AE in the Irish TheosophistRussell, George William
Religion
AE in the Irish Theosophist
Russell, George William
Theosophy
And now, changing from particular types, how do we look upon Theosophy
as a power in Ethics? We find the elimination of the selfish instinct
insisted upon as necessary for the progress of the Ego through its
material envelope to a full and complete knowledge of its higher self;
we find the doctrine of Brotherhood put forward in its noblest aspects;
we find as a necessary corollary that responsibility is increased
and widened with an accompanying sense of power to accept and carry
on that responsibility; with the growth of higher feeling within
us comes a sense of added strength; we learn gradually to work
without consideration or anxiety for results; we grow more tolerant
of our neighbor's shortcomings, and less so of our own; we find
that by disengaging ourselves from the objects of the senses, we
become indifferent to small troubles, and more free to assist our
neighbor when they press on him; with the knowledge of the causes
of present conditions lying in past action, and our present actions
going to be the causes of future conditions, we place ourselves in
a position to work to the full extent of our powers to set in motion
such causes as will bring about the happiest results for Humanity
as a whole; we learn to look upon death, not as the opening of the
spiritual life, but as a release from a weight which keeps under
the spiritual life, which is always with us, now as well as before
birth and after death; we learn to sense the methods by which the
universe works out its destiny; we find every day growing stronger
that sense of immortality, of absolute union with the universal soul,
which at first merely manifested itself in strange feelings and
emotions; we find the clues to the control of our physical and
mental faculties, and are not surprised to discover the ten-thousand-
fold increase in value these faculties then bear; we put ourselves
more and more in harmony with what we feel to be the source of all
Truth; we find ourselves gradually able to give expression to
those dumb feelings which we could not find words for, of its
grandeur and greatness; until finally we come, after many incarnations,
after suffering, after despair sometimes, to a knowledge which
transcends all human knowledge, to a bliss which is above our
present ideas, to a peace which the world cannot give, which
surpasseth all understanding, and are then ready to give up that
bliss and peace, and to use that knowledge for the divine compassion
towards our fellows who are following.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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