A SKETCH OF
From the writings of Annie Besant, a pioneer of the
Theosophical Movement
and President of the Adyar based Theosophical Society from
1907 to 1933
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
theosophycardiff@uwclub.net
Annie Besant 1847 - 1933
A lecture delivered at
Hindhead,
Sometimes, in a very large subject,
people are apt to float about a little vaguely. Now Theosophy is a very large
subject, and very much talked about; but constantly, if you speak to anyone
about it, you find that their ideas are exceedingly vague. And I thought,
perhaps, this afternoon I could do no better service with regard to the subject
than to try to give you certain definite points, so that you might at your
leisure, if you wish, take those as fixed points around which you might study, realising each in its own place, and then following the
broad line of study that attracts you most by your temperament, by your own
line of thinking. Now there are very many ways in which such a subject can be
divided, and I am going to take an exceedingly natural division: the way in
which anyone of you may regard yourself, the natural divisions of yourself; and
then show you one or two of the Theosophical teachings belonging especially to
each of these divisions.
For a moment, thinking of yourself, you evidently have a body. On that no
discussion can arise. Now, related to the body, to the working of consciousness in the body, is the great
branch of human thought that we call Science, Science which observes through
the senses, classifies its observations and reasons upon them through the
brain; there you have a great department of human thought which, by its method
of working, is inevitably connected with our physical plane. The senses are its
means of observation, the consciousness working in the brain is its instrument
for classifying, arranging, all the phenomena that it
observes. Then you find, still looking at yourself, that after the body comes
your emotional nature, the nature by which you feel, which is connected with
pleasure and pain, connected with desires, the things you like and dislike, and
then with love, the feeling for beauty — everything which in your ordinary
thought you class as emotional. There, again, is a great department of human
thought, and in that there are two subdivisions: one, the question of conduct,
of virtues and vices, which are really only emotions made general and permanent
instead of being special and fleeting; thus Morality distinctly links itself on
to our emotional nature. Then, in addition, you have the field of Art, where
the emotion of Beauty finds its natural expression. The emotional, then, will
be a second department of Nature with which we shall have to deal in Theosophy.
Going beyond the emotions you find the mind, and thought obviously is connected
with philosophy, that which seeks to answer the
problems of life in a way which satisfies the reason. And lastly there is
something behind all these, more inner, or higher, than the three I have
mentioned — the spiritual nature, that which finds its natural expression in
Religion, that which is ever seeking after God, and finds in religious thought
that which meets its aspirations, and shows the road which leads to the realisation of the Divine. Now that is a fairly simple and
obvious division of your own nature; the body, the emotions, the mind, the
Spirit. And yet it is a division which is practically inclusive. It takes in
the whole of your nature. You might, indeed, subdivide each of these again; but
we may ignore the subdivisions for our purpose, and content ourselves with that
simple division of man. Now , in all these departments
of human thought, Theosophy has something to say. It has something to say about
Religion, about the science of Religion, and about the various forms of thought
which express the same fundamental religious truths. It is also a Philosophy
answering the problems of life to the reason. It has a very clear idea of the
way in which Morality may be rendered compelling, and may be seen as part of
the great law of the Universe which cannot be disregarded save at the peril of
the man who does disregard it. And then it also has a good deal to say as to Science. Thus it
covers the whole field of human thought, and puts forward certain great ideas
in each of these fields, worthy, I think, of your consideration, as supplying
many very suggestive ideas to illuminate matters which are often puzzling and
obscure.
First, then, as to Religion. What has Theosophy to say
on this question? Fundamentally, it declares the capacity of man to know God. I
do not mean belief, nor speculation; I mean knowledge;
and by knowledge of God I mean knowledge as definite, as real and as
experimental as the Science of our time is in relation to the physical world.
And for the same reason: man is able to know the physical world because he has
in his body senses which enable him to answer to impressions coming from
outside. That is the condition of knowledge, that you can answer from within
yourself to anything which is outside you, and unless you are able thus to
answer, it is not to you an object of knowledge. It may be a matter of belief,
or speculation; but nothing is an object of knowledge to you unless you
yourself are able to cognise it, unless you have the
means of knowledge within yourself. Now the whole contention of those who have
declared that man could not know God has been that man had no faculties
adapted to gain the knowledge. All those during the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, who called themselves Agnostics, based their position on
the contention that man could know the
physical world, for he had senses to observe it; he could know the intellectual
world, for he had reason, which he could utilise. But
beyond the senses and the reason, it was contended, man had no faculties
whereby knowledge could be obtained; and the very word Agnostic, “without
knowledge", implies that that great scheme of knowledge known in the old
days as the Gnosis was entirely beyond the reach of the faculties of man.
Now Theosophy takes up exactly the opposite position, declaring that man in his
very nature is such that he is capable of direct knowledge of God; that man in
his innermost essence is a spiritual being, and that, being himself Spirit, he
can know the Universal Spirit whence he comes. Because he is fundamentally
spiritual, therefore, he has within himself capacities for gaining knowledge of
the spiritual. Hence man, as Spirit, can know the Universal Spirit, being able
to respond to impressions that come from that Spirit,
and by responding, to know. And that is the very essence of the idea of
Theosophy, that view of man as Spirit, dwelling in material envelopes
certainly, but fundamentally a spiritual being, and therefore capable of
immediate contact with the great spiritual realities. Theosophy, putting
forward that view of human nature, is perfectly and essentially religious. In
the second place, it claims to be the basis and common truth of all the great
religions of the world, and therefore it does not
identify itself with any special form of religion. It advises people always to
remain in the religion to which they belong, to deepen it, broaden it, spiritualise it. For, in each of the great religions, from
the standpoint of the student of religions, the same great spiritual truths
exist, put into the particular form most suitable for the time at which the
religion was given, most fitted to develop the civilisation
at whose root that particular religion lay. Hence you find Theosophists of
every Faith, and that which distinguishes them is that they hold these great
common truths as belonging to all religions, but follow different forms,
different ceremonies, different rites, according to the special religion to
which they belong. Now these common truths are not very numerous, but they are
literally “common”, belonging to every great religion of the world, living or
dead: and the only question which can arise respecting these is as to the
source of these common truths, not as to the fact of their existence. Everyone
who has studied the subject, everyone who knows anything about the great
religions of the world, cannot but be aware that their fundamental truths are
common to them, but in different shapes, conveyed in different forms of words
and ceremonies. Theosophy, dealing with the religions of the world, accepts
these few great fundamental truths which all religions have in common, which
have been believed in all the ages of the world's
history and puts them apart from local rites and customs. marking
them as the treasures of the great Faiths of the world, showing all Faiths as
branches from a single tree.
In the religious or spiritual field, then, these two things are the ideas you
ought to grasp: first, the idea that man as a spiritual being can know God. and develop the Divine within himself; and secondly, that in
each of the religions of the world there is a body of truths common to all the
religions and those truths are called Theosophy. So that Theosophy in every
country is the servant of the religions of the country endeavouring
in every way possible to be of help and use, and always bringing out these
essential truths, as those that are most important to the particular religion,
and that enable it to link itself with other religions of the present as well
as with great religions of the past.
When from the spiritual side we pass on to the philosophical, or Reason side —
which embraces all the profound questions of existence—we see Theosophy to be
Idealistic as against all the Materialistic schools. We cannot touch on all the
questions, but there are two most important teachings which Theosophy
especially presses on the attention of the western world. I say “especially of
the western world”, because in the East these teachings are common property,
and they are fortunately becoming more and more common in the West. In fact, they have
only dropped out of the great Christian religion during the last thousand
years, and are now very quickly coming again to the front. One of these is
called the doctrine of Reincarnation; the other, the doctrine of Karma, or the
Law of Action and Re-action. Now both of these deal with two of the great
problems which are continually occupying the minds of thoughtful people. How do
we find such immense differences between man and man ?
How comes it that one man is to all intents and purposes a fool, while another
is a genius ? What is the explanation of this vast
gulf dividing one human being from another, so that you may have one child born
a congenital criminal, while another may be born a saint ?
What explanation can we find which satisfies the natural demand of human
thought for Justice, leaving entirely aside for the moment the question of Love
and Compassion ? You know how often people, when they are dealing with economic
and political questions, talk about “equality of opportunity", as a just
demand. That is a phrase you continually hear in the mouth of people, who
desire to bring about immense social changes. They admit that men are not equal
in capacity, but at least, they say, we ought to give them equality of
opportunity. Now the natural answer of a thoughtful person to that demand is:
It is not so much a question of equality of opportunity, as of capacity to take
the opportunity when it comes. Plenty of
opportunities come in one's way, but the power to grasp an opportunity, the
power to use it, the power to turn it to some really useful and beneficial
purpose, that is not equal, and nothing you can do, even if you could give
equality of opportunity, will destroy the radical difference between the man
who lacks the capacity to grasp, and the man who not only can grasp the opportunity
when it comes, but make it, if it does not present itself to him. There lies
the real crux of this great problem. It may be all very well for a number of
you who are placed in fairly comfortable circumstances, with reasonable
abilities, fair qualifications, education, and so on. People never ask
themselves: "What have I done to deserve all this?" But they ask
quickly enough if any trouble comes along: "What have I done that I should
suffer in this way?" That is quite natural, quite right. Man fundamentally,
in his spiritual nature, is a happy being, for God is Bliss, and man's divine
nature is blissful; hence, when there is anything that frustrates happiness,
man naturally rises up and indignantly asks: Why ?
Whereas, when happiness comes he takes it naturally, as that which ought to be
expected in a reasonable world. But this difference of capacity is the thing
which weighs on the hearts of those who have seen the sadder side of human
life.
Now the doctrine of reincarnation gives us a rational explanation of the whole
of that. It is not only that it is a doctrine, as Max Müller
said, which all the greatest minds of our race have accepted, and which
therefore might be presumed to be essentially rational; but it is a doctrine
that appeals to the reason the moment it is stated. Now what does reincarnation
mean? It means that each person, being fundamentally a spiritual being, clothes
himself in matter in order that he may gain knowledge through it in the world
to which that matter belongs. So that we find man surrounded
with various kinds of matter, making up his material envelope, which put him
into touch with different worlds, according to the stage of evolution which
that particular man has reached. Now, when a man begins his human life,
he begins in the lowest possible condition, the condition of ignorance, coming
into a world which he does not know, surrounded by the blinding matter which he
will have gradually to shape into a form in which he may be able to become
acquainted with the outer world, and so to gain knowledge. At that point we all
start alike. But we do not all start at the same time. In successive waves of
living spiritual beings we come into this world. A little experience is
gathered in the first human life. Passing out of life through the gate of
death, that experience brings us sorrow if the experience is of the ignoring of
law, happiness if the experience is that of working in accord with the law, and
of course in 1 every case the
experience is mixed. In the intermediate world into which we pass after death,
we meet the results of the evil experiences of this life, and work them out and
register them in consciousness. Passing on then into the heaven-world, we reap
all good experiences which here we have gathered, and change that experience
into faculty. So that when we return again for another gathering of experience
in the physical world, we bring with us the faculties built out of the
experience of the past, and the tendency to think a thing right or wrong, which
we call Conscience — very limited in its early days, but with each life
becoming fuller, clearer, and more accurate, the record of the experiences of
suffering which we have met with in the ignoring of the laws amid which we have
lived. And so, from life to life, with each return, we gain
something by the experience of the past, climbing step by step up the great
ladder of evolution by this continual assimilation of experience and its
transmutation into faculty and conscience. Hence, step by step, we grow
out of the brute into the human being; and then, higher still, into the Divine
Man, the Perfect Man, which is the end of the great cycle of reincarnation. To
learn everything that the earth has to teach, to develop all the possibilities
infolded in the germ of divinity within us, to continue in that cycle of life
until at last all its lessons have been learned, and then 1 to go forward, a Divine Man for the
helping of younger humanities, for the helping of later worlds, each world
giving out its quota of men made perfect for the work of the great and infinite
Universe — that is what reincarnation means. Now, in the course of these
experiences we always have a choice as to whether a little experience will
satisfy us, or whether we demand more and more before we are willing to learn the
lesson. That which is called "sin" in all theologies is the
deliberate choice of the lower after we have learned to distinguish the lower
from the higher. There is no sin for the man who does not know the higher. The
savage does not sin, when he does what we call evil. He is unmoral,
he has not yet reaped the experience which has enabled him to distinguish. But
when we have learned the difference, then, if for a time we choose the lower
when the higher is available, if we tend to descend to the brute instead of
rising to the God, then it is we "sin". And what we call remorse is
the protest of the spiritual nature, when the matter which it is appropriating
for its own purposes drags it downward, despite the knowledge gained that the
higher possibility is within its reach.
And so you find in this teaching of reincarnation that you have before you all
possibility of unfoldment, and no injustice anywhere; that the lowest savage is
only what we were in the past, that to what we are now he will inevitably
climb; that 1 the most splendid
saint was once as you and I now are, and that in ages to come we shall have
climbed to his position. Differences of age there are between us, like the
older and younger members of a family; but all are treading the same road, growing
out of the brute into realised divinity. That is the
Path along which mankind is treading, and that is the splendid hope which
cheers us at every stage of the long journey. And side by side with that comes
the doctrine that Law is Law, as much in the mental and emotional worlds as in
the physical; that we can no more escape the law of action and reaction in the
worlds of thought and feeling, than we can escape it in the physical world;
that that changeless Law which is the expression of the Divine Nature is to be
learned, and that it is our wisdom, having learned it, to obey; that if we
refuse to obey, we cannot break a law of Nature, but we can fling ourselves
against it and bruise ourselves in the flinging. And as we learn to understand
this law, as we learn its application to every phase of human life, we gain
exactly that same power over our own nature that the scientific man gains over
external nature when he has gained a knowledge of its
laws. The scientific man who knows the law is able to use the forces of Nature
and to bend them to his own purposes. As long as he is ignorant, he is helpless
and in danger: when he understands, the law does not bind him, but 1 enables him to do that which
he wills to do. That is true of all laws of Nature. They are not commands, but
conditions of fulfilment. Hence, when we know these
laws as they affect our own nature, especially the thought and desire nature,
we learn then to utilise those great forces for the
building of our own character; we learn how, with scientific certainty, we can
build up virtue and eradicate vice; and that there is no more chance, no more
accident, in these obscurer regions of our nature, than there is chance or
accident in the outer world where the rule of law is everywhere admitted. Hence
in these two great teachings of reincarnation as method of evolution, and of
law as means of evolution, with those as the foundation of our philosophy, we
are able to guide and shape our lives. We find them answering these great
problems to which I alluded. We find that the knowledge of them puts power into
our hands, and makes us masters of our future. Pass from the realm of thought
to the realm of the emotions. I divided that into two: Morality and Art. Now,
as regards morality, we hardly find, as yet, here in the West that people realise the fact that there is a Science of Morality, as
clear, as definite, and as experimental, as any one of the physical sciences.
You have moral precepts. Your religion gives them to you. But the reason for
the precepts, the facts which underlie the enunciation of certain great moral
laws, these are 1 points which
are not at present understood as they ought to be; so that very often a moral
precept loses its compelling power because it does not immediately recommend
itself to the reason, and no answer is given as to why that precept is
proclaimed. Let me take one as an example: " Do
good to those who hate you". Now, why should you ?
That is a question which is very often asked. One day, I was talking with a man
who was not religious, and when I quoted that precept to him, his retort was: " Why should I ? Why should I do good to a man who does
harm to me ? Shall I not encourage him to do it
another time?" He was not willing to take it as the statement of the great
Teachers of the world. He demanded a reason for obedience. Now the reason is
profoundly simple, although it is not so very often given.
Let me remind you that you are made up of Spirit and matter. In Spirit, which
expresses itself as thought, you get changes of consciousness continually going
on. In the matter which is connected with your consciousness, you get a series
of vibrations, each one of which answers to a change in your consciousness. You
cannot speak of vibrations of consciousness, only changes in it, but each of
these changes is accompanied by a quite definite vibration in matter. Suppose,
then, you have a feeling of anger. That feeling of anger in you will assert
itself in the matter connected with you by violent vibrations. Those vibrations
in you tend to stir 1 up in the
body of any person with whom you meet similar vibrations; and so you have two
sets of similar vibrations increasing each other as they strike against each
other continually. Just as a series of taps given regularly to a pendulum makes
its swing larger and larger, so do these material vibrations in the two people
increase and strengthen the angry emotions in each other. That which stirs up
feeling in the second strikes back against the first, and so you get increasing
anger, until violent passion breaks out and may even lead to crime. Try that —
I said it was an experimental science. Watch your own feeling when you come
across a person in a bad temper, and you will find that though you were quite
good-tempered a moment before, you will become conscious of a feeling of
irritation which will, if unchecked, soon pass into bad temper. It is the
result of the vibrations playing upon you, and the vibrations caused in
yourself, producing the change in consciousness that you know as anger. How is
that to be put an end to when two people meet, so that one angry person may not
provoke another, and bring about a violent quarrel ?
By the second person setting up the opposite emotion, which will be accompanied
by a series of vibrations exactly contrary to the vibrations of anger, and so
will tend gradually to soothe them instead of intensifying them. Just as by two
carefully calculated sounds you can make silence, so you can silence the
vibrations of anger 1 in another
by sending against him a current of good-will.
Now there is the simple scientific explanation of the moral precept. The Great
Teacher said: “Return good for evil". but He was
expressing in that a fundamental law in Nature: that you can only stop an evil
by the opposite good, and not by meeting it with a thing of its own nature, a
repetition of itself. Exactly along the same lines the Lord Buddha said:
"Hatred ceaseth not by hatred at any time,
hatred ceaseth by Love”; and the same reason
underlies it. Send out the love vibrations against the vibrations of hatred,
and the hatred dies away into peace. When you realise
that, you see the meaning of the law. It is completely rational. It is the
right way to meet any wrong emotion in another. In the case of the man I spoke
of, the moment I told him that as a scientific fact, he accepted it. It
appealed to reason, by showing him the natural facts underlying the moral law.
And to know that that is a law, to know that this influence we have upon each
other is an influence we can use for good or evil; that we can extinguish anger
or intensify it, and that on us lies the responsibility. when we meet those who
do not know how to rule their emotions, of supplying the emotion which will
hinder the bad and strengthen the good; this is one of the valuable facts in the
Science of Morality that everyone should know, first taking 1 the statement; and then
experimenting with it, and finding out that the law works as laws of Nature
always work, invariably and changelessly. And there is another point of
enormous importance with regard to Morality. A virtue is nothing more than a
good emotion rationalised, made permanent and made
universal. Look at that for a moment and see if it is true. Where you love a
person, you will always seek to do him good. You will always be ready to
sacrifice your own pleasure for the helping of that person. You will be
continually on the look-out for opportunities of service to the object of your
love. But supposing that you meet a person whom you do not like, or to whom you
are indifferent, your attitude to that person is quite other. You are not on
the look-out for opportunities of service, you are not
willing to deny yourself for him. You remain indifferent, because love is not
there. But how, if you change the emotion of love into the virtue of benevolence ? if, instead of making
it special to the one you love, you make it universal to all with whom you come
in contact ? if, instead of love being the passing
emotion, it becomes the permanent mode of your mind towards the outer world,
then the love emotion has changed into the virtue of benevolence. It is made
universal, it is made permanent, and you have formed a definite part of your
character instead of being moved by the passing emotion of love. It is because
all virtues 1 have their roots
in love, rationalised, made permanent and universal,
that you have that true statement in the teaching of the Apostle,
that “Love is the fulfilling of the law". You do without law, by
love, all that the law demands. As you realise that,
and feel to every child as you would feel to your own, are as willing to help
anyone in trouble as you would be to help your brother or sister, then you have
made the splendid transmutation of a personal emotion into a universal virtue,
and you realise why love lies at the root of all
virtues, and why its opposite, hate, is the root of all vice, that
disintegrates and destroys. And so you rationalise
your emotions, you understand them, you use them, you
try to transmute them into the permanent form of virtues. And when you understand
a little further, that your thought has the power to create in you the virtues
that you admire, then you are fully equipped for the
building of character. By thought you create, building up the character
deliberately, consciously, knowing exactly what you are doing; because, instead
of the mere haphazard goodness which so many show out or aspire after, you have
knowledge underlying your aspirations and know how to create.
In the realm of Art, Theosophy gives the inspiration which is wanted for all true
Art. Now Art, in our modern days, has become far too imitative. It reproduces
natural objects. And you call a man an artist who
reproduces very exquisitely and truly. But that is only the alphabet of Art.
The artist is not the man who reproduces but the man who creates. Has it ever
struck you to ask: What is natural Beauty ? And have
you thought that all the beautiful objects round you are divine thoughts materialised into objects, and shaped and moulded into those objects by the work of those tiny artificers
whom we sometimes call Nature-Spirits; the lowest orders of the angelic hosts,
who are ever turning the divine thoughts into objects of beauty ? Now man is
higher in intelligence than these workers in Nature. He ought to see more of
the divine thought in all natural beauty than that lower type of intelligence
which fashioned the object; and the artist is the man who can see more of the
divine thought than is expressed in the material object, and gives out to the
world that surplusage of beauty which the moulding of the object has not succeeded in giving. The
great creative artists are those who are able to come into touch with the
Divine Mind, to reproduce more beauty in form than the more limited
intelligences could do; those who see beneath the veil which only gives part of
the Divine Beauty, drawing more of it out and thus transfiguring the object,
making what is called the real into the ideal, the ideal being far higher and
truer than the real, because It is nearer to the Divine Artist who thought. And
so, along all lines of Art, Theosophy, in bringing a
new inspiration, makes the possibility of a greater and a higher Art. Art
always flowers out of spiritual ideals, and it is the
dullness of those ideals in our days that has made Art more a copy than a
creation. With the new thrill of life which is passing through the world, with
the more mystical view which is gradually replacing the more literal, with all
of that which is the Theosophical element in Religion, we may look for the
birth of a new Art, even loftier and greater than the splendid Art of the past.
And lastly, in the realm of the physical world, Theosophy brings a new area
under scientific observation. Science has been observing the physical world,
and is now gradually but quite definitely, leaving the visible world for the
invisible, and groping dimly into the world of ether and of force, neither of
which is visible to the physical eye.
Notice Science today and you
will find it studying Force far more than Matter. And Theosophy brings to
Science new apparatus. Not apparatus outside, where almost the limit of
delicacy has been reached, but apparatus in the unfolding powers of the man
himself, that can now be quickened in their evolution, man having reached a
point where these powers are on the very verge, as it were, of bursting out
from bud into flower. Theosophy can bring to the man of science that finer
apparatus of the inner sight, the keener, subtler sight that belongs to the
higher bodies, in addition to that which belongs to the physical body; so that
the scientist may carry on his observations into worlds which at present are,
invisible and intangible, and by that means make his science a science of all
the worlds, and not only of the physical, working with a sight as sure and certain
in the subtler worlds as he is already able to do in the denser world of
physical matter. For, along the lines of Theosophical science, with the
development of these higher faculties and senses, the worlds on the other side
of death become as cognisable to the higher senses as
the physical world is to the physical senses, no longer a matter of theory or
speculation, or hope, but of observation; for the phenomena of these worlds are
just as susceptible of observation as the phenomena of this. It is only a
question of developing the touch with them. Along that line there open up
innumerable subjects for study, of profound interest to every thoughtful and
educated person — new fields, as it were, for observation, new worlds which
come within our reach. And that Cosmic Consciousness, of which Frederick Myers
rather vaguely spoke, is a reality which is within our reach today.
By a perfect science of the
higher consciousness, man may gradually unfold the faculties and raise the
centre of his consciousness higher and higher. Along these lines Science may make new investigations, new research,
and vast fields open up before it to be conquered, as the physical field is
already conquered by man. So that in each of these four great departments of
thought, Theosophy comes to offer you knowledge, to show you the means of
gaining the knowledge, and to point out to you the much vaster fields which lie
before humanity than those which for the most part are recognised
today. If you will take those points I have put to you: in Religion the
knowledge of God and the study of the truths which are common to all religions;
in Philosophy, the study of reincarnation as the method of evolution, and of
the law of action and reaction in the mental and moral world as well as in the physical;
if, in the field of the emotions, you will study the Science of Morality along
the lines I have suggested, and then seek, in developing the emotion of Beauty,
to understand the real object of all true Art; if, in the physical world,
looking at physical Science, you realise that what
has been done here may be done in worlds of subtler matter by similar means, by
the evolution of a higher consciousness, part of the same consciousness that
you use here; then, when you hear the word Theosophy, you will realise a little more distinctly, I think, the kind of
knowledge that this is bringing within your reach; you will understand that it
is a knowledge to which, if you would master it, you must give the same time, the same study, the same
efforts, as you would give to the mastery of an ordinary science, and, indeed,
much more, remembering that this science is a synthesis of life, dealing with
every department of human thought and of human achievement. Therefore you must
not expect to do more than just grasp some points in it by listening to a brief
hour's lecture. But here, more than in any other field, the study rewards the
student. Just in proportion to the thought, the energy, the faculty,
that you bring to bear upon it will be the reward that, in its turn, it
will give to you. It is possible that hearing of it even thus briefly, some of
you may be stimulated into study, and that the spoken words may prove the
impulse to individual thought and research; Theosophy is full of the greatest
possibilities of happiness, and gives to each one of us that which to some of
us seems to be the most priceless of gifts: it renders life intelligible, and
it brightens it with an eternal Hope.
Theosophy Defined by William Quan Judge
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
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029 2049 6017
_______________________
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One Liners & Quick Explanations
The main criteria
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links on this site is
that they are have some
relationship (however
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and are lightweight,
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Topics include
Quantum Theory and Socks,
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Cardiff
Theosophical Order of Service
General pages about Wales, Welsh History
and The History of Theosophy in Wales
Her Teachers Morya & Koot Hoomi
The Most Basic Theosophy Website in the Universe
If you run
a Theosophy Group you can use
this as an
introductory handout
Lentil burgers, a
thousand press ups before breakfast and
the daily 25 mile
run may put it off for a while but death
seems to get most of
us in the end. We are pleased to
present for your
consideration, a definitive work on the
subject by a Student of
Katherine Tingley entitled
For everyone everywhere, not just in Wales
Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles
relating to the esoteric
significance of the Number
7 in Theosophy
The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy
The Earth Base for Evolutionary Theosophy
Quick Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy
? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
Society
History of the Theosophical
Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical
Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the
Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical
Society Emblem
The Theosophical Order of
Service (TOS)
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
by
Annie Besant
THE PHYSICAL PLANE THE ASTRAL PLANE
KÂMALOKA THE MENTAL PLANE DEVACHAN
THE BUDDHIC AND NIRVANIC PLANES
THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA COLLECTIVE KARMA
THE LAW OF SACRIFICE MAN'S
ASCENT
______________________
Annie Besant Visits Cardiff 1924
An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
Advantage Gained from this
Knowledge
The Deity The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man Reincarnation The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
Reincarnation
This guide has been included in response
to the number of enquiries we receive on
this
subject
at Cardiff Theosophical Society
From A Textbook
of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The Slaughter of the
a
great demand by the public for lectures on Reincarnation
Classic Introductory Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
The Occult World
By
Alfred Percy Sinnett
The
Occult World is an treatise on the
Occult
and Occult Phenomena, presented
in readable style, by an early giant of
the
Theosophical Movement.
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
The
Seven Principles of Man
By
Annie
Besant
A Student of Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley (1847
-1929)Was the founder & President
of the Point Loma
Theosophical Society 1896 -1929
She and her students produced a series of informative
Theosophical works in the early years of the 20th century
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation
Karma The Seven in Man and Nature
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 1831 – 1891
The Founder of Modern Theosophy
Index of Articles by
By
H P Blavatsky
Is the Desire to Live Selfish?
Ancient Magic in Modern Science
Precepts Compiled by H P Blavatsky
Obras Por H P Blavatsky
En Espanol
Articles about the Life of H P Blavatsky
Writings of Ernest Egerton Wood
Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles
relating to the esoteric
significance of the Number
7 in Theosophy
Index of Searchable
Full Text Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric
Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific Essays Selected from "The
Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the
Twilight” series appeared during
1898 in The Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913 in The Theosophist.
compiled from information supplied by
her relatives and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische Schriften Auf Deutsch
Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made
The Law of Laws
The Eternal Now Succession
Causation
The Laws of Nature A
Lesson of The Law Karma Does Not Crush
Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
Man and His Surroundings The Three Fates The Pair of Triplets
Thought, The Builder Practical Meditation Will and Desire
The Mastery of Desire Two Other Points The Third Thread
Perfect Justice
Our Environment
Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law The Opposing Schools
The More Modern View Self-Examination Out of the Past
Old Friendships
We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
National Karma India’s Karma National Disasters
Annotated Edition
Published 1885
Preface to the Annotated Edition Preface to the Original Edition
Esoteric Teachers The Constitution
of Man The Planetary Chain
The World Periods Devachan Kama
Loca
The Human Tide-Wave The Progress of Humanity
Buddha Nirvana The Universe The Doctrine Reviewed
Try these if you are looking
for a
local Theosophy Group or Centre
UK Listing of Theosophical Groups
Worldwide Directory of Theosophical Links
General pages
about Wales, Welsh History
and The History of
Theosophy in Wales
and
has an eastern border with
area
is just over 8,000 square miles.
The coastline is almost 750
miles long. The population
of
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
Events Information Line
029 2049 6017
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