The Washington herald., 1914-05-10
ALL CREEDS ARE
Held AS SACRED
The True Theosophist Is Care
full to Avoid Trampling
on Beliefs.
FAITH PROBLEMS SOLVED
Nature of God in Manifestion Dis
FAITH PROBLEMS SOLVED
Nature of God in Manifestion Dis
cussed in First of Series of
49, Five Articles.


To the true Theosophist every man
religion Is a sacred thing, and he couio
not consciously jar on the feeling of any
for whether a statement of religious
truth be adequate or inadequate, cruoe
or well-considcred. il Is sacred 10 tne
one who accepts II as embodying MS
special ideal. We may rightly use our
keenest intelligence and most pauen.
thought in searching for the wisest ana
most adequate presentation OF Things
spiritual; but. on the other hand, we 90
well to remember that spiritual truths
are so many-sided that the utmost the
intellect can do at one time is to present
a single aspect Of such truth. Even
when that aspect is given in a cruoe
form, II but shares the crudity OF al
Intellectual statements of spiritual trutns'
the difference between the crude and the
polished being but one Of degree, not OF
kind.
We might put side by side, for instance,
the crudest idea of God held by an
ignorant savage and the subtlest concep-
ton formed by the loftiest Philosopher
and be struck by the wide dis repancy.
yet IL that same subtle conception could
be compared with the adoring thought
of a lofty spiritual intelligence, we might
realize that any thoughts of God that
can express themselves through the phys
ical brain can only represent degrees
of inaceuracy. Even the greatest OF
spiritual seers must fail when he seeks
to lisp in mortal numbers the glory OF
the vision that blinds his raptured gaze
mulch more true, when We are dealing
with ideas of deity formulated by half
developed men and women like ourselves,
may we learn humility and charity in
criticising cur brothers faith. Rather
than use our critical fangs to rend in
pieces an idea that is helping some soul
20 rise il is wiser to seek some aspect
of truth we may have missed.
Five Problems stand Out.
In indicating the lines along which, in
the light of Theosophy. solutions seem
possible we could not force on any reader
ideas which are unacceptable to his own
reason and intuition, for the thought on
religion which man originates Is 1ar
more helpful to him than the parrot-like
repetition of words that do not represent
his own conception of truth.
There are five problems Of religion
which stand out as of perennial and uni
versaI interest. which may be presented
with brevity, showing that the theosophic
method is both suggestive and illumina-
tive. These five are: The nature OF God
in manifestation; the existence and
growth of the human soul: free will and
gious life; the atonement.
Nature of God in Manifestation.
First, let us take up the greatest prob
lem of sIl-the existence Of God and the
conceptions of divinity formulated by
man. One fundamental principle must be
recognized-the unity Of existence. If God
{ and man be regarded as basically differ
snt a mighty. unspanned gulf stretching
between. them, then the problem of the
divine existence and of mans relation
thereto seems to defy solution. But If
God and man be seen as of one essence,
humanity as an offshoot of our Tree of
Life, then the question as 1t affects man
appears by no means hopeless one. The
:" est tending to the former conception
has swung between the extremes of crude
anthropomorphic monotheism and philo'
sophie agnosticism; the East, founding
its conceptions on unity. has eventually
accepted a religious Pantheism. Panthe'
ism in the West has been an exotic and
, appeals strongly only to the highly intel
lectual; its God a cold abstraction. lr
the East Pantheism asserts the one eX'
istence, meets intellectual difficulties by
the affirmation that God is everything
and everything is God. recognizing end
less gradations of beings. some so lofty
in their nature. vast in power. that they
include every element that Christian
satisfaction of the intellect and heart.
Supreme Being Universal.
OccuIrism teaches us that over each de-
partment in nature there presides a
spiritual intelligence. Putting thi!
thought in concrete form. and confinint
[ ourselves to the first problem of religion
Over our solar system presides a NIGH
Being the Logos. He would be called
the Father or God. by the Christian
Ishvara by the Hindue. Allah by the Mu
hammedan. His consciousness is active
at every point of his universe; His life
sustains il, power guides it. everywhere
within it He is present. strong to help
mighty to save. AS the intelligent be
ings within His Kingdom rise higher oil
the ladder of evolution. their ideal o.
God enlarges, 6eepens and expands-nar
row enough at the lowest point to nee
the needs of the most limited intelligence
vast enough at a higher task the in
tellect of the profoundest thinker. If
lofty conception of the Deity were Offered
to the undeveloped. they would be dazzle'
by Il and be left with nothing to which
their hearts could cling The idea tina
satisfies the philosopher conveys moth
ing to the ignorant and may PRACTICAL!
force him into Atheism.
Soul Needs Help.
What, then. is needful to man in hi
conception of God? A Being that satisfie
his heart and compels the homage of hi
intelligence: an ideal that he can Low,
and worship and toward which he ma!
aspire 1t is more important that a maj
= should realize some One before whom hi
heart can expand in loving alteration
than that his concept should be meta
=, physically correct The spiritual natur
is to be stimulated into activity. the sou
helped in its growth. The attitude o
love, worship, aspiration. is nccessar,
for the growth OF the soul, and the Su
preme love does not despise its ofsprin
because the expression of flial love
clumsy and the thought inarticulate.
Students of theosophy find that in al
religions this shielding and protectin
influence OF the Supreme is taught.
study OF the Christian. religion show
= that one church. the Roman Catholic
has met the varieties of human nee
by presenting for the worship OF he
children not only the blessed an
glorious Trinity" but the mighty arch
angels and angels-taught In the anci
ent wisdom and Eastern faiths-an
the sweet human familiar image @