The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-12-31
THE DESTINY OF MANKIND
Mrs. Annie Besant's Lecture at
Unity Church.
Doctrines of Theosophv Clearly and Flo.
auensly Presented b. aciited Speaker
-How the Animal Is to Be.
ONT Divine.
Sioux CITY Tribune. Dec. 10.

~ @'bS hhO SNNttIds ~ " 0os
come Divine.
Sioux City Tribune, Dec. 10:
So much has been written of Mrs.
Annie Besant and her work and his
tory that her audiences are inclined to
anticipate something which they may
not get. Those who expect to be ear
ried away from themselves and their
terrestrial surroundings by the magic
of personal magnetism and matchlcss
eloquencc are disappointed, for they
find only an erect, well developed
oma in 4 becoming costume Of black
with a pale, strong face, very
pleasant to look at. who
speaks in deep, m%elodious
voice. giving the educated English
mans full. round lone to each of the
vowels. A pair of thoughtful dark
eyes occasionally look directly into
perfectly constructed sentences is
smooth and placid with no rapids or
cascades, but with no stagnant pools.
Her illustrations are poctical and well
chosen. Her development of the sub
ject is logical and easily followed, but
none of the wells are lifted. and her lis
tencrs who have read go away
with a not much deeper insight
into the mysteries of theosophy
than they had when they came. List
ening to her is like reading Longfel-
lows poetry, not exciting o thrilling,
but an agreeable and stimulating men
tai effort.
She had Il splendid audience at Unity
church Saturday night, notonly in num-
bers but in intelligence which gave the
closest attention to her lecture on the
development of Man from the Animal
to the Divine" She was introduced
briefly by DR.. Ross. president of the
local t%heosophical society.
After dwelling forcibly on the con-
she explained that theosophy came
in its system embraced and harmpn-
lied the three. In every man there are
the three elements-the animal, the man
or human and the divine-the physical,
the intellectual and the spiritual or re-
ligious. and the evolution TO the divine,
the complete and perfect man, the
browning point in the development has
taken place in the past is going on now
and will continue until perfection is
reached. The animal MAJ consists of
all those powers and properties which
he possesses in common with the lower
animals the physical body, the astral
o Il etneria, body as theoSnp!iists call it,
the life and the DasSionat and
emotional nature. All that is
perishable at death is animal.
Opposed to this is the
spiritual man. eternal and imperish-
able. which death cannot touch and
which remains always the same. Be-
tween the two is what Paul calls the
soul, and what we call the human. the
man, the intellectual reasoning
element which touches the
two poles. 1t is the bridge
between them, the link which makes
possible the evolution of the divine
from the animal. And it is the agent
through which is worked the actual
development. These arc the three
parts of nan and everyone has some
time realized their separate and dis
tinct existence. In times of strong
overmastering temptation there is
heard n restraining voice and between
the two there exists. conscious
of its existence, the man, able to
chose between the two.
Evolution ~thcosophists regard as u
circle through which the divine gradu-
ally embodies itself into matter. Sci
ence tells how the invisible becomes
visible, how from the mists of the be-
ginning We're evolved the world, the
,,,n,-1Jrerr t1,, ,,;,,,r., ,,,J an e1,nt -
habit and occupy them. but science
loses sight of the divine and in this
the theories of Huxley and Spencer
We're defective. No evolution is posi-
BILE without i%nvolution From the
acorn is evolved the oak, but in tue
acorn the oak first involves its forces
and potcntialities. SO it must
have been with the uni
verse. In the invisible nebulpe
was involved the germ of the divine.
Science teaehes that the organ pre-
codes the function. T~heosophy claims
that the function precedes and creates
the orgu.. In the primal form of life,
the little serapof protoplasn, there are
no organs, They eat without IA mouth.
digest without n stomach, and move
without feet. The exercise of the
function develops the organ. Here is
the difference between science and re-
ligion, that lift. builds up matter and
not that matter develops life.
Evolution therefore is the result of
the life involved in the mat
ter and guiding it into higher
and higher forms. The evolu-
ton of man is the develop
ment Of the life. The physical man
was SO built. All the forces of nature
We're active and brooded over by the
divine spirit. All the planets of the
solar system have contributed to the
body. Sir William Thompson specu-
lated that the particles from which this
world was evolved may have come from
some other planet and indeed we did
come from the moon and t~heosophists
speak Of lunar ancestors. The inf1u-
ences of the moon are felt everywhere.
1t affects diseases, periods of CESSATION
i'll all forms of life are governed by it,
time all the world over is regulated
by it. 1t is seven days in the week
all the world over We have five senses.
but there is m old proverb which
speaks of the seven senses. The sixth
is beginning to develop now. We see
it now more pronounced in a certain
type of Americans than elsewhere. In
this country there are more of what we
call sensitiyes. p%sychics, mediums.
These are they in whom the sixth sense
is beginning to develop. Between
them waves of thought are transmitted
without the use of speech. The sew
enth sense is what We call the spiritual
intuition, and it has only developed in
such men as Buddha and Christ.
All these are evolved from
the one sense of touch. All the
senses are arFreciations of vibrations.
The universe is recognized by nan not
as it is but us it is limited by his senses.
There are vibrations beyond those