In 1881 Doctor Kingsford delivered in London, before drawing-room
audiences, comprising representatives of literature, art, fashion, and
the peerage,--audiences inclusive of the most notable people in London,
the nine lectures that are published under the title of "The Perfect
Way," and at the time these lectures inspired a profound interest. Their
central theme is the Pre-existence and Perfectibility of the soul. "The
intuition," she says, "is that portion of the mind whereby we are
enabled to gain access to the interior and permanent region of our
nature, and there to possess ourselves of the knowledge which in the
long ages of her past existence the soul has made her own. For that in
us which perceives and permanently remembers is the soul. And all that
she has once learned is at the service of those who duly cultivate
relations with her." And those relations, she taught, are cultivated by
living so purely in thought and deed as to prevent the interposition of
any barrier between the phenomenal (or the outer) and the substantial
(or the inner) self; and by steadfastly cultivating harmonious relations
between those two, by subordinating the whole system to the Divine
will,--thus does one gain full access to the stores of knowledge in the
soul. Doctor Kingsford further explains:--
"For, placed as is the soul between the outer and the inner
mediator, between the material and the spiritual, she looks inwards
as well as outwards, and by experience learns the nature and method
of God; and according to the degree of her elevation, purity, and
desire, sees, reflects, and transmits God. It is in virtue of the
soul's position between the worlds of substance and of phenomenon,
and her consequent ability to refer _things_ to their essential
_ideas_, that in her, and her alone, resides an instrument of
knowledge competent for the comprehension of truth, even the
highest, which she only is able to behold face to face. It is no
hyperbole that is involved in the saying, 'The pure in heart see
God.' True, the _man_ cannot see God. But the divine in man sees
God. And this occurs when, by means of his soul's union with God,
the man becomes 'one with the Father', and beholds God _with the
eyes of God_....
"And he to whom the soul lends her ears and eyes, may have
knowledge not only of his own past history, but of the past history
of the planet, as beheld in the pictures imprinted in the magnetic
light whereof the planet's memory consists. For there are actually
ghosts of events, manes of past circumstances, shadows on the
protoplasmic mirror, which can be evoked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account