THE
THEOSOPHICAL PATH
ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY
EDITED BY KATHERINE TINGLEY
Volume I
July-December, 1911
PUBLISHED BY THE NEW CENTURY CORPORATION
POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA, U. S. A.
[Illustration]
THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS
Point Loma, California
INDEX TO THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH
VOLUME I
JULY-DECEMBER, 1911
A
America, Ancient (_ill._) An Archaeologist 323
American Nation, an Unknown (_ill._) H. S. Turner 347
American Woman in Poetry, The Grace Knoche 56
Archaeologists, Recent Admissions by Student 107
_Aroma of Athens, The_ (_ill._) Dramatic Critic 39
_Aroma of Athens_, Notes on _The_ (_ill._) Kenneth Morris 42
Art, The Scope of R. W. Machell 20
Astral Body, The H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 24
Astronomy, Ancient (No. 1) F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E. 64
Astronomical Notes C. J. Ryan 287
Australian Marsupials (_ill._) Nature Lover 296
B
Birth of Day, The (_verse_) A. F. W. 27
"Black Age," The Ariomardes 196
Blavatsky, H. P., and the Theosophical Society
(_with portrait_) W. Q. Judge 28
Blavatsky's Teachings, Recent Confirmation of H. P.
H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 172
Blavatsky a Plagiarist? Was H. P.
H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 271
Bluebells of Wernoleu, The: A Welsh Legend (_verse_)
Kenneth Morris 404
Book Reviews: _Life of Leonardo da Vinci_ (Osvald Sirén)
Carolus 233
_Il est ressuscité_ (Charles Morice) H. A. Fussell 307
_Commentary upon the Maya-Tsental Pérez Codex_
(W. E. Gates) C. J. Ryan 378
A New Magazine 383
_The Strange Little Girl_ 385
_Les derniers Barbares: Chine, Tibet, Mongolie_
(d'Ollone) (_ill._) H. A. Fussell 452
_The Plough and the Cross_ (W. P. O'Ryan) F. J. D. 456
Bridges of Paris, The (_ill._) G. K. 96
British Association, The Soul at the Henry Travers 406
Bronze, Incorrodible Henry Travers 148
Brynhyfryd Garden, Old (_verse_) Kenneth Morris 97
Buckingham Palace, London (_ill._) 275
C
Calendars, Ancient Henry Travers 205
Cathedrals in Ancient Crete a Student 262
Christianity, The Rebirth of H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 11
Christmas Kenneth Morris 387
Confines of Science, The Investigator 349
Conflict of the Ages, The (_verse_) S. F. 435
Copán, and its Position in American History (_ill._)
W. E. Gates 419
Counterfeits vs. Reality, Tempting Lydia Ross, M. D. 126
Crucifixion, The Parable of the Cranstone Woodhead 328
Current Topics Observer 447
Cycle, The New H. P. Blavatsky 165
Cyrene, Classical Ariomardes 280
D
Dipylon and the outer Ceramicus, The (_ill._)
F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 189
Drama, Open-Air (_ill._)
Per Fernholm, M. E. (Roy. Inst. Tech., Stockholm) 415
Dutch House Court by Pieter de Hooch, A (_ill._) 338
E
Education Wasted? Is H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 102
Egyptian Art, 26th Dynasty (_ill._) C. J. 200
Egyptology, and the Theosophical Records, The New (_ill._)
C. J. Ryan 15
Ekoi: Children of Nature, The H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 344
Energy, Intra-Atomic H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 417
English Lady's Letter, An (_ill._) F. D. Udall 442
Eros: Painting by Julius Kronberg (_ill._) R. W. Machell 125
Eucalypts? Who Made the (_ill._) Nature Lover 295
Evolution in the Light of Theosophy
H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 311
F
Fairylands, The Two Kenneth Morris 115
Folk-music, The Origin and Nature of Kenneth Morris 174
Forest Waste, Saving Student 34
G
Geniuses, The Incarnation of H. Travers 339
Genius for Music, Cultivating E. A. Neresheimer 182
Glaciation, Past and Present (_ill._) T. Henry 209
God and the Child (_verse_) 211
H
Hawthorne's Psychology C. T. 51
Heredity and Biology H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 145
Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia (_ill._) P. A. Malpas 299
House of Lords, London, The (_ill._) R. 201
Humanity and Theosophical Education Elizabeth C. Spalding 375
I
Illusion and Reality Lydia Ross, M. D. 362
Irish Scenes (_ill._)
F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E., M. INST. C. E. I. 400
K
Karma, Reincarnation, and Immortality
H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 243
Killarney, Ireland (_ill._)
F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E., M. INST. C. E. I. 282
L
Lands now Submerged, The D. Churchill 305
Lapland (_ill._) P. F. 180
Light Corpuscular? Is T. Henry 332
Light, Physical and Metaphysical H. Coryn, M. D. 122
Linnaeus and the Divining Rod P. F. 154
Lomaland Cañons (_ill._) W. J. Renshaw 155
Lorelei, The (_ill._) Student Traveler 225
Louisiana Sugar Plantation, A Visit to a Barbara McClung 223
M
Magic Boat, A D. F. 399
Magic Place, A: A Forest Idyll for Young Folks (_ill._)
M. Ginevra Munson 443
"Magnetons," Force and Matter H. Travers 267
Man and Nature R. Machell 410
Man, The Real H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 229
Modern Civilization, A Japanese Writer's Views on
E. S. (Tokyo, Japan) 418
Music and Life William A. Dunn 22
Music Notes C. J. Ryan 202
Music of the Spheres, The H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 258
Mysteries of Eleusis, The (_ill._) H. T. E. 207
N
Names in Art, Great (_ill._) Art Student 111
Natural History Museum, London (_ill._) 270
Nirvâna Mean Annihilation? Does T. H. 261
P
Path, The: Some Words by William Q. Judge 32
Path, The Gertrude van Pelt, M. D. 68
Peace on Earth: Good Will towards Men R. Machell 391
Photography and the Invisible P. A. Malpas 142
Platonic Succession, The Golden Chain of
F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 276
Poetry and Criticism Kenneth Morris 247
Point Loma Notes C. J. R. 354
Power Lydia Ross, M. D. 212
Powers, Misused R. W. Machell 98
Psychism, a Study in Hidden Connexions
H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 393
Pythagoras, Life and Teachings of
F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 52, 130
Pythagorean Solids, The F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E. 194
R
Reincarnation? What are the Bases of an Intelligent
Belief in F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 317
Rotation, The Mysteries of Student 316
S
Salamander, The Western four-toed (_ill._) Percy Leonard 227
San Diego (_ill._) Kenneth Morris 70
Scandinavian Mythology, Glimpses of Per Fernholm, M. E. 184
Scientific Brevities Busy Bee 427
Scientific Oddments Busy Bee 149
Sokrates (_ill._) F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 215
Spade of the Archaeologist, The Ariomardes 303
St. Paul's Cathedral, London (_ill._) Carolus 293
Sun-Life and Earth-Life Per Fernholm, M. E. (Stockholm) 300
T
Theosophy and Modern Scientific Discoveries C. J. Ryan 87
Theosophical Torch, The Grace Knoche 190
Theseus, The Temple of, Athens (_ill._) R. 106
Tower of London, The (_ill._) Carolus 352
Turkish Woman, The Grace Knoche 439
U
Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, The
J. H. Fussell 77
V
Venice (_ill._) Grace Knoche 366
Victory of the Divine in Man, The Rev. S. J. Neill 320
Vivisector, The Plight of the
H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 341
Vrbas Defile, The, Bosnia (_ill._) F. J. B. 286
W
Warwick Castle (_ill._) C. J. Ryan 409
Will as a Chemical Product, The Investigator 413
Womanhood, The World of Grace Knoche 264
Woman's International Theosophical League
A Member of the League 357
Women who have Influenced the World Rev. S. J. Neill 436
ILLUSTRATIONS
A
Alaskan Views 209
Albert Memorial, London: Five Panels of Decorative Frieze 111
Amsterdam, Views 143, 306
Archaic Colossal Statues of Kiang-K'eu 454-455
_Aroma of Athens_, Groups in _The_ 254, 255, 266, 267, 311, 322
_Aroma of Athens_, Scenes from _The_
35-38, 47-50, 87, 243, 246, 247, 316, 317, 324
Athens, Greece, Ruins of Dipylon Gate 188
Athens, Greece, Stoa, Gymnasium of Hadrian 108
Athens, Greece, Temple of Theseus 107
Australian Scenes 298
B
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna 29
Bosnia, Seraejevo, Capital of 434-435
Buckingham Palace, London 275
C
Copán (six illustrations) 418-423
Coronado, San Diego, California, The Surf at 434
Cuba, Avenue of Royal Palms; Country Scene 222-223
D
De Lesseps, Monument of, Port Said 110
D'Ollone, Commandant 454
_Dutch House Court_ by P. de Hooch, _A_ 338
E
Eleusis, Part of the Ruins of 208
_Eros_: Painting by Julius Kronberg 125
F
Farmhouse on the Norfolk Broads, England, A 274
Florida, Palm Beach 223
Forest, In the 443
G
Giants' Causeway, Antrim, Ireland 403
Grant Hotel, San Diego, California 72
H
Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia 299
Horus, Symbolic Statue of 18
House of Lords, London, The 201
Houses of Parliament, Dublin, The Old 402
Houses of Parliament, London, The 353
I
Irish Farmer, An 402-403
Irish Peasant Woman, An 402-403
K
Karnak, Egypt, Hall of Columns 17
Killarney, Ireland, Views of 282, 283
Klamath Reclamation Project, Oregon-California 435
Kronberg Julius: Family Group 125
L
Lapland, Sweden, Views of 180
Leaders of the Theosophical Movement, The 30
Lolo Men, and Warrior 454-455
Lomaland Cañons 154, 173
Lorelei, The Rock of 226
M
Mammoth Cave, La Jolla, San Diego, California, The 434-435
Miao-Tseu Dancing 455
N
Natural History Museum, London 270
Neshoron, Statue of 200
O
Oil Creek Falls, Canada 307
P
Paris: Pont au Change and the Palais de Justice 96
Paris and the Seine 97
Pérez Codex, Maya-Tzental 379, 380
Pevensey Castle, Ruins of 442
Portraits: Heads of Departments at the International Headquarters,
and Contributors to THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH 4-9
Point Loma, Looking Eastward 172
Point Loma, A Eucalyptus Grove 295
Point Loma Hills at Eventide 339
R
Râja Yoga College, Point Loma, S. E. View of 387
Rocking-Stone Pinnacle, Tasmania 287
Rothenburg, Germany, Views of 390-391
S
Salamander, Western four-toed 227
San Diego, California, View of 71
San Juan Teotihuacán, Panoramic View of 327
Sarpi, Fra Paolo 366
Seminole Indians 346, 347
Sokrates and Seneca (Berlin Museum) 222
St. Paul's Cathedral, London 294
Sweden, Trollhättan Canal 142
Sweden, Visingsborg Castle, Visingsö 142
Switzerland, Views of 271
T
Temple in the Greek Theater, Point Loma, California 165
Tombs, Ancient Athenian 189
Tower of London, The 352
Trafalgar Square, London 353
V
Venice, Views of 367, 370, 371, 374, 375
Vikings, The Noble 414-415
Vrbas Defile, Bosnia, The 286
W
Warwick Castle, from the Avon 408
Warwick Castle, Inner Court and Tower 409
Y
Yucatan, "Governor's House," Uxmal 327
Yucatan, "The Castle," Chichén Itzá 326
[Illustration: Theosophical Path's first issue cover page.]
THE PATH
The illustration on the cover of this Magazine is a reproduction of the
mystical and symbolical painting by Mr. R. Machell, the English artist,
now a Student at the International Theosophical Headquarters, Point
Loma, California. The original is in Katherine Tingley's collection
at the International Theosophical Headquarters. The symbolism of this
painting is described by the artist as follows:
THE PATH is the way by which the human soul must pass in its evolution
to full spiritual self-consciousness. The supreme condition is
suggested in this work by the great figure whose head in the upper
triangle is lost in the glory of the Sun above, and whose feet are
in the lower triangle in the waters of Space, symbolizing Spirit and
Matter. His wings fill the middle region representing the motion or
pulsation of cosmic life, while within the octagon are displayed the
various planes of consciousness through which humanity must rise to
attain to perfect Manhood.
At the top is a winged Isis, the Mother or Oversoul, whose wings veil
the face of the Supreme from those below. There is a circle dimly seen
of celestial figures who hail with joy the triumph of a new initiate,
one who has reached to the heart of the Supreme. From that point he
looks back with compassion upon all who still are wandering below and
turns to go down again to their help as a Savior of Men. Below him
is the red wing of the guardians who strike down those who have not
the "password," symbolized by the white flame floating over the head
of the purified aspirant. Two children, representing purity, pass
up unchallenged. In the center of the picture is a warrior who has
slain the dragon of illusion, the dragon of the lower self, and is
now prepared to cross the gulf by using the body of the dragon as his
bridge (for we rise on steps made of conquered weaknesses, the slain
dragon of the lower nature).
On one side two women climb, one helped by the other whose robe is
white and whose flame burns bright as she helps her weaker sister. Near
them a man climbs from the darkness; he has money bags hung at his belt
but no flame above his head and already the spear of a guardian of the
fire is poised above him ready to strike the unworthy in his hour of
triumph. Not far off is a bard whose flame is veiled by a red cloud
(passion) and who lies prone, struck down by a guardian's spear; but
as he lies dying, a ray from the heart of the Supreme reaches him as a
promise of future triumph in a later life.
On the other side is a student of magic, following the light from a
crown (ambition) held aloft by a floating figure who has led him to the
edge of the precipice over which for him there is no bridge; he holds
his book of ritual and thinks the light of the dazzling crown comes
from the Supreme, but the chasm awaits its victim. By his side his
faithful follower falls unnoticed by him, but a ray from the heart of
the Supreme falls upon her also, the reward of selfless devotion, even
in a bad cause.
Lower still in the underworld, a child stands beneath the wings of
the foster mother (material Nature) and receives the equipment of the
Knight, symbols of the powers of the Soul, the sword of power, the
spear of will, the helmet of knowledge and the coat of mail, the links
of which are made of past experiences.
It is said in an ancient book: "The Path is one for all, the ways that
lead thereto must vary with the pilgrim."
[Illustration: THE PATH]
The Theosophical Path
An International Magazine
Unsectarian and nonpolitical
Monthly Illustrated
[Illustration]
Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, the promulgation
of Theosophy, the study of ancient & modern
Ethics, Philosophy, Science and Art, and to the uplifting
and purification of Home and National Life
Edited by Katherine Tingley
International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, California, U.S.A.
_The Secret Doctrine is the common property of the countless millions
of men born under various climates, in times with which History refuses
to deal, and to which esoteric teachings assign dates incompatible
with the theories of Geology and Anthropology. The birth and evolution
of the Sacred Science of the Past are lost in the very night of
Time.... It is only by bringing before the reader an abundance of
proofs all tending to show that in every age, under every condition of
civilization and knowledge, the educated classes of every nation made
themselves the more or less faithful echoes of one identical system and
its fundamental traditions--that he can be made to see that so many
streams of the same water must have had a common source from which they
started. What was this source?... There must be truth and fact in that
which every people of antiquity accepted and made the foundation of its
religions and its faith._--H. P. BLAVATSKY, in _The Secret Doctrine_,
II, 794
THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH
KATHERINE TINGLEY, EDITOR
VOL. I JULY, 1911 NO. 1
THE REBIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY:
by H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.)
Among ideas which Theosophists have been proclaiming for many years,
and which are now finding expression through other channels, though in
piecemeal and modified form, are those connected with the Christ story
and Christianity. _Current Literature_, in reviewing "The Christ Myth,"
by Professor Dr. Arthur Drews of Karlsruhe, says:
In essence the argument of the book is that all the main ideas of
Christianity existed in the world prior to the birth of Christ, and
that the hero of the New Testament is an imaginative conception rather
than an actual personality. The opening chapters illuminate the
history of the Messianic idea. This idea, Professor Drews contends, is
rooted in Persia and Greece, as well as in the Jewish consciousness.
The Persians dreamed of a divine "friend" or "mediator" who should
deliver them in the eternal struggle between light and darkness,
between Ormuzd and Ahriman. The Greeks conceived a mediatory "Word" or
_Logos_ which should come to the aid of human weakness and identify
man with God. Even more strongly, among the Jews, persisted the
thought that "a Son of God" must intercede with Jehovah in behalf of
his people.
Such utterances as the above are growing common, both from without the
churches and from within. People are beginning to realize that they
have not made the most of their religious traditions; that there is
more in them than they have so far gotten out of them. They suspect
that the Gospel narratives contain valuable truths that have been
missed. The Christ is not merely a personality, but also a symbol, as
is shown by the above writer; a symbol of the Divine in Man, recognized
by the world ages before the Christian era.
The importance of the Christian Gospel today consists in its power to
help us to realize that we are Divine in essence, and to aid us on
the Path or Way which leads to a realization of that Divinity. Is it
possible that now, for the first time, after all these centuries, the
real import of that Gospel is about to be grasped? that the age-long
worship of a wrong ideal--that of the personal God and his rewards and
punishments, his propitiations and forgivenesses--is about to depart
and make room for a more virile and ennobling, as well as more rational
and holier faith?
Is it possible that a Resurrection is in progress, a Resurrection of
Christ from the tomb in which we have buried him?[1]
[1] The reader of course will not think any allusion is here made to a
possible physical appearance of Christ. Such preposterous suggestions
are made in some quarters, but it is needless to say Theosophy has
nothing to do with them.--H. T. E.
What we understand by a Resurrection of Christ is the Resurrection of
the ancient but buried truth that Man is essentially Divine--to replace
the idea that he is essentially evil. This latter idea emphasizes
the lower side of man's nature and actually weakens his faith in the
Divine Power. Having thus lost his faith, he assumes an attitude of
expectation and deprecation, praying to an imaginary deity instead of
invoking by action the real Divinity within.
Ancient symbology, to which the above writer refers as being
substantially identical with that of the Christian Gospel, speaks of
the "Father" and the "Son." By the word "Father" was understood the
Supreme; the "Son" was the Word, the Divine life in Man, which turned
him from an animal being to what he is. Through the Son we approach
the Father; that is, man must invoke the power of his own Higher
Self. Another ancient teaching, taught in fables as well as sacred
allegories, is that only by _acting_ can man invoke the Divine aid. The
Divine gift to Man is the Will, and he himself is the only one who can
exert it. The fable tells that a carter invoked Hercules to lift his
cart out of a rut, and Hercules told him to put his own shoulder to the
wheel. For Hercules means strength, and strength is invoked by exerting
it. In the same way we have to assert our Divinity by acting in a
Divine way; and it seems that the Gospels give us ample instructions.
It may be that this was after all the real message, and that those who
gave it have been waiting all this time for man to get up off his knees
and _be somebody_.
There are many religious gospels in the world, but they are all
modifications of one great eternal gospel. That one gospel, clothed
in many garbs, legendary, allegoric, theological, is the Drama of
the Soul in its pilgrimage through life, its struggles with great
adversaries, and its final victory. Christianity contains the same
ancient wisdom; it has been covered over with accretions of theology
and ecclesiasticism; it is now being disentombed. The process is a
long and eventful one; for people cling fondly to old habits, and many
still hope that they will be able to admit everything and yet set
early medieval theology on the summit as the crowning revelation. The
success with which they can do this depends upon what they can make of
Christianity, for the less cannot contain the greater.
The personal Christ and the doctrine of the Atonement (in its familiar
theological form) together constitute the rock on which there is most
likelihood of a split. But this doctrine (that is, in its present
form) will have to go, for it is inconsistent with the views of life
that are now gaining ground. For one thing, it is not sufficiently
international; it is too much like a gospel of salvation peculiar to
Western civilization. Eastern religions are already amply provided with
similar machinery in their own systems, and are not likely to give up
their own for ours.
Again, the theological doctrine of Atonement includes the remission of
sins, in the sense that the sinner is relieved from the consequences
of his sins by a special act of intercession and vicarious suffering.
It is useless for Christians to deny that such is the teaching, for it
is expressly stated thus by eminent authorities whom we might quote;
besides it is this very fact of remission that lends force to the
appeal made to our weak desires and hopes; it is held up as a great
advantage possessed by Christianity. This teaching is repugnant to our
innate sense of justice, to our manliness, and to our best conceptions
of Divine Wisdom. It is felt to be more in harmony with Law that man
should work out the full consequences of all his acts, both good and
bad, reaping the consequent joy and grief. The remission of sins does
not mean an excusing from the penalty, but a purification of the man so
that he will not commit any more sins. Man is justified, sanctified,
and saved, by the Divine grace acting within and changing his
heart--not by a propitiatory sacrifice and a mere formal act of belief.
And so the real doctrine of Atonement will have to take the place of
the other. The making _one_, or reconciliation, between the human soul
and its Divine counterpart--that is the real Atonement. By it, man
repudiates his false "self," and recognizes his real Self; deposes the
animal nature from the throne of his heart and establishes the kingdom
of righteousness therein. But in the world just now there is a mighty
battle between powers that tend to enslave man and keep him down, and
powers that tend to liberate him. The former will try to perpetuate
theological dogmatism and man's fear of himself. The latter will ever
strive to give him back his self-respect and faith in his own Divinity.
Christians love to speak of the greatness of their religion, but
little do they realize how great it is. The Bible is printed in
hundreds of millions, and enthusiastic evangelists place a copy in
every hotel room; but it is a more precious treasure than they wot
of. Enshrined within the verses of that strange literary compost,
preserved in the misunderstood symbols of that religion, are records
of the _Wisdom-Religion_, the world's eternal gospel of Truth. Its
teachings can indeed "make us free," for they show us how to evoke the
power of the "Word." Unless we can use our Will--the Spiritual Will,
not the feeble, selfish, personal will--we cannot be saved; else would
the Creator have his heaven furnished with rescued dummies. When Man
was gifted with Divine prerogatives of Will and Intelligence, he was
thereby made a responsible self-acting being; he must redeem himself
by his own (God-given) volition, not lay aside his initiative in weak
reliance on some other will.
And the Spiritual Will is of the Heart; and of the Heart also is
Wisdom; yet man in his unredeemed state obeys the leading of the
desires and the false images they breed in the imagination. Therefore
he will remain enslaved to these desires and will fail to understand
the meaning of life unless he cultivates the impersonal Divine life
within him. The teaching of the Gospel is directed to showing us how
to enter this Way. To the ignorant the Master speaks in parables; but
"to you it is given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom." A
priceless privilege, but how repudiated! If we would but carry out the
injunctions of Jesus the Christ, instead of making his personality into
a God--which surely he himself would never have wished--we should be
worthier disciples and the greater gainers.
THE NEW EGYPTOLOGY AND THE THEOSOPHICAL
RECORDS: by Charles J. Ryan
The interesting problem of the origin of Egyptian culture is still
unsolved by archaeologists, though many new facts have been recently
discovered which seem to be leading to something definite. Nestor
L'Hôte said sixty years ago:
The further one penetrates into antiquity towards the origins of
Egyptian art, the more perfect are the products of that art, as though
the genius of the people, inversely to that of others, was formed
suddenly.... Egyptian art we only know in its decadence.
M. Jean Capart, the eminent Belgian Egyptologist, Keeper of the
Egyptian Antiquities at the Royal Museum, Brussels, supports that
opinion, saying, in his recent work on _Primitive Art in Egypt_, that
M. L'Hôte's conclusion was and remains legitimate.
Since L'Hôte's time fine works of art and astonishing beauty have been
found in tombs of the _Third_ Dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs, about whom
nothing--or next to nothing--was known until lately; even the Fourth
Dynasty, the so-called Pyramid Builders, being historically very
obscure, no agreement as to their date having been come to yet. It is
fairly decided that they lived more than four or five thousands years
B. C. Maspero, speaking of some paintings of the extremely ancient
Third Dynasty, says:
The Egyptians were animal painters of the highest power, and they
never gave better proof of it than in this picture. No modern painter
could have seized with more spirit and humor the heavy gait of the
goose, the curves of its neck, the pretentious carriage of its head,
and the markings of its plumage.
The human figure was also represented with great artistic skill at the
same early period. Even then the characteristic full-faced eye in the
profile face was a firmly established _convention_. We do not know the
reasons for this, but it cannot have been accidental.
According to Dr. Petrie, the great Egyptian explorer, the commencement
of the Egyptian civilization that we call classical, the Egypt of
the Pharaohs with its hieroglyphs, its established style of art, its
complicated religion and philosophy, dates back to not less than B.
C. 5000. This would be the time of the First Dynasty. Think what that
means! A stretch of splendid civilization before the beginning of the
Christian era about five times as long as the period that has elapsed
since the time of King Alfred to this day, a period which has included
almost or quite all that we look upon as worthy of consideration in
_our_ history! And yet back of Dr. Petrie's First Dynastic age we now
find ourselves face to face with a prehistoric Egyptian civilization or
civilizations of absolutely unknown age, possibly of a hundred thousand
years duration. The one that immediately preceded the Dynastic or
Pharaonic is supposed to be of Libyan origin.
The possibility at least of a civilization of a hundred thousand years'
duration should offer little difficulty even to the most critical,
now that we have found a well-formed skull and skeleton near London
differing very little from the modern type of Englishman, and estimated
to be at least 170,000 years old. Long ago H. P. Blavatsky said in _The
Secret Doctrine_ and elsewhere that some form of Egyptian civilization
had existed for an immensely longer period than the archaeologists
imagine, and Katherine Tingley has reasserted this most emphatically,
saying that Egyptian civilization will be proved to be even older than
the (historic) Indian.
Archaeologists have always felt a great and peculiar difficulty in
comprehending the sudden appearance of the high culture of the first
Dynastic periods. It is impossible to believe that Egypt's greatness
arose full-fledged, without long preparation, and yet where are the
evidences of development? M. Jean Capart, the Belgian authority
referred to above, has devoted great attention to this problem, and his
conclusions are of interest to the student of Theosophy. He considers
it exceedingly probable that gradual invasions or colonizations of
a highly cultured race broke into the simpler Egyptian civilization
from the South or South-east. These people, coming from the "Land
of the Gods," Punt, which is commonly supposed to be Somaliland,
he thinks came originally from some Asiatic country, bringing with
them their arts and sciences and religion. As they blended with the
Libyan inhabitants of Egypt, who possessed their own distinctive
civilization, they established their already formed culture, and the
combination produced what we call the Dynastic or classic Egyptian
civilization. This would explain the origin of the classic Egyptian
forms on reasonable grounds, and furthermore would make it clear why
the Egyptians had so many things in common with the Hindûs in matters
of religion, such as the respect paid to the Cow as a symbol of Divine
Power.
[Illustration: HALL OF COLUMNS, KARNAK, EGYPT]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. SYMBOLIC STATUE OF
HORUS, SON OF OSIRIS AND ISIS IN THE ACT OF PURIFYING A KING MUSÉE
NATIONAL DU LOUVRE, PARIS]
H. P. Blavatsky, in _Isis Unveiled_, quotes the following from the
ancient Hindû historian, Kullûka-Bhatta:
Under the reign of Viśvâ-mitra, first king of the Dynasty of
Soma-Vanga, in consequence of a battle which lasted five days,
Manu-Vina, heir of the ancient kings, being abandoned by the Brâhmans,
emigrated with all his companions, passing through Ârya, and the
countries of Barria, till he came to the shores of Masra. (Vol. I, p.
627)
She adds:
Ârya is Eran (Persia); Barria is Arabia, and Masra was the name of
Cairo, which to this day is called _Masr_, Musr, and Misro. (_Ibid._)
Mitsraîm was the Hebrew name for the land of Cham, Egypt.
Dr. E. A. W. Budge, the learned Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian
antiquities in the British Museum, says he believes that a series of
carvings on the walls of the Temple of Edfû,
represent the invaders in prehistoric times, who made their way into
Egypt, from a country in the East, by way of the Red Sea.... In later
times the indigenous priesthoods merged the legendary history of the
deified king of the "Blacksmiths" is that of Horus, the god of heaven
in the earliest times, and in that of Râ which belonged to a later
period.
The mythical story of Horus conquering Nubia and Egypt, with which Dr.
Budge thinks the true story of incursion was blended, contains the
significant assertions that the warriors of Horus, the "Blacksmiths,"
were armed with weapons of metal, and chains, and were expert builders.
According to the Theosophical records the _Great_ Pyramid was built
long before the fifth millennium B. C. There are many mysteries
connected with that most stupendous work of man which have not yet been
suspected by the Egyptologists, not the least of which is the problem
of its date and its builder; but, so far as they go, the stories of
Horus' invasion and M. Capart's luminous suggestions as to the origin
of the Dynastic Egyptian civilization, are not inconsistent with the
account of Kullûka-Bhatta; and in the light of the new discoveries of
one or more prehistoric civilizations in the Nile Valley, it looks
as if the teachings of Theosophy were being vindicated in a way that
was not dreamed of by archaeologists in the days when H. P. Blavatsky
opened a small window into the mysterious past of glorious Egypt.
THE SCOPE OF ART: by R. W. Machell
A writer in a London weekly (_Black and White_) makes one or two points
in reference to art that are worthy of notice. He says that it is
nonsense to talk of art elevating the people, because it is itself the
index of their condition. This is just one of those simple fallacies
that contain a sufficient amount of the truth to make them misleading.
Art is not an index of the condition of the people, but only of a very
small part of the people; it would be more true to say that the popular
appreciation of art is such an index; but it is not true to say or to
imply that the condition of the people governs its range or scope. We
are constantly met by the experience of art that is unappreciated by
the people in whose midst it appears.
It is necessary to understand the complex nature of man and the vast
range of human evolution to be able to see how one man may appear
in a nation and display a degree of progress far in advance of his
fellows, who also are all in varying stages of their long evolution.
The progressed soul incarnates perhaps in a body just like those of the
rest of the race, because it cannot get a better; and so it is not at
once recognized as an older soul, and for want of right education the
man himself may be unable to account for the difference between himself
and his fellows of which he is conscious; and so, being unaware of
his own inherent divinity and of his relation to his fellows, he may
not recognize his responsibility to them as a natural leader, fitted
by greater experience to show a light on the path of human progress,
and required by Karma or by his kinship to his fellows, to use his
experience, or his talents, or his genius, for their guidance rather
than for his own glory.
Then passing to the subject of the recent sale of the famous Rembrandt
to an American he very wisely points out that this is a private matter,
and not in any way a national or an artistic point of interest. As
said, the picture (not an English painting) was not in any sense a
national possession, nor was it of any importance in the art-life of
the nation that it should be added to the already large collection of
the master's works now owned by the National Gallery. What the writer
maintains is vital to a nation, is to encourage and to appreciate the
art of its own day and of its own artists.
Now here we meet the deplorable parochialism that does duty for
patriotism, and which is so utterly out of place in connexion with
art; for art is not national but universal, and, further, it is not
modern or ancient, but again universal; so that an attempt to limit the
sympathies of art-lovers to the products of their own age or of their
own nation is bound to fail, and can only be tolerated as an antidote
to an excessive worship of what is old or of what is foreign, these
being matters of perhaps no consequence at all.
It is of course well that people should do the duty that lies nearest
to hand first, and so if it be a duty to encourage, to endow, or to
patronize art, that duty should begin at home. But this again is a very
narrow way of looking at the matter. It is not at all essential that
art should be national; on the contrary, art is universal and cannot
be bound by any such limits. No barriers stand in the way of one who
would admire a foreign painting; one may speak no language but one's
own and yet find as much beauty, joy, and inspiration in foreign works
of art as in those produced by men of one's own nationality. A visitor
to a collection of works of art has to be told by a catalog, or he
would not know, what country produced any particular work; so it is
with music, and largely with architecture; indeed that which is of Art
is universal: the national characteristics are limitations imposed by
circumstances upon the free expression of the soul.
The soul of man is not eternally bound within the limits of one
nation, but must, in the course of constant reincarnations upon earth,
experience the limitations of many varying nationalities. It is bound
to the great human family; and it may be, for a certain period,
identified with a special group. Nations are evanescent, though family
groups may survive, and though an artist may be intimately bound by
many ties with the destinies of some one group or family or race, in
its reincarnations and in its varying national appearances, yet the
artistic part of his nature is just that higher part that rises beyond
such limits and appeals to all humanity, and it is the higher part of
human nature that responds to the appeal of art and disregards all
other limitations, such as questions of time or place or nationality,
rising to what is more broadly human or more divine in the nature of
man. For "Brotherhood is a fact in nature," and the soul responds
unconsciously to the call of the Soul in all nature and in all humanity
in such degree as it is able to throw off for a time the temporary
bonds of local conditions. So it is a matter rather of satisfaction to
see works of art circulating around the world and awaking the deeper
sympathies that tend to unite humanity.
MUSIC AND LIFE: by William A. Dunn
There is not a problem which perplexes human life that may not be
loosened and solved by the aid of music. Based as it is upon the
vibratory movements of Nature, and subject to rigid mathematical law
and geometrical ratio, music represents an incorruptible and direct
medium between the higher and lower natures of man. Its dynamical and
spiritual power proceeds from the _blend_ of its related vibrating
numbers; which blend is that living force (_within_ outward harmony)
that electrifies the heart and mind and lifts the whole nature
to the plane of soul. It is that living field of energy in which
all numbers, all forces, all substances, are lost in the unity of
least-common-multiple of all possible vibrations. It is the Veil of
Isis.
No motion can take place without causing sound. This must be equally
true of atomic and planetary movements, and all that lies between. All
sounds that appear to the senses as different must obviously vibrate in
some universal medium which permits movement and unifies their seeming
diversity. It is the actual presence of such a medium in man which
enables him to perceive that which music is the expression of. Notes
and chords are merely alphabetical symbols. These are classified and
combined to express ideas as truly as words are combined to convey the
thought that lies beyond them.
It has been said that "The Universe is built by number." This is
obvious truth when all natural forces and elements are conceived of as
modes of vibration (as they actually are) blending and interblending
in the universal etheric medium, according to the immutable law of
harmonious ratios. Why should the etheric world be thought of as an
abstraction or a far-off possibility? It is in reality a nearer thing
in life than its comparatively trifling contents. All our thoughts and
feelings move in it as their medium, and the process of self-conquest
is nothing more than to live in this our universal home, and harmonize
dissociated thoughts and feelings into musical symphonies.
This is not rhapsody, but sober common sense, as true for the
field-laborer as for the philosopher. As we all live in and breathe
the same physical atmosphere, so do we all think and feel in the same
mental ether. This fact explains why "Brotherhood is a fact in nature."
To accept this principle of Brotherhood as the point from which life is
viewed is equivalent to mounting to the hill-top of life from which the
surrounding scenery can be seen. Down in the valley a single wall can
shut out the whole prospect.
A text-book on chemistry may be consulted with profit as illustrating
this fact. A few general principles or laws classify millions of
separate facts into harmonious knowledge. The science of chemistry is
also the science of true music. Schopenhauer speaks of music
as immediate and direct an objectivation or copy of the _Will_ of the
world as the world itself is, as the ideas are of which the universe
of things is the phenomenon. Music is not the copy of the ideas, but
a representation of the cosmical Will co-ordinate with the ideas
themselves.
The literal truth of this statement is known by all who have had
contact with that which creates, and breathes life into, a musical
masterpiece. The audible notes and phrases are merely classified
symbols which express something beyond them, just as the parts of a
dynamo are adjusted as medium for the expression of the universal
electrical power.
Music, in itself, is the universal life of Nature as she is in
vibration. Every movement, from that of planet down to minute atom,
emits tone. It is absurd to imagine that our octave of audible
receptivity limits the universal fact. It can only do so _for us_. The
refining and extension of receptive range of hearing must undoubtedly
reveal the music which ever surrounds our self-imposed deafness. All
discoveries and advances in knowledge are simply this: the unfolding of
organs of receptivity in which some universal fact may reflect itself.
All knowledge and power exist eternally. Man is the only variant
(because of his power of choice) and he cripples himself in imagining
that the revelation of limited organs of receptivity are equivalent to
the universal fact.
Let us picture a great music hall in which an orchestra is performing.
No matter what sounds proceed from the many instruments, their
united tones vibrate through every particle of air in the building
simultaneously. Sound waves may be many, but, every atom of air
is participant in all these at one and the same instant. The atom
therefore is the synthetic point of universal unity.
Man is an atom in that grand temple of music--the solar system. Through
him passes every movement or sound propagated by planet or sun--and all
the lesser movements to which they give rise. We actually participate
in the total vibration of solar life, but are blind to this because the
brain consciousness is attached to a few external sound waves and sets
up a conscious focus amid these. A musician will tell us how easily the
mind may select a single orchestral instrument and follow its melody
to the exclusion of the adjacent parts. How truly this illustrates
our separate personal lives! It is impossible to lose anything by
detachment from the personal grooves to which so much importance is
attached. We can only fall into That which gives the utmost blessing.
That silence and solitariness which usually follow the storm of true
effort, is the womb of fuller life. The old life has passed, the new
not yet born, and we are apt to despond. But courage and patience will
surely lead to living joy, for the new life dawns when the inner self
is ready to receive it. Right thought, right feeling, and unending
patience, will without doubt make all things clear, and from the heart
will arise the total music of life, vibrating in tune with all that is.
THE ASTRAL BODY: by H. A. W. Coryn, M.D., M.R.C.S.
It is safe to say that science will never accept the astral body--by
that name: at any rate not until philosophy accepts the prototypal
_Ideas_ of Plato.
Yet the evidence, if not for them, then for something discharging the
same function and therefore after all for them--is irresistible.
One thinks first of the growth of living animal tissues in glass jars,
demonstrated at the Rockefeller Institute. Removed from the body to
which they belong and placed in nutritive fluids which they can absorb,
they attain a size that would constitute them fatal diseases if they
were _in situ_ at home. They would in fact be malignant growths of
highly organized types.
Why _don't_ they grow to that size? Because "the nervous system"
restrains them within the limit of usefulness. How does "the nervous
system" know that limit? Has it a picture in its "mind," a plan
according to which it works, according to which it variously restricts
or encourages?
When some of the molluscs are cut in two each half grows the part it
has lost, the head an after-part, the after-part a head. Two animals
result, each exactly like the original. As the severed cells are called
upon to perform and do perform new and unexpected work, what and where
is the architectural plan by which they do it?
The cells of a leaf have finished their growth. Now comes their _work_,
the fixing of carbon from the air, transpiration, and so on. But cut
off, say, a begonia leaf and place it on damp soil properly protected.
It proceeds at once upon a wholly new program, sending down roots,
sending up stalk, fresh leaves, and finally flower. It is obviously
working according to a plan. When a germ cell or seed does that the
problem can be _concealed_ by talking about its chemical constitution
and so forth. We are told that the seed behaves as it does because
it is constituted by nature to do so, molecularly arranged for just
that function. But the cells of the leaf were _not_ arranged for that
but for quite other functions. How come they to be able to stop their
proper line of work and follow this one, generating not only leaves
like themselves but all other parts of the plant including seeds?
We are of course pressing the problem of heredity, the persistence of
racial and family type. But heredity is only a word that expresses the
observed facts without a gleam of explanation.
The consciousness of the mollusc, as an individual, and that of
the leaf on a lower plane, can be only sensational. _They_ do not
intelligently arrange and design what they are doing. But to ascribe
it to molecular mechanism only, is no better than to say God did it.
Either is such a form of mere words as unwise parents throw at a too
questioning child to stop, without satisfying, its mind. No idea
corresponds. The gap in conception remains exactly what it was.
When a chimney is blown down, the builder notes the gap and builds
another. His mind contains a picture of what ought to be there.
An architect does not deliver the whole plan of his building to each of
the workmen. Each follows his ordinary work, being merely told where
to begin and when to stop. When all of them have done their part the
building is complete.
Why may we not suppose that the cutting-in-two of a mollusc constitutes
some such appeal to some intelligence somewhere in nature as the
missing chimney constitutes to the builder? The force flowing
in the cells of the injured animal is thereupon directed to the
work unexpectedly required. Science now speaks freely of _human_
"subconsciousness," meaning sub-_mental_ consciousness in man. And it
knows that that sub-mental consciousness can, when properly called upon
(and also habitually on its own account), do reparative work upon the
body whose method is not comprehensible to the man himself. It is,
within its limits, intelligent; it knows what it has to do and what it
is wanted to do; and it commands the necessary forces--which are beyond
the _man's_ reach, owner of them as he may be or think he is.
This subconsciousness is embodied with the man, but is not the
man and is not an ego. May it not be regarded as a part of
nature-consciousness, focused in an organic body and with the
intelligence necessary to do its work?
And it does not follow that the lower down the scale of mental
intelligence is an organism, the lower down a parallel scale is _this_
intelligence. What we call, when in our own bodies, the subconscious,
may be just as fully present and just as intelligently at work, in the
bodies of plants and animals.
If we say that the plan of repair and the plans of hereditary type are
in the conscious intelligence of this diffused nature-mind, we are at
any rate reasonably proceeding from the known and not glossing the
unknown with mere words. The astral body of any plant or animal is its
plan of structure in this nature-mind. It is subjective substance,
just as is a picture in our own mind. And it contains the vital energy
necessary for the guidance of the protoplasmic matter that will clothe
it, an energy that guides but is not one of the physical forces. As an
analogy from higher up the planes of being, conscience _guides_ mental
thoughts and desires but is not among their number nor of their nature.
It is the _divine-astral_ form or plan, of what the thinking man should
be. On both planes the form and the guiding energy setting from it
become the negative and positive aspects of one thing.
THE BIRTH OF DAY
by A. F. W. (Manchester, N. H.)