THEOSOPHY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 209, 4 September 1899, Page 2

THEOSOPHY.

lIIII[LII Mr S. Stuart lectured in the Theo-; sophical Society's rooms, Mutual Life building's, Lower Queen street, last night on "The Occult Forces of l^a- i ture." • "This evening," he said, "we are to! take a. brief glance at some points in connection with such forces of the obscurer side of nature as may for the present be properly considered to lie within the domain of the occult, and '/are therefore the more proper for: Theosophical consideration. The per- ( | forma.nces which most of you have j probably witnessed during- the week j | have made this evening peculiarly ap-i i propriate for such a subject. They I ; have had the effect of setting everyone j i thinking on such matters, and among! a thousand witnesses it seems as: though there were nearly as many: different opinions held, and the more absurd is the explanation offered of i these clever mechanical tricks the ! more does the one who offers it mll sist upon its acceptance. This hair- | brained, break-neck rushing to a eon-i j elusion without any proper weighing of the evidence is the very opposite of ■what ought to be the case; and it, proves how necessary is the Theoso-; phist's insistence upon the value of a calm and equable temper of- mind in all who, ignoring the fashion of the hour, wish to ascertain the truth alone, and are equally regardless whether it may lead to a conclusion which' favours the views they individually j hold, or makes diametrica.lly against' them. And in this they are in accord1 \vith the scientist, who will in all cases hold his conclusions condition-! ally: so long as he shall feel that there I is the slightest opening for new evi-i dence which may necessitate a. change! of views. Tf such performances as! these of the past week were looked upon as undoubtedly genuine mani-: festations of some now for rather ab-' normal) force, they would demand the: most careful attention; but when, n.si it appears, upon examination, they are: found to be simple annlieations of meolianionl nrineinles. they rrvnv still ho of somo interest to the student of; our Thpnsor>>nVnl literature, bpr-nuse therein Wp shnll fmd stntemonts made as to apparently similar performances elsewhere, and by othor hands—a.nd imitation is. after all. the sincerest compliment to thp original operators. Probably it is safe to say thnt every true manifestation of occult nower has its bogus imitation, which lays claim

to be original; for nothing so much excites public attention as a display involving something magical —so much does the inward impulse we all feel lead us to grasp at anything which may bring us within reach oi the practical use of those psychic powers' which lie latent in every man, and may become more or less manifest at any time if his progress Decomes sufficient. Moreover, if it were not that there is that sum total of om world consciousness which is cane a Deity, the Logns, or God in which lies nil power, so there would not be the powerless wooden idol. So, also, it there were not true medical science, neither would there be any quackery ,—and men too often lean upon and Man after the sham, because of their belief in the real, which is for the time unattainable to them. Regarding the use of hidden forces in nature and in man ,it may be taken as a note of the difference between the sham and the genuine occultist that the latter never exercises his powers tor money or any personal consideration, but solely to demonstrate natural facts in the interests of humanity and of truth. As more becomes known about the obscure side of things we. are now dealing with, the shams and imitations of such phenomena will gradually be all eliminated, the genuine ones'will all be confirmed, and will become themselves the proofs of the (existence of what are yet to figure as the greatest powers at that time known, but are now called the occult forces 'of nature.

I Macdei-mott and the various neigh., bours who by their prompt actioa saved a destructive fire from taking place. Mr Graham's furniture was in. sum! in the South British office for £200. The house belongs to Ifr Hutehinson, builder, of Ponsonby I Road, and was insured for £225 jj I the same office. ————————*^—