Volume 6, No. 2, June, 1918

The Internationa list Page fifteen
world of waking existence but one of the many schools of
experience, to which we return again and again, life after
life, until we have learned all its lessons. There are beings
as much higher than man as man is higher than a black-beetle?
They have long since passed through and learned the lessons
of human life. The various kingdoms of beings below man
are on their way upward, evolving slowly toward man's estate.
There is, therefore, in sober truth, a Brotherhood of all
Beings, not merely the Brotherhood of Man, and its basis is
not merely physical, not merely intellectual,
but Spiritual, and
rests upon the identity of their essential nature, and the
identity
of the law of their evolution, or acquired nature.
It is not hard, when these statements are pondered, to
perceive that they are, in fact, contained in every system of
thought, philosophy or religion worthy of the name, and are
the common basis of them all, however they have all in time
become corrupted and overlaid and obscured by purely human
speculation and fancy. Every so-called Savior who ever entered
the field of human life, was one of a body of perfected
beings who, moved by the spiritual knowledge of universal
brotherhood, exercised his divine compassion by once more
re-entering the ranks of men, "becoming in all things like
one of us, to walk with us, and, like a teacher in school,
teach and guide us by precept and example towards a higher
life. Men have in all times for the most part ignored, derided
and persecuted these Elder Brothers when they came,
and later worshipped them as gods and made of their teachings
a dead letter religion of forms, ceremonies, dogmas, creeds,
with rewards for those who "believed" and punishment here
and hereafter for those who disbelieved. Theosophy, then,
in its wider sense, is a body of knowledge; as a name to
identify the teachings of H. P. Blavatsky and William Q.
Judge, it is that portion of the ancient eternal Wisdom-Religion—the
accumulated experience of the ages—imparted to
mankind in our time. It is, therefore, not a belief or dogma
formulated or invented by man, but is a knowledge of the laws
which govern the evolution of the physical, astral, psychical
and intellectual constituents of nature and of man.
•Step by step, as a man studies it and endeavors to apply
it to his own conduct and the solution of his own problems,
Theosophy becomes self explanatory, self-revealing, self-inspiring,
self-evident. Man ceases to regard himself as mortal,
perishable, football of fate, or subject to the caprice of any
god whatever; no longer a "poor, miserable sinner," incapable
of doing anything for himself. He sees and knows
the dignity of Life, in himself and in all others; realizes its
purpose, its justice, its limitless field of progression; he enters
the company of the conscious immortals. With Thomas Paine
he can exclaim, "The world is my country; to do good my
religion."
The sincere and thoughtful Socialist, like the sincere and
thoughtful man of any philosophy, or religion, or system of
thought, must often be appalled at the apparent inequities,
the seeming fruitlessness of life and effort, even the best
and the best-intentioned. When he turns alike sincerely
and thoughtfully to take stock of his own mental possessions,
no matter how labeled, he must often be bewildered and
disheartened at their shortcomings, at their inability to explain
what confronts him. Then he either closes his mind
against consideration of the unknown and the unresolved and
goes on with what he has; or relapses into the dull indifference
of negation; adopts some new scheme of life which
seems to offer him the rewards he covets; or—looks boldly
and further afield into the hidden world of causation. All
systems of thought are neither more nor less than attempts
to explain the causes, the rationale and process whereby things
have become as they are. For men, being spiritual and intellectual,
perceive intuitively that all that confront them are
effects, and that if they can but grasp causes truly, they can
direct and control effects. All systems of thought embody
some perception of causation, otherwise they would find no
acceptation among men; but the sincere and reflective mind,
having observed effects, when he turns to his hitherto accepted
system of thought will find its explanations absurdly
limited, erroneous and contradictory. He will find that when
applied, it will not work out in all times, in all places, in all
circumstances, in all conditions. What good is it, then, as
a court of final resort, as a reliance here or hereafter?
From Theosophy, in its larger significance of the accumulated
experience of the ages, has come all
the progress of the
race. It is definite, complete, accessible. Each human being
embodies it in some degree, but there is no limit to its further
assimilation and embodiment by any one. Each human being
applies it to some extent, but there is no limit of the extent
to which it is capable of application by any individual. But
each must, because by his very nature, each only can, apply
it for himself. No one else can do his thinking for him.
It is recognized that limitations, both of the writer and of
the space assigned to him, necessarily make this outline faulty
and incomplete. Those interested in gaining a better and
clearer understanding of Theosophy would do well to write
The United Lodge of Theosophists, Metropolitan Building,
Los Angeles, Cal., for a small booklet, entitled "Conversations
on Theosophy." It will be sent free to all who ask for it.
Making The World Safe For Hemp
THE "Tulsa World" for November 9, publishes the following
ennobling and Christian utterance:
"In the meantime, if the I. W. W. or its twin brother, the
Oil Workers Union, gets busy in your neighborhood, kindly
take occasion to decrease the supply of hemp. A knowledge
of how to tie a knot that will stick might come in handy in
a few days. It is no time to dally with the enemies of the
country. The unrestricted production of petroleum is as necessary
to the winning of the war as the unrestricted production
of gunpowder. We are either going to whip Germany or
Germany is going to whip us. The first step in the whipping
of Germany is to strangle the I.W.Ws. KILL THEM, JUST
AS YOU WOULD ANY OTHER KIND OF A SNAKE.
DON'T SCOTCH 'EM; KILL 'EM, AND KILL 'EM DEAD. It
is no time to waste money on trials and continuances and
things like that. All that is necessary is the evidence and a
firing squad. Probably the carpenter's union will contribute
the timber for the coffins."
As a result of several such effusions, hundreds of innocent,
but class-conscious men, were whipped, tarred and
feathered "in the name of the women and children of Belgium."
There is little use for the handful of humanitarians who
still remain in this nation to complain. As Thomas Paine
said, "to argue with a man who has lost his reason is like
giving medicine to the dead." The world has gone stark mad
and remonstration is worthless.
But Labor's day is coming. A certain king once told a certain
people that when they became hungry, they could eat
grass. And the gory head of this same king decorated the
end of a pike a few years later.
The "Tulsa World" and thousands of other poison-slinging
sheets in this nation may write discourses on hemp, but
let them reflect that they are also giving the masses an excellent
tip as to how to wreak revenge. —A. S.