Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-09-07
THEOSOPHY REVIEWED.
An Abstract OF DR.. Dean Ciarke,s
Lecture.

Lecture.
DR.. Dean Clarke, the we'll known
lecturer, gave an interesting lecture
at Liberal hall, last Sunday evening,
upon the pretentious new religious
cult known as Theosophy. He said
he had examined, without prejudice
and with much care, its doctrines and
its claims, and while finding in it
much OF truth recognized generally by
modern thinkers, some of its cardinal
doctrines are purely speculative and
are supported only by sophistical rea-
soning. While protesting no creed"
its teachers promulgate dogmas with
rs much er cathedra authority as q
Moses, who claimed Thus saith the
Lord" as his surety for truth. Thus
saith the Mahatmas, was Madam Bla-
vatsky's authority, though she and all
her followers have thus far failed to
furnish any credible proof OF their
existence. and VIM. Emmett Coleman,
of San Francisco, the ablest oriental
scholar in America, is preparing a
book in which he will prove that all
that Madam B. ascribed to Mahatmas
are plagarisms of her own from vol
umes in his possession. He will give
page and paragraph containing over
two thousand passages that she pla-
CARRIED and published in her various
volumes, as the teachings of these
mythical Adcbt,. He claims that no
shall prove her to have been the great.
est imposter of the ninteenth century,
in fact the Anti-Christ" of the pres.
ent dispensation.
But" says the doctor, the truth
of any cult does not depend upon its
author, or source, but in its fidelity TO
facts and its harmony with nature and
reason. Let us test two Of the funda-
mental dogmas OF Theosophy and see
if they will stand the test of reason
and logic. viz: Karms and Reincar.
nation.
Madam B., in her Key to Theoso.
ply thus defines Ksrma: 'Karma is
the ultimate law of the universe, the
source, origin and iount of all other
laws which exist throughout Nature.
1t is the unerring law which adjusts
effect to cause, on the spiritual, men.
tai and physical planes of being. It
adjusts wisely, intelligently and equi-
tably each effect to each cause, tracing
the latter back to its producer An
other author defines it as but another
name for the great unknowable cause.
less cause To sum it up in short, as
applied to mankind, it means charac-
ter. 1t Is claimed by Theosophists that
the Karma we made in q previous hu-
man existence has determined our
condition and lot in every respect, in
our present life. Reincarnation is
generally understood to mean a sue
cession of earthly embodiments in
each Of which lives the same spiritual
ego, but manifest with different body,
name and nature even sometimes. to Q
change OF sex. The number of times
it is to occur, authorities differ much
about (knowing nothing, but believing
much), but il it be true, as further
claimed, that each human being must
have the same experience as every
other one, logically we may infer that
each must therefore be reincarnated
as many times as there are human
souls in the universe going the rounds !
Logically, Theosophy denies one of
the best established laws in nature
heredity; for it claims that we are not
what our ancestry and parentage
made US, but what we made ourselves
by the Karma of q pre-existence, for
we have no parentage but for our bod
les! Fathers and mothers who clasp
their darlings in their arms are not
embracing their offspring at all, but
mayhap are fondling some reincarnat-
cd barbarian, thief, robber or murder
err! Thus the doctrines of this mysti-
cal cult, logically applied, destroy all
kindred and family ties, and the sweet
associations of father, mother, brother
and sister are relegated to the plane
of the brutes who know only the at
fractions of association!
True snthropology. or human SCI
ence, repudiates these bizarre doctrines
OF Theosophy, for it proves that both
body and spirit are the offspring of the
parents, that both have the race and
family characteristics, .and manifest, rs
a rule, the more or less combined per-
sonal qualities of mind and body Of
the parents, or, as in some instances,
Of some ancestor. The apparent ex-
ceptions to this great law of inheri-
lance a. in the case of genius born
to commonplace parents, may all be
accounted for by antenatal influences
! upon the mothers mind, and the sub.
sequent gift of psychological inspira.
ton, which in most cases is a syno-
nym of genius.
"Both Karma and Reincarnation rest
upon the improved assumption of per-
sonal pre-existence. No positive facts
have been furnish. to demonstrate
an individual previous existence
hence Theosophy begs the question,
and assumes as fact what is mere
speculative theory, which is squarely
opposed by the undeniable facts of the
universal law of heredity. There is
one universal law of generation run.
ming through organic nature. All be-
ings spring from seeds or germs whose
substance and intrinsic soul, which
contains potentially all the quail.
"a. 90.