Hearn; Theosophy, E-book, do posegregowania
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THEOSOPHY
Lafcadio Hearn
THEOSOPHY
Table of Contents
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THEOSOPHY
Lafcadio Hearn
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The work and literature of the Theosophical Society in India and England have been subjects of much
favorable and unfavorable comment in those countries; but it was not until quite recently that they attracted
attention in the very capital of materialism and scepticism,Paris. In fact, a new branch of the Society was
lately established there; and to judge from the powerful article upon it in the Nouvelle Revue, it promises to
flourish luxuriantly. There is much of novelty, mystery and romance in the theories of the brotherhood;their
purpose is nothing less than the realization of the dream of a universal religion; their theories have all the
strange attractiveness of witchcraft, alchemy and occult literature. Yet their philosophy is not without some
sound foundation; and they have constructed quite a remarkable range of scientific buttresses to brace up the
slender structures of Alchemical hypothesis and Rosicrucian idealism. Like Margrave in Bulwer Lytton's
story, they have sought their learning in the Orient"out of the East the lightning cometh!"they have made
pilgrimages to Himalayan wildernesses in search of that knowledge so rigidly forbidden to man by all forms
of religion which have recognized the existence of magic or the possibility of conjuration. To the rigidly
orthodox of even our own day such knowledge must appear of infernal origin,even like that tree described
in Sura xxxvii of the Koran, "the fruits of whose branches are the heads of demons";but the agnostics of the
period have a right to hold that howsoever puerile such researches seem, they may ultimately result in
discoveries of large value to humanity.
The Paris "Theosophical Society of the Orient and Occident" is founded upon precisely the same programme
as that of the Theosophical Society of Madras, India,the aim of which is to establish a universal brotherhood
of mankind, without distinction of caste, color, race or belief; to favor the study of the literature of Oriental
religions and sciences, and make manifest the importance thereof;and to study the Unknown laws of Nature
and the latent psychical powers of man. Here the positivist is tempted to smile. But the Paris society
expressly adds that the brotherhood "do not hold to any particular explanation of psychical
phenomena,much less to any belief in the existence, in this physical world, of any forces outside of those
recognized by physical science." Psychical, therefore, is only a term used by the society to qualify
phenomena of a special character, although these be in themselves necessarily material; for to the theosophist
the "immaterial" necessarily means the "non−existent."
But while the theosophists expressly declare their non−adherence to any form of religion, and their hope of
being able to unite members of all religions under their infinitely liberal programme, their own practice has
not in all instances tallied with their professions. Did not Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Alcott go to India
in 1879 expressly for the purpose of preaching to the people of the glory of the ancient religions and "to warn
them against the substitution of any new faith for the doctrines of the Vedas, the Tripi−takas, or the
Zend−Avesta?" This, indeed, they may have had a perfect right to do; but if the Theosophists sincerely desire
to bring about a union between Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Parsees, Buddhists, Mohammedans,
Brahmanists, Jainists, etc., their denunciation of the work of Christian missionaries is a poor step toward the
universal conciliation. Furthermore, Colonel Alcott, after decrying the Catholic and Evangelical missionaries
in India, undertakes himself to preach Buddhism in Paris. Buddhism, he says, is the religion most in
conformity with nature and law, and is destined to become the future religion of the world;therefore he
publishes and distributes a Buddhist catechism"according to the canon of the Church of the South,"by
Sumangala, High−priest of Sripada, and Principal of the Theological College of Widyodaya−Paravena, in
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Ceylon. The book, however, is acknowledged to be highly interesting; and the eccentricities of certain
members of the Theosophic confraternity do not, perhaps, represent the general spirit of all. What is much
more curious than the Buddhist preaching of Col. Alcott, or the theories of Sumangala, are the researches
being made into the Buddhist spiritualism of Thibet. The Thibetans are said to have been the first to inspire
the idea of the Theosophical Society. They have certain schools,occult universities,colleges of Magic, if
you will,whose graduates are said to accomplish with ease all the prodigies of all thaumaturgists from
Apollonius of Tyana to the present day. They claim powers akin to those ascribed to Buddha himself in the
legends; and according to tolerably good testimony they are really able to do very wonderful things. It must
be remembered that Indian yogis have performed before English officers feats of a seemingly impossible
kind, which the witnesses could not explain at all by commonly understood laws. The Thibetan neophite has
to serve a severe novitiate of seven years before he is allowed to study the higher art; and much of what he
learns then is not known. But the powers of communicating mysteriously with each other at great
distances,of controlling wild beasts and serpents,of creating visions, even of appearing simultaneously in
two different places,are commonly claimed by the Thibetan adepts. In fact, they assume the possession of
the same knowledge which Bulwer Lytton gave to his Margrave; and the Thibetan mystic's luminous
projection of himself is precisely like the apparition of the Scin−Lœca. It is also worthy of observation that
the tests of initiation in Thibet are much like those demanded by wizard−teachers since the beginning of the
history of magic:abstinence from flesh and wine, constant application of the mind to an unselfish end,
conquest of desire, self−denial in all things, and especially love. The Theosophical Society proposes to
investigate all these mysteries, and, if possible, to explain them. It has also renewed public interest at home in
the researches of Crookes and other eminent psychologists, and has published many curious and even
valuable works. Aside from mere theories, its objects are in some respects worthy of the interest and support
of thinking men; and it is quite possible that its researches may bring about discoveries which will prove
scientifically and irrefutably that thought is not ephemeral. This is what it hopes to do. The production of
books like those of Adolphe d'Assier, who published in 1883 the singular treatise L'Humanite Posthume
certainly tend to divert minds from the grosser materialism, and to elevate our conception of humanity.
D'Assier argues upon strictly scientific grounds that what is called "psychic force" is not necessarily
interrupted by death,that no force ever ceases to act,that as the sunbeam emitted from our day−star never
ceases to be, so the thought flashed from the brain of man never dies, but preserves its radiant energy through
all cycles of time and beyond, into the Night of eternities. Is it not curious to find a scientific theorist in 1883
developing a serious theme upon the beautiful fancy which Theophile Gautier uttered in his Arria Marcella,
so many years before?the poet has often an intuition that seems to border upon prophecy:−
. . . "In effect, nothing dies, all things exist forever: no power may annihilate that which once had being.
Every action, every word, every form, every thought, that falls into the universal ocean of existence, therein
produces circles which travel, ever enlarging as they go, to the very confines of eternity...."
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