Musings On The True Theosophist's
Path
"The way of inward peace is in all things to conform
to the pleasure and disposition of the Divine Will. Such as would
have all things succeed and come to pass according to their own
fancy, are not come to know this way; and therefore lead a harsh
and bitter life; always restless and out of humor, without reading
the way of peace."
Know then Oh Man, that he who seeks the hidden way, can only
find it through the door of life. In the hearts of all, at some
time, there arises the desire for knowledge. He who thinks his
desire will be fulfilled, as the little bird in the nest, who
has only to open his mouth to be fed, will very truly be disappointed.
In all nature we can find no instance where effort of some kind
is not required. We find there is a natural result from such
effort. He who would life the life or find wisdom can only do
so by continued effort. If one becomes a student, and learns
to look partially within the veil, or has found within his own
being something that is greater than his outer self, it gives
no authority for one to sit down in idleness or fence himself
in from contact with the world. Because one sees the gleam of
the light ahead he cannot say to his fellow "I am holier
than thee" or draw the mantle of seclusion around himself.
The soul develops like the flower, in God's sunlight, and unconsciously
to the soil in which it grows. Shut out the light and the soil
grows damp and sterile, the flower withers or grows pale and
sickly. Each and every one is here for a good and wise reason.
If we find partially the why we are here, then is there
the more reason that we should by intelligent contact with life,
seek in it the farther elucidation of the problem. It is not
the study of ourselves so much, as the thought for others that
opens this door. The events of life and their causes lead to
knowledge. They must be studied when they are manifested in daily
life.
There is no idleness for the Mystic. He finds his daily life
among the roughest and hardest of the labors and trials of the
world perhaps, but goes his way with smiling face and joyful
heart, nor grows too sensitive for association with this fellows,
nor so extremely spiritual as to forget that some other body
is perhaps hungering for food.
It was said by one who pretended to teach the mysteries "It
is needful that I have a pleasant location and beautiful surroundings."
He who is a true Theosoph will wait for nothing of the sort,
either before teaching, or what is first needful, learning. It
would perhaps, be agreeable, but if the Divine Inspiration comes
only under those conditions, then indeed is the Divine afar from
the most of us. He only can be a factor for good or teach how
to approach the way, who forgetting his own surroundings, strives
to beautify and illumine those of others. The effort must be
for the good of others, not the gratifying of our own senses,
or love for the agreeable of pleasant.
Giving thought to self will most truly prevent and overthrow
your aims and objects, particularly when directed toward the
occult.
Again there arises the thought "I am a student, a holder
of a portion of the mystic lore." Insidiously there steals
in the thought "Behold I am a little more than other men,
who have not penetrated so far." Know then oh man, that
you are not as great even as they. He who thinks he is wise is
the most ignorant of men, and he who begins to believe
he is wise is in greater danger than any other man who lives.
You think, oh man, that because you have obtained a portion
of occult knowledge, that it entitles you to withdraw from contact
with the rest of mankind. It is not so. If you have obtained
true knowledge it forces you to meet all men not only half way,
but more than that to seek them. It urges you not to retire but,
seeking contact, to plunge into the misery and sorrow of the
world, and with your cheering word, if you have no more (the
Mystic has little else) strive to lighten the burden for some
struggling soul.
You dream of fame. We know no such thing as fame. He who seeks
the upward path finds that all is truth; that evil is the good
gone astray. Whey should we ask for fame? It is only the commendation
of those we strive to help.
Desire neither notice, fame or wealth. Unknown you are in
retirement. Being fameless you are undisturbed in your seclusion,
and can walk the broad face of the earth fulfilling your duty,
as commanded, unrecognized.
If the duty grows hard, or you faint by the way, be not discouraged,
fearful or weary of the world. Remember that "Thou may'st
look for silence in tumult, solitude in company, light in darkness,
forgetfulness in pressures, vigor in despondency, courage in
fear, resistance in temptation, peace in war, and quiet in tribulation."
II
Work as those work who are ambitious. -Respect life as those
do who desire it. -Be happy as those are who live for happiness.
-Light on the Path
We are tried in wondrous ways, and in the seemingly unimportant
affairs of life, there often lie the most dangerous of the temptations.
Labor, at best, is frequently disagreeable owing either to
mental or physical repugnance. When he who seeks the upward path,
begins to find it, labor grows more burdensome, while at the
time, he is, owing to his physical condition, not so well fitted
to struggle with it. This is all true, but there must be no giving
in to it. It must be forgotten. He must work, and if he
cannot have the sort he desires or deems best suited to him,
then must he take and perform that which presents itself. It
is that which he most needs. It is not intended either, that
he do it to have it done. It is intended that he work as if it
was the object of his life, as if his whole heart was in it.
Perhaps he may be wise enough to know that there is something
else, or that the future holds better gifts for him, still this
also must to all intents be forgotten, while he takes up his
labor, as if there were no tomorrow.
Remember that life is the outcome of the Ever-Living. If you
have come to comprehend a little of the mystery of life, and
can value its attractions according to their worth; these are
no reasons why you should walk forth with solemn countenance
to blight the enjoyments of other men. Life to them is as real,
as the mystery is to you. Their time will come as yours has,
so hasten it for them, if you can, by making life brighter, more
joyous, better.
If it be your time to fast, put on the best raiment you have,
and go forth, not as one who fasts, but as one who lives for
life.
Do your sighing and crying within you. If you can not receive
the small events of life and their meanings without crying them
out to all the world, think you that you are fitted to be trusted
with the mysteries?
The doing away with one or certain articles of diet, in itself,
will not open the sealed portals. If this contained the key,
what wise beings must the beasts of the field be, and what a
profound Mystic must Nebuchadnezzar have been, after he was "turned
out to grass!"
There are some adherents of a faith, which has risen in the
land, who deem it wise to cast away all things that are distasteful
to them; to cut asunder the ties of marriage because they deem
it will interfere with their spiritual development, or because
the other pilgrim is not progressed enough. Brothers, there lives
not the man who is wise enough to sit as a judge upon the spiritual
development of any living being. He is not only unwise but blasphemous
who says to another: "Depart! you impede my exalted spiritual
development."
The greatest of all truths lies frequently in plain sight,
or veiled in contraries. The impression has gone abroad that
the Adept or the Mystic of high degree, has only attained his
station by forsaking the association of his fellow creatures
or refusing the marriage tie. It is the belief of very wise Teachers
that all men who had risen to the highest degrees of Initiation,
have at some time passed through the married state. Many men,
failing in the trials, have ascribed their failure to being wedded,
precisely as that other coward, Adam, after being the first
transgressor cried out "It was Eve."
One of the most exalted of the Divine Mysteries lies hidden
here-therefore, Oh Man, it is wise to cherish that which holds
so much of God and seek to know its meaning; not by dissolution
and cutting asunder, but by binding and strengthening the ties.
Our most Ancient Masters knew of this and Paul also speaks of
it. (Ephesians v. 32.)
Be patient, kindly and wise, for perhaps in the next moment
of life, the light will shine out upon thy companion, and you
discover that you are but a blind man, claiming to see. Remember
this, that you own not one thing in this world. Your wife is
but a gift, your children are but loaned to you. All else you
possess is given to you only while you use it wisely. Your body
is not yours, for Nature claims it as her property. Do you not
think, Oh Man, that it is the height of arrogance for you to
sit in judgment upon any other created thing, while you, a beggar,
are going about in a borrowed robe?
If misery, want and sorrow are thy portion for a time, be
happy that it is not death. If it is death be happy there is
no more life.
You would have wealth, and tell of the good you would do with
it. Truly will you lose your way under these conditions. It is
quite possible, that you are as rich as you ever will be, therefore,
desire to do good with what you have -and do it. If you
have nothing, know that it is bet and wisest for you. Just so
surely as you murmur and complain just so surely will you find
that "from him that hath not, shall be taken even that which
he hath." This sounds contradictory, but in reality is in
most harmonious agreement. Work in life and the Occult are similar;
all is the result of your own effort and will. You are not rash
enough to believe that you will be lifted up into Heaven like
the Prophet of old-but you really hope some one will come along
and give a good shove toward it.
Know then, Disciples, that you only can lift yourselves by
your own efforts. When this is done, you may have the knowledge
that you will find many to accompany you on your heretofore lonely
journey; but neither they or your Teacher will be permitted to
push or pull you one step onward.
This is all a very essential part of your preparation and
trial for Initiation.
You look and wait for some great and astounding occurrence,
to show you that you are going to be permitted to enter behind
the veil; that you are to be Initiated. It will never come. He
only who studies all things and learns from them, as he finds
them, will be permitted to enter, and for him there are no flashing
lightnings or rolling thunder. He who enters the door, does so
as gently and imperceptibly, as the tide rises in the nighttime.
Live well your life. Seek to realize the meaning of every
event. Strive to find the Ever Living and wait for more light.
The True Initiate does not fully realize what he is passing through,
until his degree is received. If you are striving for light and
Initiation, remember this, that your cares will increase, your
trials thicken, your family make new demands upon you. He who
can understand and pass through these patiently, wisely, placidly-may
hope.
III
If you desire to labor for the good of the world, it will
be unwise for you to strive to include it all at once in your
efforts. If you can help elevate or teach but one soul-that is
a good beginning, and more than is given to many.
Fear nothing that is in Nature and visible. Dread no influence
exerted by sect, faith, or society. Each and every one of them
originated upon the same basis-Truth, or a portion of it at least.
You may not assume that you have a greater share than thy, it
being needful only, that you find all the truth each one possesses.
You are at war with none. It is peace you are seeking, therefore
it is bet that the good in everything is found. For this brings
peace.
It has been written that he who live the Life shall know the
doctrine. Few there be who realize the significance of The Life.
It is not by intellectually philosophizing upon it, until
reason ceases to solve the problem, nor by listening in ecstatic
delight to the ravings of an Elemental clothed-whose hallucinations
are but the offspring of the Astral-that the life is realized.
Nor will it be realized by the accounts of the experience of
other students. For there be some who will not realize Divine
Truth itself, when written, unless it be properly punctuated
or expressed in flowery flowing words.
Remember this: that as you live your life each day with an
uplifted purpose and unselfish desire, each and every event will
bear for you a deep significance-an occult meaning-and as you
learn their import, so do you fit yourself for higher work.
These are no rose-gardens upon the way in which to loiter
about, nor fawning slaves to fan one with golden rods of Ostrich
plumes. The Ineffable Light will not stream out upon you every
time you may think you have turned up the wick, nor will you
find yourself sailing about in an astral body, to the delight
of yourself and the astonishment of the rest of the world, simply
because you are making the effort to find wisdom.
He who is bound in any way-he who is narrow in his thoughts-find
it doubly difficult to pass onward. You may equally as well gain
wisdom and light in a church as by sitting upon a post while
your nails grow through your hands. It is not by going to extremes
or growing fanatical in any direction that the life will be realized.
Be temperate in all things, most of all in the condemnation
of other men. It is unwise to be intemperate or drunken with
wine. It is equally unwise to be drunken with temperance. Men
would gain the powers; or the way of working wonders. Do you
know, O man, what the powers of the Mystic are? Do you know that
for each gift of this kind he give a part of himself? That it
is only with mental anguish, earthly sorrow and almost his heart's
blood, these gifts are gained? Is it true, think you, my brother,
that he who truly possess them desires to sell them at a dollar
a peep, or any other price? He who would trade upon these things
finds himself farther from his goal than when he was born.
There are gifts and powers. Not just such as you have
created in your imagination, perhaps. Harken to one of these
powers: He who has passed onward to a certain point, finds that
the hearts of men lie spread before him as an open book, and
from there onward the motives of men are clear. In other words
he can read the hearts of men. But not selfishly; should he but
once use this knowledge selfishly, the book is closed-and he
reads no more. Think you, my brother, he would permit himself
to sell a page out of this book?
Time-that which does not exist outside the inner circle of
this little world-seems of vast importance to the physical man.
There comes to him at times, the thought that he is not making
any progress, and that he is receiving nothing from some Mystic
source. From the fact that he has the thought that no progress
is being made the evidence is gained that he is working onward.
Only the dead in living bodies need fear. That which men would
receive from Mystic sources is frequently often repeated, and
in such a quiet, unobtrusive voice, that he who is waiting to
hear it shouted in his ear, is apt to pass on unheeding.
Urge no man to see as yourself, as it is quite possible you
may see differently when you awake in the morning. It is wiser
to let the matter rest without argument. No man is absolutely
convinced by that. It is but blowing your breath against the
whirlwind.
It was once written over the door: "Abandon Hope, all
ye who enter here." It has taken hundreds of years for a
few to come to the realization that the wise men had not the
slightest desire for the company of a lot of hopeless incurables
in the mysteries. There is to be abandoned hope for the gratification
of our passions, our curiosities, our ambition or desire for
gain. There is also another Hope-the true; and he is a wise man
who comes to the knowledge of it. Sister to Patience, they together
are the Godmothers of Right Living, and two of the ten who assist
the Teacher.
AMERICAN MYSTIC
- Path, August, 1886
- October, 1886
- February, 1887
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