Theos-Talk Archives (June 2000 Message tt00031)

MODERN APOSTLES AND PSEUDO-MESSIAHS by H.P. Blavatsky
http://www.blavatsky.net/blavatsky/arts/ModernApostlesAndPseudoMessiahs.htm

Below are some choice paragraphs from Madame Blavatsky's
sensible article on this subject:
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There has probably never been a period within our recollection more given to
the production of "great missions" and missionaries than the present. The
movement began, apparently, about a hundred years ago. . . .

Then followed a period of moral decadence in the messianic perceptions and
works. The polygamy taught and practised by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
has been one of the strangest features of any modern revelation or so-called
religion. . . . .

With the spread of the spiritualistic cult, the Messiah craze has vastly
increased, and men and women alike have been involved in its whirlpools.
Given, a strong desire to reform somehow the religious or social aspect of
the world, a personal hatred of certain of its aspects, and a belief in
visions and messages, and the result was sure; the "Messiah" arose with a
universal panacea for the ills of mankind. If he (very often she) did not
make the claim, it was made for him. Carried away by the magnetic force, the
eloquence, the courage, the single idea of the apostle pro tem, numbers, for
very varied reasons, accepted him or her as the revelator of the hour and of
all time. . . .

Some of these apostles denounce alike Spiritualism and Theosophy; some
accept the latter, but weave it anew into a version of their own; and some
have apparently arisen, independently of any other cult, through the force
of their own or somebody else's conviction. . . .

There is an avowed re-incarnation of Buddha in the United States, and an
avowed re-incarnation of Christ. Both have followers; both have been
interviewed and said their best. They and others like unto them have had
signs, illuminations, knowledge not common to men, and events pointing in a
marked way to this their final destiny. There has even been a whisper here
and there of supernatural births. . . . Each seems to be putting the crown
upon his own head.

If Theosophy had done nothing else, it would have made a demand on human
gratitude in placing the truth and falsehood of these psychic experiences,
unfoldments, or delusions as the case might be, plainly before the people,
and explaining their rationale. . . . Wherever Theosophy spreads, there it
is impossible for the deluded to mislead, or the deluded to follow. It opens
a new path, a forgotten philosophy which has lived through the ages, a
knowledge of the psychic nature of man, which reveals alike the true status
of the Catholic saint, and the spiritualistic medium the Church condemns. .
. . It hushes the "Lo here! and lo there!" and declares the Christ, like the
kingdom of heaven, to be within. . . .

To enumerate the various "Messiahs" and their beliefs and works would fill
volumes. It is needless. When claims conflict, all, on the face of it,
cannot be true. Some have taught less error than others. It is almost the
only distinction. . . .

Of one thing, rationally-minded people, apart from Theosophists, may be
sure. And that is, service for humanity is its all-sufficient reward; and
that empty jars are the most resonant of sound. To know a very little of the
philosophy of life, of man's power to redeem wrongs and to teach others, to
perceive how to thread the tangled maze of existence on this globe, and to
accomplish aught of lasting and spiritual benefit, is to annihilate all
desire or thought of posing as a heaven-sent saviour of the people. For a
very little self-knowledge is a leveller indeed, and more democratic than
the most ultra-radical can desire. The best practical reformers of the
outside abuses we have known, such as slavery, deprivation of the rights of
woman, legal tyrannies, oppressions of the poor, have never dreamed of
posing as Messiahs. . . .

With the advent of Theosophy, the Messiah-craze surely has had its day, and
sees its doom. . . .

Saviours to their race, in a sense, have lived and will live. Rarely has one
been known. Rare has been the occasion when thus to be known has been either
expedient or possible. . . .

LUCIFER (London), July, 1890, pp. 379-383
http://www.blavatsky.net/blavatsky/arts/ModernApostlesAndPseudoMessiahs.htm
Also reprinted in HPB's COLLECTED WRITINGS, Volume XII, pp. 256-262.








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