MRS. DRAFFIN AND "THE MASTERS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 January 1895, Page 4

MRS. DRAFFIN AND "THE MASTERS."

We give Mrs. Dratlin's reply to ouf remarks of yesterday, but we are sure that our readers have no desire that we should follow her in the statements she makes throughout her letter. She says "Theosophy is no more founded on messages to Madame Blavatsky, W. Q. Judge, or Annie Besant than Christianity is founded upon the utterances of any of its present-day exponents/ There is a quibble here, or rather, to use an apt term, a piece of Tlieosophistry. Theosophists are fond of playing hide-and-seek in this way, but it is quite easy to lay hold of them. Theosophy is a very ancient word, and we have every respect for it when it means the. meditations of thoughtful men in ancient times. We are quite ready to study the vedas or any of the ancient books of the East, and rcoognise that there is much beauty and majesty in them in thought and in expression. But it is an awkward fact for the members of the Theosophical Society that those who have most profoundly studied Oriental lore, such as Professor Max Muller, scout the idea _ that modern Theosophists can claim in it any support for their imaginings. When it 18 proved that the basis of the Theosophical Society is fraudulent, Theosophists say, " Oh, that does not matter, for Theosophy existed before Madame Blavatsky. But Madame Blavatsky did found the Theosophical Society, and she founded it on messages from " the masters" in Thibet. If there are no " masters" then, as Mrs. Besant says, " the Theosophical Society is an absurdity." When anyone nowadays speaks of Theosophy everyone under* stands that lie means what has been propounded by Madame Blavatsky and her followers. In respect to the "masters," Mrs. Draffin triumphantly asks, " Can you prove their non-exist-ence ?" Well, that is " cool." We submit that it is for her to prove their existence. Upon her, and not upon us, rests the burden of proof, seeing that she wants us to believe that they can precipitate letters, and moreover seeing that she wants us to rest upon them a religious faith. We may say, however, that we do not believe the " masters" exist, as we have been reading a recent book of travels in Thibet in which the writer took special pains to ascertain if there were any masters, and satisfied himself of their non-existence. But that Mrs. Draffin should ask us to believe in doctrines put forth by the masters and in miracles worked by them, and then when we want proof, think that she has floored us by demanding, "Can you prove their nonexistence," is peculiar, and Draffinesque logic, _ As for her statements about evolution proving the existence of masters, and so forth, we really have not patience to deal with them.