Theosophy - An Outline of Theosophy by C.W.Leadbeater
AN
OUTLINE OF THEOSOPHY
C.W.Leadbeater
WHAT
IT IS
For
many a year men have been discussing arguing, enquiring about certain great
basic truths – about the existence and the Nature of God, about His relation
to man, and about the past and future of humanity. So radically have they
differed on these points, and so bitterly have they assailed and ridiculed
one another’s beliefs, that there has come to be a firmly-rooted popular
opinion that with regard to all these matters there is no certainty available
– nothing but vague speculation amid a cloud of unsound deductions drawn
from ill-established premises. And this in spite of the very definite, though
frequently incredible, assertions made on these subjects on behalf of the
various religions.
This
popular opinion, though not unnatural under the circumstances, is entirely
untrue. There are definite facts available – plenty of them. Theosophy gives
them to us; but it offers them not (as religions do) as matters of faith,
but as subjects for study. It is itself not a religion, but it bears to religions
the same relation as did the ancient philosophies. It does not contradict
them, but explains them. Whatever in any of them is unreasonable, it rejects
as necessarily unworthy of the Deity and derogatory to Him; whatever is reasonable
in each and all of them it takes up, explains and emphasises, and thus combines
all into one harmonious whole.
It
holds that truth on all these most important points is attainable – that
there is a great body of knowledge about them already existing. It considers
all the various religions as statements of that truth from different points
of view; since, though they differ much as to nomenclature and as to articles
of belief, they all agree as to the only matter which are of real importance
– the kind of life which a good man should lead, the qualities which he must
develop, the vices which he must avoid. On these practical points the teaching
is identical in Hinduism and Buddhism, in Zoroasterianism and Muhammadanism,
in Judaism and Christianity.
Theosophy
may be described to the outside world as an intelligent theory of the universe.
Yet for those who have studied it, it is not theory, but fact; for it is
a definite science, capable of being studied, and its teachings are verifiable
by investigation and experiment for those who are willing to take the trouble
to qualify themselves for such enquiry. It is a statement of the great facts
of Nature so far as they are known – an outline of the scheme of our corner
of the universe.
HOW
IS IT KNOWN
How
did this scheme become known, some may ask; by whom was it discovered? We
cannot speak of it as discovered, for in truth it has always been known to mankind,
though sometimes temporarily forgotten in certain parts of the world. There
has always existed a certain body of highly developed men – men not of any
one nation, but of all the advanced nations – who have held it in its fullness;
and there has always been pupils of these men, who were specially studying
it, while its broad principles have always been known in the outer world.
This body of highly-developed men exists now, as in past ages, and Theosophical
teaching is published to the Western world at their instigation, and through
a few of their pupils.
Those
who are ignorant have sometimes clamorously insisted that, if this be so,
these truths ought to have been published long ago; and most unjustly they
accuse the possessors of such knowledge of undue reticence in withholding
them from the world at large. They forget that all who really sought these
truths have always been able to find them, and that it is only now that we
are in the Western world are truly beginning to seek.
For
many centuries Europe was content to live, for the most part, in the grossest
superstition; and when reaction at last set in from the absurdity and bigotry
of those beliefs, it brought a period of atheism, which was just as conceited
and bigoted in another direction. So that it is really only now that some
of the humbler and more reasonable of our people are beginning to admit that
they know nothing, and to enquire whether there is not real information available
somewhere.
Though
these reasonable enquirers are as yet a small minority, the Theosophical
Society has been founded in order to draw them together, and its books are
put before the public so that those who will, may read, mark, learn, and
inwardly digest these great truths. Its mission is not to force its teaching
upon reluctant minds, but simply to offer it, so that those may take it who
feel the need for it. We are not in the least under the delusion of the poor
arrogant missionary, who dares to condemn to an unpleasant eternity every
one who will not pronounce his little provincial shibboleth; we are perfectly
aware that all will at last be well for those who cannot as yet see their
way to accept the truth, as well as for those who receive it with avidity.
But
the knowledge of this truth has, for us and for thousands of others, made
life easier to bear and death easier to face; and it is simply the wish to
share these benefits with our fellow men that urges us to devote ourselves
to writing and lecturing on these subjects. The broad outlines of the great
truths have been widely known in the world for thousands of years, and are
so known in the present day. It is only we in the West who, in our incredible
self-sufficiency , have remained ignorant of them, and scoffed at any fragment
of them which may have come in our way.
As
in the case of any other science, so in this science of the soul, full details
are known only to those who devote their lives to its pursuit. The men who
fully know – those who are called Adepts – have patiently developed within
themselves the powers necessary for perfect observation. For in this respect
there is a difference between the methods of occult investigation and those
of the more modern form of science; this latter devotes all its energy to
the improvement of its instruments, while the former aims rather at development of
the observer.
THE
METHOD OF OBSERVATION
The
detail of this development would take up more space than can be devoted to
it in a preliminary manual such as this. The whole scheme will be found fully
explained in other Theosophical works; for the moment let it suffice to say
that it is entirely a question of vibration. All information which reaches
a man from the world without, reaches him by means of vibration of some sort,
whether it be through the senses of sight, hearing or touch. Consequently,
if a man is able to make himself sensitive to additional vibrations he will
acquire additional information; he will become what is commonly called “clairvoyant”.
This
word, as commonly used, means nothing more than a slight extension of normal
vision; but it is possible for a man to become more and more sensitive to
the subtler vibrations, until his consciousness, acting through many developed
faculties, functions freely in new and higher ways. He will then find new
worlds of subtler matter opening up before him, though in reality they are
only new portions of the world he already knows.
He
learns in this way that a vast unseen universe exists round him during his
whole life, and that it is constantly affecting him in many ways, even though
he remains blindly unconscious of it. But when he develops faculties whereby
he can sense these other worlds, it becomes possible for him to observe them
scientifically, to repeat his observations many times, to compare them with
those of others, to tabulate them, and draw deductions from them.
All
this has been done – not once, but thousands of times. The Adepts of whom
I spoke have done this to the fullest possible extent, but many efforts along
the same line have been made by our own Theosophical students. The result
of our investigations has been not only to verify much of the information
given to us at the outset by those Adepts, but also to explain and amplify
it very considerably.
The
sight of this usually unseen portion of our world at once brings to our knowledge
a vast body of entirely new facts which are of the very deepest interest.
It gradually solves for us many of the most difficult problems of life; it
clears up for us many mysteries so that we now see them to have been mysteries
to us for so long, only because heretofore we saw so small a part of the
facts, because we were looking at the various matters from below, and as
isolated and unconnected fragments, instead of rising above them to a standpoint
whence they are comprehensible as parts of a mighty whole.
It
settles in a moment many questions which have been much disputed – such,
for example, as that of the continued existence of man after death. It affords
us the true explanation of all the wildly impossible statements made by the
churches about heaven, hell and purgatory; it dispels our ignorance and removes
our fear of the unknown by supplying us with a rational and orderly scheme.
What this scheme is I will now endeavour to explain.
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES
It
is my desire to make this statement of Theosophy as clear and readily comprehensible
as possible, and for this reason I shall at every point give broad principles
only, referring those who wish for detailed information to larger books,
or to monographs upon particular subjects. I hope at the end of each chapter
of this little treatise to give a list of such books as should be consulted
by those who desire to go more deeply into this most fascinating system.
I
shall begin then, by a statement of the most striking of the broad general
principles which emerge as a result of Theosophical study. There may be those
who find here matter which is incredible to them, or matter which runs entirely
contrary to their preconceived ideas. If that be so, then I would ask such
men to remember that I am not putting this forward as a theory – as a metaphysical
speculation or a pious opinion of my own – but as a definite scientific fact
proved and examined over and over again, not only by myself, but many others
also.
Furthermore,
I claim that it is a fact which may be verified at first hand by any person
who is willing to devote the time and trouble necessary to fit himself for
the investigation. I am not offering to the reader a creed to be swallowed
like a pill; I am trying to set before him a system to study, and above all,
a life to live. I ask no blind faith from him; I simply suggest to him the
consideration of the Theosophical teaching as a hypothesis, though to me
it is no hypothesis, but a living fact.
If
he finds it more satisfactory than others which have been presented to him,
if it seems to him to solve more of the problems of life, to answer a greater
number of the questions which inevitably arise for thinking man, then he
will pursue its study further, and will find in it, I hope and believe, the
same ever-increasing satisfaction and joy that I have myself found.
If
on the other hand, he thinks some other system preferable, no harm is done;
he has simply learnt something of the tenets of a body of men with whom he
is as yet unable to agree. I have sufficient faith in it myself to believe
that, sooner or later, a time will come when he will agree with them – when
he also will know what we know.
THE
THREE GREAT TRUTHS
In
one of our earliest Theosophical books it was written that there are three
truths which are absolute and cannot be lost, but yet may remain silent for
lack of speech. They are as great as life itself, and yet as simple as the
simplest mind of man. I can hardly do better than paraphrase these for the
greatest of my general principles.
I
will then give some corollaries which follow naturally from them, and then,
thirdly, some of the more prominent of the advantageous results which necessarily
attend this definite knowledge. Having thus outlined the scheme in tabular
form, I will take it up point by point, and endeavour to offer such elementary
explanations as come within the scope of this little introductory book.
1. God
exists, and He is good. He is the great life-giver who dwells within us and
without us, is undying and eternally beneficent. He is not heard, nor seen,
nor touched, yet is perceived by the man who desires perception.
2. Man
is immortal, and his future is one whose glory and splendour have no limit.
3. A
Divine law of absolute justice rules the world, so that each man is in truth
his own judge, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the decreer of
his life, his reward, his punishment.
To
each of these great truths are attached certain others, subsidiary and explanatory.
From
the first of them it follows:-
1. That,
in spite of appearance, all things are definitely and intelligently moving
together for good; that all circumstances, however untoward they may seem,
are in reality exactly what are needed; that everything around us tends,
not to hinder us, but to help us, if it is only understood.
2. That
since the whole scheme thus tends to man’s benefit, clearly it is his duty
to learn to understand it.
3. That
when he thus understands it, it is also his duty intelligently to co-operate
in this scheme.
From
the second great truth it follows:-
1. That
the true man is a soul, and that this body is only an appanage.
2. That
he must therefore, regard everything from the standpoint of the soul, and
that in every case when an internal struggle takes place he must realise
his identity with the higher and not with the lower.
3. That
what we commonly call his life is only one day in his true and larger life.
4. That
death is a matter of far less importance than is usually supposed, since
it is by no means the end of life, but merely the passage from one stage
of it to another.
5. That
man has an immense evolution behind him, the study of which is most fascinating,
interesting and instructive.
6. That
he has also a splendid evolution before him, the study of which will be even
more fascinating and instructive.
7. That
there is an absolute certainty of final attainment for every human soul,
no matter how far he may have seemed to have strayed from the path of evolution.
From
the third great truth it follows:-
1. That
every thought, word, or action produces its definite result – not a reward
or a punishment imposed from without, but a result inherent in the action
itself, definitely connected with it in the relation of cause and effect,
these being really but two inseparable parts of one whole.
2. That
it is both the duty and interest of man to study this divine law closely,
so that he will be able to adapt himself to it and to use it, as we use other
great laws of nature.
3. That
it is necessary for man to attain perfect control over himself, so that he
may guide his life intelligently in accordance with this law.
ADVANTAGES
GAINED FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE
When
this knowledge is fully assimilated, it changes the aspect of life so completely
that it would be impossible for me to tabulate all the advantages which flow
from it. I can only mention a few of the principal lines along which this
change is produced, and the reader’s own thought will, no doubt, supply some
of the endless ramifications which are their necessary consequence.
But
it must be understood that no vague knowledge will be sufficient. Such belief
as most men accord to the assertions of their religions will be quite useless,
since it produces no practical effect in their lives. But if we believe
in these truths as we do in the other laws of nature – as we believe that
fire burns and that water drowns – then the effect that they produce in our
lives is enormous.
For
our belief in the laws of Nature is sufficiently real to induce us to order
our lives in accordance with it. Believing that fire burns, we take every
precaution to avoid fire; believing that water drowns, we avoid going into
water too deep for us unless we can swim.
Now
these beliefs are so definite and real to us because they are founded on
knowledge and illustrated by daily experience; and the beliefs of the Theosophical
student are equally real and definite to him for exactly the same reason.
And that is why we find following from them the results now to be described:
1. We
gain a rational comprehension of life – we know how we should live and why,
and we learn that life is worth living when properly understood.
2. We
learn how to govern ourselves, and therefore how to develop ourselves.
3. We
learn how best to help those whom we love, how to make ourselves useful to
all with whom we come into contact, and ultimately to the whole human race.
4. We
learn to view everything from the wider philosophical standpoint – never
from the petty and purely personal side.
Consequently:
5. The
troubles of life are no longer so large for us.
6. We
have no sense of injustice in connection with our surroundings or our destiny.
7. We
are altogether freed from the fear of death.
8. Our
grief in connection with the death of those whom we love is very greatly
mitigated.
9. We
gain a totally different view of life after death, and we understand its
place in our evolution.
10. We
are altogether free from religious fears or worry, either for ourselves or
for our friends – fears as to the salvation of the soul, for example.
11. We
are no longer troubled by uncertainty as to our future fate, but live in
perfect serenity and perfect fearlessness.
Now
let us take these points in detail, and endeavour briefly to explain them.
THE
DEITY
When
we lay down the existence of God as the first and greatest of our principles,
it becomes necessary for us to define the sense in which we employ that much
abused, yet mighty word. We try to redeem it from the narrow limits imposed
on it by the ignorance of undeveloped men, and to restore to it the splendid
conception – splendid, though so infinitely below the reality – given to
it by the founders of religions. And we distinguish between God as the Infinite
Existence, and the manifestation of this Supreme Existence as a revealed
God, evolving and guiding a universe.
Only
to this limited manifestation should the term “ a personal God” be applied.
God in Himself is beyond the bounds of the personality, is “in all and through
all”, and indeed is all; and of the Infinite, the Absolute, the All, we can
only say “He is”.
For
all practical purposes we need not go further than that marvellous and glorious
manifestation of Him (a little less entirely beyond our comprehension) the
great Guiding Force or deity of our own solar system, whom philosophers have
called the Logos. Of Him is true all that we have ever heard predicted of
God – all that is good, that is – not the blasphemous conceptions sometimes
put forward, ascribing to Him human vices.
But
all that has ever been said of the love, the wisdom, the power the patience
and compassion, the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence –all of
this, and much more, is true of the Logos of our system. Verily “in Him we
live and move and have our being”, not as a poetical expression, but (strange
as it may seem ) as a definite scientific fact; and so when we speak of the
deity our first thought is naturally of the Logos.
We
do not vaguely hope that He may be; we do not even believe as a matter of
faith that He is; we simply know it as we know that the sun shines, for to
the trained and developed clairvoyant investigator this Mighty existence
is a definite certainty. Not that any merely human development can enable
us directly to see Him, but that unmistakable evidence of His action and
His purpose surrounds us on every side as we study the life of the unseen
world, which is in reality only the higher part of this.
Here
we meet the explanation of a dogma which is common to all religions – that
of the Trinity. Incomprehensible as many of the statements made on this subject
in our creeds may seem to the ordinary reader, they become significant and
luminous when the truth is understood. As He shows Himself to us in His work,
the Solar Logos is undoubtedly triple – three yet one, as religion has long
ago told us; and as much of the explanation of this apparent mystery as the
intellect of man at its present stage can grasp will be found in the books
presently to be mentioned.
That
He is within us as well as without us, or, in other words, that man himself
is in essence divine, is another great truth which, though those who are
blind to all but the outer and lower world may still argue about it, is an
absolute certainty to the student of the higher side of life. Of the constitution
of man’s soul and its various vehicles we shall speak under the heading of
the second of truths; suffice it for the moment to note that the inherent
divinity is a fact, and that in it resides the assurance of the ultimate
return of every human being to the divine level.
THE
DIVINE SCHEME
Perhaps
none of our postulates will present greater difficulty to the average mind
than the first corollary to the first great truth. Looking round us in daily
life we see so much of the storm and stress, the sorrow and suffering, so
much that looks like the triumph of evil over good, that it seems almost
impossible to suppose that all this apparent confusion is in reality part
of an ordered process. Yet this is the truth, and can be seen to be the
truth so soon as we escape from the dust-cloud raised by the struggle in
the outer world, and look upon it all from the vantage ground of the fuller
knowledge and the inner peace.
Then
the real motion of the complex machinery becomes apparent. Then it is seen
that what have seemed to be countercurrents of evil prevailing against the
stream of progress are merely trifling eddies into which for the moment a
little water may turn aside, or tiny whirlpools on the surface, in which
part of the water appears for the moment to be running backwards.
But
all the time the mighty river is sweeping steadily on its appointed course,
bearing the superficial whirlpools along with it. Just so the great stream
of evolution is moving evenly on its way, and what seems to us so terrible
a tempest is the merest ruffling of its surface. Another analogy, very beautifully
worked out is given in Mr. C. H. Hinton’s Scientific Romances, vol. 1, pp
18-24.
Truly,
as our third great truth tells us, absolute justice is meted out to all,
and so, in whatever circumstances a man finds himself, he knows that he himself
and none other has provided them; but he may also know much more than this.
He may rest assured that under the action of evolutionary law matters are
so arranged as to give him the best possible opportunity for developing within
himself those qualities which he most needs.
His
circumstances are by no means necessarily those that he would have chosen
for himself, but they are exactly what he deserved; and subject only to that
consideration of his deserts ( which frequently impose serious limitations),
they are those best adapted for his progress. They may provide him with all
sorts of difficulties, but these are offered only in order that he may learn
to surmount them, and thereby develop within himself courage, determination,
patience, perseverance, or whatever other quality he may lack. Men often
speak as though the forces of nature were conspiring against them, whereas
as a matter of fact, if they would but understand it, everything about them
is carefully calculated to assist them on their upward way.
That,
since there is a Divine scheme, it is man’s part to try and understand it,
is a proposition which surely needs no argument. Even were it only from motives
of self-interest, those who have to live under a certain set of conditions
would do well to familiarise themselves with them; and when a man’s objects
in life become altruistic it is still more necessary for him to comprehend,
in order that he may help the more effectually.
It
is undoubtedly part of this plan for man’s evolution that he himself should
intelligently co-operate in it as soon as he has developed sufficient intelligence
to grasp it and sufficient good feeling to wish to aid. But indeed this Divine
scheme is so wonderful and so beautiful that, when once a man sees it, nothing
else is possible for him than to throw all his energies into the effort to
become a worker in it, no matter how humble may be the part which he has
to sustain.
For
fuller information on the subjects of this chapter the reader is referred
to Mrs. Besant’s Esoteric Christianity and Ancient Wisdom, and to my own
little book on The Christian Creed. Much light is also thrown on these conceptions
from the Greek standpoint in Mr. G. R. S. Mead’s Orpheus, and from the Gnostic-Christian
in his fragments Fragments Of A Faith Forgotten.
THE
CONSTITUTION OF MAN
The
astounding practical materialism to which we have been reduced in this country
can hardly be more clearly shown than it is by the expressions that we employ
in common life. We speak quite ordinarily of man as having a soul, of “saving”
our souls, and so on, evidently regarding the physical body as the real man
and the soul as a mere appanage, a vague something to be considered as property
of the body.
With
an idea so little defined as this, it can hardly be a matter of surprise
that many people go a little further along the same lines, and doubt whether
this vague something exists at all. So it would seem that the ordinary man
is very often quite uncertain whether he possesses a soul or not; still less
does he know that the soul is immortal. That he should remain in this pitiable
condition of ignorance seems strange, for there is a very great deal of evidence
available even in the outer world, to show that man has an existence quite
apart from his body, capable of being carried on at a distance from it while
it is living, and entirely without it when it is dead.
Until
we have entirely rid ourselves of this extraordinary delusion that the body
is the man, it is quite impossible that we should at all appreciate the real
facts of the case. A little investigation immediately shows us that the body
is only a vehicle by means of which the man manifests himself in connection
with this particular type of gross matter out of which our visible world
is built.
Furthermore,
it shows that other and subtler types of matter exist – not only the ether
admitted by modern science as interpenetrating all known substances, but
other types of matter which interpenetrate ether in turn, and are as much
finer than ether as it is than solid matter. The question will naturally
occur to the reader as to how it will be possible for man to become conscious
of the existence of types of matter so wonderfully fine, so minutely subdivided.
The answer is that he can become conscious of them in the same way as he
becomes conscious of the lower matter – by receiving vibrations from them.
And
he is enabled to receive vibrations from them by reason of the fact that
he possesses matter of these finer types as part of himself – that just as
his body of dense matter is his vehicle for perceiving and communicating
with the world of dense matter, so does the finer matter within him constitute
for him a vehicle by means of which he can perceive and communicate with
the world of finer matter which is imperceptible to the grosser physical
senses.
This
is by no means a new idea. It will be remembered that St. Paul remarks that
“there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body,” and that he furthermore
refers to both the soul and the spirit in man, by no means employing the
two synonymously, as is so often ignorantly done at the present day. It speedily
becomes evident that man is a far more complex being than is ordinarily supposed;
that not only is he a spirit within a soul but that this soul has various
vehicles of different degrees of density, the physical body being only one,
and the lowest of them.
These
various vehicles may all be described as bodies in relation to their respective
levels of matter. It might be said that there exist around us a series of
worlds one within the other (by inter-penetration), and that man possesses
a body for each of these worlds, by means of which he may observe it and
live in it. He learns by degrees how to use these various bodies, and in
that way gains a much more complete idea of the great complex world in which
he lives; for all these other inner worlds are in reality still part of it.
In
this way he comes to understand very many things which before seemed mysterious
to him; he ceases to identify himself with his bodies, and learns that they
are only vestures which he may put off and resume or change without being
himself in the least affected thereby. Once more we must repeat that all
this by no means metaphysical speculation or pious opinion, but definite
scientific fact thoroughly well known experimentally to those who have studied
Theosophy.
Strange
as it may seem to many to find precise statements taking the place of hypothesis
upon questions such as these, I am speaking here of nothing that is not known
by direct and constantly repeated observation to a large number of students.
Assuredly “we know whereof we speak”, not by faith but by experiment, and
therefore we speak with confidence. To these inner worlds or different levels
of nature we usually give the name of planes. We speak of the visible world
as “the physical plane”, though under that name we include also the gases
and various grades of ether.
To
the next stage of materiality the name of “the astral plane” was given by
the medieval alchemists (who were well aware of its existence), and we have
adopted their title. Within this exists another world of still finer matter,
of which we speak as “the mental plane”, because of its matter is composed
what is commonly called the mind in man. There are other still higher planes,
but I need not trouble the reader with designations for them, since we are
at present dealing only with man’s manifestation in the lower worlds.
It
must always be born in mind that all these worlds are in no way removed from
us in space. In fact, they all occupy exactly the same space, and are all
equally about us always. At the moment our consciousness is focused in and
working through our physical brain, and thus we are conscious only of the
physical world, and not even of the whole of that. But we have only to learn
to focus that consciousness in one of these higher vehicles, and at once
the physical fades from our view, and we see instead the world of matter
which corresponds to the vehicle used.
Recollect
that all matter is in essence the same. Astral matter does not differ in
its nature from physical matter any more than ice differs in its nature from
steam. It is simply the same thing in a different condition. Physical matter
may become astral, or astral may become mental, if only it be sufficiently
subdivided, and caused to vibrate with the proper degree of rapidity.
THE
TRUE MAN
What,
then is the true man? He is in truth an emanation from the Logos, a spark
of the Divine fire. The spirit within him is of the very essence of the Deity,
and that spirit wears his soul as a vesture – a vesture which encloses and
individualises it, and seems to our limited vision to separate it for a time
from the rest of the Divine Life. The story of the original formation of
the soul of man, and of the enfolding of the spirit within it, is a beautiful
and interesting one, but too long for inclusion in a merely elementary work
like this. It may be found in full detail in those of our books which deal
with this part of the doctrine.
Suffice
it here to say that all three aspects of the Divine Life have their part
in its inception, and that its formation is the culmination of that mighty
sacrifice of the Logos in descending into matter, which has been called the
Incarnation. Thus the baby soul is born; and just as it is “made in the image
of God” – threefold in aspect, as He is, and threefold in manifestation,
as He is also – so is its method of evolution also a reflection of His descent
into matter. The Divine Spark contains within it all potentiality, but it
is only through long ages of evolution that all its possibilities can be
realised.
The
appointed method for the evolution of the man’s latent qualities seems to
be by learning to vibrate in response to the impacts from without. But at
the level where he finds himself (that of the higher mental plane) the vibrations
are far too fine to awaken this response at present; he must begin with those
that are coarser and stronger, and having awakened his dormant sensibilities
by their means he will gradually grow more and more sensitive until he is
capable of perfect response at all levels to all possible rates of vibration.
That
is the material aspect of his progress; but regarded subjectively, to be
able to respond to all vibrations means to be perfect in sympathy and compassion.
And that is exactly the condition of the developed man –the adept, the spiritual
teacher, the Christ. It needs the development within him of all the qualities
which go to make up the perfect man; and this is the real work of his long
life in matter. In this chapter we have brushed the surface of many subjects
of extreme importance. Thos who wish to study them further will find many
Theosophical books to help them.
On
the constitution of man, we would refer readers to Mrs. Besant’s works, Man
and His Bodies, The Self And Its Sheaths, and The Seven Principles Of Man,
and, also my own book, Man, Visible And Invisible, in which will be found
many illustrations of the different vehicles of man as they appear to the
clairvoyant sight. On the use of the inner faculties refer to Clairvoyance.
On
the formation and evolution of the soul to Mrs. Besant’s Birth and Evolution
of the Soul, Mr. Sinnett’s Growth of the Soul, and my own Christian Creed
and Man, Visible and Invisible.
On
the spiritual evolution of man, Mrs. Besant’s In the Outer Court and The
Path of Discipleship, and the concluding chapters of my own little book,
Invisible Helpers.
REINCARNATION
Since
the finer movements cannot at first affect the soul, he has to draw round
him vestures of grosser matter through which the heavier vibrations can play;
and so he takes upon himself successively the mental body, the astral body,
and the physical body. This is a birth or incarnation –the commencement of
a physical life. During that life all kinds of experiences come to him through
his physical body, and from them he should learn some lessons and develop
some qualities in himself.
After
a time he begins to withdraw into himself, and puts off by degrees the vestures
which he has assumed. The first of these to drop is the physical body, and
his withdrawal from that is what we call death. It is not the end of his
activities, as we so ignorantly suppose; nothing could be further from the
fact. He is simply withdrawing from one effort, bearing back with him its
results; and after a certain period of comparative repose he will make another
effort of the same kind.
Thus,
as has been said, what we ordinarily call his life is only one day in the
real and wider life – a day at school, during which he learns certain lessons.
But inasmuch as one short life of seventy or eighty years at most is not
enough to give him an opportunity of learning all the lessons which this
wonderful and beautiful world has to teach, and inasmuch as God means him
to learn them all in His own good time, it is necessary that he should come
back again many times, and live through many of these schooldays that we
call lives, in different classes and under different circumstances, until
all the lessons are learned; and then this lower schoolwork will be over,
and he will pass to something higher and more glorious – the true divine
lifework for which all this earthly school-life is fitting him.
That
is what is called the doctrine of reincarnation or rebirth – a doctrine which
was widely known in the ancient civilisations, and is even today held by
the majority of the human race.
Of
it Hume has written:-
“What
is incorruptible must also be ungenerable. The soul, therefore, if immortal,
existed before our birth…..The metempsychosis is, therefore, the only system
of this kind that Philosophy can hearken to.” * (* Hume. “Essay on Immortality,”
London, 1875).
Writing
of the theories of metempsychosis in India and Greece, Max Muller says:-
“There is something underlying them all which, if expressed in less mythological
language, may stand the severest test of philosophical examination.” # (#
Max Muller, ‘Theosophy or Psychological Religion,’ p. 22, 1895 ed.)
In
his last and posthumous work this great Orientalist again refers to this
doctrine, and expresses his personal belief in it.
And
Huxley writes: - “Like the doctrine of evolution itself, that of transmigration
has its roots in the world of reality; and it may claim such support as the
great argument from analogy is capable of supplying.” ^ ( ^ Huxley, “Evolution
and Ethics,” p. 61, 1895 ed.)
So
it will be seen that modern as well as ancient writers recognise this hypothesis
as one deserving of the most serious consideration.
It
must not for a moment be confounded with a theory held by the ignorant, that
it was possible for a soul which had reached humanity in its evolution to
re-become that of an animal. No such retrogression is within the limits of
possibility; when once man comes into existence – a human soul, inhabiting
what we call in our books a causal body – he can never again fall back into
what is in truth a lower kingdom of nature, whatever mistakes he may make
or however he may fail to take advantage of his opportunities. If he is idle
in the school of life, he may need to take the same lesson over and over
again before he has really learned it , but still on the whole progress is
steady, even though it may often be slow. A few years ago the essence of
this doctrine was prettily put thus in one of the magazines: -
“A
boy went to school. He was very little. All that he knew he had drawn in
with his mother’s milk. His teacher (who was God) placed him in the lowest
class, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did not
kill; but he was cruel, and he stole, - At the end of the day (when his beard
was grey – when the night was come) his teacher (who was God) said – Thou
hast learned not to kill. But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come
back tomorrow.”
“On
the morrow he came back, a little boy, and his teacher (who was God) put
him in a class a little higher, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou
shalt do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not
cheat. So the man did no hurt to any living thing; but he stole and he cheated.
And at the end of the day – when his beard was grey – when the night was
come – his teacher (who was god) said: Thou hast learned to be merciful.
But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.”
“Again,
on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And his teacher (who was God)
put him in a class yet a little higher, and gave these lessons to learn:
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. Thou shalt not covet. So the
man did not steal; but he cheated, and he coveted. And at the end of the
day – (when his beard was grey –when night was come) his teacher (who was
God) said: Thou hast learned not to steal. But the other lessons thou hast
not learned. Come back, my child, tomorrow.”
“This
is what I have read in the faces of men and women, in the book of the world,
and in the scroll of the heavens, which is writ in the stars.” (Berry Benson,
in The Century Magazine, May 1894).
I
must not fill my pages with the many unanswerable arguments in favour of
this doctrine of reincarnation; they are set forth very fully in our literature
by a far abler pen than mine. Here I will say only this. Life presents us
with many problems which, on any other hypothesis than this of reincarnation,
seem utterly insoluble; this great truth does explain them, and therefore
holds the field until another more satisfactory hypothesis can be found.
Like the rest of the teaching, this is not a Hypothesis, but a matter of
direct knowledge for many of us; but naturally our knowledge is not proof
to others.
Yet
good men and true have been sorrowfully forced to admit that they were unable
to reconcile the state of affairs which exists in the world around us with
the theory that God was both almighty and all-loving. They felt, when they
looked upon all the heartbreaking sorrow and suffering, that either He was
not almighty, and could not prevent it, or He was not all-loving, and did
not care. In Theosophy we hold with determined conviction that He is both
almighty and all-loving, and we reconcile with that certainty the existing
facts of life by means of this basic doctrine of reincarnation. Surely the
only hypothesis which allows us reasonably to recognise the perfection of
power and love in the Deity is one which is worthy of careful examination.
For
we understand that our present life is not our first, but that each have
behind us a long line of lives, by means of which we have evolved from the
condition of primitive man to our present position. Assuredly in these past
lives we shall have done both good and evil, and from every one of our actions
a definite proportion of result must have followed under the inexorable law
of justice. From the good follows always happiness and further opportunity;
from the evil follows always sorrow and limitation.
So,
if we find ourselves limited in any way, the limitation is of our own making,
or is merely due to the youth of the soul; if we have sorrow and suffering
to endure, we ourselves alone are responsible. The manifold and complex destinies
of men answer with rigid exactitude to the balance between the good and evil
of their previous actions; and all is moving onward under the divine order
towards the final consummation of glory.
There
is perhaps, no Theosophical teaching to which more violent objection is made
than this great truth of reincarnation; yet it is in reality a most comforting
doctrine. For it gives us time for the progress which lies before – time
and opportunity to become “perfect”. Objectors chiefly found their protest
on the fact that they have had so much trouble and sorrow in this life that
they will not listen to any suggestion that it may be necessary to go through
it all again. But this is obviously not argument; we are in search of truth,
and when it is found we must not shrink from it, whether it be pleasant or
unpleasant, though, as a matter of fact, as said above, reincarnation rightly
understood is profoundly comforting.
Again,
people often enquire why, if we have had so many previous lives, we do not
remember any of them. Put briefly, the answer to this is that some people
do remember them; and the reason why the majority do not is because their
consciousness is still focused in one or other of the lower sheaths. That
sheath cannot be expected to recollect previous incarnations, because it
has not had any; and the soul, which has, is not yet fully conscious on its
own plane. But the memory of all the past is stored within the soul, and
expresses itself here in the innate qualities with which the child is born;
and when the man has evolved sufficiently to be able to focus his consciousness
there instead of only in lower vehicles the entire history of that real and
wider life will be open before him like a book.
The
whole of this question is fully and beautifully worked out in Mrs. Besant’s
manual on Reincarnation, Dr, Jerome Anderson’s Reincarnation and in the chapters
on that subject in The Ancient Wisdom, to which the attention of the reader
is specially directed.
THE
WIDER OUTLOOK
A
little thought will soon show us what a radical change is introduced into
the life of the man who realises that his physical life is nothing but a
day at school, and that his physical body is merely a temporary vesture assumed
for the purpose of learning through it. He sees at once that this purpose
of “learning the lesson” is the only one of any importance, and that the
man who allows himself to be diverted from that purpose by any consideration
is acting with inconceivable stupidity.
To
him who knows the truth, the life of the ordinary person devoted exclusively
to physical objects, to the pursuit of wealth and fame, appears the merest
child’s play – a senseless sacrifice of all that is really worth having for
a few moments gratification of the lower parts of man’s nature. The student
“sets his affection on things above, and not on things of the earth”, not
only because he sees this to be a right course of action, but because he
realises very clearly the valuelessness of these things of earth. He always
tries to take the higher point of view, for he sees that the lower is utterly
unreliable – that the lower desires and feelings gather round him like a
dense fog, and make it impossible for him to see anything clearly from that
level.
Yet
even when he is thoroughly convinced that the higher course is always the
right one, and when he is fully determined to follow it, he will nevertheless
sometimes encounter very strong temptations to take the lower course, and
will be sensible of a great struggle within him. He will discover that there
is “a law of the members warring against the law of the mind”, as St. Paul
says, so that “those things that I would, I do not, and the thing which I
would not, that I do”.
Now
good religious people often make the most serious mistakes about this interior
struggle which we have all felt to a greater or less extent. They usually
accept one or two theories on the subject. Either they suppose that the lower
promptings come from exterior tempting demons, or else they mourn over the
terrible wickedness and blackness of their hearts, in that such fathomless
evil still exists within them. Indeed, many of the best men and women go
through a vast amount of totally unnecessary suffering on this account.
The
first point to have clearly in mind if one wishes to understand this matter
is that the lower desire is not in truth our desire at all. Nor is it the
work of some demon trying to destroy our souls. It is true that there sometimes
are evil entities which are attracted by the base thought in man, and intensify
it by their action; but such entities are man-made, everyone of them, and
impermanent. They are merely artificial forms called into existence by the
thought of other evil men, and they have a period of what seems almost like
life, proportioned to the strength of the thought that created them.
But
the undesirable prompting within us usually comes from quite another source.
It has been mentioned how man draws round him vestures of matter at different
levels, in order that he may descend into incarnation. But this matter is
not dead matter (indeed, occult science teaches us that there is no such
thing as dead matter anywhere), but it is instinct with life; though it is
life at a stage of evolution much earlier than our own – so much earlier
that it is still moving on a downward course into lower matter, instead of
rising again out of lower matter into higher.
Consequently
its tendency is always to press downwards towards the grosser material and
the coarser vibrations which mean progress for it, but retrogression for
us; and so it happens that the interest of the true man sometimes comes into
collision with that of the living matter in some of his vehicles.
That
is a very rough outline of the explanation of the curious internal strife
that we sometimes feel – a strife which has suggested to the poetic minds
the idea of good and evil angels in conflict over the soul of man. A more
detailed account will be found in The Astral Plane, p. 40. But in the meantime
it is important that the man should realise that he is the higher force,
always moving towards and battling for good, while this lower force is not
he at all, but only an uncontrolled fragment of one of his lower vehicles.
He must learn to control it, to dominate it absolutely, and to keep it in
order; but he should not therefore, think of it as evil, but as an outpouring
of the Divine power moving on its orderly course, though that course in this
instance happens to be downwards into matter, instead of upwards and away
from it, as ours is.
DEATH
One
of the most important practical results of a thorough comprehension of Theosophical
truth is the entire change which is necessary brings about in our attitude
towards death. It is impossible for us to calculate the vast amount of utterly
unnecessary sorrow and terror and misery which mankind in the aggregate has
suffered simply from its ignorance and superstition with regard to this one
matter of death. There is among us a mass of false and foolish belief along
this line which has worked untold evil in the past and is causing indescribable
suffering in the present, and its eradication would be one of the greatest
benefits that could be conferred upon the human race.
This
benefit the Theosophical teaching at once confers on those who, from their
study of philosophy in past lives, now find themselves able to accept it.
It robs death forthwith of all its terror and much of its sorrow, and enables
us to see it in its true proportions and to understand its place in the scheme
of our evolution.
While
death is considered as the end of life, as the gateway into a dim but fearful
unknown country, it is not unnaturally regarded with much misgiving, if not
with positive terror. Since, in spite of all religious teaching to the contrary
this has been the view universally taken in the western world, many grisly
horrors have sprung up around it, and have become matters of custom, thoughtlessly
obeyed by many who should know better.
All
the ghastly paraphernalia of woe – the mutes, the plumes, the black velvet,
the crape, the mourning garments, the black-edged note paper –all these are
nothing more than advertisements of ignorance on the part of those who employ
them. The man who begins to understand what death is at once puts aside all
this masquerade as childish folly, seeing that to mourn over the good fortune
of his friend merely because it involves for himself the pain of apparent
separation from that friend, becomes, as soon as it is recognised, a display
of selfishness.
He
cannot avoid feeling the wrench of the temporary separation, but he can avoid
allowing his own pain to become a hindrance to the friend who has passed
on. He knows that there can be no need to fear or to mourn over death, whether
it comes to himself or to those whom he loves. It has come to them all often
before, so that there is nothing unfamiliar about it. Instead of representing
it as a ghastly king of terrors, it would be more accurate and more sensible
to symbolise it as an angel bearing a golden key to admit us to the glorious
realms of the higher life.
He
realises very definitely that life is continuous, and that the loss of the
physical body is nothing more than the casting aside of a garment which in
no way changes the real man who is the wearer of the garment. He sees that
death is simply a promotion from a life which is more than half-physical
to one which is wholly astral, and therefore very much superior. So, for
himself he unfeignedly welcomes it, and when it comes to those whom he loves,
he recognises at once the great advantage for them, even though he cannot
feel a certain amount of selfish regret that he should be temporarily separated
from them.
But
he knows also that this separation is in fact only apparent, and not real.
He knows that the so-called dead are near him still, and that he has only
to cast off temporarily his physical body in sleep, in order to stand side
by side with them and commune with them as before. He sees clearly that
the world is one and that the same Divine laws rule the whole of it, whether
it be visible or invisible to the physical sight. Consequently he has no
feeling of nervousness or strangeness in passing from one part of it to the
other, and no sort of uncertainty as to what he will find on the other side
of the veil.
The
whole of the unseen world is so clearly and fully mapped out for him through
the work of the Theosophical investigators that it is well known to him as
the physical life, and thus he is prepared to enter upon it without hesitation
whenever it may be best for his evolution. For full details of the various
stages of this higher life we must refer the reader to the books specially
devoted to this subject. It is sufficient here to say that the conditions
into which the man passes are precisely those which the man passes are precisely
those which he has made for himself. The thoughts and desires which he has
encouraged within himself during earth-life take form as definite living
entities hovering round him and reacting upon him until the energy which
he poured into them is exhausted.
When
such thoughts and desires have been powerful and persistently evil, the companions
so created may indeed be terrible; but happily such cases form a very small
minority among the dwellers in the astral world. The worst that the ordinary
man of the world usually provides for himself after death is a useless and
unutterably wearisome existence, void of all rational interests – the natural
sequence of a life wasted in self-indulgence, triviality, and gossip here
on earth.
To
this weariness active suffering may under certain conditions be added. If
a man during earth-life has allowed strong physical desire to obtain a mastery
over him – if, for example, he has become a slave to such a vice as avarice,
sensuality, or drunkenness – he has laid up for himself much purgatorial
suffering after death. For in losing the physical body he in no way loses
these desires and passions; they remain as vivid as ever – nay, they are
even more active when they have no longer the heavy particles of dense matter
to set in motion. What he does lose is the power to gratify these passions;
so that they remain as torturing, gnawing desires, unsatisfied and unsatisfiable.
It will be seen that this makes a very real hell for the unfortunate man,
though of course only a temporary one, since in process of time such desires
must burn themselves out, expending their energy in the very suffering which
they produce.
A
terrible fate, truly; yet there are two points which we should bear in mind
with regard to it. First, that the man has not only brought it on himself,
but has determined its intensity and it duration for himself. He has allowed
this desire to reach a certain strength during earth-life, and now he has
to meet it and control it. If during physical life he has made efforts to
repress or check it, he will have just so much the less difficulty in conquering
it now. He has created for himself the monster with which now he has to struggle;
whatever strength his antagonist possesses is just what he has given it.
Therefore, his fate is not imposed upon him from without, but is simply of
his own making.
Secondly,
the suffering which he thus brings upon himself is the only way of escape
for him. If it were possible for him to avoid it, and to pass through the
astral life without this gradual wearing away of the lower desires, what
would be the result? Obviously that he would enter upon his next physical
life entirely under the domination of these passions. He would be a born
drunkard, a sensualist, a miser; and long before it would be possible to
teach him that he ought to try to control such passions they would have grown
far too strong for control – they would have enslaved him, body and soul,
and so another life would be thrown away, another opportunity would be lost.
He would enter thus upon a vicious circle from which there appears no escape,
and his evolution would be indefinitely delayed.
The
Divine scheme is not thus defective. The passion exhausts itself during
the astral life, and the man returns to physical existence without it. True,
the weakness of mind which allowed passion to dominate him is still there;
true also, he has made for himself for this new life an astral body capable
of expressing exactly the same passions as before, so that it would not be
difficult for him to resume his old evil life. But the ego, the real man,
has had a terrible lesson, and assuredly he will make every effort to prevent
his lower manifestation from repeating that mistake, from falling again under
the sway of that passion.
He
has still the germs of it within him, but if he has deserved good and wise
parents they will help to develop the good in him and check the evil, the
germs will remain unfructified and will atrophy, and so in the next life
after that they will not appear at all. So by slow degrees man conquers
his evil qualities, and evolves virtues to replace them.
On
the other hand, the man who is intelligent and helpful, who understands the
conditions of this non-physical existence and takes the rouble to adapt himself
to them and make the most of them, opening before him a splendid vista of
opportunities both for acquiring fresh knowledge and for doing useful work.
He discovers that life away from this dense body has a vividness and brilliancy
to which all earthly enjoyment is as moonlight unto sunlight, and that through
his clear knowledge and calm confidence the power of the endless life shines
out upon all those around him.
He
may become a centre of peace and joy unspeakable to hundreds of his fellow
men, and may do more good in a few years of that astral existence than ever
he could have done in the longest physical life. He is well aware too, that
there lies before him another and still grander stage of this wonderful post-mortem
life. Just as by his desires and his lower thoughts he has made for himself
the surroundings of his astral life, so has he by his higher thought and
his nobler aspirations made for himself a life in the heaven-world.
For
heaven is not a dream, but a living and glorious reality. Not a city far
away beyond the stars, with gates of pearl and streets of gold, reserved
for the habitation of a favoured few, but a state of consciousness into which
every man will pass during the interval between lives on earth. Not an eternal
abiding-place truly, but a condition of bliss indescribable lasting through
many centuries. Not even that alone. For although it contains the reality
which underlies all the best and most spiritual ideas of heaven which have been
propounded in various religions, yet it must by no means be considered from
that view only.
It
is a realm of nature which is of exceeding importance to us – a vast and
splendid world of vivid life in which we are living now, as well as in the
periods intervening between physical incarnations. It is only our lack of
development , only the limitation imposed upon us by this robe of flesh,
that prevents us from fully realising that all glory of the brightest heaven
is about us here and now, and that influences flowing from that world are
ever playing upon us, if we will only understand and receive them.
Impossible
as this may seem to the man of the world, it is the plainest of realities to
the occultist; and to those who have not yet grasped this fundamental truth
we can but repeat the advice given by the Buddhist teacher: - “Do not complain
and cry and pray, but open your eyes and see.” The light is all about you,
if you would only cast the bandage from your eyes and look. It is so wonderful,
so beautiful, so far beyond what any man has dreamt of or prayed for, and
it is for ever and ever.” (“The Soul of the People “, p. 163).
When
the astral body, which is the vehicle of the lower thought and desire, has
gradually been worn away and left behind, the man finds himself inhabiting
that higher vehicle of finer matter which we have called the mental body.
In this vehicle he is able to respond to the vibrations which reach him from
the corresponding matter in the external world – the matter of the mental
plane. His time of purgatory is over, the lower part of his nature has burnt
itself away, and now there remain only the higher thoughts and aspirations
which he has poured forth during earth-life.
These
cluster round him, through the medium of which he is able to respond to certain
types of vibration in this refined matter. These thoughts which surround
him are the powers by which he draws upon the wealth of the heaven world.
This mental plane is a reflection of the Divine Mind – a storehouse of infinite
extent from which the person enjoying heaven is able to draw just according
to the power of his own thoughts and aspirations generated during the physical
and astral life.
All
religions have spoken of the bliss of Heaven, yet few of them have put before
us with sufficient clearness this leading idea which alone explains rationally
how for all alike such bliss is possible – which is, the keynote of the conception
– the fact that each man makes his own heaven by selection from the ineffable
splendours of the Thought of God Himself. A man decides for himself both
the length and the character of his heaven-life by the causes which he himself
generates during his earth-life; therefore, he cannot but have exactly the
amount which he has deserved and exactly the quality of joy which is best
suited to his idiosyncrasies.
This
is a world in which every being must, from the very fact of his consciousness
there, be enjoying the highest spiritual bliss of which he is capable – a
world whose power of response to his aspirations is limited only by his capacity
to aspire. Further details as to the astral life will be found in the Astral
Plane; the heaven life is described in The Devachanic Plane, and information
about both is also given in Death and After, and in The Other Side of Death.
MAN’S
PAST AND FUTURE
When
we have once grasped the fact that man has reached his present position through
a long and varied series of lives, a question naturally arises in our minds
as to how far we can obtain any information about this earlier evolution,
which would obviously be of absorbing interest to us. Fortunately such information
is available, not only by tradition, but also in another and much more certain
way. I have so space here to dilate upon the marvels of psychometry, but
must simply say that there is abundant evidence to show that nothing can
happen without indelibly recording itself – that there exists a kind of memory
of Nature from which can be recovered with absolute accuracy a true, full,
and perfect picture of any scene or event since the world began.
Those
to whom this subject is entirely new, and who consequently seek for evidence,
should consult Dr. Buchanan’s Psychometry or Professor Denton’s Soul of Thins;
but all occult students are familiar with the possibility, and most of them with
the method, of reading these records of the past. In essence this memory
of Nature must be the Divine Memory, far away beyond human reach; but it
is assuredly reflected into the lower planes so that, as far as events on
these lower planes are concerned, it is recoverable by the trained intelligence
of man.
All
that passes before a mirror, for instance, is reflected on its surface, and
to our dim eyes it seems that the images make no impression on that surface,
but that each passes away and leaves no trace. Yet that may not be so; it
is not difficult to imagine that an impression may be left, somewhat as the
impression of every sound is left upon the sensitive cylinder of a phonograph;
and it may be possible to recover the impression from the mirror just as
it is recoverable from the phonograph.
The
higher psychometry shows us that this not only may be so, but is so; and
that not a mirror only, but any physical object, retains the impression of
all that has happened within its sight, as it were. We have thus at our disposal
a faultlessly accurate method of arriving at the earlier history of our world
and of mankind, and in this way much that is of the most entrancing interest
can be observed in every detail, as though the scenes were being specially
rehearsed for our benefit. (See Clairvoyance, p 88).
Investigations
into the past conducted by these methods show how a long process of gradual
evolution, slow but never-ceasing. They show the development of man under
the action of two great laws – first the law of evolution, which steadily
presses him onward and upward, and secondly – the law of divine justice,
or cause and effect, which brings him inevitably the result of his every
action, and thus gradually teaches him to live intelligently in harmony with
the first law.
This
long process of evolution has been carried out not only on this earth, but
on other globes connected with it; but the subject is much to vast to be
fully treated in an elementary book such as this. It forms the principal
theme of Madame Blavatsky’s monumental work, The Secret Doctrine; but before
commencing that students are advised to read the chapters on this subject
in Mrs. Besant’s Ancient Wisdom and Mr. Sinnett’s Growth of the Soul.
The
book just mentioned will afford the fullest available information not only
as to man’s past, but as to his future; and thought he glory that awaits
him is such as no tongue can tell, something at least may be understood of
the earlier stages which lead to it. That man is divine even now, and that
he will presently unfold within himself the potentialities of divinity, is
an idea which appears to shock some good people, and to be considered by
them to savour of blasphemy. Why it should not be so is not easy to see,
for Jesus himself reminds the Jews around Him of the saying in their Scriptures,
“I said, ye are Gods,” and the doctrine of the deification of man was quite
commonly held by the Fathers of the Church. But in these later days much
of the earlier and purer doctrine has been forgotten and misunderstood; and
the truth now seems to be held in its fullness only by the student of occultism.
Sometimes
men ask why, if man was at the first a spark of the Divine, it should be
necessary for him to go through all these æons of evolution, involving so
much sorrow and suffering, only in order to be still Divine at the end of
it all. But those who make this objection have not yet comprehended the scheme.
That which came forth from the Divine was not yet man – not yet even a spark,
for there was no developed individualisation in it. It was simply a great
cloud of Divine essence, though capable of condensing eventually into many
sparks.
The
difference between its condition when issuing forth and when returning is
exactly like that between a great mass of shining nebulous matter, and the
solar system which is eventually formed out of it. Its condition when issuing
forth and when returning is exactly like that between a great mass of shining
nebulous matter, and the solar system which is eventually formed out it.
The nebula is beautiful, no doubt, but vague and useless; the suns formed
from it by slow evolution pour life and heat and light upon many worlds and
their inhabitants.
Or
we may take another analogy. The human body is composed of countless millions
of tiny particles, and some of them are constantly being thrown off from
it. Suppose that it were possible for each of these particles to go through
some kind of evolution by means of which it would in time become a human
being, we should not say that because it had been in a certain sense human
at the beginning of that evolution it had, therefore , not gained anything
when it reached its end. The essence comes forth as a mere outpouring of
force, even tough it be Divine force; it returns in the form of thousands
of millions of mighty adepts, each capable of himself developing into a Logos.
Thus
it will be seen that we are abundantly justified in the statement that the
future of man is a future to whose glory and splendour there is no limit. And
a most important point to remember is that this magnificent future is for
all without exception. He whom we call the good man – that is, the man whose
will moves with the Divine Will, whose actions are such as to help the march
of evolution – makes rapid progress on the upward path; while the man who
unintelligently opposes himself to the great current by striving to pursue
selfish aims instead of working for the good of the whole, will be able to
progress only very slowly and erratically.
But
the Divine Will is infinitely stronger than any human will, and the working
of the great scheme is perfect. The man who does not learn his lesson first
time has simply to try over and over and over until he does learn it; the
Divine patience is infinite, and sooner or later every human being attains
the goal appointed for him. There is no fear and no uncertainty, but only
perfect peace for those who know the Law and the Will.
CAUSE
AND EFFECT
In
previous chapters we have constantly had to take into consideration this
mighty law of action and reaction under which every man necessarily receives
his just deserts; for without this law the rest of the Divine scheme would
be incomprehensible to us. It is well worth our while to try to obtain a
true appreciation of this law, and the first step towards doing that is to
disabuse our minds entirely of the ecclesiastical idea of reward and punishment
as following upon human action.
It
is inevitable that we should connect with that idea the thought of a judge
administering such reward or punishment, and then at once follows the further
possibility that the judge may be more lenient in one case than in another,
that he may be swayed by circumstances, that an appeal may be made to him,
and that in that way the incidence of the law may be modified or even escaped
altogether. Every one of these suggestions is in the highest degree misleading,
and the whole body of thought to which they belong must be exorcised and
utterly cast out before we can arrive at any real understanding of facts.
If
a man put his hand on a bar of red-hot iron, under ordinary circumstances
he would be badly burnt; yet it would not occur to him to say that God had
punished him for putting his hand on the bar. He would realise that what
had happened was precisely what might have been expected under the action
of the laws of Nature, and that one who understood what heat is and how it
acts could explain exactly the production of the burn.
It
is to be observed that the man’s intention in no way affects the physical
result; whether he seized that bar in order to do some harm with it or in
order to save someone else from injury, he would be burnt just the same.
Of course, in other and higher ways the results would be quite different;
in the one case he would have done a noble deed, and would have the approval
of his conscience, while in the other he could feel only remorse. But the
physical burn would be there in one case just as much as in the other.
To
obtain a true conception of the working of this law of cause and effect we
must think of it as acting automatically in exactly the same way. If we have
a heavy weight hanging from the ceiling by a rope, and I exert a certain
amount of force in pushing against that weight, we know by the laws of mechanics
that the weight will press back against my hand with exactly the same amount
of force; and this reaction will operate without the slightest reference
to my disturbing its equilibrium. Similarly the man who commits an evil action
disturbs the equilibrium of the great current of evolution; and that mighty
current invariably adjusts that equilibrium at his expense.
It
must not be therefore supposed for a moment that the intention of the action
makes no difference; on the contrary it is the most important factor connected
with it, even though it does not affect the result upon the physical plane.
We are apt to forget that the intention is itself a force, and a force acting
upon the mental plane, where the matter is so much finer and vibrates so
much more rapidly than on our lower level, that the same amount of energy will
produce enormously greater effect.
The
physical action will produce its result on the physical plane, but the mental
energy of the intention will work out its own result simultaneously in the
matter of the mental plane, totally irrespective of the other; and its effect
is certain to be very much the more important of the two. In this way it
will be seen that an absolutely perfect adjustment is always achieved; for
however mixed the motives may be, and however good and evil may be mingled
in the physical results, the equilibrium will always be perfectly readjusted,
and along every line perfect justice must be done.
We
must not forget, that it is the man himself and no other who builds his future
character as well as produces his future circumstances. Speaking very generally,
it may be said that, while his actions in one life produce his environment
in the next, his thoughts in the one life are the chief factors in the evolution
of his character in the next. The method by which all this works is an exceedingly
interesting study, but it would take far too long to detail it here; it maybe
found very fully elaborated in Mrs. Besant’s manual on Karma, and also in
the chapter referring to this subject in her Ancient Wisdom, and in Mr. Sinnett’s
Esoteric Buddhism, to which the reader may be referred.
It
is obvious that all these facts furnish us with exceedingly good reason for
many of our ethical precepts. If thought be a mighty power capable of producing
upon its own plane results far more important than any that can be achieved
in physical life, then the necessity that man should control that force immediately
becomes apparent. Not only is the man building his own future character by
means of his thought, but he is also constantly and inevitably affecting
those around him by its means.
Hence
there lies upon him a very serious responsibility as to the use which he
makes of this power. If the feeling of annoyance or hatred arises in the
heart of the ordinary man, his natural impulse is to express it in some way
either in word or in action. The ordinary rules of civilised society, however,
forbid him to do that, and dictate that he should as far as possible repress
all outward sign of his feelings.
If
he succeeds in doing this he is apt to congratulate himself, and to consider
that he has done the whole of his duty. The occult student, however, knows
that it is necessary for him to carry his self-control a great deal further
than that, and that he must absolutely repress the thought of irritation
as well as its outward expression. For he knows that his feelings set in
motion tremendous forces upon the astral plane, that these will act against
the object of his irritation just as surely as a blow struck upon the physical
plane, and that in many cases the results produced will be far more serious
and lasting.
It
is true in a very real sense that thoughts are things. To clairvoyant sight
thoughts take definite form and colour, the latter, of course depending upon
the rate of vibration connected with them. The study of these forms and colours
is of great interest. A description of them illustrated with coloured drawings
will be found in the book entitled Thought Forms.
These
considerations open up to us possibilities in various directions. Since
it is easily possible to do harm by thought, it is also possible to do good
by it. Currents may be set in motion which will carry mental help and comfort
to many a suffering friend, and in this way a whole new world of usefulness
opens before us. Many a grateful soul has been oppressed by a feeling that
for want of physical wealth he was unable to do anything in return for the
kindness lavished upon him by another; but here is the method by which he
can be of the greatest service to him in a realm where physical wealth or
its absence makes no difference.
All
who can think can help others: and all who can help others ought to help.
In this case, as in every other, knowledge is power, and those who understand
the law can use the law. Knowing what effects upon themselves and upon others
will be produced by certain thoughts, they can deliberately arrange to produce
these results. In this way a man can not only steadily mould his character
in his present life, but can decide exactly what it shall be in the next.
For
a thought is a vibrations in the matter of the mental body, and the same
thought persistently repeated evokes corresponding vibrations (an octave
higher, as it were) in the matter of the causal body. In this way qualities
are gradually built into the soul itself, and they will certainly reappear
as part of the stock-in-trade with which he commences his next incarnation.
It
is in this way, by working from below upwards, that the faculties and qualities
of the soul are gradually evolved, and thus man takes his evolution largely
into his own hands and begins to co-operate intelligently in the great scheme
of the Deity. For further information on this subject the best book to study
is Mrs. Besant’s Thought Power, its Control and Culture.
WHAT
THEOSOPHY DOES FOR US
It
must already be obvious to the careful reader how utterly these Theosophical
conceptions change the man’s entire view of life when he once becomes fully
convinced of them ; and the direction of many of these changes, and the
reasons on which they are based, will have been seen from what has already
been written.
We
gain from Theosophy a rational comprehension of that life which was before
for so many of us a mere unsolved problem – a riddle without an answer. From
it we know why we are here, what we are expected to do, and how we ought
to set to work to do it. We see that, however little life may seem worth
living for the sake of any pleasures or profits belonging exclusively to
the physical plane, it is very emphatically worth living when regarded merely
as a school to prepare us for the indescribable glories and the infinite
possibilities of the higher planes.
In
the light of the information which we acquire, we see not only how to evolve
ourselves, but also how to help others to evolve – how by thought and action
to make ourselves most useful, first of all to the small circle of those
most closely associated with us or those whom we especially love, and then
gradually by degrees, as our power increases, to the entire human race.
By
feelings and thoughts such as these we find ourselves lifted altogether to
a higher platform, and we see how narrow and despicable is the petty and
personal thought which has so often occupied us in the past. We inevitably
begin to regard everything not merely as it affects our infinitesimal selves,
but from the wider standpoint of its influence upon humanity as a whole.
The
various troubles and sorrows which come to us are so often seen out of all
proportion because they are so near to us; they seem to obscure the whole
horizon, as a plate held near the eyes will shut out the sun, so that we
often forget that “the heart of being is celestial rest.” But Theosophical
teachings brings all these things into due perspective, and enables us to
rise above these clouds, to look down and see things as they are, and not
merely as they appear when looked at from below by very limited vision.
We
learn to sink altogether the lower personality, with its mass of delusions
and prejudices and its inability to see anything truly; we learn to rise
to an impersonal and unselfish standpoint, where to do right for right’s
sake seems to us the only rule of life, and to help our fellowman the greatest
of joys. For it is a life of joy that now opens before us. As the man evolves,
his sympathy and compassion increase, so that he becomes more and more sensitive to
the sin and sorrow and suffering of the world.
Yet
at the same time he sees more and more clearly the cause of that suffering,
and understands ever more and more fully that, in spite of it all, all things
are working together for the final good of all. And so there comes to him
not only the deep content and absolute security which is born of the certainty
that all is well, but also the definite and radiant joy derived from the
contemplation of the magnificent plan of the Logos, and of the steady and
unfailing success with which that mighty scheme moves to its appointed end.
He
learns that God means us to be happy, and that it is definitely our duty
to be so, in order that we may spread around us vibrations of happiness upon
others, since that is one of the methods by which we may lighten the sorrow
of the world. In ordinary life a great part of the annoyance which men feel
in connection with their various troubles is often caused by a feeling that
they come to them unjustly. A man will say: “Why should all this come to
me? There is my neighbour, who is in no way a better man than I, yet he does
not suffer from sickness, from loss of friends, or loss of wealth? ; why
then should I?”
Theosophy
saves its students from this mistake, since it makes it absolutely clear
to them that no undeserved suffering can ever come to any man. Whatever trouble
we may encounter is simply of the nature of a debt that we have incurred;
since it has to be paid, the sooner it is cleared off the better. Nor is
this all; for every trouble is an opportunity for development. If we bear
it patiently and bravely, not allowing it to crush us, but meeting it and
making the best of it, we thereby evolve within ourselves the valuable qualities
of courage, perseverance, determination; and so out of the result of our
sins of long ago we bring good instead of evil.
As
has before been stated, all fear of death is entirely removed for the Theosophical
student, because he understands fully what death is. He no longer mourns
for those who have gone before, because they are still present with him,
and he knows that to give way to selfish grief would be to cause sadness
and depression to them. Since they are very near to him, and since the sympathy
between them and himself is closer than ever before, he is well aware that
uncontrolled grief in him will assuredly reflect itself upon them.
Not
that Theosophy counsels him to forget the dead; on the contrary, it encourages
him to remember them as often as possible, but never with selfish sorrow,
never with a longing to bring them back to earth, never with thought of his
apparent loss, but only of their great gain. It assures him that a strong
loving thought will be a potent factor in their evolution, and that if he
will but think rightly and reasonably about them he may render them the greatest
assistance in their upward progress.
A
careful study of the life of man in the period between his incarnations shows
how small a proportion this physical life bears to the whole. In the case
of the average educated and cultured man of any of the higher races, the
period of one life – that is to say of one day in the real life – would average
about fifteen hundred years. Of this period perhaps seventy or eighty years
would be spent in physical life, some fifteen or twenty upon the astral plane,
and all the rest in the heaven-world, which is therefore by very far the
most important part of man’s existence.
Naturally
these proportions vary considerably for different types of men, and when
we come to consider the younger souls, born either in inferior races or in
the lower ranks of our own, we find that these proportions are entirely changed,
for the astral life is likely to be much longer and the heaven-life much
shorter. In the case of the absolute savage there is scarcely any heaven-life
at all, because he has not yet developed within himself the qualities which
alone enable the man to attain that life.
The
knowledge of all these facts gives a clearness and certainty to our anticipations
of the future which is a welcome relief from the vagueness and indecision
of ordinary thought on these subjects. It would be impossible for a Theosophist
to have any fears about his “salvation”, for he knows that there is nothing
for man to be saved from except his own ignorance, and he would consider
it the grossest blasphemy to doubt that the will of the Logos will assuredly
be fulfilled in the case of every one of his children.
No
vague “eternal hope” is his, but utter certainty, born of his knowledge of
the eternal law. He cannot fear the future, because he knows the future;
so his only anxiety is to make himself worthy to bear his part in the mighty
work of evolution. It may well be that there is very little that he can do
as yet; yet there is none but can do something, just where he stands, in
the circle around him, however lowly it may be.
Every
man has his opportunities, for every connection is an opportunity . Every
one with whom we are brought into contact is a soul who may be helped – whether
it be a child born into the family, a friend who comes into our circle, a
servant who joins our household – everyone gives in some way or other an
opportunity. It is not for a moment suggested that we should make ourselves
nuisances by thrusting our opinions and ideas upon every one with whom we
come in contact, as the more ignorant and tactless of our religious friends
sometimes do; but we should be in an attitude of continual readiness to help.
Indeed,
we should ever be eagerly watching for an opportunity to help, either with
material aid, so far as that may be within our power, or with the benefit
of our advice or our knowledge, whenever those may be asked for. Often cases
arise in which help by word or deed is impossible for us; but there can never
be a case in which friendly and helpful thought cannot be poured forth, and
none who understands the power of thought will doubt as to its result, even
though it may not be immediately visible upon the physical plane.
The
student of Theosophy should be distinguishable from the rest of the world
by his perennial cheerfulness, his undaunted courage under difficulties,
and his ready sympathy and helpfulness. Assuredly, in spite of his cheerfulness
he will be one who takes life seriously – one who realises that there is
much for each to do in the world, and no time to waste. He will see the necessity
for gaining perfect control of himself and his various vehicles, because
only in that way can he be thoroughly fitted to help others when the opportunity
comes to him.
He
will range himself ever on the side of the higher rather than the lower thought,
the nobler rather than the baser; his toleration will be perfect, because
he sees the good in all. He will deliberately take the optimistic rather than
the pessimistic view of everything, the hopeful rather than the cynical,
because he knows that to be always fundamentally the true view – the evil
in everything being necessarily the impermanent part, since in the end only
the good can endure.
Thus
he will look ever for the good in everything, that he may endeavour to strengthen
it; he will watch for the working of the great law of evolution, in order
that he may range himself on its side, and contribute to its energy his tiny
stream of force. In this way, by striving always to help, and never to
hinder, he will become, in his small sphere of influence, one of the beneficent
powers of Nature; in however lowly a manner, at however unthinkable a distance,
he is yet a fellow worker together with God – and that is the highest honour
and the greatest privilege that can ever fall to the lot of man.
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