In the Theosophical Movement as it is today (which, by the way, is distinct from the Theosophical Society in the same sense as a performer is distinct from his instrument) the world is witnessing the progressive unfolding of great spiritual laws; their action on human hearts; and the result of such action in the slow birth and growth of a new social order. To affirm that Nature on all planes, and in all diversities of manifestation is one, is but to repeat a Theosophical axiom long ago passed into a truism. Nevertheless, in order to understand the full scope of the Theosophical Movement we have to examine it in the light of this hoary and indisputable truth. The world of men is fashioned on principles and by processes analogous to those which prevail in the world of matter. Nature, the great Architect alike of world-systems and social orders, traces the growth of a planet on the same lines as that of a nation, a race, or a humanity. Her laws are as invariable and eternal as the unexplored Spiritual Depths whence they issue. Hence, when we witness and participate in a new Impulse working straight to the hearts of men, we have to acknowledge the presence of Forces operating with as direct an aim, and as far-reaching an effect as those which condensed our Planet from the Fire-mist, or lifted our Continent from its sleep on the ocean-bed. Were it given to the many who now pass us with closed eyes to see behind the surface activities that work under the name Theosophy, they would witness a great thing. They would become conscious of a vast tide of Spiritual Light flowing steadily and surely into the dark crevices of human thought. They would recognize in each sincere worker, however humble, a unit of transforming Force as great, in its entirety, as that which changed, and still is changing, the face of external Nature. And by such affirmations we are not claiming more for our Movement than can be claimed by every activity that has left its mark on human thought and character. The whole long record of human history is but a manifestation, in divers forms, and under cyclic impulse, of the same eternal laws that make for harmony, whether of mind or matter. Nevertheless, in the Theosophical Movement a Force has arisen whose effects are to play a vastly important part on the history of the world. In all natural processes we notice the triple stages of upheaval, contest, and harmony. First, the stage of shock and agitation needful to the firm blocking of the new order, its birth and foundation amid chaotic and alien conditions; then the struggle of atom with atom for balance and coordination, — the bringing about, by force of individual effort, of the ideal condition prefigured in all movement towards progress; finally the harmonious co-working of unit with unit, the striking of a perfect balance; in other words, the setting of Nature's seal upon a finished work. In reading history on philosophical principles, one is brought to see, in all the chaos and violence, all the immaturity, strife, ignorance and unrest, all the triumphs of a people or race, the steady operations of the same triune Force, working slow but exceeding sure; demolishing only to rebuild on higher lines; recapitulating the old stage only for the better consolidation of the new. History is the great object-lesson in the secret of self-development. Herein we see, as in a mirror, a reflection of the stages which lead us on our way. In every soul who essays to realize the Ideal in himself that Force is manifesting which built the Past, and ushers in the Future; undaunted, restless; ever striving towards a higher and unrealized type.
"Man the worker, ever building something new.
That which he has done but earnest of the things that he will do."
Man it is, and his perfection, towards whom the surge of History has rolled, in ceaseless ebb and flow, since time was. Slowly, and by aeons of varied experience, the child Humanity has learnt something of its high destiny, and the wherefore of the strange career by which it has been trained. Today there dawns for it the beginnings of that final stage of full and harmonious being, for which all its previous trials have been a preparation. A new Humanity, or rather a Humanity at a new and advancing stage is about to dawn, and the Theosophical Movement is its harbinger and nurse. We assert this on the testimony of the principles by which that movement is guided, and the work it seeks to do. And as, throughout the whole course of Nature, stages overlap, and an early element in growth may be found coexisting with a later, so with the Theosophical Movement. The Forces working through it are working both for destruction and regeneration. Watch the trend of the world today, and ask what impulse is prompting the vague unrest, the wild search for change, distraction, and satiety; the eager call upon Life and Death to yield up the secrets of their nature; the growing dissatisfaction with what once passed for good in manners, ways of life, thought, amusement, religion. All these things — the outward result of increasing knowledge and growing means of self-gratification, speak, at the same time, of causes hidden far deeper. The rapid growth of modern civilization has occurred at a time and for a purpose which the study of the law of cycles renders luminous. In the latter half of this century the hour had struck for the Western world to participate in a Revolution as great in reach and importance, — though silent, prolonged, and visible only by its effects, — as that which made 1790 the beginning of a memorable decade for France. The dawn of this universal Impulse towards change and progress was an initial phase of the Movement which, later on, took shape under the name of Theosophy. It inaugurated a necessary but direful period of transition, unrest, and demolition. Old things began their inevitable disappearance from the arena where once they had served a needed purpose. The birth of the New was heralded from afar by a gradual breaking-up of ground that for ages had lain fallow, and by the removal of customs that had long ago become obstructions. The Past was rapidly dying, and the Future had not yet been sighted, save by the longer vision of the few, whom none heeded save to mock. Small wonder, then, that the Present Day was, and still is, deplored by those who fail in the understanding of signs.
But by degrees, the phases changed. The T. S. was born, and gave a decided and special trend to what before was vague and general. After an initial period of uphill warfare against the bigotry and materiality of the age, its leavening permeated so far as to gain for it a recognized place among the most important agents in 19th Century development. At the same time, the great Movement which had incarnated a portion of itself in the T. S., was active in innumerable forms throughout the length of the civilized world. It would be the height of narrow-mindedness to suppose that the flood of Divine Energy at work in our midst today confines itself to one channel, or operates in one direction only. Foremost as is our Society among the manifestations of the great Spiritual Will, it comprises but a small part of the real Theosophical Movement. Under the new Constitution this point has received the emphasis it deserves. Henceforth Theosophy, and the T. S. will take their place as sections of one all-embracing Brotherhood, united under one great Leadership. Within its ranks will one day be included, — is now included spiritually, — all who work unselfishly for another's good. The Lodge has its agents in quarters least suspected by many an "orthodox" Theosophist who, in the blindness of a too great exclusiveness, is often in danger of passing a comrade unawares. Indeed, we may frequently include in the Theosophical Movement, workers who would take it ill if they heard themselves so designated. It is very necessary to keep ever in mind the distinction between a Theosophist, or a worker for the advancement of humanity, and a believer in the Esoteric Philosophy. The one may or may not include the other; but the name is the property only of him who fulfils the conditions implied therein.
What, then, is it to be a member of the Theosophical Movement, the Movement which has lately taken on the simpler name of Universal Brotherhood?
To put it simply, a movement of any sort is unthinkable without a definite trend and idea. That to which we belong is, as its name implies, a movement Godwards. We may write and think for a lifetime without exhausting all that is contained in that tremendous idea. Different workers will view it from different aspects, but on one general principle all will be agreed, — that the God-state implies the perfection of man in all parts of his complex nature — body, mind, soul, and spirit; with the consequent establishment of a Brotherhood such as the world has long dreamt of, but never thought to see.
Every dreamer has had his Utopian vision, but the time is now approaching when such happy fancies will be transformed into still happier facts. Certain sects of Christians have long been foretelling the speedy arrival of a Millenium, in which peace and good-will shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. Let those scoff who may, that time is not only fixed in the immutable decrees of Karma, but it is nearer at hand than we wot of. For its establishment forms the sole rationale of the Theosophical Movement.
Every effort, then, by every worker whomsoever, regardless of race, creed, and locality, which aims at lifting a portion of the human race one step beyond its present level, is an integral part of the work of the Movement. We trace its influence today in the development of new and improved ideas on Education; in hygiene; in simpler and more rational modes of living; in improved diet; in the better housing of the poor; in the widening of the means of recreation, and mental development; in greater liberty for women; in a more rational relationship between the sexes; in more liberal thought; greater religious toleration; a deeper insight into natural laws; a keener appreciation of Art and Polite Literature; in the spread of culture, and the dissipation of wide-reaching ignorance; above all, in the growth of mystic thought which, under many names, is rapidly permeating the religion of the day with the true spirit of its Founder.
The development of man is a theme which inspires many an ardent vision of realization beyond the grave. But surely the right place for the consummation of a Race is that on which the training and experience have been undergone. And more than this. Those of us who believe in Reincarnation as the law of the Spirit's progress through matter, know of a time before the birth of historic humanity, when, on lands now passed from view, a race of god-like beings laid the seeds of wisdom and progress for their successors in distant ages. The cycle has again turned when those Great Ones seek a new incarnation in new prepared conditions. They come again, that God-like Race, and we who hold to the testimony they left behind in those of their Race who persisted for the guidance of the new Humanity, will recognize them when they come, and lend a willing hand to the building of conditions that shall be worthy of their exalted Presences.
So much for the objects of our Movement. Its methods, as we have seen, have been, first of all, destructive, and, to an extent, will still be so, as long as ignorance, prejudice, and materiality remain to be overthrown. But another principle is growing daily more prominent, — a principle significant of the final stage upon which the Race, as an Entity, has entered. Nature, as I have shown, crowns her highest growth with peace. Struggle, violence, upheaval, are stages which have their early use, but which pass out of existence as permanent factors in the perfected life. Now a new commandment has gone forth again among men, as new and much needed today as when, 2000 years ago, it was uttered by the Reformer of the Mosaic Dispensation. To love one another is as great as the establishment of many religions, or the founding of deep systems of thought. To plant a great Society whose fruits shall be felt in the carrying out of wide-spread reforms is a grand and needed work, but it is not the highest. To form the basis of an International Brotherhood, on the single principle "that ye love one another," will be the finishing task of a Race grown strong and wise by the self-discipline of countless weary years. This work, — the distinguishing feature of the Theosophical Movement, — has begun today, for perfection throughout the ages. Although on the outer side much remains which may take centuries in the doing, yet on the inner side, the battle is practically won. All that is now wanted is to complete the touch between the interior and exterior planes, so that the harmony of Nature's inner life may be reflected on the surface, and Brotherhood become a completed fact. This is all; but the "all" comprises hard and unceasing activity. It is not enough to rest on the prospect of a promised victory. Every grade of Nature must feel the thrill of that promise transformed into actual fact. The making of converts to the Esoteric Philosophy is of less importance, at the present juncture, than the sowing of broad, brotherly thoughts; and wise, kindly acts. By such methods we help to arouse the Self in every man; and no Movement, be it philosophical, ethical, or religious, has motive grander than that. For by so doing, we have done all we can, and our highest, for any man. The rest lies with That which is aroused. Being, it must never be forgot, is better than believing. Indeed, I doubt if the ideal humanity will be found united under one form of thought and faith. It is difficult to see how uniformity of thought can exist apart from mental stagnation. On the mental plane there must be diversity, for it is the plane of differentiation. Only, in the grand future which is coming, diversity will be harmonized by a living, spiritual unity behind it. The only faith is the knowledge of man's inherent godhood; and those who have that may depict that godhood to their brains in whatever terms they find most helpful. Never in the history of the world, did the cry for toleration sound so clearly as it is sounding today. It is for all to remember, to whom that cry comes, that the stage of destruction is passing; and their only warfare now is with dead forms, and unliving conventionalities. Even here, too, they do well to be careful lest they crush one vital spark among the lingering ashes.
It is good to be alive in these days; it is supremely good to put one's self in line with the great World-Forces which make up the true Theosophical Movement. All can do it who will; and with each new worker comes the hastening of the Dawn.