AnOutlineOfTheosophy CWLeadbeater
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Date: 2018-05-23T22:31:19.533741+00:00

An Outline of Theosophy by C.W. Leadbeater

An Outline of Theosophy

by C.W. Leadbeater

Published in the 1900's

WHAT IT IS

HOW IS IT KNOWN

THE METHOD OF OBSERVATION

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

THE THREE GREAT TRUTHS

ADVANTAGES 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

WHAT THEOSOPHY DOES FOR US

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An Outline of Theosophy by C.W. Leadbeater

WHAT IT IS

For many a year men have been discussing arguing, enquiring about certain great basic truths – about
the existence and the Nature of God, about His relation to man, and about the past and future of
humanity. So radical y have they differed on these points, and so bitterly have they assailed and ridiculed
one another’s beliefs, that there has come to be a firmly-rooted popular opinion that with regard to al
these matters there is no certainty available – nothing but vague speculation amid a cloud of unsound
deductions drawn from il -established premises. And this in spite of the very definite, though frequently
incredible, assertions made on these subjects on behalf of the various religions.

This popular opinion, though not unnatural under the circumstances, is entirely untrue. There are definite
facts available – plenty of them. Theosophy gives them to us; but it offers them not (as religions do) as
matters of faith, but as subjects for study. It is itself not a religion, but it bears to religions the same
relation as did the ancient philosophies. It does not contradict them, but explains them. Whatever in any
of them is unreasonable, it rejects as necessarily unworthy of the Deity and derogatory to Him; whatever
is reasonable in each and all of them it takes up, explains and emphasises, and thus combines all into
one harmonious whole.

It holds that truth on all these most important points is attainable – that there is a great body of
knowledge about them already existing. It considers al the various religions as statements of that truth
from different points of view; since, though they differ much as to nomenclature and as to articles of
belief, they all agree as to the only matter which are of real importance – the kind of life which a good
man should lead, the qualities which he must develop, the vices which he must avoid. On these practical
points the teaching is identical in Hinduism and Buddhism, in Zoroasterianism and Muhammadanism, in

Judaism and Christianity.

Theosophy may be described to the outside world as an intel igent theory of the universe. Yet for those
who have studied it, it is not theory, but fact; for it is a definite science, capable of being studied, and its
teachings are verifiable by investigation and experiment for those who are willing to take the trouble to
qualify themselves for such enquiry. It is a statement of the great facts of Nature so far as they are known

– an outline of the scheme of our corner of the universe.

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HOW IS IT KNOWN

How did this scheme become known, some may ask; by whom was it discovered? We cannot speak of it
as discovered, for in truth it has always been known to mankind, though sometimes temporarily forgotten
in certain parts of the world. There has always existed a certain body of highly developed men – men not
of any one nation, but of all the advanced nations – who have held it in its fullness; and there has always
been pupils of these men, who were specially studying it, while its broad principles have always been
known in the outer world. This body of highly-developed men exists now, as in past ages, and

Theosophical teaching is published to the Western world at their instigation, and through a few of their
pupils.

Those who are ignorant have sometimes clamorously insisted that, if this be so, these truths ought to
have been published long ago; and most unjustly they accuse the possessors of such knowledge of
undue reticence in withholding them from the world at large. They forget that al who really sought these
truths have always been able to find them, and that it is only now that we are in the Western world are
truly beginning to seek.

For many centuries Europe was content to live, for the most part, in the grossest superstition; and when
reaction at last set in from the absurdity and bigotry of those beliefs, it brought a period of atheism, which
was just as conceited and bigoted in another direction. So that it is really only now that some of the
humbler and more reasonable of our people are beginning to admit that they know nothing, and to
enquire whether there is not real information available somewhere.

Though these reasonable enquirers are as yet a small minority, the Theosophical Society has been
founded in order to draw them together, and its books are put before the public so that those who will,
may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest these great truths. Its mission is not to force its teaching
upon reluctant minds, but simply to offer it, so that those may take it who feel the need for it. We are not
in the least under the delusion of the poor arrogant missionary, who dares to condemn to an unpleasant
eternity every one who will not pronounce his little provincial shibboleth; we are perfectly aware that all
will at last be well for those who cannot as yet see their way to accept the truth, as well as for those who
receive it with avidity.

But the knowledge of this truth has, for us and for thousands of others, made life easier to bear and
death easier to face; and it is simply the wish to share these benefits with our fellow men that urges us to
devote ourselves to writing and lecturing on these subjects. The broad outlines of the great truths have
been widely known in the world for thousands of years, and are so known in the present day. It is only we
in the West who, in our incredible self-sufficiency , have remained ignorant of them, and scoffed at any
fragment of them which may have come in our way.

As in the case of any other science, so in this science of the soul, full details are known only to those who
devote their lives to its pursuit. The men who fully know – those who are called Adepts – have patiently
developed within themselves the powers necessary for perfect observation. For in this respect there is a
difference between the methods of occult investigation and those of the more modern form of science;
this latter devotes all its energy to the improvement of its instruments, while the former aims rather at

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development of the observer.

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An Outline of Theosophy by C.W. Leadbeater

THE METHOD OF OBSERVATION

The detail of this development would take up more space than can be devoted to it in a preliminary
manual such as this. The whole scheme will be found ful y explained in other Theosophical works; for the
moment let it suffice to say that it is entirely a question of vibration. All information which reaches a man
from the world without, reaches him by means of vibration of some sort, whether it be through the senses
of sight, hearing or touch. Consequently, if a man is able to make himself sensitive to additional
vibrations he will acquire additional information; he will become what is commonly called “clairvoyant”.

This word, as commonly used, means nothing more than a slight extension of normal vision; but it is
possible for a man to become more and more sensitive to the subtler vibrations, until his consciousness,
acting through many developed faculties, functions freely in new and higher ways. He will then find new
worlds of subtler matter opening up before him, though in reality they are only new portions of the world
he already knows.

He learns in this way that a vast unseen universe exists round him during his whole life, and that it is
constantly affecting him in many ways, even though he remains blindly unconscious of it. But when he
develops faculties whereby he can sense these other worlds, it becomes possible for him to observe
them scientifical y, to repeat his observations many times, to compare them with those of others, to
tabulate them, and draw deductions from them.

All this has been done – not once, but thousands of times. The Adepts of whom I spoke have done this to
the ful est possible extent, but many efforts along the same line have been made by our own

Theosophical students. The result of our investigations has been not only to verify much of the
information given to us at the outset by those Adepts, but also to explain and amplify it very considerably.

The sight of this usually unseen portion of our world at once brings to our knowledge a vast body of
entirely new facts which are of the very deepest interest. It gradually solves for us many of the most
difficult problems of life; it clears up for us many mysteries so that we now see them to have been
mysteries to us for so long, only because heretofore we saw so small a part of the facts, because we
were looking at the various matters from below, and as isolated and unconnected fragments, instead of
rising above them to a standpoint whence they are comprehensible as parts of a mighty whole.

It settles in a moment many questions which have been much disputed – such, for example, as that of
the continued existence of man after death. It affords us the true explanation of al the wildly impossible
statements made by the churches about heaven, hel and purgatory; it dispels our ignorance and
removes our fear of the unknown by supplying us with a rational and orderly scheme. What this scheme
is I will now endeavour to explain.

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GENERAL PRINCIPLES

It is my desire to make this statement of Theosophy as clear and readily comprehensible as possible,
and for this reason I shall at every point give broad principles only, referring those who wish for detailed
information to larger books, or to monographs upon particular subjects. I hope at the end of each chapter
of this little treatise to give a list of such books as should be consulted by those who desire to go more
deeply into this most fascinating system.

I shal begin then, by a statement of the most striking of the broad general principles which emerge as a
result of Theosophical study. There may be those who find here matter which is incredible to them, or
matter which runs entirely contrary to their preconceived ideas. If that be so, then I would ask such men
to remember that I am not putting this forward as a theory – as a metaphysical speculation or a pious
opinion of my own – but as a definite scientific fact proved and examined over and over again, not only
by myself, but many others also.

Furthermore, I claim that it is a fact which may be verified at first hand by any person who is willing to
devote the time and trouble necessary to fit himself for the investigation. I am not offering to the reader a
creed to be swallowed like a pill; I am trying to set before him a system to study, and above all, a life to
live. I ask no blind faith from him; I simply suggest to him the consideration of the Theosophical teaching
as a hypothesis, though to me it is no hypothesis, but a living fact.

If he finds it more satisfactory than others which have been presented to him, if it seems to him to solve
more of the problems of life, to answer a greater number of the questions which inevitably arise for
thinking man, then he will pursue its study further, and will find in it, I hope and believe, the same ever-
increasing satisfaction and joy that I have myself found.

If on the other hand, he thinks some other system preferable, no harm is done; he has simply learnt
something of the tenets of a body of men with whom he is as yet unable to agree. I have sufficient faith in
it myself to believe that, sooner or later, a time will come when he will agree with them – when he also
will know what we know.

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THE THREE GREAT TRUTHS

In one of our earliest Theosophical books it was written that there are three truths which are absolute and
cannot be lost, but yet may remain silent for lack of speech. They are as great as life itself, and yet as
simple as the simplest mind of man. I can hardly do better than paraphrase these for the greatest of my
general principles.

I will then give some corollaries which follow naturally from them, and then, thirdly, some of the more
prominent of the advantageous results which necessarily attend this definite knowledge. Having thus
outlined the scheme in tabular form, I will take it up point by point, and endeavour to offer such
elementary explanations as come within the scope of this little introductory book.

1. God exists, and He is good. He is the great life-giver who dwells within us and without us, is
undying and eternally beneficent. He is not heard, nor seen, nor touched, yet is perceived by the man
who desires perception.

2. Man is immortal, and his future is one whose glory and splendour have no limit.

3. A Divine law of absolute justice rules the world, so that each man is in truth his own judge, the
dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the decreer of his life, his reward, his punishment.

To each of these great truths are attached certain others, subsidiary and explanatory.

From the first of them it follows:-

1. That, in spite of appearance, al things are definitely and intelligently moving together for good; that
all circumstances, however untoward they may seem, are in reality exactly what are needed; that
everything around us tends, not to hinder us, but to help us, if it is only understood.

2. That since the whole scheme thus tends to man’s benefit, clearly it is his duty to learn to
understand it.

3. That when he thus understands it, it is also his duty intelligently to co-operate in this scheme.

From the second great truth it follows:-

1. That the true man is a soul, and that this body is only an appanage.

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2. That he must therefore, regard everything from the standpoint of the soul, and that in every case
when an internal struggle takes place he must realise his identity with the higher and not with the lower.

3. That what we commonly cal his life is only one day in his true and larger life.

4. That death is a matter of far less importance than is usually supposed, since it is by no means the
end of life, but merely the passage from one stage of it to another.

5. That man has an immense evolution behind him, the study of which is most fascinating, interesting
and instructive.

6. That he has also a splendid evolution before him, the study of which will be even more fascinating
and instructive.

7. That there is an absolute certainty of final attainment for every human soul, no matter how far he
may have seemed to have strayed from the path of evolution.

From the third great truth it fol ows:-

1. That every thought, word, or action produces its definite result – not a reward or a punishment
imposed from without, but a result inherent in the action itself, definitely connected with it in the relation of
cause and effect, these being really but two inseparable parts of one whole.

2. That it is both the duty and interest of man to study this divine law closely, so that he will be able to
adapt himself to it and to use it, as we use other great laws of nature.

3. That it is necessary for man to attain perfect control over himself, so that he may guide his life
intelligently in accordance with this law.

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ADVANTAGES GAINED FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE

When this knowledge is ful y assimilated, it changes the aspect of life so completely that it would be
impossible for me to tabulate all the advantages which flow from it. I can only mention a few of the
principal lines along which this change is produced, and the reader’s own thought will, no doubt, supply
some of the endless ramifications which are their necessary consequence.

But it must be understood that no vague knowledge will be sufficient. Such belief as most men accord to
the assertions of their religions will be quite useless, since it produces no practical effect in their lives.

But if we believe in these truths as we do in the other laws of nature – as we believe that fire burns and
that water drowns – then the effect that they produce in our lives is enormous.

For our belief in the laws of Nature is sufficiently real to induce us to order our lives in accordance with it.

Believing that fire burns, we take every precaution to avoid fire; believing that water drowns, we avoid
going into water too deep for us unless we can swim.

Now these beliefs are so definite and real to us because they are founded on knowledge and illustrated
by daily experience; and the beliefs of the Theosophical student are equally real and definite to him for
exactly the same reason. And that is why we find following from them the results now to be described:

1. We gain a rational comprehension of life – we know how we should live and why, and we learn that
life is worth living when properly understood.

2. We learn how to govern ourselves, and therefore how to develop ourselves.

3. We learn how best to help those whom we love, how to make ourselves useful to all with whom we
come into contact, and ultimately to the whole human race.

4. We learn to view everything from the wider philosophical standpoint – never from the petty and
purely personal side.

Consequently:

5. The troubles of life are no longer so large for us.

6. We have no sense of injustice in connection with our surroundings or our destiny.

7. We are altogether freed from the fear of death.

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8. Our grief in connection with the death of those whom we love is very greatly mitigated.

9. We gain a total y different view of life after death, and we understand its place in our evolution.

10. We are altogether free from religious fears or worry, either for ourselves or for our friends – fears as
to the salvation of the soul, for example.

11. We are no longer troubled by uncertainty as to our future fate, but live in perfect serenity and perfect
fearlessness.

Now let us take these points in detail, and endeavour briefly to explain them.

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THE DEITY

When we lay down the existence of God as the first and greatest of our principles, it becomes necessary
for us to define the sense in which we employ that much abused, yet mighty word. We try to redeem it
from the narrow limits imposed on it by the ignorance of undeveloped men, and to restore to it the
splendid conception – splendid, though so infinitely below the reality – given to it by the founders of
religions. And we distinguish between God as the Infinite Existence, and the manifestation of this

Supreme Existence as a revealed God, evolving and guiding a universe.

Only to this limited manifestation should the term “ a personal God” be applied. God in Himself is beyond
the bounds of the personality, is “in all and through all”, and indeed is al ; and of the Infinite, the Absolute,
the All, we can only say “He is”.

For al practical purposes we need not go further than that marvellous and glorious manifestation of Him

(a little less entirely beyond our comprehension) the great Guiding Force or deity of our own solar
system, whom philosophers have called the Logos. Of Him is true al that we have ever heard predicted
of God – all that is good, that is – not the blasphemous conceptions sometimes put forward, ascribing to

Him human vices.

But al that has ever been said of the love, the wisdom, the power the patience and compassion, the
omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence –all of this, and much more, is true of the Logos of our
system. Verily “in Him we live and move and have our being”, not as a poetical expression, but (strange
as it may seem ) as a definite scientific fact; and so when we speak of the deity our first thought is
natural y of the Logos.

We do not vaguely hope that He may be; we do not even believe as a matter of faith that He is; we
simply know it as we know that the sun shines, for to the trained and developed clairvoyant investigator
this Mighty existence is a definite certainty. Not that any merely human development can enable us
directly to see Him, but that unmistakable evidence of His action and His purpose surrounds us on every
side as we study the life of the unseen world, which is in reality only the higher part of this.

Here we meet the explanation of a dogma which is common to all religions – that of the Trinity.

Incomprehensible as many of the statements made on this subject in our creeds may seem to the
ordinary reader, they become significant and luminous when the truth is understood. As He shows

Himself to us in His work, the Solar Logos is undoubtedly triple – three yet one, as religion has long ago
told us; and as much of the explanation of this apparent mystery as the intellect of man at its present
stage can grasp will be found in the books presently to be mentioned.

That He is within us as well as without us, or, in other words, that man himself is in essence divine, is
another great truth which, though those who are blind to all but the outer and lower world may still argue
about it, is an absolute certainty to the student of the higher side of life. Of the constitution of man’s soul
and its various vehicles we shal speak under the heading of the second of truths; suffice it for the
moment to note that the inherent divinity is a fact, and that in it resides the assurance of the ultimate

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return of every human being to the divine level.

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THE DIVINE SCHEME

Perhaps none of our postulates will present greater difficulty to the average mind than the first corollary
to the first great truth. Looking round us in daily life we see so much of the storm and stress, the sorrow
and suffering, so much that looks like the triumph of evil over good, that it seems almost impossible to
suppose that al this apparent confusion is in reality part of an ordered process. Yet this is the truth, and
can be seen to be the truth so soon as we escape from the dust-cloud raised by the struggle in the outer
world, and look upon it all from the vantage ground of the fuller knowledge and the inner peace.

Then the real motion of the complex machinery becomes apparent. Then it is seen that what have
seemed to be countercurrents of evil prevailing against the stream of progress are merely trifling eddies
into which for the moment a little water may turn aside, or tiny whirlpools on the surface, in which part of
the water appears for the moment to be running backwards.

But al the time the mighty river is sweeping steadily on its appointed course, bearing the superficial
whirlpools along with it. Just so the great stream of evolution is moving evenly on its way, and what
seems to us so terrible a tempest is the merest ruffling of its surface. Another analogy, very beautifully
worked out is given in Mr. C. H. Hinton’s Scientific Romances, vol. 1, pp 18-24.

Truly, as our third great truth tel s us, absolute justice is meted out to al , and so, in whatever
circumstances a man finds himself, he knows that he himself and none other has provided them; but he
may also know much more than this. He may rest assured that under the action of evolutionary law
matters are so arranged as to give him the best possible opportunity for developing within himself those
qualities which he most needs.

His circumstances are by no means necessarily those that he would have chosen for himself, but they
are exactly what he deserved; and subject only to that consideration of his deserts ( which frequently
impose serious limitations), they are those best adapted for his progress. They may provide him with al
sorts of difficulties, but these are offered only in order that he may learn to surmount them, and thereby
develop within himself courage, determination, patience, perseverance, or whatever other quality he may
lack. Men often speak as though the forces of nature were conspiring against them, whereas as a matter
of fact, if they would but understand it, everything about them is careful y calculated to assist them on
their upward way.

That, since there is a Divine scheme, it is man’s part to try and understand it, is a proposition which
surely needs no argument. Even were it only from motives of self-interest, those who have to live under a
certain set of conditions would do well to familiarise themselves with them; and when a man’s objects in
life become altruistic it is still more necessary for him to comprehend, in order that he may help the more
effectually.

It is undoubtedly part of this plan for man’s evolution that he himself should intel igently co-operate in it as
soon as he has developed sufficient intelligence to grasp it and sufficient good feeling to wish to aid. But
indeed this Divine scheme is so wonderful and so beautiful that, when once a man sees it, nothing else is

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possible for him than to throw all his energies into the effort to become a worker in it, no matter how
humble may be the part which he has to sustain.

For fuller information on the subjects of this chapter the reader is referred to Mrs. Besant’s Esoteric

Christianity and Ancient Wisdom, and to my own little book on The Christian Creed. Much light is also
thrown on these conceptions from the Greek standpoint in Mr. G. R. S. Mead’s Orpheus, and from the

Gnostic-Christian in his fragments Fragments Of A Faith Forgotten.

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THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN

The astounding practical materialism to which we have been reduced in this country can hardly be more
clearly shown than it is by the expressions that we employ in common life. We speak quite ordinarily of
man as having a soul, of “saving” our souls, and so on, evidently regarding the physical body as the real
man and the soul as a mere appanage, a vague something to be considered as property of the body.

With an idea so little defined as this, it can hardly be a matter of surprise that many people go a little
further along the same lines, and doubt whether this vague something exists at al . So it would seem that
the ordinary man is very often quite uncertain whether he possesses a soul or not; still less does he know
that the soul is immortal. That he should remain in this pitiable condition of ignorance seems strange, for
there is a very great deal of evidence available even in the outer world, to show that man has an
existence quite apart from his body, capable of being carried on at a distance from it while it is living, and
entirely without it when it is dead.

Until we have entirely rid ourselves of this extraordinary delusion that the body is the man, it is quite
impossible that we should at all appreciate the real facts of the case. A little investigation immediately
shows us that the body is only a vehicle by means of which the man manifests himself in connection with
this particular type of gross matter out of which our visible world is built.

Furthermore, it shows that other and subtler types of matter exist – not only the ether admitted by
modern science as interpenetrating all known substances, but other types of matter which interpenetrate
ether in turn, and are as much finer than ether as it is than solid matter. The question will natural y occur
to the reader as to how it will be possible for man to become conscious of the existence of types of
matter so wonderful y fine, so minutely subdivided. The answer is that he can become conscious of them
in the same way as he becomes conscious of the lower matter – by receiving vibrations from them.

And he is enabled to receive vibrations from them by reason of the fact that he possesses matter of
these finer types as part of himself – that just as his body of dense matter is his vehicle for perceiving
and communicating with the world of dense matter, so does the finer matter within him constitute for him
a vehicle by means of which he can perceive and communicate with the world of finer matter which is
imperceptible to the grosser physical senses.

This is by no means a new idea. It will be remembered that St. Paul remarks that “there is a natural body,
and there is a spiritual body,” and that he furthermore refers to both the soul and the spirit in man, by no
means employing the two synonymously, as is so often ignorantly done at the present day. It speedily
becomes evident that man is a far more complex being than is ordinarily supposed; that not only is he a
spirit within a soul but that this soul has various vehicles of different degrees of density, the physical body
being only one, and the lowest of them.

These various vehicles may all be described as bodies in relation to their respective levels of matter. It
might be said that there exist around us a series of worlds one within the other (by inter-penetration), and
that man possesses a body for each of these worlds, by means of which he may observe it and live in it.

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He learns by degrees how to use these various bodies, and in that way gains a much more complete
idea of the great complex world in which he lives; for all these other inner worlds are in reality still part of
it.

In this way he comes to understand very many things which before seemed mysterious to him; he
ceases to identify himself with his bodies, and learns that they are only vestures which he may put off
and resume or change without being himself in the least affected thereby. Once more we must repeat
that al this by no means metaphysical speculation or pious opinion, but definite scientific fact thoroughly
well known experimentally to those who have studied Theosophy.

Strange as it may seem to many to find precise statements taking the place of hypothesis upon questions
such as these, I am speaking here of nothing that is not known by direct and constantly repeated
observation to a large number of students. Assuredly “we know whereof we speak”, not by faith but by
experiment, and therefore we speak with confidence. To these inner worlds or different levels of nature
we usually give the name of planes. We speak of the visible world as “the physical plane”, though under
that name we include also the gases and various grades of ether.

To the next stage of materiality the name of “the astral plane” was given by the medieval alchemists (who
were well aware of its existence), and we have adopted their title. Within this exists another world of stil
finer matter, of which we speak as “the mental plane”, because of its matter is composed what is
commonly cal ed the mind in man. There are other still higher planes, but I need not trouble the reader
with designations for them, since we are at present dealing only with man’s manifestation in the lower
worlds.

It must always be born in mind that all these worlds are in no way removed from us in space. In fact, they
all occupy exactly the same space, and are al equally about us always. At the moment our
consciousness is focused in and working through our physical brain, and thus we are conscious only of
the physical world, and not even of the whole of that. But we have only to learn to focus that
consciousness in one of these higher vehicles, and at once the physical fades from our view, and we
see instead the world of matter which corresponds to the vehicle used.

Recol ect that al matter is in essence the same. Astral matter does not differ in its nature from physical
matter any more than ice differs in its nature from steam. It is simply the same thing in a different
condition. Physical matter may become astral, or astral may become mental, if only it be sufficiently
subdivided, and caused to vibrate with the proper degree of rapidity.

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THE TRUE MAN

What, then is the true man? He is in truth an emanation from the Logos, a spark of the Divine fire. The
spirit within him is of the very essence of the Deity, and that spirit wears his soul as a vesture – a vesture
which encloses and individualises it, and seems to our limited vision to separate it for a time from the rest
of the Divine Life. The story of the original formation of the soul of man, and of the enfolding of the spirit
within it, is a beautiful and interesting one, but too long for inclusion in a merely elementary work like this.

It may be found in full detail in those of our books which deal with this part of the doctrine.

Suffice it here to say that all three aspects of the Divine Life have their part in its inception, and that its
formation is the culmination of that mighty sacrifice of the Logos in descending into matter, which has
been cal ed the Incarnation. Thus the baby soul is born; and just as it is “made in the image of God” –
threefold in aspect, as He is, and threefold in manifestation, as He is also – so is its method of evolution
also a reflection of His descent into matter. The Divine Spark contains within it all potentiality, but it is
only through long ages of evolution that al its possibilities can be realised.

The appointed method for the evolution of the man’s latent qualities seems to be by learning to vibrate in
response to the impacts from without. But at the level where he finds himself (that of the higher mental
plane) the vibrations are far too fine to awaken this response at present; he must begin with those that
are coarser and stronger, and having awakened his dormant sensibilities by their means he will gradually
grow more and more sensitive until he is capable of perfect response at al levels to al possible rates of
vibration.

That is the material aspect of his progress; but regarded subjectively, to be able to respond to all
vibrations means to be perfect in sympathy and compassion. And that is exactly the condition of the
developed man –the adept, the spiritual teacher, the Christ. It needs the development within him of all
the qualities which go to make up the perfect man; and this is the real work of his long life in matter. In
this chapter we have brushed the surface of many subjects of extreme importance. Thos who wish to
study them further will find many Theosophical books to help them.

On the constitution of man, we would refer readers to Mrs. Besant’s works, Man and His Bodies, The

Self And Its Sheaths, and The Seven Principles Of Man, and, also my own book, Man, Visible And

Invisible, in which will be found many il ustrations of the different vehicles of man as they appear to the
clairvoyant sight. On the use of the inner faculties refer to Clairvoyance.

On the formation and evolution of the soul to Mrs. Besant’s Birth and Evolution of the Soul, Mr. Sinnett’s

Growth of the Soul, and my own Christian Creed and Man, Visible and Invisible.

On the spiritual evolution of man, Mrs. Besant’s In the Outer Court and The Path of Discipleship, and the
concluding chapters of my own little book, Invisible Helpers.

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REINCARNATION

Since the finer movements cannot at first affect the soul, he has to draw round him vestures of grosser
matter through which the heavier vibrations can play; and so he takes upon himself successively the
mental body, the astral body, and the physical body. This is a birth or incarnation –the commencement of
a physical life. During that life al kinds of experiences come to him through his physical body, and from
them he should learn some lessons and develop some qualities in himself.

After a time he begins to withdraw into himself, and puts off by degrees the vestures which he has
assumed. The first of these to drop is the physical body, and his withdrawal from that is what we call
death. It is not the end of his activities, as we so ignorantly suppose; nothing could be further from the
fact. He is simply withdrawing from one effort, bearing back with him its results; and after a certain period
of comparative repose he will make another effort of the same kind.

Thus, as has been said, what we ordinarily call his life is only one day in the real and wider life – a day at
school, during which he learns certain lessons. But inasmuch as one short life of seventy or eighty years
at most is not enough to give him an opportunity of learning al the lessons which this wonderful and
beautiful world has to teach, and inasmuch as God means him to learn them all in His own good time, it
is necessary that he should come back again many times, and live through many of these schooldays
that we call lives, in different classes and under different circumstances, until al the lessons are learned;
and then this lower schoolwork will be over, and he will pass to something higher and more glorious – the
true divine lifework for which all this earthly school-life is fitting him.

That is what is called the doctrine of reincarnation or rebirth – a doctrine which was widely known in the
ancient civilisations, and is even today held by the majority of the human race.

Of it Hume has written:-

“What is incorruptible must also be ungenerable. The soul, therefore, if immortal, existed before our
birth…..The metempsychosis is, therefore, the only system of this kind that Philosophy can hearken to.”

* (* Hume. “Essay on Immortality,” London, 1875).

Writing of the theories of metempsychosis in India and Greece, Max Mul er says:- “There is something
underlying them al which, if expressed in less mythological language, may stand the severest test of
philosophical examination.” # (# Max Muller, ‘Theosophy or Psychological Religion,’ p. 22, 1895 ed.)

In his last and posthumous work this great Orientalist again refers to this doctrine, and expresses his
personal belief in it.

And Huxley writes: - “Like the doctrine of evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world
of reality; and it may claim such support as the great argument from analogy is capable of supplying.”

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( ^ Huxley, “Evolution and Ethics,” p. 61, 1895 ed.)

So it will be seen that modern as well as ancient writers recognise this hypothesis as one deserving of
the most serious consideration.

It must not for a moment be confounded with a theory held by the ignorant, that it was possible for a soul
which had reached humanity in its evolution to re-become that of an animal. No such retrogression is
within the limits of possibility; when once man comes into existence – a human soul, inhabiting what we
call in our books a causal body – he can never again fall back into what is in truth a lower kingdom of
nature, whatever mistakes he may make or however he may fail to take advantage of his opportunities. If
he is idle in the school of life, he may need to take the same lesson over and over again before he has
really learned it , but stil on the whole progress is steady, even though it may often be slow. A few years
ago the essence of this doctrine was prettily put thus in one of the magazines: -

“A boy went to school. He was very little. All that he knew he had drawn in with his mother’s milk. His
teacher (who was God) placed him in the lowest class, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt
not kill. Thou shalt do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did not kill; but he was
cruel, and he stole, - At the end of the day (when his beard was grey – when the night was come) his
teacher (who was God) said – Thou hast learned not to kil . But the other lessons thou hast not learned.

Come back tomorrow.”

“On the morrow he came back, a little boy, and his teacher (who was God) put him in a class a little
higher, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt do no hurt to any living thing. Thou shalt not
steal. Thou shalt not cheat. So the man did no hurt to any living thing; but he stole and he cheated. And
at the end of the day – when his beard was grey – when the night was come – his teacher (who was god)

said: Thou hast learned to be merciful. But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back
tomorrow.”

“Again, on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And his teacher (who was God) put him in a class yet
a little higher, and gave these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. Thou shalt not
covet. So the man did not steal; but he cheated, and he coveted. And at the end of the day – (when his
beard was grey –when night was come) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned not to steal.

But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back, my child, tomorrow.”

“This is what I have read in the faces of men and women, in the book of the world, and in the scroll of the
heavens, which is writ in the stars.” (Berry Benson, in The Century Magazine, May 1894).

I must not fil my pages with the many unanswerable arguments in favour of this doctrine of reincarnation;
they are set forth very ful y in our literature by a far abler pen than mine. Here I will say only this. Life
presents us with many problems which, on any other hypothesis than this of reincarnation, seem utterly
insoluble; this great truth does explain them, and therefore holds the field until another more satisfactory
hypothesis can be found. Like the rest of the teaching, this is not a Hypothesis, but a matter of direct
knowledge for many of us; but naturally our knowledge is not proof to others.

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Yet good men and true have been sorrowfully forced to admit that they were unable to reconcile the state
of affairs which exists in the world around us with the theory that God was both almighty and all-loving.

They felt, when they looked upon al the heartbreaking sorrow and suffering, that either He was not
almighty, and could not prevent it, or He was not all-loving, and did not care. In Theosophy we hold with
determined conviction that He is both almighty and all-loving, and we reconcile with that certainty the
existing facts of life by means of this basic doctrine of reincarnation. Surely the only hypothesis which
allows us reasonably to recognise the perfection of power and love in the Deity is one which is worthy of
careful examination.

For we understand that our present life is not our first, but that each have behind us a long line of lives,
by means of which we have evolved from the condition of primitive man to our present position.

Assuredly in these past lives we shall have done both good and evil, and from every one of our actions a
definite proportion of result must have followed under the inexorable law of justice. From the good follows
always happiness and further opportunity; from the evil fol ows always sorrow and limitation.

So, if we find ourselves limited in any way, the limitation is of our own making, or is merely due to the
youth of the soul; if we have sorrow and suffering to endure, we ourselves alone are responsible. The
manifold and complex destinies of men answer with rigid exactitude to the balance between the good
and evil of their previous actions; and all is moving onward under the divine order towards the final
consummation of glory.

There is perhaps, no Theosophical teaching to which more violent objection is made than this great truth
of reincarnation; yet it is in reality a most comforting doctrine. For it gives us time for the progress which
lies before – time and opportunity to become “perfect”. Objectors chiefly found their protest on the fact
that they have had so much trouble and sorrow in this life that they will not listen to any suggestion that it
may be necessary to go through it al again. But this is obviously not argument; we are in search of truth,
and when it is found we must not shrink from it, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, though, as a matter
of fact, as said above, reincarnation rightly understood is profoundly comforting.

Again, people often enquire why, if we have had so many previous lives, we do not remember any of
them. Put briefly, the answer to this is that some people do remember them; and the reason why the
majority do not is because their consciousness is still focused in one or other of the lower sheaths. That
sheath cannot be expected to recollect previous incarnations, because it has not had any; and the soul,
which has, is not yet fully conscious on its own plane. But the memory of al the past is stored within the
soul, and expresses itself here in the innate qualities with which the child is born; and when the man has
evolved sufficiently to be able to focus his consciousness there instead of only in lower vehicles the
entire history of that real and wider life will be open before him like a book.

The whole of this question is fully and beautifully worked out in Mrs. Besant’s manual on Reincarnation,

Dr, Jerome Anderson’s Reincarnation and in the chapters on that subject in The Ancient Wisdom, to
which the attention of the reader is specially directed.

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THE WIDER OUTLOOK

A little thought will soon show us what a radical change is introduced into the life of the man who realises
that his physical life is nothing but a day at school, and that his physical body is merely a temporary
vesture assumed for the purpose of learning through it. He sees at once that this purpose of “learning the
lesson” is the only one of any importance, and that the man who allows himself to be diverted from that
purpose by any consideration is acting with inconceivable stupidity.

To him who knows the truth, the life of the ordinary person devoted exclusively to physical objects, to the
pursuit of wealth and fame, appears the merest child’s play – a senseless sacrifice of all that is really
worth having for a few moments gratification of the lower parts of man’s nature. The student “sets his
affection on things above, and not on things of the earth”, not only because he sees this to be a right
course of action, but because he realises very clearly the valuelessness of these things of earth. He
always tries to take the higher point of view, for he sees that the lower is utterly unreliable – that the lower
desires and feelings gather round him like a dense fog, and make it impossible for him to see anything
clearly from that level.

Yet even when he is thoroughly convinced that the higher course is always the right one, and when he is
ful y determined to fol ow it, he will nevertheless sometimes encounter very strong temptations to take the
lower course, and will be sensible of a great struggle within him. He will discover that there is “a law of
the members warring against the law of the mind”, as St. Paul says, so that “those things that I would, I
do not, and the thing which I would not, that I do”.

Now good religious people often make the most serious mistakes about this interior struggle which we
have al felt to a greater or less extent. They usual y accept one or two theories on the subject. Either
they suppose that the lower promptings come from exterior tempting demons, or else they mourn over
the terrible wickedness and blackness of their hearts, in that such fathomless evil stil exists within them.

Indeed, many of the best men and women go through a vast amount of total y unnecessary suffering on
this account.

The first point to have clearly in mind if one wishes to understand this matter is that the lower desire is
not in truth our desire at all. Nor is it the work of some demon trying to destroy our souls. It is true that
there sometimes are evil entities which are attracted by the base thought in man, and intensify it by their
action; but such entities are man-made, everyone of them, and impermanent. They are merely artificial
forms cal ed into existence by the thought of other evil men, and they have a period of what seems
almost like life, proportioned to the strength of the thought that created them.

But the undesirable prompting within us usual y comes from quite another source. It has been mentioned
how man draws round him vestures of matter at different levels, in order that he may descend into
incarnation. But this matter is not dead matter (indeed, occult science teaches us that there is no such
thing as dead matter anywhere), but it is instinct with life; though it is life at a stage of evolution much
earlier than our own – so much earlier that it is still moving on a downward course into lower matter,
instead of rising again out of lower matter into higher.

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Consequently its tendency is always to press downwards towards the grosser material and the coarser
vibrations which mean progress for it, but retrogression for us; and so it happens that the interest of the
true man sometimes comes into col ision with that of the living matter in some of his vehicles.

That is a very rough outline of the explanation of the curious internal strife that we sometimes feel – a
strife which has suggested to the poetic minds the idea of good and evil angels in conflict over the soul of
man. A more detailed account will be found in The Astral Plane, p. 40. But in the meantime it is important
that the man should realise that he is the higher force, always moving towards and battling for good,
while this lower force is not he at al , but only an uncontrolled fragment of one of his lower vehicles. He
must learn to control it, to dominate it absolutely, and to keep it in order; but he should not therefore, think
of it as evil, but as an outpouring of the Divine power moving on its orderly course, though that course in
this instance happens to be downwards into matter, instead of upwards and away from it, as ours is.

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DEATH

One of the most important practical results of a thorough comprehension of Theosophical truth is the
entire change which is necessary brings about in our attitude towards death. It is impossible for us to
calculate the vast amount of utterly unnecessary sorrow and terror and misery which mankind in the
aggregate has suffered simply from its ignorance and superstition with regard to this one matter of death.

There is among us a mass of false and foolish belief along this line which has worked untold evil in the
past and is causing indescribable suffering in the present, and its eradication would be one of the
greatest benefits that could be conferred upon the human race.

This benefit the Theosophical teaching at once confers on those who, from their study of philosophy in
past lives, now find themselves able to accept it. It robs death forthwith of al its terror and much of its
sorrow, and enables us to see it in its true proportions and to understand its place in the scheme of our
evolution.

While death is considered as the end of life, as the gateway into a dim but fearful unknown country, it is
not unnaturally regarded with much misgiving, if not with positive terror. Since, in spite of al religious
teaching to the contrary this has been the view universally taken in the western world, many grisly
horrors have sprung up around it, and have become matters of custom, thoughtlessly obeyed by many
who should know better.

All the ghastly paraphernalia of woe – the mutes, the plumes, the black velvet, the crape, the mourning
garments, the black-edged note paper –al these are nothing more than advertisements of ignorance on
the part of those who employ them. The man who begins to understand what death is at once puts aside
all this masquerade as childish folly, seeing that to mourn over the good fortune of his friend merely
because it involves for himself the pain of apparent separation from that friend, becomes, as soon as it is
recognised, a display of selfishness.

He cannot avoid feeling the wrench of the temporary separation, but he can avoid al owing his own pain
to become a hindrance to the friend who has passed on. He knows that there can be no need to fear or
to mourn over death, whether it comes to himself or to those whom he loves. It has come to them al
often before, so that there is nothing unfamiliar about it. Instead of representing it as a ghastly king of
terrors, it would be more accurate and more sensible to symbolise it as an angel bearing a golden key to
admit us to the glorious realms of the higher life.

He realises very definitely that life is continuous, and that the loss of the physical body is nothing more
than the casting aside of a garment which in no way changes the real man who is the wearer of the
garment. He sees that death is simply a promotion from a life which is more than half-physical to one
which is wholly astral, and therefore very much superior. So, for himself he unfeignedly welcomes it, and
when it comes to those whom he loves, he recognises at once the great advantage for them, even
though he cannot feel a certain amount of selfish regret that he should be temporarily separated from
them.

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But he knows also that this separation is in fact only apparent, and not real. He knows that the so-called
dead are near him still, and that he has only to cast off temporarily his physical body in sleep, in order to
stand side by side with them and commune with them as before. He sees clearly that the world is one
and that the same Divine laws rule the whole of it, whether it be visible or invisible to the physical sight.

Consequently he has no feeling of nervousness or strangeness in passing from one part of it to the other,
and no sort of uncertainty as to what he will find on the other side of the veil.

The whole of the unseen world is so clearly and fully mapped out for him through the work of the

Theosophical investigators that it is well known to him as the physical life, and thus he is prepared to
enter upon it without hesitation whenever it may be best for his evolution. For ful details of the various
stages of this higher life we must refer the reader to the books special y devoted to this subject. It is
sufficient here to say that the conditions into which the man passes are precisely those which the man
passes are precisely those which he has made for himself. The thoughts and desires which he has
encouraged within himself during earth-life take form as definite living entities hovering round him and
reacting upon him until the energy which he poured into them is exhausted.

When such thoughts and desires have been powerful and persistently evil, the companions so created
may indeed be terrible; but happily such cases form a very smal minority among the dwel ers in the
astral world. The worst that the ordinary man of the world usually provides for himself after death is a
useless and unutterably wearisome existence, void of al rational interests – the natural sequence of a life
wasted in self-indulgence, triviality, and gossip here on earth.

To this weariness active suffering may under certain conditions be added. If a man during earth-life has
allowed strong physical desire to obtain a mastery over him – if, for example, he has become a slave to
such a vice as avarice, sensuality, or drunkenness – he has laid up for himself much purgatorial suffering
after death. For in losing the physical body he in no way loses these desires and passions; they remain
as vivid as ever – nay, they are even more active when they have no longer the heavy particles of dense
matter to set in motion. What he does lose is the power to gratify these passions; so that they remain as
torturing, gnawing desires, unsatisfied and unsatisfiable. It will be seen that this makes a very real hell for
the unfortunate man, though of course only a temporary one, since in process of time such desires must
burn themselves out, expending their energy in the very suffering which they produce.

A terrible fate, truly; yet there are two points which we should bear in mind with regard to it. First, that the
man has not only brought it on himself, but has determined its intensity and it duration for himself. He has
allowed this desire to reach a certain strength during earth-life, and now he has to meet it and control it. If
during physical life he has made efforts to repress or check it, he will have just so much the less difficulty
in conquering it now. He has created for himself the monster with which now he has to struggle; whatever
strength his antagonist possesses is just what he has given it. Therefore, his fate is not imposed upon
him from without, but is simply of his own making.

Secondly, the suffering which he thus brings upon himself is the only way of escape for him. If it were
possible for him to avoid it, and to pass through the astral life without this gradual wearing away of the
lower desires, what would be the result? Obviously that he would enter upon his next physical life entirely
under the domination of these passions. He would be a born drunkard, a sensualist, a miser; and long
before it would be possible to teach him that he ought to try to control such passions they would have

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grown far too strong for control – they would have enslaved him, body and soul, and so another life
would be thrown away, another opportunity would be lost. He would enter thus upon a vicious circle from
which there appears no escape, and his evolution would be indefinitely delayed.

The Divine scheme is not thus defective. The passion exhausts itself during the astral life, and the man
returns to physical existence without it. True, the weakness of mind which allowed passion to dominate
him is still there; true also, he has made for himself for this new life an astral body capable of expressing
exactly the same passions as before, so that it would not be difficult for him to resume his old evil life. But
the ego, the real man, has had a terrible lesson, and assuredly he will make every effort to prevent his
lower manifestation from repeating that mistake, from falling again under the sway of that passion.

He has still the germs of it within him, but if he has deserved good and wise parents they will help to
develop the good in him and check the evil, the germs will remain unfructified and will atrophy, and so in
the next life after that they will not appear at all. So by slow degrees man conquers his evil qualities, and
evolves virtues to replace them.

On the other hand, the man who is intel igent and helpful, who understands the conditions of this non-
physical existence and takes the rouble to adapt himself to them and make the most of them, opening
before him a splendid vista of opportunities both for acquiring fresh knowledge and for doing useful work.

He discovers that life away from this dense body has a vividness and brilliancy to which al earthly
enjoyment is as moonlight unto sunlight, and that through his clear knowledge and calm confidence the
power of the endless life shines out upon al those around him.

He may become a centre of peace and joy unspeakable to hundreds of his fellow men, and may do more
good in a few years of that astral existence than ever he could have done in the longest physical life. He
is well aware too, that there lies before him another and still grander stage of this wonderful post-mortem
life. Just as by his desires and his lower thoughts he has made for himself the surroundings of his astral
life, so has he by his higher thought and his nobler aspirations made for himself a life in the heaven-
world.

For heaven is not a dream, but a living and glorious reality. Not a city far away beyond the stars, with
gates of pearl and streets of gold, reserved for the habitation of a favoured few, but a state of
consciousness into which every man will pass during the interval between lives on earth. Not an eternal
abiding-place truly, but a condition of bliss indescribable lasting through many centuries. Not even that
alone. For although it contains the reality which underlies al the best and most spiritual ideas of heaven
which have been propounded in various religions, yet it must by no means be considered from that view
only.

It is a realm of nature which is of exceeding importance to us – a vast and splendid world of vivid life in
which we are living now, as well as in the periods intervening between physical incarnations. It is only our
lack of development , only the limitation imposed upon us by this robe of flesh, that prevents us from fully
realising that all glory of the brightest heaven is about us here and now, and that influences flowing from
that world are ever playing upon us, if we will only understand and receive them.

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Impossible as this may seem to the man of the world, it is the plainest of realities to the occultist; and to
those who have not yet grasped this fundamental truth we can but repeat the advice given by the

Buddhist teacher: - “Do not complain and cry and pray, but open your eyes and see.” The light is al about
you, if you would only cast the bandage from your eyes and look. It is so wonderful, so beautiful, so far
beyond what any man has dreamt of or prayed for, and it is for ever and ever.” (“The Soul of the People “,
p. 163).

When the astral body, which is the vehicle of the lower thought and desire, has gradual y been worn
away and left behind, the man finds himself inhabiting that higher vehicle of finer matter which we have
called the mental body. In this vehicle he is able to respond to the vibrations which reach him from the
corresponding matter in the external world – the matter of the mental plane. His time of purgatory is
over, the lower part of his nature has burnt itself away, and now there remain only the higher thoughts
and aspirations which he has poured forth during earth-life.

These cluster round him, through the medium of which he is able to respond to certain types of vibration
in this refined matter. These thoughts which surround him are the powers by which he draws upon the
wealth of the heaven world. This mental plane is a reflection of the Divine Mind – a storehouse of infinite
extent from which the person enjoying heaven is able to draw just according to the power of his own
thoughts and aspirations generated during the physical and astral life.

All religions have spoken of the bliss of Heaven, yet few of them have put before us with sufficient
clearness this leading idea which alone explains rationally how for all alike such bliss is possible – which
is, the keynote of the conception – the fact that each man makes his own heaven by selection from the
ineffable splendours of the Thought of God Himself. A man decides for himself both the length and the
character of his heaven-life by the causes which he himself generates during his earth-life; therefore, he
cannot but have exactly the amount which he has deserved and exactly the quality of joy which is best
suited to his idiosyncrasies.

This is a world in which every being must, from the very fact of his consciousness there, be enjoying the
highest spiritual bliss of which he is capable – a world whose power of response to his aspirations is
limited only by his capacity to aspire. Further details as to the astral life will be found in the Astral Plane;
the heaven life is described in The Devachanic Plane, and information about both is also given in Death
and After, and in The Other Side of Death.

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MAN’S PAST AND FUTURE

When we have once grasped the fact that man has reached his present position through a long and
varied series of lives, a question naturally arises in our minds as to how far we can obtain any information
about this earlier evolution, which would obviously be of absorbing interest to us. Fortunately such
information is available, not only by tradition, but also in another and much more certain way. I have so
space here to dilate upon the marvels of psychometry, but must simply say that there is abundant
evidence to show that nothing can happen without indelibly recording itself – that there exists a kind of
memory of Nature from which can be recovered with absolute accuracy a true, ful , and perfect picture of
any scene or event since the world began.

Those to whom this subject is entirely new, and who consequently seek for evidence, should consult Dr.

Buchanan’s Psychometry or Professor Denton’s Soul of Thins; but all occult students are familiar with the
possibility, and most of them with the method, of reading these records of the past. In essence this
memory of Nature must be the Divine Memory, far away beyond human reach; but it is assuredly
reflected into the lower planes so that, as far as events on these lower planes are concerned, it is
recoverable by the trained intelligence of man.

All that passes before a mirror, for instance, is reflected on its surface, and to our dim eyes it seems that
the images make no impression on that surface, but that each passes away and leaves no trace. Yet that
may not be so; it is not difficult to imagine that an impression may be left, somewhat as the impression of
every sound is left upon the sensitive cylinder of a phonograph; and it may be possible to recover the
impression from the mirror just as it is recoverable from the phonograph.

The higher psychometry shows us that this not only may be so, but is so; and that not a mirror only, but
any physical object, retains the impression of al that has happened within its sight, as it were. We have
thus at our disposal a faultlessly accurate method of arriving at the earlier history of our world and of
mankind, and in this way much that is of the most entrancing interest can be observed in every detail, as
though the scenes were being specially rehearsed for our benefit. (See Clairvoyance, p 88).

Investigations into the past conducted by these methods show how a long process of gradual evolution,
slow but never-ceasing. They show the development of man under the action of two great laws – first the
law of evolution, which steadily presses him onward and upward, and secondly – the law of divine justice,
or cause and effect, which brings him inevitably the result of his every action, and thus gradually teaches
him to live intel igently in harmony with the first law.

This long process of evolution has been carried out not only on this earth, but on other globes connected
with it; but the subject is much to vast to be ful y treated in an elementary book such as this. It forms the
principal theme of Madame Blavatsky’s monumental work, The Secret Doctrine; but before commencing
that students are advised to read the chapters on this subject in Mrs. Besant’s Ancient Wisdom and Mr.

Sinnett’s Growth of the Soul.

The book just mentioned will afford the fullest available information not only as to man’s past, but as to

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his future; and thought he glory that awaits him is such as no tongue can tell, something at least may be
understood of the earlier stages which lead to it. That man is divine even now, and that he will presently
unfold within himself the potentialities of divinity, is an idea which appears to shock some good people,
and to be considered by them to savour of blasphemy. Why it should not be so is not easy to see, for

Jesus himself reminds the Jews around Him of the saying in their Scriptures, “I said, ye are Gods,” and
the doctrine of the deification of man was quite commonly held by the Fathers of the Church. But in these
later days much of the earlier and purer doctrine has been forgotten and misunderstood; and the truth
now seems to be held in its fullness only by the student of occultism.

Sometimes men ask why, if man was at the first a spark of the Divine, it should be necessary for him to
go through al these жons of evolution, involving so much sorrow and suffering, only in order to be still

Divine at the end of it all. But those who make this objection have not yet comprehended the scheme.

That which came forth from the Divine was not yet man – not yet even a spark, for there was no
developed individualisation in it. It was simply a great cloud of Divine essence, though capable of
condensing eventual y into many sparks.

The difference between its condition when issuing forth and when returning is exactly like that between a
great mass of shining nebulous matter, and the solar system which is eventually formed out of it. Its
condition when issuing forth and when returning is exactly like that between a great mass of shining
nebulous matter, and the solar system which is eventually formed out it. The nebula is beautiful, no
doubt, but vague and useless; the suns formed from it by slow evolution pour life and heat and light upon
many worlds and their inhabitants.

Or we may take another analogy. The human body is composed of countless mil ions of tiny particles,
and some of them are constantly being thrown off from it. Suppose that it were possible for each of these
particles to go through some kind of evolution by means of which it would in time become a human
being, we should not say that because it had been in a certain sense human at the beginning of that
evolution it had, therefore , not gained anything when it reached its end. The essence comes forth as a
mere outpouring of force, even tough it be Divine force; it returns in the form of thousands of millions of
mighty adepts, each capable of himself developing into a Logos.

Thus it will be seen that we are abundantly justified in the statement that the future of man is a future to
whose glory and splendour there is no limit. And a most important point to remember is that this
magnificent future is for all without exception. He whom we call the good man – that is, the man whose
will moves with the Divine Wil , whose actions are such as to help the march of evolution – makes rapid
progress on the upward path; while the man who unintelligently opposes himself to the great current by
striving to pursue selfish aims instead of working for the good of the whole, will be able to progress only
very slowly and erratically.

But the Divine Wil is infinitely stronger than any human will, and the working of the great scheme is
perfect. The man who does not learn his lesson first time has simply to try over and over and over until
he does learn it; the Divine patience is infinite, and sooner or later every human being attains the goal
appointed for him. There is no fear and no uncertainty, but only perfect peace for those who know the

Law and the Will.

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CAUSE AND EFFECT

In previous chapters we have constantly had to take into consideration this mighty law of action and
reaction under which every man necessarily receives his just deserts; for without this law the rest of the

Divine scheme would be incomprehensible to us. It is well worth our while to try to obtain a true
appreciation of this law, and the first step towards doing that is to disabuse our minds entirely of the
ecclesiastical idea of reward and punishment as following upon human action.

It is inevitable that we should connect with that idea the thought of a judge administering such reward or
punishment, and then at once follows the further possibility that the judge may be more lenient in one
case than in another, that he may be swayed by circumstances, that an appeal may be made to him, and
that in that way the incidence of the law may be modified or even escaped altogether. Every one of these
suggestions is in the highest degree misleading, and the whole body of thought to which they belong
must be exorcised and utterly cast out before we can arrive at any real understanding of facts.

If a man put his hand on a bar of red-hot iron, under ordinary circumstances he would be badly burnt; yet
it would not occur to him to say that God had punished him for putting his hand on the bar. He would
realise that what had happened was precisely what might have been expected under the action of the
laws of Nature, and that one who understood what heat is and how it acts could explain exactly the
production of the burn.

It is to be observed that the man’s intention in no way affects the physical result; whether he seized that
bar in order to do some harm with it or in order to save someone else from injury, he would be burnt just
the same. Of course, in other and higher ways the results would be quite different; in the one case he
would have done a noble deed, and would have the approval of his conscience, while in the other he
could feel only remorse. But the physical burn would be there in one case just as much as in the other.

To obtain a true conception of the working of this law of cause and effect we must think of it as acting
automatical y in exactly the same way. If we have a heavy weight hanging from the ceiling by a rope, and

I exert a certain amount of force in pushing against that weight, we know by the laws of mechanics that
the weight will press back against my hand with exactly the same amount of force; and this reaction will
operate without the slightest reference to my disturbing its equilibrium. Similarly the man who commits an
evil action disturbs the equilibrium of the great current of evolution; and that mighty current invariably
adjusts that equilibrium at his expense.

It must not be therefore supposed for a moment that the intention of the action makes no difference; on
the contrary it is the most important factor connected with it, even though it does not affect the result
upon the physical plane. We are apt to forget that the intention is itself a force, and a force acting upon
the mental plane, where the matter is so much finer and vibrates so much more rapidly than on our lower
level, that the same amount of energy will produce enormously greater effect.

The physical action will produce its result on the physical plane, but the mental energy of the intention will
work out its own result simultaneously in the matter of the mental plane, totally irrespective of the other;

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and its effect is certain to be very much the more important of the two. In this way it will be seen that an
absolutely perfect adjustment is always achieved; for however mixed the motives may be, and however
good and evil may be mingled in the physical results, the equilibrium will always be perfectly readjusted,
and along every line perfect justice must be done.

We must not forget, that it is the man himself and no other who builds his future character as well as
produces his future circumstances. Speaking very generally, it may be said that, while his actions in one
life produce his environment in the next, his thoughts in the one life are the chief factors in the evolution
of his character in the next. The method by which all this works is an exceedingly interesting study, but it
would take far too long to detail it here; it maybe found very fully elaborated in Mrs. Besant’s manual on

Karma, and also in the chapter referring to this subject in her Ancient Wisdom, and in Mr. Sinnett’s

Esoteric Buddhism, to which the reader may be referred.

It is obvious that al these facts furnish us with exceedingly good reason for many of our ethical precepts.

If thought be a mighty power capable of producing upon its own plane results far more important than
any that can be achieved in physical life, then the necessity that man should control that force
immediately becomes apparent. Not only is the man building his own future character by means of his
thought, but he is also constantly and inevitably affecting those around him by its means.

Hence there lies upon him a very serious responsibility as to the use which he makes of this power. If the
feeling of annoyance or hatred arises in the heart of the ordinary man, his natural impulse is to express it
in some way either in word or in action. The ordinary rules of civilised society, however, forbid him to do
that, and dictate that he should as far as possible repress al outward sign of his feelings.

If he succeeds in doing this he is apt to congratulate himself, and to consider that he has done the whole
of his duty. The occult student, however, knows that it is necessary for him to carry his self-control a great
deal further than that, and that he must absolutely repress the thought of irritation as well as its outward
expression. For he knows that his feelings set in motion tremendous forces upon the astral plane, that
these will act against the object of his irritation just as surely as a blow struck upon the physical plane,
and that in many cases the results produced will be far more serious and lasting.

It is true in a very real sense that thoughts are things. To clairvoyant sight thoughts take definite form and
colour, the latter, of course depending upon the rate of vibration connected with them. The study of these
forms and colours is of great interest. A description of them il ustrated with coloured drawings will be
found in the book entitled Thought Forms.

These considerations open up to us possibilities in various directions. Since it is easily possible to do
harm by thought, it is also possible to do good by it. Currents may be set in motion which will carry
mental help and comfort to many a suffering friend, and in this way a whole new world of usefulness
opens before us. Many a grateful soul has been oppressed by a feeling that for want of physical wealth
he was unable to do anything in return for the kindness lavished upon him by another; but here is the
method by which he can be of the greatest service to him in a realm where physical wealth or its absence
makes no difference.

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All who can think can help others: and all who can help others ought to help. In this case, as in every
other, knowledge is power, and those who understand the law can use the law. Knowing what effects
upon themselves and upon others will be produced by certain thoughts, they can deliberately arrange to
produce these results. In this way a man can not only steadily mould his character in his present life, but
can decide exactly what it shal be in the next.

For a thought is a vibrations in the matter of the mental body, and the same thought persistently repeated
evokes corresponding vibrations (an octave higher, as it were) in the matter of the causal body. In this
way qualities are gradually built into the soul itself, and they will certainly reappear as part of the stock-in-
trade with which he commences his next incarnation.

It is in this way, by working from below upwards, that the faculties and qualities of the soul are gradually
evolved, and thus man takes his evolution largely into his own hands and begins to co-operate
intelligently in the great scheme of the Deity. For further information on this subject the best book to study
is Mrs. Besant’s Thought Power, its Control and Culture.

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WHAT THEOSOPHY DOES FOR US

It must already be obvious to the careful reader how utterly these Theosophical conceptions change the
man’s entire view of life when he once becomes fully convinced of them ; and the direction of many of
these changes, and the reasons on which they are based, will have been seen from what has already
been written.

We gain from Theosophy a rational comprehension of that life which was before for so many of us a
mere unsolved problem – a riddle without an answer. From it we know why we are here, what we are
expected to do, and how we ought to set to work to do it. We see that, however little life may seem worth
living for the sake of any pleasures or profits belonging exclusively to the physical plane, it is very
emphatically worth living when regarded merely as a school to prepare us for the indescribable glories
and the infinite possibilities of the higher planes.

In the light of the information which we acquire, we see not only how to evolve ourselves, but also how to
help others to evolve – how by thought and action to make ourselves most useful, first of all to the small
circle of those most closely associated with us or those whom we especial y love, and then gradually by
degrees, as our power increases, to the entire human race.

By feelings and thoughts such as these we find ourselves lifted altogether to a higher platform, and we
see how narrow and despicable is the petty and personal thought which has so often occupied us in the
past. We inevitably begin to regard everything not merely as it affects our infinitesimal selves, but from
the wider standpoint of its influence upon humanity as a whole.

The various troubles and sorrows which come to us are so often seen out of al proportion because they
are so near to us; they seem to obscure the whole horizon, as a plate held near the eyes will shut out the
sun, so that we often forget that “the heart of being is celestial rest.” But Theosophical teachings brings
all these things into due perspective, and enables us to rise above these clouds, to look down and see
things as they are, and not merely as they appear when looked at from below by very limited vision.

We learn to sink altogether the lower personality, with its mass of delusions and prejudices and its
inability to see anything truly; we learn to rise to an impersonal and unselfish standpoint, where to do
right for right’s sake seems to us the only rule of life, and to help our fellowman the greatest of joys. For it
is a life of joy that now opens before us. As the man evolves, his sympathy and compassion increase, so
that he becomes more and more sensitive to the sin and sorrow and suffering of the world.

Yet at the same time he sees more and more clearly the cause of that suffering, and understands ever
more and more fully that, in spite of it al , all things are working together for the final good of al . And so
there comes to him not only the deep content and absolute security which is born of the certainty that al
is well, but also the definite and radiant joy derived from the contemplation of the magnificent plan of the

Logos, and of the steady and unfailing success with which that mighty scheme moves to its appointed
end.

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He learns that God means us to be happy, and that it is definitely our duty to be so, in order that we may
spread around us vibrations of happiness upon others, since that is one of the methods by which we may
lighten the sorrow of the world. In ordinary life a great part of the annoyance which men feel in
connection with their various troubles is often caused by a feeling that they come to them unjustly. A man
will say: “Why should all this come to me? There is my neighbour, who is in no way a better man than I,
yet he does not suffer from sickness, from loss of friends, or loss of wealth? ; why then should I?”

Theosophy saves its students from this mistake, since it makes it absolutely clear to them that no
undeserved suffering can ever come to any man. Whatever trouble we may encounter is simply of the
nature of a debt that we have incurred; since it has to be paid, the sooner it is cleared off the better. Nor
is this all; for every trouble is an opportunity for development. If we bear it patiently and bravely, not
allowing it to crush us, but meeting it and making the best of it, we thereby evolve within ourselves the
valuable qualities of courage, perseverance, determination; and so out of the result of our sins of long
ago we bring good instead of evil.

As has before been stated, all fear of death is entirely removed for the Theosophical student, because he
understands fully what death is. He no longer mourns for those who have gone before, because they are
still present with him, and he knows that to give way to selfish grief would be to cause sadness and
depression to them. Since they are very near to him, and since the sympathy between them and himself
is closer than ever before, he is well aware that uncontrolled grief in him will assuredly reflect itself upon
them.

Not that Theosophy counsels him to forget the dead; on the contrary, it encourages him to remember
them as often as possible, but never with selfish sorrow, never with a longing to bring them back to earth,
never with thought of his apparent loss, but only of their great gain. It assures him that a strong loving
thought will be a potent factor in their evolution, and that if he will but think rightly and reasonably about
them he may render them the greatest assistance in their upward progress.

A careful study of the life of man in the period between his incarnations shows how small a proportion
this physical life bears to the whole. In the case of the average educated and cultured man of any of the
higher races, the period of one life – that is to say of one day in the real life – would average about fifteen
hundred years. Of this period perhaps seventy or eighty years would be spent in physical life, some
fifteen or twenty upon the astral plane, and all the rest in the heaven-world, which is therefore by very far
the most important part of man’s existence.

Natural y these proportions vary considerably for different types of men, and when we come to consider
the younger souls, born either in inferior races or in the lower ranks of our own, we find that these
proportions are entirely changed, for the astral life is likely to be much longer and the heaven-life much
shorter. In the case of the absolute savage there is scarcely any heaven-life at al , because he has not
yet developed within himself the qualities which alone enable the man to attain that life.

The knowledge of al these facts gives a clearness and certainty to our anticipations of the future which is
a welcome relief from the vagueness and indecision of ordinary thought on these subjects. It would be
impossible for a Theosophist to have any fears about his “salvation”, for he knows that there is nothing

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for man to be saved from except his own ignorance, and he would consider it the grossest blasphemy to
doubt that the will of the Logos will assuredly be fulfil ed in the case of every one of his children.

No vague “eternal hope” is his, but utter certainty, born of his knowledge of the eternal law. He cannot
fear the future, because he knows the future; so his only anxiety is to make himself worthy to bear his
part in the mighty work of evolution. It may well be that there is very little that he can do as yet; yet there
is none but can do something, just where he stands, in the circle around him, however lowly it may be.

Every man has his opportunities, for every connection is an opportunity . Every one with whom we are
brought into contact is a soul who may be helped – whether it be a child born into the family, a friend who
comes into our circle, a servant who joins our household – everyone gives in some way or other an
opportunity. It is not for a moment suggested that we should make ourselves nuisances by thrusting our
opinions and ideas upon every one with whom we come in contact, as the more ignorant and tactless of
our religious friends sometimes do; but we should be in an attitude of continual readiness to help.

Indeed, we should ever be eagerly watching for an opportunity to help, either with material aid, so far as
that may be within our power, or with the benefit of our advice or our knowledge, whenever those may be
asked for. Often cases arise in which help by word or deed is impossible for us; but there can never be a
case in which friendly and helpful thought cannot be poured forth, and none who understands the power
of thought will doubt as to its result, even though it may not be immediately visible upon the physical
plane.

The student of Theosophy should be distinguishable from the rest of the world by his perennial
cheerfulness, his undaunted courage under difficulties, and his ready sympathy and helpfulness.

Assuredly, in spite of his cheerfulness he will be one who takes life seriously – one who realises that
there is much for each to do in the world, and no time to waste. He will see the necessity for gaining
perfect control of himself and his various vehicles, because only in that way can he be thoroughly fitted to
help others when the opportunity comes to him.

He will range himself ever on the side of the higher rather than the lower thought, the nobler rather than
the baser; his toleration will be perfect, because he sees the good in all. He will deliberately take the
optimistic rather than the pessimistic view of everything, the hopeful rather than the cynical, because he
knows that to be always fundamental y the true view – the evil in everything being necessarily the
impermanent part, since in the end only the good can endure.

Thus he will look ever for the good in everything, that he may endeavour to strengthen it; he will watch for
the working of the great law of evolution, in order that he may range himself on its side, and contribute to
its energy his tiny stream of force. In this way, by striving always to help, and never to hinder, he will
become, in his smal sphere of influence, one of the beneficent powers of Nature; in however lowly a
manner, at however unthinkable a distance, he is yet a fellow worker together with God – and that is the
highest honour and the greatest privilege that can ever fall to the lot of man.

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Table of Contents

- WHAT IT IS
- HOW IS IT KNOWN
- THE METHOD OF OBSERVATION
- GENERAL PRINCIPLES
- THE THREE GREAT TRUTHS
- ADVANTAGES 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
- WHAT THEOSOPHY DOES FOR US