The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.Various
Religion
The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.
Various
Theosophy -- Periodicals
The solution of the problem, “What and Where is the Path to Happiness,”
has been discovered by those of old time. They thought it was in the
pursuit of Raja Yoga, which is the highest science and the highest
religion—a union of both. In elaborating this, they wrote much more
than we can hope to master in the lifetime of this journal, and they
have had many kinds of followers, many devotees, who, while earnestly
desiring to arrive at truth, have erred in favor of the letter of the
teachings. Such are some of the mendicants of Hindoostan who insist
upon the verbal repetition of OM for thousands of times, or upon the
practice of postures and breathing alone, forgetting that over all
stands the real man, at once the spectator of and sufferer by these
mistakes. _This is not the path._
At the same time we do not intend to slight the results arrived at by
others who lived within our own era. They shall receive attention,
for it may be that the mind of the race has changed so as to make it
necessary now to present truths in a garb which in former times was of
no utility. Whatever the outer veil, the truth remains ever the same.
The study of what is now called “practical occultism” has some interest
for us, and will receive the attention it may merit, but is not _the_
object of this journal. We regard it as incidental to the journey
along the path. The traveller, in going from one city to another, has,
perhaps, to cross several rivers; may be his conveyance fails him and
he is obliged to swim, or he must, in order to pass a great mountain,
know engineering in order to tunnel through it, or is compelled to
exercise the art of locating his exact position by observation of the
sun; but all that is only incidental to his main object of reaching
his destination. We admit the existence of hidden, powerful forces in
nature, and believe that every day greater progress is made toward an
understanding of them. Astral body formation, clairvoyance, looking
into the astral light, and controlling elementals, is all possible, but
not all profitable. The electrical current, which when resisted in the
carbon, produces intense light, may be brought into existence by any
ignoramus, who has the key to the engine room and can turn the crank
that starts the dynamo, but is unable to prevent his fellow man or
himself from being instantly killed, should that current accidentally
be diverted through his body. The control of these hidden forces is not
easily obtained, nor can phenomena be produced without danger, and in
our view the attainment of true wisdom is not by means of phenomena,
but through the development which begins within. Besides that, mankind
in the mass are not able to reach to phenomena, while every one can
understand right thought, right speech, and right action.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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