Los Angeles herald., 1893-01-09
FROM ORTHODOX TO THEOSOPH,
The Varied Mental Career OF
Mrs. Annie Besant.
She Relates How Her Changes OF
Belief Came About.
er Interpretation of the Tenets OF
Theosophy-Thought Transfer
ences-The Non-Resist-
ance Doctrine.

view with her recently published:
"I was an orthodox Christian first"
SAID Mrs. Besant. "Then I changed to
a materialist. could not hold the
tenets of the church any longer, nor
could | at that time see aught but the
world.
II became Socialist. 1t was then l
wrote the population treatise founded
on the Malthusian theory that popula-
tion has tendency to increase faster
than the means of subsistence.
"Yes; / still believe this is true. l
have read Henry Georges refutation OF
that doctrine. but disagree with him.
"Yet do not now seek to enforce the
conclusions that the Malthusian theory
brings the materiaHst to, that the in
crease of population should be restricted
by artificial means.
Now see that every babe born into
the world gives a dlsembodied soul its
reincarnation
"How did cone to believe this? The
answer is simple.
Il studied tie P ienGmera OF mesmer-
ism and hypno 5isfa. ! saw that though
the body were as iesa the intelligence
lived and acted. res lied there was
more of man than Re utter clay.
81 went on in IL s sort of research. l
read few theosop ica works. These
led me 10 Sinner books. Then l met
Nine. Blavatsky I iked the privilege
of being her pupil. 4 I'D go it came that
1 studied under he with her and be-
l. :, tt.fa fr,a
''When she aiga sbs left certain
work for me 20 DO. am doing that
work now. 1t W5s TO aid in spreading
the light and p pcopagating the true reli-
gion-theosophy
"What are ths tenets of theosophy :?
There is but ore has is mandatory for
those who would joi9 our society. That
is the belief in the brotherhood OF
man.
"Reincarnati0n is not test of ones
belief in theosophy, but it is the gener-
ally accepted belief Of theosophists.
"Reincarnstion is different from the
So called ransmigration of souls. The
latter belief puts the souls of men into
the bodies of the lower animals.
'Reincarnation means the evolution
OF the soul of man through various
earthly embodiments. Before a soul
can be united with the divine spirit it
must pass through many successive re-
incarnations. 1t must be born again
and again into the world, each time in
habiting body that is superior or in
ferior to its last abiding place, according
as to its progression or retrogression
when last on earth.
"What are the evidences OF reincarna
tion? They are many. There is the
failure of beredity to transmis the tai
ents of great men into the children.
There is the great difference in the
character and disposition of children
born of the same family. There is even
the great difference so often marked in
twiae, where there is the parental as
we'll as the heredity principle set aside.
'sIt is that the souls of different egos
have entered the bodies of the children
that makes this marked difference.
"We see Shakespeare spring from
ignorant and vulgar parents. The law Of
heredity is completely abrogated here.
"Thsn there aIe the recurrence Of the
cycles in history. Here the law Of re-
incarnation may be studied to better ad-
vantage than in the individual. Com
pare the Rome of Augustus with the
England Of Elizabeth, or the fourth CEN
tury after Christ with the present.
"The similarity of these periods ar
CUES that the same egos were embodied
in both ages. There are many such in
stances in history.
"Where does the child get its charac-
teristics? 1t is born with marked in
dividuality of its own. We regard the
evil Or good disposition of the child as
but the result of the previous existence
of its own soul.
els it not logical?
mo, we do not believe in an arbitrary
being that rules the universe at will.
We believe in an eternal self of which
the whole universe is but one of it's ex-
pressions.
Through reincarnation mans eoul
becomes purified until it finally unit, g
with she spirit from which it springs.
Eyes; there are many who can re-
member something of their previous ex-
periences in other embodiments.
Have you never met person you
had never seen before, yet for whom you
felt a certain attraction or repuision,
though you could not tell why? think
that is one of the instances which go to
prove that we have had previous exist
ences We have met that ego in for
mer embodiment.
Aud some great spirils who have be-
come purified and are ready to unite
with the eternal have chosen to remain
on earth till the evolution of all man
kind ia accomplished.
81 think Christ was one of these -
L. -
ferences or mental telepathy was but a
short step. Mrs. Besant is equally at
home here.
sit is only matter OF concentrating
the will power" she said. 1.-The mole
cules Of the brain are immersed in the
ali pervading ether. When the brain g
molecules are set in motion by thought
they vibrate and set in motion, like the
rippeR Of water. thesmolecules of ether.
Now it only requires concentration
of thought and the exercise of will
power TO give these rippIes the desired
direction. And when, properly directed,
they strike the brain molecules of an
other pereon the thought transference is
complete. There is nothing supernatu-
raj about that"
Mrs. Resant takes issue with Tolstoi
in his extreme doctrine of non-res:st-
aEce.
suppose one should see man beat
ing boy? / think we should interfere,
not violently perhaps yet with love, and
without anger we ehould save the boy ii
possible rolstoi, if have understood
A Million Friends.
A friend in need is a friend indeed, ana not
less than ore million people have found just