Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00154)

January 10, 2006





Dear Friends: 



Here is the final -- Part 4 SYNTHESIS OF OCCULT SCIENCE





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Part 4 SYNTHESIS OF OCCULT SCIENCE





IV





In the foregoing articles, necessarily brief and fragmentary, a few points
have been given to show the general bearing of the Secret Doctrine on all
problems in Nature and in Life.



Synthesis is the very essence of philosophy -- "the combination of separate
elements of thought into a whole" -- the opposite of analysis, and analysis
is the very essence of science.



In the "Outline of the Secret Doctrine" by "C. J.," now running through the
pages of Lucifer, this philosophy or synthesis of the whole is made very
clear.



There have been many philosophisers in modern times, but there can be but
one philosophy, one synthesis of the whole of Eternal Nature. 





PLATO



With the single exception of the writings of Plato, no one in modern times
had given to the Western world any approximation to a complete philosophy,
previous to the appearance of H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. The
writings of Plato are carefully veiled in the symbolical language of
initiation. 



The Secret Doctrine, coming more than two millenniums later, and in an age
of so-called Science, is addressed to the Scientific thought of the age, and
hence considers the whole subject largely from the stand-point of Science.
The present age is as deficient in philosophy as was the age of Plato in
knowledge of science. 



It follows, therefore, that while the Secret Doctrine itself apprehends
equally both philosophy and science, in addressing itself to the thought of
an age it must recognize here, as it does everywhere, the law of cycles that
rules in the intellectual development of a race no less than in the
revolutions of suns and worlds, and so address the times from that plane of
thought that is in the ascendant. 



It is just because analytical thought is in the ascendant, because it is the
thought-form of the age, that the great majority of readers are likely to
overlook the broad synthesis and so miss the philosophy of the Secret
Doctrine. The only object of these brief and fragmentary papers has been to
call attention to this point.



We are now in a transition period, and in the approaching twentieth century
there will be a revival of genuine philosophy, and the Secret Doctrine will
be the basis of the "New Philosophy." 





SCIENCE





Science today, in the persons of such advanced students as Keely, Crookes,
Lodge, Richardson, and many others, already treads so close to the borders
of occult philosophy that it will not be possible to prevent the new age
from entering the occult realm. 



H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine is a storehouse of scientific facts, but
this is not its chief value. These facts are placed, approximately at least,
in such relation to the synthesis or philosophy of occultism as to render
comparatively easy the task of the student who is in search of real
knowledge, and to further his progress beyond all preconception, provided he
is teachable, in earnest, and intelligent. 



Nowhere else in English literature is the Law of Evolution given such sweep
and swing. It reminds one of the ceaseless under-tone of the deep sea, and
seems to view our Earth in all its changes "from the birth of time to the
crack of doom." 



It follows man in his triple evolution, physical, mental, and spiritual,
throughout the perfect circle of his boundless life. Darwinism had reached
its limits and a rebound. Man is indeed evolved from lower forms. But which
man? the physical? the psychical? the intellectual? or the spiritual? 



The Secret Doctrine points where the lines of evolution and involution meet;
where matter and spirit clasp hands; and where the rising animal stands face
to face with the fallen god; for all natures meet and mingle in man.



Judge no proposition of the Secret Doctrine as though it stood alone, for
not one stands alone. Not "independence" here more than with the units that
constitute Humanity. It is interdependence everywhere; in nature, as in
life.





KARMA AND REINCARNATION





Even members of the T.S. have often wondered why H.P.B. and others well
known in the Society lay so much stress on doctrines like Karma and
Reincarnation. It is not alone because these doctrines are easily
apprehended and beneficent to individuals, not only because they furnish, as
they necessarily do, a solid foundation for ethics, or all human conduct,
but because they are the very key-notes of the higher evolution of man. 



Without Karma and Reincarnation evolution is but a fragment; a process whose
beginnings are unknown, and whose outcome cannot be discerned; a glimpse of
what might be; a hope of what should be. But in the light of Karma and
Reincarnation evolution becomes the logic of what must be. 



The links in the chain of being are all filled in, and the circles of reason
and of life are complete. Karma gives the eternal law of action, and
Reincarnation furnishes the boundless field for its display. Thousands of
persons can understand these two principles, apply them as a basis of
conduct, and weave them into the fabric of their lives, who may not be able
to grasp the complete synthesis of that endless evolution of which these
doctrines form so important a part. In thus affording even the superficial
thinker and the weak or illogical reasoner a perfect basis for ethics and an
unerring guide in life. 



Theosophy is building toward the future realization of the Universal
Brotherhood and the higher evolution of man. But few in this generation
realize the work that is thus undertaken, or how much has already been
accomplished. The obscurity of the present age in regard to genuine
philosophical thought is nowhere more apparent than in the manner in which
opposition has been waged toward these doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation.




In the seventeen years since the Theosophical movement has been before the
world there has not appeared, from any source, a serious and logical attempt
to discredit these doctrines from a philosophical basis. There have been
denial, ridicule, and denunciation ad nauseum. There could be no discussion
from such a basis, for from the very beginning these doctrines have been put
forth and advocated from the logical and dispassionate plane of philosophy.
Ridicule is both unanswerable and unworthy of answer. It is not the
argument, but the atmosphere of weak minds, born of prejudice and ignorance.



The synthesis of occultism is therefore the philosophy of Nature and of
Life; the full -- or free--truth that apprehends every scientific fact in
the light of the unerring processes of Eternal Nature.



The time must presently come when the really advanced thinkers of the age
will be compelled to lay by their indifference, and their scorn and conceit,
and follow the lines of philosophical investigation laid down in the Secret
Doctrine. Very few seem yet to have realized how ample are these resources,
because it involves a process of thought almost unknown to the present age
of empiricism and induction. It is a revelation from archaic ages,
indestructible and eternal, yet capable of being obscured and lost; capable
of being again and again reborn, or like man himself--reincarnated.



"He who lives in one color of the rainbow is blind to the rest. Live in the
Light diffused through the entire arc, and you will know it all."--THE PATH.



"He who knows not the common things of life is a beast among men. He who
knows only the common things of life is a man among beasts. He who knows all
that can be learned by diligent inquiry is a god among men."--Plato.



W Q J PATH,
November, 1891,



February, March, May, 1892






Best wishes, 



Dallas





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