THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW

Transcription

1 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Vol. XXXIX FEBRUARY, 1907 No. 234 ON THE WATCH-TOWER We hve ltely been kept in stte of gret nxiety concerning the helth of our venerble President-Founder. On h rrivl Founder's8 Helth t Colombo t the end of November, though sti11 suffering from h injured leg, he ppered in good helth nd spirs nd que redy to fulfil number of importnt enggements tht hd been rrnged for him. A few hours fter h rrivl, however, he suddenly collpsed, nd the physicins who were t once summoned to h side pro nounced to be grve cse of hert dese wh thretened filure. At first h life ws despired of, but the skill of the physicins, ided by h own sturdy constution, finlly triumphed nd the cr ws pssed. Our beloved.president slowly re covered, nd ws pronounced out of dnger, though we grieve to lern tht h hert permnently wekened ; he must lwys exerce the gretest cre nd void ll excement nd worry, n lmost impossible tsk for mn in h responsible posion, in spe of h nturlly sunny nture. Though the doctors forbde h trvelling, he left Colombo for Adyr on December 6th. On h rrivl t the home he loves so derly, he hd

2 482 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW slight relpse, we re sorry to lern, but since then he hs improved stedily. The lst news thus good news, but we re still very nxious on h ccount. The Convention nd Generl Meeting were to hve been held t Benres, but to sve the Colonel the rk of trvelling they hve been chnged to Adyr, nd we sincerely hope tht the love nd grtude of the mny members who hve gthered together for tht importnt occsion hve provided tonic of fr greter efficcy thn ny to be found in the mteri medic, nd tht they hve insted on keeping the old Wr Horse out of hrness s much s he will let them. The lst sue of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychicl Reserch thick volume of 432 pges entirely devoted to generl description, lborious nlys nd AutomSrffipt cricm fy herself of Mrs- A- W. Verrll's voluminous utomtic script. It indeed monument of ll tht there of the most orthodox " Psychicl Reserchy." It rre thing to find ldy of such wide educ tion, power of mentl self-nlys nd cricl cumen, possessed t the sme time of the gift of utomtic wring, or psychogrphy. Excellently equipped for the tsk of cricm, s tht term generlly understood, Mrs. Verrll hs, in the very nture of the phenomen, the good fortune of being intimtely cquinted wh ll the fcts s they presented themselves to her in her own conscious experience. Wh regrd to the detils, most of them re of trivil importnce compred wh number of utomtic scripts we hve seen. The chief interest lies in the fct tht the script mostly in Ltin nd Greek (lnguges in which Mrs. Verrll scholr), but in Ltin nd Greek tht she would not hve wrten in her norml consciousness, struction, nd lrge number both s to style, con of words tht re correctly formed but bsent from the dictionries. Moreover, nd th most interests us personlly, there re number of phrses nd mystic llusions nd few instnces of scrps tht seem to be remin cent of mystic ruls, Orphic nd old Chrtin perhps, for knowledge of which in her norml consciousness Mrs. Verrll cnnot in ny wy ccount. The most interesting of these my be trnslted s follows from the Ltin :

3 ON THE WATCH-TOWER 483 A crdle wh phil of unguent holds the infnt God. To-dy the Holy One of Holies sks nd obtins light for the fhful. Who in the Council of God beholds the glory? or Who in the Council beholds the glory of God? wh tinkling ll joyous ; let the bystnders too sing. * # The interest intensified by the fct tht Mrs. Verrll, though widely red in scholsticlly orthodox clssicl lerture, hd no knowledge of clssicl mysticm or ny c- Science nd the quintnce wh Gnosticm or the wrings of Quest of Gnos the Fthers. It of course, hrdly to be expected tht the relly " " spirul element in her wrings should be dwelt upon by Mrs. Verrll in her busy dsection of their form. Her serch for mechnm, the dcovery of how the wheels go round very necessry mode of inquiry for one whose min desire, to keep whin the precincts of the modern temple of science. Personlly we would sooner stnd by " the crdle of the infnt God " " nd sst t the office when the Holy One of Holies sks nd obtins light for the fhful," nd spend our time in questioning bout nd serching out tht mystery, thn in ctloguing nd nlysing the forms of words nd phrses ;but tht would not be the method of science would be the quest of gnos. ; Nevertheless the two must work together for reltion, nd one become the other. Yet how difficult to find the true blnce, nd rrive t judgment of the vlues, the end of true cricm. Mrs. Verrll frequently breks just butterfly on her cricl wheel in overnxiety to stnd well wh the Psychicl Inquors who would vivect men's souls rther thn be Eductors of their ltent powers. * * Those of our reders who hve followed wh interest the rticles * of Mr. Sydney Sprgue on Bhm, will be gld to know tht there ltle book of selections from the SyiDunhBh works of Bh ullh, sued by the Bhi Publhing Society of Chicgo. It entled Hidden Words :Words of Wdom nd Communes, from the " Supreme Pen " Bh' U'llh, trnslted from the Arbic nd Persin by Mirz Ameen U. Freed. It difficult to rele tht we hve before us in these Syings wrings of the ltter hlf of of

4 4»4 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW the nineteenth century. They re conceived entirely in the ncient propheticl mood, nd tht, too, whout even the intro ductory "Thus sh the Lord " ; indeed they purport to be the direct utternces of God Himself! The min tmosphere thus thoroughly Semic, though th often tempered wh Persin blend. Here re few of the most striking utternces : I mde deth for tbee s gld-tidings: Why rt thou in despir t s pproch? I mde light for thee splendour : Why dost thou hide from? If thou run through ll immensy nd speed through the spce of heven, thou shlt find no rest sve in obedience to Our Commnd nd in devotion before Our Fce. My Clmy My Providence. In ppernce fire nd vengence ; in rely Light nd Mercy. Therefore pproch tht thou myest become n Eternl Light nd n Immortl Spir. Th My Commnd know thou. Do ye know why We hve creted you from one cly,? ; Tht no one should glorify himself over the other. Be ye ever mindful of how ye were creted. Since we creted you ll from the sme substnce, ye must be s one soul, wlking wh the sme feet, eting wh one mouth nd living in one lnd, tht ye my mnifest wh your being, nd by your deeds nd ctions, the signs of uny nd the spir of oneness. Th My Counsel to you, people of Light ttherefore follow tht ye my ttin of holiness from the tree of Might nd Power. O, Be blind, tht thou myest behold My Beuty her My Sweet Melody nd Voice portion from My Knowledge lsting shre from the se of my Eternl Welth. Als, Tongue, tht the frus :Be def tht thou myest :Be ignornt tht thou myest enjoy :Be poor tht thou myest obtin n ever hundred thousnd idel lnguges re spoken by One nd tht hundred thousnd hidden menings re unfolded in One Melody, nd there letter. no er to herken, nor ny hert.*. to perceive single It would be of vlue to know wht Bh Ullh relly thought of himself when he ws penning these pronouncements ;whether he wrote " utomticlly " or how. If only he A KMnnerheir given in the following utternce hd followed Mrs. Verrll's method!the key to the mood nd mnner of the wring : By My Spir nd by My Providence!By My Mercy nd by My Beuty All tht uttered for thee by the Tongue of Power nd wrote wh the Pen of 1 Strength, verily, We reveled ccording not ccording to My Stte nd Rely. to thy cpcy nd perception, 1

5 ON THE WATCH-TOWER 485 Notice the chnge from " I " to " We," nd from " We " to " My." together Th not uncommon in such wrings, nd tken wh the very importnt fctor of the cpcy nd per ception of the prophet, should enble the lerner of the mysteries to dtinguh the elements of the Mster, the intelligences, nd the mn in those pronouncements. Wh the cceptnce of them s new reveltion for the founding of new populr religion we hve no concern ; in the study of them s " scripture in the mking " we hve every interest. The Syings throughout re prefced by such phrses s: O Son of Spir, of Mn, of Extence, of Humny, of the Supreme, of Perfection ; O Son of Dust, of Erth ; O Fleeting Shdow ; O Son of Cly! But the most mysticl ddress of ll : O Son of Him Who stood by H Own Enty in the Kingdom of Himself! We shll look forwrd wh much plesure to trnsltion of the more mysticl wrings of Bh Ullh. As for the pryers, supplictions nd " communes " in the present ltle book, useful s they my be for the pious exerces of the msses, they re not of so high n order s the Syings. * * In our lst sue we referred to gret rcheologicl find in Centrl Asi nd hve since been gld to lern tht our conjec ture s to s being the work of Dr. Grtln- TTesiJre?Sfi wedel's msion correct. An rticle in The Stndrd of December 26th, gives us the following ddionl informtion : Unless the stories which rech us from the vle of Kshmir re exg. gerted, the Germn explorer nd ntiqury, Dr. von Lecoq, who recently rrived t Sringr, bringing wh him from remote corner of Chinese Turkestn the most vluble relics of n ncient Asic civiltion tht will hve been seen in Europe for long time pst.... All the d coveries hherto reported would pper to be surpssed by the results of the ntiqurin msion conducted by Dr. von Lecoq nd h leder nd collegue, Dr. Griinwedel, both of the Berlin Ethnologicl Museum. expedion Their hs lsted over two yers, nd between two nd three hundred pcking cses full of mnuscripts in dozen lnguges, fresco pintings, sculptured tblets nd imges, nd vrious rticles of " bigotry nd virtue," dting bck to the eighth or ninth centuries of our er, hve rewrded lbours nd the enlightened liberly, must be dded, of the Germn Government.... their

6 486 THE THBOSOPHICAL REVIEW Archeologts hve often turned envious eyes to th region (Turfn). It ws known to hve been one of the chief centres of Buddht civiltion in the erlier centuries of the Middle Ages ; nd the Uighur Turks, who gve their nme to the country, were the most cultured people in Centrl Asi. They lernt the Syric lphbet from Nestorin msionries, nd then tught to'jingh Khn's Mongols. Th lends significnce to the sttement tht mong the mnuscripts found by the Germns some re in the Uighur nd others in the Syric lnguge. There re lso mnuscripts in Snskr, Chinese, nd in the lnguge of Tngut, which Sir Henry Howorth hs identified s the lnd of Prester John. The full results of the expedion will not be known till the officil report publhed ; nd s th, ccording to Dr. von Lecoq, likely to fill bout two dozen volumes, Orientl scholrs my hve to w some ltle time for. * * * From nother ccount, in the Morning Post of Jnury 12th, we lern tht from the cursory exmintion tht hs so fr been mde, seems certin tht these dcoveries Another -vvill shed considerble light upon hherto drk Account,. plces in htory of erly dys, principlly of the Eighth nd Ninth Centuries, of Centrl Asi. Chief interest in these dcoveries centres round the mnuscripts, the mjory of these being wrten in the following lnguges, or modifictions of them : Ngri, Brmi (two dilects), Chinese, Tibetn, Tngut, Syric, Mnichen, Uighur, nd Turkh. In ddion there re severl in tongue tht declred to be utterly unknown. These lst will probbly ttrct the notice nd interest of ethnologts throughout the world. Appr ently th lnguge vrion of Syric, but nothing define on th subject cn be stted t the moment. Among the lnguges represented there much to interest the student nd the mn of science. The Tngut tongue, for instnce, trces of re still to be dcovered round Lhs. dilect formerly in extence in Tibet, nd certin in the lnguge spoken to-dy in nd Hherto the only specimens of wring known to ext in th tongue re believed to be few inscriptions crved on rock. The chrcters ber strong resemblnce to ncient Chinese, but the present dcoveries should dd enormously to the rther scnty knowledge of th tongue tht previously exted. Some of the Syric mnuscripts run to con siderble length nd re in lmost pure Persin, some of them bering cler indiction of Nestorin influence. It will be seen, therefore, tht the very fct of these mny nd diverse wrings in so mny lnguges being found in one plce nd th spot so inhospble nd desolte in self opens up very wide question, nd round which considerble controversy likely to tke plce during the next few yers. Further, my be dded tht though, s hs previously been mentioned, most of.these mnuscripts

7 ON THE WATCH-TOWER 487 must dte bck to the eighth nd ninth centuries, if not even erlier, there no ppyrus mong them, ll being wrten on prchment, two or three kinds of Chinese pper, or lether. s kid glove, the gretest cre hving pprently Some of th ltter s soft nd plible been bestowed upon s preprtion.... Though for the moment hlt hs been clled in th work of excvtion, there no intention on the prt of the Germn uthories to relinquh their reserch entirely. So much hs lredy been brought to light, how ever, tht ws considered dvble for the present to exmine nd collte the dcoveries mde before determining in wht direction fresh work should be undertken. It my be dded tht in ddion to th Germn expedion there t the present time lbouring in vrious prts of Turkestn, n expedion orgned by the Indin Government, under the direction of Dr. Stein, nd nother sent out by the French Government. Dr. Stein, one of the gretest living uthories on the buried cies of Turkestn, for the moment confining h ttention to systemtic nd very vluble exmintion of Southern Chinese Turkestn, while the French expedion devoting s energies to work on the borders of Mongoli. The Rev. R. J. Cmpbell, of the Cy Temple, one of the most liberl-minded nd courgeous minters of the Congreg tionl Churches. For some months ltely the The " New dily ppers hve been filled wh ccounts of h views nd these, too, vstly more sym pthetic thn cricl. In th wy hundred of thousnds of people re becoming fmilired wh tenets which, though commonplces to ourselves, re breth of fresh ir in the norml stuffiness of theologicl trdionlm. Mr. Cmpbell's generl posion in mny respects highly to be commended by ll students of Theosophy, s my be seen from the following extrcts from h own sttement, publhed in the Dily Mil of Jnury 12th. Every mn potentil Chrt, or rther mnifesttion of the eternl Chrt, tht side of the nture of God from which ll humny hs come forth. Humny fundmentlly one, nd ll true living the effort to rele tht oneness. Th the truth tht underlies ll noble effort for the common good in the world to-dy. The New Theology looks upon evil s negtive rther thn posive term. It the shdow where the light ought to be ; the perceived privtion of good. It belongs only to fineness. Pin the effort of the spir to brek through the limtions which feels to be evil. The New Theology believes tht the only wy in which the true nture of good

8 488 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW cn be mnifested eher by God or mn by the struggle ginst limtion, nd therefore not pplled by the long story of cosmic suffering. Every body knows th fter fshion. The things we most dmire nd reverence in one nother re the things involving struggle nd self-scrifice. The New Theology wtches wh sympthy the development of modern science, for believes self to be in hrmony therewh. It the religious rticultion of the scientific method. It therefore follows tht in sympthy wh scientific cricm of the importnt religious lerture known s the Bible. While recogning the vlue of the Bible s unique record of religious experience, hndles s freely nd criclly s would ny other book. It believes tht the set of religious uthory whin, not whout, the humn soul. The individul mn so constuted s to be ble to recogne, ry by ry, the truth tht helps him from wht source comes.... The New upwrd, no mtter Theology, of course, believes in the immortly of the soul, but only on the ground tht every individul consciousness ry of the universl consciousness nd cnnot be destroyed. It believes tht there re mny stges in the upwrd progress of the soul in the unseen world before becomes fully nd consciously one wh s infine source. We mke our destiny in the next world by our behviour in th. Ultimtely every soul will be perfected. From ll th will surely be cler tht the New Theology brushes side mny of the most fmilir dogms still tught from the pulp. We believe tht the story of the Fll, in lerl sense, untrue. It ler ture, not dogm, the romnce of n erly ge used for the ethicl instruction of mn. We believe tht the very imperfection of the world to-dy due to God's will, nd working-out of Himself wh s purpose, purpose not wholly hidden from us. The doctrine of sin which holds us to be blmeworthy for deeds tht we cnnot help, we believe to be flse view. Sin simply selfhness. It n offence ginst the God whin, violtion of the lw of love. We reject wholly the common interprettion of the Atonement tht nother beten for our fult. We believe not in finl judgment, but in judgment tht ever proceeding. Every sin involves suffering, suffering which cnnot be remted by ny work of nother. re eternl. When deed done s consequences We believe tht Jesus nd ws divine, but so re we. H msion ws to mke us rele our diviny nd our oneness wh God. And we re clled to live the life which He lived.

9 489 THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION The progress of science, physicl nd forced the educted cricl, in the West, hs public to reconsider the bs of s beliefs, nd to sk wht left of the edifice of fh hherto resting thereupon. If n educted mn of sixty sks of himself how much left to him of religion s tught to him in h child hood, he my well be strtled t the nswer to h enquiry. The cretion of the world, 4oo4 B.C. ; the Nochin deluge ; the Tower of Bbel ; the stnding still of the sun nd moon t Joshu's commnd ; the remrkble biology of Levicus ; or, on nother side, the vicrious tonement ; justifiction by fh ; everlsting punhment ; the dubious condion fter deth of unbpted infnts nd the countless millions of hethens; the verbl inspirtion of the Bible ; these doctrines, nd mny more, where re they in the intellectul world of the educted mn? whher hve they gone? wherein hve] they been submerged? Or, if they hve not que vnhed, re these ple nd filmy ghosts tht ber their semblnce, ll tht left of the fullblooded lusty dogms of h childhood? The chnge, in those who re not troubled over religious problems, often imper ceptible, but none the less effective, nd, when fifty yers go nd to-dy re plced side by side, the width of the dtnce trvelled so unconsciously seen. The chief gents of the chnge hve been the Higher Cricm, knowledge of World-Religions, the dcoveries of physicl nd psychicl Science, the eduction of the public conscience. Ech of these hs contributed fctor to the totl. The work done by cricl science on the Chrtin Scriptures cn never be undone, nd ll other gret Scriptures will certinly hve to pss through the sme fire. They lso will be shown to be compose documents, wrings of different ges woven into single " book " ; the vrious redings will be

10 490 THE THBOSOPHICAL RBVIEW plced side by side; interpoltions will be shown to hve become prt of the text ; recension fter recension will be trced out ; ech will be seen to be temporry expression of eternl truths. And the result of ll th will be to throw mn bck on h own experience, on the experience of the rce, on the testi mony of the higher consciousness. The Universl Religion will hve no Book s finl uthory ; will tret wh becoming reverence s vluble subjects of study ll gret books tht embody the experiences of mnkind. A century go, when there ws ltle communiction between Est nd West sve for commercil purposes, the ordinry Chrtin ws blnkly ignornt of the htory nd techings of ncient religions. Boys t school lerned the " mythology " of Greeks nd Romns, but never dremed outcome of religious experience of regrding s the mong highly cultivted civil tions. All before nd outside Chrtiny were " hethens," " pgns," inhbnts of world sunk in drkness ; only the glimmering torch of Hebrm trced fint pthwy of light through the midnight of the ncient world. The pges of Tvernier nd Bernier, keen observers of mnners nd men, show the stolid indifference wh which they regrded the Indin " hethen " mong whom they trvelled in the dys of Aurungzeb. Not the fintest glem reched them of the philosophy, the poetry, the drm, of Indi, despe their dmirtion of the exque rt in whose products they so egerly trfficked. Tht such rt must needs be the flower of gret civiltion never crossed their minds. Lter, when Indin thought dwned on the intellectul horizon of the West, in the dys of Billy, Dulure, Higginson, Moore, did not ffect current Western ides. It ws looked on s curiosy, not s techer. Not until rcheologicl reserch begn to unbury the frgments of the tresures of the pst, till Egypt, Bbylon, Nineveh, yielded up some of their hidden welth of knowledge nd of thought, did the science of Comprtive Mythology prove to demonstrtion the common substrtum in ll religions of religious thought nd religious experience. The Universl Religion will recogne in s World-Empire ll the religions of the pst nd present, s kingdoms embrced therein.

11 THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION 491 The dcoveries of physicl nd psychicl science, opening new worlds of mtter nd of consciousness, lesson tht no brriers of custom, hve tught the vl of ntiquy, of prejudice, must be llowed to stnd in the wy of the dvnce of the humn intellect. They hve proved tht investigtion into " nture " cn only render wider nd fuller " " conceptions bout God ; tht the ever Self-reveling Self in nture continully corrects nd enlrges the nrrow views imposed by ignornce in every ge, nd tht Religion hs nothing to fer from the dcoveries Science, though sometimes bespttered by the bigotries of scientts who lso re but men. of They re estblhing on firm experimentl insted of on intuionl grounds the lrgeness of the Lrger Consciousness, nd re building up towrds the truths which religions hve proclimed on the celestil uthory of seers nd mystics. The Universl Religion will see Science s s hndmid/not s enemy, nd will plce no limtions on the ever-expnding intellect of mn. Much of the revolt ginst populr Chrtiny due to the eduction of the populr conscience ; mn cnnot believe in God who comms in h own person ctions from which good mn would shrink ; s the bonds of dogm, which prevent mn from using h conscience s cric of religious techings, re loosened, the morl sense in mn judges the morly scribed to God, nd condemns s blsphemous tht which below the noblest humn stndrd. The Universl Religion cn hve no techings tht re contrry to ethics. Wht the best definion of religion? There re two tht seem to me good : Mn's serch for God, or the mens to the unfolding of the God-consciousness in mn ; Mn's ide of h reltion to the universe. The first my own ; the second I red in the Theosophy of the Upnhds, nd conveys fine nd true ide. Eher of these will serve for definion of the Universl Religion, if in the second the word " universe " held to include the invible s well s the vible. The Universl Religion must be built on universl fct. Wht fct there which recogned by ech s fct? The fct of extence. I ext. No rgument cn strengthen my secury of conscious extence ; no rgument cn weken. It

12 492 THE THEOSOPHICAL RBVIBW bove nd beyond ll proofs. All proofs re relted to s secondry, nd gin their vlidy, ny, their extence, from. Th the one primry truth ; ll others re secondry nd derived. As I plunge more nd more deeply into my own con sciousness, I pss through lyer fter lyer of me, nd dcrd them s not myself in my veriest essence ; but I m lwys there, sinking more nd more into myself. And when I rech certin depth, I know tht ll other selves re s myself, nd tht there only One Self, One essentil Being, nd tht " myself nd others " re but prts of one mighty whole, one Self in innumerble forms. Tht Universl Self God, one Life, pulsing in innumerble forms, one Breth, brething in ll tht. Th the one impregnble demonstrtion of God ; ll other rguments mount only to probbily; th lone demonstrtive, irrefutble : " It ; the truth of extence estblhes by direct perception " (Kthop*n., vi. 13). " The Self revels s own nture " (Mundkopn., II. ii. 3). Th doctrine of the Universl Self the only doctrine of the Universl Religion, nd the mere sttement of sufficient proof for ll who re ble to grsp. It shines, like the sun, by s own light, nd illumines ll ; not illuminted. " When He forth shineth, ll shines fter Him ; the light of Him illumintes th All" (Kthopn., ii. 15). The Universl Religion the pprehension of th one truth ; purely spirul, nd therefore uny. One Self in ll th to be sought fter ; God-consciousness th the gol. Th Universl Religion the Brhm-Vidy, the God- Knowledge of the Est ; the Vednt, the end of the Veds; the Gnos, the Wdom, of the West. It Theosophy. It the ultimte truth in ll religions. All mystics hve sought ; stfies the deepest crving of the humn hert : "When I wke in Thy likeness, I shll be stfied" (P., xvii. 16). The vrious religions of the world formulte, by the intellect, the vrious secondry truths tht flow from th One Truth. Religions belong to the intellect, nd differ ; Religion belongs to the spir, nd one. Gret men hve formulted in divers wys, for divers ges, the fcts of the universe ; nd the techings

13 THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION 493 bout these fcts, s thus formulted by them, form the doctrines of the vrious religions. It esy to see tht these secondry truths re logicl deductions from the One Truth. Immortly. The dogm of immortly, s tught in religions, prtil expression of the nture of the Self, s eternl. Tht which the source of ll life, the Self, cnnot die, nd the "immortly of the soul" necessry con sequence, or limed sttement of the inherent eterny of the Self. Reincrntion. Th necessry corollry of the life of the Self in ll beings ; the bodies re ever chnging, but the Self remineth ever, the thred on which the innumerble perls of lives re strung. In the memory of the Self live ll h lives, nd none re wnting when he counts h jewels. For the unfolding of h powers in mtter, these long series of lives re necessry ; the Self in the sheths of svge cnnot mnifest h powers s in the sheths of sint or " philosopher ; he must subdue ll things unto himself " (Phil., iii. 21), nd tht work which cn only be performed by innumerble lives. Until God-conscious ness shines out in mn, the pth of births nd deths must be trodden. Krm. The chngelessness of the Self implies the inviol bily of nturl lws, the sureness of nturl sequences rooted in the nture of things. Krm but n expression of the linked inter-reltions of ntecedents nd consequents, cuses nd effects. Mny Worlds. When the infiny of the Self considered, the unlimedness of forms embodying the Self obvious, nd the telescope nd microscope but reffirm the conclusions of the reson. Tht prticulr forms ext, nd under wht condions, these re mtters for reserch, nd for the reveltions of trvellers who hve ved other worlds. But the min fct of the extence of other worlds nd other intelligences estblhed by reson, deduced from th«universly of the Self, the one Life. Th lt of doctrines which re, or should be, found in ll religions, might be prolonged, but such prolongtion unneces sry. The point here sought to be estblhed tht ll these re secondry nd derived truths, nd tht they re formulted

14 494 THB THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW by the intellect in vrious wys ; set of these formultions, wh ttendnt res, ceremonies, prctices, mke up religion, nd these religions must necessrily vry, wh the vrions nd limtions of the humn minds tht frme their dogms. Th mtter to rejoice over, not to deplore, for the mny views of truth give fullness nd roundness to s presenttion, nd ech mn's thoughts enrich the ever-growing herge of humny. The vriety of religions beuty, not defect. As the vried hues of sky nd se nd lnd re ll due to the vriety of combi ntions of mtter, which tke from the one whe light the constuents they need nd throw bck the rest in gorgeous ply of colour, so do men's vrying minds ssimilte wht they require of the one Truth, nd yield the mnifold splendours of religious thought. Rightly seen, ll religions re sects in the Universl Religion, s relly s Methodts nd Congregtionlts nd Bptts re sects in Englh Chrtiny, nd Greek, Romn nd Englh Churches re sects in Chrtiny s whole. The Wdom includes ll religions, nd they hng from s frus from tree. more As the future recognes th, Religion will become once binding insted of dintegrting force, nd will work for pece insted of moving to wr. In every religion the evolved mn will seek to rele the God-consciousness in himself, nd will strive so to shpe h life tht he my surround himself wh the best condions for tht reltion. A true brotherhood wh h other selves, himself in other forms, will grow out of h recognion of the spirul oneness, nd he will see in ech the Self who " mkes h own wy ccording to the Word," the Word which the Mster-Sound of h own form of mnifest tion. Hence wide nd ptient tolernce of ll ltlenesses nd ll gretnesses, of ll vices nd ll virtues, seeing tht ech prt of the Mking of the Wy, nd tht none my dictte to the Wyfrer h pth. When Theosophy, the Gnos, the Wdom, seen s the common possession of ll, then will the specil work of the Theosophicl Society be over, for then *no mn shll sy to h brother " Know the Lord in thy Self," for ll shll know Him from the lest to the gretest. Annie Besnt.

15 495 BAHAISM, OR A UNIVERSAL RELIGION 9 II. Wht then re the techings of Bhm? We cn certinly rrive t no better mens of comprehension thn by quoting from the words of Bh Ullh himself. "God (exlted H stte, wdom nd utternce), the True One (glorious H glory), for the showing forth of the gems of idels from the mine of mn, hth, in every ge, sent trusted one. The primry foundtion of the fh of God nd the religion of God th, tht men should not mke diverse sects nd vrious pths the cuse nd reson of htred. " These principles nd lws nd firm sure rods pper from one dwning plce nd shine from one dyspring ; these diver sies hve been out of regrd for the requirements of the time, seson, ges, nd epochs. O People of Uny, tighten the girdle of endevour, tht so perchnce religious strife nd conflict my be removed from mongst the people of the world nd be destroyed. " For love of God nd H servnts engge in th gret nd mighty mtter. Religious htred nd rncour world-con suming fire, nd the quenching thereof most rduous, unless the Hnd Divine give men delivernce from th unfruful clmy. " Th precept s the light in the lmp of utternce. " O people of the world, ye re ll the fru of one tree nd the leves of one brnch. " Wlk wh perfect chry, concord, ffection, nd gree ment. I swer by the Sun of Truth, the light of greement

16 496 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW shll brighten nd illumine the horizons. The ll-knowing Truth hth been nd the wness to th sying. " Endevour to ttin to th high supreme stte, which the stte of protection nd preservtion of mnkind. Th the intent of the King of intentions, nd th the hope of the Lord of hopes. " We trust tht God will sst the kings of the erth to illuminte nd dorn the erth wh the refulgent light of the Sun of Justice. At one time we spoke wh the tongue of the Lw, t nother time wh the tongue of the Truth nd the Wy ; nd the ultimte object nd remote im ws the showing forth of th high supreme stte, nd^god sufhceth for wness. " O friends, consort wh ll the people of the world wh joy nd frgrnce. If there be to you word or essence whereof others thn you re devoid, communicte nd show forth in the lnguge of ffection nd kindness. If be received nd be effective the object ttined, nd if not leve to them, nd wh regrd to them del not hrshly but pry. " The lnguge of kindness the lodestone of herts nd the food of the soul ; stnds in the reltion of ides to words, nd s n horizon for the shining of the Sun of Wdom nd Knowledge. " Wh perfect compssion nd mercy hve we guided nd directed the people of the world to tht whereby their souls shll be profed. I swer by the Sun of Truth which hth shone forth from the highest horizons of the world, tht the people of Bh hd not nd hve not ny im sve the prospery nd reformtion of the world nd the purifying of the ntions.... " O friends, help the oppressed ^one wh well-plesing virtues nd good deeds! the highest stte. To-dy let every soul desire to ttin He must not regrd wht in him, but wht in God. It not for him to regrd wht shll dvntge himself, but tht whereby the Word of God which must be obeyed shll be upred. " The hert must be snctified from every form of selfh ness nd lust, for the wepons of the People of Uny nd Sints were nd re the fer of God. Th the buckler which gurdeth mn from the rrows of htred nd bomintion.

17 BAHAISM, OR A UNIVERSAL RELIGION 497 Uncesingly hth the stndrd of piety been victorious, nd ccounted mongst the most pusnt hosts of the world. Thereby do the Sints subdue the cies of men's herts by the permsion of God, the Lord of Hosts. " Drkness hth encompssed the erth ; the Lmp which giveth light ws nd Wdom. The dicttes thereof must be observed under ll circumstnces. of plce nd the utternce of dcourse And of Wdom the regrd ccording to mesure nd stte. And of Wdom dcrimintion; for mn should not ccept whtsoever ny one syeth.... " O friends of God, verily the Pen of sincery enjoineth on you the gretest fhfulness. By the Life of God, s light more evident thn the light of the sun! In s light nd s brightness nd s rdince every light eclipsed. We desire of God tht He will not whhold from H cies nd lnds the rdint effulgence of the Sun of Fhfulness. We hve directed ll in the nights nd in the dys to fhfulness, nd constncy ; nd hve enjoined chsty, pury, good deeds nd well-plesing qulies. " In the nights nd in the dys the cry of the Pen reth nd the tongue speketh, tht ginst the sword the Word my re, nd ginst fierceness ptience, nd in plce of oppression submsion, nd t the time of mrtyrdom resigntion.... " Strife nd contest were nd re seemly in the bests of prey of the erth, but ludble ctions re seemly in mn." It will thus be seen tht the messge of Bhm one of pece to the world, of good-will to men, nd tht the Bh consider th mnifesttion s but nother out-pouring of Divine Truth upon the erth ; tht they re lovers of the Light from whtever horizon my pper, considering the different prophets nd divine techers of the pst s lmps through which th Light shone forth nd by which the world hs been enlightened. Often to the mn of ltle spirul perception the Light hid nd he sees only the lmp. As Krhn sys in the Bhgvd GUd " : Fools dregrd me cld in humn form not knowing my higher nture s the gret Lord of beings." Krhn, Buddh, Zoroster, Moses, Chrt, Mohmmed Bhm considers them ll to hve emnted from one source

18 498 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW of Light, to be ll Mnifesttions of One God ; therefore con siders ll religions to be divine nd possessing the essence of Truth, which hs since become obscured by the superstions nd different prctices which hve been dded by mn. Let us consider for moment wht re the proofs of divine Mnifesttion or Prophet ; if we cn dcover these we my be ble to determine whether the Bhls re justified in climing their leder to be such Mnifesttion. It seems to me tht one cnnot logiclly ccept one Mni festtion or Prophet nd deny ll the others. The rguments nd proofs which Chrtin will use for Chrt re essentilly the sme tht Mohmmedn or Buddht will use for Mohmmed or Gutm. They will spek of their prophet s sviour or one who shows the wy to ttin slvtion. They will point to the wdom of their holy works, the we mxims nd techings their founders, herts nd lives of men. nd of the ctul effect these hve hd upon the They will even dwell on the wonderful mircles sid to hve been wrought by these prophets. How ltle do these rdent prtns consider their own incon stency, for wht proves one thing lso proves nother, nd the glib rgument tht my holy book right nd yours wrong, not sufficient rgument or proof to convince n unprejudiced mind. The truth tht they re ll right, nd the recognion of th gret truth one of the mens by which Bhm hopes to estblh universl religion. To sy ll from God heling medicine ; not to ntgone or denounce ny religion one of the first commnds of Bh Ullh. The power nd supreme knowledge of tht we red were mni fested in the former prophets, the gretness of their lives nd personly, their bily to ttrct the herts of men nd cuse them to led better nd nobler lives, ll these we find mnifest in Bh Ullh. Then re we not justified in sying tht he nother Mnifesttion for th dy? The Bh compre God to the sun, nd H prophets or mnifesttions to the mirrors which reflect sy H ttributes. H rys, tht to

19 BAHAISM, OR A UNIVERSAL RELIGION 499 The more the mirror polhed, the more brillint the more light nd het will give ;so tht when'the mirror perfect, nothing vible in but the reflection, nd [glory of the sun, nd th reflection my be considered s identicl wh the source of s light. It the divine nture of the prophets. It in th sense tht the Bhls recogne in th sense tht Bh Ullh hs spoken in some of h works s being himself God. But Bhm does not tech n nthropomorphic conception of God; ny, rther He Essence or Infine Spir, eternl, undefinble, n which we cn only know by s ttributes s we know things by their qulies while their substnce Everything hid from us. on th erth reflects more or less the ttributes of God, but the prophets being the most perfect of cretures reflect them to the highest degree. The most necessry thing for mn to rrive t knowledge of God nd to love Him ;th only possible by mens of H Mnifesttions. Through their techings we leve the erthly condion nd pproch the Divine. They re s guides pointing us to the wy tht ledeth to love, truth nd life. There re mny men clling themselves gnostics who rgue thus :Wht ctul proof hve we tht there hve been such Mnifesttions of the Power of God s re recorded in the lives of Chrt, Buddh nd others. They re so surrounded by trdion nd legends tht we know not which error. To such truth nd which men the Mnifesttion of Bh Ullh stnds s convincing proof, for they see in h life, h works, h bily to found which so gret religion in the fce of every difficulty, beyond tht of mn, nd Bh Ullh himself to the truth of the prophets who were before. power wness Let us now pproch tht spect of Bhm which forms the specil subject of th pper, nmely s clim to be universl religion. It effect. First let us enquire whether the world of thought nd religion thn true there hs been one thing to clim, nother to crry into wonderful chnge ny nerer to uny ws some csnturies go. It of thought during the

20 50o THB THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW pst sixty yers, gret serching for light nd truth in every direction ; the dherents of different religions hve begun to come out of their gret oltion nd re studying the books nd techings of other religions thn their own. The higher cricm of the Bible in the Chrtin Church hs done much to correct the nrrow views previously held, so tht now in Europe nd Americ mong educted Chrtins certin doctrines re no longer believed, to hve rejected which some yers go would hve ment universl condemntion. Also whin recent yers the knowledge of those divine nd glorious books the Upnhds hve reveled to the Western mind the identy of the Essence of religion; the pure nd lofty techings of the Buddh hve lso been studied nd ppreced. Then we see mong Hindus, Buddhts, Chrtins, nd Mohmmedns desire for reform, nd mny begin to tlk of possible drwing together of the religions. Uny spoken of, nd some societies hve been strted. The question : Which religion to predominte? The dherents of ech one will sy their own, but possible tht ny one of them should be predominnt? Htory self gives the refuttion. Let us tke for instnce the two gret religions of Chrtiny nd Mohmmednm ; cn we sy tht fter ll the zel, the ernestness, the effort wh which their dherents hve tried to convert ech other, they re ny nerer being uned thn they were thirteen centuries go ; nd mong the millions of Buddhts in the world, do we notice ny perceptible difference in numbers cused by their defection to other religions? For even if they lose by conversion they in their turn recru byconversion. So nothing but continul exchnge whout pproching ny nerer to uny. A universl religion, to be relly universl, must ppel to the humble nd less educted minds s well s to the lerned nd philosophicl. It must be religious, not doctrinl ; therefore society bsed on more or less bstruse doctrines nd ethics cn never hope to une ny but few cultivted minds who re interested in studying the problems of the universe. Cn societies hope to bring bout wht religions hve filed to ccomplh?

21 BAHAISM, OR A UNIVERSAL RELIGION 5O1 But there one thought, one hope, tht exts in the humblest minds of the dherents of every religion, nmely tht some time their Lord or Prophet will return to erth nd n er of pece nd prospery for men be estblhed. It mentioned in ll the Holy Books. For exmple, in the Bhgvd ever there Gd Krhn sys: " When decy of religion, O Bhrt, nd there re of irreligion, then I mnifest myself." In the gospels Jesus Chrt sys when fh shll grow cold upon the erth he will return gin. Gutm speks of the decy of h religion nd the coming of the fifth Buddh, in the Zend Avest the coming of Soshynt from the regions of the dwn predicted, in the Korn Mohmmed speks of the dy of God nd of H mnifesttion. The prophets of the Old Testment of the Jews were con tinully procliming dy when universl pece should ext nd God reign in Zion. We find mny mong the ncient philosophers pointing to time when the erth would be renovted nd n exlted personge pper ^who would reduce ll mnkind to single empire. Even the North Americn Indins hve trdion of sviour who to come nd deliver them. The hope, the drem universl ; does th thought ext for nought? Are mnkind ever to be dppointed? The Bh think not, for they see in Bh Ullh the fulfilment of the prophecies of ll the Holy Books, the reltion of the hope of the humn rce. They believe tht Uny nd the Brotherhood of mn cn not be brought bout by 'societies or by the power of mn lone, but only by tht Universl Power which ble to cccomplh ll things. Tht Power they see mnifested in Bh Ullh. If in th limed spce I hve justified the tle of my pper tht Bhm universl religion, or tht even possesses the possibilies of being universl religion, I shll be stfied ; for were Bhm mere sect there would be no excuse for my presenting to you. Let us consider in closing some stttics. The htory of

22 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Bhm covers but sixty yers. In tht short time hs suc ceeded in ttrcting to not only hundreds of thousnds of Mohmmedns in Persi (s birthplce) nd in surrounding countries, but hs lso tken root mongst the Chrtins of Europe nd Americ, where lredy counts s dherents by thousnds; gret numbers of Jews, both Orientl nd Occidentl, hve been ttrcted to, left in Persi hve embrced nd. the mjory of the Zorostrins It only very recently tht hs been presented to the Buddhts nd Hindus. The totl number of Bhts in the world vriously estimted by different wrers s being from one to seven millions. In considering the power of ssimiltion tht Bhm hs shown, s rpid growth mongst so mny different rces nd religions, nd the bond of rel sympthy, ffection nd under stnding which not religion sy tht not merely hs creted between Est nd West, my we hs lredy proved s clim nd tht beutiful idel but universl glorious rely Sydney Sprgue.? But AGNOSTIC THEOSOPHY II. not to these high ltudes tht the dcussion of th question. My object I wh to whdrw the humbler nd more prcticl one of indicting "wht we must regrd s the chief scope nd im of Theosophy, so long s we re Theosophts t ll. And in th brod view of the question let me sy t once tht there no need for us to identify Theosophy, the Divine Wdom or Gnos, wh the ltest presentment of to,, or ddions in H. P. B.'s wrings, in Mrs. Besnt's or Mr. Ledbeter's. Theories of cosmogenes nd nthropogenes, trnscendentl physics nd physiology, geogrphies of the strl plne, re ll very well in their wy, but until we hve the mens of complete verifiction, cn never commnd more thn provionl ssent. However interesting nd true they my be, they cn never become " truths " for us until we hve developed the fculties by

23 AGNOSTIC THEOSOPHY 503 which lone they re verifible. And hd Mr. Orge confined h gnosticm solely to th strlly-obtined informtion, h ttude would, in my opinion, hve been entirely we nd proper. For these fcts, if they re fcts, re only " truths " for the strl senses nd upon the strl plne, though they my occsionlly be " brought through" vividly enough for the physicl brin to remember, by those who hve been specilly trined. But they cnnot be " proved " or "verified " on ny plne strl, nd even when so proved my be found more thn helpful t our present stge of growth. lower thn the perplexing Here, if nywhere, seems to me, we were we to remember the cution of the gret Chrtin Ine " : All things re lwful to me, but ll things re not expedient." And for those who re not strlly clirvoynt such informtion cn only be tken on trust, like n unverified scientific hypothes, nd believed so fr, nd only so fr, s seems to explin nd unexplined nd irreconcilble. reconcile other fcts hherto But the importnt thing, in th connection, for us, s Theosophts, to remember (nd hd Mr. Orge remembered h lst rticles would hve been differently wrten) tht though we cnnot trnsfer our mens of verifiction from one plne to nother, still there do ext on ech plne the mens for verify ing the truths of tht plne, nd tht only when we ttempt to verify the truths of higher plne by orgns tht nturlly function upon lower, tht confusion res. Truth, of course, one nd indivible, but refrcted by the medium through which reches us, or rther the Self, s knower, necessrily condioned by the nture of the " sheth " in which he works. We her much now--dys of the reltivy of Truth. Strictly speking, Truth bsolute, our knowledge tht reltive, reltive, i.e., to our methods of pprehension. It just here tht the Theosophicl doctrine m llowed the word) of the Self nd s sheths throws such flood of light, in my opinion, (if I upon the metphysicl puzzles of the pst. Let me give three instnces in illustrtion. One of the oldest problems in metphysics hs to do wh the rely of the externl world. Nothing, on the one hnd, more certin from the stndpoint of physicl-brin-consciousness

24 504 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW thn the extence of the world of sense. We touch, tste, see, her, nd smell ; in fct, our physicl senses ext for no other object thn to bring us into contct wh th world. other hnd, th contct never immede never be conscious Yet, on the but mede ; we cn of the externl world, except s mentl repre senttion. The senses bring us but the mterils of knowledge, which re " represented " in consciousness s " ides," nd only s " ide" tht we cn be sid to know the world of sense. How, then, cn we be sure of s independent extence? For con sciousness, sid Descrtes, " ides " lone ext ; ll else, con tinued Berkeley, merely inference. " The world," sid Knt, " my representtion." In the lst nlys there remins for the thinker only mind ; ll we cn sy of mtter tht " permnent possibily of senstion " (Mill). The problem ppers insoluble, the so-clled "evidence of the senses" irreconcilble wh the dict of consciousness. And only, so seems to me, through the Theosophicl doctrine of the Self nd s sheths tht reconcilion becomes possible. For the theory of the Self, s knower, limed by the sheths in which he functions, explins for the first time how for physiclbrin-consciousness externly sine qu non of tht world of which the senses ber wness. For the chrcter of the sheth which determines the spect to us of tht plne of mtter wh which in correspondence. The physicl senses, when normlly functioning, do not lie ; their presenttion n ccurte picture,1 s fr s goes, of rel fcts upon the physicl plne, for otherwe no two pictures would be like, nd ll knowledge 1 Th not to sy tht the " ide " representing the imge in consciousness not dtorted by the mind through which psses. For we know tht Mns the " cretor of illusion," nd dds s quot of mdyd to the mdyd of the senses. So tht, not only the world my " representtion," but in the strictest sense, even th representtion inccurte. It only the fct tht, t th stge of the development of Mns, most minds " think like," tht mkes the cquion of even our limed knowledge possible. The mind my be likened to mirror, cd if ll mirrors hve the sme flw they will reflect n imge in the sme wy. Imgine these mirrors to be not only conscious, but self-conscious, nd they will ll be conscious of the sme imge, but will not know tht dtorted. Thus reltively true science of externl things will be built up by the mirrors, which s self-conscious uns will imgine themselves possessed of ll knowledge. They will even formulte so-clled "lws of nture," not knowing tht these re but the expression of their own unrecogned limtions (conf. Hinton, A New Er of Thought, p. 38). It only when the Self to drop the metphor reles h seprteness from the mentl mirror in which the externl world reflected reles tht h mind not himself tht he cn begin to trnscend the limtions of h imperfect instrument, nd lern to see things s they re.

25 upon th plne would be impossible. AGNOSTIC THEOSOPHY 505 But our mens of know ledge of the externl world upon the physicl plne re limed by the cpcy of the physicl sheth of consciousness, mteril brin, to respond i.e., the to the vibrtions of physicl mtter, so tht the informtion gives, though true, true only for the physicl plne. And the mdyd of externly, though belong ing to ll three lower plnes, t s very densest nd corsest upon the physicl plne. It only from the stndpoint of pure thought, i.e., in Theosophicl lnguge from the rtip levels of the mentl plne, tht the rel nture of th mdyd becomes evident. For the Thinker, functioning here in h most highly speciled mentl sheth (the cusl body) cn be conscious only of the Not-Self s projection of the Self, n identifiction lterntely sserted nd denied. In fct, th lternte recogni tion nd repudion of identy wh the Not-Self the very essence of Self-consciousness upon th plne. Thus, for the Thinker, the world cnnot but be, in Knt's lnguge, h own " representtion " the reflection of h own thinking substnce upon the mirror of the mind. Upon higher plne still, even th limtion, we re told, done wy wh, nd the Self reles t lst h identy wh ll tht. But of tht stte the Tt tvm si of the Upnhds the stte where " God All in ll " we cn hve here but the fintest pprehension ; of comprehension there cn be none. Tke gin the cognte question which gted philosophy for two centuries, the question s to the extence of " innte ides."1 Ever since Descrtes, in modern times, though the question s old s thought, hs been debted whether there re or re " not innte ides." Advocted by Descrtes, the ffirmtive of th proposion ws vehemently denied by Locke nd the senstionlts. "Nihil in intellectu quod non prius in sensu " ws the mxim of th school. And there ws much to be 1 A word of cution s to the dtinction between Crtesin nd Pltonic " ides " my sve much confusion. In the Crtesin sense " ides " re " representtions in " thought of the imges presented by the senses of externl things. In the Pltonic sense, they re the rchetypl forms (of things) exting in the cretive mind, the Logos of our system the rel noumen of which phenomen (" the things which re seen " of St. Pul) re " copies " in the world of form. Our ides re but imperfect copies of these " copies," blurred by their pssge through the dtorting medium of the lower Mns : only when we " know s we re known " tht we shll see he Logos-ides in ll their beuty nd perfection.

26 5o6 THB THEOSOPHICAL KEVIBW sid in s fvour. It ws obvious tht, liming the " intellect " to the wking-brin-consciousness, there ws nothing in the mterils of th consciousness which the physicl senses hd not t one time or nother supplied. The mind or intellect ws, from th stndpoint, (to borrow figure from Plto) tbul rs upon which the senses wrote their pictoril script. The senses brought imges of externl things which were reflected or " represented " in the mind s " ides," nd ws only by the grouping nd interction of these ides tht the mind grew nd knowledge ws built up. The " Ego " ws thus, in Hume's lnguge, but " bundle of senstions," or mentl stge cross which ides pssed in endless succession. But ws soon evident tht, under ll these imges, the problems of memory nd personl identy remined bsolutely unsolved. For neher memory nor the sense of personl identy cn inhere in strem of consciousness or series of senstions ; there wnting in both cses percipient subject which, re mining lwys the sme, recognes tht similry between mentl impressions in which memory consts. For these im pressions re similr, not the sme, nd only by meeting in the sme subject tht they cn wken the sense of personl identy. If the mind ws t birth tbul rs, covered s experience widened wh the script of the senses, by whom ws th script red, or did red self? If ws " bundle of senstions," wht constuted the nexus of th bundle, nd by whom ws tied up? If might be likened to thetre, or mentl stge, for which the senses provided the drm, who ws the udience? Even Locke sw the difficulty nd ws obliged to dm tht though the senses provided the only mteril of knowledge, the mind must dd s quot of " reflection " before th knowledge could ext s such. But ws Leibnz who pointed out how the difficulty must be solved. For by mking to Hobbes's mxim " Nihil in intcllectu quod non prius in sensu," the pregnnt, if not very hppily worded, ddion " ni inullectus ipse," he showed t once where the msing clue ws to be sought. The extence of higher tribunl prt from or in ddion to the reflecting mind must be predicted, or the problem of consci ousness ws for ever insoluble.

27 AGNOSTIC THEOSOPHY 507 And th higher tribunl which Theosophy identifies wh Mns, the Thinker, the individuled Self. It th Self which reds the script of the senses on the tbul rs of the mind (s Plto well knew) th Self by whom the " bundle of senstions " tied up th Self which the udience of the drm of the senses plyed upon the mentl stge. And we see now in wht sense, nd in wht sense only, ides cn be sid to be innte. Of course, from Locke's stndpoint, ides could not be innte in tht which whout the id of the senses incpble of ides t ll, ny more thn " reflections " cn be " innte " in mirror. And eqully, from Descrtes' stndpoint, since nothing but " ides " relly exted, they must be innte in or ntive to thinking mind. But ws Theosophy, wh s doctrine of the Self nd s sheths, which first showed how these two posions could be reconciled. And did th by showing tht the Thinker seprte from h mind, s thought from the ide s reflection. which For the mind being the instrument of thought, by which lone the Thinker contcts the externl world, thought cnnot be innte in th instrument ny more thn music innte in pino. For just s musicin, developing musicl theme, sets in vibrtion certin prticles of mentl mtter which re trnsformed into sound-forms or "musicl ides" through the instrumently of the mind, the form-producer so thinker, developing mentl theme, sets up vibrtions, though of different rte, in the sme mtter, which re trnsformed by h mind into thought-forms or " mentl ides." And just s these " musicl ides " my be further mteriled into musicl notes by mens of musicl instrument nd the vibrtions of the tmospheric ir, so the thinker's " ides " my be expressed in verbl sounds by the vocl orgns nd so given to the world. For s wh music so wh thought ; the mind supplies the form, the mtter of the mentl plne the substnce, but the Thinker the soul or life. The thought clothes self wh form, nd only when clothed wh form becomes " ide." " Ides " thus cnnot, strictly speking, be " innte " in the mind, though from the mind they tke their origin. For just s reflection the property of mirror, so idetion fculty of the mind. But the mind receives impressions not

28 5o8 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW only from whin, from the Thinker ; but from whout, from the world of sense. It double-fced mirror reflecting t once imges from the externl world nd thoughts of the Thinker. Imges nd thoughts both tke " form " in the mind, which thus the Thinker's only mens of perception nd self-expression on the three lower plnes. And only s we keep th mirror of the mind bright nd untrnhed, free from tht " dust gthers while reflects," cn be fhful reflector of eher thoughts or things. Tke one more instnce from the science of mthemtics. The younger Mill, we know, nd thinkers of h school, pro fessed their bily to conceive of worlds where 2 plus 2 did not equl 4, or where two prllel stright lines might meet. Grnted tht possible to conceive of such worlds, but th ws not wht Mill intended. H object ws to question the universl vlidy of priori forms of thought. In other words, he declred tht necessies of thought need not be necessies of things. But whin world of three-dimensionl spce, nd successionl time, which ws ll tht Mill contemplted, the contrry of the two proposions specified bove bsolutely unthinkble. I cnnot think thing out of spce nd time, which proof posive tht for wking thought things cnnot ext out of spce nd time. (In drem-life, s we know, these limtions do not ext.) But for pure geometry nd mthemtics the necessies of thought must be the necessies of things, for these sciences do but express the lws of mentl reltions nd re impossible except on the ssumption of their truth. It the lsting service of Knt to philosophicl thought to hve proved, beyond possi bily of cvil, tht the priori notions of time nd spce re " necessry forms of thought," the mould in which ll our thinking cst, nd the lims of which our minds cn no more trnscend thn our lungs cn trnscend ir. their need of tmospheric But Theosophy gin which gives the reson why th must be so. For if these priori notions re truly " forms of thought " they must be imposed by the very nture of the mind self, which cn no more trnscend them thn body cn s

29 AGNOSTIC THEOSOPHY 509 shdow. From higher stndpoint, indeed, they my be but shdows cst by the mind, or mentl body, upon the mentl plne, but still they re s " rel " on tht plne s bodily shdows re upon the physicl. For wht " illusion " on higher plne " rel " on lower. In more technicl lnguge, nd dropping metphor, these forms of thought my be described s constuting the rte or wve-length of the vibrtory ctivy of the mentl sheth, which condions the response of the sheth to the unfolding consciousness, nd not until the Thinker lerns to function in sheth wh higher vibrtionl cpcy cn they possibly be trnscended. For just s our physicl ers re " keyed " to certin udory " pch," different in different persons, nd re def to sounds of higher rte of vibrtion, so our mortl minds re def to tht spherl music which beyond the bounds of Time nd Spce. For though the Self be bthed in n tmosphere of truth nd beuty, the responsiveness of the sheths tht condion our consciousness of. Th brief excursion into the relms of metphysics, tht " so-clled region of everything in generl nd nothing in pr ticulr " so deprected by Mr. Orge, will, I trust, be forgiven me, if helps to illustrte the fundmentl contention of th pper : tht Truth, though my tke different forms when seen from different stndpoints, yet lwys remins Truth from whtever stndpoint my be seen. Just s sunre nd sunset re per fectly true fcts, from the stndpoint of one who looks t the sun from the erth, yet flse from tht of one who looks t the erth from the sun ; just s undenibly true, for threedimensionl spce, yet possibly flse for spce of more thn three dimensions, tht two prllel stright lines cn never meet ; so there re " truths," or rther " spects of truth," on the physicl plne tht re flse for the strl, nd " truths " of the mentl plne tht re flse for both. Truth self does not chnge ; wht chnges merely our point of view. Truth, indeed, does not only not chnge, becomes clerer nd clerer, s veil on veil of " illu sion " drops wy, nd the worshipper pproches more closely to the shrine. And th pper will hve been wrten to ltle purpose if hs not done something to vindicte the clim of Theosophy to show the Pth by which tht shrine my be best

30 THE THEOSOPHICAL RBVIEW pproched. For so fr Theosophy from procliming tht " there no truth," tht our Society hs tken for s motto the proud mxim, " There no religion higher thn Truth." Tht, not, s might be vulgrly supposed (though th, of course, included in ), " There no religion higher thn speking the truth" but none higher thn seeking Truth, nd when found, reling. And fr s we, s body nd s individuls, my hve fllen from tht high stndrd, still, s true Theosophts, tht stndrd must ever be our gol nd im. The wonder ll the greter tht Mr. Orge should hve studied Theosophy for ten yers whout finding out. Montgu Lomx. IN DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM I hve been tken to tsk (very gently) by Dr. Montgu Lomx for my gnostic Theosophy. It good phrse in s wy, but to my mind pleonstic : s if one should sy thetic mterilm. From which remrk rightly concluded tht I m prepred to defend my gnosticm. Note, in the first plce, the curious nd striking chnge tht hs come over our vlution of words. Doubtless hundred, fifty, twenty, even ten yers go, word like gnostic ws generlly employed in bd sense. It true tht Huxley coined th prticulr word for himself, but none the less very soon becme the fvoure substute nd synonym for heretic, unbeliever, recrent, rebel, nd ll the rest of the ^vords ex pressing morl indigntion t differences of opinion. But to-dy, in the minds of intelligent people, the word nd such words hve n entirely different flvour nd nunce. Insted of deprectory they re now used in complimentry sense. Dr. Lomx must hve been reding too exclusively the lerture of fifty yers go, or he would scrcely hve employed word which so much honours my Theosophy nd Theosophy.

31 IN DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 5" Also to be observed tht wheres doubt ws once regrded s impious nd dngerous, belief tht we now regrd s dngerous. The Theosophicl Society self regrds belief s dngerous ; s min purpose to destroy those beliefs which hve proved dngerous, beliefs concerning rces, creeds, cstes, sexes, nd colour. Wht re ll these things but beliefs, convictions, if you like idees fixes, nd settled prejudices ; moreover, beliefs tht hve hd considerble shre in m guiding the ctivies of humny, nd in delying the ends, even formultion of the ends, open to the rce of Mn? Therefore, ill becomes us to use the word gnostic wh the erly Victorin impliction. Behind tht impliction lwys ly, more or less conceled, the stke nd the gllows. Agnostic! Heretic! the dtnce not fr between those terms nd Enemy of Mn, Evil One. And once tht climx reched, nothing but the strong rm of the seculr lw tht, like Gllio, cres for none of these things, cn hold the morlly indignnt from flourhing vibly nd triumphntly those instruments of conformy, the stke, rck, nd gllows. At ll times doubt hs been less dngerous thn belief. But not on tht ccount better! For I should be blind, indeed, to defend the vlue of doubt in ll mtters of ction. In ction belief which counts. Belief necessry to ction. Doubt prlyses, there no doubt bout tht! Belief invigortes. Therefore doubt less dngerous thn belief ; therefore belief more plesnt nd lso more dngerous thn doubt. But let us dcriminte between " necessry for ction " nd " true." There relly not the lest reson why belief should be true in order to be effective. We hve only to think of the myrids of superstions (superstions, tht, to us who do not believe them) which hve done duty during the erlier htory of mn. They were none the less effective becuse lter ges hve dcovered them to be opinions. And eqully mss of ignornt, prtil nd bsurd probble tht mny of the beliefs which operte to-dy will prove in time to be bsurd nd flse. But they re effective so long s they re beliefs. Now the proud bost of the Theosophicl Society tht s motto :There no religion higher thn Truth. All hve I

32 512 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW to sy concerning tht motto tht for most of us should be : There no religion higher thn Belief. If objected to me tht the ttude of doubt sterile, tht belief so much better nd more improving, tht, in word, fh sves then I gree. Only to demnd tht becuse belief improves true belief to suppose tht the universe ws designed to improve mn. Personlly I prefer to ssume the contrry, tht mn hs designs on improving the universe ; nd tht just on th ccount belief tht sves nd improves mn, my very well be regrded s necessrily flse! But tht too condensed sttement for idle reders. Wht cler tht religion of truth by no mens the sme thing s re ligion of fh ; nd tht we must not mtke the nturl crving to believe in something for genuine will to dcover truth. The will to dcover truth t ny cost, s I sy, emblzoned on the chrter of the Theosophicl Society. Ought we not to be prepred then to find tht th will to truth my cost us fh, my cost us the mens to ction, my, in fct, cost us every thing? Truth tht costs nothing suspicious ; though, to be sure, the vlue of thing not lwys wht pid for. My contention tht the Theosophicl Society stnds more for doubt thn for belief ; tht in compron wh non-members we re chrctered by extrordinry increduly, unbelief, scep ticm, gnosticm ; side tht in the mjory of cses we re on the of doubt nd not on the side of belief; nd tht, s I hve sid, our min business to destroy beliefs. Belief being, however, necessy for ction, we cnnot strip ourselves entirely of belief. A ltle privte preserve of beliefs we must hve in order to live t ll. But the smller the better! We should be economicl of belief, if we wh to crice beliefs. not! Absolute scepticm impossible, would tht were But t lest we cn mke ltle belief go long wy. But let me persude my friends tht wht I m sying of Theosophy true. You tell me, do you not, tht the world riddle nd problem, tht wh regrd to the ultimtes perchnce even the Highest knows not. Yet when I specify some of the riddles, nd stte some of the prticulr problems, I m told tht I m gnostic. So I m, but not the Society lso, nd

33 i IN DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 513 even more so thn I cn hope to be, when declres tht perchnce the Highest, even He knows not? Or wht do we men by sying tht ll mnifesttion My, if we do not men tht ll mnifesttion flse? And if ll tht mnifest flse, imperfect, unstble, how should not ll truths concerning be imperfect nd unstble, opinions merely! Agin, we re told tht th Kli Yug, or the Drk Age of the Cosmos; tht mnkind now t s ndir; tht illusion ws never so thick upon illusion s now. Yet I m expected to believe the sttements mde during these drkest ges, I m expected to blow bugle on behlf of truths dcovered by I know not wht mirculous mens. Is likely tht our truths re relly truths? In the drkness of our ge there light enough to see truth by? Remembering too our urgent need of belief, not more likely tht we hve swllowed nything for the ske of belief, nything but truth! For remember gin tht we re not s the Chrtins, we deny reveltion nd consequently uthory. There no slvtion for my friends in tht bot. I know tht too mny of us long secretly for n uthory other thn our own merble selves ; tht we secretly hve tht uthory in th person or in tht person. If were not so, there would be no outcry when th person's or tht person's uthory impugned. It nturl to defend our ncsds! But explicly we deny ll reveltion nd ll uthory. Tht where we re so superior to every other body. Every other society, religion, sect, school hs unblushingly n uthory of some sort, be only theory. But we hve not. We dpense wh creeds, forms, ceremonies, persons, doctrines, mircles, reveltions. We reserve to curselves the proud right of ccepting nd rejecting il or nothing. Is Mdme Blvtsky n uthory? She denies no less thn we deny. Is nybody else? It strenuously denied. Then where on erth does our individul right to set up truths come from if not from ourselves? Ech of us therefore h own reveler nd uthory ; priest nd king in h own household. The conclu sion my be unplesnt, my even be flse ; but follows from our specific protesttions of No Reveltion, No Authory.

34 514 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW But I shll be told tht Reson our guide, philosopher nd friend ; tht Reson our reveltion nd uthory ; tht if the mjory of our members do believe in, sy, Reincrntion the Plnetry Chin, becuse Reson compels them. It contrry to my experience tht Reson, in the sense of rtiocintion, demonstrtion, ever compels nybody to do ny thing. At s present stge Reson much too embryonic to mke us resonble. More often we who compel Reson. Poor Reson set to prove wht we wnt to do. If we need prticulr belief, in order to give us the feeling of right, then Reson employed to demonstrte tht belief. Tht done, Reson proceeds to investigte on s own ccount, nd to crice the service of demonstrtion hs been compelled to perform. But tht freedom of Reson just wht we deny ; for belief we wnt, not truth. Reson indeed by our own theories two-edged sword. It cn just s esily destroy s crete belief. Employed in the service of creting beliefs, turns nturlly to the tsk of destroy ing wht hs creted. Tht, surely, the chrctertic of the forml mind of mn ; whose imge the serpent swllowing s til ; whose mening tht opinion swllowed by opinion, reson by reson. And on th gyrtion tht you would construct truth! Well, I m thnkful to hve escped from such truths. If Reson the only evidence for Reincrntion or for ny other doctrine, then such doctrines hve their houses built on snd. Unless there something superior to Reson, unless, in short, Truth self irrtionl, super-rtionl, not truth, nd we re still in the squirrel-cge (s Mr. Med clls ) of the forml mind. So tht not only hve we no externl reveltion or uthory but lso we hve bjured nd foresworn the uthory of Reson ; not on impulse, s were, or whout reflection, but wh full knowledge of wht we were doing. Our whole lerture of psychology solemn wrning ginst the worship of the forml mind. Yet, curiously, when or I tremblingly venture, s novice nd "youngster," to join the chorus of the Abjurtion of Reson,

35 IN DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 515 nd to specify some prticulrs in which my belief hs been shken, thereby exemplifying, s I think, the min psychologic doctrine of the Society, I m huled before the reders of th Review, nd ccused of gnosticm nd " n emptiness of intel lectul conviction "! The very quly I took to be sign in myself of Theosophic grce chrged ginst me s crime. No, not s blunder ; for I cn prove tht proof bsurd. I cn prove tht gnosticm nd emptiness of intellectul convic tion re right nd proper. Out of the mouths of Theosophicl psychologts, s well s out of my own experience, I cn prove tht the serpent of Reson lwys lives on s own til. But wht does mtter? I do not believe, I cnnot believe. Therefore : "Awy wh him! Wht he doing in the Theosophicl Society? ". But relly, my friends, do let us be resonble, impossible s The only obligtory cluse of the Society's creed tht of Brotherhood. Well, I believe tht Brotherhood fct. I believe tht humny one species. Hve I ny reson for tht belief? None. On the contrry, reson ginst que s much s for. And s for experience, well, do we experience brotherhood? Then there uthory for my belief? None. On the contrry, the Old Testment of Theosophy I men The Secret Doctrine implicly denies the uny of mn, by supporting polygenes. However, in spe of reson, experience, nd uthory, I believe in brotherhood ; nd to tht extent I m full member of the Theosophicl Society. regrd But wht do I mke of the Ancient Wdom? How do I ll the other doctrines which hve grown round tht doctrine of Brotherhood, nd would fin usurp s plce? Since I m in confessionl humour, I my s well sy tht they interest me, nd no more. Very interesting indeed they re, bsorbingly so! I hve seen plenty of people cught nd devoured by one or other of such theories. A cught nd devoured person clled crnk. I hve seen nd known mny crnks. The world full of people who hve been cptured nd thrown into dungeons by tht gloriously rtful Rjh of the Mind. Such impronment they cll belief ; nd when penl they cll conviction.

36 5i6 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW But I regrd s the specil business of the Theosopht to preserve himself from such fte, to dpense himself from the desire for beliefs, to be lwys on h gurd ginst flling into beliefs, to dcipline himself to do whout beliefs. Tht one belief in Brotherhood permted him ; h business to mke serve h needs. Other beliefs he my not hve, on penlty of becoming like ll the rest! I know tht th view of mine contrry to the view of mny members ; for they hve sid so, nd they hve done so. For them the Society's business to substute for old nd effete dogms nd doctrines new set, or rther reved set. They offer new lmps for old. But every doctrine becomes dogm, nd every dogm becomes prejudice. In very short while the new doctrines will become prejudices, nd then wht our fte? To be superseded by new Theosophicl Society wh new set of dogms! I should hve no objection to tht if I did not wh to see somewhere in the world society tht did not need supersession every ten or twenty yers. If I did not believe tht there were such things s Wdom nd We Wy, such things, t ny rte, s we men (for wht hve we to do wh bstrctions such s Wdom?) ; if I could bring myself to such stte of con tempt for mn tht I could doubt the possibily of there being one mn, even group of men, who did not need to become fossiled ftlly ; if, nd old nd opinionted nd dogmtic inevbly nd in short, I could not believe tht society could live up to the motto of the Theosophicl Society, then why then, should see no objection to the Theosophicl I Society promulg ting nd propgting doctrines of temporry service, even under the flse belief (for would be flse) tht such doctrines were everlsting truths. It I becuse feel tht the vluble ttude, the enduring ttude, of we mn nd we society the ttude of cricl yet experimentl gnosticm, tht believe the genuine ttude of the Theosophicl Society. m not dvo cting pssive gnosticm, the ttude of negtion nd ftigue. m dvocting superltively ctive gnosticm, tht holds ll opinions, creeds nd doctrines s tenttive, experimentl, I I I

37 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 517 doubtful! If tht wht ment by Agnostic Theosophy, then, s I begn by sying, the phrse for me pleonstic. A. R. Orge. A MEASURE OF WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME Any ttempt by n individul to pprece justly the generl worth of Theosophy must in the nture of things be doomed to filure, for such generl judgment of rel vlue would require knowledge not only of wht Theosophy mens in the generl scheme of things, but lso of wht hs wrought in the nture of every individul who hs come under s influence. No dequte evlution of the true worth of Theosophy cn be set forth even by the best endowed individul, for whtever he my sy but h own single pre-giving, n pprement tht cn diminh no wh from the pre-giving of others, or in ny wy ppropre their songs of thnkfulness. These hve ll to be dded together to form the grnd totl ; they must ll sing together to complete the gret symphony of pre, the hertfelt thnks of ll wkened souls for the infine vriety of the Divine Wdom. Whoever seeks to determine the vlue of Theosophy, cn do so for himself lone, ppring by h own stndrd, ccording to h own ide of wht, nd ccording to h knowledge of wht hs wrought in himself. If mn does not vlue himself, he cnnot vlue for others ; if, in the ignornt conce of prideful ptronge, he llows my be helpful to A. or Z., but declres him, he notion of no good for not tlking bout Theosophy but bout some flse ; for Theosophy most vluble of ll things for ll, seeing tht precely tht which the the Wdom tht unveils the mystery of seeming good nd seeming evil, to the utter stfction of body, soul nd spir wh the stte of things s they re.

38 518 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW I shll, therefore, in th wring, ttempt no more thn to try to let be seen momentry glimpse of some smll mesure of wht I think the vlue of Theosophy to me. I hve lredy let the tmosphere of feeling in which my thought bthed in contemplting my idel be seen bove. The evlution of Theo sophy for me pure pre-giving for Theosophy. I hve nothing but pre for ; my difficulty tht 1 cnnot pre enough. I hve no evil to sy of for the energing of the Good, ;no cricm to mke, for no deprecion to offer, for beyond trnscends ll pre. unreserved, enthusistic bsolutt on the subject. my judgment I ; m n Perhps, good or bd or indifferent reder, whichever you my hppen to be you my, in your wdom, think m foolh I to be n bsolutt bout nything. But my Theosophy bsolute, must inevbly be so, for me we nd free, bsolutely we nd free s you or I tht which will mke nd bsolutely free not we my understnd these words in our present ignornce nd slvery, but relly we in ignornce s well s in knowledge nd free in bonds s well s in libertion. For you relly do not suppose m so feeble s to llow ny one else to define my Theosophy for me, nd impose h notion of things on my universe, ply hell wh my heven, nd mke me wekly suffer the pssion of n intellectul nd spirul mrtyrdom, when my Theosophy teches me s one of s first lessons to be prepred t ny moment to shift my stndpoint nd be ever redjustble. No ;even bbe in my Theosophy big enough to hve ference, for I universe of h own whout ny outside inter universe in Theosophy hs no outside. H infnt thought-control cn wipe out systems in the wink of n eye, the instnt they re perceived to be wry from the truth ;h bby lughter cretes new ones every moment he sings in greter hrmony. Oh but you Theosophy we know ll bout It will sy you re not plying firly wh us. th, tht, nd the other. We hve red in books by Mr. B. nd Mrs. A. que true tht Theosophy th, tht nd the other nd something else. But ll bout not true tht you hve red in books by Mr. B. or Mrs. A., or tht you cn red

39 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 519 ll bout in ll the books of ll the Messieurs nd Mesdmes A.'s to Z.'s in the lerry or illerte world. At ny rte not my Theosophy you hve red bout, if you think you cn snuff out my enthusism by your cricm of th book or of tht, or even of th bible or of tht. If you hve red of my Theosophy, you hve red of something tht must inevbly tke you out of yourself becuse of s grndeur nd gretness ; if you hve ever come cross self-consciously (I do not men if you hve simply red sentences nd chpters unreflecting brin), you too would sing s pres ; wh your eyes nd you could not help so doing ; the nturl result, nd the proof tht you hve understood. Whtever tkes mn out of h ltle self nd refunds him into h Greter Self even for moment the energing of Theosophy in him. Th divine impulse my be conveyed by the understnding of wrten or the comprehension of spoken words, or whout the medion of words t ll s we understnd them, by mens of those winged intelligences who re voiceless for physicl ers, but who spek the universl lnguge of the soul. The vlue nd mening of th mystery? How cn one ppre such welth of mening, such inestimble worth, when the Spir of God, the Divine Breth, begins to inbrethe self self-consciously in the essence of mn's being? How shll we estimte th good in ny terms of humn vlution, when every such term lredy exhusted in ppring the simple gift of Life, even in s mode of life in deth nd deth in life, which men cling to s the most precious of ll their possessions? Let us bethink ourselves of the ceseless song tht Nture sings in pre of Life, of Life even in s known phses from plnt to mn, of the joy of Life when courses through the physicl veins, nd then let us think of th Life no longer s unknowing nd spontneous, but s impregnted wh the Light of true intelligence, nd so bringing to birth whin the essence of mn mrvel, being of new nture, mn-ngel or mgod, of superhumn power nd fculty, who of h very nture sings song infinely more we thn ny mn cn sing, in reltion of the worth nd mening of the ctul, not in pre of some selected good lone ccording to mn's limed view of

40 52o THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW wht good nd wht evil, but in pre of things s they relly re, nturl song tht must be sung, once even the possi bily of th mening begins to be reled, nd the secrets of the Divine Purpose begin to revel their hidden presence in ll things good nd bd for the dulies of bd nd good tht we cll men. You sy, perhps: Th not possible. My Theosophy replies : It inevble ; mn's glorious destiny, fore ordined of Wdom. We re not the cruel sport of hertless tyrnny, the victims of cllous cosmic inquion, the senseless torturer of humn souls, but nurslings of the Gods, nd children of the Fther of the worlds. How then cn we sufficiently dmire nd pre such mrvellous Forethought for our good, nd we Provion for our welfre? And the Divine Purpose, Forethought nd Provion Wdom, tht Theosophy. You, perhps, reply gin : Th not of science, but of fh the bseless fbric woven by fond drems of soring fncy, nd fr removed from ny ctuly of fct nd of experience. My Theosophy rejoins : I m not shmed of fh tht puts ll so-clled science to the blush. Fh lone cn remove the mountins of our present prejudices tht encircle the horizon of our ignornce ; theosophic fh the precursor of gnos ; fh tht which mkes us ct rightly, nd by right ction lone tht th supernl knowledge comes. It comes not by thinking, nor by dreming, not by fncy, nor even by medtion. Reltion comes by ction ; ctuly hid in ction nd reveled by ction. Fh compelling will ; not belief in th or tht creed, but the determintion of mn's being to terminte the illusion of h present crucifixion on the cross of the opposes, nd so re to knowledge of the rely of the Gret Pssion which feels wh ll tht lives nd brethes, of the nd to the intuion Gret Drm in which One Actor cts through ll the bodies in the universe. Will beyond ll pirs of opposes ; whin the pirs ll desire. Such fh in the overmstering truth of mn's potentil diviny not born of ignornce, but lredy of knowledge; ignornce cnnot breed fh, spwns belief; fh of the will, not of the desire. It tht which mkes us ct whout

41 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 52 1 ttchment, nd ction the lnguge of our God, the speech tht Gods cn understnd in ll s mening, while men cn comprehend only so much of s perchnce dogs of humn speech. Theosophy hs thus chnged for me the vlues of mny words. Once I cred ltle for fh, now I esteem highly ; once I cred much for knowledge, now I esteem lightly. But the fh I cred ltle for ws not fh, ws flse notion of wht fh ment, the topsy-turvy notion tht the summtion of series of beliefs would result in conviction. But fh of nother order ; of the will nd being, not of the intellect nd desire ; immede nd not dependent on time. So wh knowledge ; knowledge s humnly conceived deduced nd not immede ; n intellectul process, nd not the expression of wdom in ction, which gnos. Theosophy once ment mny things for me; indeed, eventully cme to men so mny tht my intellect sw no possible prospect of ever contining them ; their vriety ws so gret tht I becme lost in the endless diversy of detil. Now Theosophy mens one thing only ; but th one thing not one of the mny things ; of nother order. It will not to know but to be ; the knowledge tht gnos reltion. Th knowledge the deth of conventionl knowledge nd the birth of Theosophy. The more you bsorb th Theosophy, the more bsorbs you ; you cnnot get tired of ; tht impossible, for perpetul refreshment, of the nture of ever mking new gin. It the secret of the perpetul youth of the gods, the pnce of ll ills, the divine elixir, the secret of the philosopher's stone. How, then, shll we who hve come whin s benign in fluence, who re conscious mystery? We cnnot dequtely vlue of s holy presence, ppre so gret, bilies re inestimble relies, while in self of stfction, complete fulfilment. But if for even, s possi the plerom we would estimte by considering wht we were before we cme to consciousness s extence, nd wht we re now in th fh in s being, then we cn clculte n infinesiml frction of s worth in the terms of our present procession in Fte. of

42 522 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIBW For myself now difficult to rele the utter vcuy nd meninglessness of my life before I cme to know Theo sophy. I sk myself gin nd gin: Is tht dim memory of purposeless wndering nd drifting on from dy to dy which I conjure up s the picture of my youthful pst before herd of Theosophy, relly my self? It now less rel to me thn mny drem ; ws indeed drem, not wking consciousness. In brief, to Theosophy I owe everything tht mkes life liveble. The first mgic touch cme to me by mens of book ; ws Esoteric Buddhm. The rod of Hermes tht wkes the soul the true cduceus on the plne of ctuly; the rel cduceus not the symbol of the powers of the Mster, but those powers themselves. The powers of the Mster re con veyed by countless gencies. In my cse book cme into my hnds, nd the power in the book touched my soul, so tht becme ttentive to the powers behind the power in the book. I did not rele then, but now I know tht must hve been the cll of the true blood of me, the life-essence of mny lives, or s though I hd herd the voices of the long-forgotten pst, voices s were of prents, s the soul hs prents to bring to birth in mn, bringing the messge so beutifully recorded in "The Hymn of the Soul": To thee our son who rt in Egypt, greeting! Up nd re from thy sleep, And lt to the words of our letter! Tht ws upwrds of twenty-one yers go ; but I remember que clerly to-dy s if of yesterdy ; how eger I ws, how roused, how hungry for the words wherever they were to be found. For in those dys there were no shelves full of moderned Theosophicl books designed for populr consump tion ; there were only Is Unveiled nd yer or two of numbers of The Theosopht. Th thing hs come to others in mny other wys ; but to me cme in th wy, nd I owe n I ungrudging debt of grtude to the Society tht orgned self to be mens of helping to rouse the sleeping memory of the soul to recollection of s pst nd of reclling the ttention of the soul to s glorious future.

43 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 523 It ws not only tht wht I red of the wrings of the members of tht Society ws full of suggestion, nd treted of mny things of which I hd never herd t school or t college, but which I now recogne I hd been longing ll my life to her, but the books put me on the trck of prcticlly inexhustible lerture of ll times nd climes. I ws densely ignornt of religion though I hd gined prizes for " diviny " ; I knew nothing of science though I hd pssed exmintions ; I ws dunce in philosophy, for of I hd red ltle sve some books of the ordinry scholstic curri culum, such s ske of stfying exminers of Cicero, Artotle nd Plto, nd these for the in philology, rther thn wh ny officil snction tht they were worth studying in themselves. Wht shocking eduction you hd! you will perhps exclim. Yes, n mzingly bd eduction, just the eduction tht ninety-nine out of hundred hd who were ground through the mechnicl tuion of the schools in my time. Suddenly, ws s if ll things were opened to me, hd I only the power of pursuing fter them ll. On every side pths of fscinting study were reveled, for purpose nd mening were put into the study of ll the rts nd sciences ; there ws reson in things. Among other precious gifts of informtion, I ws mde free of the knowledge tht the Est exted ; I hd herd of tht before s geogrphicl fct, the only spect of the subject tht seemed to interest the pstors nd msters wh whom I bd been previously cquinted. I now lerned tht there were lertures of enthrlling interest in the Est, nd tht ws worth ll mn's while to study the other gret religions of the world. Previously these gret world-religions hd been severely condemned s not only vlueless but posively mchievous by my professed eductors, those set in scholstic uthory over me. But why go through the lt? Nerly ll my Western reders who cn look bck qurter of century must know the fmilir tle. There ws I being ground out in the relentless mchinery of flsely clled eductionl system. All kinds of wrong notions were being ground into me, nd the soul ground out of me, rther thn s ntive qulies brought forth. Even

44 524 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW before I herd of Theosophy there ws something in me tht mde me red widely in the clssics, believing tht there ws some reson why we hd to study Greek nd Ltin other thn for the ske of philology or even for knowledge of " lerture." But so close in the schools ws the boycott of prejudice of ll tht I hve since found of vlue in those lnguges, tht I never cme cross book tht gve me wht I wnted. I spent mny n hour in the Universy Librry ; I rnscked mny shelf wh the dust of ges upon s books, but the Gods were not fvourble. I dresy ws mostly ) my own fult, nd tht the books were round me ll the time ; but I hd no one to tell me, no friend to help. I devoured much " lerture," but my soul wnted not books but bibles ; ll books treting consciously of Theosophy, not simply prroting wht others hve sid of re for me of the nture of bibles. In brief, wh the reding of my first book on Theosophy my, rel eduction begn. set to work to educte myself did not sk nyone to do for me. At first ws like child whout dcrimintion. on I mny tbles. I I ws hungry or n epicure, which you will. I Iwnted to tste ll of I I ; ;there ws food piled high I ; set to work to tste ws glutton mentlly; red rvenously, devoured nything could ly hnds on. Wht n indigestion ws! Indin philosophy nd Buddhm, I religions nd mythologies of ll kinds, mgic cblm nd mysticm nd gnosticm, the mysteries nd the occult rts, nd secret societies, spirm nd mesmerm nd hypnotm, biblicl cricm nd heresies of ll kinds. I think I got through, skimmed through, over two hundred books in the first yer. ws young nd inexperienced nd ws strving!there were no Introductions to Theosophy, no chrts of the unseen world, no ctlogues ronnh of the best books to be studied in those dys. You were turned loose in the midst of nd te yourself out like grub., I But even so, think of wht ment. True ws ll s yet chos for me but wht chos ws living substnce to feed on, chos only in so fr s! I It hd not s yet the power of proper selection nd dcrimintion in the too gret profusion of the bnquet. But, even so, ws foretste of the good things

45 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 525 of Home, which mde the exiled prodigl rele once for ll the utter emptiness of the ded husks of the conventionl midden tht for so long hd been h dily mel. It ws the beginning of n bsolutely new life, in which t first one ws nturlly enough bbe ; but ws life not deth, wking not dreming. Grdully the powers of dcrimintion begn to dwn ; tste, the innte tste of the soul, developed from tsting the mny dhes set before me, nd I grdully begn to select the purest forms of food, the gretest syings nd inner techings of the theosophies nd gnoses of the gret worldfhs. Wht ws t first in my cse n intellectul delight begn grdully to tke hold of my emotionl nture. Of th side of Theosophy not becoming to spek in terms of personl ex perience ; t lest hs never seemed to me to be so. To wer one's hert on one's sleeve ppers to me to be rther sign superficil emotion thn reveltion of the depths of true pssion. There nturl hestion in dplying to the gze of the crowd the secrets of the shrine of the hert ; wheres the opinions of the hed re generlly ll the better of for the rough cricm of the world, for they hve to be eher broken in pieces or hmmered into proper shpe by strife nd struggle wh other opinions ; but the tender thoughts of the hert, the loving hopes of the fhful spouse of the spir, re not for ny ers but those of spirul reltives nd friends. And yet precely in these sme tendernesses nd loves of the hert tht the power of Theosophy most potently mnifested to self-consciousness. Th power trnsfigures the whole nture ; the forml mind follows fter self into the imge of s love. For, nxious to shpe the Power of the Fther in the Mother tht brings the Son to birth. the power of love whin the forml mind tht orgnes from whin like to the Cosmos of Gret Mind, while the conflict of contrry opinions from whout provides the right restnce for the moulding. Indeed, It not seemly to dply the secret workings of the mystery whin, not seemly becuse no description cn do ny thing but dim the beuty of the rely of the Divine inworking.

46 526 THE THBOSOPHICAL REVIEW For tht inworking the energing of Beuty self, which trnsforms the undorned nd unordered nture into copy of self, the hrmonious order nd cosmic loveliness of God's own Son. Th living reltion of the mening of Theosophy not derived from books ; from books we my intellectully grsp the theory, but for understnding theory must first be put to prctice, nd rightly cted out. The theory impresses upon us the ide, we then imgine or imge forth tht ide in our minds, nd imgining, by sympthetic mgic we feel the power, nd feeling we ct out, nd by cting out we then nd then lone begin to know in terms of truly gnostic knowledge. But how possible to convey emotionlly to others wht such n pprently bld sttement so s th my men to one who hs experienced even moment's durtion of such ecsts? How cn nyone express on the surfce of things the depths of mening tht such gnostic ecsts or theosophic ctuly con tins? Fr s I m from ny pretension to the chievement of such exlted ecstsy, I " " cn nevertheless imgine so much of s to mke me feel utterly convinced tht if I could convey to nother in single flsh knowledge of ll the books nd rticles I hve wrten nd of ll the lectures I hve delivered on Theo sophy would not exhust even the surfce mening of wht to me. I know I hve not s yet even begun to express wht relly mens for me ; I m s yet inrticulte in the true lnguge of Theosophy, I cn s yet only send forth cries nd utter interjections. The more I rele s grndeur nd s power, s inestimble wdom nd s inevble stfction, the more I m persuded how utterly beyond ny humn power of expression. And th must nturlly be so, for the whole universe hs been creted for s expression, solely ; nd for th purpose how then cn ny wee mortl wh h humn bby tlk sy wht my be? Those of my reders who hve flttered me by reding so fr, nd who fltter themselves tht they hve mtter-of-fct mind?, will, perhps, here interpose : All th rhpsody nd rhetoric ; if you possessed ny cler notion of the mtter you could express.

47 WHAT THEOSOPHY MEANS TO ME 527 But relly rhpsody nd rhetoric ; or rther not the clculted sttement of the fundmentl fct on which ext ence rests? It seems to me to be purely scientific in the best sense of tht much mused term. The whole universe expresses Theosophy, sings the pre of Theosophy ; for Theosophy the Wdom of God, nd th reveled eqully well in the foolh ness of men s in the wdom of nture, to the sight of God nd to those Blessed Ones who hve pure vion. " In Wdom God creted the hevens nd the erth," nd ll tht re therein. Mother of ll things Wdom, ctully so nd not met The phoriclly. Wdom the spouse nd complement of God s Cretor, the tht in which the Dey fulfils Himself. It living ides lone tht grow nd hve the power of reproduction ; nd to the tresure-house of such living ides, the priceless seeds of the Divine Sower, tht the holy quest for gnos nd self-reltion conducts us. The mechnicl hnding on of wht others hve wrten or spoken whout the power of trnsmting the living spir of the thinker or the seer trffick ing in ded or brren ides. Tht not truly humn Theo sophy, for there no conscious wdom in ; the work of elementl trnsmsion solely n excellent thing in self, exceedingly useful, but not the work of self-found men. Theo sophy must hve life s well s light ; the one whout the other eher chotic or brren. All the techings, ll the instructions of Theosophy on countless problems cn be summed up in one mster living ide, the most potent seed of ll in the gret grnry for plnting in the fly prepred mind of mn, tht mn potentil God ; th seed of true Gnos, th power of growth in Theosophy or perfectioning in the Wdom of God, the true mn himself self-reling himself in the soul of h purified nture, which mens nture cpble of sensing ll opposes in blnced stte tht trnscends knowledge, them nd thus supplies the ground of pure or gnos of the clrified or justified mind. And here I brek off, hving perhps sid ltle I hve not sid before, nd hving fllen fr short of wht I desired to wre, nd yet wh the conviction tht if I tried gin nd otherwe, I should still feel the sme bout, wrote even if I

48 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW succeeded in giving my sentences firer form nd my ide clerer expression. For Theosophy, then, I repet, Theosophy must be lived to be known ; I hve nothing but pre. for living Theosophy one lives wely, nd living wely, one reches true hppiness, nd reching true hppiness, one sings songs of thnkfulness to Him who by th Wdom hs mde ll things. I do not, however, for one instnt suggest tht becuse of the pssing through these high stges tht I pre Theosophy; I pre Theosophy becuse I cnnot help even from the bre imgintion of wht mens. G. R. S. Med. THE SALT-CRYSTALS AND THE LINES OF THE SURFACE Once upon time ll the Lines on the se of mnifesttion held council meeting to dcuss how they might become something gret nd importnt immedely, where they were, whout lwys continuing in uncesing monotony towrds infiny, or towrds the boundless shores of the Deep. It ws greed tht, during the next gret storm, when the wves broke in unusul fury upon the rocks, nd every wvelet ws crossed nd recrossed wh lines by the fury of the wind, tht ech ltle Line should cling tightly to the first ltle Line which ws formed upon h wve, nd by their mutul embrce they should endevour to retin their stte of permnency in tht prticulr spot. And th they did t the next storm. And ws observed by the mriners how long the ripples lsted on the se fter the gret swell hd died wy ; but even these died wy in less time thn one moon period, nd the ocen returned to s norml condion of ceseless monotony, nd ll the Lines resumed their norml course to infiny. But the Lines were not stfied nd they decided to cll

49 THE LINES OF THE SURFACE 529 nother council meeting to dcuss gin the possibily of ltering their norml course, so monotonous. And ws dcussed how would be possible to dd to their power, tht they might run contrry to the nture of things even when the wind ws not there to help them. And one suggested tht they should cll in the sstnce of the Sun, for he too hd the power to form lines ; but t th there ws gret dstfction mong the mjory, for the Lines on the se of mnifesttion prided themselves on being of fr greter importnce thn the lines creted by the Sun, which were mere shdows, or non-rely, or mere specks of brillince lible to terminte bruptly t ny moment upon the interference of ny erth-form, nd were incpble t ny time of continuing to infiny. For, lthough mong themselves these Lines on the se of mnifesttion were secretly rebelling ginst the ceseless monotony of their extence, when dcussing such subjects mongst other beings, sun-lines for instnce, they bosted of the gret vlue of th chrctertic nd prided them selves upon the gretness of their power. So ws greed tht their dcussions should be kept secret nd tht on no ccount should sun-lines know of their scheme. It ws then suggested tht they should sk the dvice nd sstnce of the Slt-crystls, s they were known to be gret rebels, who were lredy working contrry to the nture of things in the Gret Deep, to such n extent nd wh such power tht some folk sid tht, in the ner future, the Slt-crystls would probbly govern lrge portions of the Deep nd control the wters. And ws unnimously greed tht the Slt-crystls would be the best friends to cll in, for, though they were such rebels nd delighted in working contrriwe, they still were true children of the wters neher spirs of the ir, nor the sun, nor the erth, nor ny sort of foreign element. So nother council meeting ws fixed for lter dte to which ll Slt-crystls were inved, nd the secret dst fction of the Lines on the se of mnifesttion ws mde public mong them, fter solemn oth hd been tken by ll present tht the secrets should be divulged to no others. Now the Slt-crystls were gretly interested, for they hd 4

50 53o THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW lwys been very good friends wh these Lines of the surfce, nd they st together in council for long time pondering s to wht might be possible to do nd in wht wy they might render sstnce. Slt-crystls hve one gret peculiry wh regrd to stbily, nd tht th : whenever they find themselves swim ming in single current of wter they hve no power whtsoever over the current or the direction in which they shll move, t the junction of ny two currents they develop centre of permnency whin themselves nd re crried neher in the one direction nor the other, nor in ny but intermede direction, but they re strightwy to the surfce of things nd th how they come to be on such intimte terms wh the Lines of the surfce ; nd then on the surfce of things they develop n individuly of their own nd often remin permnently in one posion for long periods of time. After much more tlk ws decided tht, during the next storm, the Lines on the surfce of things should ct in precely the sme mnner s they hd done on the previous occsion, nmely, ech two tht first met should embrce, to retin their hold on one nother for so long time s nd endevour possible, nd tht the Slt-crystls menwhile, who generlly re to the surfce of things in lrge numbers during ny storm, should ttch themselves to ny two Lines whom they might meet, nd then possibly by the uned power of the three stte of permnency might be ttined, nd th terrible monotony in the life of the Lines on the se of mnifesttion be ended. And they ll wed egerly for storm, for whout th the Slt-crystls hd not the power to re, nor the Lines to cross. There nother power common to Slt-crystls, which I forgot to mention, nd tht gret power of ttrction, especilly power to ttrct the Lines on the surfce of things, nd ws hoped tht th would be of gret service in the present scheme. For, lthough fundmentlly th power of ttrction belonging to Slt-crystls directly opposed in nture to ny kind of stickiness often hs the effect of glueing lines together more firmly thn ny glue. For Lines you will find re never ffected by stickiness.

51 THE LINES OF THE SURFACE 531 A storm cme. The Lines crossed, the Slt-crystls rose, nd there ppered on the surfce of the wters new stte of ffirs. The three friends clung together merrily, nd gret exce ment ensued, wondering how long they would be ble to retin th delightful stte of independence, for relly ws only the independence tht ws delightful. There were no other dvn tges in th stte of extence over the norml extence of the Lines of the wters. And still the cross continued, pst one moon period, pst two moon periods, pst three moon periods, nd there ws gret rejoicing. Such stte of permnency hd never been herd of on the surfce of things before. And they held together thus until there ws nother storm, when new complictions ensued ; for, now the crosses crossed the crosses, nd the Lines of ech cross felt h hold on h fellow member so firm, thnks to the mgnetic influence of the Sltcrystl, tht ech Line did not heste to embrce nother Line, nd cross on cross followed, till there ws que network of Lines nd Crystls on the surfce of the se of mnifesttion, nd th brought wh ll sorts of new ppernces such s hd never been known before. The Lines were drgged first in one direction nd then in nother direction, for s the network grew nd covered more nd more wves of the se, ech wve pulled the network in different direction, nd ech Line, insted of immedely obeying the direction of the wve beneth him, s he hd been ccustomed to do, nd thence going off to infiny, or extermintion, found him self pulled in mny directions t once ; nd there ensued such gret confusion tht t lst the Lines found themselves in some cses one bove the other in sense in which they hd never been before ; nd felt so strnge to be there tht some mongst them, the more fint-herted, begn to wh tht they hd remined content wh the old norml stte of ffirs. The Slt-crystls were now lying one on top of the other, nd the Lines were lying one on top of the other, which pro duced ll sorts of new forms nd mrkings, nd th how the net which lies on,the surfce of things grdully becomes formed into shells which sink into the bottom of the ocen, for

52 532 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW just s Slt-crystls re to the surfces of things, upon the union of two currents in the Gret Deep, so do they sink gin to the depths fter the union of mny forms, wh ech contrction nd friction, concentrtion or centrltion. And th tells you how the ltle shell ws formed which rose from the deep in the story of the Light Ship. E. R. Innes. ANASTASIS AND METEMPSYCHOSIS No Jew ought to believe nything, the germ of which cnnot be found in the Tnch, tht, Torh, Neviim nd C'tovim, or the Old Testment ; nd in order to become Chrtin, he need not do so, for every one of the vl doctrines of Chrtiny, s soon s h spirul eyes re opened, will he find there. He hs the truth concerning the Chrt in h Scriptures, but he cnnot dcern Him there, becuse the " vil lieth on h hert." So lso the Chrtin hs fr more bundnt revel tion, lrge prt of which meningless to mny, becuse of the veil of the crnl mind. Some, therefore, sy, when they come into contct wh the techings of Metempsychos, tht there no Scripturl ground for whtever. Let us see if th relly so, or whether, on the other hnd, the Scripture does not bsolutely require th doctrine in order to explin the doctrine of the resurrection. Trdion, which held to be more scred thn the Scrip tures, mkes huge mtkes. For instnce, Church doctrine teches tht there will be one generl resurrection of just nd unjust, nd tht the world will be consumed nd tht God will settle the ffirs of the myrid genertions of the world's popultion in one dy. All th, however, pure ignornce of God's pln. If trdionlts were sked to prove their ssertion s to generl resurrection they would point to I. Corinthins, xv. But th does not sy~nything bout the resurrection of the wicked.

53 ANASTASIS AND METEMPSYCHOSIS 533 The lnguge used pplicble only to the " ded in Chrt," who shll be red, not wh their erthly, fleshly, physicl, corruptible bodies, but in spirul bodies, incorruptible nd immortl. For though be sown in wekness nd dhonour, " red in power" nd "glory." Th the resurrection, therefore, of believers only, whose whole destiny hs been settled by fh in, nd union wh, Chrt. " Th the first resurrec tion " ; the blessed nd holy, the ded in Chrt, lone hve prt in. Chrt Himself speks of them " s those tht re ccounted worthy to ttin (tux"") tht ge (iuv) nd the resur rection which from mong the ded (njs dvo-to-ews U vinpzv)," who cnnot die ny more, nd re equl to the ngels (Uryytkoi) nd re sons of God (viol diov), being sons of the resurrection.1 So tht the destiny of those who re children of God eternlly settled. Theirs not resurrection in the flesh, but in spirul nd glorified bodies, copies of Chrt's own glorious body.8 But wht " bout the rest of the " ded? " The Scriptures of Truth " sy plinly of them, tht they shll be restored to their former estte even the people of Sodom nd Gomorrh nd the Cies of the Plin, whom God " took wy " wh sudden destruction8 when " rined fire nd brimstone from heven " nd " destroyed them ll." He will turn gin their cptivy nd tht of Smri, of Isrel, of Mob, of Ammon, of Elm, nd of Egypt.* They re to be brought bck from Sheol or Hdes nd to hve bodies of flesh, sinews nd skin.5 So tht ll mnkind, except the elect, re to " live gin " in bodies of flesh upon the erth, for : " As in Adm ll die, so in Chrt shll ll be mde live." The spirs in pron, the proners of deth, shll be delivered. According to the Scriptures, therefore, ll men must live gin, nd the unregenerte in bodies of flesh nd blood. But for wht purpose? Not to live in heven, for " flesh nd blood 1 Luke, xx. 35. * I. j0hn.m. 2; Phil., 111.x.» Exeh., xvi. 5o. 4 Exeh., xvi. 53 ; Jer., xlviii. 47 ; xlix. 6, 39 ; Ezek., xxix. 14 ; xxxvii. 12. * Exeh., xxxvii. 6.

54 J34 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW cnnot inher the kingdom of God."1 Wht then? For con demntion to eternl torment, or for destruction? Every con sidertion forbids the thought. It must be to live gin on the erth restored to their " formtr estte," s the Scripture sys. Now, ccording to the trdionl view, th must men the sudden re-cretion of ll the thousnds of billions who hve ever lived on the erth. Th physicl impossibily. The erth could never contin them. Reson rebels ginst. All science contrdicts. Such n hypothes could re only in the drk ges of ignornce nd superstion. But metempsychos, or resurrection by reincrntion, explins ll. No further cretion of entirely new bodies of flesh needed, but the souls brought bck from cptivy cn be pro vided wh suble bodies by the ordinry mens of genertion, which in regrd to mnkind in generl, will never cese until the time comes tht " there shll be no more deth." So Job could sy tht he knew " tht in the ltter dys h Redeemer should stnd upon the erth, nd tht from h flesh he should see God."2 To Dniel ws sid tht he should " stnd in h lot t the end of the dys.'" So tht ll men shll live gin ;* ll men must hve n " nsts " or " stnding gin," but the unregenerte must be born gin in the flesh ; their nsts will be by mens of metempsychos, which mens lerlly " chnge of soul," from met chnge, nd psttche the soul, or trnsfer of the soul, which the self or ego, to nother body, which will be formed by the ordinry process of genertion, in God's own time nd order. He will give to ech one body s pleses him.6 Henry Proctor. 1 I. Cor., xv. 5o. Job, xix. 25 ; Heb. " mibsri," from my flesh. Dniel, xii. 13. «Romns, v I. Cor., xv. 38. Just s eting contrry to the inclintions injurious to the helth so study whout desire spoils the memory, nd retins nothing tht tkes in. D Vinci.

55 535 THE STUDY OF ANIMALS It mtter of common observtion tht whin the lst few yers chnge, mounting lmost to revolution, hs tken plce in men's ttude towrds nimls. No longer do we regrd them generlly s constuting solved nd settled problem, but more nd more s our knowledge of them, nd, still more, our reltion of the " bysml deeps " of humn personly, increse, nimls together wh ourselves enter upon new order of reserch. It well tht our settled convictions wh regrd to ll things under the sun should from time to time be shken, nd more prticulrly when these convictions entil injustice upon hosts of sentient cretures. Whether the new point of view will in the end be wholly successful, nd bring bout such generl reltions between ourselves nd the nimls s the best of men hve long whed to estblh, t present beyond clcultion. But certin tht no one cn entertin the new ttude or shre in the new methods of reserch who hs not bndoned the older methods, s, in the min, eher imperfect or simply stupid. For, briefly, the new methods of niml study depend primrily on the fculty of sympthy. Sympthy in the most exct, s well s in the widest sense, the first reque, whout which ll the lter refinements re not merely useless but im possible. We must, however, remind the reder who my be scred by the vion of doting old mids s exponents of the new methods, tht sentiment not sympthy. Sentiment my be one side of sympthy, but by self of no more vlue, nd my esily become of less vlue, thn sheer indifference. It difficult to fix n exct dte for the beginning of the new er of niml study. Perhps the book which superficil students would regrd s the first sign of the new school of nturlts Kipling's Jungle Book. There were, however, better

56 536 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW observers before Kipling, there hve been better observers since, nd the methods of which the Jungle Books were the outcome re neher new, nor, fter the first ppliction, very fruful. For Kipling, obvious, hs merely pplied to nimls the form of observtion nd deduction fmilir to the friends of Sherlock Holmes, nd scred to the memory of Fenimore Cooper. H nimls re life-like, but they re not live. While the pw unmtkbly the pw of Shere Khn or Old Bloo, the voice que s unmtkbly the voice of well-known Kipling chr cter, who ppers in free trnsltion s Kim or Stlky, s Tommy Atkins or s Mowgli. Delightful s everybody must dm the Jungle Books to be they re lso significnt of the re of the new school. While scrcely true tht they were the verble pioneers of the modern methods, they bound in evidences of the new spir., moreover, probbly true tht, except for Thompson-Seton, nd, in nother region, Meterlinck, no books bout nimls hve ever been so immedely populr nd t the sme time so revolutionry in their effect. Mny youthful brbrins nd perhps not few of their elders hve been led to open eyes of benevolent wonder on even the hrmless necessry ct since Kipling s " Just-So " story of " The Ct tht Wlked by Himself." It Above ll, the Jungle Books deserve cred for their negtive demonstrtion of the bsurdy of the stuffed-cse order of nture study. In Kip ling's pges the nimls re t lest plced in their proper setting ; the forest theirs nd the society thereof. They neher ext to be hunted for sport nor stuffed for science. Their lives re their own, nd they re determined prejudices of their uthor s pedgogue, neher by the morl nor by h mbions s mighty hunter before the Lord. In short, the reder tken completely out of the cmphorted tmosphere nd swdust floors of the museum nd mengerie into the forests nd fields where the nimls ctully led their lives. And th simple chnge of lbortory, wh ll involves, perhps the decive chnge tht dtinguhes t the outset the new student from the old. But once out in the open ir wh the live nimls s subjects the problem of observtion by no mens rendered esier. Your cged or stuffed or strpped-down

57 THE STUDY OF ANIMALS 537 niml docile enough to the eye of the most timid or stupid student ; but live nd t liberty, nimls, no more thn men, re inclined to lend themselves to the dinterested propgtion of science. The new nturlt therefore driven to the most cunning devices s well s sometimes to the most perilous dventures in h desire to know the nimls t home. Thompson-Seton, Edmund Selous nd the brothers Kerton, for exmple, hve dplyed in their reserches n mount of ingenuy, courge nd ptience tht would hve won mere skinhunters n enduring reputtion. But there no cuse for complint of neglect. As mtter of fct, wh n incresing public, these wrers hve lredy won n enduring reputtion. Everywhere the interest of reders being stimulted nd stfied by the records of the new nturlts. The binoculr dplcing the gun ; the lert mind nd s trined imgintion re tking the plce in the public view of the scientific eye nd trined hnd of the vivector. Men begin to suspect tht the precious reveled by the sclpel. prt of life will never be The populr nturlts of to-dy re observers nd students like the brothers Robinson, Mrs. Brightwen, Wrde Fowler, Dixon, Knight, Pollock, Cornh, Burroughs. Hosts of excellent rticles re ppering in our mgzines. Severl journls re devoted entirely to the new methods. Everywhere re being formed societies nd groups of students, devoted to the new methods nd bound by the idels of the new school. And since these idels re uniformly kindly, nd depend entirely on the mesure of sympthy employed, perhps not Utopin to hope tht, in genertion or two, the mjor horrors t lest of our civiltion's reltions wh nimls my be bolhed ; nd tht for the few t ny rte the wy my be opening into the secrets of the interior lives of our wild brethren. R. Mguire. The senses re of the erth, the reson stnds prt from them in contempltion. D Vinci.

58 538 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS Lst month Mr. Med ws good enough to imprt to us h own specil drem of Inion. At our present stge th cn hrdly be more thn drem to ny of us ; the vst rely must, by s very nture, be beyond ll resoning of ours. Nevertheless, when one who hs lifted h eyes to the Hills tkes courge s well s words cn convey h eyes, of Aspirnts., to tell us, how the prospect shpes self to true nd much needed service to the whole body For the prospect, s seems to me, cn never be exctly the sme to ny two seers. Ech strts from h own posion, nd hs h own pth upwrds ;nd exchnge of our views tht we cn void the ever-present only by free rk of insting so strongly on our own vion tht we ms others of equl importnce. them And we my even do worse thn merely ms ;expressions which seem, on th lower plne, to contrdict ours my be eqully true, from nother side ;nd in opposing them we my unwtingly be fighting ginst God. The htory of religion contins ltle else but exemplifictions of th gret error ;nd the mere fct tht we Aspire does not re us beyond the dnger. In my turn freely tht I Iwill tke courge to tell my drem think Mr. Med's wy of looking t ; the more nd mine re chrctertic of two wide clsses into which most drems of the Pth fll, nd my be studied wh some prof. As I understnd him, the essence of the Pth presents self to him s growth in Power, nd he dlikes the ide of being beholden to nyone for the Opening of the Doors. He would come, s the Egyptin cndidte, knowing the mystery-nmes of lintel, doorposts, nd threshold, rmed wh the Word of Power, before which the gtes fly open for him to enter s conqueror, nd th repeted, until t lst he tkes h set in h own right s the Lord of the World, to rule in righteousness. Now th view of the Ascent

59 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 539 true nd vluble ; perhps there never ws time when ws more needful thn just now to inst tht " the bttle to the strong," nd to them lone. The Aspirnt must first be strong enough to stnd in the presence of the Msters, before he cn possibly see, her, or spek ; nd cnnot too often be repeted tht the " Hll of Lerning " no Infnt plce where strong men re trined to become something thn men. But strength not the only thing needful. School, but more Before I come to spek of my own view, I must first sy word or two s to the chrcter of the Aspirnt ; we re told, only open to the right mn who knocks. for the gte, s The first reque tht he shll be utterly nd entirely in ernest bout ; ernest s very few of th genertion hve the ph in them to be in ernest bout nything. Two or three months bck one of our liveliest wrers llowed himself to mke merry wh the ide of ny one " finding comfort " in our Theosophicl fh. At the time, I ws inclined to think tht he ws but for the moment doing, s I myself hve often done here nd elsewhere, identifying himself for the purposes of exposion wh the O.P. ; let us sy openly, wh the Philtine. And I gree tht when the Philtine condescends to express h pprovl of our views, musing ; I myself should use stronger word. He don't need or deserve comforting, rther to be kicked! But from Mr. Orge's lter pronouncements I find I ws mtken. I must dd then, tht when wrer, ltle hedy wh the new wine of F. Nietzsche's bold iconoclsms nd who hs not yet mde the ftl dcovery tht there lurks whin the brzen rmour nd frowning hedpiece of Nietzsche's Uebermensch none other thn the Gret Philtine himself, Golh of Gth in ll h brutl self-sufficiency ; when, I sy, such n one under tkes to express h dpprovl of our Theosophy, nd h conviction (which, by-the-by, not Nietzsche's) tht there nothing true nd tht don't mtter ; why, we re, once more, " mused." Not in the lest desirous, let us ssure him, of rosting him live for h heresy, s he seems to imgine ; the mtter not so serious. A very much more innocent " correction " my suffice for the sin nd the sinner I He not yet old enough to be cpble of the seriousness I hve demnded

60 54o THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW for my Aspirnt. There n old Indin story which well illustrtes th ; in which the Guru holds h pupil's hed under wter till he nigh drowned, nd then sks him wht he ws thinking of during the " process. Thinking of! I ws dying for breth of ir! " ws the nswer ; to which the Guru returned reply : " My son, until you feel yourself dying for glimpse of the Wdom s you were then dying for breth of ir, your serch will be in vin." Something of th kind in truth the first experience of everyone whose mbion to leve the common highwy. The very first step on the rod upwrds lwys (so fr s I know) s John Bunyn sw from the cy of Gth into the Slough of Despond, nd there mn needs comfort, very bdly. The vulgr Clvintic theology, bsurdly mtken s on most points, rightly sees tht mn's " finding religion " to be of ny good, he must, if first lern tht life sues of life nd deth re involved in h ction serious tht ;nd tht wh out th (which clls "conviction of sin wht he believes, or thinks he believes, of very ltle consequence. All msters of the spirul life hve insted on th ;ll poets hve repeted. Tennyson's " Plce of Art " perhps, s finest exposion. The Soul, the glorified Philtine, knowing nd cring for nothing but s own development (Goethe's Bildung), hppy for while, until, ") Lest she should fil nd perh utterly, God, before whom ever lie bre The bysml deeps of Personly, Plgued her wh sore despir. Those who hve forgotten should red the whole mgnifi cent pssge. Is there ny Aspirnt who does not look bck, wh shudder, to the time when Deth nd life she hted eqully, And nothing sw for her despir But dredful time, dredful eterny, No comfort nywhere. Remining utterly confused wh fers And ever worse wh growing time, And ever unrelieved by dml ters, And ll lone in crime ; ;

61 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 541 Shut up s in crumbling tomb, girt round Wh blckness s solid wll, Fr off she seemed to her the dully sound Of humn footsteps fll. If indeed there be ny Aspirnt to whom these words do not spek, nd recll the byss through which we hve pssed (never sk how O, ll I cn sy to him, s Aprile to Prcelsus : " Thou hst not pssed my tril nd thou rt no King of mine! " And then, when to one in the deep wters, ll God's wves nd H billows going over him, every stnding ground (even the "truths of Chrtiny!") melting wy from under h feet, Theosophy shows for the first time world-system which he cn comprehend nd God whom he cn love, nd he sntches t s drowning mn t plnk of sfety in the whirling wters, will the Philtine be " mused " t h " finding comfort "? It que possible ; nothing short of hrd stone, well imed nd well slung, cn rech h feelings. Next, wht the Aspirtion? I do not sk th wh ny ide of defining tht secret for the Aspirnt lone. But there one negtion which my be usefully lid down. It not mtter of dily wshings nd bstinences, to gin powers of long concentrtions of sight nd ction on other plnes, even though th be undertken wh the purest unselfhness, solely to mke of ourselves "Invible Helpers" on those plnes which re com monly nd mercifully hid from our eyes. All th of the world the Aspirnt leves behind the Middle Pth of the souls under the rule of Krm. To help for the ske of helping binds the soul to erth, by bonds, of love indeed, but strong s those of hte. It lys up store of good Krm for the next life ; those who wlk the Middle Pth cnnot do better for themselves but Aspirtion to the region beyond Krm. Her Serph's dmonion " to the Aspirnt : Like one prepring for fr trvel, you must leve your home, renounce your projects, bid frewell to fther, mother, ster, even to the helpless bbe tht cries fter you yes, frewell to them ll eternlly. You will no more return thn did the mrtyrs on their wy to deth. You must strip yourself of every longing, of everything to which mn clings. Unless you do ll th, you re but hlf-herted in your

62 542 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW enterpre." Truly, s the Indin sying hs : " Gurus you my find t every street corner, but dciples re rre! " Now for my drem. No more thn Mr. Med cn I picture to myself time when I shll utterly lose my identy. myself (if ll goes well) ever growing, but lwys keeping I see sciousness prt from the Divine, though t the sme time lso lost in s " the dewdrop slips into the shining se." cn both be ccomplhed life I con How these hve no hope of understnding in th ;but we re dtinctly tught tht even fter the Night of Brhm, when everything whout exception hs been indrwn into the Godhed, in some mysterious wy we shll come forth, gin ourselves, in the new universe. dtinction between the Msters nd ourselves re working seprtely ech step in our dvnce towrds the Uny which They re One embrcing to the full ll Mr. Med's, " which setteth the solry in fmilies " Communion of Sints in the Grnd Army, thn I to me, there ; But for ll tht the chief tht whilst we ;nd we re tught tht widening out of our consciousness our finl gol. My drem, then, to be received s nd thus mde could ever hve been lone. justifiction of frther of Power ;of dmsion to duly qulified recru hundred-fold more useful And in th thought, good del which jrs upon feelings. For ceremonies, however mysticl or symbolicl, s ltle s nyone. I remember, when I I seems h cre ws inved to enter Mrs. Besnt's Co-Msonry, replying to the effect tht before the ply ws plyed out I should surely lose ptience nd do something desperte to the Worthy Mster, or the Grnd Orgnt, or the respectble Tyler, nd be quoed out gin into the exterior drkness ;nd the descriptions of the Egyptin Neophyte climbing ldders nd wndering in drk pssges, probbly to the serious dmge of wht ing describes s the lether of h nose, well-known Hindu pled give me much the sme feeling. They seem to me plys for children. But, surely, one who understnds tht h present life, nd ll h previous ones, hve been merely h school, h trining for the Gret Work, for which so few re found worth tril, nd still fewer success fully to pss through their long nd hrd student life, must look forwrd to h Inion the recognion by the Powers

63 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 543 tht he hs done well, nd stnds, clled chosen mn f for Their service, no longer in th world wh something like we ; nd fhful, child s we ll re, so fr, nd will feel tht h leving school dtinct step in h life which my well be mrked wh solemn ceremony, s ws wh the Knights of old. The Door opens only to the soul who strong enough to lift the hevy br ; tht profoundly true, nd neher fer nor fvour cn for one instnt nticipte the entrnce ; but (to spek honestly) I don't myself see ny reson why I should trouble to use my strength for the purpose if be not tht whin the Gte w me the " Compny of the just mde perfect," the Msters who hve tught me nd guided me, the compnions who hve reched the gol before me. And of th meeting we hve been tught somewht tht the new Knight furnhed wh the Secrets belonging to h degree, h rmour nd wepons for the Gret Wr. It true tht we hve grown to be worthy of them hve proved our power to use them well or they would not be given to us ; but (t lest s I understnd the teching) they re given, not tken by violence. One sees, indeed, tht must be so. For the whole process one of hstening our develop ment, becuse workers re needed ; s soon s we cn hndle the new powers they re given ; there no time to w for the slow process of our finding them out for ourselves. But Inion fr more thn th, gret s. There chnge in ourselves ; we become more thn men, under the new out-pouring of the Spir. As I hve sid, the gift of the widening out of our consciousness, the first gret step towrds the Divine Uny. The ccepted pupil thereby enters the Com munion of Sints, becomes portion of the Gret Life, inex tricbly joined wh ll the rest, insted of the stry personly, floting loose upon the wves of Time, he hs been until now. The pryer of the Syrin Mster nswered ; he nd They re one, even s He nd the Fther re one. So overpowering to me the deep mening of these words, vguely s one who hs not felt their rely cn pprehend them, tht I find diffi culty in picturing to my imgintion wht individuly cn be left to tke, s seprte being, the higher Inions. Indeed, from th point of view one seems to see mening in the old

64 544 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Indin ide tht the gret Lords of the World re those who hve so fr filed to lose themselves in the All, nd re thus mde use of in the lower work of ruling the world, much s H. P. B. ws utiled for s teching. Once more ; ll th, gin, nothing to the gret Love the Shining Se, into which the soul slips s the dewdrop, when the gte opens nd the Blessed Ones welcome him into their compny. Wh Dnte he hs pssed through the clensing fires of the Purgtory nd the Devchnic bls of the Erthly Prdo solry still, but for the fhful guide who hs led him to the point where he no longer needs humn guidnce, being himself Mster ; nd now the Heven opens for him in immesurble Light nd Love, reflected bck upon him from every soul of the Blessed Compny who dwell there. Inion fter Inion, Heven fter Heven, ech dtinguhed from the lst by more piercing Light nd fuller, richer Love thn he hd known before, he psses, beyond every erthly thought or drem., Yes, beyond us ; let us wke from our drem. I hve told prtly s protest ginst tendency I especilly strong in the new genertion, to subject we hve received, spred in the world, to nd which seem to perceive, one the techings the Society's one business similr process to tht to which the Chrtin " truths " re being subjected in the world outside tendency to slip them quietly into the bckground s " dogms," covering our retret like the cuttle-fh wh cloud of ink, milk-nd-wtery deluge of " Universl Brother hood." But when th ccomplhed the use of the Society ended. we sy? cl plne If the Philtine There should require " evidence," wht cn not, nd never cn be, evidence on the physi ;wht my be seen on the strl, tht ever-shifting Plne of Illusion, cn be no confirmtion. But if drws wht seems to him the nturl conclusion tht to ; the Philtine drem only, we look t ech other wh tolernt smile, hs not been through the wters he knows " nothing! " He Arthur A. Wells.

65 545 THE DAYS OF THE WEEK: THEIR RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE One of the most fmilir of our ssocions wh the scred number seven our divion of time into the seven dys of the week. So fmilir indeed, there my be of scredness underlying. tht we re pt to overlook wht Convenience nd convention hve no doubt plyed their prt in the rrngement ;nd the fct tht custom vries in th respect mong different rces nd t different periods of the world's htory, seems t first sight to justify superficil view of the mtter. But, on further enquiry, we find tht no system of mrking time wholly dsoced from the nturl divions tht ll the vrious methods, even of divion into weeks, hve some fundmentls in common. The sun in every cse mrks the yer month nd dy, ; ;of night nd dy, summer nd winter, full moon nd crescent so the moon the lunr ;the erth's revolution gives us the lterntions of night wrfre between light nd drkness. We shll frequently find these three fundmentls represented in the nming of the first three dys of the week. For whether the week includes seven dys or ten, nd whether these hve dtinc tive nmes or re merely known s First, Second, Third, nd so on, trdion lingers in most cses of the dediction of ech to some gret Spirul Intelligence whose soul ws believed to nimte one or other of the hevenly bodies which give light to our erth. In the Western world the grouping of seven dys now usul, nd s rule ech hs s dtinctive nme trceble to some mythologicl or religious origin. The first dy of the week, for instnce, by common consent regrded s the one of deepest religious significnce. It thus by most peoples dedicted to the Supreme Dey or to the Sun s typifying Him in the physicl

66 546 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW world. Hence we get the Teutonic words Sundy nd Sonntg, nd the vrious forms of the Ltin Dies Domini (the Lord's Dy) tht pper s Dimnche, Domenic, nd Domingo, in French, Itlin, nd Spnh. Similrly the second dy of the week generlly dedicted to the Moon ; for she typifies the reflected glory of the Sun, the divine life s vriously expressed in humn personly. Our Mondy nd the Germn Montg, s well s the French nd Itlin Lundi nd Lunedt, re thus ll connected orb. To find to which of the hevenly wh the lunr bodies the third dy of the week belongs, we must look first t the Ltin lnguges, where clled Mrdi or Mrtedt, fter the plnet Mrs, whom the Romns worshipped s the God of Wr. The Norse nme for th dey ws Tyr (the feeder of the fierce wolf Fenrir), nd fter him we cll our Tuesdy. The sme links of connection re found in the cse of Wednesdy, which Odin's or Woden's Dy ; for Odin, in Norse trdion, the God of Speech, presiding over everything which chrcterticlly humn on th erth. It he who comes most redily into humn form, nd shres most freely in the ctivies of mnkind. H ttendnts re Winged Thoughts, Silver Speech, Memory nd Speed. He very specilly the messenger of the gods to mn, nd lso the mens of communic tion between mind nd mind ; for he ble to be everywhere once, nd to know everything lwys. In ll these respects he corresponds closely wh the Greek nd Romn Hermes or Mercury, which ltter nmeske French nd Itlin Mercredi nd Mercoledi. t to the The God of Thunder, in the sme wy, nmes the fifth dy, whether under the Germn form Donnerstg, the Englh Thursdy (Thor's Dy) or the French nd Itlin Jeudi or Giovedi, fter the Greek Zeus nd the Ltin Juper or Jove. The sixth dy hs, even mong the Hindus, been reserved to the honour of feminine dey, the spir of summer or frufulness. Thus our Fridy clled fter the Norse Goddess, Freyj or Frigg; while the sme being, under her Romn nme of Venus, presides over the Vendrediox Venerdx of Southern Europens,

67 THE DAYS OF THE WEEK 547 nd nmes like for us nd for them the plnet of love nd beuty. Sturdy being nmed fter wht ws for long believed to be the most dtnt plnet of our Solr System, nturlly comes lst on our lt ; for Sturn represents tht condion of extence which furthest from the Source of ll life. He typifies mtter s the polr oppose of spir, nd represents physicl being in s spect of limtion, even the extreme lim of physicl deth. He the Greek Kronos equted wh Chronos (Time), limed prt of Eterny, nd therefore regrded s the son of Ournos, the limless heven, nd of Gi, the bounded erth. To the student of mythology interesting to find in things of everydy experience connecting link between the mythologies of North nd South. A ltle further investigtion shows correspondence wh Semic nd even Chrtin ides ; for we lern tht the Hebrew Astrologers of old were like the Greeks nd Romns in postulting the extence of some gret spirul Being s the nimting principle of ech of the hevenly bodies. The nmes they gve to these Beings re those tht pper in the Apocryphl Books of the Bible, pplied to the Archngels, Michel, Gbriel, Smel, Rphel, Zdkiel, Azrel, nd Cssiel. St. Michel, s the spir nimting the Sun, nturlly ssoced (in rttic trdion, for instnce) wh the Lst Judg ment ; since the Sun the influence by which life on th plnet mintined, nd t whose whdrwl physicl life here must cese. The nme mens " like unto God " ; nd th gret Arch ngel regrded s God's Lieutennt, the Chief Cptin of the Hevenly Host. Gbriel, the Angel of the Annuncion, on the other hnd, wtches, like the clssic Din, over birth nd the physicl spect of humn life generlly, movements nd so identified wh the Moon, whose regulte physiologicl periods. Rphel, the Soul of the Plnet Mercury, represents, like Odin, or Mercury, or Hermes, ll tht peculir to the humn stge of our evolution, s dtinct from the lower cretures, on the one hnd, who hve no speech, nd, on the other, from the Gods who need none. H symbol in rt therefore Mn, often,

68 54» THE THEOSOPH1CAL REVIEW indeed, the ptrirch Joseph, whose instructor he very specilly sid to hve been, while Gbriel recogned by the nnunci tion lily, Zdkiel by the thunderer's trump or the lightning's fire, Cssiel by the scythe of deth, nd Michel by the sword nd scles of justice. The conception of these Archngels, to whom the Book of Reveltion refers s the Seven Angels, Seven Strs, or " Seven Spirs, which re before the throne," while the Pslms them s " those minters of H who do H plesure," spek of helps us to understnd the erly gropings of our forefthers. For, just s the Jews, whose monothem undoubted, could think of divine influence coming to humny through the gency of divinelyppointed Beings, ech of which ws mnifest s Sun, Moon, or Plnet, so the Greeks, Romns, nd Norsemen, t their best, reled tht there ws controlling power be only known to them s the Threefold Fte (Pst, Present, nd Future) bove nd beyond wht we, perhps ignorntly, cll their " gods." Our ignornce, s compred wh the ncients, ppers very mrkedly in th very connection ; for we hve good reson to know tht the we men of the Est were wre of strs nd plnets which hve only been redcovered of the extence in very recent times, nd not unnturl for us to connect th fct wh the ncient method of dividing week into ten or more dys. In our week of seven, we hve no dy to spre for the newlyfound plnets, Urnus (1781) nd Neptune (1846); still less for the Vulcn of the Ancients, who, in their longer week, could do honour to ech of the Plnetry Angels in turn. Much hs yet to be lerned s to the prticulr sphere of in fluence ttributble to ech, especilly to the ltter three. There the suggestion, for instnce, tht Neptune, who ws the Romn God of the Se, Poseidon, in Greek, nd Mg'u, in Norse presided over the wtery element, in s figurtive sense lso denoting the emotionl, psychic, or strl regions of nture so ltle understood in the modern world ; nd tht Urnus nd Vulcn re lso concerned wh these more hidden powers of the mind, which the ncients cknowledged, used, nd even bused, nd which the twentieth century only now beginning to redcover nd recogne. E. H. C. Pgn, M.A.

69 AVE, VENUS, AVE! Ponder me well, for wh me everlsting life ; And whout me ll life vin I To the Beloved supreme, To her of the purple deep, To her of the zure ir, Love-homge gin nd gin. Ave, Venus, ve! Form of the Eternl Life, Colour nd light of the Soul, Scred nd innermost flme, Spir of Beuty in ll, Ave, Venus, ve! Thy suve, methystine ses Are ever sounding thy nme ; The cler gold-shining ir Is thrilled wh the pulse of thy hert ; In the depths of the forest dim The greenness sighing of thee. Ave, Venus, ve! Ir tht grows by the se, Purple ginst the blue, Nrcsus whe on the hill, And deep red, perfumed rose, They ll re thy children sweet. Ave, Venus, ve! All hrmony comes from thee, All rhythm of notes nd words, All blnce nd symmetry. Thy essence flows out in form ; In the spirl curves of the shell, In the lines of the humn frme.

70 550 THE THE0S0PHICAL REVIEW All colour born of thy hert, Tht hert of trnscendent fire. Ave, Venus, ve! The voice of the bridegroom nd bride ; Deep eyes of the mid tht w, Set towrds thy hevenly dwn, And rdent eyes of the mn, Who t lst the long-sought hs found, Proclim but thy grce nd power, Oh mother of love divine! The scetic's Ave, Venus, ve! frozen drem Shll dsolve beneth thy smile; He bows to the spell of thy nme ; H pst before thee dust, For thy hour in the end must come. Ave, Venus, ve! Thy hnd outstretched over ll ; Ye, e'en in the depths of hell, Tht hell creted by mn, The inverted Venus thou rt, The drk which opposes the light, The foul which opposes the fir, The flse which held for the true. Still, Venus, ve! * * In the crystl cups of the se Tht lie the red rocks between, Where the wter seems golden wine, In the midst of the mber nd green The rys of the Sun found thce, And mixed wh thy firness divine. Ave, Venus, ve! Oh Venus, thou " ltle sun "x! Could Sol be strnger to thee? Wh ll the Immortls thou'rt linked 1 Stcrtt Doctrine.

71 AVE, VENUS, AVE! 55l Throughout their eterny. Ave, Venus, ve! Thou rt the fir fce of the Moon ; * Lun chngeth her shpe wh thee. Of her spects thou rt tht one Which Beuty eternlly. Ave, Venus, ve! The golden, the crowned snke, He who ws Wdom of old, H hed rered bove thine, H coils thy body enfold ; For Wdom protecteth Love, And those only love who know. The snke nd thy firness re one ; For the snke's the seeing eye, Whout him thou rt undone. Ave, Venus, ve! Oh, Venus, born of God's grce, Immculte ry of H mind, Thou seemest well known but rt hid ; Few thy still, whe flme my find, For the Highest ever veiled. Who my spek thy secret nme? Thy fce none my see nd live ; Thy loveliness, mother of love, No mortl eye could sustin. Ave, Venus, ve! A boy wh lute, rose-crowned, Once sng pres of thee, Now lost in n lien lnd (A lnd by the gods unblessed), And soiled by n lien dust. Still thou rest my soul from the ded, Still sluttion I send. Ave, Venus, ve! 1 Ashtroth or Astrte. Florence Tucker.

72 A MEDITATION Eternl One! Thou self-extent cuse Of ll extence, source of love nd light, In whom ll things ext nd hve their light, Who lives in ll things nd ll things in Thee. Nothing exts but Thee, nd there nught In which no good exts. Thou rt ; we but Apper to be. For forms re empty, nothing, If not inhbed by Thee ; they re Thyself Mde mnifest. For we re nothing if our inmost be not Thou. We hve no life but Thine, No will or thought, no love or strength but Thine. Thou rt our life, our will, our mind, our ll. We re in Thee nd Thou in us ; Thou rt The Fther, nd we, in Thee, the Son. Thy Spir fills the universe wh glory, And impregntes ll Nture wh Thy power, Enbling her to bring forth living forms Of plnts nd trees, of nimls nd men. It fructifies the soul of mn nd gives Birth to the Chrt, the Sviour of mnkind, The Mster, He who mkes immortl ll In whom H presence mde mnifest. Thus Chrt God mde mnifest in mn As mn ; nd no one cn ttin to God Except through Him. For He Himself God In mn, nd He who strives to find H God Must seek for Him in H own holy temple Whin himself, in Spir nd in Truth. To Him, the Chrt, the God in mn we pry; And prying strongly we fulfil our pryer.

73 THE WATCHER 553 For ring up to Him we re Himself. No mn knows God ; the God in mn Who knows Himself in mn, nd lifts mn up To the conception of wht Divine In h own nture. Ring up to Him We come to God through Chrt, through God to mn, And to ll nture in H Holy Spir. From the Germn. THE WATCHER High bove the hunts of men ss lonely Wtcher who never sleeps. Dy nd night whout cesing ; yer fter yer whout cesing ; ge fter ge whout cesing ; He wtches, wtches the herts of men. And s He wtches, from H hnd drops seed down, down, down, into the herts of men. Like dew flling from the hevens silently drops nd never ceses. Like mnn in the wilderness flls nd no seed goes stry. The breth of the Wtcher follows the seeds downwrds, nd they re fertiled nd spring up. None there re tht die, but mny lie dwrfed nd stunted ; for the ground they fll on hrd nd stony, breth psses but finds no home there. nd the wrm Mny there re tht grow tll of stlk, nd mny lefed plnts tht ber no fru ; they live for seson, then cese to feel the breth, nd wher wy, leving the root-seed hid whin the ground. Mny spring forth like creepers ; ground wh tendrils tht shut out the light nd mn seeth wht lies beneth. Mny come forth s poonous cling to nd clothe the wrmth, till no flme-plnts, scorching nd

74 554 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW whering wh their own het, leving behind blckness nd desoltion. Few there re tht store whin them the breth, nd grow tll nd stright nd strong up to the hevens ; leves first, then the flower, whe nd lovely, whose perfume s incense nostrils of the Wtcher, nd then the perfect fru. in the Bending He brethes forth to them seven-fold force of H breth, nd ll round them they exhle light nd sweetness ; nd pssers-by seeing sy : " Behold the bode of pece nd the grden nd snctury of our Lord! " Legions of helpers glen the Sower's hrvest ; nd ech mn's crop stored nd set side s h herge, when he cometh gin to h Fther's lnd. Out of the mouth of the Wtcher proceedeth words of wdom which no mn sve H seed bering fru my understnd. I m one wh the Fther! I m the blckness of drkness, nd the hert of eternl light. I m the wrrior's courge, nd the wekness in the hert of the wek miden. I m the gold of the mer, nd the selflessness of the selfless soul. I m the hert of corruption, nd the sweetness of the breth of flowers. I m the hert of power, nd the soul of humily. I m the lord of deth, nd the giver of life. Before the world ws, I ws, And to ll eterny I m. I m the Sower of seed which grows in the hert of men. S. Preston. Where there most power of feeling, there of mrtyrs the gretest wrtyr. D Vinci. While I thought tht I ws lerning how to live, I hve been lerning how to die. D Vinci.

75 555 CORRESPONDENCE Mr. SedlAk's Worship of Logic To the Edor, The Theosophicl Review Der Sir, More reders of th Review thn myself hve probbly been interested nd puzzled by Mr. Sedlk's posive divintion of Logic. Pure thinking ppers to him to be, if not Heven self, t lest the only wy there. Now, unfortuntely, pure thinking not necessrily lucid thinking, still less true thinking. And perhps I shll be doing the reders of the Review service by begging Mr. Sedlk to give us the grounds of h belief in Logic nd in wht he clls Pure Thinking. I m not concerned, s Mr. Sedlk will perceive, wh the logicl process when once strted. cess extremely well. Doubtless he understnds tht pro And he certinly n interesting exponent of Hegel. But wht I m seeking the ground of Logic self. To begin wh, Mr. Sedlk ttches gret del more importnce nd vlue to subjective chnges thn to objective chnges. And wht more, since pure thinking necessrily confined to conscious think ing, he ttches gret del more importnce nd vlue to conscious ness thn to unconsciousness. In cricm of the first ssumption I would sy tht the phenomenly of subjective chnges no less certin thn the phenomenly of objective chnges. And in cricm of the second ssumption, I remind him of the enormously wider re controlled unconsciously thn controlled consciously. Wht, in fct, we need before setting up Logic s n explntion of the Cosmos, to settle the reltive vlues of consciousness nd uncon sciousness (or, to use modern word, subliminl consciousness). If Mr. Sedlk cn demonstrte the ctive nture of consciousness, or point to nything complete whin to h Logic. But until he does so,, I I my whdrw the very chnges in consciousness on which he bses my objection shll perst in believing tht h Logic re

76 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW in themselves frgmentry nd therefore mleding regterings of chnges unconsciously being produced. And if th true s theory nd experience tend to prove surely follows tht the sequence of those chnges frgmentry sequence. How mny links in the chin of custion my never be regtered in consciousness t ll we cnnot know. It only out of broken links, tken t rndom here nd there, tht our theory of Cuse nd Effect set up. But on tht snd-bsed theory the theory of Logic rests. In fct, pure thinking concerns self entirely wh ptching up the chin out of broken links, in imgining wht the rel chin my be, nd in estblhing to s own stfction theory of Custion, which the pure thinker foolh enough to impose upon things. As well might dremer construct theory of wking custion from the snippets nd cuttings of wking-life tht come to him I Or H. G. Wells' mermid wre htory of Europen ler ture from the books dropped overbord by Atlntic pssengers 1 I deny tht there ny cusl succession in consciousness t ll. All succession in consciousness bsolutely tomtic. Under the cir cumstnces, therefore, I fil entirely to perceive the ground on which Mr. Sedlk's pure thinker stnds. As pure thinker nd t the sme time lucid thinker, I do not doubt, however, tht Mr. Sedlk will enble me to cler up my mind. Yours, etc., "The TJndultory Theory of Light" To the Edor, The Theosophicl Review A. R. Orge. Sir, Will Mr. Frnc Sedlk now be so kind s to inform us precely how the phenomen in Tyndll's experiment re to be explined? To judge from h rticle on th subject one would suppose tht he ws unwre tht no one neher Young, nor Tyndll, nor nyone else ever regrded the undultory theory s nything more thn just prcticl working hypothes which hs been lmost forced upon us by very lrge number of observed fcts. If, however, Mr. Sedlk cn now give us better hypothes I hope he will do so. To sy tht light essence, nd tht '' of course the drk bnds re not due," etc. (p. 45o), does not explin why, in Tyndll's expert

77 FLOTSAM AND JETSAM 557 ment, one sees number of rectngles of light. If Mr. Sedlk could tell us why we see these rectngles, would inspire us wh greter confidence in the vlue of h rther mzing sttements. Menwhile of course he just s free to dbelieve in Young's theory s he to believe in " the concvy of the erth's surfce" (p. 447). Yours, etc., W. L. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM One of the gretest puzzles of the htorin of Chrtin origins to determine who the "Chrtin" Churches were to whom Pul preched. The lte document of com- The Pre-Chrtin prome, The Acts, gives no clue, nd s wrer seems to be blsfully ignornt of the gryphus. It to th chief problem tht Professor Willim Benjmin Smh hs ddressed himself, in series of vluble nd sugges tive studies. Professor Smh n Americn mthemticin, but h theologicl nd cricl equipment of very high order, nd sincerely pred by Schmiedel, who hs wrten prefce to Smh's recent work, Der vorchrtliche Jesus, nebst weeren Vorstudien zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Urchrtentums (Giessen : Toplemn; London: Willims & Norgte ; 19o6). One nturlly sks why Professor Smh hs not wrten in Eng lh ; doubtless he will hve lrger udience in Germny cpble of pprecing h lbours t their proper worth, but these scholrs cn ll red Englh, while Englh scholrship only too frequently ignornt of Germn. The book hs not been sent in to us for review, but s of importnce to those who re good enough to be interested in our own reserches, we ppend generl outline of the uthor's posion, for which we re indebted to The Westminster Review of November : Professor Smh seeks to prove tht the Jesus cult ws pre-chrtin, current mong the Jews nd mong the Hellents, from bout 1oo B.C. till bout 1oo yers.d., tht ws grdul growth, nd tht Chrtiny, insted of spreding from only one point (Jeruslem) hd vrious strting

78 points. THE THEOBOPHICAL REVIEW He ces the cse of Apollos, mentioned in the Acts, who tught the Gospel or " the wy of the Lord/' lthough he knew only of John's bptm nd hd herd nothing of Jesus s n htoricl person ; of the finding by St. Pul t Ephesus of some dciples who were in similr stte ; of Simon Mgus, between whose creed nd tht of Philip the decon who converted him [s sid], there must hve been intimte nd sympthetic connection, s wnessed by the testimony of the oldest Chrtin uthories, including Irenseus; of Annis of Dmscus ; of Prcill nd Aquil, who left Rome nd cme to Corinth, where they, lredy Chrtins, joined Pul, no mention being mde of their hving been converted by him, nd so on. Professor Smh refers to the Pr Ppyrus (eded by Wessely), which, reputed of Hebrew origin (Essenic or Therpeutic), nd showing no signs of Chrtin influence, mentions the nme of Jesus s God of the Hebrews used in exorcm. In fct, ccording to our uthor's view, Jesus ws theologicl person ; God, the King of kings, the Sviour, protecting diviny... Professor Smh gives (lrge extrcts from Epiphnius, which show tht sect clled the Nsrioi, or Nzrenes (not to be confounded wh the Nzres or Nzires), exted before Chrt nd knew nothing of him. [See Did Jesus Live 1oo B.C.?] He concludes tht the nme Nzorios ttched to Jesus hd nothing to do wh "town clled Nzreth," especilly s there no proof tht ny such town exted t the beginning of the Chrtin er ; but tht descriptive by-nme, mening protector, gurdin, etc. (Hter, Wchter), nd ws known mong the Hebrews in tht sense for hundreds of yers ; tht on pr wh such combintions Zeus-Xenios, Hermes Psychopompos, Jveh S'b'dth, etc., which by nmes express the ide of divine power in regrd to the protector or Sviour's person. The Ansts not resurrection of the body, nd originlly hd no such mening, but the " Erwechung," or ring up or instlltion of Jesus s the representtive of Jehovh, the Old Testment ffording exmples of the use of the word in th sense. s All of th flls into line wh our own reserches, except tht we hold tht Jeschu h-notzri ws n htoricl chrcter s well. TlthePsrower * There ws indubbly pre-chrtin Gnos, m botn Jew'sn nd Hellentic circles, nd the bove indictions ll point to elements of tht Gnos. We re lso gld to see tht Professor Smh hs recog ned pre-chrtin trces of the Prble of the Sower. H re viewer chrcteres th s novelty, but tht not novel to those of our reders who hve followed our studies in Philo, Hermes, nd Hippolytus, my be seen from the following. For : In ddion to the version of the Gospels our uthor mentions n older

79 FLOTSAM AND JETSAM 559 Nssene or pre-chrtin version s found in the Philosophumen which hd common of H ippolytus, source wh tht in the Synoptics, or from which even the ltter my hve been tken. In the Nssene version he Sower God himself, the seed (world -seed [nd lso word-seed]), the spermtic Logos, nd the three kinds of ground re the mteril or erthy, the psychic or nturl, nd pneumtic or spirul. Th three-fold divion ws wellknown nd figures in the wrings of Pul. Pul certinly knew of the Gnos, nd ws well versed in the technicl lnguge of Hellentic theology, s we hve long contended. We reproduce.** the following lederette from The Globe of Jnury 8th s n indiction of the mrked chnge in edoril opinion on SnKc'e psychic subjects. The Globe the most con- servtive of the evening ppers, nd there fore n exceedingly good index of the progress f the revolution tht tking plce in the domin of psychology. The investigtions of the Psychicl Reserch Society hve reveled such n enormous number of " ppernces " t the moment of deth tht we my lmost tke s proved tht, however they re produced, such ppernces do occur. The suggestion, of course, tht the mind of the dying mn telepthiclly ffects tht of the percipient, wh the result tht the ltter forms n imge of h friend, which relly subjective, but ppers to him to be objective. The theory hs the dvntge of explining why one person should see " ghost," while nother close by him does not, nd why the percipient sees h friend's clothes s well s h fce, becuse b mind nturlly represents the imge in s customry gue. A tle which comes from New York to the Dily Mil seems ltle outside the ccepted explntion. In th cse, the percipient, New York lwyer, ws trvelling in Pullmn cr, when he hd drem or vion, in which he thought himself in strnge cy, in which he sw two friends, one of whom ws live t the time, but ill nd unconscious, while the other hs been ded since The lwyer nd the ded mn hd been gret friends t Hrvrd, nd hd entered into compct wh one nother tht the one who died first should pper to the other, but we do not gther tht the third friend the mn who ws ill ws prty to. The strnge thing in the tle tht the vion of the ded mn did not come until some seven yers fter h deth, so tht telepthy on h prt would seem to be ex cluded. Are we to ssume, then, tht the cuse of the vion ws the third mn, whose mind, though pprently unconscious, ws in fct dwelling on

80 THE THKOSOPHICAL REVIEW h two friends? If so, we shll hve to reve ll our theories on the subject of unconsciousness, nd tret s being relly sub-consciousness. We should sy tht the thought-impression of the ded friend hd been on the threshold of the living friend's psychic consciousness for seven yers, wing for the door to be opened ; the door ws opened to by the vion-stte, nd would hve been opened t ny time previously if tht stte hd occurred under condions which contined mteril on which the lw of ssocion of ides could ct. «We re indebted to Germn collegue for the following notes : Recently the well-known nerve pthologt P. J. Moebius hs publhed t Leipzig complete edion of wor'cs' wmch del wh exceedingly instruc GYerVeriodsn tive subjects, nd contin monogrphs on Schopenhuer, Nietzsche nd Goethe. Although Moebius in h lst wring goes to work in just s one-sided nd purely mteril tic-physiologicl wy s in h book Physiologche Schwchsinn des Weibes, nevertheless in h tretment of Goethe there re some interesting points of view which need only to be looked t from Theosophicl stndpoint to mke them intelligible, lthough they remin riddles to Moebius himself. One of the most interesting points the observtion tht Goethe's whole life ws journey which my be divided into periods of seven yers ech. After every such period kind of rejuvention process seemed to tke plce in him, nd he becme fresh productive s poet. Indeed the most importnt epochs of h development nd lso the cretion of h gretest works were coincident wh such periods of seven yers. Very interesting too re certin dcussions on the now fmous book of Weininger, Geschlecht und Chrcter, nd on some very recent publictions of Weininger's friend: The Bi-sexul Swbod. We hve nothing to do here wh Origin of Mn the not very profble "Plgirm" contro versy which hs been tcked on to them, except the fct tht in the course of the controversy one reminded of the book of Berlin investigtor, Wilhelm Fliess, the tle of which Der

81 REVIEWS AND NOTICES 56r Abluf des Lebens. By these investigtions the question of n origin bi-sexul strting-point for mn in s physiologicl bering put forwrd s hypothes. These investigtions hve their origin in the ide tht certin orgns of the niml nd humn body re trnsformtions of others which originlly hd other chrctertics. Th ide reminds us of Goethe, who first explined the bones of the skull s trnsformtions of the vertebrs. The mteriltic ides of Fliess interpreted by Theosophy throw light on the scientific problem of the trnsformtion of the two-sexed into the one-sexed, since th cn be demonstrted in the trnsformed orgns. It of course, impossible here to go, more deeply into th exceedingly interesting morpho-physiologicl hypothes. Hypnotm REVIEWS AND NOTICES Forel's " Hypnotm " ;or Suggestion nd Psychotherpy. By Dr. (Med.) August Forel. Trns, from the fifth Germn Edion, by H. W. Arn, M.R.C.S. :Rebmn (London 19o6.) Nothing shows more clerly how hrd modern psycho-physiology put to to explin the ever-ccumulting proofs of n intelligence independent of the physicl brin thn the present trete. Wring from the stndpoint of bsolute psycho-physiologicl identy, of montic conception of the universe nd mn which, though clling self scientific, only escpes mterilm by the verbl subterfuge which regrds " mind " nd " mtter " s eqully bstrct nd rtificil terms for n unknown tertium quid, Professor Forel obliged t every turn to confess the extence of " incomptibilies between the phenomen of consciousness nd the observed nd mesured physiologicl results" (p. 16). He pologes for the necessy of speking of " two consciousnesses which re shrply differented from ech other in certin peculir cses of somnm bulm " (p. 23). He dms tht Mesmer's theory of" mgnetic fluid" were proved " would whout doubt seriously influence our if scientific knowledge, for the constent ignoring by science up to the ; yet f

82 562 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW present time of th unknown force would necessrily hve cused n error in our results hherto, in the sme wy tht n importnt fctor, if forgotten, would hve done " (p. 5o). Yet the Professor mkes no effort to dprove Mesmer's theory, nd indeed regrds th nd ll other theories of the extence of n unknown force wh supreme contempt. The " fluid theory," he sys, " tkes umbrge {sic) behind the supposed fcts even t the present time, which re gurded (sic) by spirults, nd which ccording to the circles in which they re produced re so intimtely intermingled wh blind fnticm, wh mentl dturbnces (hllucintions), wh mcon ceived suggestions, wh trickery nd superstion, tht extremely difficult to subject them to scientific exmintion." Tht Society hs exted in Europe nd Americ for the lst twenty-five sole yers, the ron d'etre of whose extence hs been to mke th scientific exmintion ; tht men of science like Sir W. Crookes, Professor Wllce, Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Chrles Richet, Professor Lombroso, hve not found th difficulty insuperble, nd s result of their investigtions hve confessed themselves complete converts to the theory of n unknown force, while two of them hve become professed Spirults ll th our uthor completely ignores. These extrcts will indicte sufficiently the spir in which Pro fessor Forel pproches ny "explntions" of the mystery of humn personly which do not ccommodte themselves to h specil montic hypothes. How ltle th resembles the true scientific spir, tht sees in difficulties nd exceptions the possible hint of new dcoveries, my be gthered by compring h ttude wh tht of nother well-known mn of science of the lst century. " The perfect observer will keep h eyes open in ll divions of knowledge tht they my be struck t once by every event which ccording to ccepted theories ought not to hppen, for these re the fcts which serve s clues to new dcoveries" (Herschel, Introd. to Study of Nt. Science, 27). It must not be supposed, however, tht becuse Professor Forel so contemptuous of theories which clsh wh h own preconceived opinions, tht h ^ltest contribution to the study of hypnotm of ltle vlue. On the contrry, n extremely ble nd interesting work, which no one cn red whout reling fresh how difficult nd complicted re the problems which hypnotm presents, nd how impossible (t lest in the present wrer's view) to solve them from the stndpoint of pure scientific monm. It would tke me

83 REVIEWS AND NOTICES 563 too fr, nd except in the pges of Physiologicl Journl would he out of plce, to follow the uthor in h highly technicl exposion of Sernon nd Vogt's psycho-physiologicl theories of the dynmics of cerebrl nervous ction. Suffice to sy tht Professor Forel's entire rgument built up upon the bsolute identy of psycho physiologicl processes, nd repudes " ll ttempts to seprte prt of the 'soul' s soul-nucleus from the mentl life, s inde pendent from (sic) the living brin-substnce," nd lys stress on " the bsolute inseprbily of ll norml s well s pthologicl phenomen of the mind from the integry of s orgn" (p. 18). So gin he sys (p. 165) : " Physiology lone cn led to doctrine of the mechnm of the mind, s cn supply complete chin of rgument." It not surpring tht mteriltic ttude so uncomproming s th (nd wht mterilm if not the ttempt to explin the phe nomen of mind by the mechnm of mtter?) should be hrd put to to ccount for the most commonplce nd fmilir of hypnotic phenomen. As our uthor forced to dm, there re everywhere " incomptibilies between the phenomen of consciousness nd the observed nd mesured physiologicl results" (p. 18). In fct, the whole field of sub-conscious mentl ction, in which the phenomen of hypnotm chiefly lie, nd which ssoced by Prof. Forel wh the functions of the bsl gngli, the mid-brin, nd the cerebellum, cknowledged to be " the most obscure chpter in the physiology of the centrl nervous system " (p. 26). Yet sooner thn lter h theories to f the fcts, the greter prt of the Professor's lborious investigtion seems undertken to mke the fcts f the theories, or tnt p pour les fs. The fcts of clirvoynce, thought-trns ference, curtive mesmerm, spirulm, etc., re contemptuously rejected, or, when dmted, re put down to " unconscious sugges tion " eher on the prt of the hypnoter or the subject. Throughout the whole book no single work quoted whose views do not coincide wh the uthor's, except Phntsms of the Living, nd th only to be summrily dmsed. Of " " telepthy he sys tht " hs not been ble to bring forwrd new elucidtion," nd tht " nothing new of importnce on the subject " hs been reported. " All the stories of spirults nd superficil persons hve not been ble to lter nything belonging to these fcts" (p. 52). It seems, indeed, s if one needed to be Germn Professor to rele properly the unimportnce of ll other persons.

84 564 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Needless to sy, tht in th wy, however interesting fbric of psycho-physiologicl theory my be built up, no true science of hypnotm will ever be wrten. In proof of th, one fct, nd one fct lone, need only be evidenced. Throughout the whole trete there brely ny reference to the sympthetic nervous system nd s gret plexuses, nd no ttempt to elucidte s functions or ppor tion s shre in the production of hypnotic phenomen, though s intimte connection wh mny of these dmted (p. no). The words " sympthetic," " solr plexus " re not even importnt enough to pper in the Index. Merely to stte th fct to review the book. For the rest the uthor not to be congrtulted on h trns ltor. Not only he pprently incpble of wring Englh, but he so ltle of philosopher tht he cnnot represent Germn philo sophicl terms by their Englh equivlents. For these resons, the reviewer never sure tht he hs grsped the uthor's philosophicl mening, difficulty which especilly present in the first chpter. Might we suggest before Dr. Arn tkes nother philosophicl trnsltion in hnd, tht he devote some study to trete like Gerld Mssey's trnsltion of Du Prel's Philosophy of Mysticm, which n dmirble exmple of how such work should be done. M. L. Mr. Wk's Studies in Mysticm Sutdies in Mysticm nd Certin Aspects of the Secret Trdion. By[Arthur Edwrd Wke. (London : Hodder & Stoughton ; 19o6. Price 1os. 6d. net.) Mr. We so prolific wrer, tht somewht difficult to keep pce wh the output of h works. But the other dy we reviewed very lrge volume of h verses nd now we hve nother of 348 lrge pges, closely printed, nd hve received yet nother, though of smller compss, for review. The studies before us del wh the Western trdion of mysticm, nd wh the htory, or rther the cricl pprecion, of number of ltter-dy movements connected wh "occultm " of sorts nd spirm ; while the third prt devoted to n exposion of the condions nd mnner of the mystic wy ccording to Mr. We's understnding nd experience of. It que true, s Mr. We sys, tht the htory of mysticm still whout rel htorin. Those who hve so fr ttempted the mtter re eher scholrs whout sufficient sympthy, or symp

85 thers whout sufficient scholrship. REVIEWS AND NOTICES 565 He ttempts himself to find middle wy, to wre wh detchment nd just pprecion, nd to be congrtulted on chieving lrge mesure of success in so difficult n undertking. Mr. We cricl of mny things, s he must be from the high idel he hs of mysticm, nd sometimes to wre somewht too mgterilly ; llows himself but he evidently hs tried hrd to be just nd sympthetic. He will, however, be found somewht difficult to follow by those who re not personlly cquinted wh the htory of the mny movements nd ssocions nd endevours he ttempts to evlute, nd by those who re not fmilir wh h phrseology. He dms, however, tht he not wring for the generl reder so much s for smller circle of serious students. These fellow-students of Mr. We's will ll be gld tht he so courgeously sets himself to winnow out the whet from the chff ; their own sieves my hve somewht different mesh, but they cnnot but gree tht the winnowing bsolutely necessry. Mr. We specilly strong in Ltin nd French lerture ; does not get bck to Greek lerture, nd lims himself for h link wh origins to Kblm. He wekest in h knowledge of Germn mysticm ; Itlin, Spnh, Polh nd the rest he does not regrd. But we must recollect tht he not wring the htory of Europen mysticm s whole, but only studies in some of s better known phses. Such htory would men n Encyclopedi Mystic, nd stff of scholrs who were mystics themselves. he Perhps time my hve in s womb such work, but t present we must be content wh studies, mong which Mr. We's will hold n honourble plce. G. R. S. M. The Egyptin Dut The Egyptin Heven nd Hell. By E. A. Wll Budge, M.A., Lt.D., etc. " Books on Egypt nd Chlde " Series. (London : Kegn Pul, Trench, Trubner & Co. ; 19o6, 3 vols. Price 6s. net ech volume.) Th most useful series of " Books on Egypt nd Chlde," begun few yers go by two officils of the Brh Museum, hs been stedily dded to from time to time, until now extends to twenty-two volumes, of which Dr. Budge, Keeper of the Egyptin nd Assyrin

86 566 THB THEOSOPHICAL REV1BW Antiquies, hs contributed twenty, ll deling wh Egypt, nd h Asstnt, Mr. L. W. King, two on Bbylonin Religion nd Assyrin Lnguge. The work under notice one tht mny students of Egyptology hve been desiring to see for long time pst. The Booh of the Ded, so clled, hs been eded nd trnslted over nd over gin, by Nville, Renouf, Birch, Dr. Budge himself, nd others ; while the other scred books of Ancient Egypt hve been much neglected. One clss of these, however, the indeftigble Doctor hs now collected, eded nd trnslted, wh reproductions of ll the texts nd illustrtions, in these volumes. There were current, ppers, mong the Egyptins from bout B.C. 16oo to B.C. 5oo, tht to sy, during the period when the worship of the Thebn Amon, or Amon-R, hd ll the locl cults of Egypt, nd hd mde ll the more to seem but spects of th " King of the Gods," three bsorbed into self ncient gods books, deling exclusively wh the topogrphy nd inhbnts of the drk nd fer ful world through which the Sun-god pssed on h wy from west est during the night. These books were : () The Booh of tht which in the Dut ; (b) n Abridgment of th, whout illustrtions ; nd The Booh of the Gtes. Mny copies of these books hve been found, on ppyri, nd inscribed on the wlls of tombs nd upon srcophgi, copiously illustrted in the cse of () nd (c) wh creful plns of every dtrict of the Dut, s lkes, rivers, nd mountins, nd pictures of the good nd evil spirs tht reside there, ech one lbelled wh s nme nd ttributes. A problem which confronts us t the outset to find to stfc tory trnsltion of the word Dut, term which includes Heven, Hell, the Plce of Judgment, nd the pth of the sun t night. Dr. Budge points out tht underneth the erth, but on, or on ws believed to be not, s one might expect, level wh, so tht (c) cnnot be clled the Underworld (but wht of the word kherti-ndter, Lowerregion of the God, inferiui scr?), behind the gret chin of mountins which ws thought to encircle the hbble world. The root men ing of the word would doubtless help us gretly dcover, but tht hs not s yet been done. if were possible to Dr. Budge hs there fore fllen bck on the phrse the "Other World," s the lest mleding rendering of th difficult word. Th Dut, then, ws, to the populr Egyptin mind t ll events, vst circulr or semi-circulr vlley surrounding the world,

87 REVIEWS AND NOTICES 567 plce of utter gloom nd horror. Through flowed gret river, counterprt of the Nile. It ws divided into twelve sections, seprted from one nother by gret doors or gtes, nd presided Jover by the goddess of the hours of the night. To th plce the Sun-god, fter siling over the upper firmment in the dy-time, comes t sunset, nd whout leving h brk sils long the strem until dwn, when he once more mounts the estern sky. As he pproches ech door thrown open the gods of the dtrict by those who gurd, nd render homge nd pre to their ugust vnt. When he hs pssed through, nd the next door hs been closed behind him, they re loud lmenttion nd sink into pthy until he comes gin the next night. Alwys the gret serpent Apep lies in w to overcome R, nd lwys the prtns of tht god bind h Enemy wh chins, gsh him wh knives, nd otherwe humile him. To the Dut pss ll the souls of the deprted, nd crve of R tht he will grnt them plce in h ship for ever. Those, how ever, who re followers of Osir my dembrk when the bot reches h domin towrds midnight, nd live wh him in the Sokhwet-'lu or Fields of Reeds (of which mny pictures re to ;be seen in the MSS. of The Booh of the Ded) if found worthy to do so ; for here tht the Judgment tkes plce. Those souls who cnnot pss stfctorily through the ordel of the Weighing of the Hert re eher hcked to pieces which re burnt in fierce fire, or cst into lkes of liquid fire or boiling wter. Such summry of the beliefs of the priesthood of Amon-R mde cler by Dr. Budge's book. The two works, however, the Booh of wht in the Dut nd the Both of the Gtes, differ on mny points, the ltter giving gret prominence to Osir, who hrdly mentioned in the former. In these books the illustrtions re ll-importnt, telling us much more thn the texts, which re " scrppy " nd const of ltle more thn nmes of the vrious inhbnts. And wht extrordinry pictures they re, wht nightmres! Mny of our future compnions we find to be huge snkes, some on legs, some wh humn heds, some wh three or more heds nd wings, some wh humn heds growing from their bcks t regulr intervls, others belching forth fire into the fces of the dmned. One would be gld to know the ide tht lies behind these In fct, in looking over these snke-pictures books, one chiefly stonhed t

88 568 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW the extrordinry degree of the bizrre which they dply. The texts re mostly very monotonous nd uninteresting, but there re strnge nd vivid touches here nd there ; the gret serpent who lives on the sound of the rumblings of the erth, megre diet for one who hs to produce twelve loyl servnts of R every dy; the cries of the improned gods of the Eighth Divion, cries like those of mle cts, like the hum of mny honey-bees, like the voice of " those who mke suppliction through terror," or the " confused murmur of the living " ; nd the mighty noe, like tht of the heights of heven when they re shken by storm, herd in the Relm of Seker when R hs pssed through. We repet, tht the debt which Egyptin students in th country lredy owe to Dr. Budge much incresed by the publiction of th importnt work. We wh, however, tht he could see h wy to give up method of trnslerting the hieroglyphics which entirely obsolete nd unscientific, nd cnnot but hmper the pro gress of students of the Egyptin lnguge who look to him, s mny do, for guidnce. It hs been proved que conclusively, bout twenty yers go, tht the letters which he trnslertes s,,, i, u, re not vowels t ll but consonnts. Finlly, we my drop hint tht nyone engged in concocting we-inspiring ruls might gin mny useful suggestions from these volumes. B. G. Seeking Theosophy A Vde-Mecum of Theosophy. By Seeker. (Bomby Eduction Society's Press; 19o6. Price 12 nns.) The tle of th netly got up ltle book' not que ppropre, for s theosophy rther implic thn explic. It contins three essys upon the improvement of the " Body," the " Chrcter," nd the " Mind." Its teching unimpechble, if somewht vgue nd diffuse. Doubtless the importnce of purifying the body, strengthen ing the chrcter, controlling the mind, cnnot be too strongly enforced. Yet th not book tht likely to be useful to the enquirer. Too much pre recommends Society no more thn n individul ; nd when the non-theosopht informed tht the members of the Theosophicl Society, " free s ir from tint of selfggrndement or sordid motive, re lying by lrge stock of pury

89 nd self-scrificing REVIEWS AND NOTICES 569 virtues in the Bnk of Providence for the elevtion of the coming rce," nd ssured over severl pges of their superiory to their " enemies," he pt to be restive. to him. Vegetrins will welcome the uthor's onslughts Smll blme upon wht he clls the suicide of flesh-eting. But perhps mn beginning to consider these mtters not best persuded to self-refining by buse of h " tyrnnous pmpered tste," " ungodly ppete," " brutl degenertion." The book evidently wrten wh much conviction nd wh much cre. Its effect, however, frequently impired by quint phrses such s " the elegnce of the Divine Beuty," " the thick nd " thin of the Rel nd Unrel ; though doubtless derives force from the uthory wh which " Seeker " confirms other techers, s thus : " Shri Krhn hs very justly observed," " the Gd correctly sys." The " Seeker " must continue h serch. The Wy of the Buddh A. L. The Wy of the Buddh. By Herbert Bynes, M.R.A.S. (London : Murry ; 19o6. Price 2J. net.) Th the lst volume of tht very useful sequence, " The Wdom of the Est " series. Mr. Bynes keeps mostly whin the somewht grey tmosphere ofplim in h exposion; he wres, however, generlly wh sympthy, if not wh insight, though in the end he cnnot void h Chrtin prejudice obtruding self in que unnecessry mnner. The texts of the pssges quoted re given in n ppendix in Romn trnslertion of somewht novel kind. Wh regrd to the mening of Nirvn, Mr. Bynes wres: " Before the publiction of the Pli text of the Southern Cnon used to be thought tht, insmuch s the word derived from the negtive or privtive prticle n, ' ' out,' nd vd, to blow,' must men extinction. But we hve lredy seen tht, even in Brlimnm [in the Gd], ws not question of being ' blown out,' but rther the merging of the individul soul in the Over-Soul of Brhm. In Buddhm there cn be no question of the extinction of soul,1 but only of the loss of the power of Krm over the five shnd hs, or qulies of which the humn being sid to const. must remember tht Nirvnm fculties And we stte to be cquired in th life. 1 The ndlt* theory should mke tht que cler. G. R. S. M.

90 570 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW " From wht we now know of the Tthgt's teching, cler tht th, the most importnt word in h system, cn men nothing else thn the extinction of tht sinful nd grsping stte of hert nd mind which, ccording to the lw of Krm, leds to renewed individul extence. In other words, the Arht who hs become n Asehh, nd ttined Nirvnm, one of ' right views, high ims, kindly speech, upright conduct, hrmless livelihood, persevernce in well-doing, intellectul ctivy, nd profound " medtion.' Th the " pth " to Nirvn, we should ourselves hold, rther thn Nirvn self; but wht certin tht the Western "ex tinction" notion of Nirvn going fst, Jor hs lredy gone, to extinction. It ws born of ignornce nd prejudice nd hd no rel vly even s lie. We re lwys gld to see new work on Buddhm, nd thnk Mr. Bynes for h lbours. Every ltle helps, nd Mr. Bynes' dictum tht Buddhm " religion of mere morly," becuse does not possess " personl " Sviour in the orthodox Chrtin sense, my be thought to be high pre enough by mny even if they re unble to correct th judgment, while others who know ludicrously indequte, cn well be content wh such nouns volens homge. Towrds Uny The Religion of Nture nd of Humn Experience. (London : Philip Green ; Price 2$. net.) G. R. S. M. By W. J. Jupp. The theme of th thoughtful nd restful book expressed in the uthor's beutiful quottion from Giordno Bruno : " We re dwellers on str, nd whin the precincts of heven." It nother nd welcome ffirmtion of the uny of the universe. We preme tht uny. We re pt to forget s consequence tht we now live in heven, if we could but see. Volumes like th, which remind us tht the inwrd nd the outwrd re t one, prove s vluble to the trffictortured soul s the herm's cell used to prove to the wy-worn trveller. Not the lest vluble portions of Mr. Jupp's book re h mny quottions from those greter thn he, windows which give glimpses into n enchnted forest.

91 REVIEWS AND NOTICES 571 To " return to Nture," s he points out, not only, or neces srily, to bide in the woods nd fields. It something more imminent nd more immnent thn tht. And these dmirblywrten chpters my well help some on tht wy bck which those re treding who know tht " to go bck, you must go through yourself." A. L. New Testment Cricm in Novel Form Silnus the Chrtin. By Edwin A. Abbott. (London : A. & C. Blck ; 19o6. Price 75. 6d. net.) We hve from time to time informed our reders, by mens of reviews, of the progress of Dr. Abbott's mgnum opus on the cricm of the four Gospels. Dessric, of which six volumes hve lredy ppered, nd which will be completed by yet nother volume, monument of lerning, ptient industry, ripe philologicl cumen, nd fir-mindedness. But the nture nd style of these highly technicl lbours re such tht no one but specilt cn grsp their true significnce nd importnce. It, therefore, hppy inspirtion which hs led Dr. Abbott to cst the generl results of h investig tions into the form of story which describes the conversion to Chrtiny of certin Quintus Junius Silnus while ttending the lectures of Epictetus, t Nicopol, somewhere bout the yer 1 18 A.D. We cordilly recommend the book to those of our reders who would become cquinted wh cler sttement of mny of the pro blems of New Testment cricm nd wh their cndid tretment by the venerble scholr whose philologicl knowledge of the lnguge of the books unequlled in Englnd nd whose kindliness of nture nd generosy of feeling do him high honour. Dr. Abbott hs much to tell us of Epictetus, the independence nd cold intellectuly of whose lectures, however, he somewht exggertes, s foil to the dependence nd wrm emotionlm of fh in nd love of personl Sviour, which our uthor considers to be the inspiring force of Chrtiny. Of the mysticl elements in Chrtiny Dr. Abbott sys nothing. It perhps, not que just compron to contrst philosophy wh religion ;points of fr deeper significnce might hve been brought out by contrsting Chrtiny wh one of the mystery nd contempltive time., cults of the

92 572 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW The story of Silnus of course not romntic recl full of movement, but the nrrtive of the chnge wrought in the mind of studious Romn gentlemn by the perusl of the Chrtin books, nd between the opposing influences of two other cute minds, one tht of n old friend nd scholr who not Chrtin, but who hs devoted long time to their cricl study, nd the other tht of singulrly brod-minded Chrtin, who cn pprece the difficulties of the htoricl nd lerry problems wh which the books teem. It not worth while enquiring whether such rre cricl tmosphere could hve exted in those erly dys (they settled things in much more rough nd redy mnner s rule) ; for we re not sked to believe tht we re reding htory, but only to perm device whereby the techniclies of New Testment reserch which d courge the generl reder, my be removed nd the spir of living interest infused into wht mtter of the very gretest importnce. Dr. Abbott promes us n ddionl volume of notes, giving chpter nd verse for ll h sttements, so tht not necessry t present to mke ny remrks on some que novel solutions which he offers ; we would, however, point out, wh regrd to the nrrtive prt, tht the mention of stem nd n elborte simile of mgnetm worked out on que modern lines re somewht nchrontic, nd tht the rpidy of the mil service between Rome nd Nicopol seems hrdly in keeping wh the condions of the time, in spe of the Imperil Post. The Rdint Body G. R. S. M. Luminous Bodies Here nd Herefter. By Chrles Hllock, M.A. (New York : The Metphysicl Publhing Compny ; London : John M. Wtkins ; 19o6. Price 4s. 6i. net.) Mr. Hllock pprently of the clericl persusion nd of young country whose vlues in things religious re yet que indeterminte. He thinks he hs dcovered something new, nd tht the body of the resurrection to be electricl! He seems to hve no ide tht wht he trying to get t s old s the hills, tht he vulgring the mystery of the rdint body or spirul vehicle of mn, the body of trnsfigurtion, known mong the Egyptins s the khib or mkheru, mong the Hindus s the hirnygjuirb. or " golden womb," nd tijs or the " rdint," nd mong the lter Pltonts s the ugoeides or " ry-like " nd the stroeides or " str-like " body.

93 We re REVIEWS AND NOTICES 573 in herty sympthy wh ny ttempt to restore know ledge of th sublime truth to the Western world, but we deplore vulgry in scred things, nd to our mind the mrk of vulgr mind to rece in the cluses of Creed s Mr. Hllock does : I believe in the corpuscle theory of Sir Oliver Lodge, nd of the inter dependence nd reciprocl correspondence between mn nd h Mker ; nd tht telepthic connection kept live by the fculty clled love. " Telepthic connection" between mn nd h Mker! Do we telephone to God, or pry to Him? Sir Oliver Lodge nd God! We could quote much more of the sme nture, but we will spre our reders such n infliction. Theosopht, December. Mgzines nd Pmphlets G. R. S. M. Th number hs not very much which needs noting for our reders. " Old Diry Leves " continue the Colonel's trvels wh Ms Edger s lecturer. The letters from N.E. Austrli, the "Gret Pyrmid," Rm Prsd's "Self- Culture," nd " Buddht Rules for the Ly," re continued ; s re lso Dr. Schrder's " Who re the Pr invoked in the Shrddh "? nd " " Blbodhini ; Dr. N. Chttopdhyy begins n interesting series upon Zorostrinm. The President- Founder's circulr to the members of the Itlin Section hs much tht vluble for ourselves lso. Theosophy in Indi, December, opens wh n importnt pper, signed M. on " The Significnce of Psychic Experiments." " The Necessy of Guru for the Spirul Life," by " Seeker," con cluded. To one who fmilir wh wht Ctholics re tught s to J., the need nd the use of Spirul Director, the differences, re interesting. I once hd the resemblnces, nd book by n old Spnh frir, who closes h chpter on th subject wh the phy dvice But remember lwys th ;" tht your eternl slvtion of much more importnce to you thn ever cn be to your Director!" Whether the Hindu sges would llow th, in words, sure ;but there I : m not que mening in. Ms Edger's " Studies in the Pedigree of Mn " re continued, wh useful tbles shorter rticles on " The Vl Airs," nd " The Construction Tesserct," ;nd there re of the the ltter wh digrms, curious, but of which the uthor cndidly confesses tht the mtter "will not be ny clerer" for them. y

94 574 THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW Centrl Hindu College Mgzine, December, gives n interesting ccount of Mrs. Besnt's utumn tour, nd the work she mnged to crm into. Ms Willson's " Science Jottings " re lwys interest ing, nd we re gld to be ble to pre the illustrtions to the pper entled " Some Nturl Wonders." Thtosophic Glener, December, hs much tht worth reding in the " Edoril Notes," nd good series of short rticles, including " Wht the Physicl Ether? " by Mr. Sutcliffe, nd curious pper, " The Iconoclst," which might repy the trouble of trnsltion into Englh thought s well s words. The Vdhn, Jnury, nnounces the serious illness of the President- Founder, previously referred to, nd ppels for sstnce for the Pretori Lodge, on the ground tht " the condions of work in South Afric re somewht difficult s yet," phrse which, surely, quint under-sttement of the cse. " " Stry Notes form n illustr tion of the brief life of ny scientific theory under present condions. " " The Enquirer hs frther nswers s to the cse of born idiots, nd two short nswers from G. R. S. M. on mtters pertining to h specil domin. Lttus Journl, Jnury. The Edoril sttes tht the volume of " " Lotus Songs now on sle. A frther portion of Mrs. Besnt's vluble lecture on the Spirul Life given. " Mystery Plys for the Lotus Circle " nd the story form somewht belted Chrtms number, nd the more serious ppers re ll good nd redble. We wh the Edors the increse of circultion in the new yer which their work well deserves. Bulletin Theosophique, Jnury, gives n ccount of the reception of lecture on Theosophy given t the meeting of the Vudo Theo logicl Society t Lusnne, which seems to hve been received " wh much imprtily," but met t once wh the inevble objection tht our doctrine cnnot be reconciled wh the personl Diviny of Chrt. The finl vote, tht '' Protestntm menced by Theo sophy," entirely correct, until Chrtiny reconciles self wh reson. Revut Theosophique, December. In th number the Edor gives brief but plesnt study of the htory of Chrtms, which mkes relief to the regulr running trnsltions. The ccount of the ctivies of the Pr meetings hs much tht interesting for us. Also received wh thnks : Theosofche Beweging, in which H. J. v. Ginkel continues the subject of our Study- clsses, now rightly

95 REVIEWS AND NOTICES 575 ttrcting so much ttention ; Teosofh Tidshrift ; Omtunto ; Frg ments ; (Settle) Revt Teosofic, No. 2 of proming ltle mgzine which reches us s the orgn of the " Aur " brnch t Mexico ; L Verdd, December, which trnsltes from our October number the rticle on "Illusions," by P. T. S. Aiyengr ; Theosofch Mndbld ; Theosophy in Austrlsi, November, one of our best mgzines, s times go. The " Outlook " s usul interesting nd lively ; the leding ppers re " Beuty," by K. C. ; on " The Mers of Dcontent," plesnt nd timely rticle by J. B. McConkey ; still more vluble pper by E. H. Hwthorne, pointing out the much-needed lesson tht we hve no more right to be unjust or unkind in our judgment of ourselves thn of others. We gree wh the Answers to Questions tht would not sst the younger souls to be en lightened s to their pst lives ; but for the elder souls there no informtion so vluble s the knowledge how they cme to be wht they re. New Zelnd Theosophicl Mgzine, November nd December, entled to the sme pre s s next-door neighbour. VV. M. Newton's " The Mysteries of the Ancients," nd W. A. Myers' " Wht constutes Chrtin? " re well worth reding, nd heding " The Strnger's Pge, series of short rticles or extrcts dpted for those who hve no previous cquintnce wh Theo sophicl lerture " one deserving of imtion, especilly if cn be so well crried out s here. We re very gld to see tht in lmost ll our mgzines, ll the world over, originl (nd frequently very useful) nswers to questions re replcing the reproduction of the " Enquirer " from the Vhn. There no better wy of instructing oneself thn by nswering other people's questions! Of Mgzines not our own we hve to cknowledge : Brod Views, Jnury. Th periodicl hs now completed s second yer the time when most new mgzines begin to fll off from their erly prome wh success, nd the present number even bove the verge. The Edor's views of " Wht the Children should be Tught " must certinly be correct, for they gree wh our own! whilst C. B. Wheeler's potheos of " The Cndid Friend " worthy of Bernrd Shw. " The Intelligent Svge s Religious Cric " lso well worth study. Modern Astrology ; Occult Review, which developing curious fculty for rinding things before they were lost, s we used to sy when children ; th month the Edor hs " d covered " the " Mhtm Sri Agmy Guru Prmhins " nd the " cse of Mry Reynolds," so well known to ll reuders of Gurney