SOME GLIMPSES OF OCCULTISM/PART 14
CHAPTER XIV
THE GOSPEL OF WISDOM
The
word gospel is usually associated with one particular form of faith only, with
one particular story of never-failing interest; so you may perhaps think its
use in Theosophical teaching somewhat strange. I think if you will remember the
real meaning of the word you will realize that it should not be so monopolised,
for after all the gospel is only the “good spell,” or the good news. Theosophy
also has its good news to bring you; not the good news of salvation, indeed,
but the still greater good news that there is nothing to be “saved” from except
your own error and ignorance, that there is no Divine wrath from which you must
escape, but that the whole world is moving on in one mighty and glorious order
towards an end greater than the mind of man can conceive. This is not a poetic
dream, not a mere flight of the imagination, but a certainty which can be seen
and known, which can be examined scientifically by those who will take the
trouble to prepare themselves for such an investigation. That is one piece of
the good news or the gospel which Theosophy has to bring you.
The
translation of our name Theosophy is Divine Wisdom, and in the truest sense
this divine wisdom has its gospel to bring to you and to everyone. Those of us
who have been studying this wonderful philosophy for many years know how truly
it has been a gospel to us, for it has changed the whole of our lives, it has
taught us how to live and how to die, it has taught us to understand what is
the vast scheme of which humanity forms only a small part. The whole world is
changed for us because of that knowledge and that wider comprehension. That
there is sin, sorrow and suffering in the world we all know well; it seems so
sordid, so piteous, so universal, that many of those whose hearts are filled with
love and pity and desire to serve feel despair rising within them when they
look round and see the condition of the world as it is today. If we had no key
to the meaning of it all it would indeed seem that matters are hopeless and
that there is nothing to be done, but when once we have the key we begin to
understand, and the whole thing takes a different aspect. The great Masters of
Wisdom and Compassion who so much desire to serve this orphan humanity, give us
a veritable gospel, the good news from on high; for they say to us “Rise above
all this, look upon it as a whole, and then you will understand it; do not look
up from beneath at the underside of life, but rise above it to the higher
planes of thought and consciousness and look down and understand; and then
indeed you will see that there is good news, good news for all. Have you ever
seen the great rapids of Niagara? Imagine the condition of some tiny insect
swept down amidst the straws and fragments in that seething torrent! Think how
it boils and foams and surges round, and think how that tiny insect would
regard it all. To him that world of strife and stress would naturally seem all
that there was and all that there could be, and as the water dashed backwards
and forwards among the rocks he would sometimes feel himself being irresistibly
carried up out of his natural course, against the downward current. Yet, if you
stand on the banks of that magnificent gorge, and look down on that marvellous
maelstrom of water below, you will see that all the time a majestic current is
carrying the whole mass in one direction, and that although there may be
whirlpools where part of the water seems to be running backwards for the time,
in reality the whirlpools and the straws and the insect are all being swept steadily
onwards all the while by that tremendous torrent. Just like that is the view of
the strife and sorrow and the trouble of this world which opens before the view
of the man who raises his consciousness to a higher plane. He sees what seems to you to be evil, and
notes how it is apparently pressing upwards against the great current of
progress; and yet he sees that the onward sweep of the Divine law of evolution
through the world is like that all-prevailing torrent, and that, in comparison
to that, all these little backward currents of strife and stress are like the
tiny whirlpool on the surface of the vast river, and that even though they seem
to be flowing backwards, they are really being swept forwards all the time. But
to see that we need the higher sight, we need to stand above the whirlpool of
the lower world, we must get beyond the ignorance of that mind which is never
steady. These things need the wisdom which comes from the Divine, and that is
why it is the Divine Wisdom of Theosophy which brings us the good news that all
is well; not only that all will be well in some far-distant future, but that
even now at this moment in the midst of all the strife, the omnipotent current
is flowing still, and so all is well because all is moving on in perfect order
and with perfect certainty.
The
sin and the sorrow and the suffering exist; I am not suggesting that these
things are an illusion, though I know that that theory has been held by many.
True, if we look down from the plane of the spirit we shall see how small all
of this is in comparison with the greater life; yet on the physical plane it is
true, and while it lasts it is suffering and it is sorrow; and the man who sees
most clearly what is the great truth that lies behind all this, is also the man
whose sympathy is the strongest, whose understanding of his weaker brother is
the clearest and the fullest, the most pitying and the most forgiving. Indeed,
as a French writer has said: “Tout comprendre, c’est tout pardoner” – to
understand all is to pardon all. The man who understands is the one who
sympathizes the most fully; he realizes what a sublime gospel this wisdom has
brought to him, and what it will bring to these poor sufferers also when they
can rise to its comprehension. There is no department of our life in which this
good news does not aid us, no moment of our existence at which it does not
teach us something. We ourselves may mould our own lives when we understand the
laws under which we are living. Even if it were for our own advantage alone, it
would be necessary for us that we should grasp this law; but when once we see
the transcendent scheme of the Logos, when once the reality and the truth of it
all is borne in upon our vision, we forget ourselves and our petty interests,
our sorrows and our sufferings. We rise above all thought of ourselves
altogether, for we see the great, glorious, all-pervading, all-comprehending,
all-satisfying and sustaining life, and it fascinates us with the Divinity and
the power of it all. When once we have seen that, we think no more of ourselves
for ever, for our thought has risen to a higher level, and all our strength is
poured out in the service of our fellow-men.
We
must see for ourselves, we must have the Divine Wisdom of Theosophy within us,
that gospel must enter into our hearts; and then indeed we shall become
preachers of that gospel, whether we will or not. For when we ourselves know
this thing, even though we may never speak one word to other men, yet our very
lives will show forth the gospel in which we believe, for the joy and the glory
of it all will shine through us, and our life will be perfect happiness to
ourselves, and a centre of sunlight and blessing to others.
Remember
that we have lived before, and that in those past lives there was much that was
evil as well as (we hope) much that was good. Because in that past we set
causes in motion we must in the present bear their results, for cause and
effect are only the positive and negative poles – two sides of the same thing,
and therefore part of one another. The effect not only follows from the cause;
it is in truth a part of the cause itself, and so if sorrow or suffering comes
to us, we know that this is a destiny which we ourselves have made. See what
difference this makes in our attitude toward it. We still suffer, but yet we
know that this is a debt which we must pay, and therefore we resolve to clear
off that account and to make no more such mistakes. We know that our lives are
in our own hands, that we are no more slaves to circumstances, but free men,
happy and joyous in the certainty of the Divine scheme. The sorrows of others
affect us still, but yet along with our deep sympathy for them we feel within
ourselves the joy and the power that come from the knowledge that we can help,
that we are no longer crushed in the presence of these great problems of life.
When we see our fellow-men we have something new to say to them, we can explain
matters to them now, we can clear up their difficulties, we can share our own
gospel of wisdom with them. For them, as for us, knowledge will remove
difficulties, and will show them that every pain that comes to us is not only
the payment of a long-past debt, but is also a great opportunity for us now.
Out of the evil of long ago we may make a present good, because we can take
these trials and troubles and sufferings and by the way in which we receive
them we may make them steppingstones to the higher life, and in bearing them we
may develop many of the qualities that go to make up the divine man of the
future – a future still far distant, but yet within our sight the moment we
begin to understand.
Let
me repeat that when we speak of this great scheme we are not trusting to blind faith
of any sort, nor are we calling upon you to accept anything as a matter of
faith either. We are only stating to you the results of enquiry, which many of
us know to be true through personal investigation. You may think: - “How can
any man know what the Divine scheme is, how can any man enter into the counsels
of God and know what He wills?” True, between that stupendous Divine life and
any consciousness of ours there is a distance that cannot be measured, yet we
ourselves are sparks of that same Divine flame. Far, far away, incalculably
below that mighty Intelligence is the highest intelligence of ours, and yet on
every step of the ladder between us and Him stand men – men like ourselves,
though so enormously higher than we – up to the great Masters, and on beyond
even Them, impossible as it may seem to our finite minds. These stand at every
stage of the way, so that we see that those who are now at the very feet of God
were once men such as we, and that we who are now looking up from below, from
the foot of the glorious staircase, shall also one day stand where these stand.
These things we see, and to see them needs no great study and no abnormal
development. Much of what we tell you in Theosophy is based upon what is seen
with higher faculties than those of the physical body, and thus for you it
depends upon the investigation of a few trained men who have developed within
themselves that higher sight; but this mightiest of all truths, the glorious
certainty of universal evolution, scarcely needs the abundance of testimony
which clairvoyance hastens to lay upon its shrine. Truly those who have the
power to see on higher planes will at once agree with this statement that I
have made, that they can discern this mighty stream in motion – not that they
can see Him, the God who steals behind it all, but that at every point of their
investigations they recognize the signs in all directions of His action and His
power so that the conviction is driven into their minds that the Force exists,
and that a mighty Intelligence is indeed at the back of all manifestation.
The
evidence of the trained investigators is overwhelming as to this supreme
certainty, this gospel of the Wisdom. But truly, we scarcely need even that
testimony. For even from the physical plane one may see the different stages of
man; one may see that there are teachers, there are developed men who rise
towards the great Initiates, and beyond them the Christ and the Buddhas, and
then still higher and higher yet, beyond our ken. Even those who have not yet
the clairvoyant faculty will see that there must rise, that there does rise
beyond all this, a hierarchy of still more developed beings. We know that there
is an evolution, for we see it step by step as it rises through the lower
kingdoms up to man, and we can see that the man we know, the man of common
every-day life, cannot be the end of that evolution. We know from history that
there have been greater and obviously far more developed men; and it is not
only in the past, but today also, that they exist. Shall they in turn be the
end? No, there are higher and greater Ones still; and so by simple reasoning we
see that this wonderful ladder of which I spoke must exist. For those who can
see a little further, the testimony is overwhelming that the higher links of
this great chain exist, for They can be seen and known and loved.
So
we put before our fellow-men without hesitation this glorious gospel, showing
them and assuring them of what it has done for us, and hoping that for them, as
for us, this grand philosophy may prove a way of salvation, not from some
imaginary demon outside of them, but from the ignorance within. For that is the
only obstacle that comes to man, the limit with which he has surrounded
himself; but that is a terrible shell, and until he breaks his way through it,
until he begins to understand, truly he suffers much. Yet the thickness of that
shell is of the man’s own making, and as soon as he knows that, he sets himself
intelligently to break it away and to prevent the building of any more walls
round the self. He has the whole thing in his own hands, under his own control.
There is the grandest of futures stretching before him, an evolution of
incalculable magnitude, whose glory has no end, which extends far beyond the
sight of even the highest clairvoyant. Truly that is good news indeed, that is
a veritable gospel – not a mere interpretation of something which may bear some
other meaning, not a mere supposition, but a perfect divine certainty,
something which will bear examination, which you may take up and investigate
for yourselves. The further you look into Theosophy the more sure you will
become that this statement is true, that we are in reality part of this vast
ordered scheme.
There
are many ways in which this good news affects us, many other directions upon
which I cannot touch now, in which our lives are revolutionized by
understanding these things: vast indeed is the change which Theosophy brings
into the life of the man who grasps it and lives it. Remember, I do not say
that such a change comes to a man because he joins the Society, or because he
reads two or three Theosophical books; but I do say that the man who,
understanding this great teaching, tries to live the life which it prescribes,
will find that what I have written is true. It is just as sure now as it was in
days of old that they who do the will of the Father that is in heaven, they
shall know of the doctrine whether it be true. It still is true that the man
who would know the truth must live the life. It is not merely by looking upon
Theosophy from the outside that its gospel may be known; the man must obey that
gospel, and then it will become a part of him, then it will shed its glory upon
him, and upon those about him. Then he will realize that it is his duty to be
happy, and he will not be carried away by any trouble or sorrow that may come
to him, because he knows that his feet stand firm.
Much
Theosophical work may thus be done unconsciously, besides our active outer
work, and it will increase as our power and our knowledge increase. We are
filled with joy and peace because of our study and our reading, and
unconsciously we spread around us these vibrations of joy, of happiness and
confidence are hungering to understand the life of which they find themselves a
part. You may help them, you who know; you may share with them your gospel of
wisdom; and be well assured that as you share it, it will become far more to
you than ever it was before. Realize the thing for yourself first, for that is
a necessity, but remember that only as you pass it on to others can it bear its
true and highest fruit. If you know these things, you know them not for your
own sake, but for the sake of these others about you. That is why the higher
light has come to you, and if you have found within yourself the power to
respond to it and assimilate it, then this has come to you in order that you
may be of use – not that you may treasure up the light for yourself, but that
through you as centres the sunlight may shine out over all this wide world – so
that you yourselves may be suns in a minor way, reflecting the glory of the
great Divine Sun. Thus by your reflection you may bring the light of life from
Him to play on your own level in a way that without you it could not have done.
You know how a mirror may reflect the sunlight into a dark corner where the
direct rays cannot enter; just so there are many men who by their own ignorance
and their own selfishness have shut themselves out for the time being from the
power to appreciate the splendid light from on high. There is the glorious
sunlight always pouring itself down, but yet a man may shut himself up in his
own house away from that holy radiance; but you who receive it, you who live in
it, you may reflect it into corners which the direct rays cannot reach, and so
you may bring that glory and that joy into homes that without your help must
have remained unwarmed and unilluminated.
There
is truly a gospel in all this, teaching us never to forget that though the
outer side of life may seem dull and heavy, there is always the Divine fire
glowing within; to remember that “the soul of things is sweet, the heart of
being is celestial rest; stronger than woe is Will; that which is good doth
pass to better, best.” So this celestial bliss, that lies beyond the sorrow and
the suffering, shall become for you the ever-present reality, until you learn
to look through the misery and see its cause – and not only to see the cause,
but (far beyond that) the exhaustion of that evil through this temporary suffering,
and the glory that is to come, the magnificent qualities which all this is
developing in the man. So this gospel will become a living reality to you. So,
although you sympathize ever more and more deeply, you will find that you have
within you the power to help, to comfort and to save, because you know, because
you have this gospel in your hearts, and so you can communicate its light to
others. So you will say to them once more, in the words of the greatest Indian
teachers: “Do not complain, and cry and pray, but open your eyes and see; the
light is all about you, if you will only remove the bandage from your eyes and
look; it is always with you, so wonderful, so glorious, so far beyond anything
that man has ever dreamt of or prayed for, and it is forever and forever.”
END
OF THIS BOOK
Comments
Post a Comment