I.
This subject recalls to mind the sayings of Jesus, — "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life", and, "No man cometh to the Father but by me." Now what does it mean to say, — "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"? Does it not mean that in our very bodies, minds and hearts there flows that river of conscious being which proceeds from the Eternal to the Eternal, incessantly coming and going, and we standing as the watchers and controllers of the tide-gates, regulating that flow of force which passes through us and is in reality ourselves, as we flow in and out and through this body? It is the stream, the way, the road, call it by what name you will, which connects the bodily life and its consciousness with the higher consciousness and divine soul-existence. It is only by the regulation of the traffic of the mind and the body, of the thoughts and desires, of the aims and aspirations, that the roadway of the soul may be kept free and open and easy to travel. This constitutes being the Way.
The Way, as it appears to me, is the soul itself; it is that mysterious Being which connects the known with the unknown, as thought connects the thinker with the thing thought of, as also speech and action, and as all the senses; for when I say that I see you, is it not an expression of the divinity of my own soul in the terms of my own triple consciousness, an expression of the unity and immortality of myself and of all other selves? For what is this thing which we call sight, or for the matter of that, any of the other senses which are so commonly though erroneously called physical? How do I see; and what mean Here and There and Sight, and You and I and It? The ordinary and so-called scientific explanations of these things are utterly inadequate. A far deeper line of thought must be pursued 'ere the true and wonderful meaning of the phenomena which we call Life can be remotely understood and its lessons learned. Much might be said upon this point in order to demonstrate that in these everyday and ordinary things there lies the revelation of the soul, and in these things, the perfected expression of the true Philosophy of Life, the demonstration and the proof of more than man has dreamed possible of proof or demonstration. Suffice it however, now, to say that in ourselves there is more than ample demonstration to be found, that in ourselves and all the realms of Being, in all the emotions and the mechanism of that wonderful and marvelous machine called Man, there lies sufficient evidence to show beyond all doubt that Man is a soul — the Way, connecting the finite with the infinite, a wonderful triune entity, a being whose parts so play and interblend that it is hard to tell unity from diversity. But Soul he is, and the greatest problem of "the Life" is how he may regain his consciousness divine and rise above the small and petty things of the lower, outer and material life.
This is the great problem and many there have been who tried to solve it and regain their lost inheritance of Light and Love and Life. Many have been the trials and many the failures, but the record of success is blank. Here we find ourselves face to face with a silence and secrecy impenetrable. What successes there have been and these how great, we do not know, and neither would it least avail us if we did lay hands on a perfect list of those who from time to time, have risen above the mists and fogs of earthly sensuous life.
Sufficient now for us to know that here we are surrounded by a world full of sorrow and sin and strife, and face to face with problems which each himself must solve by personal action and personal experience, until he finds the Way, the Life. But although we are unable to perform another's deeds, we each can aid by thought and speech and act, and thus help clear away some of the obstacles which bar the feet, obscure the path of those who struggle towards the Light.
As thought precedes act, so theory precedes practice, and thus awhile we may consider ways and means of finding Light and Freedom for the world and for ourselves. Thus in the matter of the Philosophy of Life may we show it is not so difficult to understand as many presuppose, for it is common in this age to say, "You cannot know!" "'tis impossible to tell!" — then "questions rise that urge an answer", insomuch as these deep things "are not for us to know, they being beyond man's finite comprehension, and that God's good pleasure must be waited in order that he may reveal to us what we are not designed to know" — a strange and inconsistent tale, a jumble of superstitious ignorance and hopeless logic which cannot stand the test and light of reason and investigation.
But here we face the issue squarely, and having thought, and our thought found vent in speech, now let us act that in our actions we may prove correctness of our reason and show the world in plain and tangible results, the superiority of truth to lies, of light to darkness, which it now so rigidly denies. We have thought and we have spoken, and it now remains for us to act, or turn upon our thought and speech and brand ourselves as hypocrites and liars, or ignoramuses and fools.
Now in the question of our lives, much may be said and mutual help be given; and in the statement of belief and thought, there lies no claim of higher thought or act, but merely an expression of an individual view, that thus the mutual interchange may help to mould the current of our lives more true than heretofore to that Ideal which we have set before us to attain. Now in the matter of the Life which all true students try to live, it is the motive deep that prompts the deed which counts, and not so much the deed itself, which latter rather marks the progress of the head and hand; though skill in action true shows forth the power of Soul yet Motive towers high above the act, for in the soul there lives that dual force of Light and Dark, and both may act and show results of skill in deed. But in the one, the Dark, the deed is stillborn, dead; but in the Light, the heart lights up and breathes the breath of life in all it does; and whatsoe'er it does lives on and benefits mankind and forms a stepping stone along the actor's path, a beacon light to show the way for other souls who follow on; whereas if done in dark and evil mood, or with reluctant speed and zeal, it does but serve to cut away the ground from underneath the feet, and form a stumbling block for all who pass, a millstone around the actor's neck to weigh him down until he learns the lessons of the Life, that living for the benefit of all mankind is far the best and lighter road to take and free from ill. 'Tis living for oneself which brings the darkness of the mind, the faltering step, tottering and blind and lone.
But the other way, the way of heart and light, brings joy and peace and comradeship, ability to help the feeble and the weak along the way, blessing himself and blest by all. The first is chained to evil deeds to grind them out or be ground out by them, as case may be, and be an object lesson to the rest.
Of labor there are many kinds — of heart, or head, or hand, it matters not the kind of work so long as hand and head and heart unite to do it well. There's no such thing as called inferior labor or degrading work. All work is noble and refines the worker in proportion to his purity of motive. The only work to which the term may be applied is the useless and superfluous work which does not serve to lighten or make more beautiful the world we live in. But so long as necessity demands an act, an angel may enjoy the task and keep his hand unsullied, his heart pure, and mind free from taint or stigma. 'Tis false to say that any useful needed work can be degrading; no degradation is save in the mind that deems it so; unfortunate the man and feeble he who cannot turn his hand to any kind of work necessity demands — a helpless grown-up babe, tended and fed and housed and clothed by those his infinitely superior, the Heroes and the Workers of the world.
But though all kinds of labor are worthy and ennobling, it does not follow that a man is born to every kind, but rather that in consonance with the law of unity and organization, he naturally is born along the lines of law and justice and the artistic sense of harmony and fitness in all things, into his true and proper sphere of life, and thus finds to his hand his right and proper occupation. Thus it is in our Philosophy that we can see the law of Karma, ruling Caste, a true and proper thing if rightly understood. For if that which we call Life or Nature is the One made manifest, then all the parts of that great whole must bear relation and proportion to each other, and there must be difference in the parts, both in outward show and inward purpose, though all interiorly are united in one harmonious whole; and so we find as in a tree there must be roots and trunk and branch and leaves.
So in the human tree there must be found similar relations of parts which blend and harmonise, and as we find the universal law reflected in the part, so in the part we find the symbol of the whole. And thus in man are many members governed by one head, one heart, and thus and only thus can man become a unified harmonious soul. Then take this law and see its application to the human race. If unity underlie diversity, then members many, but of head and heart there is but one. If there be truth in our Philosophy, if the external be, as it is said, the manifestation of the internal, then a Solar system can but have one Sun and only one, and more than one there cannot be, as there can but be one center to a ring; and as a Solar system turns about one Sun, and all the parts and lesser parts obey the law, Unity, Harmony, Leader, and led, order and discipline in all the parts, or else deformity. All are free to choose either to obey and be a unified harmonious part, happy and useful and free to live the life of Soul, or free to go his way and try to be a Solar system to himself, to bask awhile in the home-made sunshine of his own smiles, until he finds such pastime rather dull, and perchance his sunshine rather warm. Then at last like crawling insect under a burning glass, he is again drawn back to the more kindly beneficent light of Universal Brotherhood and tries to be a little law-abiding part, obedient to rules of morning and evening, of speech and food, steadily learning little by little, and day by day, that the laws of life are obedience and truth.
Such I take The Life to be, and in living that life from deed to deed, from day to day, the Life of the Soul is sure to grow and in the end bring back the knowledge and love of the kingdom of heaven, here upon earth. — W.
II.
Life itself we never see; we can only note forms of life. In those kingdoms which come under our observation, the mineral, vegetable, animal and human, there are many modes and ranges of operation, and all these are phases of life.
We do not consider the larger measure of life to be that which shows the greatest physical activity, for we find that intelligence rules and guides life in all its phases. Most especially is this so in the human kingdom, which by reason of its greater intelligence, rules, and is constantly in greater and greater measure ruling, all the lower visible kingdoms. It is also seen in the human kingdom itself, that from the lowest savage to the highest civilized man, there are many grades of intelligent life, and that among them is found the fact, that a high grade of ruling intelligence is oftentimes connected with a very small power of physical activity, and which by reason of its intelligence, controls forms endowed with greater physical power. So we have to conclude that intelligence or consciousness is a higher form of life than that of mere physical activity.
We note that the operation of physical life is limited by its form and conditions, but that the operation of consciousness has no determinable limits; therefore we may speak of physical life, as the effect of conscious life or intelligence, and of all life as expressions of knowledge and power on the mental and physical planes.
But here again we are confronted with the fact that mental activity may be wide or circumscribed in action, and we are compelled to place mental activity together with physical activity, in the category of effects; and the great causal life still eludes us.
Here it is that most enquiry stops, it being considered that human knowledge has reached its limits, and the great mass of humanity, ignorant, careless, or despairing, lives on in the ever changing circumstance of mental and physical existence. Some in their suffering pray in blind faith to some unknown power to relieve them; and others, careless of what may come, so long as the present moment is free from care and gives them their desires, trample upon their weaker and less favored brethren, in order to maintain their desired condition. Yet they know, that to all comes pain and sorrow and death, with nothing in the range of their so-called science or religion, to give them a reason for it all, nor show the way in which real life lies. To all such, life is a blind struggle — a dark enigma incapable of solution — a round of circumstances, of which they are the helpless victims.
But they need not so live; the Messengers of the Gods are again holding out to Mankind, the Crown of Life — the power to truly live — to know — to Be. It is the realized consciousness of the oneness of humanity, and of all creatures and beings — and of their essential divinity which opens the portals of the Temple of Knowledge, and leads to that Divine Thought and Divine Action which is Life itself. From this One Life spring all the Universes, all beings, all conditions and circumstances, under the great Law which will not be denied, but ever operates for equilibrium, harmony, and progress. This knowledge shows that Man is immortal — divine — a creator, preserver, and destroyer, or regenerator, in his own essential nature; that his present form, condition, and circumstance, are his own creations, the progeny of his own desire and will; that although all life teaches Unity, yet each man in his power has attempted to create and preserve a world for himself alone; and myriads of creators, working selfishly, have made the world we see — a world of sorrow, suffering, pain, and death.
The cure lies in Man's own hands. He must realize that Divinity is Life itself — that all forms of existence, are but temporary aspects of this inner immortal Life; that the Path and Goal of all is the same in reality; that birth, human life, and death, are but winding and recurrent steps, along which he may ascend to the Temple of Knowledge; that on none of these steps may he stay, nor may he hope to hold for himself the events of his journey for any length of time; that it is with Man, the Divine, and his inner immortal life that we have to do, and not with the mere events of travel which bring us into more or less close contact as human beings; that the progress and happiness of the Unit, is bound to, and limited by, the progress and happiness of the Mass, and that consequently, the true happiness of the individual lies in the direction of service to the highest welfare of humanity. This service means an ascent and a descent; an ascent into nobler, better, higher conditions for those who would serve; a descent into the ordinary life of humanity for those who have attained, so that they may meet and assist those who as yet but dimly see the way, and are held down by their own conditions and those of the Race to which they belong.
Life then is Spirit, and Soul, and Mind, and Body — Creator and Creature — Being and Action on every plane.
True Life is full knowledge and conscious service; and true and full ser
vice is Conscious Life. — C.
III.
All that is derives its life from the Breath of the Great Spirit.
The Great Spirit passes everywhere, is everywhere, as a boundless, unfathomable ocean, within whose depths are mighty circling currents, and tides that ebb and flow.
The wind shapes the clouds and the ocean carves the unyielding rocks upon the shore into battlement and turret; so the Great Spirit by its Breath and a Song fashions the Universes, wheeling the star-dust into glittering Suns and systems of a thousand radiant Suns, with lesser stars and planets, and forms thereon that dwell in earth and sea and sky and in the etherial spheres.
Out of the womb of Infinite Silence, comes forth the Great Breath. With a Song and a Chant of wondrous harmonies it robes itself with rainbow colors of a thousand hues, proclaiming the New Day. As a mighty tide it sweeps on and on, through all the seven spheres, weaving for itself ever denser and darker garments — and lo! a Universe!
The tide ebbs, the resistless current passes on, the forms sleep, they dissolve into nothingness, the colors fade, the song dies. Night descends, — the Universe is no more.
Yet the Life is; — it ceases not, it but leaves the old forms and entereth into new. The Universe dissolves; a new Universe is born. That which passes not, which dies not, which is not born and knows not change, though it causes all growth and change, is the Great Spirit, the Life.
As with the great, so with the small; as with the Universe, so with each Sun and planet, so with each form in each realm of all the three Worlds. Each plant and flower, each crystal and stone, each bird and beast, and man himself — each is a little world, a Universe, each with its own life. That life and not the form thereof, is itself, whose very essence is divine, which step by step passing to the outermost bounds of existence, takes form in the lowliest, thence returning step by step in infinite progression, it slowly circles through the worlds and climbs to godlike power and perfect knowledge.
Both great and small, each of a greater is a part, each the container is of lesser lives. Each of its own life to others gives, and all in one stupendous Unity are linked.
Of all the manifested worlds stands Man, the perfect Man, as crown. In him the three worlds blend, in him the Life awakes to consciousness of self, he knows himself as one with Nature, and his own being as Divine.
Alas! that in his circling path, he, whose life, his very self, has journeyed out and down until it sleeps in stone, by slow ascent through plant and beast awaking in his heart, through aid of radiant Elder Brothers, to consciousness of Self, potentially divine as they, — alas! that he in folly and in blindness, the twofold path confronting him, should live again the life of beast and seek the shadows of debasing sense.
Yet the Life, once throbbing in his breast, no peace, no rest will give, but urges on to ceaseless striving; and if he take the lower path, leads him to weariness unutterable and joyless toil, until in agony of despair he knows that death, not Life is there.
The lower path leads downward into slavery; the upper road, though steep and rocky, demanding strength and strenuous fight 'gainst obstacles of luring sense, 'gainst subtle self that outwardly makes sacrifice before the world for hidden vantage' sake that men offer sweet incense of praise, leads on to Freedom and to Joy — to Life. For, as in modern city's stifling atmosphere the pure sweet breath of Nature scarce has part, but tainted is by whirling streams of smoke and dust, laden with disease and death, and the city's life filled with subtle thoughts of greed and lust, breeding poverty and hate; but on the mountain top are Heaven's breezes and the glad free life of Sun and sky of blue, where out at night the stars ray down their points of light, awaking in the climber's breast that answering star which is himself and claims its kindred with the Sun and all of Heaven's hosts, — so must Man climb the heights of his own Soul to know the Freedom and the Life.
Yet how shall he climb and find again the Life — he whose feet have strayed to the very gates of death and who has lost all knowledge of the Life? To him the only life seems to be that of the senses; to give up which he thinks would be to give up all, and thus sinks he deeper in the mire. Will he ever turn again to climb the heights? What power, what aid is his?
Two-fold is this power, yet in essence one. Within, unless it has been consciously, persistently, denied — unless the evil has been seen for evil and followed for its own dread sake — within his breast, deep hidden is still the spark of a divine and radiant life, though slumbering, hidden, lost to knowledge, incapable now of self-awaking. But, without, there too is the Divine, in hearts of Elder Brothers, compassionate, strong, seeking to lift and save.
These are they who, leaving the hollow, empty, mocking life of sense and self, through aid of Brothers Elder still, have climbed and won their place upon the glorious Sun-bathed Mountain Heights; these are they, the Warriors, Conquerors of self, resurrected, become one with the Self Supreme, the perfected, radiant and radiating Sons of the Sun, Lords of Life, who having climbed, descend again for sake of weaker, lost and erring younger brothers. And, as they descend, chanting the Song of Joy and Liberation, the sleeping, hidden life of weary, sin-entombed Humanity stirs, shoots forth an answering ray and lights again the fires of hope and courage to turn from out the dismal gloom of lower, lowest death, and mount the rugged pathway toward the Light.
To him who does so turn, though oft he falls again, to him is this "the Resurrection", a rising once again to Life. First, the Resurrection, the re-stirring, re-awaking of the Life within — then the Life. And, for each, there is a new Life ever beyond, and for each step gained, each new height climbed, a higher further still is seen. From height to height, from glory to glory the pilgrim ever mounts.
But further let us ask, — How presses he forward, is it solely that he has the will to climb, is it that he may gain new powers, is it because he sees the effulgence of the Light beyond, and through love of life seeks the Life? Nay. not so! How first did he awake? Was it through his own inherent power, separate, locked up deep within his breast? Aye and No! The power was his, inherent yet not separate, but because of its brighter shining in breasts of Elder Brothers, in his own heart it too shone out arousing him. Through Elder Brothers' aid was the first step taken, through their Compassion, that he might rise and live the Life with them.
So ever is it that not for sake of climbing not for love of life for self, can the heights be gained and the Life be known; but by stooping down to raise the fallen, by service of the lowliest, by bearing even the sin and shame of the outcast, by self-sacrifice, by love to all that lives, by staying even of the steps that would mount higher, descending again to the valleys of woe — thus seeking not to climb, but clean and pure and strong the heart and raying out its Light — reflection of, and one with the Light of Life — thus unsought are new heights gained. Thus descending into hell, bearer of Heaven's light, thence with younger Brothers resurrecting, enter he and they together into Life. — F.