maintaining rapid motion in a heavy body, as in the gyrostat, the
power of which has made the monorail train and other strange things a
possibility. Thus stability in mechanics is found to be increased by
rapid motion; rest is produced by action. Even in the arts of peace,
and indeed more particularly in these, prosperity depends upon intense
activity; when the works are at rest there is not usually an extra
amount of peace and good will in evidence. Prosperity is not the result
of idleness, and peace is not attained by the prevention of war; an
idle man may grow fat, and a nation that does not fight may grow rich;
but the fat man is not the healthy man, not the ideal human being,
and the rich nation is not the happy nation; neither the fat man nor
the rich nation are types of true progress in the eyes of any but the
grossest of materialists.
I venture to think that peace is not at all a question of war or its
prevention, but entirely a matter of _self-discipline_: self-discipline
in the individual, in the family, the community, the nation, and the
entire human race. It is the result of ceaseless activity. If this
activity of self-discipline (_not_ self-torture or abuse of the body)
ceases there is an end of the state of peace as surely as the top or
gyrostat falls when its rotation ceases. The essence of this rotation
is the recognition of the center or axis of rotation by all the
particles of the revolving body, from which an important analogy may be
drawn. Self-discipline begins at home, as surely as the circle can only
be described around a center. A circle without a center is unthinkable,
and so is self-control without a self; but as the center of any visible
object is itself an abstract point (having no magnitude) but subsisting
on the plane of the immaterial, so the self is not material, but in its
spiritual reality bears a similar mysterious relation to the material
body that the abstraction called the center bears to a mass. A homeless
man may be self-disciplined, but a nation is not composed of homeless
men; national life depends upon the family and the family depends
upon the home. The home is the spiritual center of the nation. It is
everywhere and depends upon the ceaseless activity of its parts. This
is the great binding-force that holds a nation in balance, and when
this home-life weakens, the whole nation, like a top whose rotation
slows down, begins to wobble; then, like the top, it is likely to fall
over and rush off violently in any direction, and it becomes a dead
body.
So if we would have peace in ourselves we must keep up a ceaseless
fight against the inertia of the lower nature and replace the false
peace of inertia by the stability, which, as in the gyrostat, results
from rapid motion round its own center--that is to say, constant
attention to duty. If we would have peace in the nation we must have
it in our homes, and the home must have its invisible center of
attraction, and the constant attention to duty of its parts or members.
If this is established there will be no great need to think about the
sorrows of international wars or the means of preventing them.
* * * * *
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD has no creeds or dogmas; it is built on the
basis of common sense. It teaches that man is divine, that the soul
of man is imperishable, and that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, and
consequently takes in all humanity.
Men must rid themselves of fear, and reach a point where they realize
that they are souls, and where they will strive to live as souls, with
a sense of their duty to their fellows.--_Katherine Tingley_
PSYCHISM: A Study in Hidden Connexions: by H. T. Edge, B. A.
(Cantab.)
The wave of psychism which is sweeping over us grows more pronounced as
time goes on. If we do not master it, it will master us and bring our
civilization to an untimely end.
Theosophy did not bring on this tide of psychism. Theosophy was
introduced (in part) for the purpose of coping with it. When H. P.
Blavatsky entered upon her work she foresaw what was approaching. An
era of materialism was about to be succeeded by a reaction towards
psychism. The first beginnings were already manifest in the rise of
phenomenalism. One of the objects of founding the Theosophical Society
was to prevent the disasters that would arise if this wave of psychism
should come in the midst of an atmosphere of selfishness and ignorance.
Some people still wrongly suppose that H. P. Blavatsky initiated the
interest in psychism; but what she really did was to prepare the way
for a successful fight against the abuse of psychism; to prepare the
way by introducing to the world a knowledge of OCCULTISM--a very
different thing. She did work among the Spiritists because that
movement was there ready to hand; among them she found many awaiting
the teachings of Theosophy. She sought to turn the prevalent craze
for phenomena into channels of true knowledge. Her writings all show
how strongly she emphasized the dangers of dabbling in phenomenalism
and the distinction between Occultism and the occult arts, between
Spiritual powers and psychic powers.
Some may think the warnings of Theosophists against psychism are
exaggerated, but the record of facts tells a different story. Every day
brings new justification of these warnings. In a newspaper published by
the American-Examiner Company there lately appeared an article entitled
"The Soul-Destroying Poison of the East." Let it be said at the outset
that the phrase thus unqualified would constitute a libel upon the
East, and that it is not the East in general, but merely a particular
phase of orientalism, that is intended. The title goes on: "The Tragic
Flood of Broken Homes and Hearts, Disgrace and Suicide, that follows
the broadening stream of Morbidly Alluring Oriental 'Philosophies' into
Our Country."
The article begins as follows:
It is startling to realize that in many a commonplace flat ... occult
rites are being celebrated as shocking as the ancient worship of
Moloch and Baal. A long series of recent occurrences has proved that
Oriental occultism in various forms has many followers in the United
States.... Hindu occultism is leprous.
This kind certainly is; but should it not be the ambition of Hindûs
to clear their name from such an aspersion? The article then recounts
several cases of the breaking up of homes, suicides, and other
calamities, of a kind with which we are daily becoming more familiar
through the columns of the newspapers; and it traces all these to
the subtle influence of the said poison. It goes on to speak of
"Tantrikism," a cult which is said to have 100,000 followers in the
United States and to have been introduced by the "Swamis," many of
whom came over ostensibly to attend the Congress of Religions in 1893.
We know of a certain class of Swâmis, sanctimonious and plausible
individuals, who reap a harvest from a credulous and admiring public.
According to my interpretation of the following quotations, the basis
of this cult is a deification of passion and sensuality. Indeed that
seems to be the whole tenor of it. It exalts weakness and vice into an
appearance of virtue and makes a religion of depravity. The fundamental
principle is thus expressed:
Our emotional longings are not to be crushed, but we must lend brain,
heart and muscle to secure their eternal gratification.
To quote again:
Some of the American Tantriks would persuade American parents that it
is an honor to have their daughters chosen as nautch-girls, _and it is
sad to say that they sometimes succeed_.
Oh, parents! Fond and foolish, but how ignorant!
All this fully justifies Theosophists in asserting that there is a
cancer lurking at the roots of our racial vitality. How futile and
frivolous, in face of this terrible fact, seem our puny efforts at
reform by legislation and philanthropy, a mere tinkering at the
symptoms. The sexual passion has obtained a fearful hold on us, as is
manifested in numerous ways, in secret and open depravity, in the form
of new religions and philosophies. Here we have a cult which exalts it
into a worship and which is well calculated to ensnare the morbidly
excited imaginations, debilitated nervous systems, and untrained minds
of our ill-guided youth of either sex.
No doubt the above account will come as a revelation to many, and
it may serve to enlighten them on some matters which before were
dark, particularly as to the underground connexions between certain
things which on the surface seem unconnected. One of these is _the
connexion between psychism and crank religions on the one hand and
sexual depravity on the other_. From the beginning Theosophists have
insisted on this fact and issued warnings against the danger. It is
a commonplace of the history of religions and cults that, when the
devotees fail in following the path of light and duty, they lapse into
sensual perversions. As far as we can trace back, we find instances of
pure worship and sacred symbolism being perverted into gross license
and corrupt teachings. In our times we have witnessed many eruptions of
vice associated with crank religions. The connexion is not accidental;
it simply means that when anyone dares to try and make the higher
nature serve the lower he ends in a complete breakdown.
How well is illustrated the truth that psychic practices merely
stimulate the animal centers, send up a foul current to the brain, and
produce an emotional and erotic intoxication, which is often mistaken
by the ignorant dabbler for divine inspiration!
And here we call attention to the circumstance that innumerable people
today are _ignorantly and heedlessly dabbling in psychism_. Many of
them are perfectly innocent of any leanings to depravity. Yet observe
the connexion. Theosophists have never failed to warn them; and for
their pains have been laughed at; yet see the confirmation of their
warnings. We merely take this occasion to point out to the heedless and
innocent experimenters the dangers that lie ahead of them in the path
they are treading. There are only two paths in Occultism--the right and
the wrong; the right path is the path of duty, service, and righteous
living; any other path is the wrong path.
In an age when nothing is immune against perversion, it is no slur upon
the Theosophical Society to say that even that body, pure and lofty
as its teachings and work are, has not been free from attempts made
to divert it into some wrong direction. From time to time ambitious
and misguided adherents have deserted its ranks that they might pursue
outside the courses which they were prevented from pursuing within.
In this way a number of so-called "Theosophical" cults have originated,
which in varying degrees carry on a propaganda that misrepresents
Theosophy and thereby wrongs the public. The reason for alluding to
this here is that some members of these cults are preaching the very
psychism which, as has just been shown, is so intimately related to
these grave abuses. In books and on the lecture platform we may find
their leaders reproducing some form of the original Theosophical
teachings and even professing lofty principles of morality; but a
closer examination of the teachings prevailing among them reveals
only too often the same unsavory atmosphere of psychism. If these
"teachers" really followed the lofty teachings they profess there
could be no reason why they should not be working in harmony with real
Theosophists; but it is because they have cut themselves from the pure
teachings of H. P. Blavatsky and the original Theosophical program that
Theosophists are obliged to repudiate them.
It behooves all people who have a reputation to preserve to search
out carefully these hidden connexions and make sure of the nature of
everything they may endorse; for a man is judged by his associations.
Again, all kinds of "new" social doctrines are being preached, usually
in the name of liberty, honesty, and purity; and those who protest
against them are dubbed "slaves of Mrs. Grundy." But in view of the
above newspaper revelations it would seem as though the protestors
had some justification for their warnings. In much of this talk
about liberty we detect not liberty but license. We are told, on
high authority, apparently, that it is better to give vent to one's
"youthful vitality" than to let it smoulder; but what becomes of this
argument in view of the Tântrik program mentioned above, or other
similar cults?
There is a class of popular writers who, having won the public ear
by novels, brilliant criticism, or some such way, are now using the
opportunity to vent their crude speculations and unripe imaginings,
which pass current as "daring and original views." The morbidity,
acidity, or angularity of their minds--seemingly unsuspected by
themselves--is revealed in a way that dismisses them from the
consideration of the more thoughtful readers; but they serve as
ringleaders to a host of readers who share their temperament if not
their literary gifts. They analyse in their peculiar fashion the
institutions of human life as though they were people sent from another
planet to inspect this world. Ignorant of the existence or possibility
of points of view other than their own, they discuss marriage as if it
were a physiological problem, and men as if they were but draughts on
a checkerboard.
We have had novels based on the theory that human life is a
physiological question, whose heroines are soulless over-cerebrated
women of the most intolerable type; and a continuous torrent of smart
writing whose aim seems to be to turn everything upside down and
take the perverse view on every possible occasion. All this literary
rubbish, whatever its moving spirit may be, must be regarded as a part
of the general disintegrative force that is at work among us; its
effect is to unsettle inexperienced minds at a time when they need
guidance; and thus to pave the way for the implanting of the noxious
seeds described above.
Time and space will not suffice for a full list of the movements and
cults and fads which are all heading, consciously or unconsciously,
in this dangerous direction--fads scientific, religious, social, what
not. Sometimes one can detect the same element at the root of them--the
morbid craving, the pruriency of thought, the subtle suggestion of
the lower nature seeking new recognition for itself by assuming an
attractive disguise.
The difficulties of a Theosophist may be realized when we bear in mind
that he has to warn people against dangers which, though real to him,
by reason of his knowledge of human nature, are by them unsuspected.
So many of the fads seem quite harmless. Yet the Theosophist may be
aware of the direction in which they are tending, or of some ugly
facts beneath the surface. His warnings are uttered with the voice of
genuine compassion. He sees every one of his warnings justified as
time goes on and the latent seeds of evil develop and come into view.
His one aim in life is to spread a knowledge of the noble and helpful
teachings of Theosophy, for these alone can cope with such a subtle and
powerful foe. His pity is aroused for those who are innocently lending
themselves to such a propaganda, and for those earnest truth-seekers
who are deceived by the misrepresentation.
So great is the menace of evils like the above, and so rapidly are
they spreading, that every attempted reform sinks into insignificance
beside the importance of dealing with this. We fret about the evils
of our educational system, the increase of insanity and suicide,
child-degeneracy, consumption and cancer, drug-taking, the white slave
traffic, unemployment and labor troubles, all kinds of problems;
when down in the very marrow of our twentieth century life lurks
this frightful decay. Under the most plausible and specious forms it
insinuates itself. Many "teachers" are insinuating the same poison
into us under the guise of fine high-sounding doctrines, and sometimes
_even by using Theosophical terms_. Sometimes from beneath the surface
of their public teachings some "inner doctrine" pops up as though the
teachers were experimenting with the public tolerance; and we hear
whispers of a "new morality," strange sexual doctrines, etc. Then, if
we are wise, we suspect what lies at the root.
The consequences to our children and youth are a thing that should
surely move our hearts. Parents and teachers alike are by their own
confession unable to cope with the evils becoming so rampant among the
young. Noted headmasters have given up in despair the attempt to stop
unnatural vice among the boys entrusted by loving parents to their
care. Most mothers are sublimely ignorant of what goes on in the inner
life of their boys and girls, who in secret and in ignorance are all
the time sowing in their constitution the soil of debility in which the
poison seeds so ruthlessly sown can sprout.
In fact there is no visible power competent to deal with this evil. It
lies beyond the reach of any criminal or judicial procedure. Religion
is powerless before it; science can find no cure. So the conclusion
remains that unless something is done, the evil will continue to grow
and spread unchecked, involving in its decay the very powers that
should check it, until the fabric of society is altogether loosened and
our civilization comes to a premature end.
In the past whole nations probably have been swept away by this cause.
Our own race has reached a point in its development where the same
fate threatens it. Unless we are to experience a general outburst of
libertinism, a welter of disease and insanity, a universal strife, we
must find some means of restoring a knowledge of the immutable laws of
life and an adherence thereto, such as taught by Theosophy. Passion
can never be overcome by being indulged; it has to be subdued by
self-knowledge.
Those unfortunately afflicted with unlawful desires should not seek to
make society their victim in the hope of thus saving their miserable
selves. Let them patiently and loyally bear their burden until
unremitting effort at last brings the meed of success. Such infirmities
must perish at last if they are not fed by the mind; but as they
took a long time in the acquiring, they may take a long time in the
undoing. Disease is thrown off by building surely, if slowly, a healthy
foundation. We conclude with a few quotations from H. P. Blavatsky:
Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or
satiated, for this is an abomination inspired by Mâra [delusion]. It
is by feeding vice that it expands and waxes strong, like to the worm
that fattens on the blossom's heart.--_The Voice of the Silence_
Occultism is not Magic. It is comparatively easy to learn the trick
of spells and the methods of using the subtler, but still material,
forces of physical nature; the powers of the animal soul in man are
soon awakened; the forces which his love, his hate, his passion,
can call into operation, are readily developed. But this is Black
Magic--Sorcery.... The powers and forces of animal nature can be used
by the selfish and revengeful, as much as by the unselfish and the
all-forgiving; the powers and forces of Spirit lend themselves only
to the perfectly pure in heart--and this is DIVINE MAGIC.--_Practical
Occultism_
There are not in the West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who
call themselves "Occultists," who have even an approximately correct
idea of the nature of the Science they seek to master. With a few
exceptions, they are all on the highway to Sorcery. Let them restore
some order in the chaos that reigns in their minds, before they
protest against this statement. Let them first learn the true relation
in which the Occult Sciences stand to Occultism, and the difference
between the two, and then feel wrathful if they still think themselves
right. Meanwhile, let them learn that Occultism differs from Magic
and other secret Sciences as the glorious sun does from a rush-light,
as the immutable and immortal Spirit of Man--the reflection of the
absolute, causeless, and unknowable ALL--differs from the mortal clay,
the human body.--_Occultism versus the Occult Arts_
A MAGIC BOAT: by D. F.
In the Scandinavian saga the vessel _Ellida_ one day quietly sailed
into harbor and dropped anchor, without a living creature on board.
This performance seems at first to be surpassed by that of an electric
launch on Lake Wann, Berlin, which though carrying no human freight
effected the following feats at the behest of a distant but controlling
intelligence: steering; starting, stopping, or reversing of engines;
firing of signal guns, fireworks, mines, or torpedoes; ringing of
bells; lighting or extinction of electric lamps; and other operations.
Of course the agency is an ingenious extension and adaptation of
wireless telegraphic methods, said to be applicable also to airplanes,
railroad trains, life-boats, etc. But the _Ellida_ had some excellent
qualities, too, for work in all weather on the high seas.
IRISH SCENES: by Fred J. Dick, M. Inst. C. E., M. Inst. C. E. I.
To the archaeologist, the geologist, the folk-lorist, and the lover of
nature in all her aspects, perhaps no area of similar extent is more
replete with interest than that of Ireland. As to fairies, the county
Sligo folk will tell you they have more of them to the square yard than
can be found in a square mile of the county Kerry. Folk-lorists will
doubtless pass upon this claim intelligently, when they wear the right
sort of spectacles. Fairies aside, however, hardly a square mile of the
country lacks some ruin of great antiquity.
Nearly two thousand years have elapsed since Baile Atha Cliath
Duibhlinne (the town of the hurdle-ford on the black river), now
Dublin, began to share with Tara the honor of being chief city. Dublin,
therefore, has no known history that could be called really ancient;
for in the light of the Theosophical teachings and records, two
thousand years is merely modern. Tara, on the other hand, was a center
of national life and government so ancient as to be probably coeval
with Brugh na Boinne. Which means they were there "before the flood,"
or in other words, long before Poseidon went down, some eleven or
twelve thousand years ago.
The fact that the city of Tara was set on a hill, suggests the idea
that there may have been a time, once, when cities having certain high
functions to fulfil, were usually set on hills.
In correspondence with the withdrawal of the higher influences of the
Tuatha de Danaans from visible participation in Irish life, and the
reign of the Formorians and their heirs, leading Ireland in common with
other places to descent through dark ages, it was fitting that regal
and poetic Tara should fade, and Dublin rise with its distilleries,
breweries, and vivisection halls, and with many of its folk within
hospitals, poor-houses, and insane asylums--in accentuation of the
modern spirit. That such conditions are, in point of fact, unnecessary,
can easily be deduced from the study of certain small races who have
not wholly forgotten some essential principles in the art of living.
Nevertheless, Dublin, equally with other parts of Ireland, has its
bright side. Much of its social life is vivacious, artistic, and
literary in high degree, surpassing many cities in these respects.
This city began to assume its present appearance in the eighteenth
century, when Sackville street, as then named, was built. It is one
of the finest streets in Europe. The munificent grants of the Irish
parliament enabled many handsome public buildings to be constructed,
as well as hospitals, harbors, canals, etc. Among the finest of the
public edifices is that of the old houses of parliament, now occupied
as a bank.