The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-05-17
ALWAYS WIDE-AWAKE.
Never Undersold.

altruism. Spirit, in its struggles with the
forces of nature, has lost its singleness OF
perception in the bewIldering allurements
OF an earth-born love; and on turning back
to worship at the source Of its spiritual ex-
istence, it is blinded by the flashes of bod
lily passion which play across the mental
horizon, and lend SO wierd beauty to it's
earthly life; while it is smothered in the
fumes of desires which rise from the phys
ical booy, THAT work shop of the Divine
Ego and envelope the clear mirror Of tha
soul in ever changing and deceptive shad-
ows. Thus man has ceased to realize the
strength of the bonds which bind him to
his fellows, making the. good of one the
good OF all. and the misery and degradation
OF a single human being the special curse
and active destroyer of the human race.
Inc separateness Of personal aims and am
oltlons-and egoism-have become a neces-
slty OF modern progress; since competition
and the survival Of the tittest in the strup-
gle OF life are held to be the only means by
which advancement in civilization can be-
made. The wisdom religion meets the I'M
reasonable contradiction of our age TINS
shown in the bitter strife of man against
man, under the 8gis of q Christianity
breathing the slncerest spirit of brotherly
love; with the two grandly philosophical
doctrines Of Karma and Reincarnation We
say that every religion and every sect may,
II traced far enough back through the re-,
llglous history of mankind, be shown to
have common origin in one world wide re-
liglon. SO that while the theory Of Karma
and Reincarnation should lead to a practi-
cal expression of the feeling OF universal
brotherhood, the comparative study of re-
llg1ous dogmaS should by synthesiziue them
tend to reconcile sectarian difficulties and
n Inod To Of fAI11,
men OF every cline and every social sphere
We say that in the beginning all men held
to one belief; and in the Secret DoctriueD
written by Madame Blavatsky,a mass of in
teresting information is collected in proof
of this assertion. Briefly, men lived in the
possession of spiritual knowledge COM
mon to all. This 0nOSis becoming vulgar
lied by the more complete immersion of
spirit in matter (typified in the biblical
story of the fall took on the sacerdotaI
form and the physical necessities of the
personal man. Then followed of necessity
the confusion of tongues, or the splitting
up OF spiritual knowledge into creeds and
dogmas. The strife between spirit and
matter good and evil had hitherto been
cnofned to the moulding Of the physical
envelope of qudsi-ethereal man; but with
the more perfect formation Of the animal
body through which spirit tries to mani
fest itself on earth, this internecine strife
nursG through the limits OF the now fully
indvidualized clay, the human form, and
carried on its spiritual warfare into the ex
ternal relations of man with man. Ma
lions and families plunged into those relig-
ious wars and disputes recorded in history.
and which are alike disgrace to human
reason and to human love. But when it is
clearly understood that these are but the
natural result of spirit striving to recognize
itself through the mists that rise from the
feyerish activity of earthly life; when, in
fact, perfectly reasonable and philosophi-
cal conception of the origin and cause Of
this multiplicity of creeds-this splitting
up of divine knowledge been acquired,
then it is natural to hope that the brother
hood Of man may cease to be a dream and
become practically effective, unhindered-
as it must then be-by any requirements
of the denial or acceptance Of particular be-
liefs; each religion being recognized as a
just, if partial reflection of the one great
universal truth, necessary to give express
sion to the particular mental characters
tics of those peoples or nations among
whom it may have grown up.-Thos. VIII
liams, Fellow Theosophical society.