Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tt00307)

Below is a slightly abridged version of an HPB letter.
*******************

 H. P. Blavatsky to the American Conventions

 Copyright © 1979 by Theosophical University Press. All rights
 reserved.
 _________________________________________________________________

Letter I -- 1888

 Second Annual Convention -- April 22-23
 American Section of the Theosophical Society

 Sherman House, Chicago, Illinois

 Letter from H. P. Blavatsky, dated April 3, read by William Q. Judge,
 afternoon session, April 22; reproduced verbatim from the original
 typescript in the Archives of the Theosophical Society, Pasadena
 _________________________________________________________________

 General Secretary of the American Section of the Theosophical Society.

 MY DEAREST BROTHER AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY;

 In addressing to you this letter, which I request you to read to the
 Convention summoned for April 22d, I must first present my hearty
 congratulations and most cordial good wishes to the assembled
 Delegates and good Fellows of our Society, and to yourself -- the
 heart and soul of that Body in America. We were several, to call it to
 life in 1875. Since then you have remained alone to preserve that life
 through good and evil report. It is to you chiefly, if not entirely,
 that the Theosophical Society owes its existence in 1888. Let me then
 thank you for it, for the first, and perhaps for the last, time
 publicly, and from the bottom of my heart, which beats only for the
 cause you represent so well and serve so faithfully. I ask you also to
 remember that, on this important occasion, my voice is but the feeble
 echo of other more sacred voices, and the transmitter of the approval
 of Those whose presence is alive in more than one true Theosophical
 heart, and lives, as I know, preeminently in yours. May the assembled
 Society feel the warm greeting as earnestly as it is given, and may
 every Fellow present, who realizes that he has deserved it, profit by
 the Blessings sent.

 Theosophy has lately taken a new start in America which marks the
 commencement of a new Cycle in the affairs of the Society in the West.
 And the policy you are now following is admirably adapted to give
 scope for the widest expansion of the movement, and to establish on a
 firm basis an organization which, while promoting feelings of
 fraternal sympathy, social unity, and solidarity will leave ample room
 for individual freedom and exertion in the common cause -- that of
 helping mankind.

 The multiplication of local centers should be a foremost consideration
 in your minds, and each man should strive to be a center of work in
 himself. When his inner development has reached a certain point, he
 will naturally draw those with whom he is in contact under the same
 influence; a nucleus will be formed, round which other people will
 gather, forming a center from which information and spiritual
 influence radiate, and towards which higher influences are directed.

 But let no man set up a popery instead of Theosophy, as this would be
 suicidal and has ever ended most fatally. We are all fellow students,
 more or less advanced; but no one belonging to the Theosophical
 Society ought to count himself as more than, at best, a pupil-teacher
 -- one who has no right to dogmatize.

 Since the Society was founded, a distinct change has come over the
 spirit of the age. Those who gave us commission to found the Society
 foresaw this, now rapidly growing, wave of transcendental influence
 following that other wave of mere phenomenalism. Even the journals of
 Spiritualism are gradually eliminating the phenomena and wonders, to
 replace them with philosophy. The Theosophical Society led the van of
 this movement; but, although Theosophical ideas have entered into
 every development or form which awakening spirituality has assumed,
 yet Theosophy pure and simple has still a severe battle to fight for
 recognition. The days of old are gone to return no more, and many are
 the Theosophists who, taught by bitter experience, have pledged
 themselves to make of the Society a "miracle club" (1) no longer. The
 fainthearted have asked in all ages for signs and wonders, and when
 these failed to be granted, they refused to believe. Such are not
 those who will ever comprehend Theosophy pure and simple. But there
 are others among us who realize intuitionally that the recognition of
 pure Theosophy -- the philosophy of the rational explanation of things
 and not the tenets -- is of the most vital importance in the Society,
 inasmuch as it alone can furnish the beacon-light needed to guide
 humanity on its true path.

 This should never be forgotten, nor should the following fact be
 overlooked. On the day when Theosophy will have accomplished its most
 holy and most important mission -- namely, to unite firmly a body of
 men of all nations in brotherly love and bent on a pure altruistic
 work, not on a labor with selfish motives -- on that day only will
 Theosophy become higher than any nominal brotherhood of man. This will
 be a wonder and a miracle truly, for the realization of which Humanity
 is vainly waiting for the last 18 centuries, and which every
 association has hitherto failed to accomplish.

 Orthodoxy in Theosophy is a thing neither possible nor desirable. It
 is diversity of opinion, within certain limits, that keeps the
 Theosophical Society a living and a healthy body, its many other ugly
 features notwithstanding. Were it not, also, for the existence of a
 large amount of uncertainty in the minds of students of Theosophy,
 such healthy divergencies would be impossible, and the Society would
 degenerate into a sect, in which a narrow and stereotyped creed would
 take the place of the living and breathing spirit of Truth and an ever
 growing Knowledge.

 According as people are prepared to receive it, so will new
 Theosophical teaching be given. But no more will be given than the
 world, on its present level of spirituality, can profit by. It depends
 on the spread of Theosophy -- the assimilation of what has been
 already given -- how much more will be revealed, and how soon.

 It must be remembered that the Society was not founded as a nursery
 for forcing a supply of Occultists -- as a factory for the manufactory
 of Adepts. It was intended to stem the current of materialism, and
 also that of spiritualistic phenomenalism and the worship of the Dead.
 It had to guide the spiritual awakening that has now begun, and not to
 pander to psychic cravings which are but another form of materialism.
 For by "materialism" is meant not only an anti-philosophical negation
 of pure spirit, and, even more, materialism in conduct and action --
 brutality, hypocrisy, and, above all, selfishness -- but also the
 fruits of a disbelief in all but material things, a disbelief which
 has increased enormously during the last century, and which has led
 many, after a denial of all existence other than that in matter, into
 a blind belief in the materialization of Spirit.

 The tendency of modern civilization is a reaction towards animalism,
 towards a development of those qualities which conduce to the success
 in life of man as an animal in the struggle for animal existence.
 Theosophy seeks to develop the human nature in man in addition to the
 animal, and at the sacrifice of the superfluous animality which modern
 life and materialistic teachings have developed to a degree which is
 abnormal for the human being at this stage of his progress.

 Men cannot all be Occultists, but they can all be Theosophists. Many
 who have never heard of the Society are Theosophists without knowing
 it themselves; for the essence of Theosophy is the perfect harmonizing
 of the divine with the human in man, the adjustment of his god-like
 qualities and aspirations, and their sway over the terrestrial or
 animal passions in him. Kindness, absence of every ill feeling or
 selfishness, charity, goodwill to all beings, and perfect justice to
 others as to oneself, are its chief features. He who teaches Theosophy
 preaches the gospel of goodwill; and the converse of this is true also
 -- he who preaches the gospel of goodwill, teaches Theosophy.

[...]

 I am confident that, when the real nature of Theosophy is understood,
 the prejudice against it, now so unfortunately prevalent, will die
 out. Theosophists are of necessity the friends of all movements in the
 world, whether intellectual or simply practical, for the amelioration
 of the condition of mankind. We are the friends of all those who fight
 against drunkenness, against cruelty to animals, against injustice to
 women, against corruption in society or in government, although we do
 not meddle in politics. We are the friends of those who exercise
 practical charity, who seek to lift a little of the tremendous weight
 of misery that is crushing down the poor. But, in our quality of
 Theosophists, we cannot engage in any one of these great works in
 particular. As individuals we may do so, but as Theosophists we have a
 larger, more important, and much more difficult work to do. People say
 that Theosophists should show what is in them, that "the tree is known
 by its fruit." Let them build dwellings for the poor, it is said, let
 them open "soup kitchens," etc., etc., and the world will believe that
 there is something in Theosophy. These good people forget that
 Theosophists, as such, are poor, and that the Founders themselves are
 poorer than any, and that one of them, at any rate, the humble writer
 of these lines, has no property of her own, and has to work hard for
 her daily bread whenever she finds time from her Theosophical duties.
 The function of Theosophists is to open men's hearts and
 understandings to charity, justice, and generosity, attributes which
 belong specifically to the human kingdom and are natural to man when
 he has developed the qualities of a human being. Theosophy teaches the
 animal-man to be a human-man; and when people have learnt to think and
 feel as truly human beings should feel and think, they will act
 humanely, and works of charity, justice, and generosity will be done
 spontaneously by all.

[...]

 Yours ever, in the truth of the GREAT CAUSE we are all working for --

 H. P. BLAVATSKY

 London. April 3. 1888.
 17 Lansdowne Road.
 _________________________________________________________________

--
Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles
 See yourself as Divine; see others as Divine. Turn away from all else
 in you and others. That is the essence of spiritual living.
 Sathya Sai Baba