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Theosophy THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 409
As the soul grows in power, love, and wisdom, it needs a better form in which to manifest itself; as the form grows in perfection, it becomes a better instrument for the soul. Here again evolve side by side the two poles of the universe, life and form, spirit and matter.
This unfoldment of man's powers is slow and gradual; hence the necessity of repeated incarnations, each life on earth being like a day in school. At death, man drops his physical body, 3. Reincar- and, clothed in his subtle bodies, lives
nation. a life of purification, rest, and bliss, rich and full in proportion to his stage in evolution and the deeds of the life just ended. This is the time when he assimilates the experiences of that life, changing them into faculties. As this work is being done, he drops one after the other his worn-out astral and mental bodies, and, finally, hav ing enjoyed all the bliss to which his achievements entitle him, he clothes himself in new bodies and returns to earth to take up the work where he had left it, each life being thus a progress on the pre ceding one. The fact that man does not remember his past incarnations is no proof against their real ity, for the memory of those lives is stored up in the soul and not in the brain, which belongs to the present incarnation only and therefore can not have kept the record of experiences it never went through. But man is so absorbed by earthly interests and ambitions that he identifies himself with the.body and has no time to listen to the " still small voice " within. As soon as he turns his attention inward and knows himself as the soul, then his long past will lie unrolled before his vision, as it has done in the case of the sages of all times. But even at the present stage, that past shows itself in the accu mulated faculties and powers of the man and the voice of conscience, which is but the effort of the soul to guide its lower nature along lines found by experience to be the best.Evolution proceeds under a law as unerring as any well-established scientific law, namely, that of karma or the law of cause and effect. Each action, each desire, each thought, produces its result with unfailing certainty. " As a man
g. Karma. soweth, so shall he also reap." This makes perfection possible, for knowl edge is power, and when man knows the law and works with it, he can produce any result he chooses, he becomes master of his destiny. Thought is the most potent factor in the creation of causes. Each thought affects the mental body for good or evil, and as mental faculties are the powers of the soul working in the mental body, the mentality shown in any one life is the result of repeated thinking in past lives. Hence the splendid mental apparatus of the man of genius is not a gratuitous gift, but is due to hard work in the past. Thought is also the parent of action, and its subtle vibrations, travel ing through space, affect others, awakening similar thoughts in the minds attuned to the same key. Many a thought has thus urged other men to ac tions, good or evil, in which the thinker has his share of responsibility. As thoughts evolve the mental body, so desires evolve the astral body, and also influence others by their far-reaching vibra-tions. By controlling his desirLs, purifying them, turning them toward spiritual things, man refines his astral body and rises above his animal instincts. Actions, speaking broadly, determine future physical surroundings; those surroundings are favorable or unfavorable, according as the man has made others happy or unhappy. Reincarnation and karma explain the apparent injustice in the world, the mental and moral differences among men, and the inequality of mental, moral, and physical conditions amid which men are placed.
But a time will come when man, having reached the full perfection attainable in the human stage, shall need no longer these earth-experiences, and shall pass on to spheres of usefulness
g. Libera- whose glory is beyond our conception. tion. One of the missions of theosophy is to proclaim anew the possibility of treading the " ancient narrow path " which leads to adeptship and liberation, when a man need not return to earth unless he choose to remain and help his less-advanced brothers. The more advanced members of humanity, a mere handful as yet, have already reached that level, and from their lodge come forth from time to time the great founders of religions, the spiritual teachers of the race. This common source explains the oneness of fundamental teachings in all religions; the form only varies, according to the needs of the times and peoples. Now, as in olden times, these Elder Brothers are willing to accept as pupils those who possess the necessary qualifications. Those qualifications are: a conviction of the impermanence of mere earthly aims, a perfect indifference to the fruit of one's own actions; perfect control of mind and conduct; tolerance; endurance; confidence in the master and himself; balance, and desire for liberation. But his motive for seeking liberation must be an intense desire to help humanity, for only when this complete forgetfulness of self is attained, can a man's powers be safely developed. So long as selfishness lurks in his heart, there is danger of his becoming a curse to the race, instead of the helper he should be.
II. Theosophical Society in America: The teachings are not new; they represent a body of traditions preserved from time immemorial. Reincarnation was taught in the earliest history of India and Egypt, in Greece even before Pythagoras; it is found in the teachings of Plato, Plotinus, the Cabala (q.v.), the early Christians, the Alexandrian Gnostics, Neoplatonista (see NF.OYLATONIBM), Paracelsus, and Giordano Bruno (q.v.). During the Middle Ages traces of it appeared in Freemasonry and among the Rosicrucians. In modern times, this wisdom-tradition was revived by Helena. Petrovna Blavatsky (q.v.), who had been for years the pupil of great oriental adepts or sages. Aided by Henry Steel Olcott, she founded the Theosophical Society in New York City, Nov. 17, 1875. For the development see III., below.
The three objects of the society are: (1) to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color; (2) to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science; (3) to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers
