THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY BY JASPER NIEMAND

(Jasper Niemand was the main collaborator of William Judge, and about this subject she mentioned the following.)

Before going further into the subject of this paper, it may be well to state that it is not purposed to attempt to explain either Theosophy or Christianity, but to indicate a method whereby we may be helped towards an understanding of either one, or both.

There are two main aspects in which we may consider the question:

1)   The first aspect is the analytical mode; that is to say, by considering the difference between Theosophy and Christianity.

2)   The second aspect is the synthetic method; that is to say, consideration of the underlying identity of Theosophy and Christianity.

In the present brief paper we shall glance succinctly at both these aspects; they represent the polar extremes of one truth. But before we enter upon these polar aspects, however, we must first define what we mean by the words "Theosophy" and "Christianity," respectively.

The latter term — the word "Christianity" is of simple definition. The term represents that aspect of truth which was taught by Jesus of Nazareth — whom some men called "The Christ," the Founder of the true Christianity, pure and undefiled.

Of his teaching we have today only fragmentary portions, which portions, — so far as the public at large has them, — have passed through the prism of various minds; the minds, for the most part, of simple and uneducated — uninstructed — men; and, at much later dates, from one to another language or languages, under the intellectual criticism of scholars, and the bias of some among churchmen.

The term "Theosophy" is of no less simple definition. But people in general greatly misunderstand the meaning and scope of the word. Just as the Christianity of our day differs greatly from that of the era which saw the birth of this great religion, so Theosophy also differs from the popular idea of it.  The term is misapplied to a definite series of ideas, to a fixed belief or creed. Yet Theosophy has no creed, but throws an impartial light upon all Life and all thought: to it, Life is the universal shrine of light and truth.

Those portions of the esoteric teachings, both religious and scientific, of the East, which were put forward by Mme. Blavatsky and also expounded by Mr. Sinnett, Mr. W. Q. Judge and others, have been rounded into a creed and styled "Theosophy" by the public at large. When the subject was newly reborn and startled the century just past, this rough and ready misconception was passed over, without much objection, in the rush and fervor of propaganda and other work.

Pioneers work axe in hand, clearing away dense and well nigh impenetrable and insurmountable obstructions to the passage of life and light, and as such workers, they are obliged to tolerate much which the calm survey of a less strenuous period must gradually remove.

That it was not the purpose of the Pioneer of last century, — Mme. Blavatsky, — to found a new creed, is shown conclusively by her statement in the Key to Theosophy. In a closing chapter, devoted to the consideration of "The Future of the Theosophical Society,"

Mme. Blavatsky says:

« Every such attempt as the Theosophical Society has hitherto ended in failure, because, sooner or later, it has degenerated into a sect, set up hard-and-fast dogmas of its own, and so lost by imperceptible degrees that vitality which living truth alone can impart.  You must remember that all our members have been bred and born in some creed or religion, that all are more or less of their generation both physically and mentally, and consequently that their judgment is but too likely to be warped and unconsciously biased by some or all of these influences. »

To the further question as to what will occur if this danger can be averted, the author says:

« Then the Society will live on into and through the twentieth century. It will gradually leaven and permeate the great mass of thinking and intelligent people with its large-minded and noble ideas of Religion, Duty, and Philanthropy. Slowly but surely it will burst asunder the iron fetters of creeds and dogmas, of social and caste prejudices: it will break down racial and national antipathies and barriers, and will open the way to the practical realization of the Brotherhood of all men. Through its teaching, through the philosophy which it has rendered accessible and intelligible to the modern mind, the West will learn to understand and appreciate the East at its true value. »

The author then follows on with a description of further results of the spread of theosophical teaching, but enough has been quoted to show that she specifically warned us of the dangers of a lapse into a creed.

Prolonged study of the works written by this Pioneer, makes clear the point that Mme. Blavatsky had two things in mind.

• First: To establish a Theosophical Society based upon certain fundamental and universal truths.

• Second: To contribute to the specific study of religions certain ancient data quite lost to our era, and unknown, practically to the whole western world.

In striking the key-note of universal Truth for the last century, Mme. Blavatsky strongly insisted upon three points.

1.   That the universe is pervaded by a universal, omnipresent and boundless Principle of Life. This point establishes, if followed up, the truth of Re-incarnation.

2.   The universal prevalence of the Law of Periodicity, of flux and reflux. This point leads on to the Law of Karma.

3.   The identity of all souls with the Oversoul. This point establishes the truth of Universal Brotherhood. It is nowhere stated by her that the term "all souls" comprises the human race alone. Nor is her ideal Brotherhood confined to the plane of physical life; on the contrary it is universal, hence spiritual.

In putting forward these three universal Principles, side by side with the injunction that Theosophy should not be hardened into a creed, we are naturally led to the conclusion that there is a fundamental identity — a reality — underlying all religions and sciences; that Science is really the study and art of Life itself, and that Religion is the study of the Life and aspirations of the Soul.

A deeper study and insight demonstrates that Life and the Soul are one and the same — the Soul being, as it were, a nucleus of centralized, organized and individualized Life, each Soul being, as it were, a spark of the Oversoul. Since these universal truths are to be found underlying all religions, we cannot claim that they of them selves constitute Theosophy, or Christianity. They are universal both in action and in application.

Theosophia is the wisdom of the gods; or wisdom about God; or Divine Wisdom — call it as you will; the fact remains that many students amongst us think that we can best explain our use of the term "Theosophy" by saying that it is a spirit of Life, a way of looking at and of investigating all Life in the light of the fundamental unity of Being, as well as a way of living the Life.

In short, the Theosophy of the thoughtful student is a spirit of unity applied to the study and the action of Life as a whole. In this spirit we can study Life both by analysis and by synthesis. Analysis individualizes — for the purpose of the moment, of the next step, that which must afterwards be synthesized for the purposes of the whole; it is in the light of unity that our view is rounded and made entire.

Let us take, for the sake of illustration, this question of Theosophy and Christianity. The public at large is often found to suppose that a member of the Theosophical Society would naturally compare the teachings of the Secret Doctrine and other books of the eastern wisdom with the teachings of the Bible of the West, and would insist upon the fundamental differences between them as differences between two creeds or articles of belief, and would then go on to demonstrate the superiority of his own mode of belief.

This erroneous idea outlines the method of the bigot and the fanatic, and is a method which has divided mankind and has been productive of the most bitter wars and the most hideous cruelties known to history, perpetrated by man upon mankind. Already in the sweet light which we now see spreading slowly but steadily over the West (the light of charity and the concept of unity), this error of thought is gradually passing away.

We are coming to understand that the true theosophist is he who remembers that the Principle of Life is omnipresent, eternal, divine. Hence it is all wise and everywhere to be found; is conscious and beneficent; working always in the law that makes for righteousness; evolving, uplifting, unifying and sustaining all.

This truth being present to his understanding, it would gradually penetrate to his heart, finding there the intuitive faith of the heart in the unity of Life. In such wise would he study all religions, with a view to discerning — not their points of difference, but their oneness in teaching of the divine eternal Life and of the Soul. The hair splitting of creeds would be a thing utterly foreign to his thought; as he became more and more wise in study, in Life, in experience.

He would carry this method into all the daily acts of his individual life, dealing with that life and its contact with other lives from this standpoint of their fundamental identity: identity of origin in the Great Ocean of Spirit; identity of goal in the conscious enrichment of Being and return to the Divine Bourne of the Oversoul; identity of experience as well, now and here, in that all human beings are alike subject to the Law of Evolution, and every atom and ion of Cosmos must be subject to it as well. In this way our interest is identical and we are all bound together by this Fact of our physical, psychic and spiritual Evolution; we have identity of experience and of our larger Life.

Evolving on the one hand, we involve or draw in, on the other hand, that spiritual Life which we individualize and render self-conscious within us, furthering thus that return to the Father which was taught by Jesus the Christ.

Christianity, when viewed in the spirit of synthesis, of Theosophy, is seen to be one of the great World-Religions. And, as such, it is of especial interest as being that aspect of the One Truth which is largely accepted by the world in which we live today — the western world.  To the West, and to its forms of Thought we have under Karma a duty, for Karma placed us there. We are aware that it is impossible to reduce the movement of spiritual Life to a formula or to imprison it in a creed.

Our studies have accustomed us to take into account the periodic returns of the religious spirit, and to see the movement of the Law underlying these periodic manifestations as one always governing them and the Great Teachers which that Law calls forth. Each such Teacher has been obliged, in the nature of things, to specialize, to lay stress upon some one of the many aspects of Truth. Thus it has been said that Krishna taught Devotion. Buddha taught Brotherhood, love of all men and of all creatures.

Jesus combined the two, but the distinctive note of his teaching was the relation of son to father between Man and Divinity. We can now see that if we study the teaching of Jesus along this line, we shall fathom many a point which at first seems either too obscure or too trite when interpreted by some creedal obligation. The Christian Gospels are full of the ideas and the ideals known to all theosophical students, once we take hold of this clue. And how should it be otherwise if we are to view the Evolution of the religious nature of Mankind as a fact?

Must it not be that there exists a body of divine men who have the evolution of the human soul closely at heart, and who are moved from time to time by the holy Spirit of Life — by God, as we Christians say — to work upon the visible plane as well as behind the veil of Nature, for the spiritual welfare of Man?

As cycles and periods alter, as Humanity comes under the operation of periodic Law, the teachings given for the evolution of the human mind and the human soul into the divine soul must inevitably change their aspects, but they are forever and fundamentally one and the same.

Each Great Teacher has given his disciples to understand that beyond the main aspects of his teaching were other aspects no less great, so that tolerance, charity, compassion, liberality of mind and entire sweetness of heart — a spirit of unity, in short — must prevail among men who desired to learn the god-like wisdom, the Truth about God. Buddha taught this truth by his silence when certain questions were asked of him:

Jesus taught it when He said that his Father's house has many mansions, which mansions many of us understand to represent states of Consciousness. There are many other sayings of the Great Founder of Christianity which are less overlaid by the obscurities of time and much confusion of thought and of facts. As a help to such study, two books published of late are almost unequalled in the clearness and the helpful quality of their suggestive thought.

The Creed of Christ and The Creed of Buddha are written by an author whose name is unknown to the world at large. Those who do know it tell us that this writer is not a Theosophist. But surely no mind so enlightened as that which illuminates the pages of these profoundly interesting and helpful books can be other than truly theosophical in the real sense.

Each Great Teacher of Religion must have in mind the limitations of the era in which he appears upon the human scene, and must suit his teachings to the necessity of removing these especial crystallizations of human thought before his teachings can take effect. In this way the teachings, read at some much later period of time, and by men whose very modes of thought are different, may appear to disagree.

But the synthetic method with its spirit of unity, and the tolerance of a wider outlook upon Life, puts an end to discord; behind the apparent diversity we discover the fundamental identity with the other Religions which we have studied and in this way we draw nearer to the happy discovery that the Spirit of Religion is ever one and the same, no matter what aspect of that Spirit and Its Laws may be presented to the minds of men in any given era.

We can take up the study of Christianity in this spirit — and what study can be more important to us as Theosophists than the Religion of the world in which we are now embodied and to which we owe a duty, the duty of assisting the further Evolution of its religious instincts (in which we must include our own) and its search for the Soul and the life of the Soul?

We are wise if we speak in the religious terminology best known to the West, and if we seek within the Scriptures which are our present birthright, the divine truths of all religions and of all Time. If we cannot find them there, we can find them nowhere, for Karma, regulating the movement of the Law of Periodicity, has placed us where we can find with ease and spread with love the spiritual food best suited to our present needs and the needs of our generation.

That Law of Periodicity, of flux and reflux, we must remember governs all the occurrences of each human life, as well as the action of the worlds in space: it has placed us where the light of Theosophy has come to us, to aid our search and to broaden our ideas.

We should be the interpreters of Religions, able to reveal to each religionist some truth as yet undiscovered by him within his own Religion, something beautiful and holy which unites him to all the religious aspirations of his era, and all eras. What a high office, to thus hold up the torch of Truth, assisting the spread of those soft and gentle rays which ever seek to penetrate the hearts of men, assuring us of the unity of Life, of the omnipresence of the Law of Love!

Many of us believe the doctrine of Avatars to be one of the great truths; that the Spirit of Divine Truth has its especial incarnations, from time to time, overshadowing or indwelling with the great spiritual Teachers. We look upon these holy ones as Masters, as Members of the Spiritual Lodge, and believe that Jesus the Christ was one of those.

When we search the Scriptures put forth in His name, we are naturally guided by the clue of this fundamental identity of all Religions. Hence we discover within these Scriptures, statements of spiritual laws. Who can read the Sermon on the Mount without being struck with its revelations of Karma; of the laws governing spiritual action; of the nature of the One Substance and the Soul?  Who but finds in the Parables the teaching of the Principles?  Who but recognizes the Voice speaking through those pages, as the Voice of the Silence, and what is their Light but the Light on the Path?

Let us then study those Scriptures themselves, fragmentary though they be, rather than the creeds and the ideas of other men about them: let us study and reflect for ourselves at first hand. Let us do this in the spirit of devotion and meditation, conscious that there is a true and sufficient reason why this Religion of the West has been put forward and embraced by the peoples of the present era, in this, our western world.

Then the exquisite spirit and love of that Master of Compassion whom we name as Jesus, in all its human sympathy and god-like self-sacrifice shall penetrate our darkened understandings as a light from the inner heavens, and we shall see in part why that life which seemed to fail so utterly was in its sacrifice and complete surrender the greatest triumph which the heart can conceive.

Surely we shall then comprehend that One who endured to the end in order to carry to mankind the appointed teaching in the appointed time of that God Who so loves the world that He sends from era to era His beloved Sons to bless and save those who will accept the gift of spiritual food so freely offered — that One such as this could never leave us straying in the wilderness of this earthy world, and must be with us in spirit and in immanent Compassion and aid, "to the end of the world," even as He promised to be.

By the light of the theosophical spirit we shall see that this which now we call "Theosophy" is the very Soul and core of His teaching; that the spirit of Christianity and of Theosophy is one and the same, and that every Religion has one identical object. That object — and each one of us may make it his own — that object is:

The restoration of the Christ.

(The Theosophical Quarterly, January 1910, vol. 7, p.241-247)