The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-12-08
THE THEOSOPHISTS.

THE IHEOSOIHIOIO
A cable dispatch from London the
26th inst. states that Mrs. Annie
Besant, the high priest of TheosCphy,
allied on the City of New York on
Wednesday last for the United States.
She comes to this country to preach
Theosophy, which is both a science
and a religion.
The Theosophists believe in
the ransubstantiation of the
soul, that it lives in one
human body for while and de-
serts it at pleasure to take up its resi-
dence in another. Several of them
profess to remember to have lived in
the body of men eminent in the re-
public of Rome as we'll as the empire.
They all have an "astral" body into
which they can take refuge under a
trance from the human body into an
other which partakes so much
of spiritual that they can
at will visit any part of
the world and communicate it'll
their friends in this and in the spirit.
ual world.
A professional gentleman of high
character declares that, with a strong
glass, he saw an astral body form it.
self from the physical body of The
osophist. He says that he first per-
ceived a blue light apparently ema-
mating from the heart of the man and
forming itself into the misty outlines
of a human body, but this mist
became more and more definite
in outline until a body was
formed, which was the exact counter
part of the man from whom it ema-
mated.
AS the body became distinct he de-
scribed it as much more perfect in
proportion, graceful in outline and
dignified and commanding in appear
ance, the face shining with an intel
lectual and moral light and exquisite
beauty never seen in the human
body.
This gentleman is man of high
professional standing, singularly
clear in his intellect, and remarkable
for his common sense and judgment.
His character for veracity and moral
excellence in public and private has
never been questioned. So high does
he stand that those intimate with him
would receive any extraordinary fact
he stated as the best kind of evidence
on account of his conscientiousness
and his keen capacity to discover and
expose imposition.
There are thousands of just such
men who have declared that
they have attended the funeral of a
friend and have seen the spirit of the
friend materialize and stand by the
coffin wherein was his dead body,
positive in the fact that they saw
both the dead and living body.
These are men singularly gifted
with Intellectual and moral qualities
that would confirm their statements
on any other subject. Can it be an
optical delusion attributable to some
disease of the nerves of the eye? fit
is, why is not the disease more gen.
eral and why is it that they never see
ID brute materialize?
Perhaps Shakespeare uttered a
greater truth than he was aware OF
when he made Hamlet say "There are
more things in heaven and earth
Horatio than thy philosophy ever
dreamed Of" Hotspur's WEIGH cousin
he "could call spirits from the
vastly deep" when Hotspur replied,
$50 can 1, but they will not come"
The greater number of us mortals,
the overwhelming majority, are like
Hotspur, we can call the spirits
but they will not come. But
who can dare say that
because this majority, like Mr.. Cleve-
lands, is so overwhelming that the
minority can not do things we know
nothing about, beyond the ken of
ordinary men and women.
Modern supernatural things have
made such deep impression on the
best intellects of the country that
while they do not assent to the powers
claimed by some spiritualistic med
iums they can not refute the state.
ments made, and their minds are in
condition of suspension of judgment,
RELOCATING such subjects to the field of
with the conclusion that
it may be true, but that they are
neither convinced of its truth or false
hood.
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