WHAT IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY? BY FRANZ HARTMANN

Christianity is a religion, but the word “religion” has evidently three distinct meanings:

1. In the first place it signifies the practice of a certain kind of spiritual training, by which the higher principles in the constitution of man are developed and reunited (bound back) to the divine source to which they belong. In this sense it is the same as yogism (from yog, to bind).

2. In the second aspect it implies the knowledge of the true relation existing between microcosmic man as a part of the All and the macrocosm of the spiritual and material universe. In this sense it is a science.

3. In the third and common acceptation of the term, “religion” means a certain system of forms, ceremonies and usages, by which some supposed eternal deity is worshipped or propitiated and his favor obtained, so that the sinner may escape the deserved punishment and evade the law. In this sense it is a superstition.

To become a “Christian” of the third order, it is merely necessary to submit to a certain ceremony called baptism, whose mode of administration varies in the different sects; but it seems that to become a real Christian some other baptism is necessary, namely, the baptism of the water of Truth, the baptism of Blood, and the baptism of the living Fire of the Spirit.

The first baptism, with the water of Truth, means the attainment of spiritual knowledge, and corresponds to the first of the four noble truths taught by Buddha: “right doctrine.”

The second, or the baptism of blood, is commonly supposed to mean a shedding of blood by martyrdom, in the defense of a belief in a historical Christ. But such a process would be a loss of blood and not a reception of it, and could not properly be called a “baptism.” The best way to obtain information in regard to this “baptism of blood,” will be to ask those who have received it or who are receiving it at present.

There is a certain class of “practical occultists,” whose inner senses are opened to a great extent, and who have been taught by no one but the spirit within themselves and their own experience. They say that the “baptism of blood” means a penetration of the growing spiritual germ in man, through the flesh and blood and 'bones of the physical body, by which even the gross elements of the physical form are attenuated and purified,⁽¹⁾ and that this process produces pains and sufferings, typically represented by the suffering, crucifixion and death of the man Jesus of Nazareth.

They say that no one can be a true follower of Christ, or a “real Christian,” who has not undergone this baptism of blood, and experienced the pains of crucifixion,⁽²⁾ but that man having passed through that occult process becomes an Adept, when only the highest baptism (or the last initiation) —the baptism of Fire— will be necessary to enter the highest attainable state (Spiritual Power), and to become a Son of Light.

But, it is asked, what has Jesus of Nazareth to do with that process?

How does the latter come to be typified by his suffering, and what is the rationale of it?

It is claimed that at the beginning of certain historical periods, when old religious truths are about to be forgotten, and the idolatry of form assumes the place of true religion, some great spirit (planetary) appears upon the Earth, incarnated into a human form, and by his word and example impresses the old truths forcibly upon a number of receptive minds, to communicate them to others, and thus lay the foundation of a new religious system, embodying old truths in a new form.

It is believed that the man Jesus of Nazareth was the mortal form in which such a Spirit was embodied; the latter being no le.-s than what I believe every planetary spirit to be — an emanation of the Universal Logos or the Word. (John i, 1) ⁽³⁾

But what is the Logos?

Or, to express it better, how can we form a conception of it?

We can conceive of no other God (or Supreme Good) but the one which lives within ourselves, and which is said to be the image of the Universal God reflected in the purified human soul, where it (He) may attain self-consciousness and the knowledge of self.

The Universal God may be described as the incomprehensible centre from which proceed the elements of Love, Life and Light in the various modes of manifestation on the different planes. The whole of Nature is a product of the Spirit of God, being poured out throughout the All by the power of The Word, which is the Life — or thought rendered active by will.

The same process which took place in the eternal Macrocosm of the Universe, takes place in the inner world belonging to the microcosm of man.

“No one can come to the Father, but through the Son.”

That is to say: No God will take his seat in the interior temple of Man, except through the power of the Word — in other words; by the concentration of thought and good will upon the divine germ which rests in the innermost centre of every human being. If we concentrate our Love upon that centre of Good, the divine germ will begin its active Life, and the interior world will gradually become illuminated by the Light of the spirit.

As this principle grows, it will penetrate the soul and through the soul all the lower principles, even the physical body, throwing off the impurities of soul and body, and the more such impurities are present, the greater will be the suffering, typically represented by Jesus, until finally the baptism of blood is completed, the soul purified, the animal ego controlled and the man has become a “Christ’’ or an Adept, — that is to say one in whom the (6th) Christ principle has taken form.

It will readily be seen that this process is much more difficult to accomplish, than merely to go to church, pay the dues to the priests, attend to prayer-meetings and perform the prescribed ceremonies.

To accomplish this process requires a constant meditation of the highest kind, and a continual employment of will power to keep away the disturbing elements of evil, which in a person who strives for light are still more boisterous than in one who is indifferent, for as soon as the spiritual light kindled in the centre begins to radiate its life-giving rays throughout our interior world, the “dwellers of the threshold” — the evil egos, created by evil thoughts and selfish desires, floating at the periphery of the soul-sphere like clouds sailing through the atmosphere of our earth, begin to feel the destroying influence of the central sun and battle for their existence.

Still this atmosphere of evil must be penetrated before we can reach the luminous centre and the tranquil heaven within, and this is done by clinging to the principle of Good and virtue whose rays radiate from the centre. This principle will at first only be felt intuitionally but as we feed it with good thoughts, it grows and the interior spiritual senses become opened, so that we may see and hear its voice distinctly and without any fear of misunderstanding its meaning.

The “below” is always in exact correspondence to and related with the “above.” We are immersed in an all surrounding but invisible ocean of life, whose waves pervade our psychic organization, in the same sense as volumes of air enter our lungs, and as the latter stimulates the life of the body, likewise the former stimulates the growth of the elements of the spirit; which draw their substance from the lower animal principles. In the same way the caloric rays of the sun enter the bodies of plants and stimulate the assimilation of the elements which are drawn from earth, water and air.

Those who have gone through that occult process, will require no proof of the truth of these assertions: because they know it to be true by experience; but the “exoteric Christian” and sceptic, having no such experience to assist his faith, may arrive at a certain degree of conviction by using his reasoning powers and logic in conjunction with the teachings of the Bible.

Christ is reported in the New Testament to have said:

-      “Except Ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in You.” (John vi, 53)

And again:

-      “I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever” (John vi, 51)

Now this seems plain enough to every student of occultism, and if translated into the scientific language of modern occultists, it would mean:

« Unless you absorb and assimilate within your psychic organization the sixth principle (The Christ), which is the only permanent and immortal principle in the constitution of Man, you will have no sixth principle developed within you, and consequently possess no immortal life — at least as far as Your personality is concerned (for the divine and now unconscious germ within you cannot die, but will reincarnate again).

But if you absorb the principle or spiritual life and develop the spirit within you, so that it grows through your flesh and blood, then will you have drunk from the Elixir of Life and received the Baptism of Blood and become a Christian (an Adept); for "Christ" will have taken form in your body, and being himself immortal you will be immortal through him. »

These views are corroborated by the great Christian mystic Jacob Boehme, by Jane Leade, Paracelsus, the Rosicrucians, and I can find nothing in them which would in any way conflict with the Esoteric Doctrine, as taught by the Eastern Adepts. If any difference in opinion could arise, it could be only, in regard to the person of Jesus o f Nazareth or Jehoshua, and whether he lived exactly at the time claimed by modern Christians.

This question I must leave to some one wiser than myself to settle; but it seems of no great importance to me; for the existence of the Christ-principle is disputed by none, and the man, Jesus —having died— can only be a Savior to us at present, if we study his character and imitate his example.

Notes

1. Compare the article “The Elixir of Life” in The Theosophist.
2. This has nothing whatever to do with so-called “stigmatization”, the latter being merely the result of u string imagination upon a weak body.
3. That which was from the beginning,” etc.

(Path, March 1887, p.355-359; reprinted in Theosophical Siftings, 1888, v.1, p.12)

THE INNER MEANING OF THE BIBLE BY FRANZ HARTMANN

It is an old saying that “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” and it is claimed that the exposition of truth has never done so much good as its misunderstanding has been productive of evil.  In proof of it we need only look back upon the history of religious persecutions, Christian as well as others, and we shall find all kinds of outrages performed in the name of truth, and millions of lives sacrificed to the defense of doctrines which were misunderstood.

Truth itself can never be given to any man, nor understood by one who does not realize it within his own heart; it can only be brought to his notice in some form; but the form itself is not the truth, it is only its vehicle. The truth is the kernel, the form is the shell. Those who do not see the truth often mistake the shell for the kernel.

Fables and nursery tales are not lies, however impossible the things they describe may be, but representations of truth, and one childish tale often is seen to contain a far greater amount of truth, speaking directly to the under standing of the soul, than a whole bookful of scientific arguments seeking to prove the truth to the soul by way of the brain.

Moreover, this material world, which we perceive with our external senses, is like a mirror of the spiritual or invisible world, and there fore its images are perverted.  The books of wisdom, including the Bible, are not merely historical accounts dealing with external events of the past, but they deal with spiritual things, and that which contains profound sense, if seen in its true inner light, becomes nonsense if taken in its outer meaning.  Very often the translators of the Bible do not seem to have understood the real meaning of the text, and to have tried to fortify their position by interpolations based upon their own misconceptions.

The Bible, if properly understood, contains a great many occult truths, as is shown by St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter ii, in which he says:

-          "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory."

(The "wisdom of God" in the Greek original is called "theosophia.")

All our modern theosophical doctrines find their support in the Bible. For instance, the belief in the doctrine of reincarnation is proved by the often quoted passage (John ix, v. 2), where the disciples asked:

-          "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

The man evidently could not have sinned before he was born blind if he had not existed in some way before that time.  In John, chapter iv, v. 37, still more light is thrown upon this doctrine and that of the law of Karma, where it is taught that "one soweth and another reapeth;" for the personality which creates Karma is not the reincarnating soul, but the latter creates a new personality which reaps what has been sown.

Many of the sayings and teachings of the Bible are eminently absurd if taken in an external sense, and it often seems as if they had been purposely made so to prevent anyone from accepting them in that way and to cause people to think.  Thus, when the Psalmist cries to God to destroy his enemies every occultist knows that no external enemies are meant, and that God does not perform such miracles; but the real enemies of man are his own evil thoughts and inclinations, and the true prayer is a power directed to one's own higher self for the purpose of overcoming one's lower nature. Taken in an external sense it represents the acme of egotism.  Applied in its real meaning it lifts the soul to God where its enemies can touch it no more.

In spite of the absurdity of many Bible verses if taken literally they are still accepted in that way by the great majority of Christians, and there are not a few bigots who would become angry if they were told that the literal sense is not true. It may, therefore, be worth while to examine a few such passages and to offer an explanation:

-         "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew, ch. v, 5.)

The contrary is true; for the lords of the earth are those who know how to push themselves forward, while the modest ones remain behind. The earth in this case may be considered as our own personality, and those who can keep a calm and serene state of mind under all circum stances are masters of it.

-         "Ye are the light of the world." (Ch. v, 14.)

What a flattery to encourage personal clerical arrogance!  Looked at esoterically, the world spoken of is our own mind, illumined by the light of the spirit, and that light will be recognized as our own, but not until we have awakened to the consciousness and realization of our oneness with it.

-         "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out." (Ch. v, 29.)

It is not probable that anybody will follow this advice, nor that such an act of mutilation would be useful or agreeable to God. Perhaps the explanation is that we should not let our mental eye dwell upon seductive thoughts.

-         "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off." (Ch. v, 30.)

The hand is the symbol of power. It is better that we should resign the possession of a power than use it for an evil purpose, which we are unable to resist.

-         "There are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it let him receive it." (Ch. xix, 12.)

The misunderstanding of this doctrine has given rise to self-mutilation and a certain sect in Russia practices it to-day. In reality this method of attaining heaven, as well as that of circumcision, refers to the practice of self-restraint.  He who overcomes his desires while able to gratify them and cuts himself loose from the attraction of the senses is circumcised and free.

-         "Whatever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Ch. xix, 18.)

Nothing is more true than this; because that which binds a person to this earth during his life will also bind his soul to earth after leaving his body, and the material desires which he has abandoned on earth will not tie him down to it after his death.  This doctrine, however, has been misinterpreted and construed to mean that one person could for give the sins of another and furnish him with a passport to heaven or condemn him to eternal punishment. It has given rise to the sale of indulgences by the churches, and is still one of the principal sources of their income.

-         "And another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father; but Jesus said unto him, follow me and let the dead bury their dead." (Ch. viii, 21, 22.)

It is to be supposed that every real Christian would first attend to his duties instead of running away from them for the purpose of gratifying his own selfish desires. Taken in a spiritual sense, the fable evidently merely illustrates the truth that those who wish to attain a higher state of consciousness must abandon the habit of letting their thoughts rest upon the things of the past. In the same chapter it is described how Jesus drove out devils from a man and they went into a herd of swine, and the whole herd ran into the sea and perished in the waters.

To say nothing about such an unjust destruction of property and the forbidden killing of the swine, it is quite certain that at that time there were no swine in that country, as the Jews did not use them for food.

-         "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Ch. xxv, 30.)

What would any honest person think of a man who would treat a servant in such an inhuman manner. The allegory merely illustrates the unchangeable action of the law of Karma, according to which each man is his own judge, and those who do nothing for attaining spiritual light will necessarily remain in darkness.

-         "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke, ch. xiv, 26.)

The history of the inquisition and of religious bigotry is full of examples of the horrors which the misunderstanding of this doctrine has caused.  There are numerous cases on record where children have caused their parents to be roasted alive so that they themselves might attain a seat in heaven as a reward for their treachery.  The true meaning is that the soul which rises up in its aspirations to the state of divinity loses sight of its own personality and of everything connected therewith.

These considerations might be continued at length; but the above will be sufficient to show that it is no sign of irreligion or heresy if any Christian refuses to believe in the literal sense of such sayings.  Such a blind belief may lead to the most serious consequences, as is shown in the case of a bigoted negro in New Jersey, named Abraham, who cut the throat of his son Isaac in imitation of the sacrifice of the biblical Abraham.  If the teachings of the Bible were carried out in their literal sense, some curious changes would take place in the world.

If we were to follow the advice given in Matt, vi, 25:

-         "Take no thought for our life, nor for food, raiment or for our body."

If we do that, wewould all soon be beggars, to say nothing of being exposed to all sorts of accidents. Fortunately the teaching refers to our spiritual food and clothing, to our spiritual progress, which is not the product of our running and striving, but comes to the mind kept tranquil and pure as a manifestation of a superior power. The fact that this doctrine does not teach laziness and indifference is shown by a parable in Matt, xxii, 21, where Jesus is made to say:

-         "Render unto Caesar (the material world) the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."

There is, however, a natural limit to the credulity of even the most fanatical Bible worshipers, and even they interpret the Bible to suit their own taste. It is written, "Thou shall not kill," and no exception is made in regard to the killing of animals; still, even the clergy encourage the slaughter of beasts and even advocate vivisection.

It is taught in I Timothy ii, 12, that we must not suffer a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence, and, incredible as it may appear, some years ago the legislature of a certain State came very near passing such a law; but fortunately common sense prevailed at last.

It is also claimed, Matthew v, 32, that "whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery," but fortunately in more enlightened countries St. Matthew is not obeyed.

If we look at the sacred books of the East in Indian and Mohammedan countries we find the same truths and the same misinterpretations.

-         "The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." (II Corinth, iii, 6)

Literal interpretations have caused the burning alive of widows in India and are still causing the cruel treatment they have to suffer; they have caused the numerous deaths under the wheels of the car of the Juggernaut, the mutilation and immolation of thousands of human victims and countless suicides; to say nothing about the millions of human lives lost by the fire and sword in religious wars in defense of false theories.

All these books, including the Bible, may be regarded as works of poetry rather than scientific dissertations; they are made to speak to the heart more than to the brain, and the heart must understand them if they are to become clear to the brain.  To stuff the brain with theories and the memory with regulations and rules for conduct is of little benefit; they are rarely put into practical use unless the heart gives its consent, and the heart gives its consent to the truth when the truth is realized and understood.

All the great world religions contain the same spirit of truth; the spirit of God, for God is the one reality, the one eternal truth. Those who love the truth may find it by seeking it within their own hearts, in that temple where the spirit of God resides. St. Paul says:

-         "The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto hint; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned; but he that is spiritual judgeth all things; yet he himself is judged of no man."

To the "natural man," the merely intellectual man of brains without spiritual understanding, the sacred writings, to whatever nations they may belong, will remain closed books, in spite of all commentaries and explanations; while in him who loves divine truth with his whole heart the light of divine understanding will arise, in which all divine mysteries will become clear. For example, the Christ of the Bible says:

"I am the truth."

But that "I" of which he speaks is not in any way differing from the "I" in ourselves; for the truth is only one and indivisible, and in each of us the Christ proclaims that he is the truth and the real life.

A blind belief in misunderstood doctrines does not constitute true religion; each one must solve for himself the enigma of life, and this is done not by intellectual gambling, hairsplitting philosophical speculations and drawing logical conclusions from fundamentally wrong premises, but by living the true life itself. Real religion begins where all systems of philosophy, theology, metaphysics, occultism and mysticism end. The true alchemist having arrived at a certain point of his evolution throws his books into the fire. The world is still in a state of hypnotic delusion; what it needs is not more theories, but the awakening of the soul.

(The Theosophical Quarterly, 1906, vo. 3, p.464-468)

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.

What is Christianity?

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.

What is Theosophy?

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 of Theosophy and Christianity

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.

Synthesis between Theosophy and Christianity

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)