The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-08
"SCULPTORS, YOUR
Hewing Perfection From
the Rough.
WHAT REMUNERATION IS.
Mrs. Annie Besant i'm Her Last Lecture
Tells of the Upward Struggles
of the Soul.

Coming out with the crowd that had
filed Metropolitan Hall last night to listen
to Mrs Annie Besanfs farewell lecture on
"Reincarnation-Its Evidences" babel OF
comments struck the ear.
''How loyable and womanly she Isl" was
one that typed them all, seeming to cpl
tomize the strong impression of absolute
trueness to herself which the priestess Of
theosophy COW eys in her lectures.
She stood forth TO the audience as this
very embodiment Of positive conviction and
authoritative truth.
And she had just been saying: "Tbe last
evidence of the theoSophical theory of re-
incarnation which | shall present to you is
the weakest Of all unless you already possess
it and that is your own knowledge or
memory of your past lives.
Yet. when unverifable evidence is laid
before you by person whom you believe to
be of good character and whom you believe
to be absolutely honest and true, you must
judge that evidence by that witness char
acter.
'ADd so here tonight say to you that
reincarnation is true /; it is not an hypothesis
or theory but an actual, absolute certainty"
Mrs Besant explained that reincarna-
ton. as the central as well as the most
interesting feature of theosophy, was no
new thing, having been incorporated in
every system Of religion except the
Christian religion, which had rejected it
during the past 1900 years.
1t was q simple theory and easy to grasp
by any one who would accept the ordinary
doctrine of body, soul and spirit.
"The body is the transitory part; the
spirit The divine essence in man, immortal
and universal.
But the term soul describes distinctly
the human principle of man, the principle
capable of progress, capable Of evolution,
the source of the human will, including
Judgment, reason and intuition. This is
the part which is renearnaied.
''As the spirit is that which universities
man. SO the soul is that which indivIdualzes
man it is the dividing part.
Evolution brings the soul gradually into
harmony with the spirit. not making a
monotone but mighty chord which may
some day breathe letter Of the Almighty
name.
'The soul comes TO earth and In body
learns experience; then comes death, when
the, physical and astral (body and spirlJ go
TO pieces, leaving the soul as the basis of
the next life. After rest it enters into a
new body
"As to what determines environment.
sex, parentage and other details of rencar-
nation / wish to say 1 do not know CON-
pletely."
With this candid reservation, Mrs. Besant
gave her opinion as to what determined sex
as the necessity for the thinking soul to
gather different types of experience. In
this way many men may formerly have
been womer, and vice versa, an hypothesis
which excited smile in the light of the
common structures passed upon each sex by
the other.
Whatever you desire most strongly will
determine you in your next incarnation.
Souls or egOs seeking reincarDation are nat
urally attracted to parents of congenial
character. Hence the enormous Importance
of character in parents"
The evidences OF reincarnation presented
by the lecturer, who. although Ter dark
ringed eyes betrayed WEAKNESS. spoke with
all her accustomed unhesitating vigor, were,
briefly: the startling differences In mental
and moral force found in man as compared
with those found in the lower animals; the
differen ces found in the limits of family the
surprising burstings forth of genius; the
infant preeoeity; the relative differences of
capacity in men, the natural attractions
and repuisions among men; the return OF
historical cycles. and. lastly, the eyidsnce Of
personal recollection OF former life-experi-
ences.
All these conditions, Mrs. Besant showed,
favored the theory of reincarnation. which
she claimed is the only theory which will
account for them on a rational basis.
On the point of a return of historical
cycles the lecturer said that the term of re-
incarnation had been set at IL, 600 years.
The present age, with its great in tele ciual
aspect and It's recrudeseence OF brutal de-
light in prizefghts, she compared to the Au-
GUSTAV period of Roman history, with its
galaxy of men of letters and its gladiatorial
circus.
Incidentally the speaker expressed her
disgust at the space given by some local
papers to the details Of pugiism.
As to the last evidence. that of personal
recollection of past lives. Mrs. Besant said
"You cannot all remember your past expert
enee. but your ego, your soul, knows it all
Until your brain vibrates in answer to the
delicate impulses of the ego it cannot re-
member. 1t is simply matter OF training"
whole Of our thoughts" and 1t was par
ticularly impressed upon the audience that
the changes in Karmn and in the system of
reincarnation were all under law.
1t had been objected that this subsection
to law led to fatallsm.
docs knowledge OF the laws of nature,
such as gravity. lead to fatalism ?" asked
the teacher son the contrary, you use
your knowledge to build firmly. and 80 will
it be on the mental and moral plane
"Karma, good or bad, does not mean sur
cess or failure in the world. 1t is good or
bad as it brings to the soul new knowledge
and experience. Evil circumstances help
to develop the heroic soul. The hero has
had to pay the price Of heaviest tribula-
ton in order to purchase the power Of re-
demption to contribute TO the world.
Looking at men see them as sculptors,
bewing away the rough marble to release
the perfect. divine figure within the block.
I'VE work with the chisel of clrcum-
stances, urged by the mallet of the will.
"Chip by chip the unneeded fragments
fall away and the sculptor whispers 1t is
not an embarrassing block of marble; don't
you see the figure Within and so he tolls.
from stage to stage and life 10 life, until
finally the last delicate touches are given
and the perfect figure which he saw in the
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