THEOSOPHY, Vol. 17, No. 4, February, 1929
(Pages 177-178; Size: 7K)TRACINGS ON THE TRESTLE-BOARD(1)
THE Theosophical Movement was begun as a work of the Brotherhood of which H.P.B. is member. She knew, and you have been told before, that high and wise servants of the Lodge have remained with the West since many centuries for the purpose of helping it on to its mission and destiny.
This movement has, among others, an object which should be borne in mind. It is the union of the West with the East, the revival in the East of those greatnesses which once were hers, the development in the West of that Occultism which is appropriate for it, so that it may, in its turn, hold out a helping hand to those of older blood who may have become fixed in one idea, or degraded in spirituality.
This does not mean that the Western Occultism is to be something wholly different from and opposed to what so many know, or think they know, as Eastern Occultism. It is to be the Western side of the one great whole of which the true Eastern is the other half.
The new era of Western Occultism definitely began in 1875. The symbol is the well-intended American Republic, which was seen by Tom Paine beforehand "as a new era in the affairs of the world." It was started among Western people by Western people. The place where it was started was also Western -- the City of New York.
The fact is significant that the Theosophical movement was thus, as said, begun in the Western world, in the country where the preparations for the new root race are going on, and where that new root is to appear. This was not to give precedence to any one race or country over another, or to reduce any race or country, but was and is according to the law of cycles, which is a part of evolution. In the eye of that great Law no country is first or last, new or old, high or low, but each at the right time is appropriate for whatever the work is that must be performed. Each country is bound up with all the others and must assist them.
The West has its own work and its duty, its own life, and development. Those it should perform, aspire to and follow, and not try to run to other fields where the duties of other men are to be performed. We have to educate the West so that it may appreciate the possibilities of the East, and thus on the waiting structure in the East may be built up a new order of things for the benefit of the whole. That work it would be well for the members of the Theosophical movement to continue without deviating, without excitement, without running to extremes, without imagining that Truth is a matter of either longitude or latitude: the truth of the soul's life is in no special quarter of the compass; it is everywhere round the whole circle, and those who look in one quarter will not find it.
So the Masters have said this is a transition age, and he who has ears to hear will hear what has thus been said ... we are not working for some definite organization of the new years to come, but for a change in the Manas and Buddhi of the Race; to start up a new force, a new current in the world, whereby great and long-gone Gnanis, or wise ones, will be attracted back to incarnate among men here and there, and thus bring back the true life and the true practices. Thus in other centuries we will come out again and go on with it. If we neglect it now, so much the worse for us then. Let us then have great faith and confidence. We are working for the new cycles and centuries.
COMPILER'S NOTE: The following is a separate item which followed the above article but was on the same page. I felt it was useful to include it here:
WORDS AS "LADDERS"
We accept and know many things interiorly, but if we are to be able to give others the proper words and ideas that will convey them, we have to be able to formulate them. Printed words and the information they indicate, are only "ladders" by which the learner can climb to Wisdom. Words and sentences do not always have the same meaning; the point of view alters them. No one can clear another's sight, and words -- oceans of them -- in themselves containing the right ideas will not convey them without a gradual leading on and a determined effort to comprehend. Each one must clear his own perceptions if he would know the gold of Ophir from base metal. Each one has to make his own connection with higher planes and Those who live in those higher realms. Speech is an acquisition, a talent gained by yourself, and for use -- not of the transient physical man, but of the Divine Man. To talk Theosophy in the spirit of Theosophy cannot be wrong; so what we have to learn is to guard and "use with care those living messengers called words."
--Robert Crosbie
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ONE (1) FOOTNOTE LISTED BELOW:(1) Excerpted from the writings of William Q. Judge.
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