of future religion, 234\n      first work of, vitalising Religions, 235, 236\n      checked skepticism in India, 239\n      problem, how to preserve religion while letting dogmatism go, 239-240\n      personality and principle in, 225, 243, 258\n      nucleus of sixth root-race, beginning of sixth sub-race, 225, 242\n      members not leaders of present race, 242\n      shakings in, their use, 243, 260, 287, 295\n      duties of, in respect to sacramental rites, 277, 278\n      not bound by its officers, 244\n      reasons for staying in, 258, 261, 295\n      possibility of its death, 261\n      Theosophical movement not confined to, 285\n      its great difficulty, 287, 288\n        immediate work, 288, 289\n      members of must develop intuition, 290\n        must recognize spiritual greatness, 291\n      would hardly welcome a Master, 294\n      the John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Christ, 295\n      Mrs. Besant\u2019s message to, 296\n      should use books of observation as materials for study only, 332\n\n    Theos. student should prepare to verify teachings, 317\n      his attitude towards theoretical study, 317\n      must discriminate between books he reads, 318\n      his attitude towards books of observations, 328\n\n    Thought and the treatment of diseases, 68\n      human nature changed by, 81, 82\n      and organization of the Astral body (see Mind), 124\n      forms, 255\n\n    Thought-image first, then its materialization, 46\n\n    Transition periods, birth of Christ, (see Rome), 4, 5\n      the present, 4, 149-150\n\n    Transubstantiation (see Sacraments), 269, 270\n\n    Trinity (see God), illustrated by organic chemistry, 270\n\n    Truth, a sun, 332\n      examination of, is best service, 333\n\n    Tyndall, experiments of (see Mantra), 267\n\n    Type, ideal, of the Aryan, 116\n      of future nations, that of family, 46\n      in mind of Logos, 116\n      Roman, 117\n      chosen by Manu, 115, 211\n      intellectual, its work, 117, 118\n      of coming race, 117, 119\n      of spiritual man, 118, 119\n      with delicate, highly developed nerves, 120-122\n      of bodies of coming race, 222\n      of new Teacher a new departure, 240\n      next, new and strange, 240, 241\n\n    Types, seven great human, 116\n      reproduce themselves, 117\n\n\n    V\n\n    Veda, meaning of word, 318\n      supreme authority of, 318\n      held high place in early days of Buddhism, 319\n\n    Vegetarianism, flesh food unsuited to coming race, 124\n        and Pituitary Body, 125, 126\n      pure body needed for unfolding consciousness, 178\n\n    Vibrations, sound, in words of power (see Mantra), 267\n      effect of, on consciousness of bodies, 168, 169\n      of atoms and consciousness of Logos, 165\n\n    Vicarious atonement, 148\n\n    Vivisection, a fatal road, 19, 20\n      done away with by direct vision, 67\n\n\n    W\n\n    White Lotus Day 1909, memorial services in India, 279\n      all over the world, 280\n\n    Will, self determined, 161\n      and desire, 161\n      highest characteristic of Spirit, 302\n      must be developed from above, 302\n\n    Wisdom, the, the Christ in man (see Ancient Wisdom), 160\n      expresses itself as love, 161\n\n    Woman, in labor market, 99, 100\n\n    Woman labor, (see social conditions), 29, 30, 31\n\n    Worlds, and human evolution, 191\n\n\n    Y\n\n    Yoga, false methods of developing consciousness (see Meditation),\n        177, 178\n      Theosophy brings Yoga of East, 199, 200\n      the Mysteries and legend of Holy Grail (see Holy Grail), 275\n\n    Yogi, the Indian, 199, 200\n\n\n    Z\n\n    Zarathustra or Zoroaster, leader of third sub-race (see\n        Bodhisattva), 140\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS BY ANNIE BESANT\n\n\nBuilding of the Kosmos, and other Lectures. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\n    Contents: Building of Kosmos, Sound, Fire, Yoga, Symbolism.\n\nThe Self and its Sheaths. Cloth, 8vo. 50c.\n\n    Contents: The Self and its Sheaths; The Body of Action, The\n    Body of Feeling; The Object of the Sheaths.\n\nIn the Outer Court. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\n    Contents: Purification, Thought-Control, Building of Character,\n    Spiritual Alchemy, On the Threshold.\n\nThe Path of Discipleship. Cloth, 8vo, 75c.\n\n    Contents: First Steps (Karma-Yoga, Purification),\n    Qualifications for Discipleship (Control of Mind, Meditation,\n    Building of Character), The Life of the Disciple (The\n    Probationary Path, the Four Initiations), The Future Progress\n    of Humanity (Methods of Future Science, Man\u2019s coming\n    development).\n\nThe Ancient Wisdom, An Outline of Theosophical Teaching. With Index.\nCloth, 8vo. $1.50.\n\nThe Seven Principles of Man. Theosophical Manuals, No. I. Cloth, 12mo.\n35c.\n\nReincarnation. Theosophical Manuals, No. II. Cloth, 12mo. 35c.\n\nDeath and After? Theosophical Manuals, No. III. Cloth, 12mo. A brief\naccount of post-mortem conditions. 35c.\n\nKarma. Theosophical Manuals, No. IV. Cloth, 12mo. 35c.\n\n    A very illuminating exposition of the Law of Karma.\n\nMan and his Bodies. Theosophical Manuals, No. VII. Cloth, 12mo. 35c.\n\nThe Birth and Evolution of the Soul. Cloth, 8vo. 35c.\n\nFour Great Religions: Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity.\nCloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nThe Religious Problem in India. Lectures on Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, and\nTheosophy. Boards, 8vo. 50c.\n\nThree Paths to Union with God; and Dharma, or the Meaning of Right and\nWrong. In one vol. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nThe Evolution of Life and Form. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\n    Contents: Ancient and Modern Science, Functions of the Gods,\n    Evolution of Life, Evolution of Form.\n\nThe Changing World and Lectures to Theosophical Students, being the\nLondon Lectures of 1909. Cloth, 8vo. $1.00.\n\nBuddhist Popular Lectures. Delivered in Ceylon in 1907. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nThe Story of the Great War. A condensed English Prose version of the\nMahabharata, the great epic of India. Cloth, 8vo. $1.25. Indispensable\nto the student of the Bhagavad Gita, which is the central jewel of the\nMahabharata.\n\nEsoteric Christianity, or the Lesser Mysteries. 387 pp. and Index. Cloth,\n8vo. $1.50.\n\nThought Power, its Control and Culture. 137 pp. and Index. Cloth, 8vo.\nSixth Edition. 75c.\n\nAncient Ideals in Modern Life. Four Lectures delivered at Benares,\nDecember, 1900. 145 pp. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nThe Doctrine of the Heart: Extracts from Hindu Letters, with a foreword\nby Mrs. Besant. 16mo. Leather, 75c net. Cloth, 50c net.\n\nSome Problems of Life. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\n    Contents: Problems of Ethics, Problems of Sociology, Problems\n    of Religion and Prayer; Free-will and Necessity, etc.\n\nLaws of the Higher Life. Benares Lectures, 1903. Boards, 8vo. 50c.\n\nThe Pedigree of Man. Adyar Lectures, 1903. (Revised Edition.) Cloth, 8vo.\n75c.\n\nTheosophy and the New Psychology. Six Lectures delivered in London, 1904.\nCloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nA Study in Consciousness, a Contribution to the Science of Psychology. A\nmuch enlarged and revised issue of articles which have appeared as the\nEvolution of Consciousness; Will, Desire, Emotion, etc. 450 pp., with\nIndex. Cloth, crown 8vo. $1.50.\n\nHindu Ideals. Six Lectures delivered at the Central Hindu College,\nBenares, 167 pp. Boards, 8vo. 50c.\n\nTheosophy and Human Life. Being the Convention Lectures of Christmas,\n1904. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nHints on the Study of the Bhagavad Gita. Being the Convention Lectures of\nChristmas, 1905. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nSri Rama Chandra, stories from the Ramayana. Boards, 8vo. 65c.\n\nThe Wisdom of the Upanishads. The Convention Lectures of December, 1906,\ndelivered at Adyar. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nLondon Lectures of 1907. Nine Lectures given at the Queen\u2019s Hall and\nEssex Hall, London. Cloth, 8vo. 197 pp. 75c.\n\nOccult Chemistry. A reprint, with diagram, of the Lucifer article of\nNovember, 1895. Paper covers. 25c.\n\nAn Introduction to Yoga. Convention Lectures of 1907. Cloth, 8vo. 75c.\n\nAn Autobiography. Illustrated. Third impression, with a new preface.\n$1.75.\n\nLotus Calendar (perpetual). Compiled from the writings of Mrs. Annie\nBesant. With designed cover. 35c.\n\nPopular Lectures on Theosophy. Delivered at Adyar, India, 1910. 50c.\n\n\nBooks by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater\n\nThought Forms. Richly illustrated and thirty full-page coloured plates of\nforms, clairvoyantly seen and illustrative vibration figures. Cloth gilt,\nroyal 8vo. $3.50.\n\n    The Contents include Introduction and sections on the method\n    of representation; the two effects of Thought; the way in\n    which vibration acts; the structure of the Thought Form and\n    its effects; the meaning of the Colours; the three classes of\n    Thought Forms; a large variety of illustrative Thought Forms\n    and the nature of forms built by music.\n\nOccult Chemistry. This book is profusely illustrated by twenty-four\ndiagrams and plates, showing the number of ultimate atoms in different\nchemical elements known to science (and four unknown) their shape, modes\nof motion and groupings to form the chemical atom of modern science,\nincluding gold, silver, copper, radium and fifty others. Cloth, royal\n8vo. $2.00.\n\n    For Sale by\n\n    THE THEOSOPHICAL BOOK CONCERN,\n    Headquarters for Theosophical and Occult Literature in America,\n    26 Van Buren Street.\n\nTHE CHICAGO THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY\n\nmaintains an auditorium where public lectures are given each Sunday\nevening, and classes held during the week open to the public; and a\nfree reading room open every week day from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M.; and a\nreference and circulating library for the benefit of all enquirers upon\nTheosophical and Occult subjects at\n\n26 Van Buren Street, Chicago.\n\n    The Bulletin\n    of\n    THE CHICAGO THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY\n    A Monthly Journal of Theosophic Comment. Yearly, 50 cents.\n    Single copies, 5 cents.\n    26 Van Buren Street, Chicago, Ill.","title":"The changing world, and lectures to theosophical students.: Fifteen lectures delivered in London during May, June, and July, 1909","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":102064}