Theosophy - The Dual Aspect of Wisdom by H.P.Blavatsky
THE DUAL ASPECT OF WISDOM
by H.P.Blavatsky
as
published in "Lucifer" September, I890
No doubt but ye are the people and wisdom
shall die with you.
JOB xii. 2.
But wisdom is justified of her children.
MATTHEW xi. 19.
IT is the privilege — as also occasionally the curse — of editors to receive numerous letters
of advice, and the conductors of Lucifer have not escaped the common lot. Reared in the aphorisms
of the ages they are aware that "he who can take advice is superior to him who gives it". and are therefore
ready to accept with gratitude any sound and practical suggestions offered by friends; but the last letter
received does not fulfill the condition. It is not even his own wisdom, but that of the age we live in, which
is asserted by our adviser, who thus seriously risks his reputation for keen observation by such acts
of devotion on the altar of modern pretensions. It is in defense of the "wisdom" of
our century that we are taken to task, and charged with "preferring barbarous antiquity to our modern civilization
and its inestimable boons", with forgetting that "our own-day wisdom compared with the awakening instincts
of the Past is in no way inferior in philosophic wisdom even to the age of Plato". We are lastly
told that we, Theosophists, are "too fond of the dim yesterday, and as unjust to our glorious (?) present-day,
the bright noon-hour of the highest civilization and culture"!
Well, all this is a question of taste. Our correspondent is welcome to his own views, but so are we
to ours. Let him imagine that the Eiffel Tower dwarfs the Pyramid of Ghizeh into a mole-hill, and the
Crystal Palace grounds transform the hanging gardens of Semiramis into a kitchen-garden — if he
likes. But if we are seriously "challenged" by him to show "in what
respect our age of hourly progress and gigantic thought" — a progress a trifle marred, however,
by our Huxleys being denounced by our Spurgeons, and the University ladies, senior classics and wranglers,
by the "hallelujah
lasses" — is inferior to the ages of, say, a henpecked "Socrates and a cross-legged Buddha", then
we will answer him, giving him, of course, our own personal opinion.
Our age, we say, is inferior in Wisdom to any other, because it professes, more visibly every day, contempt
for truth and justice, without which there can be no Wisdom. Because our civilization, built up of
shams and appearances, is at best like a beautiful green morass, a bog, spread over a deadly quagmire.
Because this century of culture and worship of matter, while offering prizes and premiums for every "best thing" under
the Sun, from the biggest baby and the largest orchid down to the strongest pugilist and the fattest
pig, has no encouragement to offer to morality; no prize to give for any moral virtue. Because it has
Societies for the prevention of physical cruelty to animals, and none with the object of preventing the
moral cruelty practiced on human beings. Because it encourages, legally and tacitly, vice under every
form, from the sale of whiskey down to forced prostitution and theft brought on by starvation wages,
Shylock-like exaction, rents and other comforts of our cultured period. Because, finally, this is the
age which, although proclaimed as one of physical and moral freedom, is in truth the age of the most
ferocious moral and mental slavery, the like of which was never known before. Slavery to State and men has
disappeared only to make room for slavery to things and Self, to one's own vices and idiotic
social customs and ways. Rapid civilization, adapted to the needs of the higher and middle classes, has
doomed by contrast to only greater wretchedness the starving masses. Having leveled the two former it
has made them the more to disregard the substance in favor of form and appearance, thus forcing modern
man into duress vile, a slavish dependence on things inanimate, to use and to serve which is the first
bounded duty of every cultured man.
Where then is the Wisdom of our modern age?
In truth, it requires but a very few lines to show why we bow before ancient Wisdom, while refusing
absolutely to see any in our modem civilization. But to begin with, what does our critic mean by the
word "wisdom"?
Though we have never too unreasonably admired Lactantius, yet we must recognize that even that innocent
Church Father, with all his cutting insults anent the heliocentric system, defined the term very correctly
when saying that "the first point of Wisdom is to discern that which is false, and the second, to know
that which is true". And if so. what chance is there for our century of falsification, from the revised
Bible texts down to natural butter, to put forth a claim to "Wisdom"? But before we cross lances on this
subject we may do well, perchance, to define the term ourselves.
Let us premise by saying that Wisdom is, at best, an elastic word — at
any rate as used in European tongues. That it yields no clear idea of its meaning, unless preceded or followed
by some qualifying adjective. In the Bible, indeed, the Hebrew equivalent Hokhmâh (in Greek, Sophia)
is applied to the
most dissimilar things — abstract and concrete. Thus we find "Wisdom" as
the characteristic both of divine inspiration and also of terrestrial cunning and craft; as meaning the
Secret Knowledge of the Esoteric Sciences, and also blind faith; the "fear of the Lord", and
Pharaoh's magicians. The noun is indifferently applied to Christ and to sorcery, for the witch Sedecla
is also referred to as the "wise woman of En-Dor." From the earliest Christian antiquity, beginning
with St. James (iii, 13-17), down to the last Calvinist preacher, who sees in hell and eternal damnation
a proof of "the Almighty's wisdom", the term has been used with the most varied meanings. But St.
James teaches two kinds of wisdom; a teaching with which we fully concur. He draws a strong line of separation
between the divine or noëtic "Sophia" — the Wisdom from above — and the
terrestrial, psychic, and devilish wisdom — the Sophia έπίyειος ψνΧική δαιμονίώδης (iii,
15). For the true Theosophist there is no wisdom save the former. Would that such an one could declare
with Paul, that he speaks that wisdom exclusively only among them "that
are perfect", i.e., those
initiated into its mysteries, or familiar, at least, with the A B C of the sacred sciences. But, however
great was his mistake, however premature his attempt to sow the seeds of the true and eternal gnosis
on unprepared soil, his motives were yet good and his intention unselfish, and therefore has
he been stoned. For had he only attempted to preach some particular fiction of his own, or done it for
gain, who would have ever singled him out or tried to crush him, amid the hundreds of other false sects,
daily "collections" and crazy "societies"? But his case was different.
However cautiously, still he spoke "not the wisdom of this world" but truth or
the "hidden wisdom . . . which none of the Princes of this World knew (I Corinth. ii, 6-8) least of all
the archons of
our modern science. With regard to "psychic" wisdom, however, which James defines as terrestrial and devilish,
it has existed in all ages, from the days of Pythagoras and Plato, when for one philosophus there
were nine sophistae, down to our modern era. To such wisdom our century is welcome, and indeed fully
entitled, to lay a claim. Moreover, it is an attire easy to put on; there never was a period when crows
refused to array themselves in peacock's feathers, if the opportunity was offered.
But now as then, we have a right to analyze the terms
used and inquire in the words of the Book of Job, that suggestive allegory of Karmic purification
and initiatory rites: "where shall (true) wisdom
be found? Where is the place of understanding?" and to answer again in his words: "With the ancient is wisdom
and in the length of days understanding" (Job xxviii, 12 and xii, 12)
.
Here we have to qualify once more a dubious term, viz:
the word "ancient", and to explain it.
As interpreted by the orthodox churches, it has in the mouth of Job one meaning; but with the Kabalist,
quite another; while in the Gnosis of the Occultist and Theosophist it has distinctly a third signification,
the same which it had in the original Book of Job, a pre-Mosaic work and a recognized treatise on
Initiation. Thus, the Kabalist applies the adjective "ancient" to the
Manifested WORD or LOGOS (Dabar) of the forever concealed and uncognizable deity. Daniel, in one
of his visions, also uses it when speaking of Jahve — the androgynous Adam Kadmon. The Churchman
connects it with his anthropomorphic Jehovah, the "Lord God" of the translated Bible. But the Eastern
Occultist employs the mystic term only when referring to the reincarnating higher Ego. For, divine Wisdom
being diffused throughout the infinite Universe, and our impersonal HIGHER SELF being an integral part
of it, the atmic light
of the latter can be centered only in that which though eternal is still individualized — i.e., the
noëtic
Principle, the manifested God within each rational being, or our Higher Manas at one with Buddhi. It
is this collective light which is the "Wisdom that is from above", and
which whenever it descends on the personal Ego, is found "pure, peaceable, gentle".
Hence, Job's assertion that "Wisdom is with the Ancient," or Buddhi-Manas. For the Divine Spiritual "I",
is alone eternal, and the same throughout all births; whereas the "personalities" it informs in succession
are evanescent, changing like the shadows of a kaleidoscopic series of forms in a magic lantern. It is
the "Ancient",
because, whether it be called Sophia, Krishna, Buddhi-Manas or Christos, it is ever the "first-born" of Alaya-Mahat, the
Universal Soul and the Intelligence of the Universe. Esoterically then, Job's statement must read: "With
the Ancient (man's Higher Ego) is Wisdom, and in the length of days (or number of its re-incarnations)
is understanding". No man can learn true and final Wisdom in one birth; and every new rebirth, whether
we be reincarnated for weal or for woe, is one more lesson we receive at the hands of the stern yet ever
just schoolmaster — KARMIC LIFE.
But the world— the Western world, at any rate —knows nothing of this, and refuses to learn
anything. For it, any notion of the Divine Ego or the plurality of its births is "heathen foolishness". The
Western world rejects these truths, and will recognize no wise men except those of its own making,
created in its own image, born within its own Christian era and teachings. The only "wisdom" it
understands and practices is the psychic, the "terrestrial and devilish" wisdom
spoken of by James, thus making of the real Wisdom a misnomer and a degradation. Yet, without considering
her multiplied varieties, there are two kinds of even "terrestrial" wisdom
on our globe of mud — the real and the apparent. Between the two, there is even for the superficial
observer of this busy wicked world, a wide chasm, and yet how very few people will consent to see it! The
reason for this is quite natural. So strong is human selfishness, that wherever there is the smallest personal
interest at stake, there men become deaf and blind to the truth, as often consciously as not. Nor are many
people capable of recognizing as speedily as is advisable the difference between men who are wise and those
who only seem wise, the latter being chiefly regarded as such because they are very clever at blowing
their own trumpet. So much for "wisdom" in the profane world.
As to the world of the students in mystic lore, it is almost worse. Things have strangely altered since
the days of antiquity, when the truly wise made it their first duty to conceal their knowledge, deeming
it too sacred to even mention before the hoi polloi. While the mediaeval Rosecroix, the
true philosopher, keeping old Socrates in mind, repeated daily that all he knew was that he knew nothing,
his modern self-styled successor announces in our day, through press and public, that those mysteries in
Nature and her Occult laws of which he knows nothing, have never existed at all. There was a time when
the acquirement of Divine Wisdom (Sapientia) required the sacrifice and devotion of a man's whole
life. It depended on such things as the purity of the candidate's motives, on his fearlessness and independence
of spirit; but now, to receive a patent for wisdom and adeptship requires only unblushing impudence. A
certificate of divine wisdom is now decreed, and delivered to a self-styled "Adeptus" by a regular
majority of votes of profane and easily caught gulls, while a host of magpies driven away from the roof
of the Temple of Science will herald it to the world in every marketplace and fair. Tell the public that
now, even as of old, the genuine and sincere observer of life and its underlying phenomena, the intelligent
co-worker with nature, may, by becoming an expert in her mysteries thereby become a "wise" man,
in the terrestrial sense of the word, but that never will a materialist wrench from nature any secret
on a higher plane — and you will be laughed to scorn. Add, that no "wisdom from above" descends on
any one save on the sine qua non condition of leaving at the threshold of the Occult
every atom of selfishness, or desire for personal ends and benefit — and you will be speedily declared
by your audience a candidate for the lunatic asylum. Nevertheless, this is an old, very old truism. Nature
gives up her innermost secrets and imparts true wisdom only to him, who seeks truth for its own
sake, and who craves for knowledge in order to confer benefits on others, not on his own unimportant personality.
And, as it is precisely to this personal benefit that nearly every candidate for adeptship and
magic looks, and that few are they, who consent to learn at such a heavy price and so small a benefit for
themselves in prospect — the really wise Occultists become with every century fewer and rarer.
How many are there, indeed, who would not prefer the will-o'-the-wisp of even passing fame to the steady
and ever-growing light of eternal, divine knowledge, if the latter has to remain, for all but oneself
— a light under the bushel?
The same is the case in the world of materialistic science, where we see a great paucity of really
learned men and a host of skin-deep scientists, who yet demand each and all to be regarded as Archimedes
and Newtons. As above so below. Scholars who pursue knowledge for the sake of truth and fact, and give
these out, however unpalatable, and not for the dubious glory of enforcing on the world their respective
personal hobbies
— may be counted on the fingers of one hand: while legion is the name of the pretenders. In our day,
reputations for learning seem to be built by suggestion on the hypnotic principle, rather than by real
merit. The masses cower before him who imposes himself upon them: hence such a galaxy of men regarded
as eminent in science, arts and literature; and if they are so easily accepted, it is precisely because
of the gigantic self-opinionatedness and self-assertion of, at any rate, the majority of them. Once thoroughly
analyzed, however, how many of such would remain who truly deserve the appellation of "wise" even
in terrestrial wisdom? How many, we ask, of the so-called authorities" and "leaders of men" would prove
much better than those of whom it was said — by one "wise" indeed — "they be blind leaders
of the blind"?
That the teachings of neither our modern teachers nor preachers are "wisdom from above" is fully demonstrated.
It is proved not by any personal incorrectness in their statements or mistakes in life, for "to err is
but human", but by incontrovertible facts. Wisdom and Truth are synonymous terms, and that
which is false or pernicious cannot be wise. Therefore, if it is true as we are told by a well-known
representative of the Church of England, that the Sermon
of the Mount would,
in its practical application, mean utter ruin for his country less than three weeks; and if it
is no less true, as asserted by a literary critic of science, that "the knell of Charles Darwinism is rung
in Mr. A.R. Wallace's present book" [See "The
Deadlock of Darwinism", by Samuel Butler, in the Universal Review for April, 1890 ] an
event already predicted by Quatrefages — then we are left to choose between two courses. We have
either to take both Theology and Science on blind faith and trust; or, to proclaim both untrue and untrustworthy
there is however, a third course open: to pretend that we believe in both at the same time, and
say nothing, as many do; but this would be sinning against Theosophy and pandering to the prejudices of
Society — and that we refuse to do. More than this: we declare openly, quand même,
that not one of the two, neither Theologist nor Scientist, has the right in the face of this to claim,
the one that he preaches that which is divine inspiration, and the other — exact science; since the
former enforces that, which is on his own recognition, pernicious to men and states — i.e.
the ethics of Christ; and the other (in the person of the eminent naturalist, Mr. A. R. Wallace, as shown
by Mr. Samuel Butler) teaches Darwinian evolution, in which he believes no longer; a scheme, moreover, which
has never existed in nature,
if the opponents of Darwinism are correct.
Nevertheless, if anyone would presume to call "unwise" or "false" the
world-chosen authorities, or declare their respective policies dishonest, he would find himself promptly
reduced to silence. To doubt the exalted wisdom of the religion of the late Cardinal Newman, of the Church
of England, or again of our great modern scientists, is to sin against the Holy Ghost and Culture. Woe
unto him who refuses to recognize the World's "Elect." He has to bow
before one or the other, though, if one is true, the other must be false; and if the "wisdom" of
neither Bishop nor Scientist is "from above" — which is pretty fairly demonstrated by this time — then
their "wisdom" is
at best — "terrestrial, psychic, devilish".
Now our readers have to bear in mind that nought of the above is meant as a sign of disrespect for
the true teachings
of Christ, or true science: nor do we judge personalities but only the systems of our civilized
world. Valuing freedom of thought above all things as the only way of reaching at some future time
that Wisdom, of which every Theosophist ought to be enamored, we recognize the right to the same freedom
in our foes as in our friends. All we contend for is their claim to Wisdom — as we understand this
term. Nor do we blame, but rather pity, in our innermost heart, the "wise men" of
our age for trying to carry out the only policy that will keep them on the pinnacle of their "authority";
as they could not, if even they would, act otherwise and preserve their prestige with the masses,
or escape from being speedily outcast by their colleagues. The party spirit is so strong with regard to
the old tracks and ruts, that to turn on a side path means deliberate treachery to it. Thus, to be regarded
now-a-days as an authority in some particular subject, the scientist has to reject nolens volens the
metaphysical, and the theologian to show contempt for the materialistic teachings. All this is worldly
policy and practical common sense, but it is not the Wisdom of either Job or James.
Shall it be then regarded as too far fetched, if, basing our words on a life-long observation and experience,
we venture to offer our ideas as to the quickest and most efficient means of obtaining our present World's
universal respect and becoming an "authority"? Show the tenderest regard for the corns of every party's
hobbies, and offer yourself as the chief executioner, the hangman, of the reputations of men and things
regarded as unpopular. Learn, that the great secret of power consists in the art of pandering to popular
prejudices, to the World's likes and dislikes. Once this principal condition complied with, he who practices
it is certain of attracting to himself the educated and their satellites — the less educated — they
whose rule it is to place themselves invariably on the safe side of public opinion. This will lead to a
perfect harmony or simultaneous action. For, while the favorite attitude of the cultured is to hide behind
the intellectual bulwarks of the favorite leaders of scientific thought, and jurare in verba magistri, that
of the less cultured is to transform themselves into the faithful, mechanical telephones of their superiors,
and to repeat like well-trained parrots the dicta of their immediate leaders The now aphoristical
precept of Mr. Artemus Ward, the showman of famous memory — "Scratch my back, Mr. Editor, and I will
scratch yours" — proves immortally true. The "rising Star," whether
he be a theologian, a politician, an author, a scientist, or a journalist — has to begin scratching
the back of public tastes and prejudices — a hypnotic method as old as human vanity. Gradually the
hypnotized masses begin to purr, they are ready for "suggestion". Suggest
whatever you want them to believe, and forthwith they will begin to return your caresses, and purr now
to your hobbies, and pander in their turn to anything suggested by theologian, politician, author, scientist,
or journalist. Such is the simple secret of blossoming into an "authority" or
a "leader
of men"; and such is the secret of our modern-day wisdom.
And this is also the "secret" and the true reason of the unpopularity of Lucifer and of
the ostracism practiced by this same modern world on the Theosophical Society: for neither Lucifer, nor
the Society it belongs to, has ever followed Mr. Artemus Ward's golden precept. No true Theosophist, in
fact, would consent to become the fetish of a fashionable doctrine, any more than he would make himself
the slave of a decaying dead-letter system, the spirit from which has disappeared for ever. Neither would
he pander to anyone or anything, and therefore would always decline to show belief in that in which he
does not, nor can he believe, which is lying to his own soul. Therefore there, where others see "the beauty
and graces of modern culture", the Theosophist sees only moral ugliness and the somersaults of the clowns
of the so-called cultured centres. For him nothing applies better to modern fashionable society than Sydney
Smith's description of Popish ritualism: "Posture and imposture, flections
and genuflections, bowing to the right, curtsying to the left, and an immense amount of male (and especially
female) millinery". There may be, no doubt, for some worldly minds, a great charm in modern civilization;
but for the Theosophist all its bounties can hardly repay for the evils it has brought on the world. These
are so many, that it is not within the limits of this article to enumerate these offspring of culture and
of the progress of physical science, whose latest achievements begin with vivisection and end in improved
murder by electricity.
Our answer, we have no doubt, is not calculated to make us more friends than enemies, but this can
be hardly helped. Our magazine may be looked upon as "pessimistic", but no one can charge it with publishing
slanders or lies, or, in fact, anything but that which we honestly believe to be true. Be it as
it may, however, we hope never to lack moral courage in the expression of our opinions or in defense of
Theosophy and its Society. Let then nine-tenths of every population arise in arms against the Theosophical
Society wherever it appears — they will never be able to suppress the truths it utters. Let the masses
of growing Materialism, the hosts of Spiritualism, all the Church-going congregations, bigots and iconoclasts,
Grundy-worshippers, aping-followers and blind disciples, let them slander, abuse, lie, denounce, and publish
every falsehood about us under the sun — they will not uproot Theosophy, nor even upset her Society,
if only its members hold together. Let even such friends and advisers as he who is now answered,
turn away in disgust from those whom he addresses in vain — it matters not, for our two paths in
life run diametrically opposite. Let him keep to his "terrestrial" wisdom:
we will keep to that pure ray "that comes from above", from the light of the "Ancient."
What indeed, has WISDOM, Theosophia — the Wisdom "full
of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy" (James iii, 17) — to do with our cruel, selfish,
crafty, and hypocritical world? What is there in common between divine Sophia and the improvements
of modern civilization and science; between spirit and the letter that killeth? The more so as at this
stage of evolution
the wisest man on earth, according to the wise Carlyle, is but a clever infant spelling letters from a
hieroglyphical, prophetic book, the lexicon of which lies in eternity".
Go to Top of this
page
Back to our On Line Documents
Back to our Main Page
A free sample copy of our bilingual magazine can be sent to you. This offer is only good for a mailing
to a Canadian address. You have to supply a mailing address.
The Canadian membership of $25.00 includes the receipt of four seasonal issues
of our magazine "The Light Bearer" . If you are a resident of Canada send a note to enquirers@theosophical.ca requesting
a packet of information and your free copy of our magazine
For membership outside of Canada send a message to the International
Secretary in Adyar, India theossoc@satyam.net.in
For a problem viewing one of our documents - or to report an error in a document - send
a note to the webmaster at webmaster@theosophical.ca
We will try to answer any other query -if you would send a note to info@theosophical.ca
This document is a publication of the
Canadian Theosophical Association (a regional association of the Theosophical Society in Adyar)
89 Promenade Riverside,
St-Lambert, QC J4R 1A3
Canada
To reach the President - Pierre Laflamme dial 450-672-8577
or Toll Free - from all of Canada 866-277-0074
or you can telephone the national secretary at 905-455-7325
website: http://www.theosophical.ca
|