The Theosophical Society,
The Writings of C
Charles
Webster Leadbeater
(1858
– 1934)
An Outline of Theosophy
By
C
Contents
What it is
How is it
Known
The Method
of Observation
General
Principles
The Three
Great Truths
Advantage
Gained from this Knowledge
The Deity
The Divine
Scheme
The
Constitution of Man
The True
Man
Reincarnation
The Wider
Outlook
Death
Man’s Past
and Future
Cause and
Effect
What Theosophy
does for us
WHAT IT IS
For
many a year men have been discussing arguing, enquiring about certain great
basic
truths – about the existence and the Nature of God, about His relation to
man,
and about the past and future of humanity.
So radically have they differed
on
these points, and so bitterly have they assailed and ridiculed one another’s
beliefs,
that there has come to be a firmly-rooted popular opinion that with
regard
to all these matters there is no certainty available – nothing but vague
speculation
amid a cloud of unsound deductions drawn from ill-established
premises.
And this in spite of the very definite, though frequently incredible,
assertions
made on these subjects on behalf of the various religions.
This
popular opinion, though not unnatural under the circumstances, is entirely
untrue.
There are definite facts available – plenty of them. Theosophy gives
them
to us; but it offers them not (as religions do) as matters of faith, but as
subjects
for study. It is itself not a religion, but it bears to religions the
same
relation as did the ancient philosophies. It does not contradict them, but
explains
them. Whatever in any of them is unreasonable, it rejects as
necessarily
unworthy of the Deity and derogatory to Him; whatever is reasonable
in
each and all of them it takes up, explains and emphasises, and thus combines
all
into one harmonious whole.
It
holds that truth on all these most important points is attainable – that
there
is a great body of knowledge about them already existing. It considers all
the
various religions as statements of that truth from different points of view;
since,
though they differ much as to nomenclature and as to articles of belief,
they
all agree as to the only matter which are of real importance – the kind of
life
which a good man should lead, the qualities which he must develop, the
vices
which he must avoid. On these practical points the teaching is identical
in
Hinduism and Buddhism, in Zoroasterianism and Muhammadanism, in Judaism and Christianity.
Theosophy
may be described to the outside world as an intelligent theory of the
universe.
Yet for those who have studied it, it is not theory, but fact; for it
is
a definite science, capable of being studied, and its teachings are
verifiable
by investigation and experiment for those who are willing to take the
trouble
to qualify themselves for such enquiry. It is a statement of the great
facts
of Nature so far as they are known – an outline of the scheme of our
corner
of the universe.
HOW IS IT
KNOWN
How
did this scheme become known, some may ask; by whom was it
discovered?
We cannot speak of it as discovered, for in truth it has always been known
to mankind, though sometimes temporarily
forgotten in certain parts of the world.
There
has always existed a certain body of highly developed men – men not of any one
nation, but of all the advanced nations – who have held it in its fullness;
and
there has always been pupils of these men, who were specially studying it,
while
its broad principles have always been known in the outer world. This body
of
highly-developed men exists now, as in past ages, and Theosophical teaching
is
published to the Western world at their instigation, and through a few of
their
pupils.
Those
who are ignorant have sometimes clamorously insisted that, if this be so,
these
truths ought to have been published long ago; and most unjustly they
accuse
the possessors of such knowledge of undue reticence in withholding them from
the world at large. They forget that all who really sought these truths
have
always been able to find them, and that it is only now that we are in the
Western
world are truly beginning to seek.
For
many centuries Europe was content to live, for the most part, in the
grossest
superstition; and when reaction at last set in from the absurdity and
bigotry
of those beliefs, it brought a period of atheism, which was just as
conceited
and bigoted in another direction. So that it is really only now that
some
of the humbler and more reasonable of our people are beginning to admit
that
they know nothing, and to enquire whether there is not real information
available
somewhere.
Though
these reasonable enquirers are as yet a small minority, the Theosophical
Society
has been founded in order to draw them together, and its books are put
before
the public so that those who will, may read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest
these great truths. Its mission is not
to force its teaching upon
reluctant
minds, but simply to offer it, so that those may take it who feel the
need
for it. We are not in the least under the delusion of the poor arrogant
missionary,
who dares to condemn to an unpleasant eternity every one who will
not
pronounce his little provincial shibboleth; we are perfectly aware that all
will
at last be well for those who cannot as yet see their way to accept the
truth,
as well as for those who receive it with avidity.
But
the knowledge of this truth has, for us and for thousands of others, made
life
easier to bear and death easier to face; and it is simply the wish to share
these
benefits with our fellow men that urges us to devote ourselves to writing
and
lecturing on these subjects. The broad outlines of the great truths have
been
widely known in the world for thousands of years, and are so known in the
present
day. It is only we in the West who, in our incredible self-sufficiency ,
have
remained ignorant of them, and scoffed at any fragment of them which may
have
come in our way.
As
in the case of any other science, so in this science of the soul, full
details
are known only to those who devote their lives to its pursuit. The men
who
fully know – those who are called Adepts – have patiently developed within
themselves
the powers necessary for perfect observation. For in this respect
there
is a difference between the methods of occult investigation and those of
the
more modern form of science; this latter devotes all its energy to the
improvement
of its instruments, while the former aims rather at development of
the
observer.
THE METHOD
OF OBSERVATION
The
detail of this development would take up more space than can be devoted to it
in a preliminary manual such as this. The whole scheme will be found fully
explained
in other Theosophical works; for the moment let it suffice to say that
it
is entirely a question of vibration. All information which reaches a man from
the
world without, reaches him by means of vibration of some sort, whether it be
through
the senses of sight, hearing or touch. Consequently, if a man is able to
make
himself sensitive to additional vibrations he will acquire additional
information;
he will become what is commonly called “clairvoyant”.
This
word, as commonly used, means nothing more than a slight extension of
normal
vision; but it is possible for a man to become more and more sensitive to
the
subtler vibrations, until his consciousness, acting through many developed
faculties,
functions freely in new and higher ways. He will then find new worlds
of
subtler matter opening up before him, though in reality they are only new
portions
of the world he already knows.
He
learns in this way that a vast unseen universe exists round him during his
whole
life, and that it is constantly affecting him in many ways, even though he
remains
blindly unconscious of it. But when he
develops faculties whereby he
can
sense these other worlds, it becomes possible for him to observe them
scientifically,
to repeat his observations many times, to compare them with
those
of others, to tabulate them, and draw deductions from them.
All
this has been done – not once, but thousands of times. The Adepts of whom I spoke
have done this to the fullest possible extent, but many efforts along the
same
line have been made by our own Theosophical students. The result of our
investigations
has been not only to verify much of the information given to us
at
the outset by those Adepts, but also to explain and amplify it very
considerably.
The
sight of this usually unseen portion of our world at once brings to our
knowledge
a vast body of entirely new facts which are of the very deepest
interest.
It gradually solves for us many of the most difficult problems of
life;
it clears up for us many mysteries so that we now see them to have been
mysteries
to us for so long, only because heretofore we saw so small a part of
the
facts, because we were looking at the various matters from below, and as
isolated
and unconnected fragments, instead of rising above them to a standpoint whence
they are comprehensible as parts of a mighty whole.
It
settles in a moment many questions which have been much disputed – such, for example,
as that of the continued existence of man after death. It affords us
the
true explanation of all the wildly impossible statements made by the
churches
about heaven, hell and purgatory; it dispels our ignorance and removes
our
fear of the unknown by supplying us with a rational and orderly scheme. What this
scheme is I will now endeavour to explain.
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES
It
is my desire to make this statement of Theosophy as clear and readily
comprehensible
as possible, and for this reason I shall at every point give
broad
principles only, referring those who wish for detailed information to
larger
books, or to monographs upon particular subjects. I hope at the end of
each
chapter of this little treatise to give a list of such books as should be
consulted
by those who desire to go more deeply into this most fascinating
system.
I
shall begin then, by a statement of the most striking of the broad general
principles
which emerge as a result of Theosophical study. There may be those
who
find here matter which is incredible to them, or matter which runs entirely
contrary
to their preconceived ideas. If that be
so, then I would ask such men
to
remember that I am not putting this forward as a theory – as a metaphysical
speculation
or a pious opinion of my own – but as a definite scientific fact
proved
and examined over and over again, not only by myself, but many others
also.
Furthermore,
I claim that it is a fact which may be verified at first hand by
any
person who is willing to devote the time and trouble necessary to fit
himself
for the investigation. I am not offering to the reader a creed to be
swallowed
like a pill; I am trying to set before him a system to study, and
above
all, a life to live. I ask no blind faith from him; I simply suggest to
him
the consideration of the Theosophical teaching as a hypothesis, though to me it
is no hypothesis, but a living fact.
If
he finds it more satisfactory than others which have been presented to him,
if
it seems to him to solve more of the problems of life, to answer a greater
number
of the questions which inevitably arise for thinking man, then he will
pursue
its study further, and will find in it, I hope and believe, the same
ever-increasing
satisfaction and joy that I have myself found.
If
on the other hand, he thinks some other system preferable, no harm is done;
he
has simply learnt something of the tenets of a body of men with whom he is as yet
unable to agree. I have sufficient faith in it myself to believe that,
sooner
or later, a time will come when he will agree
with them – when he also
will
know what we know.
THE THREE
GREAT TRUTHS
In
one of our earliest Theosophical books it was written that there are three
truths
which are absolute and cannot be lost, but yet may remain silent for lack
of
speech. They are as great as life itself, and yet as simple as the simplest
mind
of man. I can hardly do better than paraphrase these for the greatest of my
general
principles.
I
will then give some corollaries which follow naturally from them, and then,
thirdly,
some of the more prominent of the advantageous results which
necessarily
attend this definite knowledge. Having thus outlined the scheme in
tabular
form, I will take it up point by point, and endeavour to offer such
elementary
explanations as come within the scope of this little introductory
book.
1.
God exists, and He is good. He is the great life-giver who dwells
within
us and without us, is undying and eternally beneficent. He is not heard,
nor
seen, nor touched, yet is perceived by the man who desires perception.
2.
Man is immortal, and his future is one whose glory and splendour have
no
limit.
3.
A Divine law of absolute justice rules the world, so that each man is
in
truth his own judge, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the decreer
of
his life, his reward, his punishment.
To
each of these great truths are attached certain others, subsidiary and
explanatory.
From
the first of them it follows:-
1.
That, in spite of appearance, all things are definitely and intelligently
moving together for good; that all circumstances, however untoward they may
seem, are in reality exactly what are needed; that everything around us tends,
not to hinder us, but to help us, if it is only understood.
2.That
since the whole scheme thus tends to man’s benefit, clearly it is
his
duty to learn to understand it.
3That
when he thus understands it, it is also his duty intelligently to
co-operate
in this scheme.
From
the second great truth it follows:-
1.That
the true man is a soul, and that this body is only an appanage.
2.That
he must therefore, regard everything from the standpoint of the
soul,
and that in every case when an internal struggle takes place he must
realise
his identity with the higher and not with the lower.
3.That
what we commonly call his life is only one day in his true and
larger
life.
4.That
death is a matter of far less importance than is usually supposed,
since
it is by no means the end of life, but merely the passage from one stage
of
it to another.
5.That
man has an immense evolution behind him, the study of which is
most
fascinating, interesting and instructive.
6.That
he has also a splendid evolution before him, the study of which
will
be even more fascinating and instructive.
7.That
there is an absolute certainty of final attainment for every human
soul,
no matter how far he may have seemed to have strayed from the path of
evolution.
From
the third great truth it follows:-
1.That
every thought, word, or action produces its definite result – not
a
reward or a punishment imposed from without, but a result inherent in the
action
itself, definitely connected with it in the relation of cause and effect,
these
being really but two inseparable parts of one whole.
2.That
it is both the duty and interest of man to study this divine law
closely,
so that he will be able to adapt himself to it and to use it, as we use
other
great laws of nature.
3.That
it is necessary for man to attain perfect control over himself, so
that
he may guide his life intelligently in accordance with this law.
ADVANTAGES
GAINED FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE
When
this knowledge is fully assimilated, it changes the aspect of life so
completely
that it would be impossible for me to tabulate all the advantages
which
flow from it. I can only mention a few of the principal lines along which
this
change is produced, and the reader’s own thought will, no doubt, supply
some
of the endless ramifications which are their necessary consequence.
But
it must be understood that no vague knowledge will be sufficient. Such
belief
as most men accord to the assertions of their religions will be quite
useless,
since it produces no practical effect in their lives. But if we
believe
in these truths as we do in the other laws of nature – as we believe
that
fire burns and that water drowns – then the effect that they produce in our
lives
is enormous.
For
our belief in the laws of Nature is sufficiently real to induce us to order
our
lives in accordance with it. Believing that fire burns, we take every
precaution to avoid fire; believing that water drowns,
we avoid going into
water
too deep for us unless we can swim.
Now
these beliefs are so definite and real to us because they are founded on
knowledge
and illustrated by daily experience; and the beliefs of the
Theosophical
student are equally real and definite to him for exactly the same
reason.
And that is why we find following from them the results now to be
described:
1.We
gain a rational comprehension of life – we know how we should live
and
why, and we learn that life is worth
living when properly understood.
2.We
learn how to govern ourselves, and therefore how to develop
ourselves.
3.We
learn how best to help those whom we love, how to make ourselves
useful
to all with whom we come into contact, and ultimately to the whole human
race.
4.We
learn to view everything from the wider philosophical standpoint –
never
from the petty and purely personal side.
Consequently:
5.The
troubles of life are no longer so large for us.
6.We
have no sense of injustice in connection with our surroundings or
our
destiny.
7.We
are altogether freed from the fear of death.
8.Our
grief in connection with the death of those whom we love is very
greatly
mitigated.
9.We
gain a totally different view of life after death, and we understand
its
place in our evolution.
10.We
are altogether free from religious fears or worry, either for ourselves
or
for our friends – fears as to the salvation of the soul, for example.
11.We
are no longer troubled by uncertainty as to our future fate, but live
in
perfect serenity and perfect fearlessness.
Now
let us take these points in detail, and endeavour briefly to explain them.
THE DEITY
When
we lay down the existence of God as the first and greatest of our
principles,
it becomes necessary for us to define the sense in which we employ
that
much abused, yet mighty word. We try to redeem it from the narrow limits
imposed
on it by the ignorance of undeveloped men, and to restore to it the
splendid
conception – splendid, though so infinitely below the reality – given
to
it by the founders of religions. And we distinguish between God as the
Infinite
Existence, and the manifestation of this Supreme Existence as a
revealed
God, evolving and guiding a universe.
Only
to this limited manifestation should the term “ a personal God” be applied.
God
in Himself is beyond the bounds of the personality, is “in all and through
all”,
and indeed is all; and of the Infinite, the Absolute, the All, we can only
say
“He is”.
For
all practical purposes we need not go further than that marvellous and
glorious
manifestation of Him (a little less entirely beyond our comprehension)
the
great Guiding Force or deity of our own solar system, whom philosophers have called
the Logos. Of Him is true all that we have ever heard predicted of God – all
that is good, that is – not the blasphemous conceptions sometimes put
forward,
ascribing to Him human vices.
But
all that has ever been said of the love, the wisdom, the power the patience
and
compassion, the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence –all of this, and
much more, is true of the Logos of our system. Verily “in Him we live and move
and have our being”, not as a poetical expression, but (strange as it may seem
) as a definite scientific fact; and so when we speak of the deity our
first
thought is naturally of the Logos.
We
do not vaguely hope that He may be; we do not even believe as a matter of
faith
that He is; we simply know it as we know that the sun shines, for to the
trained
and developed clairvoyant investigator this Mighty existence is a
definite
certainty. Not that any merely human development can enable us directly
to
see Him, but that unmistakable evidence of His action and His purpose
surrounds
us on every side as we study the life of the unseen world, which is in
reality
only the higher part of this.
Here
we meet the explanation of a dogma which is common to all religions – that
of
the Trinity. Incomprehensible as many of the statements made on this subject
in
our creeds may seem to the ordinary reader, they become significant and
luminous
when the truth is understood. As He shows Himself to us in His work,
the
Solar Logos is undoubtedly triple – three yet one, as religion has long ago
told
us; and as much of the explanation of this apparent mystery as the intellect of
man at its present stage can grasp will be found in the books
presently
to be mentioned.
That
He is within us as well as without us, or, in other words, that man himself
is
in essence divine, is another great truth which, though those who are blind
to
all but the outer and lower world may still argue about it, is an absolute
certainty
to the student of the higher side of life. Of the constitution of
man’s
soul and its various vehicles we shall speak under the heading of the
second
of truths; suffice it for the moment to note that the inherent divinity
is
a fact, and that in it resides the assurance of the ultimate return of every
human
being to the divine level.
THE DIVINE
SCHEME
Perhaps
none of our postulates will present greater difficulty to the average
mind
than the first corollary to the first great truth. Looking round us in
daily
life we see so much of the storm and stress, the sorrow and suffering, so
much
that looks like the triumph of evil over good, that it seems almost
impossible
to suppose that all this apparent confusion is in reality part of an
ordered
process. Yet this is the truth, and can be seen
to be the truth so soon
as
we escape from the dust-cloud raised by the struggle in the outer world, and
look
upon it all from the vantage ground of the fuller knowledge and the inner
peace.
Then
the real motion of the complex machinery becomes apparent. Then it is seen that
what have seemed to be countercurrents of evil prevailing against the
stream
of progress are merely trifling eddies into which for the moment a little
water
may turn aside, or tiny whirlpools on the surface, in which part of the
water
appears for the moment to be running backwards.
But
all the time the mighty river is sweeping steadily on its appointed course,
bearing
the superficial whirlpools along with it. Just so the great stream of
evolution
is moving evenly on its way, and what seems to us so terrible a
tempest
is the merest ruffling of its surface. Another analogy, very beautifully
worked
out is given in Mr. C. H. Hinton’s Scientific Romances, vol. 1, pp 18-24.
Truly,
as our third great truth tells us, absolute justice is meted out to all,
and
so, in whatever circumstances a man finds himself, he knows that he himself
and
none other has provided them; but he may also know much more than this.
He
may rest assured that under the action of evolutionary law matters are so
arranged
as to give him the best possible opportunity for developing within
himself
those qualities which he most needs.
His
circumstances are by no means necessarily those that he would have chosen
for
himself, but they are exactly what he deserved; and subject only to that
consideration
of his deserts ( which frequently impose serious limitations),
they
are those best adapted for his progress. They may provide him with all
sorts
of difficulties, but these are offered only in order that he may learn to
surmount
them, and thereby develop within himself courage, determination,
patience,
perseverance, or whatever other quality he may lack. Men often speak
as
though the forces of nature were conspiring against them, whereas as a matter
of
fact, if they would but understand it, everything about them is carefully
calculated
to assist them on their upward way.
That,
since there is a Divine scheme, it is man’s part to try and understand it,
is
a proposition which surely needs no argument. Even were it only from motives of
self-interest, those who have to live under a certain set of conditions would do
well to familiarise themselves with them; and when a man’s objects in life become
altruistic it is still more necessary for him to comprehend, in order
that
he may help the more effectually.
It
is undoubtedly part of this plan for man’s evolution that he himself should
intelligently
co-operate in it as soon as he has developed sufficient
intelligence
to grasp it and sufficient good feeling to wish to aid. But indeed
this
Divine scheme is so wonderful and so beautiful that, when once a man sees
it,
nothing else is possible for him than to throw all his energies into the
effort
to become a worker in it, no matter how humble may be the part which he
has
to sustain.
For
fuller information on the subjects of this chapter the reader is referred to
Mrs.
Besant’s Esoteric Christianity and Ancient Wisdom, and to my own little
book
on The Christian Creed. Much light is
also thrown on these conceptions
from
the Greek standpoint in Mr. G. R. S. Mead’s Orpheus, and from the
Gnostic-Christian
in his fragments Fragments Of A Faith Forgotten.
THE
CONSTITUTION OF MAN
The
astounding practical materialism to which we have been reduced in this
country
can hardly be more clearly shown than it is by the expressions that we
employ
in common life. We speak quite ordinarily of man as having a soul, of
“saving”
our souls, and so on, evidently regarding the physical body as the real
man
and the soul as a mere appanage, a vague something to be considered as
property
of the body.
With
an idea so little defined as this, it can hardly be a matter of surprise
that
many people go a little further along the same lines, and doubt whether
this
vague something exists at all. So it would seem that the ordinary man is
very
often quite uncertain whether he possesses a soul or not; still less does
he
know that the soul is immortal. That he should remain in this pitiable
condition
of ignorance seems strange, for there is a very great deal of evidence
available
even in the outer world, to show that man has an existence quite apart
from
his body, capable of being carried on at a distance from it while it is
living,
and entirely without it when it is dead.
Until
we have entirely rid ourselves of this extraordinary delusion that the
body
is the man, it is quite impossible that we should at all appreciate the
real
facts of the case. A little investigation immediately shows us that the
body
is only a vehicle by means of which the man manifests himself in connection with
this particular type of gross matter out of which our visible world is built.
Furthermore,
it shows that other and subtler types of matter exist – not only
the
ether admitted by modern science as interpenetrating all known substances,
but
other types of matter which interpenetrate ether in turn, and are as much
finer
than ether as it is than solid matter. The question will naturally occur
to
the reader as to how it will be possible for man to become conscious of the
existence
of types of matter so wonderfully fine, so minutely subdivided. The
answer
is that he can become conscious of them in the same way as he becomes
conscious
of the lower matter – by receiving vibrations from them.
And
he is enabled to receive vibrations from them by reason of the fact that he
possesses
matter of these finer types as part of himself – that just as his body
of
dense matter is his vehicle for perceiving and communicating with the world
of
dense matter, so does the finer matter within him constitute for him a
vehicle
by means of which he can perceive and communicate with the world of
finer
matter which is imperceptible to the grosser physical senses.
This
is by no means a new idea. It will be remembered that
“there
is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body,” and that he furthermore
refers to both the soul and the spirit in man, by no means employing the two
synonymously, as is so often ignorantly done at the present day. It speedily
becomes evident that man is a far more complex being than is ordinarily
supposed;
that not only is he a spirit within a soul but that this soul has various
vehicles of different degrees of density, the physical body being only one, and
the lowest of them.
These
various vehicles may all be described as bodies in relation to their
respective
levels of matter. It might be said that there exist around us a
series
of worlds one within the other (by inter-penetration), and that man
possesses
a body for each of these worlds, by means of which he may observe it and live
in it. He learns by degrees how to use these various bodies, and in
that
way gains a much more complete idea of the great complex world in which he lives;
for all these other inner worlds are in reality still part of it.
In
this way he comes to understand very many things which before seemed
mysterious
to him; he ceases to identify himself with his bodies, and learns
that
they are only vestures which he may put off and resume or change without
being
himself in the least affected thereby. Once more we must repeat that all
this
by no means metaphysical speculation or pious opinion, but definite
scientific
fact thoroughly well known experimentally to those who have studied
Theosophy.
Strange
as it may seem to many to find precise statements taking the place of
hypothesis
upon questions such as these, I am speaking here of nothing that is
not
known by direct and constantly repeated observation to a large number of
students.
Assuredly “we know whereof we speak”, not by faith but by experiment, and
therefore we speak with confidence. To these inner worlds or different levels
of nature we usually give the name of planes. We speak of the visible world as
“the physical plane”, though under that name we include also the gases and
various grades of ether.
To
the next stage of materiality the name of “the astral plane” was given by the
medieval
alchemists (who were well aware of its existence), and we have adopted their
title. Within this exists another world of still finer matter, of which we speak
as “the mental plane”, because of its matter is composed what is commonly called
the mind in man. There are other still higher planes, but I need not trouble
the reader with designations for them, since we are at present dealing
only
with man’s manifestation in the lower worlds.
It
must always be born in mind that all these worlds are in no way removed from
us
in space. In fact, they all occupy exactly the same space, and are all
equally
about us always. At the moment our consciousness is focused in and
working
through our physical brain, and thus we are conscious only of the
physical
world, and not even of the whole of that. But we have only to learn to
focus
that consciousness in one of these higher vehicles, and at once the
physical
fades from our view, and we see instead
the world of matter which
corresponds
to the vehicle used.
Recollect
that all matter is in essence the same. Astral matter does not differ
in
its nature from physical matter any more than ice differs in its nature from
steam.
It is simply the same thing in a different condition. Physical matter may
become
astral, or astral may become mental, if only it be sufficiently
subdivided,
and caused to vibrate with the proper degree of rapidity.
THE TRUE
MAN
What,
then is the true man? He is in truth an emanation from the Logos, a spark
of
the Divine fire. The spirit within him is of the very essence of the Deity, and
that spirit wears his soul as a vesture – a vesture which encloses and individualises
it, and seems to our limited vision to separate it for a time from the rest of
the Divine Life. The story of the original formation of the soul of man, and of
the enfolding of the spirit within it, is a beautiful and interesting one, but
too long for inclusion in a merely elementary work like this. It may be found
in full detail in those of our books which deal with this part of the doctrine.
Suffice
it here to say that all three aspects of the Divine Life have their part
in
its inception, and that its formation is the culmination of that mighty
sacrifice
of the Logos in descending into matter, which has been called the
Incarnation.
Thus the baby soul is born; and just as it is “made in the image of
God”
– threefold in aspect, as He is, and threefold in manifestation, as He is
also
– so is its method of evolution also a reflection of His descent into
matter.
The Divine Spark contains within it all
potentiality, but it is only
through
long ages of evolution that all its possibilities can be realised.
The
appointed method for the evolution of the man’s latent qualities seems to be
by
learning to vibrate in response to the impacts from without. But at the level
where
he finds himself (that of the higher mental plane) the vibrations are far
too
fine to awaken this response at present; he must begin with those that are
coarser
and stronger, and having awakened his dormant sensibilities by their
means
he will gradually grow more and more sensitive until he is capable of
perfect
response at all levels to all possible rates of vibration.
That
is the material aspect of his progress; but regarded subjectively, to be
able
to respond to all vibrations means to be perfect in sympathy and
compassion.
And that is exactly the condition of the developed man –the adept,
the
spiritual teacher, the Christ. It needs
the development within him of all
the
qualities which go to make up the perfect man; and this is the real work of
his
long life in matter. In this chapter we have brushed the surface of many
subjects
of extreme importance. Thos who wish to study them further will find
many
Theosophical books to help them.
On
the constitution of man, we would refer readers to Mrs. Besant’s works, Man and His Bodies, The Self And Its Sheaths,
and The Seven Principles Of Man, and, also my own book, Man, Visible And
Invisible, in which will be found many illustrations of the different vehicles
of man as they appear to the clairvoyant sight. On the use of the inner
faculties refer to Clairvoyance.
On
the formation and evolution of the soul to Mrs. Besant’s Birth and Evolution
of
the Soul, Mr. Sinnett’s Growth of the Soul, and my own Christian Creed and
Man,
Visible and Invisible.
On
the spiritual evolution of man, Mrs. Besant’s In the Outer Court and The Path of
Discipleship, and the concluding chapters of my own little book, Invisible Helpers.
REINCARNATION
Since
the finer movements cannot at first affect the soul, he has to draw round
him
vestures of grosser matter through which the heavier vibrations can play;
and
so he takes upon himself successively the mental body, the astral body, and
the
physical body. This is a birth or incarnation –the commencement of a
physical
life. During that life all kinds of experiences come to him through his
physical
body, and from them he should learn some lessons and develop some
qualities
in himself.
After
a time he begins to withdraw into himself, and puts off by degrees the
vestures
which he has assumed. The first of these to drop is the physical body,
and
his withdrawal from that is what we call death. It is not the end of his
activities,
as we so ignorantly suppose; nothing could be further from the fact.
He
is simply withdrawing from one effort, bearing back with him its results; and
after
a certain period of comparative repose he will make another effort of the
same
kind.
Thus,
as has been said, what we ordinarily call his life is only one day in the
real
and wider life – a day at school, during which he learns certain lessons.
But
inasmuch as one short life of seventy or eighty years at most is not enough
to
give him an opportunity of learning all the lessons which this wonderful and
beautiful
world has to teach, and inasmuch as God means him to learn them all in His own
good time, it is necessary that he should come back again many times, and live
through many of these schooldays that we call lives, in different
classes
and under different circumstances, until all the lessons are learned;
and
then this lower schoolwork will be over, and he will pass to something
higher
and more glorious – the true divine lifework for which all this earthly
school-life
is fitting him.
That
is what is called the doctrine of reincarnation or rebirth – a doctrine
which
was widely known in the ancient civilisations, and is even today held by
the
majority of the human race.
Of
it Hume has written:-
“What
is incorruptible must also be ungenerable. The soul, therefore, if
immortal,
existed before our birth…..The metempsychosis is, therefore, the only
system
of this kind that Philosophy can hearken to.” *
(* Hume. “Essay on
Immortality,”
Writing
of the theories of metempsychosis in
“There
is something underlying them all which, if expressed in less mythological
language,
may stand the severest test of philosophical examination.” # (# Max
Muller,
‘Theosophy or Psychological Religion,’ p. 22, 1895 ed.)
In his last and posthumous work this great
Orientalist again refers to this
doctrine,
and expresses his personal belief in it.
And
Huxley writes: -
“Like
the doctrine of evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the
world of reality; and it may claim such support as the great argument from
analogy is capable of supplying.” ^ ( ^ Huxley, “Evolution and Ethics,” p. 61,
1895.)
So
it will be seen that modern as well as ancient writers recognise this
hypothesis
as one deserving of the most serious consideration.
It
must not for a moment be confounded with a theory held by the ignorant, that
it
was possible for a soul which had reached humanity in its evolution to
re-become
that of an animal. No such retrogression is within the limits of
possibility;
when once man comes into existence – a human soul, inhabiting what we call in
our books a causal body – he can never again fall back into what is in truth a
lower kingdom of nature, whatever mistakes he may make or however he may fail
to take advantage of his opportunities. If he is idle in the school of life, he
may need to take the same lesson over and over again before he has really
learned it , but still on the whole progress is steady, even though it
may
often be slow. A few years ago the essence of this doctrine was prettily put
thus
in one of the magazines: -
“A
boy went to school. He was very little. All that he knew he had drawn in with
his
mother’s milk. His teacher (who was God) placed him in the lowest class, and gave
him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt do no hurt to
any
living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did not kill; but he was
cruel,
and he stole, - At the end of the day (when his beard was grey – when the
night
was come) his teacher (who was God) said – Thou hast learned not to kill.
But
the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.”
“On
the morrow he came back, a little boy, and his teacher (who was God) put him in
a class a little higher, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt do
no
hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. So the
man
did no hurt to any living thing; but he stole and he cheated. And at the end
of
the day – when his beard was grey – when the night was come – his teacher
(who
was god) said: Thou hast learned to be merciful. But the other lessons thou hast
not learned. Come back tomorrow.”
“Again,
on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And his teacher (who was God) put
him in a class yet a little higher, and gave these lessons to learn: Thou
shalt
not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. Thou shalt not covet. So the man did not
steal;
but he cheated, and he coveted. And at the end of the day – (when his
beard
was grey –when night was come) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned
not to steal. But the other lessons thou
hast not learned. Come back, my child, tomorrow.”
“This
is what I have read in the faces of men and women, in the book of the
world,
and in the scroll of the heavens, which is writ in the stars.” (Berry
Benson,
in The Century Magazine, May 1894).
I
must not fill my pages with the many unanswerable arguments in favour of this
doctrine
of reincarnation; they are set forth very fully in our literature by a
far
abler pen than mine. Here I will say only this. Life presents us with many
problems
which, on any other hypothesis than this of reincarnation, seem utterly
insoluble;
this great truth does explain them, and therefore holds the field
until
another more satisfactory hypothesis can be found. Like the rest of the
teaching,
this is not a Hypothesis, but a matter
of direct knowledge for many
of
us; but naturally our knowledge is not proof to others.
Yet
good men and true have been sorrowfully forced to admit that they were
unable
to reconcile the state of affairs which exists in the world around us
with
the theory that God was both almighty and all-loving. They felt, when they
looked
upon all the heartbreaking sorrow and suffering, that either He was not
almighty,
and could not prevent it, or He was not all-loving, and did not care.
In
Theosophy we hold with determined conviction that He is both almighty and
all-loving,
and we reconcile with that certainty the existing facts of life by
means
of this basic doctrine of reincarnation. Surely the only hypothesis which
allows
us reasonably to recognise the perfection of power and love in the Deity
is
one which is worthy of careful examination.
For
we understand that our present life is not our first, but that each have
behind
us a long line of lives, by means of which we have evolved from the
condition
of primitive man to our present position. Assuredly in these past
lives
we shall have done both good and evil, and from every one of our actions a
definite
proportion of result must have followed under the inexorable law of
justice.
From the good follows always happiness and further opportunity; from
the
evil follows always sorrow and limitation.
So,
if we find ourselves limited in any way, the limitation is of our own
making,
or is merely due to the youth of the soul; if we have sorrow and
suffering
to endure, we ourselves alone are responsible. The manifold and
complex destinies of men answer with rigid exactitude to the balance between the good and evil of their previous actions; and all is moving onward under th