VOL. IV. AU Q Why should you inquire if my hunger has been appeased? Hunger and thirst are functions of the body: ask the condition of the mind, then, for man is not affected by the functions nor the faculties. For your three other questions: Where I dwell? Whether I go? Whence I come?, hear this reply. Man, who is the soul, goes everywhere, and penetrates everywhere, like the ether; and is it rational to inquire where it is, or whence or whether thou goest? I am neither coming nor going, nor is my dwelling in any one place; nor art thou, thou; nor are others, others; nor am I, I.—Vishnu Purana. THE PATH. APRIL, 1889. No. I. 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. Where any article, or statement, has the author's name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. LO HERE! AND LO THERE! Occultism is becoming quite the fashion, and mysticism is fast replacing materialism. The credulous and the scoffers often meet face to face. The prophets of the new régime send forth oracles from every mole-hill, and the imagination of the ignorant converts the molehills into the delectable mountains of truth. As a matter of fact, all this has come about since the founding of the Theosophical Society. Previous to that time, phenomenal spiritualism contended single-handed with materialism and the waning power of the old religions. Such philosophy as existed was of a materialistic type, and consisted in the effort to transfer material existence to the spiritual plane. It is true that, with a higher class of minds, the writings of men like Swedenborg and A. J. Davis had considerable influence, and these had already become dissatisfied with phenomenalism, and had begun to see that all true revelations of spiritual things come from within rather than from without. Since the founding of the T. S., and the appearance of Isis Unveiled, all these conditions have changed. Among spiritualists there had been some preparation for the new régime by works like Art Magic and Ghost Land, and if any had the patience and the hardihood to wade through the writings of P. B. Randolph, they might have discovered amid the ravings of sexual insanity, lucid passages that were indeed food for serious thought. Isis Unveiled, that cyclopaedia of occultism, entered the arena at this point. The work was the wonder of the curious, the scorn of the phenomenalist, and the ridicule of the materialist. This great work ran rapidly through many editions, and has been read by thousands of curious investigators. It would be a herculean task, indeed, to write a correct history of the past decade, and the changes that have occurred in the spiritual life of the race. A more critical and scientific spirit has entered the camp of the spiritualists, and fraudulent manifestations have frequently been exposed by the spiritualists themselves. These exposés have so often occurred that the real value of physical manifestations, even when genuine, has been seriously called in question; and the result has been an increase in the number of students of the higher philosophy of spirit existence and spirit communion among avowed spiritualists. Every earnest student of theosophy proper, ought by this time to have learned that little is gained to the cause of truth by either argument or invective, and that nothing is gained by denunciation. To explain, to illustrate, and to unfold a principle of philosophy, or a law of nature, is, however, quite another matter. There is no abomination known to man that has not been proclaimed in the name of the Lord, and marshaled in the cause of truth. The unwary have been thus entrapped, and the ignorant imposed upon. Glimpses of deeper truths and broader philosophies have in later times been derived from the materials at hand, and many persons have in consequence, posed as teachers and prophets. Like satellites, these pseudo-prophets have missed entirely the true orbit, and are prone to erratic curves and tangents. Ambitious of a circle of their own, with satellites to reflect their own borrowed light, these self-intoxicated and selfdeluded orbs, have posed as true suns, unmindful of the source of such light as they have derived, and that they must soon become blind leaders of the blind. Making haste to repudiate the source whence their borrowed splendor has been derived, they have thus voluntarily cut themselves off from any renewal or further supply. Mystical mutterings are put forth as true philosophy, under the vain conceit that the less the meaning the more the truth; and that the more occult a thing is, the less the common sense that is to be derived from it, and the less can it be applied to the uses of com mon every day life. These pseudo-prophets imagine that, when they have caught the sounds of a language, they are already familiar with its real meaning and true genius. It is not our present purpose to name either the true or the false, but rather to point out some signs by which they may each be known, everywhere and at all times. From pure ignorance of the nature of man and of the spiritual history of the human race, one may imagine that he is the first to discover a principle or law in spiritual science or in ethics. He may be ignorant of the fact that the old dreamers and speculators of the Aryan race have traversed the spiritual nature of man, as conquering armies have tramped over the old world. He may never have heard of the Wisdom Religion, or of the Ancient Mysteries, the signs and symbols of which are alike found in the Zodiac, in the figure of homo in the latest almanac, and engraved on the oldest monuments of man; and while he is himself entirely ignorant of the true meaning of these ancient symbols, he may imagine that this archaic and universal language is equally unkown to every one else. It would be but natural, under such circumstances, that one should magnify himself and the value and novelty of his own discovery, and in equal proportion belittle all the rest of mankind; nor would it be a profitable undertaking for one familiar with the records of antiquity and with the Wisdom Religion to undertake to enlighten such an individual. Such an one is very likely to pose as a prophet, or a high-priest of a new philosophy or a new religion, and in time may gather around him followers even more ignorant than himself. Now two principles will enter into the new oracle; these are the discovery itself, and the individual proprietorship regarding it. Efforts will be made to promulgate the new doctrine, and coupled with this effort will be the demand that people shall not forget the existence, magnitude, and proprietorship of the prophet. The value of the new oracle turns solely on this personal equation, just as do the discoveries in astronomy. In astronomy the personal equation is accurately calculated and constantly eliminated. In the other case, the personal equation is regarded as of the first importance, and is allowed to remain, is sedulously guarded and magnified till, like the dragon that it is, it swallows all the rest. This personal equation they struggle at all hazards to preserve. Just here, then, is the test of all new doctrines and new oracles. Nothing so blinds one to truth as egotism, and as a rule it is safe to conclude that, where the egotism is apparent and prominent, the truth is infinitesimal. If the reader will try the great religions and the great discoveries by this test, he will very soon be convinced of its efficacy. One who has really made a great discovery feels overwhelmed and belittled in the presence of the revelation, and he is apt to exclaim, "What am I, O thou All Bountiful, in the presence of thy greatness!" This is, indeed, the |