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First Principles of Theosophy by C. Jinarajadasa |
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CONCLUSION
In a swift survey, we have seen what the
Ancient Wisdom says of man and his destiny,
of Nature and her message, and of God and
His Work. There is no philosophy to equal
Theosophy in its idealism, in its hopefulness,
and in its all-embracing tenderness. It reveals
to the intellect so stupendous a panorama of
life's activities, in worlds visible and invisible,
that the mind of man is at first stupefied, and
then transported with its entrancing beauty.
Above all, the Ancient Wisdom does not speculate, but speaks with authority. "These are
the eternal facts of Nature", say the Teachers
of the Wisdom, and They ask us to live a life of
Idealism, because no other life is possible for
reasonable men and women who desire to act
in the light of Truth, and not under the sway of
error. Well may the inquirer into Theosophy
ask, confronted with its seeming dogmatism:
How can I know for myself that all this
is true?
Knowledge is of many kinds — what the
senses report, what the mind sees, what the
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heart conceives, and what the intuition knows.
One or other of these, or all, are for a man avenues to Truth, according to his temperament.
We are not all alike, and, the value to each of
us of the world and its happenings varies according to what we seek from life. As is the
fabric of a man's mind and heart, so is his
vision of life.
But while what is a fact to one man may
perhaps be an illusion to another, there is one
test of Truth which is the same for all. Truth is
what compels. A fact of nature, when once
viewed honestly and clearly, thereafter draws
all one's nature to act in accordance with it; its
compulsion may be swift or slow, but such is the
effect on the mind of the Thing-that-is, that the
mind can never free itself from the power of
that Thing. Furthermore, if what the mind
has seen is a vision of Truth and not an illusion,
the vision grows day by day, ever revealing
larger horizons. Doubts may surge up one
after another, but a million doubts cannot invalidate one truth. The soul who thinks that
he has grasped the essence of Truth can
patiently fight on, slaying one by one the
hosts of doubts as they arise.
If these many truths of Theosophy are facts
in nature, then in time they will prove
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themselves so to everyone. They must sooner
or later be built into the fabric of every man's
thinking, if a man is to think truly in accordance with all facts. They can be seen, one by
one, as the faculties necessary for their sight
are developed; but to see all, from the atom
at its work to the solar system as it carries out
the Will of the Logos, is not for everyone of us,
at our present stage of limitation. As a man's
consciousness grows, and faculty after faculty
is added, more and more facts will be seen.
One by one, each fact, which is at first merely
believed in, will be seen with direct vision, and
relied upon with an unassailable certainty.
To all will come this direct vision; but the
full vision in its splendor will come only
when the soul becomes the Master of the
Wisdom.
Till that day, we can at least each act in the
light of the vision of Truth which each has. If
we will only realize that not only the five senses
and the mind are the avenues of sight, but also
the aspirations, the imagination, our refined
loves and our spirit of sacrifice, then Truth
will pour into our natures from many avenues.
which are now barred by us. Life is a greater
thing than can be known by merely one instrument of cognition, the mind; the mind is a
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useful instrument to record, but it is a very
limiting one to give us vision.
There is no surer way for the inquirer, if he
desires to prove one by one the truths of Theosophy, than to put into practice one great truth
which he can readily accept. It is the truth of
Brotherhood. Let a man remember that another is as himself, that the same life of nature
flows in both, that what is hard for himself is
hard for the other too; let him, looking at his
neighbour, say, "This is myself, in a hitherto
unknown aspect of me"; let him study with
patience this mysterious part of himself that
exists outside of him; then let him see if, as he
grows in charity and long-suffering, he is not
mysteriously impelled to discover about man
and God truths of whose existence he was not
aware. Loving action is Divine Wisdom at work
and whoso acts lovingly must inevitably come to the
Wisdom.
This is the surest way to prove that the truths
of Theosophy are realities, and not the beautiful creations of some philosopher's brain. If a
man cannot believe in all the teachings of
Theosophy, let him at least act as Theosophy
teaches. He will then find that the word
"Theosophy" describes a wonderful Reality.
And when he knows, with every fiber of his
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being, and in each moment of time, that all
that he is — his highest love and sacrifice, his
fullest faith and offering — is that Reality in
him, and that apart from It he has no
existence, then he will find within himself
an instrument of knowledge by means of
which he can discover all for himself. For
God's Truth is within a man's own nature;
it is not an utter stranger to him, but ever
the Companion of his dreams.
Because man is Divine, the Wisdom is his
heritage. Nay, not Wisdom alone, but Power
also — power to dare, to suffer, and to conquer.
This sense of Victory, which brings with it all
joy, is the gift which the Ancient Wisdom gives
to all who cherish her.
May 14, 1921
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In continuation of my obligation to various
sources for illustrations, I have to add the following, with sincere thanks: Fig. 98 to the
late C. F. Bragdon; Fig. 101 to The Evening
Post, Wellington, New Zealand; Fig. 103 to
Architecture of Athens by Stuart and Revett;
Fig. 104 to The Curves of Life by T. A. Cook;
Fig. 106 to Illustrated London News; Fig. 107 to
Art Forms in Nature by Karl Blossfeldt;
Fig. 108 to the Australian Museum, Sydney;
Fig. 109 to Tiere in Schonen Bildren by
K. R. Langewische; Fig. 113 to Vita delle
Piante by R. H. France; Fig. 105 to The
Protozoa by G. N. Calkins; Fig. 110 to the
famous Japanese painter Chiura of the period
of the Shogun Yoritomo.
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