Theosophy and Life's Deeper Problems: Being the Four Convention Lectures Delivered in Bombay at the Fortieth Anniversary of the Theosophical Society, December, 1915Besant, Annie
Religion
Theosophy and Life's Deeper Problems: Being the Four Convention Lectures Delivered in Bombay at the Fortieth Anniversary of the Theosophical Society, December, 1915
Besant, Annie
Theosophy
Then watch the results; see what is the outcome of your decision;
and you will discover by that outcome whether you judged rightly or
wrongly. If you judged wrongly, do not regret. You did your best, and
you have gained a new experience by the blunder, and it will help you
in the future. If you have done right, you are stronger for the future;
you have solved a new problem and gained a new knowledge. Sometimes
you may come to a point in your evolution, where you have to face
the question of following your conviction of the inner law of Right
against every impulse that presses you to take a lower path. You have
grown to the point where new ideals attract. You have begun to realise
that the claim of humanity is greater than the claim of individuals
with whom you are connected. You have come to the point to which all
must come, to the point where to follow the Right is martyrdom, and
where to follow the Wrong is easy and is regarded as praiseworthy by
those around you. My Brother, if you have come to that point, be glad
with exceeding joy; for it means that you have gone beyond the normal
evolution of your race, and that which is Right to the men and women
around you has become Wrong to you, who have caught a glimpse of a
higher law. And then, surely comes the question: "Will you stand by
the fruit of your glimpse, alone, unhelped, unsupported, unregarded?
Will you follow Conscience that bids you take the path alone, or
will you follow the voice of the multitude, still at a lower range
of evolution?" It is the choice of the Hero; it is the choice of the
Martyr. Better to die, you will feel, than to bow to a lower law than
that which your Spirit has learnt to recognise. To tell a lie is to be
debased; to tell a lie is to lose the vision of Truth; to tell a lie
is to put a bandage round your eyes, and to refuse to see that which
is already glimpsed. And if for you it is easier to face calumny,
ostracism, the cold shoulder of friends, the hatred of Governments,
and, if against all these things, you say: "It is easier to suffer than
to lie," then you are taking your place amidst earth's Heroes, and you
are serving your day and generation. But make no mistake; the choice is
not as easy as it seems. The worst enemy of the martyr and the hero is
the inner enemy, not the outer--the love that pleads with you to falter
in your duty; worse than all, the inner doubt. "Can I really be Right,
when every one around me tells me I am Wrong? Can I alone see what
ought to be done? All these good men and women, honourable, faithful,
good citizens of the world, tell me that I am mistaken and headlong.
Is it not conceit, is it not vanity, to set my solitary choice against
the wisdom of the aged, against the experience of my time?" Ah! that is
a worse enemy than any outside pressure, for the outer you can resist,
but the inner saps the very essence of your strength; the time comes
when you are able to say: "Right or Wrong, whether it leads me to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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