Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-03-02

animals he was Suuer1ug reInOESe iToiu ~
in this life and put himself out nearly every
day of the world to befriend horses. Queer,
wasn't it, These people are all sincere In
what they say. Pythagoras is much
quoted and initiated Some Of the
the upbuilding of their spiritual
nature with faith and fervor equal to that
of the anchor,tes of old Mrs. Josephine W.
Gables. editor of The Occult World, at
Rochester. is famous for being extra
ordinarily high up in soul matters.
She is described as delicate creature, with
an almost transparent body. who has the
power to produce soothing influences In
addition to her editoria duties, she does the
greater part of the homework for nine
boarders runs a hospital for amin ais, and
manages home for broken-down spirit
media. People visit her from far. and con-
slider it privilege TO so much as enter her
presence. One wonders why the powers
don't help her worldly fortunes.
Some Of the wealthy people of New
York are the most Jealous iheosophlsts.
They open their parlors to its di ciples and
express themselves as anxious to devote their
lives to it. Some go abroad TO be instructed
in its preceps.
There are both philosophy and phenomena
tointere7t the people who investigate. Though
it is generally concede that since Nine.
Blavatsky departed there is no ore to pro-
duce the phenomena or work wonders.
She did queer things, they say. The highest
forego meat eating altogether They say
that when We are really refined in spirit we
will all shudder at the thought of eating
he-h Some go so far as to urge that each
person eat in solitude. The objection to so
ciable eating is that each one eats some of
the bodies of the other each body giving of
an invisb bic substance which is absorbed
partly by the food, and thereby conveyed
into the bodies of all the other eaters. l
thought of this when l came down town in
street car one bitter cold morning not long
since Each persons breath ma e a cloud of
steam yard in length, going out to be
breathed up by other brea hers-very dis
agreeable were some of these breaths and
bodies So we really do swallow more
of each other than we are anxious to.
Among the tales of queer phenomena we
hear plenty of talk about astral bodies"
otherwise our spiritual bodies spoken of by
st. Paul. Certain ''adepts" in theosophy
claim to be alb e to dissssociate their astral
from their material bodies and in this weird
shape roam around Any shock 10 the
astral body is likely to prove fatal to the
life of the roamer, since it breaks the chord
that binds him to his earthly body, which
sleeps while this is going on. heard lady,
addicted to travelling in her astral body
relate some experiences recently She was
flying around the air among some friends
greatly exciting their wonder but any mo-
ton that indicated a wish to lay hands on
her cauSe1 her to scream out Don't touch
mel don't touch mel" Even in her spiritual
form she W is aware of the danger of con-
tact. A case of death from too much
recreation in An astral form is whispered
among the faithful. A lady in the
upper ranks was found dead in her bed one
morning with only a sill hit bruise on her
temple Her friends knew that sh, was in
the habit of making trips about the city in
her astral BODY, and had head her tell that
she was often propelled with such force
through the air that she was afraid of strik-
ing her head on the elevated railroad When
she was found dead in her bed they made up
their minds that the elevated raj road had
done it, The doctor put forth no such views,
but doctors so materiastic' they
said TheoSophists believe that af .er years
of devotion they will be able to develop
powers of which the average man, wrapped
in the environment o. materia!ty doe not
even DIR am. Dr. Eliot Coues a professor at
the Smithsonian institu ion is a shining the
osophs'. H. had someh ng of a struggle
to find his soul, but having found it, as he
says, scientifically, he is rather proud of it,
an II talks about it good deal He is presi-
dent of the society at Washington, and has
to do with psychic matters quite largely. A
well-known man of science in this city is
lone of them,' though he is not given to
Of Ind, ic
rather untaught TO Tx much about it,
Some OF The litera ur, given out by the
society in India is NOR confu, ing to the I'M
initiated than Chinese noptrv Kill out
ambition. kill out sensation kill out desire
for growth" are few of the ru ,es of action
laid down by those in aush oritv Per-
haps the most curious thing in all
their queer beliefs is the faith these
intellectual BuddhSts have in what
thev call ''the brotherhood or mahatmas
certain wise beings who live several hundred
years never mix with humankind except in
the astral form and are capable of carry
ing substantial things from one end of the
globe to the o,her in minute, and know all
things. Nobody has ever seen a mahatma
in his flesh nd bloc body Indeed. poouar
faith accredits hem with having scarcely any
flesh and blood to speak of, though loaded
down with occult riches Believe in them,
Most assurediy they do Any good theo
sophiSt will fight for these mahatmas as
doggedly as the most ortho lox MARTYR held
out for his one true God. They take them
on faith. and hold fast to them on princple
Ii is only just 10 the theosophic fraternity
to say that they have places 20 stop in
awhile between their successive embodi-
ments. Evea for them they use my,tifying
Hindu ternls instead of respectable English
The good rest in Devachan. the bad in
Avitchl 1t is comforting to the weary to
know that 500 years is the least time per
mitted any one in either place They can't
possibly como back and be reincarnated or
have their dip in the mud as the process
is derisiveiy called any sooner ANY one
who cared to come back sooner must have a
keener relish for flesh and blood existence
than most of us have.
"Avitchi IS a state of the most ideal
spiritual wicke lness. some thing akin to the
state OF Lucifer. as Milton has described if
These learned Buddhists smile when it is
alleged that the acts of the sixty or seventy
years-''tha laundering, helpless acts of
ignorant human life, are permitted by tho
perfect justice of an all wise Prov .dence to
deiine the conditions of that later life of
Infinite duration" One favorite text is that
OF the most prominent of Budlha $ disciples
who sad; Il long not for deata; long not
for life; | wait till mine hour comes, like n
servant who aw1iteth his reward
-, II e utmost purity of life and character ia
the theosophic road 10 exalted happiness
Inc law OF KIN mess must be obeyed if one
hopes for anvf hing iess than misery in the
next re-emoodment In short. YOU will Get
what You give out, both now an forever.
GERTRUDE GARRISON