Show what is theosophy BY ANNIE DESANT all the world of late baa has been ing K about theosophy mostly with a plentiful lack of information because of the death of the woman who presented it once more in the western world helena petrovna Iet rovna Blava hlavatsky Bla taky many blany predicted its disappearance appe armce with the death of its expounder but ame mme Bla wag was only the latest of a lone long line of messengers who at considerable intervals of time have put forth the same teachings the same yeas touching the universe man mail and mana mans ties des tiny flay theosophy was not born with be her physical body nor bag has it died with with it on the contrary it h has a received a new impe impulse I 1 se from b her er departure if only in the fresh proof that it docs does not depend on the physical presence of any one personality however great and tru truty her personality ra sona lity was a very great one t bow great will be measured better a century hence than it is ala today to day theosophy Theoa ophy is the ancient ay iy ent wis dom religion as banded down for thousands of years by generation after generation of initiates who from time to time have given out portions ofis of lie its doctrines as the evolution of the human race rendered mankind at large ready for the teaching these initiates are merely wen men more highly evolved than their fel lowman who have become capable of apprehending the deper deeper spiritual parts of their being and BO so coming into contact with po portions rations of the universe unknown to th the e race at large for it must be remembered that while our knowledge of the universe is bounded by our capacity to receive impressions from it the universe itself is in not so bounded every fresh sense every new point of contact that can be developed in to man opens a op p new avenues to knowledge knowledg of the infinite stores of nature the initiates called sometimes adepts are men who have nave 0 bened opened up man amny y such new now avenues an and who pass 0 on u the knowledge thus acquired to their more backward brethren as these those are able to understand it this wisdom religion to give it its older name for theosophy is a modern title dating only from the third century A D is the foundation of all exoteric religions the source of all true rue sciences and philosophies floso the chief doctrines of the great grea religions of the world are allegories too often distorted clustered round a nucleus of exoteric truth the science of the nineteenth century draws some of ita its most moat cherished theories from the initiates of greece and d the chief discoveries of the mi middle da dl a ages were made by men me who had been trained in occultism in in the east an as the discovery of hydrogen by every student can call sea bee how the most advanced philosophies of germany are penetrated with the spirit of the eastern schools and so in the course of ages the time hag has como come when theosophy can stand out to claim a bearing hearing for its doctrines from the intellectual word to challenge the theory of materialism to lay the scientific foundation of religion and to give that sure basis for ethics of wh which c modern ac society clety is in so much in need theosophy Theo Dophy teaches that the universe verse is life embodied and regards spirit 1 it and matter i as the two poles P 0 af e s of this mani manifesting festin g 0 energy which evolves into seven pla planes n as or stales stages of existence each characterized actor ize by ita its own attributes man blau is an image in miniature of the universe and is therefore sevenfold in bis big coo con atit ution being related by each plane 0 of I 1 his beine being to the corresponding plane in the universe a hence as be he evolves the higher parts of himself be he comes into contact with the tile higher r T 1 laft I 1 P I 1 planes of the universe Un iveree and can study investigate and know them withas with as much certainty as he can study in investigate vea digate and sad know the aby a cical cai plaine tat ns through tong it bia his fire five physical senses the department of theosophy that deals with the methods of this evolution is ca led occultism it is the study of the mind of the universe by theory and by practice lew few have the s bell e 11 sacrifice cr i flee the endurance the c courage a g e arh the e purity parity for such investigation and emphatically it is true of students of occult sm sin that few low are chosen accepting the correspondence between bet t the universe and man it follows that man must also be spirit embodied ie i e that he ia Is a spirit using a body not a body of espirit a spirit the spirit can become seem self conscious on all planes of existence only by experience and this experience can only be won by treading each plane in all its phases until the perfect man living on all planes in full belt self consciousness la Is ultima ultimately tel y evolved the task ia Is a long and weary one needing myriads of years for complete accomplishment eo so that the spirit and intelligence which are the permanent part of man must return to earth lifa over and over again gain inhabiting body after bod body y and nd building build inz up brick b by y brick the splendid temple of a div divine ina humanity theosophy then teaches the doctrine of reincarnation incarnation Ke and further farther of reincarnation under law this law named karma the word for action is is the enunciation of ca causation I 1 in all I 1 worlds mental and moral sea as spiritual P lill R and reincarnation ia in under I 1 its is away As the man shows in one life he reaps in succeeding lives and be he ca can n never escape the cons consequences e ances of his own actions A action ell cullu in n the theosophical vocabulary it should be said includes all mental aa its well as bodily activities the mental being indeed by far the most potent in their effects I 1 in a fashion fashio nany lany description of which would far outrun the limits of my apace space man in each life casts costs the mould for hia his future capacities power of self expression climbing slowly up with many slips and falls alas I 1 that long ladder of life eternal whose highest ranga rungs are veiled in light too dazzling to be pierced b by y mortal eye reincarnation and karma are the foundation of theosophical ethics a affording ff the imperative for 0 r which w aich every ethical system c craves r ave s buch such Is the bold outline of a fragment hewn from the rock of the theosophy a fragment only of a mighty whole those who would grasp the teachings of the wisdom religion must study for themselves and not hope to catch more than a glimpse of it in III a newspaper article but the glimpse may attract one here a and ad there to long to see the unveiled truth I 1 ought to add to this sketch that no belief in any of the teaching sketched etched sil is necessary tor for adais ad lon to the theosophical society that society 0 only a ly imposes on its members one obligation ob il gation the acceptance of the universal brotherhood of mankind its objects are 1 to form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race creed sex caste or color 2 to promote the study of aryan and other E eastern astern literatures religions philosophies and sciences and t ti demonstrate its importance 3 to investigate unexplained explained ni laws of nature and the psychic powers Is latent ent in man of these the acceptance of the first only is obligatory many members of the society study theosophy and many accept its teachings but neither the study nor the acceptance a is enforced on any an y line each ch is left free to work out ant hia his 0 own wn I 1 line of thought and to reach its own conclusions in bis his own way but every member mast must recognize and ought to serve ia in that brotherhood which sees in every sorrow the duty of succor which hears in every cry the call to comfort which r refuses at uses to allow any barrier to shut shot off man from man and which by the very verv mil might ht of its conviction shall one dai realize r alza that ia in which it believes beli erea |