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Show THE888PHY. What it Means and Some of Its Speelal Prlnolples. Special Correspondence. Not a few readers are asking what Theosophy means, whether it holds any Bpecial doctrines, and wherein it differs from the religious systems familiar to them. Is it supposed to be a revelation; has it any sanction other than the confidence con-fidence of its adherents; what greater inducements does it offer to reason and to hope than do the sects around; does it propose a new churoh? these and like questions come from the reading public. Let us Btart with a few broad assertions as-sertions as to what and whence Theosophy is, and then Btate the reasons which to many minds sustain sus-tain and vindicate them. Theosophy is neither a philosophy philoso-phy nor a religion alone; rather is it the ultimate science of all being, underlying and explaining life in everyone of Ub departments, thus giving the rationale of the physical universe and of man in his relation to the supreme. It becomes a philosophy when it treats of cos-mogany cos-mogany and of terrestrial afifairsjit becomes a religion when it treats of duty, aspiration and endeavor. And its essential principle, that ol which recent science has perceived certain aspects, is and always has been evolution. Theosophy is not a novelty. The name, of course, does not antedate the Greek language, but the system known by that name is the oldest known to man; it was held millions mil-lions of years ago when the present misconceptions were unborn, the one uniform truth which guided and cheered humanity as it passed through the evolutionary stages prior to that in which we see it. In that remote past, a past so remote that secular science finds no trace of it and modern religions have neither tradition or record, this original and universal science was in the possession of men. Theosophy is not a revelation, as that word is understood; that is, it is not a disclosure of truth miraculously miracu-lously vouchsafed by God to man, and which man is therefore to accept as authoritative or be condemned con-demned for rebellion. It is, indeed, an unfolding of the interior facts of nature and destiny, but one which, however verifiable by ourselves our-selves or by others and verified brothers br-others far greater, is still an appeal to reason and the moral sense, enforced en-forced by no menace and to be accepted only on conviction. Theosophy does not exhort to the abolition of religions and churches, still less to the abolition of the religious instinct. On the contrary, it exhorts to the abolition of every passion which holds that instinct in check; and it insists that the fundamental basiB of all religions is the Bame, only Burface errors misguiding their energy and paralyzing para-lyzing their usefulness. Hence it urges, not a mere benevolent toleration, tolera-tion, but a persistent inquiry into the original of all faith and hope, such inquiry to eventuate in the recovery of primal truth, the repudiation re-pudiation of later mistakes and the reunion of man on one oommon ground of universal fraternity and good will. .It is no opponent of sound learning. It holds that ignorance is the parent of every ill. It favors the widest, vast unrestricted unre-stricted investigation, stimulating every effort after light and truth, assuring that all the higher powers are oh the side of ft-arlesa, patient research. It will not be content with truth only in physics aud at- tuined through physical senseB; it insists that tbe whole realm of nature, seen and unseen, is the true sphere for nearcb, and that no partical or limited area can give other than partical or limited results. re-sults. Hence it breaks down the bars of sense and flush, impels to movement on every plane; telle of faculties by which each plane may hy explored, shows how all planes -are related and mutually explanatory. explana-tory. It has a place for every investigator, proyided only that he will not deny validity to other areas than his own; just as it has a place for every believer, provided that he will not hold his beliefs as exclusive. F. T. S. (To bi cuninttil) ! |