Evolution of Life and Form: Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, 1898 — John Shaqi
Evolution of Life and Form: Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, 1898Besant, Annie
Religion
Evolution of Life and Form: Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, 1898
Besant, Annie
Evolution; Life -- Origin; Theosophy
measure life, only life can respond to the vibrations of the living; his
work is to unfold himself, to bring out of the depths of his own nature
the divine powers that lie hidden therein, not in the senses but in the
Self. His investigations can only be carried on by means of these
powers, and only as he develops the divine within him will he be able to
understand and measure the divine without him. Now this is only possible
because, in essence, the natures of God and man are identical. This
sounds a bold statement, but it is the fundamental truth of all
religions. Need I quote to you the famous saying, "Thou art That"? Shall
I take an equivalent phrase from the Hebrew Scripture, accepted by the
whole Christian world: "God created man in His own image, in the image
of God created He him"? The teaching is identical as all great truths
are identical in the various religions; but what does it mean? God is
manifest in His universe. Would you understand His work, you must
develop the God within yourself, else will He for ever be veiled from
your eyes. Not by the eyes of sense may you behold Him, not by the
vision of intellect may you see that Form, invisible even to the
intelligence. Only as the Self that is God is unfolded within you, will
the Self that is the God without you manifest to you the full glory of
His life. That is the ancient starting point. Thus what the man of old
had to do, if indeed he were to be a man of science, was to become
divine; he was to be a saint before he could be a sage. No man could be
wise until he was pure, for how should impure eyes behold the Pure?
There is the hall-mark of the man of science of the ancient days: he is
developed within before he can be learned without. But from the modern
man of science is not demanded this condition. He must indeed lead a
life that is self-restrained, orderly, and fairly clean; were he to
yield to the riot of the senses, his intelligence would become clouded.
He must have keen power of observation, balanced strength of judgment,
strong patience, unwearied industry, clear insight for differences and
similarities. All these are demanded from him, if he is to be great, and
these are among the noblest powers of intelligence. But all he asks of
religion is to leave him alone. Of old, religion opened the gateway to
science; now-a-days science asks nothing from religion save to stand
aside. That is the difficulty in our way. We have to show that life
cannot be understood until the student lives that which he seeks. That
even the understanding of forms is very imperfect until the life
expressed through them is recognised and partially understood. That
fundamental difference of method then, will cover the whole field, and
will enable us to comprehend the difference of the results.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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