There is no more fruitful source of error to the student of occult
philosophy than the assumption which he continually makes, that the race
and the individual may be treated as one when their relations to a
higher power are being considered.
It appears that the study of the laws of chemistry may be partly
responsible for this. A molecule of any substance, having in itself all
the properties of that substance, may be reasoned upon and regarded as
though it were, as it is, an epitome of the mass. In the same way it is
assumed that man, the individual, is an epitome of the race, and that,
in endeavoring to obtain a philosophical view of him, we may pass in
review before the mind what we know of the race, and what we know of the
individual in a general way, without drawing any line of distinction
between what is true of the one and what is true of the other.
Now, while this mental process may have a certain value when both are
considered externally, those who attempt to solve the deeper problems of
the race or the man, by means of it, are sure to fall into error.
It is not borne in mind that our race is scarcely conscious of itself as
a unit, and if it were, it would in the present state of knowledge
regard itself as alone in the universe, flying through space on a
revolving globe with enormous velocity, along an unknown orbit. There
may be other inhabited worlds peopled by other races of beings, but as a
race we do not know this to be true; and only a dim perception of the
survival of a few of its own members that have lived their little lives
and passed away since time began, relieves the sense of isolation with
which the race looks out into the surrounding darkness.
The student of history contemplates the rise and fall of nations and
traces the causes which have led to their overthrow. He observes the
same influences at work to-day as in the olden time, and when the
premonition of like disasters comes home to him, he is ready to exclaim,
"There is no hope! There is no God!" And in so speaking he gives
utterance to the soul of our race, which is still groping in the
darkness for light and a place of rest.
How much of this is true of man as an individual? Very little,
comparatively, as we shall see. In the first place, as individuals, we
are conscious of companionship. We look around us and out over the world
and see great numbers of our fellows whose life and surroundings are
comparable with our own. Such differences as we perceive in each other
only give evidence that our fellow-beings are real, not simply
reflections of ourselves; are objective entities, not elusive shadows.
And by as much as we are conscious of an individuality apart from that
of our race, by so much may we hope to separate the thread of our
destiny from the tangled mass. Examples of such a separation are to be
found among the great names of the earth; and a study of their lives
will teach us how best to shape our own. It will also teach us that
race-life and individual life are not necessarily the same, that the
individual may absorb light for which the race is not yet ready, and set
his standards of thought and action far beyond what is yet possible to
the race as a whole.
If, now, we form our conceptions of the character of the power
overruling us, by an exclusive study of those events which affect great
numbers, we are liable to serious error. If the sound of thunders
intended for the ear of the race be concentrated so as to fall upon our
individual hearing, they will certainly deafen us completely.
On the other hand, those whose narrower vision sees only the play of
events as they affect the lives of individuals are also liable to error
in forming their estimate of the character of the overruling power.
Here tragedy visible and invisible plays its part, and sometimes
injustice in the extreme appears to triumph. There is no possibility of
avoiding error in judgment from this point of view, without constantly
bearing in mind at least three things: first, that outward disaster is
sometimes an inevitable result of long-hidden crime; second, that to the
innocent, death is a release from prison, a promotion from a lower to a
higher sphere of action, and that those who are able to look beyond the
instruments used to break their fetters, to the kindness that sets them
free, can mount on the wings of delight to a diviner air; and third,
that the dwarfing of the faculties of a soul during the short space of
earth-life will turn out to be a far less serious matter to the soul
than to the one responsible for it.