, 1904-04-21

solutelv necessary. He has some
rational conception of heaven, the
eternity of bliss or of woe has fallen
away from him, he no longer fud-
them either a spur or a whip, He
believes he has TO learn all of lifr's
lessons that earth has to q e and he
knows that one short span of seventy
wears is not sufficient for the purpose.
Reincarnation is to him the only log
zeal outcome of this belief. Then
the Law of Cause and Effect comes
in to explain the conditions and en-
vironment Of every life and the les
son of karma is told. Thus the life
after death follows as an assured fact
and no dear one is ever laid hope
lessly in the grave. There are no
melancholy days" for him for each
day is Fastening him on to the goal
whose bliss may not be measured by
human words. He finds he has
awakened to the meaning of life. He
has learned that he wants to be a
part of the harmony of the whole.
He knows that in order to be this, he
has to take himself definitely in hand
and begin to conform his every act to
the great end to be attained. He
must gain control over his passions,
his emotions, his desires and even
over his miud-the most difficult
thing of all to control. Time be
cones valuable and is not to be cast
aside or wasted. More than all, he
finds out that his mind is continually
giving birth to thought and he also
learns that his thoughts react upon
himself. The one great reason to the
conscientious man for the control
IF his thought is its effect upon
others, but there is also the beuef-
cent or the baleful effect Of "A mans
thought upon himself. Let the
thought be good or evil. it matters
not, it moulds his own mental body
and hangs like a veil clear or dark,
and almost impenetrable, between
him and the reality-the truth. Let
some thought recur to a nan again
and again and, by the Theosophical
teaching, he realizes that he is thus
building up around him a great
thought form which will constantly
react upon himself. which will tend
to set up similar vibrations IN his
own mind body thus intensifyiug it
self by each recurrence. 1t thus
becomes such a habit that it takes
gigantic efforts of the will ere he
succeeds in throwing it off. There
is no student of Theosophy even for
a very little while who does not real
ize the grave importance of control.
ling his thoughts. He desires to
surround himself with thoughts that
are good and not evil, with thought.
forms that will help him on his up
ward path, and not hinder him or
drag him back.
From all this he also learns that
nothing. is unimportant or useless.
He learns the necessity of being nc
curate in all things small as well as
great. The nan of the world may be
careless but the occult student never.
The man Of the world will say ''oh
that will do" even when a thing is
only half or lily done. The occult
student is too wise for that; he knows
what chains habits forge. He knows
that the bent of mind aroused by
persistent carelessness may make the
way OF many lives very difficult for
him, He begins in the smallest de
tails OF his life to do all things thor
oughly "as unto the Lord and not
unto men" He does things well not
for the envy or the praise that they
may arouse, but in order that they
may be well done. He wants the
thin@ 20 which he has SGT his hand to
he perfect piece Of work or as near.
perfect perfect AS he is able to make
it. An occult student can not afford
to neglect the smaller matters Of
life, but they also, so far as he does
them at all, must be- perfectly done
and well done, and accurate and pure
and true.
The whole of a mans life is thus
moulded for the better by the study
of Theosophy.
Oliver c. Speer.