THEOSOPHY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18325, 16 August 1921, Page 6

THEOSOPHY

The speaker on Sunday evening at the Thcoeophical Hall, Dowling street, was the Right Hot, J. T. Wedgewood, D.Sc., of the University of Paris. His subject was the " Malting of a Mon.” The Bishop said very few people realised why they were here, and, lacking that knowledge, the average man drifted through life identifying himself with his body with very vaguo ideas of having a soul which could I>e lost or saved by his disobedience or obedience to the rules of some particular form of religion. The term soul was used alternately with spirit, both conveying the same idea. St. Paul's definition of man's three gold nature—body, soul, and spirit—clearly sot forth that the Spirit is the man, the Ego or T, and soul and body the spirit’s expression of himself in the world. The spirit in these bodies is a spark of God, and therefore has latent in it all the powers and attributes of God, just as the acorn has hidden within its tiny shell the mighty oak. Man comes into the world to develop during the long agea oil these potentialities, and once he grasps the idea and learns that the power to help himself lies" within him, the purpose of life becomes clear, and he no longer drifts like a man in a boat without oars. After touching briefly on the life consciousness shown in the mineral, as evidenced by the experiments of scientists, that metals tire and are susceptible to poison, and recover when the antidote is applied. The recent experiments by Sir Ernest Rutherford with radio-activity and the Alpha rays show clearly that changes are continually taking place in minerals. All this, working with minerals is experience of a sort for the minerals. In the vegetable kingdom again there were many signs of intelligence, in the way that plants adapt themselves to their environment. To feeling and intelligence the power of locomotion is added in the animal, and in the domesticated ones qualities of affection, memory, and the ability of working with and for man are developed, these qualities being analogous to similar ones in man. This gradual acquiring of experience is the only explanation of the great difference shown in the savage, the criminal, the genius. The savage is on the lowest rung of the ladder, also the criminal, the genius is on one of the highest. For the savage to reach the stage of the genius many lives for garnering experience are required. Reincarnation is the method by which man slowly and painfully climbs up the ladder. Many do not like the idea of reincarnation, but because an idea is disliked it does not make it untrue. Many will readily admit the idea of progression in other worlds, but cannot see the sweet reasonableness of reincarnation. Why, they ask, do we not remember if we have experienced and lived many lifes? This question is tho_ result of a misunderstanding of who it is that remembers. The Ego does remember because it has had all the experiences which are expressed by each personality in certain aptitudes and faculties, which are the sum total of all the Ego’s past experiences, or, rather, as much of it as can be expressed through one personality. The latter cannot remember because the brain lias not registered those experiences, not having lived through them. All the people in the world can be divided into two classes—those who understand and those who do not understand. The latter drift along like a man in a boat, carried slowly with the current. The former use their knowledge, and, realising the purpose for which they are here—viz., to help others—strive to initiate from within the effort which will develop the faculties that will make them more capable of doing that which they are here to do. Bo that which you are, said Saint Ambrose. Man can be the master of his own destiny, and mould his circumstances instead of .being bound by them. Theosophy is like the oars with which a man who knows how to use them propels his boat where he will. Change of attitude ia required. The wish to help others must take the first place instead of the wish to grasp for self. Once that attitude of helping others is realised life becomes very much worth while. To give all and ask for nothing in return is what Theosophy stands for. An open mind, free from prejudice, judging each id.>a on its merits by the unbiased intellect, unswayed by feeling, is what each one must strive to cultivate if ho would bs ono of the helpers of humanity.