THE FUTURE AND THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
IN 1888 H.P. Blavatsky wrote:
Night before last I was shown a bird's eye view of the
theosophical societies. I saw a few earnest reliable theosophists in a death
struggle with the world in general and with other - nominal and ambitious -
theosophists. The former are greater in number than you may think, and they
prevailed - as you in America will prevail, if you only remain
stanch to the Master's programme and true to yourselves. And last night
I saw.... The defending forces have to be judiciously - so scanty are they
- distributed over the globe wherever theosophy is struggling with the powers
of darkness. 1
And in the Key to Theosophy:
If the present attempt in the form of our Society succeeds better
than its predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized
living and healthy body when the time comes for the effort of the twentieth
century. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to
men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people
ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of truth. He will find the minds of men
prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new
truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival which will remove the
merely mechanical material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how
much one to whom such an opportunity is given could accomplish. Measure it by
comparison with what the Theosophical Society actually has achieved in the
last fourteen years without any of these advantages and surrounded by hosts of
hindrances which would not hamper the new leader.
Every member of the Society should be, and many are, deeply interested in
the above words. The outlook, the difficulties, the dangers, the necessities
are the same now as then, and as they were in the beginning of this attempt in
1875. For, as she has often said, this is not the first nor will it be the last
effort to spread the truths and to undertake the same mission as that taken up
by Ammonius Saccas some centuries ago - to lead men to look for the one truth
that underlies all religions and which alone can guide science in the direction
of ideal progress. In every century such attempts are made, and many of them
have been actually named "theosophical." Each time they have to be adapted to
the era in which they appear. And this is the era - marked by the appearance
and the success of the great American republic - of freedom for thought and for
investigation.
In the first quotation there is a prophecy that those few reliable
theosophists, who are engaged in a struggle with the opposition of the world and
that coming from weak or ambitious members, will prevail, but it has annexed to
it a condition that is of importance. There must be an adherence to the program
of the Masters. That can only be ascertained by consulting her and the letters
given out by her as from those to whom she refers. There is not much doubt
about that program. It excludes the idea that the Society was founded or is
intended as "a School for Occultism," for that has been said in so many words
long ago in some letters published by Mr. Sinnett and in those not published.
Referring to a letter received (1884) from the same source we find: "Let
the Society flourish on its moral worth, and not by phenomena made so often
degrading." The need of the west for such doctrines as Karma and Reincarnation
and the actual Unity of the whole human family is dwelt upon at length in
another. And referring to some of the effects of certain phenomena, it is
said, 2 "They
have to prove... constructive of new institutions of a genuine practical
brotherhood of Humanity, where all will become co-workers with Nature."
Speaking of present materialistic tendencies, the same authority says:
"Exact experimental science has nothing to do with morality,
virtue, philanthropy - therefore, can make no claim upon our help until it
blends itself with metaphysics... The same causes that are materializing the
Hindu mind are equally affecting all Western thought. Education enthrones
scepticism, but imprisons spirituality. You can do immense good by helping to
give the Western nations a secure basis upon which to reconstruct their
crumbling faith. And what they need is the evidence that Asiatic psychology
alone supplies. Give this, and you will confer happiness of mind on
thousands... This is the moment to guide the recurrent impulse which must soon
come, and which will push the age towards extreme atheism or drag it back to
extreme sacerdotalism, if it is not led to the primitive soul-satisfying
philosophy of the Aryans."
This is the great tone running through all the words from these sources.
It is a call to work for the race and not for self, a request to bring to the
west and the east the doctrines that have most effect on human conduct, on the
relations of man to man, and hence the greatest possibility of forming at last a
true universal brotherhood. We mush follow this program and supply the world
with a system of philosophy which gives a sure and logical basis for ethics,
and that can only be gotten from those to which I have adverted; there is no
basis for morals in phenomena, because a man might learn to do the most
wonderful things by the aid of occult forces and yet at the same time be the
very worst of men.
A subsidiary condition, but quite as important as the other, is laid down
by H.P.B. in her words that we must "remain true to ourselves." This means true
to our better selves and the dictates of consciences. We cannot promulgate the
doctrines and the rules of life found in theosophy and at the same time
ourselves not live up to them as far as possible. We must practice what we
preach, and make as far as we can a small brotherhood with the Theosophical
Society. Not only should we do this because the world is looking on, but also
from a knowledge of the fact that by our unity the smallest effort made by us
will have tenfold the power of any obstacle before us or any opposition offered
by the world.
The history of our sixteen years of life shows that our efforts put forth in
every quarter of the globe have modified the thought of the day, and that once
more the word "Theosophy," and many of the old ideas that science and
agnosticism supposed were buried forever under the great wide dollar of present
civilization, have come again to the front. We do not claim to be the sole
force that began the uprooting of dogmatism and priestcraft, but only that we
have supplied a link, given words, stirred up thoughts of the very highest
importance just at a time when the age was swinging back to anything but what
the reformers had fought for. The old faiths were crumbling, and no one stood
ready to supply that which by joining religion and science together would make
the one scientific and the other religious. We have done exactly what the letter
quoted asked for, led the times a step "to the primitive soul-satisfying
philosophy of the Aryans."
But we can never hope to see the churches and the ministers coming over in
a body to our ranks. It would be asking too much of human nature. Churches are
so much property that has to be preserved, and ministers are so many men who
get salaries they have to earn, with families to support and reputations to
sustain. Many "houses of worship" are intimately connected with the material
progress of the town, and the personal element would prevent their sinking the
old and glorious identity in an organization like to ours. Congregations hire
their priests at so much a year to give out a definite sort of theology, and do
not like to be told the truth about themselves nor to have too high a standard
of altruism held up to them in a way from which, under the theosophical
doctrines, there would be no escape. They may all gradually change, heresy
trials will continue and heretical ministers be acquitted, but the old
buildings will remain and the speakers go on in new grooves to make other
reputations, but we may not hope to see any universal rush to join us.
Our destiny is to continue the wide work of the past in affecting
literature and thought throughout the world, while our ranks see many changing
quantities but always holding those who remain true to the program and refuse
to become dogmatic or to give up common-sense in theosophy. Thus will we wait
for the new messenger, striving to keep the organization alive that he may use
it and have the great opportunity H.P.B. outlines when she says, "Think how
much one to whom such an opportunity is given could accomplish."
William Brehon
Path, March, 1892
1See Luciferfor June, 1891, p. 291
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2 Occult World, p. 291
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