The Theosophical Forum – July 1943

THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT AND THE T. S. — Abbott Clark

We are all familiar with the words "The Theosophical Society is an integral part of a movement which has been active, whether publicly known or unrecognised, in all ages and in all countries." This Movement, I take it, is the active expression on our plane of the Solar Logos. It is the divine-spiritual Word (Logos) which ever seeks to become flesh, that is, to embody itself as the living spiritual power in the lives of men. The hierarchy of the Masters of Wisdom is its living embodiment and the transmitters of the light of the Logos to the hearts and minds of men. It is both immanent and transcendent. Transcendent because, like the Monad in its parent Star, it remains eternally in its place, while its radiance is immanent in all living things; and without this immanence all manifested things would vanish away.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter IV, Krishna, who represents the Logos, says:

Even though myself unborn, of changeless essence, and the lord of all existence, yet in presiding over nature — which is mine — I am born but through my own maya, the mystic power of self-ideation, the eternal thought in the eternal mind. I produce myself among creatures. . . whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world; and thus I incarnate from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of righteousness.

How well this describes the Theosophical Movement and its vehicle for this age, the Theosophical Society. As long as the members remain true and loyal to the Masters of Wisdom and Compassion who presided at the Society's birth and the Leaders who were their Messengers, the animating spiritual power of the Movement will vitalize the Society.

In H. P. Blavatsky's day and ever since, this immanence has often been called "the Lodge Force" because it is the ever-nourishing and inspiring Something which gives vitality to all Theosophical literature and all sincere Theosophical work. It is the sustaining power in the heart of every sincere Theosophist.

As the Monad embodies itself from age to age so the Theosophical Movement seeks embodiment, under cyclic law, in the hearts, minds and lives of men. Thus we have the various religions and spiritual philosophies. These embodiments have different names and characteristics, use different forms for expressing eternal truths, each form suited to the psychology of the age and people among whom it seeks expression. The different World Teachers were not supernatural but were highly evolved men — men in whom the spiritual faculties, more or less latent in us all, were developed to the full so that they could say, as Jesus did, "I and my Father are one," i. e., He had become one with his Monad, his Inner-god.

Suppose a party of us toured the grand scenes of the state of California and each kept a diary. The diaries when read would be very different, yet anyone knowing the State would recognise all the places. So, one who has the Theosophical key to their meaning recognises the same fundamental Truths underlying the different faiths of men. Basic to and immanent in every form is a fundamental Reality. Something as true and as real as air and sunshine. Hero-tales, mythologies, religions and the great spiritual philosophies, are different ways of telling it. In this age of scientific regnance and spiritual dormancy the same ageless Truths are given in a semi-scientific form suited to the mind of the age and best calculated to keep alive in men their spiritual intuitions and to arouse their higher faculties.

In these trying times let us remember that convulsions, whether in human life or in nature, are abnormal conditions that pass away leaving the convalescent patient in need of nourishment. Theosophy is that nourishment which prostrate humanity in its extremity needs. But Theosophy without living Theosophists to give it voice and concrete expression is like currency in bank vaults but not in circulation. To use another illustration: Theosophy is like the snow on the mountains. It slowly melts and the water sinks away leaving dry sandy river beds while the plains and valleys dry up like parched deserts. So it was in Southern California seventy-five years ago. Then the pioneers built diverting dams and reservoirs and from these vast irrigation systems carried the life-giving waters to orange orchards and rose gardens. Now there are beautiful homes and happy people where once only sheep and cattle browsed throughout the long dry summers.

Theosophists are the pioneers, and the Headquarters and the Societies throughout the world are the reservoirs, while the members are the zanjeros — the men who keep the pipes and ditches in order and the life-giving waters flowing so that the seeds of truth and beauty our Teachers have sown may grow, blossom and bear fruit in the lives of men. Such is the Movement, the T. S. and our responsibility.



Theosophical University Press Online Edition