The Theosophical Quarterly Published by The Theosophical Society at 159 Warren Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. In Europe single numbers may be obtained from and subscriptions Price for non-members, $1.00 per annum; single copies, 25 cents Entered July 17, 1903, at Brooklyn, N. Y., as second-class matter, Copyright, 1916, by The Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document. I THEOSOPHY (Notes of an address delivered at New York, on April 30, 1916) T may, perhaps, be a cause of wonder that, at this late day, a subject so elementary is chosen, for an address that is in some sense representative of the general spirit and work of the whole Theosophical Society and movement. The Theosophical Society was founded more than forty years ago; its life is approaching the half-century, to say nothing of former manifestations of that perpetual life. Would it not seem, then, that the bare subject, "Theosophy," should be pretty well exhausted; that the elements should be so plain and familiar, that any further statement of them, at this late day, would be, "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet"? Should not the speaker have chosen something deeper, more abstruse, perhaps some subject genuinely "occult"? The truth is that, even at this late day, no subject is more genuinely "occult" than the first principles of Theosophy; no subject is more essential, more needed by the world to-day; and by all the world. We are in the midst of war, of the greatest war that the world has seen for many milleniums, a war involving almost every nation under heaven. Well, it is not too much to say that, had the elementary principles which The Theosophical Society has stood for, these forty years now, been in the least understood and followed, by the world at large, we should have no war to-day. Nor, let it be said at once, should we have the universal obsession of a fat, ignoble peace, in which men and women-cover up their innate cowardice by fine professions. We should have had, instead, an epoch of superb spiritual adventure, with mankind storming the battlements of high heaven, which can be taken by force alone. Theosophy, then, is desperately needed by the world, and by all the world. More, it is within easy reach at all points; the principles for which there is such dire need, are easy to be understood; and, understood and applied, they will bring Life, and will bring it abundantly. Let us, then, divide the battleground into sectors, and make our advance at each point: Religion, Science, Art, Conduct: these are the great divisions. of human life; what is the message of Theosophy for each? We have all noted, within the last few weeks, that one of the more modern and democratic Churches is at this moment, in this part of the world, threatened with schism, because there is a division concerning certain dogmas: the Dogma of the Virgin Birth, the Dogma of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the Dogma of Original Sin and its transmission; and, without doubt, there have been many perplexed and saddened minds, many broken hearts, caused by hopeless bewilderment over just such teachings. Here is one point, and a representative one, at which even a little Theosophy can bring abundant aid and comfort. For almost every beginner in Theosophical studies understands that the Dogma of the Virgin Birth in reality refers to the feminine aspect of the Logos, that "Theou-Sophia," as St. Paul calls it, which is the real "Mother of God," in the deep and universal sense; the Birth-giver of the Christ, in the eternal sense; it is only the materialization of the teaching, and not the real teaching, that can prove a stumbling-block. And that the tendency to materialize spiritual teachings has been present and operative among sincere disciples, from the very beginning, we may remind ourselves by this little story, recorded in two of the Gospels: "Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread." One wonders exactly to whom we owe the transmission of that little story, so full of humor, so illuminating; so full of latent tragedy also, when we remember how much anguish and agony has been caused, through century after century, by just such materialization. Therefore it comes that even elementary Theosophy is still a timely topic; the most timely of all topics! Or take the heart-breaking difficulty-the dogma of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus. Here again, the very beginner in Theosophical studies knows that, to quote a great Theosophist, "there are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. . . . So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." The student of Theosophy has to do no more than to bring the two passages together; then he will understand that, after the natural body of Jesus had been laid in the cavern-tomb in the garden, it was resolved again into its elements; the Master thereafter living in the spiritual body, and manifesting powers that belong only to the spiritual body. And so far is it from being the case, as certain treatises on Theology suggest, that the records of the Master's appearances, after the Resurrection, are contradictory, fragmentary, of the tissue of dreams; on the contrary, they show in an astonishing degree the ability of men of simple heart to observe and record facts, the laws underlying which they did not in the least understand; for without exception, these recorded appearances illustrate the laws and powers of the spiritual body,-laws and powers which do not hold of the natural body at all, as, for example, the power to enter a closed room without coming in by the door or window, and the power to withdraw again, in the same way. It was because Paul had seen and talked with the Master Jesus-not some abstract "spirit of wisdom," but precisely that Master, selfidentified, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. . because Paul had seen the Master face to face, and had, through years, been taught by him, in words which are on record, that Paul was able both to understand the laws of the spiritual body, the body of the Resurrection, and to set them forth so lucidly that we can understand them also. All that is needed is a little Theosophy, as the clue. And the point is that, so far from being unreal and insubstantial, a mere wraith, the spiritual body is infinitely stronger, more real, more substantial, "solider," if you like, than is the natural body, and immensely transcends the natural body in its permanence and its powers; very literally, "it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power," or, as the Greek has it, "it is raised dynamic." Then there is the third dogma, the Fall of Adam and original sin. It is not too much to say that this supposed doctrine, or rather the materialization of the real doctrine, has tortured whole generations, until our modern world has given it up in despair, practically throwing the whole idea overboard-and thereby sacrificing a valuable and lasting truth. But what are the facts about this teaching? On what passages is it based? On one or two misunderstood (and therefore mistranslated) phrases of Paul's, the most important of which, literally translated is this: "For as in the Adam all die, even so in the Christ shall all be made alive." It is simply another way of saying, what Paul says later in the same chapter, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." The Adam, in Paul's mind, and in the minds of all Paul's generation who had read Philo's recently published "Allegories," is simply the accepted name of the "natural man." For Paul, Adam is an allegorical phrase, just as, |