ANNIE BESANT.

NZ Truth, Issue 165, 15 August 1908, Page 6

ANNIE BESANT.

W. W. Collins on Theosophy.

. ' Time brings about many changes and; *e.yenges, particularly to a lady like *Aiiriie Besant, (.who is constantly confronted with the ghosts of her past beJiefs ; but consistency is the refuge of the weak a.nd' the \ narrow-minded ;Who : lack the courage to leave the beaten path, and the High Priestess of.Theosbphy is '• no ordinary woman. It is probable, there! ore, that , she Telt- little embarrasiSirieht when she met YL~ W. Col-' 3ins m Shristchurch, a talented ex-mem-j ber - df -Parliament ; whom' 'she knew m the elderly country when they wereboth vice-presidents of the National Secular Aesociatiori. Thus it came about that Mrs Besant., delivered.; her address on iTheosophy, and W.W.C., ■who lectures to the Rationalises every Sunday night m ffche Choral Hall, found it necessary to indicate the fallacy of her' teaching, while granting her the right (as a freethinker)' to change her views. Mrs Besant r ha9 'declared, herself, to be still a Truth seeker, a circumstance which gave the lecturer on Sunday an . opportunity .l to show that Truth seekers were few and did not embrace the, ordinary religiousperson. "In no department of ; thought is fthere such Conservatism. V as In the t religious department," remarked Mr Collins, who added that the religious man loved to persuade himself that he had got the "Truth." Asked v. if he could intelligently prove it, the saved. injiivid-> ual gave answer: "I know I liavgv the truth— l know it; I feel it." .. Few inquired iis to the origin of their belief, fts a matter of fact, to cling to .the truth required courage and self-denial, He agreed with Mrs Besant that there was a kernel of truth m all beliefs, but thought 'ft might better be expressed m Herbert Spencer's words, "'There is the Boul of truth m things erroneous." There was a kernel oL-truth m things religious, but there was too much .'shell, and it ,Was the shell that was raost thought of. The speaker referred to the work of the Rationalists, and- remarked that the truth was generally heW by the •;; few fast ere it gradually ' WINNOWED ITS WAY .TO THE MULTITUDE. Doubt was thrown on. the statement of Mrs Besant that the floctrjne of re-in-sarnation was held $2 ft jgajoJity, pj

Human beings* also, Kef complaint;, that' the doctrine had been latterly kept m the background by the religionists andscientists of the Western world. The speaker assumed- that Mrs Besant conveyed the v inference that the scientists and religionists kept it m the background, knowing it to be true. The habit of Theosophists who' ran to India and the East for material m support ofthe creed was ' commented upon adversely m view" of the fact that there was nothing in -Mrs Besant 's lectures, that could; not be found m: current literature on the subject of Theosophy, and the known fact that Mahatmas and hermit professors of: the doctrine possessed no supernatural gifts and no intellectual or spiritual capacity which was not also given to other Jiuman^ beings. Mrs Besant said that m the' East the peasant and, the artisan found m the' doctrine of reincarnation all their . inspiration and the fortitude to hear the adversities of this life, knowing: that they • were suffering punishment for the wrongs committed m some previous reincarnation. The similarity of thissoothing doctrine for the poor to the arguments of the average orthodox advocate was .pointed out by the lecturer, who wanted to know where was the justice of it. Its preachers took care they came not near the ills of this life themselves, but ate their cake m this . world and got it m the next as well. It was a drug to soothe the poor and wretches into satisfaction with their sordid lot, and ■ was identical with the orthodox promise that "it will be all right by-and-bye, m the- next Avorld." The plea that the 'poor .'were, suffering m this, world for sins of past generations whose spirits had been reincarnated was* rejected with rebuking words by the lecturer, who recalled the 'fact that 'Mrs Besant had done good work amongst the London slums. Who could dare say that tl\e MISERY, SQUALOR AND WRETCHEDNESS

of that quarter was being inflicted as punishment for the miseries of past generations? No, it was. the result of a brutal economic condition, which permitted misery, and-: starvation m a city of plenty. The Theosophists had referred to; the antiquity : of their doctrine, which was 'held iii" one form by Plato (who< quoted . Socrates on the v subject). This long-deceased gentleman held that soiils defiled, by 'the desires of the body would return to, the : earth and .enter the 1-odies of animals,; asses, wolves, hawks, kites, bees arid 'wasps, whilst the puie soul ql the philosopher would be.come immortal and return to this vale •• of tears no more. An obvious injustice this, as m the. joyful world entered ,by the philosopher's soul goodhesis was not required ; the soul m question could do more, good pn earth. The Theosophical teaching was to ■ xhe rjiect that the soul of a human being could not enter the body - of a lower animal. As there were computed to be 1,500 million people on the earth and 248,000 millions had, passed away 'the difficulty of finding earthly habitations for the departed was apparent. The lecturer noticed, that Mrs Besant had not- 1 mentioned "God" throughout, her aild'.oss, although she did say that every human befhg was part of , the "Divine Spirit." Ifshe meant that raan'.s spirit -was divine i tihe lecturer could hardly reconcile the fact with his knowledge of some men if /their .spirit was divine. It might be said: .that, the spirit became depraved through contact. with the physical body, then the Divine Spirit had taken up its abode m a physical body that had depraved it, and to say 'that a depraved spirit could be Divine was absurd. At death, according to Theosophy, the soul ENTERED AN ELEMENTARY HEAV-

: 'EN where the Divine Spirit was fanned into a flame: 1 ' Why not fan it into a . flame on earth, eire" it was depraved by contact with the body ? is m effect the question of the ', lecturer, who . touched merely the fringe of his subject and will return to it on .Sunday .next.. W. W. Collins religion seems to be ah attempt to get for all a taste of heaven m this • world. To console the extremely poor with „ the prospect of better times m the ; next world was advantageous to people m good circumstances but dishonest.