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philosophic calm. From the assurance of the general beneficence of the
evolutionary plan there arises a broader charity, a pervading kindliness and
deep psychic sympathy, all of which dispose to equanimity.
There is a brief statement of the general aim and spirit of Theosophy that has
been used for years by Lodges of the Society printed on leaflets for the benefit
of inquirers. It might well have served as the text for this analysis.
"The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in
the world or to none, who are united in their approval of the three objects
(brotherhood, psychism and eclecticism) by their wish to remove religious
antagonisms and to draw together men of good will whatsoever their religious
opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results
of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a
common belief, but a common search and aspiration for truth. They hold that any
truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life, by devotion
to high ideals, and they regard truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a
dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result
of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should rest on
knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the
intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow, but as a duty they perform, and they
seek to remove ignorance, not to punish it. They see every religion as an
expression of the Divine Wisdom, and prefer its study to its condemnation, and
its practice to its proselytism. Peace is their watchword as truth is their
aim."
Perhaps no one has translated the ethics of this philosophy into its practical
expressions better than has Madame Blavatsky herself. Her digest of Theosophic
morality, highly treasured by her followers, is given in the little work of hers
entitled Practical Occultism:
"A clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled
spiritual perception, a brotherliness for all, a readiness to give and receive
advice and instruction, a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave
declaration of principles, a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked,
a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection which the sacred
science depicts-these are the golden stairs up the steps of which the learner
must climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom."
170
CHAPTER XII
LATER THEOSOPHICAL HISTORY
While Madame Blavatsky in Europe was explaining the cosmos and acquainting
mankind with its own origin, nature, and destiny, Theosophic affairs in America
were moving forward under the steady guidance of Mr. Judge; but there was also a
series of disturbances which culminated in the "Sun Libel Suit" in 1890.1 This
latter event had its remote beginnings in a situation arising out of the
question of the inspired authorship of Light on the Path, The Idyll of the White
Lotus, The Blossom and the Fruit, and Through the Gates of Gold, four small
volumes given out by Miss Mabel Collins in England after 1884. Miss Collins had
herself declared them dictated to her by a mysterious Master, though later she
said that she had merely "written them down" from their astral inscription on a
wall in the mystical "Hall of Learning" described in one of the four books.
Aspiring eagerly for leadership in the Theosophical Society in America at the
time was Prof. Elliott F. Coues, a man of talent and ability, somewhat versed in
the field of science and anthropology, who had been led through his interest in
psychic phenomena to affiliate with the Theosophical Society. He seems to have
resented Mr. Judge's preferment over him in the esoteric counsels and leadership
and urged himself upon Madame Blavatsky as the logical choice for the supreme
office in the United States. Rebuffed by H.P.B., he became embittered. In the
Religio-Philosophical Journal, of Chicago, he published his correspondence with
Miss Collins relative to the mooted authorship of the brochures. This magazine,
an organ of spiritistic-psychic interests, had given an airing to Mr. W. Emmette
Coleman's attacks upon the authenticity of Madame Blavatsky's classical
scholarship in Isis. Prof. Coues now used its columns to discredit Madame
Blavatsky's theories of Mahatmaship by presenting some of Miss Collins'
statements which virtually cast the charge of intellectual dishonesty at
H.P.B.'s door. Miss Collins had stated to Prof. Coues in the first of her
letters to him that she had made her declaration as to the Mahatma-inspired
authorship of her Idyll of the White Lotus only because Madame Blavatsky had
"implored and begged her to do so." This was as much as to say that she had lied
about the inspirational nature of the writings because Madame Blavatsky urged
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