LIVING THE LIFE
Letters
Letter Eleven
As the work goes on and new elements are added to it, there must occur the process of assimilation. Each new nature is a new element and has its peculiar effect, but there is nothing in this to cause any surprise or dismay. All the time there must be the getting closer together of the “living germs”; this goes on while we work, each in his own way. Few of us have pleasure in the works themselves that are our Dharma, but we know we are there to do, and they are there to be done.
One of the great troubles we make ourselves, I think, is the construction of a mechanical universe. And it will not work out to our satisfaction. This way is swimming against the stream. The Universe is guided from within outwards and all possible knowledge of “outwards” will give no real understanding. In trying to gain a knowledge of “outwards,” there is an exercise of what we are pleased to call the mind; but from what foundation and to what end? The problems that the “mind” has are before it here and now, and concern not what has been or what is to be. What if we do know all the laws and forces, all the processes; will that fit us any better to do whatever comes before us? The law works in us and through us; we are ministers of the law, and while recognizing this, while doing our best with what we have and see, further power and perception come. The Upanishads say that this “real knowledge is not to be gained by the mind, but by the subtle sight of the subtle—sighted”—---the Perceiver.
What is your confusion about Mind? The Self only eternally Is. Now what are all the rest? Perceptions, I think; some permanent, being related to the Self, or of the Self; others, perceptions of perceptions and impermanent in that they are in constant change. The two classes or bundles of perceptions in individuals would be Higher and Lower Mind. Perhaps Higher and Lower Self would be better, but no set terms can give anything but approximations
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of differences of perceptions. We may call what is perceived “matter,” or “prakriti,” that basis by which action may take place. It would seem that this basis is the general result of the interpenetration, interblending, and interaction of the perceptions of multitudinous classes of beings.
The “mind” with which we work is just a bundle of perceptions of this physical plane wherein every idea held has a physical basis. Can such a “bundle” include or solve that which is the cause, or sustaining power itself? Each plane has its own mode or “mind,” and the only way by which we in lower manas can approximate the inner is by rising to that plane where the perception and the mode is different. Can it be wondered at that all at tempts to solve by brain-mind must be temporary hypotheses, one after the other discarded as we see its futility? Yet the very exasperation induced sometimes opens a door to us.
There is a state of Soul as Spectator without a spectacle, also many states of “spectacles” more or less circumscribed. Spirit, I think, would not be the whole of any given class, although such a condition might be called “spirituality,” if the ideas were the eternal verities. Naught adheres to Spirit.
There must be that Mind or Power to Perceive which takes in primal causes as well as subsequent effects; also that other circumscribed action which deals with minor causes and effects. Mind is the power to perceive, residing in the Perceiver, its manifold perceptions and possibilities presenting kinds of mind and separate ideas and actions. All spiritual beings are the same in kind, differing only in degree. Terms are confusing, but ideas may be had out of the confusion, if we adhere to the One Reality—which is both Being and Non-Being. Each has his own way of seeing and translating what he sees.
The question as to whether one could, or could not, get benefit from hearing of Theosophy before death, depends on one’s ability to realize its truth; the mere listening to the words without realization or acceptance could have no place in the thoughts of the thinker. The karma, however, that brought the dying one in contact with those desirous of so helping, will bring him again in con-
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tact with that knowledge and probably under better auspices. No effort is lost. Our love for others is truly shown in our desire to serve, and love is the great bond. The highest love that we can have for those nearest and dearest to us should be the standard which we should strive to hold toward our other selves—an intense love of humanity, one which seeks their highest good, which seeks nothing for self, but has all that fortuitously comes. “Friends for the future.”
A mental change or glimpse of
truth may make a man suddenly change to the truth even at death, thus creating
good skandhas for his next life. But the karmic effects of the past life must
follow. H. P. B. said that the Ego was drawn before birth to the scenes of his
former life, saw the meaning and trend of it all and the karmic results that
must ensue, and knows the justice of it. There is also the “summing up” after
death—cause and sequence, and “Being’s ceaseless tide.”
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Letter Twelve
It is well to hold the position you do—to maintain the true attitude of the “higher carelessness.” It makes no difference what ever what we do; how we do anything is what counts. And as there is always something doing, we have always opportunity to practice right doing.
It is no good being anxious; all we have to do is to do our best with each moment and live it as it comes. “If the candidate has firm reliance on the Law, he will not have to wait too long.” In this way whatever comes will be right for him. We must take the position that whatever is right will come about, and while making use and taking advantage of every opportunity, feel that if what seemed good did not come our way, it was best that way for the main object that we worked for. In this case we preserve our best energies, and are neither elated nor cast down by whatever comes to pass.
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We are apt to overlook the good we afford to others by our effort. Every one we affect, even in a slight degree, affects others, and no one can say what may be done for the future through in direct methods. There is much encouragement in this, and encouragement means a continuation of courage. We have but to keep on in the courage with which we began, for in all great effort there is sure to be reaction; and knowing this to be the Law, we are prepared, and never downcast, but like the song, “We wait for the turn of the tide,” and ride higher on it.
I was looking over the magazine article you mentioned. It is interesting, instructive in places, intelligent and bountifully interspersed with diagrams. It gives the impression of great learning on the subject. But it speaks here and there of the Logos and His care of His children. Too much of the personal God under another name, thus leaving “His” poor, ignorant, sinful children none the wiser as to their godlike nature! The article made me think of the way the Jesuits side-tracked Masonry. They entered it, obtained its secrets, invented “higher degrees” to draw attention from what lay hidden in the original ones, and gradually made it innocuous, and incapable of leading to the knowledge that they feared. Much that is going on and has gone on in the . . . society has the appearance of leading into innocuous desuetude. This is the mode of working of Brahmano-Jesuitical forces, and the ordinary thinker is unable either to perceive, or credit it if warned. It is not believed that there are Dark Forces and their agents in the world, and that they war within that which they would destroy; that they dress themselves up in “sheep’s clothing” so as to be unsuspected. But it is too true. Every failure to establish the Wisdom- Religion is to be traced to the work of the Dark ones among the unsuspecting stupid “sheep,” who are appealed to through their weakness and led astray. There is no panacea for stupidity and ignorance but self-knowledge, discrimination; anything that leads away from them leads to desolation. Would that there might be some way by which eyes could be opened to a wise and proper consideration of all things. Yet, if one should publicly point out these things, “untheosophical” would be the least charge laid at his
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door. All that we can do is to accentuate the difference between the Eye Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Heart with full exemplification. The . . . talk glibly of these, but in the words of Kipling, “what do they understand?” Those in that society who have the “heart-desire” may find that doctrine, but the mass have it not, and are kept from its consideration by every means.
Without any conceit, you know it would be admitted by those who listen to you that it would be an easy matter for you to draw diagrams, and lecture on the differentiation of species, on the various Logo, Dhyanis, and classes of beings, Rounds and Races and so forth; but you know, and anyone can see, that if one had all these qualities at his tongue’s end, he would not be one whit better in character, nor would he possess any real knowledge—the knowledge that leads to the wisdom and power of the Adept. Intellectual acquaintance is well enough for those who are entertained by that sort of thing, but those who seek self-knowledge, who will not be satisfied with anything else, go not by that road. Self-knowledge is the first desideratum; the other is incidental, and useless without the first. The first requires whole-heartedness, self-discipline, constant service, unflagging determination. It is undertaken only by determined souls and continued by increased heroism—of such are the immortal heroes of the ages. The second can be followed by any schoolboy, and is necessary to some extent, as an equipment for the sake of others, but unless subservient to the first, it is useless as a means of growth. The general tendency is toward “intellectualism,” and it is easy to follow that line of acquisition. The effort should therefore be to present and practice the study that leads to growth, using the “process” only to assist the understanding. The opposite is too generally the practice. There are Theosophists in name and Theosophists by nature; they are different.
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Letter Thirteen
Your statement of monthly expenses is not encouraging, but we have seen worse conditions, and with less in view to face them. It looks like “alone and possessing nothing” for us; but we can face all this without the slightest fear. ‘We must trust absolutely to the Law, doing our conservative best as we go along. We have but to keep that work, which we see to be the Real work, going through thick and through thin; then, whatever comes will be right, and we shall finally see the right results for All, for it is “All” that we are working for.
Business has been defined as “a lot of useless activities which we have created and now bow down to and worship.” But there are some we know who are heretics in that direction, and I like these best. Well, the world we live in is governed by these very follies, and we are here to hold fast and get going a crop of better, finer ideas. The fact that burdens are growing heavier cannot be accounted a bad sign; there must be in those to whom burdens come From an unused strength that needs exercise. We will have to take the Bible saying as true that “the burden is to the strong.” Too, it is well to know one’s strength, which cannot be known without using it. By and by you will know what you can do, and the necessity for these trials will cease.
In answer to H— I am glad that you made it plain—and it cannot be made too plain—that there is absolutely no one in U. L. T. who “instructs and informs other members of what he or she gets as coming from Masters.” This is the safest way for all: point to the records and advise an open mind and an eager intellect as well as an unveiled spiritual perception. We have faith that “the Master’s hand is over all” and go the limit on that. I think that your letter covers the ground pretty well. The “writer” of the “extracts” in question does not care what is done with any
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words he has written, so long as the sense and meaning is main tamed, the intent preserved; nor would he in the least object to the presentation of the ideas in any other way; in any event, no name is attached, nor recognition sought.
In regard to the question asked. In the Voice it speaks of Kundalini as Buddhi, considered an active power—the power of that sheath in full operation. Ordinarily, Buddhi acts indirectly through Mamas in its lower aspect of action, thought and feeling, as they relate to the objective consciousness. In this sense, there-fore, Buddhi may be called passive; the power is there but transmuted into lower and divergent energies.
The unitary idea in the
septenary nature is to be had from the conception of Consciousness, or the
Perceiver, using different vehicles for expression and reception on different
planes. It is not waking nor sleeping nor Deep sleep, nor Sushupti, nor Turya,
but just Consciousness acting in these various ways and conditions. We are That
which perceives in these various ways. Consciousness is One—the ways are
various. The Seer is unitary, but has many ways and directions of seeing. “Man”
is not any of his principles, but they are “his” instruments. These principles
or sheaths are made up of the “lives” of various kinds of different planes. The
unitary idea is consciousness with power to perceive in every
direction through
appropriate evolved instruments. Like the God of the Bible, “Man” cannot be
found out, for darkness surrounds his pavilion. “He” is ever behind every
manifestation and expression, and is also Paramatma, the Highest Soul.
Unity cannot be stepped down. IT ever is; IT is to be realized. Of course, it is a consideration of processes that is confusing with our present perceptions; but it is not so difficult to have a working generalization sufficient for our present purpose. The thing to be realized is Unity—the One, not separate in its manifold appearances. “That Thou Art, 0 Svetaketu.”
I think that the word “Perceiver” connotes both individuality and that power of perception which is infinite. As individual, or as Ego, it connotes all the experience of the immense past. It is also Ishwara and Paramatma, for that which perceives has no limita-
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tions to its possible field. The Perceiver rests in the Infinite and is always behind and above any and all expansions of perceptions. ‘Man” is greater than any mind he may have, for he is constantly changing it—and remains. The Soul looks directly on ideas; nothing comes to it but ideas, obtained through its various evolved sheaths. We can have no experience whatever, whether from the bodily organs, or by suggestion, unless an idea is presented. Ideas may come from objects, from words written or spoken, but our only real perception of them is in “idea.” We classify ideas because of an assumption of separateness, but that is not the true way, and the effort should be made to realize that the Soul is vision itself, and that it looks directly upon ideas.
There are minds many, and many kinds of mind, but there is the Eternal Thought in the Eternal Mind—the world of Eternal Idea which is the world of True Being. We must bring back to the light of day the present sense of our divinity which illumines us in dreamlessness—where the “Spirit thinks not, yet thinking not, he thinks, for the energy that dwelt in thinking cannot cease because it is everlasting.”
Study, work and service are
the means, with the motive of being better able to help and teach others. Doing
all we can, we do all that can be done. There is no use in distressing ourselves
about what we do not know; we find knowledge springing up spontaneously within
us as we do our best with what we see and know. It matters not whether that
which we consider as “we” gains or loses, so long as what should be done is done
as best we are able. It is desire—results-—---that trouble us; they always will.
The right done everywhere is ours. No learning is learning unless it leads to
readjustment.
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Letter Fourteen
What you wrote about Karma is a splendid conception, to my mind. Karma is Law. Those who best know the Law are Karma, and others the directors of Karma in varying degrees. Knowledge
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of it begins by performing that which comes to us as duty, simply because it is duty, and not in order to produce anything for our-selves. This practice begets and inculcates a recognition of Karma and use of and subservience to it. In time we do only those things that work for the general welfare. Masters are the highest expression of this.
In order to make minds think, I sometimes point out that we know what has been and will be by what is now. We observe the law and sequence of years, seasons, and elements; this is knowledge, and lies outside of memory or prevision. In the same way we know reincarnation to be a fact without having any memory in the brain of this body. Some, however, do remember, that memory coming by the study and application of a true philosophy of life. The reasonableness precedes the realization. We know the infinitude of numbers but cannot demonstrate that knowledge.
Changes go on, and for good, with our efforts to apply the philosophy. Any failures made in such case are stepping-stones to success because followed by undaunted struggles upward. The efforts count and are registered in the supersensuous consciousness. Sometime they will be of quality and force enough to counter balance all opposition.
Your letter conveyed to me the impression that G— held in his mind too much of a condemnatory attitude as to the deficiences and failings of others; perhaps not altogether condemnatory, but contemptuous, and that it was general in its application. My remarks were addressed to this, not to him as a person, and not to you.
I think that much of the failure of “old-timers” in study and knowledge of the meaning of Theosophy and the Movement lies in not realizing how necessary it is to apply to ourselves the criticisms and judgments we so freely apply to others. And in saying this I do not say that I am free from these faults. I only recognize that they exist and need correction. So, from that point of view, it is not desirable to let the mind become of the shape and mirror of undesirable things. Then it is not easy to avoid a contemptuous, if not a condemnatory attitude toward others,
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which engenders a sort of pride by comparison with our own attitude or what we imagine we would have done under similar circumstances. This is all detrimental to the performance of our own duty, and to our progress on the Path of Compassion. Errors have to be recognized and avoided, and pointed out to others when necessary; but there is a wide difference between that and mere gossip.
I have found that the knowledge of many “old-timers” consists of just such things. They give them forth to new adherents as evidence of their knowledge of the Movement, the Society, and by implication, of Theosophy. This is not wisdom nor is it good for anyone, and it certainly does not help Theosophy. Of course, here and there all the crimes in the category have been committed by members, though the majority were good, according to their “lights,” and well-meaning, but ignorantly misled by their misconceptions, desires and passions, sometimes. For all honestly striving with their enormous difficulties, we should have pity, sympathy, charity; we cannot do this if we mentally reproduce the opposites, weighing the act and actors in the balance of the mind.
You will run across more of
this as “old-timers” drift in with their mental accumulations, so I wanted you
to assist them to dump their encumbering load and to take a fresh cargo of good
material. I would gently discourage them from making that kind of mental picture
by paying little attention to it, and by presenting present time and
opportunity.
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Letter Fifteen
Pressure is pressure, no matter what the immediate means. Things going so hard in so many directions looks like a settling down into place—getting firmly fixed. Of course our attention to outside things and the pressure of them must affect all others interested to some extent. It cannot do much so long as we are internally firm and calm. Taking this position as you have and do,
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matters will find their own adjustment naturally. We see a thing to be done, and we try it out in the way most ready to hand; it does not go that way; then we try another and another until the way is found.
No duty, of course, should be neglected; we have such by natural law and by agreement, and we should faithfully fulfill them until they leave us; we must not desert them. By doing our duty by every duty, we work out our Karma fulfilling the Law, and are thus made fit for higher duties. W. Q. J. said, “Duty is the royal talisman; duty, alone, will lead you to the goal.” We must place an absolutely firm reliance upon the Law, doing that which is nearest to us first, and then what is farther away. It is not what is done, but the motive in doing it, that counts; so we have to watch well our motives; if the motive is right, anything we do is right, and every duty is equally great. If the right course is followed, there will be time and occasion for all duties and none will be neglected.
Also we are warned against considering our own progress; first, because that kind of thought is personal and actually prevents progress; and second, because our real progress being in the inner nature is only discoverable by results, and these results may even appear to us to be the opposite of progress. Thus all thought of our own progress should be dismissed from consideration. The line of duty is the right line, to which must be added a Theosophical education, because that assists us to distinguish between what is duty and what is habit or mere inclination. UNITY, STUDY, and WORK should be the watchword. We should be united in aim, purpose and teaching; to do this we have to accept all others on the same basis, who, under the Law of Karma, are drawn together with us. Each should endeavor to learn as much as possible so as to be the better able to help and teach others, and in so doing gradually eliminate such defects as present themselves in the course of study and effort. Hence, we have to hold the greatest charity for the faults and weaknesses of others while striving to accentuate the good in ourselves, and in those who seem weaker than ourselves in some respects. Unity brings an irresistible energy;
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study and its application in work gives us the knowledge of how best to apply the energy aroused; but the motive of our study and work must be that we may be the better able to help others to attain—not that we may climb.
Yes, true knowledge is synthetic, and when we are truly at tuned, perception through any one channel would give us the sum of the attributes so perceived. This synthetic ability has to grow little by little toward a perception of the “one sense” through any of its divisions or channels. The holding of this idea tends toward that growth, for it is consciousness, or the Perceiver, that is the Knower.
Everything is reducible to states of consciousness; every feeling has to be traced to some one experiencing it. Consciousness connotes all. There is universal feeling and relative feelings. Feeling might be taken to be the effect produced or perceived on any plane and depending on the relative or universal nature of thought, as the case may be. We could not have a thought without feeling, but feeling has many grades, depending upon the fineness or grossness of the sheath upon which the Will acts; for, it seems to me, Thought and Ideation are one and may be applied to any plane, while Will is the dynamic energy of thought or idea.
You are right about “the swing back of consciousness from higher states” reacting with force upon the lower states and arousing them; knowing this, we gradually subdue the lower because such is our desire and intention. No doubt we all fall down from where we see we ought to reach, and that is not to be wondered at, since the inner is always more perfect than the outer. But the great thing in it all is that such seeing makes us increase our efforts. We need not worry about our failures or successes, for if we worry about failure we are thinking of success, and if we worry about success we are thinking about failure, in a squirrel wheel-round of action. We can take the advice to “be up and doing” and forget the rest, only remembering at the moment of action all that is necessary for the act. All of us have to persevere in perfecting the instrument by removing the barriers erected by
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the personality. The Path lies
up-hill all the way, brightened by the consciousness of doing right. Now more power to you; all
these trials and obstacles are but strengtheners for
us—beneficial exercises. We play the game knowing what it all means.
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Letter Sixteen
Your letters are ‘ meditation” and “good medicine.” Just hold to what you have expressed. It is not easy but every effort counts; the failures do not, and all the time there is progress. If we could only see our true destiny, as W. Q. J. puts it, we would not consider the events of life as anything but opportunities. Not one thing can come amiss to those who so see. If we find that suffering, stress and strain are our lot, we may also see that they afford opportunities for strengthening; and who should be better able to bear them than ourselves, in view of what we see and know to be true? As we carry these burdens we help the whole. Our work is constructive with the right attitude toward all things. With the right attitude toward all things, all that we do is constructive. We may not be enamored of our own proficiency—we may see many deficiencies—but we can help. The fact that we find ourselves of admitted help to others tells the story, and as we help we are better able, all the time.
Of course, the instruments we are working with are not strong; they are what the race into which we came provided us with, and they are what they are and the best we have. We all can see their limitations but we can push them to the limit, “and then some,” and still know that the end is not to be found. So while we are working to the best advantage possible as we find things, we are always moving toward a better efficiency and bound to get there. You remember what W. Q. J. said in that convention address: “The society was founded by those who were determined to succeed.” Well, that is our determination, no matter how long
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it takes, nor what we have to undergo; we look for nothing less than success. And we have the inner knowledge that “the Master’s hand is over all,” and can reverently seek His guidance and enlightenment in full confidence that “in the hour of our need the Lord will provide.” Having confidence in the knowledge, we do not set any particular ways and means, but await the movement of events to point out both. “With patience and full reliance upon the Law, the candidate will not have to wait too long.” We rest on that.
A Kshattrya is none the less a warrior when wounded, as long as he resolves to fight. Such a “jolt” as you describe was meant in kindness, and for your betterment according to the minds of those who gave it. Something must have impressed itself as an impairment of an ideal instrument upon their minds. It does not matter if the things were small or great in themselves; it only matters that they aroused certain effects and detriments in the minds of others. In the enthusiasm of our effort and the greatness of the subject smaller lapses escape our notice; when such are called to our attention we should eradicate them. They may be tricks of speech and beneath notice in relation to the real meaning intended to be conveyed; we may even see that the attitude which objects to them is hypercritical; yet we are bound to remove to the best of our ability anything and everything that puts a bar—detracts attention from the main thing. Then again “any old” jolt is good; that which feels jolts is the personality, as you know; we get a reminder that there is still work to be done upon it. We have to avoid all kinds of offense, real or imaginary. I do not think one would need to spend much time on such reformations; it would not need more than the admission that they are needed. So long as we do not admit that they are needed, we shall be resenting the reformations and making no headway. So when things come, the way to do is to conform, not necessarily reform, remembering St. Paul’s saying, “All things are lawful but not all things are expedient.” It depends on what you are trying to do. You have got it right, and I take your letter just as a setting down of things in order to get rid of the pressure. There is a law of our being
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underlying this; the Chela’s Daily Life Ledger and the Catholic confessional are based upon it. We have to meet conditions as they arise, and need not worry about those that do not confront us. We have, of course, to act prudently on the line of what we have in view, but anxiety should be absent from any act done to the best of our ability. I know all you would do if you could; you have done and are doing all you can; what more can be done? I know that it has been very hard for you; it is harder now than it has been, but in a different way. By-and-by you will be so firm and hard that nothing will “feaze” you for a minute, and that time will find the full play of your energies on whatever is to be done.
Now good night to you. Be
happy as those who live for happiness alone, and accept all blessings possible.
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Letter Seventeen
I should like to meet your Mr. C. The statement that Theosophy ‘ in anything needs straightening out. There are a lot of self-satisfied Theosophists who never use the words Theosophy, Reincarnation and Karma, yet who would doubtless call themselves Theosophists. The excuse generally given is that Theosophy has been “discredited,”—as if such a thing could ever happen. It is no doubt true that many people calling themselves Theosophists have by their folly given false impressions of what Theosophy stands for and means, but that should induce in all Theosophists more strenuous effort to correct the falsities and put the philosophy in its true light. If there were more Theosophists of the latter kind there would not be so much of false impression; so the moral is to swell the number, instead of helping the enemy by withdrawal, or retreat, which is the course of the ill-informed, the coward and the traitor. What he should have said is that some Theosophists, or members of the Theosophical societies, believe in a big being—the “Logos,” in the sense that he implied. But he may
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have the wrong conception of what they believe, and may be imputing to others his own belief and misunderstanding. There is a wide difference between “big being,” in the sense of a “personal god,” and the Logos as set forth in the Secret Doctrine as a “being”; between the conception of “Jehovah” of the Bible and the churches, and the Logos as a collection of beings of many grades in posse—considered as a “being” only because assembled together in one stream of evolution, and necessary to each other for further experience.
No doubt there is a school of “Occult Arts” in the Catholic Church, as he says, but there is certainly not a school of Occultism in the sense of the Lodge of Masters. It is not only not probable but impossible for a school, whose motive is selfish in basis, to asquire spiritual powers of the higher order. “The least taint of selfishness and the spiritual is turned into the psychic and dire are the results.” One might remain in the Catholic or any other church and be a Theosophist, but it would mean that he was only ostensibly a Catholic. One might be there with knowledge and for some purpose other than perpetuating that malign system. To be really and truly a Catholic and a Theosophist at the same time would be like going in two directions at the same time.
His saying that H. P. B. made mistakes is a pitiful attempt to drag her down to the level of his own ignorance. It might very well be that she (He) purposely laid herself open to a charge of errancy in unimportant things, in order to prevent dependence upon her “as a person,” but I for one do not believe that she made one single “mistake”; but that everything that she did was intentional, and with a beneficent end in view. It does not make any difference what A— or Mr. C— said about H. P. B.; the value of both are identical—guesswork. “Those who do not understand her had best not try to explain her; if they find the task she laid down too heavy for them, they had better leave it alone.” These are Master’s words, and their repetition at times would help to eradicate wrong impressions. It is quite true that we may be too insistent in speaking our beliefs in regard to H. P. B. and W. Q. J., for that course followed
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incontinently would serve to arouse opposition in some and a supposition in others that belief in Them was a sine qua non—either of which would defeat the end in view. One’s own conviction may be given when found advisable, and the reasons for it presented; just as in the Ocean, the Masters are presented in the very first chapter. For without Them as the Custodians of Ancient Wisdom, to what could we assign the existence and appearance of Theosophy? It is the Message that the world needs, and in consideration of that, the question as to who brought the Message naturally follows. Understanding of the Message brings a comprehension of the nature of the Messengers. Otherwise, H. P. Blavatsky and William Q. Judge might be considered as “just people like ourselves,” and as liable to error.
The kind of Theosophical education that is needed is one that will not feel bewildered by any turnings aside of individuals, no matter how high or advanced they may appear to have been. All prate about the “original lines”; what are they? ‘Well, W. Q. J. wrote after H. P. B. had gone, that we must go to Her and the Master’s letters for the “program.” It is not laid down in schedule form, but it is there and can be found by anyone who is anxious to follow the program. The course of the Theosophical Society and Theosophists all along gives evidence that it is possible to drift onto some sandbank of thought, some finality, and stay there even when exceptional opportunities have been had.
Well, it does not do to be “cock-sure,” but to be ready ever to revert to the Source, the Message, the plan as far as outlined; with that readiness, every new development, event or change— whether in persons or things—is taken into consideration in relation to what has been recorded. If “intuitions” do not accord with that, then it is wise to stick to what the Messengers laid down. The mysteries of lower Manas are great and many.
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Letter Eighteen
Glad that business keeps up so remarkably well. It is a good sign, as is your success under all the circumstances that stood in the way of it. We need not expect disaster because we are endeavoring to do right, though if disaster comes, we know it is not from our endeavor, and we keep up the endeavor in full confidence. Help comes on all planes of being, and must, if unity means anything. Also, working with the Law and from within outwards, improvement and strength must follow in every direction. There is good reason to take more courage.
As we aspire and work for Theosophy, the nature changes, and what would not affect the man of the ordinary way of thinking is found to react upon us in a marked way. When this occurs, we should endeavor to find that particular cause in our thought and conduct so as to be able to prevent repetitions if possible. The thought and effort in this direction will finally bring us to a point where we are able to resist the impulse arising from desire and anger. We may plan, while living in a house, a much better one; from perceived defects we will build better when the time for building comes. As thought is the plane of action, the proper thought will bring about concordant action in its own good time, even if we have to await a new body for it. But there is no saying what changes may come about in the present body; we have to live on and think and do.
People have to be encouraged to take hold, in the hope that for their own and humanity’s sake they will “stick.” It would not be helpful to discourage them by presenting the difficulties that we know will confront them; when such difficulties do arise we have still to encourage them by pointing out what the great Ideal means. Some fall away for a time, coming back when they get new strength and determination; others ignominiously retreat and lose their chance for this incarnation. But there are always others,
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and for them and for the faithful—“the living germs among the masses of men”—we work on without discouragement. “To have started one soul in the right direction is an opportunity not given to many.” We have had and improved that opportunity to the best of our ability. In all we are building for the future—we work in the present for the future.
You know how I feel about going to churches and other meetings where duty does not call and where you are not in sympathy with the prevailing ideas. It does no good, and only opens the door to possible hindrances which affect all those in the same line of relation with you; so, even if indifferent to personal results, there is the other more important view to be considered. Where it is a question of duty it is a different matter, there then being nothing of the personal in it. As to the other meeting, am not surprised that you felt a pressure in the room where that aggregation of class-minds was. You did well not to stay and would have done better still to have kept away altogether. Nothing is gained by going to such places and no good can be done to minds whose sole idea of existence is physical betterment for themselves as against others who appear to have that betterment. It is easy to learn the lines of thought of such people from the papers and other literature. Besides, there is danger of certain kinds of infection, as you know. One of the strange things noted during the past twenty years is the fact that students—so many of them—have thought that the warnings were not meant for them, but for others; have disregarded them, and then wondered at occurrences of an unpleasant nature, and at their lack of progress. It did not show an appreciation of the fact that such warnings are statements of Law, and of value, or they would not have been said.
The question as to whether we “should change the vibration from pain to pleasure,” arouses the counter question, “Why should we desire to?” The object of life is neither pain nor pleasure, and making that object merely the avoiding of pain is to be as nothing but a rationalized animal. Pain is what we feel of the cry of the “lives” that are afflicted, and need attention to have the cause removed intelligently so that the course of all may run smoothly.
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To desire to drown this cry would not be wise, but foolish. Conscientious medical men use opiates only when absolutely necessary and then only for a temporary relief while effecting a cure of the trouble. A mental ‘dope” is equally objectionable, supposing it could be done. But this is found to be the case: those who seek pleasure feel pain more keenly than those who accept what comes as guides on the way. And it may be safely assumed that those who seek pleasure and fail to see the lesson of pain have not the power indicated in the question, however much they may desire it; for desire is not a condition, nor is it knowledge.
Well, it is Mahabharata, the
Great War. We have waged it before to some purpose, and will continue to wage it
to greater and greater purpose, with added power and knowledge as lives go on.
It makes all the difference in the world to have this outlook and purpose.
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Letter Nineteen
The only storms that really affect us are those “inside.” Of course, being human and having bodies that act and react to the “within” and the “without,” we feel these effects; but we know them to proceed from the “qualities in nature” and are able to take the wise advice of Krishna that they “come and go and are brief and changeable; these do thou endure, 0 son of Bharata!” It seems to me that B— is in a state of complaint and, being so, the intuitive perceptions are not so keen as they otherwise would be. But this all will pass away. It is in fact nothing else than an exhibition of the despondency of Arjuna, although it probably will not seem so to B—. In such cases everything appears to be wrong and all things futile; but knowing it all to proceed—not from the outside affairs which merely give the occasion, but temporarily from within—I place no especial importance on it, save as an expression of the then feeling. All things may not come out just to our liking, but we should know better than to expect that, or
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find cause for complaint in it. All this brings unnecessary strain not only to B— but on others intimately concerned.
What you said to C— was right,
and he ought to know that there was and is a definite purpose in U. L. T. It is
not a “one man-business” but a One-Truth-business. There will be plenty of
writing for the “man in the street.” There has been much, there is much, there
will be much; but where does it leave the “man”? Just where it found him—“in the
Street”! Those who are inclined that way will do that sort of thing; but where
in all the societies, and by all the writers, is there to be found clear
direction or a sound foundation to build upon? Well, we know our work, and what
we have set out to do. To us the way is clear and we ask no persons to accept
our way if they see what to them is a better way. Let C— do what he will do that
is consonant with our work. But what is most necessary at the present is the
putting into the hands of the public the writings of H. P. B. and W. Q. J. which
have been obscured. We are following the lines of
W. Q. J. in particular
because they do not diverge from H. P. B.’s, but strengthen and confirm them. As
well they make simple for “the man in the Street.”
C— thinks that we have lost sight of the “Second and Third Objects” because we do not mention them particularly. We have not. The second and third objects are pursued by some, and never were obligatory on any member’s acceptance. The U. L. T. is an exoteric body and sticks to the first object—a “Nucleus of Universal Brotherhood.” The second object is sufficiently covered in the readings from the Upanishads, Voice, Gita, etc. The third object is “to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the psychical powers latent in man”; but “investigate” does not mean experiment. There are warnings galore about the latter.
It is good to hear that the Thursday meetings, while small, have a stronger, better feeling and tone. With the devotion that we know is there this must of necessity be, and strength and tone coming from within—from the heart—must reach outward in all directions and make the instrument a better and better expression of that harmony. M— as an exponent will change as time goes on.
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His natural manner is inoffensive, perhaps apologetic at times. As he obtains what might be called a “deadly certainty” it may be he will approach the “calm, quiet movement of the glacier” which with the genial warmth of the sun will prove effective. All natures have their purpose and uses. It is the fire of conviction that gives each its highest efficacy.
I think as students become more earnest and closely allied to one another and the work, ideas flow from them to the one speaking. The speaker sees it in another’s mind, unconsciously, perhaps—but truly so. The intercommunication between minds is much more common than supposed, both for good and bad. The best strength comes from the Masters when the mind is centered on doing Their work; this opens the channel between Them and us. “Thought is the plane of action”; all else are results.
What is this about “looking for orders”? They should know better. Students should look about to see what they can find to do—find ways, methods, and means. It is certain that if one looks for “orders,” he is depending upon authority and direction. The right way is to go ahead and if it is not right, the wrong will be pointed out. It would be well if such would take a more active part in the meetings, get more and more able to carry them on. No doubt they will do this, having begun.
There is a getting closer
together among “the faithful,” and this of itself has its effect upon those
about us, as well as upon others not so near. Union and harmony is the secret of
strength. So the nearer and closer we get in thought, will and feeling, the more
power will flow from us as a body, “till we saturate time and eras, that the men
and women of races, ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers as we are.”
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Letter Twenty
In your last, you question about memory. Memory is a large field. That which we call “memory” must belong to “being” and relate to experience—in fact, it might be said that “memory” and
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“being” are synonymous, considering in this view of it that ‘ is the result of experience not necessarily remembered or recollected. It is also said that memory of past lives is recoverable, so that there must be a plane of memory not accessible to us in our present plane of action. Yet these memories are of other lives such as this one. Remember that every sound in the visible world awakens its correspondence in every one of the so-far developed elements; so, by inference, every thought on this plane awakens its correspondence on inner planes. The real register, then, must be in the more ethereal and more permanent substance. The physical brain does not retain all the multifarious impressions received by it, for it is in constant motion and change. While some impressions which are constantly repeated appear to reside in the brain itself and to be of ready access, others, not repeated, fall below the line of perception and have to be recalled through association with some other present idea. H. P. B. said, “there is a constant telegraphic communication going on incessantly—day and night—between the physical brain and the inner man.” The brain is such a complex thing, both physically and metaphysically, that it is like a tree whose bark you can uncover layer by layer, each layer being different from all the others, each having its own special work, function and properties.
Each plane has its own tablet of memory and produces the appropriate effects on any other plane—being accessible, in fact, but not perceived on account of other predominating perceptions. Memory per se must be on all planes of being, each plane producing “kinds” of memory, or such as relate to that plane only, in which case it is “being” on that plane. On all planes “memory” must be the power of reproducing past experiences; it is manasic because creative; on the highest manasic plane there is said to be neither past nor future but all in Present Creation. The Soul is vision itself. Would not the highest memory be superlative vision? The Seer is in no case the things he sees.
I am astounded at the infernal practices you speak of that the “New Psychology” follows. One might as well give tests on the action of hasheesh, opium, whiskey or any other thing that causes
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abnormal accentuation of the organs and seats of sensation as those “emotional tests.” No wonder the girl fainted! If the students themselves or their families cannot be made to see the wrong and folly of it all, they cannot be helped, for these “professors” are in the ascendant and no layman’s voice would be listened to. The papers lately gave an account of experiments in observation of the “human aura.” The medical men were greatly interested in the wonderful discovery and, marvelous to relate, saw in it “a new mode of the diagnosis of disease.” Was it not said by H. P. B. that “the psychic idiosyncrasies of humanity” would undergo a great change?
You say that our attitude toward these things seems to many like “condemning” others. It is the duty of esoteric students to unmask error and hypocrisy; to face lie with truth; not as personal criticisms but as facts against misstatements. It is assumed in charity that one who wrongs the Truth does so in ignorance; but the custodians of Truth voice it in the face of lie, ignorance and error, and take every opportunity possible to correct erroneous impressions. Theosophy is in the world for that purpose. We are not to be self-assertive nor flabby; knowing the truth, we speak it and care only for it and that it be as widely known as possible. All of which is entirely compatible with charity to the weaknesses of others and abstention from condemnation of others.
Does “death-bed repentance” do any good? Well, it depends on what is meant by repentance. If it is recognition of wrong and a change in the mind and nature that would look with abhorrence upon a repetition of the deed, coupled with the desire to make every amend in one’s power, it must be good. But if it is only a recognition and a consideration of the deed from the point of view of the evil that fell upon the perpetrator because of it, it is no good at all, being selfish and occasioning no change in disposition, or only such change as regarded self-interest. The first kind, in the mind of one who knew Theosophy, would be deeper and have a wider scope of action than in the mind of one who regarded every thing from the standpoint of one life. The Karma is the same; the one who created Karma is affected by the results, but the extent
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and kind of results depend on
the extent of change and the direction of the change that may have taken place
in the mind of such “repentant.” The phrase,
“right thinking brings everything,” should have been, “thinking has brought
everything that exists—right or wrong.” A man’s thoughts may be a gulf apart
from what he is constrained to do, and he is what he aspires and desires to
do—not his inabilities to perform. He might go through a whole life with out
much apparent change, but if he has inwardly relinquished, that which is left
after he drops the body is his mind, and his next embodiment will call forth the
performance.
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