, 1903-01-15
PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.
Three Ways of Bearing Sorrow.

Three Ways Of Bearing Sorrow.
We will take up this question from
the standpoint of the average worldly
man, from the standpoint of the nan
in the church. and then we will try
to see if Theosophy can offer any as
s%istance in clerring up our minds in
regard to the attitude men hold to-.
wards trouble in general.
When II great grief comes to the
worldly man he feels the sky to have
suddenly darkened, the earth to have
grown cold, while IA meaningless pail
has fallen over everything. Perhaps,
il he be of IA seltwIlled type. he will
curse the destiny which ha> made it
possible for such things to happen. or
Cand this frequently happens he finds
) himself embittered to such an extent
by the shock that in all after years
he is ii changed man" He questions
Why of n fate that never mswrr
back, and gradually his heart grows
cold within him and is closed forever
to every ray Of sunshine which would
seek, but i'll vail, to enter in.
The man who has faith in the teach
ings Of the church is alike stunned by
his grief, and at once he strives to
nianr,. th,. Iu rE,..- ,I,,t .,,tl-.u,,,I
him aud To submit to that which God
has marked out for him. God knows
best he saws, over and over again.
] But from no direction comes the an
swer of why he had to bear it. The
Lord loveth whom He chasienrth."
says the sympathetic Clergyman, and
Gods love seeins so far away and so
unreal aud the memory of the happy
days, before the sorrow came, are so
real that he almost wishes God had
not loved him to the injury of the one
he loved. In time he says it over so
often u himself God knows best
that he becomes resigned mentally to
a condition, which, if he were consult
ed, would he lntolerable.
When Il trouble comes to II Theoso.
phist, there is a totally different at.
titude of mind toward it frcm either
of these, The Theosophist is hap,
pier than they, not because he loves
his friend less than the other two
but he has heard Il different explana.
ton Of HE, which makes it easier fpl
him to bear Iite's sorrows
The poet writes
Into each lille some rain must fall
Some days be dark and dremy,'
but Iheosuphy gives a reasonable ex.
p%lanaiiOn Of all this and there are nc
vain questions into IL darkness which
gives no answer.
TheOsophy teaches that there is nc
blind chnnc" that in truth no spar,
row falls to the ground without the
Father takes heed: that all has been
planned for the aiding of the evuiu.
ton OF men. In TheosophN no MAJ
ever dies till he has learned all the
lessons possible in that life, M that
body, and i'll that environment. 1t
also teaches that further holding of
that soul within that body would he
an Imprisonment of the soul Il hnm-
periug OF IT, aud d denial Ia 1t of "A
speedy chance t. be about its work
in the heaven life after death. view
lug IN this light II rheusophist
KNOWS that his loss l. the gain" Of
his friend. whether his life has been II
success Or Il failure from IL moral
standpoint H. men Judges. He has
no fear OF an after death punishment
only half meriteC at best, nor dos
he see any impossible barrier, from IA
lower to Il higher state. His very
love aud sympathy with his friend
ioods the whole sorrow with II re.
Ioiclng that nov has come the fruit.
ion OF his hie-the reaping OF a heav.
enly harvest OF whatever good, noble,