THE OCCULT WORLD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 267, 4 August 1908, Page 6

THE OCCULT WORLD.

SITTING AT THE FEET OF MRS. BESANTu \'. L ' ; QUESTIONS ANSWERED. It whs'a curious meeting that'"was held yesterday afternoon in the Town Hall Concert Room, and a most interesting "one. Tho room was not filled, but it' liight be said that. thp. audicnco made up in intensity of interest what it lacked in number?,' and it is certain that, had Mrs. Bes.intV later'oil-• gagements allowed her to remain.'for two hours longer, tho people would willingly have stayed there, asking dier questions and -listening to her illuminating answers. In ' appearance it was a most every-day: matter-of-fact, meeting. Tho whitu walls of the hall, across which every now and then, flickered a reflection of light from the windows of a passing team, tho babies in the audience, the rows of women,' so many of them in their best hats'of this year's fashion, the busi-ness-like men, the aft-ernoonness of : tho air, all seemed to belong to any commonplace meeting of dull routine, and on tki-'platform, which by no effort of imaginations could be made to take on a niystic look, sat'the little, figure, clad in the-garb of no .particular fashion or country, the; high priestess of . a ' world-ivide religion) answering froiil : her occult consciousness the questions that'sought to peer into the mysterious and t-lfe unseen. Sitting among the audience, an outsider from tho Theosophical fojd, one came gradually to realise. that tho. question's" and-the questioners were in their!'way as remarkable as tho woman who was Ho answer-them, • so much ""was implied of ponder, so., much of (onceptiqn of an invisible world. „Vi About Reincarnation..Some; of the questions, of course, were . foolish, and gave 'evidence of i<; muddled thought, a' fact which • Mrs. Besant more than onco-pointed out kindly, buji. clearly. Somo wero merely trivial,, others, were en- > tirely relevant, and. all received a "courteous and thoughtful answer. Three tiiies was «■ Mrs." Besant asked a quest-ion tjtat had troubled many people,. what : end -is served by-tho reincarnation of a'soul .'into the body of a child that may only lite a few days or weeks. Her answer was to the-effect that that soul had probably' dono som,e heedless mischief, \liad perhaps , thoughtlessly, • without acute moral: blame, paused ilie death of a huhian being. She instanced thb-ease of a man throwing aside a'lighted match, which set fire to' a house, and so caused thg.loss of human life." Such a soul might- need .'to_ spend a brief time in the same stage, of existence before it went on to a higher .stage. 'It would take too long to mention many of the questions, asked,'but the following were some of tho replies called-forth. The Sou!. - - : i ■ The spirit of. a ,man is. eternal, it!'js part of -.tho. divine .spirit and never began- toor can over cease to be,'.'but .tho birtli of the soul eame with the wreathing into. the .perfected body of the breath of life. Only in rare cases now can the soul of a man bo'evolved from' the souLof-an animal, for-the process of evolution ,and the dying, out of intermediate , types have put: between men and the lower creations a'gulf, that can never be bridged. -The number of-egos in t]io universe is practically ; complete. There are , .perhaps sixty thousand millions of egos in -the universe, and of thoso only eightedn hundred million inhabit human bodies. r, > r . .She accounted for the physical anjl.mor.al • deterioration of those who are tho offspring of a marri.rgo. between a high and" att;. inferior race by saying that the. race£ .aro probably too far apart; to. make it'-possible that they, should unite to form a desirable habitation for a soul. -.. The Maoris, wero mentioned, in this question, and Mrs.. Besant said that from what she'had been; able to gather, in conversation' with' those . who had studied tho Maori race, and from reading somo of their mythologies, she was inclined to believe them-tho remnant.of a much finer race, that they seemed- to possess certain occult powers that had come.down from an older civilisation, but they seemed to be one of those races-that are dying. While a child comes into the world with its -character already formed, its parents aro chiefly responsible for the atmosphere that surrounds it, and" .the things it must learn and by which it must'bo developed,' gnd therefore Tlieosophists regard education as of supreme importance. , . Broken Les as an Illustration. should-wo do anything to ameliorate the condition of the poor 1 , if' their souls' are undergoing a discipline that is to. uplift • them?" asked one man to which Mrs. Besant sagely -replied that if a man were careless enough to fall downstairs and break his log it 'was no reason why peoplo should not do all in their power to mend the-fracture, and further that law works ■ through agents. 1 If there bo anyone whom we can help, \wo aro the agents by whom that help is-to be given, and wo must take care that any hindrance',to the giving of that help comes from, some natural obstacle, not from our unwillingness. "Do not be bound by law needlessly,"she. said. "Use the laws that help you, and try to neutralise thdsethat are against you," "which was only a variation of her advice that we: should trim our sails to contrary winds. ~ ; ■ "How can you tell the difference between otheric and astral ?" brought the sfcnisiblo reply, "By , what you see. '' Wjth ; development of otheric vision oiio could see the movements 6f the-ether that- can now only be discovered by instruments; ivitli. astral 'sight one can see what is on the astral plane." , ... ■' Could Not and Would Not. : ' \A request that Mrs. Besant would describe tho porson who took six: sovereigns' fr'pm the questioner's- dress-basket, was tho text' for a littlo dissertation nn - the limitations'of astral vision. I.could, not possibly answer that question," said Mrs. Besant, padding with some spirit, "and I would not"if I could. No person who knows anything of occult matters would piit her knowledge to sucli a use. It is not right to use the higher powers to right wrongs committed ; down here." . , . , ■ J. Demands of Tlieosopliy. Several people appeared to., be troubled about tho demands made by Tlieosopliy; upon its disciples', and one man-had to ho assured that a Theosophist might lie a soldier,- while another was told that a member of a theosopliical society might belong to an. anti-Asiatic Immigration Society,-if his conscience convinced him that-as'tliq questioner said; "It would be in the interests of moi'Alitj' in this country." Mrs. llesant was at her finest in her answer to this question. Sho said mildly enough that- she did not, of'course,'herself hold such a belief, and slip opined that the ■ questioner would realise how many Englishmen such a policy would force to leave, India, for, of course, tho question cut both ways, and if wo excluded Asiatics from New Zea- : land for fear of their bringing moral injury to our shores, wo.should have to withdraw from India tho English who had done such enormous moral injury to. that land. England had introduced alcohol into India; England had introduced prostitution never known in India before. "I do not say there was no sexual wrong there, but never the terrible prostitution. We have done a shocking wrong to Eastern nations. We may boast of our - progress in science, and of our education, but of our morality, never." . Words of Wisdom. Sentences from her answers may .bo quoted as follows " Every nation has its angel, which tries to guide and-direct its policy." " Thoughts .of anger and revenge go liko a sti'eak through the community, and find result in crime. A good thought travels in the same way, and uplifts' the race." " I believe that Christ is living now in a physical body,, and reachable, not from the spiritual standpoint, but'that He may yet bo known« and touched by peoplo as in those days." "Mrs. Eddy's book on 'Mind and Matter' is very bad philosophy, and very poor logic." "It is strange how in 'd sayings thcro remains a trace of occuit ; knowledge. People now have onl.V five senses, but they speak of a man being frightened out of ' liis seven senses.' The two lost senses may. be developed'again. I' do not think man' has yet ' by any means reached his final physical; development." •