It must be plain to every lover of truth, that, however great the progress may be, which modern civilization has made in regard to the material and temporal welfare of man, the world is still far from having attained physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual perfection. Disease and crime, suffering and death, poverty, tyranny and ignorance are still in existence, and although there are many organized bodies, whose purpose it is to do good and to cure the ills of humanity, still the majority of such bodies are hampered to a certain extent by old beliefs, usages, creeds and superstitions, their activity is not sufficiently free, because their opinions are not free; they may benefit a certain class of humanity, but not all mankind; they know perhaps a part of the truth, but not all of it; their charity extends over a small circle, but not over the whole world. The root of all evil is ignorance, with its children, superstition, fear, crime and disease; the only remedy against ignorance is to spread the knowledge of truth. There have been at all times men and societies, willing to spread _that which they believe to be the truth_, by all means which were at their command, whether fair or foul; there have been people ready to force their opinions in regard to the truth upon others, by the power of the sword, the faggot, the rack and the fire; but the truth cannot be spread in this manner. Real knowledge of the good, the beautiful and the true can only be attained by obtaining the knowledge of self, and the knowledge of self must grow in every individual in the course of his development. It can no more be implanted by others or be forced upon another, than a tree be made to grow by pulling its trunk. The object of the true Theosophist is therefore to attain self-knowledge, and to employ the knowledge which he possesses, for the purpose of accomplishing the greatest good. There is perhaps not a single country upon the face of the earth, in which may not be found a number of persons, who desire to obtain self-knowledge, to find the truth by means of a free and unrestricted investigation, and to employ their knowledge for the benefit of humanity. There are persons who desire to see true progress in the place of stagnation, knowledge in the place of accepted but still dubious opinions, wisdom in the place of sophistry, universal love and benevolence in the place of selfishness. Such men and women may be found here and there, and each one acts in the way he considers the best. Some work by means of the school, others by means of the pulpit; some teach science, others influence the sense of the beautiful and true by their works of art, others speak the powerful language of music; but the most advanced of these give an example to others by their own Christlike conduct in the affairs of every-day life.