Is it not purely a question of fact, and of scientific demonstration, to be determined by experiment?
This question leads us to another phase of psychology and the records of the past. There have been Seers, Clairvoyants, and Clairaudiants in all ages.
Unlike the psychical phenomena already referred to, – and belonging to the positive and initiative, rather than the negative and subjective side of the psychical equation, – these seers have been fewer in number, and are always individuals showing a high degree of self-control, and of intellectual and moral evolution.
Admitting the general propositions involved, it can readily be seen that this must be so from the very nature of the case. The Masters of mankind, in any and all directions have been few. The slaves, through ignorance, superstition and fear, have been legions. Those who have gained habitual self-control, and finally self-mastery, knowledge and power, have been few; while the majority have been controlled by their own appetites and passions, and by other individuals.
This self-mastery and higher evolution also includes another element beside strength of character, and that is, Refinement.
In other words; it is, from first to last, a journey from the gross and sensuous physical plane, toward the refined and spiritual plane, involving all the faculties, capacities, and powers, feelings, sensations, emotions, intuitions, and aspirations of man. It is, in short, a normal, higher evolution.
All the elements of this higher evolution are basic and innate in the original endowment of man. By exercise, the latent faculties, capacities and powers grow, expand, and develop. Self-control, rational volition, and the sense of personal responsibility, (conscience) make the evolution conformatory to the Modulus – the Perfect Man.
As this human being, dwelling on the physical plane, evolves, the spiritual faculties of the Divine Man are involved from the spiritual plane. When this simultaneous and co-ordinate development is complete, the Human and the Divine are at-one in the Individual.
This at-one-ment is the exact opposite of “vicarious.” It is the result of personal effort and self-mastery.
The dogma of the church has so completely sophisticated it as to turn normal evolution into devolution; and, so far as it has any effect, or is operative at all, to turn man backward toward the animal, instead of upward toward the Divine.
Seership and Spiritual powers, therefore, as the result of “Living the Life,” are Evolutionary. Mediumship, subjective control, and obsession in any form, or in whatsoever degree, are Devolutionary.
Progress along either line may be very slow, but the trend is as opposite as is the East from the West, as Light from Darkness, as Good from Evil.
By classifying these powers of man and psychical phenomena to which they give rise, whether in the conscious, inner realm, in functions of the bodily organism, or observable to others, we are able to assign each to its proper class with considerable accuracy.
Both evolutionary and devolutionary progress, with the ordinary individual, are slow processes. Seldom is either process a designed and straightforward climbing, or a quick descent “into the dark abyss.”
Consequently, as the human race evolves as a whole, relatively more and more individuals are found who “get flashes” of sight or sound, more or less from the subjective or spiritual plane of being. There are intuitions, “warnings,” and premonitions of coming events. Some seek and cultivate, others fear and avoid them.
They are mostly on the “border-land,” if not on the “ragged-edge” of insanity. It is only necessary to further weaken the will, or to indulge the passions and emotions, in order to decide the matter, derange the mind, and send the individual to an asylum.
On the other hand, with individuals who lead a clean, cheerful, well-ordered life, these experiences may mean encouragement, confirmation, and progress toward the spiritual realm of being. They should be observed carefully, but not cultivated. They may serve as guide-posts and as mere incidents of a day’s journey.
The average popular cult to-day, as often in the past, where psychical phenomena are involved, results in converting the normal mental realm, the realm of normal self-consciousness, into a vaudeville performance; a mere “Variety Show,” where all due sense of proportion and relation is lost.
In place of the normal Individual Intelligence, sitting serenely on the throne of life and ruling his Kingdom with justice, wisdom and paternal love, the king joins the melee of acrobats and dancing girls, encourages the orchestra till, in a pandemonium of revelry, he puts out the lights, or in wild frenzy fires the building.
Sometimes it claims to “command success” by demanding it; or wealth without earning it; or health without regard to hygienic law; or by “taking a Mantram” to open the gates of heaven. Or again, by servile obedience to the freaks or dogmas of a “Leader” or “Official Head” and adulation ad nauseam, to gain admission to the “Elect.”
One and all of these, from first to last, tend toward Devolution. They are destructive, not constructive, in building character and true manhood and womanhood.
Again, the Monk or the devotee abandons society, becomes a recluse, flees into the desert or the mountain, subsists upon roots or herbs, sits in one posture till the joints of the body become fixed, holds the arms above the head till they become immovable, and the finger nails turn and grow through the palms of the hands; or sits gazing at the navel and repeating the word Om.
Indeed, it would seem that the ways and means to stop normal growth, constructive evolution and healthy living, had been well-nigh exhausted.
The enthusiast, the fanatic and the “easy mark” of to-day are seldom aware of any of these things, and so they are bled, fleeced, and exploited accordingly. “All is Mind!” “Great is Elijah!” or “Mrs.” Elijah, and Oahspe is his Prophet! while Babel reigns in the place of Natural Science.
The Theosophical Movement inaugurated in this country by H. P. Blavatsky in 1875, differed essentially and radically from all others; first, in placing ethics as the first stone in the foundation of a real knowledge of the nature of man. Its objects as concisely stated at the time were —
First: To establish a nucleus for a Universal Brotherhood of Man.
Second: To study ancient religions, philosophies and sciences, and determine their relations and values.
Third: To investigate the Psychical Powers latent in Man.
Hospitality to Truth from any source and under any name, was characteristic of the movement during the entire lifetime of the Founders.
Dogma was eliminated, Authority beyond facts and demonstrated truth denied, and Superstition regarded as only another name for ignorance.
While the facts and the demonstrations of Science were recognized, and given the largest hospitality, nevertheless, the “Secret Doctrine” and, in a broad sense, the whole movement was an effort to present to modern times, and particularly to the Western world, the most ancient and pure philosophy of old India, the Vedanta or “Wisdom-Religion.”
An immense work of rejuvenation has gone on in India, particularly in the establishment and maintenance of Schools for Girls, and in the relief of poverty and discouragement of the teeming millions.
An immense literature was created, not yet appreciated, except by students here and there, who found light, explanation, and encouragement in their studies of the mysteries of Nature and of life.
Since the death of the founders of the Society,