Show LOCAL THEOSOPHISTS I OCCULTISM CONSIDERED AT YESTERDAY YES-TERDAY MORNINGS lEETG Next Friday All the Societies Will Celebrate the White Lotus Day in F I cOJlueJJ orat n of the Work of BlavntsltY I I Next Friday all the branches of the I Theosophical society wH celebrate the White Lotus day This is in commemoration commem-oration of the work done by Helen P Blavatsky The Theosophical sociEty washes to keep up a remembrance of > the great work which this woman accomplished ac-complished but her personality is not at all worshiped Theosophists dont care a straw for personality but they do believe that any deed which has I elevated humanity or has been beneficial j bene-ficial in any way should receive due credit At this celebration only members mem-bers of the Theosophical society will be allowed to be present The paper discussed at Sunday mornings morn-ings session dealt with theosophy and occultism I elicited quite a scientific discussion and when the members left they carried with them a knowledge of hypnotism mesmerism and other isms which the world of late is trying to solve I Helen P Blavatsky says that occultism oc-cultism is the science of life the art of living M K Leonard defines it thus Selflessness Self-lessness is the gateway to occultism is the I and the world of daily duties battlefield wherein the victory over self I is obtained Any person of average intellectual I capacities and a leaning toward the metaphysical of pure unselfish life who finds more joy in helping his neighbor neigh-bor than in receiving help himself one who is ever ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people peo-ple and who loves truth goodness and wisdom for their own sakes not for the benefit they may convey is a Theosophist The-osophist That is any person who is large minded enough not to be warped by any creed or line of thought and who has a warm love for humanity is a Theosophist But this does not make him an occultist The occultist Is one who learns conscientiously con-scientiously to distinguish between evil and good He does not act from intuition alone he must be something more than good he must be wise The first step in occultism is to become a Theosophist To be wise a man must first be good and compassionate to all The wicked can gain some knowledge i is true but they can never have wisdom Wisdom lies at the root of all evolution evolu-tion and is the ultimate goal of perfect manhood Genesis also commences with the words In wisdom the Elolum or great creative powers fashioned the substance of the heavens and the earththis is the interpretation of the learned rabbis who wrote the Tar gum of Jerusalem and they knew more of their own religion than the ortho I doxists who prefer the mlstranslatabn In the beginning The occultist is i one who treads the path of usefulness justice and true knowledge A man cannot be really just if he is ignorant He who cramps i his mind within the limits of any dogma dog-ma is to the occultist as unwise as the Chinese woman who takes pleasure in deforming her feet and squeezing them into slippers of half the natural size or the European woman who ruins her own health and that o her offspring by deforming her body with tight lacing lac-ing l Jody There is a difference between true occultism and magic Under the latter lat-ter head mav be classed astrology physical alchemy hypnotism mesmerism mesmer-ism and a thousand and one other mautic arts A person may become a powerful hypnotist even if he is by no means psychic if he discovers or is taught the right methods All arts have been guarded with the greatest secrecybecause qf the fact that even the greatestvillain on earth might be able to practice them to some extent and thus mankind would be exposed to a terrible power but wishing to show society the terrible dangers which menace men-ace them from hypnotism and mesmerism when such knowledge is placed in unscrupulous hands these secrets are being revealed The occultists mind must remain blind to all but the universal truths in nature and lastly he must touch no animal food no wine spiritsor narcotics nar-cotics and above all must be absolutely absolute-ly chaste both physically and mentally Occultism is not theosophy in the ordinary sense of the word muoh less is i the occult arts for an earnest theosophist is far nearer the path of occultism than the dabbler in les sciences maudltes We cannot all be Budhas and Christs in one birth But we can make our garments white that is to say we can make pure our garments of mind and desire of sense and flesh so that in another birth we may have a fit tabernacle taber-nacle for the indwelling spirt of love our higher self to manifest itself to the world The Lotus circle listened to a story entitled Unselfish Love which told of how a little boy in this city gave his favorite book to the Bryant school library in order that other children might have the pleasure it had given MmThe The secretary of the Salt Lake branch Mrs Virginia Phelps being called to Fort Smith Arkansas on account ac-count of the Illness of her son Miss F A MoMma was appointed to act during dur-ing her absence Miss Lillie Thomas will tb I superintendent of the Lotus |