A Textbook of TheosophyLeadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster)
Religion
A Textbook of Theosophy
Leadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster)
Theosophy
Finding that there is a Supreme Power who is directing the course of
evolution, and that He is all-wise and all-loving, the Theosophist sees
that everything which exists within this scheme must be intended to further
its progress. He realizes that the scripture which tells us that all things
are working together for good, is not indulging in a flight of poetic fancy
or voicing a pious hope, but stating a scientific fact. The final
attainment of unspeakable glory is an absolute certainty for every son of
man, whatever may be his present condition; but that is by no means all.
Here and at this present moment he is on his way towards the glory; and all
the circumstances surrounding him are intended to help and not to hinder
him, if only they are rightly understood. It is sadly true that in the
world there is much of evil and of sorrow and of suffering; yet from the
higher point of view the Theosophist sees that terrible though this be, it
is only temporary and superficial, and is all being utilized as a factor in
the progress.
When in the days of his ignorance he looked at it from its own level it was
almost impossible to see this; while he looked from beneath at the under
side of life, with his eyes fixed all the time upon some apparent evil, he
could never gain a true grasp of its meaning. Now he raises himself above
it to the higher levels of thought and consciousness, and looks down upon
it with the eye of the spirit and understands it in its entirety, so he can
see that in very truth all is well--not that all will be well at some
remote period, but that even now at this moment, in the midst of incessant
striving and apparent evil, the mighty current of evolution is still
flowing, and so all is well because all is moving on in perfect order
towards the final goal.
Raising his consciousness thus above the storm and stress of worldly life,
he recognizes what used to seem to be evil, and notes how it is apparently
pressing backwards against the great stream of progress; but he also sees
that the onward sweep of the divine law of evolution bears the same
relation to this superficial evil as does the tremendous torrent of Niagara
to the fleckings of foam upon its surface. So while he sympathizes deeply
with all who suffer, he yet realizes what will be the end of that
suffering, and so for him despair or hopelessness is impossible. He applies
this consideration to his own sorrows and troubles, as well as to those of
the world, and therefore one great result of his Theosophy is a perfect
serenity--even more than that, a perpetual cheerfulness and joy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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