The Washington herald., 1914-05-24
HOW To TELL Of
UL'SEXISTENCE
Theosophist Shows Knowl-
edge Replaces Faith
Eventually.
CHIDES ALL CRITICS
Says 1t Is Fashion Among Many Re-
isious People to Speak Harshly
of Unbelief.
CHIDES ALL CRITICS
~ DIR. w. w. BAKER.

4 region Where the pfntons OF thouRl
nag less than In that whore they ei
/ sayed to soar into the existence ,
4 God. Men ask rs there a soul?" II al
1 a soul" answers the spiritually er
lightened philosopher. But how can "
make this answer effective for III
Thousands of educated men and wome
who today doubt the very existence c
the soul!
| Let II be clearly understood froI
! the outeet that their doubt is not tn
| outcome of . wish to doubt, still les
of a desire to live licentiously-a
| some biFoted folks imagine-it arise
from the play Of the mind on fact
around them, and from the exigencie
Of an intellect that they cannot hon
estly escape; they cannot accept idea
about the soul that appear to them I
be illogical and imbecile. and prefe
to grope in the twilight of Agnosticisr
rather than be false to their conception
of truth. And verify such scepticism |
nearer the kingdom of God than tn
easy-going repetition Of formula tha
is not the expression of the speaker
thought.
Have Never Faced Problem.
n is the fashion among many re
ligious people TO speak harshly of un
belief: they have never faced the prob
lens which the unbeliever has faces
and has tried to solve. They hav,
never endured the bitterness of despai,
that overwhelms the mind and hear
ere the man who has once believed car
say that he believes no longer. ant
that in the deeper loyalty to truth hi
must surrender loyalty to creed.
No one who has passed through tha
storm, who has entered into that dark
ness, can ever again feel aught but keen.
est sympathy with those who are en-.
veloped in II and who prefer the naked
ness Of unbelief to the soiled garments
Of dishonesty. To every such soul, loyal
to truth In this life or In any other. the
sun shall arise In the darkness: TO every
soul that refuses a light II knows to be
false. and would rather live In the dark
ness than accept II. shall come the light
of knowledge and faith conjoined: 1,
matters little whether in this brief span
of life 1t come or not. provided that un:
der all stress OF unbelief the soul re-
mains loyal to truth and to righteousness
and keeps unstained its faith in virtue
and its love to man.
In seeking to help such as these to
solve the problem OF the existence of
the soul. II is useless to adduce meta
physical arguments, for these have been
tried and rejected: 1t Is useless to ap-
peal to an intuition v hich for the time
is clouded, and the voice of which has
been disregarded as likely to be mis-
taken. We must meet the sceptic on the
only ground that for the time being he
A. secure. and submit GER
ain elementary arguments based on ex-
pertinent: these while they win not prove
he existence Of the soul-that will come
Iofa ~fo
nto the position of acknowledging
consciousness. a conscious
less not dependent for its activity on
he normal physical conditions. but in
lirect conflict with them.
The First Dimculty.
The first difficulty that we have to
Is the idea that the conscious
less normally working in the brain is de-
endent upon that brain for its existence.
hat thought is the result of nervous
ctivity and cannot work apart from II.
o overcome this difficulty we need not
he wide connotations Of that word: by
'aving the student to prove for himself
nat consciousness can function despite
he paralysis Of its physical organ and
utside physical limitations Of time and
pace. we enable him to reach a position |
here other lines Of proof will lie open |
efore him. and he can take these I'D |
ne after the other till he finds himself |
Ice to face with the knowledge of the 1
,ul.
The first step is to see that the con-
,iousness Of a man includes much that /
not normally present in his waking
ours. and that there are many Layers
consciousness that emerge from OBJ
rif -
re closed and the outer world is ex-
uded. Further, that the more complete
lie exclusion, the larger appears to be
ie content OF consciousness.
The action Of consciousness when the
,dy is sleeping may form the first OBJ
ct Of study. The extreme rapidity Of
should be studied,
% succession Of states Of consciousness
IorInously exceeding in speed any rate
vibration Of which physical nervous
after Is capable. The curious results
suggestion during sleep may be tried,
sulting in the proof that conduct may
controlled by a part Of the conscious
IS which does not show itself during
aking hours
Exclusion Of World.
From sleep the student may pass to the
nsideration Of abnormal conditions re-
milling 1t in the exclusion Of the outer
,rld, such as trance, delirioum. and the
citation Of consciousness sometimes
eceding death. Mozart and Tennyson I
ar witness to state familiar to each I
them. transcending the normal and l
tting at naught its limits Of time. !
ON this state Mozart brought back 1
me Of his noblest inspirations. Drown
: men, brought back to waking con- 1
ousness. have testified to having seen, I
in a picture, the whole Of their past G
es. Dying men have been recorded as c
eaking languages forgotten since child Q
cd and babbling of minute incidents I
the past long sponged from the slate
waking memory.
Is We come face to face with these 1
It's. consciousness insensibIy changes .
aspect, and We see a vast ocean sur d
lnding US, only little Of which $
ckles through our brains. Nothing d
ms to be lost; it 10 pushed out Of the n
lin by stream Of fresh impressions, Z
Is allowed to drift out Of reach. 1t b
somewhere in that ocean Of conscious a
's that Is ours. and yet not ours, that
must explore. CT
he trance condition may be most Il
sely studied through mesmerism and 90
,notism, and II Is not necessary to fe
er here into detailed examination Of OF
experiments which may be studied m
standard work and reverted by per- ci
al observation. 1t will suffice here to H
nmarize the facts: Suggestion can
se and prevent physical LESSONS. as &C
ms and blisters; 1t can make the tr
ses respond to objects that exist only OF
thought and dead to objects that pc
mally stimulate them. as seeing and Sc
linz or nhfAr& vrh L. rhx |
present and seeing only empty space
re 4 nhYScal hndy is standing. Il