A Textbook of TheosophyLeadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster)
Religion
A Textbook of Theosophy
Leadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster)
Theosophy
Utterly free also is he from any religious fears or worries or troubles.
All such things are swept aside for him, because he sees clearly that
progress towards the highest is the divine Will for us, that we cannot
escape from that progress, and that whatever comes in our way and whatever
happens to us is meant to help us along that line; that we ourselves are
absolutely the only people who can delay our advance. No longer does he
trouble and fear about himself. He simply goes on and does the duty which
comes nearest in the best way that he can, confident that if he does this
all will be well for him without his perpetual worrying. He is satisfied
quietly to do his work and to try to help his fellows in the race, knowing
that the great divine Power behind will press him onward slowly and
steadily, and do for him all that can be done, so long as his face is set
steadfastly in the right direction, so long as he does all that he
reasonably can.
Since he knows that we are all part of one great evolution and all
literally the children of one Father, he sees that the universal
brotherhood of humanity is no mere poetical conception, but a definite
fact; not a dream of something which is to be in the dim distance of
Utopia, but a condition existing here and now. The certainty of this
all-embracing fraternity gives him a wider outlook upon life and a broad
impersonal point of view from which to regard everything. He realizes that
the true interests of all are in fact identical, and that no man can ever
make real gain for himself at the cost of loss or suffering to some one
else. This is not to him an article of religious belief, but a scientific
fact proved to him by his study. He sees that since humanity is literally a
whole, nothing which injures one man can ever be really for the good of any
other, for the harm done influences not only the doer but also those who
are about him.
He knows that the only true advantage for him is that benefit which he
shares with all. He sees that any advance which he is able to make in the
way of spiritual progress or development is something secured not for
himself alone but for others. If he gains knowledge or self-control, he
assuredly acquires much for himself, yet he takes nothing away from anyone
else, but on the contrary he helps and strengthens others. Cognizant as he
is of the absolute spiritual unity of humanity, he knows that, even in this
lower world, no true profit can be made by one man which is not made in the
name of and for the sake of humanity; that one man's progress must be a
lifting of the burden of all the others; that one man's advance in
spiritual things means a very slight yet not imperceptible advance to
humanity as a whole; that every one who bears suffering and sorrow nobly in
his struggle towards the light is lifting a little of the heavy load of the
sorrow and suffering of his brothers as well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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