The morning call., 1892-11-05
WHAT is THEOSOPHY7
A Brief Explanation Furnished by On
OF Its Discipies

Brief Explanation Furnished by One
of Its Disciples.
Theosophy is by no means as unfamiliar
word as it was but three years ago. saws
Alexander Fullerton in recent ESSAY. vet
its meaning is little more known TO most
wto hear it. II they connect with it any
Idea at all that idea is probably of mvsteri-
Gus adopts In the Himalayas, or marvellous
feats performed by Nine. Blavatsky, or
strange doctrines in strange words as to
evolution of souls. Still there is no doubt
that theosophieal literature is spreading
aud that It's topics are arOuSing discussion
IN private circles. sometimes even in puIpits
so that IL one wishes 10 be au eourant with
all new thought he must aequaint himself
with this.
Theosophy is science, philosophy
and religion. It investigates the things
that are. why they are ana what they ought
TO be, and 1t does so upon planes within
regions ana through resources possessed by
no other system. Its range is the universe
and everything therein, and a IS that includes
other grades of matter than that we see and
touch, and other forms of life aud force
than those our scientists recognize, it must
make use of additional faculties and accent
evidence from additional Witnesses But
as the greatest object of interest TO man is
himself, his nature, history and destiny, it
expounds with special fullneSs the facts
concerning him, facts which have largely
familiar elsewhere and in ages past the
property of all.
The two central facts are reincarnation
aud karma. ReincarnatiOn means that his
present life is but one of many that each
man undergoes on earth, his evolution from
ignorance to GOd-like knowledge recurring
repeated embOdiments in this scene of ex-
perience. Very little. as we are all con-
| scious, can be accomplished in the few
years oil one-and that perhaps an unfavor-
ah nd ha l.
continued till its end is reached. This was
the universal belief of the past; IL has been
| held by many of the greatest sages in his
toric times; 1t is embedded in the principal
religions OF the world; and it is rapidly
emerging from the seclusion long forced
upon 1t In the West. 1t seems strange until
We think II out; then we see that nothing
else is reasonable, satisfactory. explanatory
Of our own state and that of all men,
harmoniZing with all other facts in nature
society and humanity.
Ksrma is the universal law of cause and
effect; as bearing upon man, the law that
lie reaps whatever he has sOwn. His char
acter is the result of his own efforts, his
condition the result of his own acts. Per-
feet, fawless justice, which will not let an
evil be unpublished or a good be unre-
warded, sees that every merit or demerit
brings about Its exact due, net by any arbi-
traIy interference, but upon the same prin-
| cipie that stone hurled into the air returns
with like momentum. No man can blame
fate or destiny or chance or God for his lot;
he has made it for himself in bygone incar-
nations, and is making it afresh in the
days of this. His present stage of
mind. thought. taste, conscience. happiness
expresses the point he has reached
in the course he has pursued during ages
DOW hidden from view; If he is not more
advanced il is because he wasted time or
committed evil. And il later incarnation
is to be a betterment it can only be as he
betters himself. fits himself for higher
levels. earns the right to In ore knowledge or
joy.
The two doctrines are the vital essence of
the whole theosophical system. They have
numberless corollaries and ramifcatious,
and a study of these explains the enigmas
of life. clears up its perplexities and fertti-
ICES its motives. No small part of theoso-
phic literature is devoted to explication of
the bearings reinearnation and karma have
on all human interests