Various

“ It is this consciousness of the intrinsic excellency of spiritual being, which awakens the reverence that every man is forced to feel when he is brought fairly to stand alone in the presence of his own spirit. As if another and a divine self scanned and judged every purpose and thought of the acting self, so is every man when arraigned before his own personality, and made to hear with uncovered head his sentence of self-justification or self-condemnation. ”

“ The most beautiful things remain invisible to those who have not eyes to see. Look at the hundreds and thousands in every large city and, strange to say, more particularly in country districts, who know nothing of the beauty and sublimity of the heavens and nature around them. Many a farmer looks at the sky simply to note the changes of the weather. The magnificence of cloud effect, the glory of the sunrise and the quivering of the eternal stars, he never sees. And even those who profess to be lovers of nature, how little more than external beauty do they see? ”

“ This Divine Consciousness in man which is the real man—real in the sense of permanency—is quite on a par with the Creators, though that real self is perhaps not known to any of our personal selves. But then stands that real Self at the commencement of each New Birth. As the process of evolution goes on each step in the meditation of this mighty Self as he contemplates existence, finds a responsive thrill in the tiny ovum, bound to himself by the strong bonds of Karma. ”

“ May it not be that by taking up this Drama in the right spirit and reviving the ancient life and consciousness by going back in thought to old Athens, we have started anew the vibrations which resulted in the beauty of Greek art and life. Then here in the Club where but rarely any discordant note arises, but where we come together in harmony there comes an indescribable something that leaves its impress on the heart, of peace and joy and at the same time a sense of courage and unconquerable energy to carry on this work that our beloved H. P. B. and the Chief began. ”

“ But in Æschylus the teaching is there, though veiled. The wise teacher does not tear down until a new foothold has been found. He builds, constructs and educates, thus slowly leading to a higher level, disengaging the minds gradually from error by instilling a higher conception of truth. The inner teaching runs through it all like a golden thread in a many colored tapestry, now appearing, now apparently lost, but in reality only hidden from the casual observer yet present still to him who has eyes to see. ”

“ The Professor.—“It has been a century of unrest, and nothing is more needed than that this keynote of harmony should be struck at this time, it is in this that lies the hope of the future, and it is in this spirit of harmony that actuates the workers to-day that lies the guarantee that the work will be carried into the next century, though one here and there, unable to go forward in the new age, must be left behind.” ”

“ Lamartine interspersed his narrative of this voyage with reflections upon what he observed and meditated. “I would like to sail all the while,” says he, “to have a voyage with its chances and distractions. But what I read in my wife’s eyes goes deep into my heart. [6] The suffering of a man is nothing like that of a woman, a mother. A woman lives and dies in one sole thought, or one solitary feeling. Life for a woman is a something possessed; death, a something lost. A man lives with everything that he has to do with, good or bad; God does not kill him with a blow.” ”

“ When we fall away from the path of duty, when torn by the storms of passion we forget that there reposes within the complexities of our nature a divine spark—much more, perhaps, that we ourselves are a universe, nay, a universe of Universes, a Great Eternal God, controlling, energizing and creating worlds that live and have their day and cease to be. ”

“ The inner work and the real study have never ceased but have taken on a deeper meaning. Thank the gods, instead of the members seeking to have or to become special gurus and imagining themselves better than others, the whole organization moves along in touch with the life of the world, all striving ever to put into practice that which they preach. The time-honored methods of which you speak were fast becoming time-honored ruts and you ought to thank your stars, that here is an opportunity to get out of the ruts and enter upon a broader field of life and activity as well as of study. ”

“ I think that nature made you a Poet when you were born, and so, as you grow, the beautiful thoughts will grow and grow as you do, until some time, when you are a big man, you will be able to tell all that you have thought about, all the lovely dreams, if you call them dreams, that you ever have had, and all these lovely shining things will grow into beautiful words and be printed in books. ”

“ Sometimes the same force becomes converted into Hate, when once the centrifugal disintegrating force is set going and gains the ascendancy, selfish in nature, self-centred, it cuts away the bonds that bind man to his fellows; he tries, but in vain, to carry on an existence of his own, but he soon finds that he has no existence, no meaning, no life apart from the whole. ”

“ So in the cell the determinants are the little bundles of ideas coming from the Magician (ourselves) and being instilled bit by bit into the heart of each of those groups of molecules and ensouling it, so the tale is told and this side of manifestation opens out into the beautiful blossom of Humanity, moulded also in part by the parental influences which can make or mar the impulse as it comes straight from the Creator’s mind. Make or mar, and yet how few women think of the real, sacred and holy duty of parentage. ”

“ There is an awful sanctuary in every immortal spirit, and man needs nothing more than to exclude all else, and stand alone before himself, to be made conscious of an authority he can neither dethrone nor delude. From its approbation comes self-respect; from its disapprobation, self-contempt. A stern behest is ever upon him, that he do nothing to degrade the real dignity of his spiritual being. He is a law to himself, and has both the judge and executioner within him and inseparable from him. ”

“ The organizers of Saint-Simonism have taken for their first article of belief: war to the death between the family, property and religion on one hand and ourselves on the other. They ought to perish. The world, by the force of speech is not conquered; it is to be converted, stirred, wrought into activity, changed.
“So long as an idea is not practical, it is not presentable to the world of society. Human nature goes from the known to the unknown, but not from the known to the absurd. ”

“ One can see even now indications that the world is advancing to a broader field of thought. The revival of the ancient drama and the way the ‘Eumenides’ was received show this clearly and show that the links with the mighty past exist in the hearts of men—albeit unconsciously to most, but ready to be awakened into responsive action when again the picture of that long forgotten life is presented before them. I heard with much interest that in one city where the play was given, the notices of the performance were given out in almost every church in the city. ”

“ One young lady of slight figure and pale face, an enthusiastic worker, always present at the meetings, but who never ventured to say a word, now exclaimed:
“The very thought of it brings new 619life, new hope. Surely we haven’t any time to sit and mope over the little frictions that beset our paths. Surely we should keep on working and trusting that we may be a part of this new life and each of us become individually a hope and a light to those who would walk this broad path of knowledge towards the glorious future that awaits us.” ”

“ There are plenty of evidences of this in modern life, of would-be teachers who, ignorant of the laws of growth and development, seek to tear down and at the same time to dazzle their hearers with knowledge which they themselves have not half-digested, and instead of bringing light and freedom, they but imprison and fetter the mind more closely. It is just as though to hasten the growth of a tender plant a gardener would bring it out of a cool and shady spot into the full glare of the sun. ”

“ For in its turn the body of man must be subservient to that of which it is a part, and answer to the call of that which represents the corporate body of bodies, and to the divine light within, “that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” which is one with the Father, the Divine over soul, of which we are all dim reflections. So also of the part, the tiny microcosm of man, the cell, it is in its turn a universe, a universe so grand that the many revelations that scientific investigation has unveiled makes that science stand aghast ”

“ But keeping to man, these cells form themselves into societies, which we call tissues, these into others we call organs, and the organs form together a corporate organization, the body, which in a healthy state is subservient to the synthesizing forces emanating from the Heart, where lives the source of life, the divine Ruler. So the organs work together in harmony. If any organ begins to absorb more attention and life than is due to it, not only does it suffer itself, but brings discord into the whole. ”

“ The old statesman received him cordially, and in one interview predicted his career. Lamartine, he remarked, was reserving himself for something more sound and grand than the substituting of an uncle for a nephew upon a throne that had no stable foundation. “You will succeed in it,” he added. “Nature has made you a poet; poetry will make you an orator; tact and thinking will make you a statesman. I know men somewhat; I am eighty years old. I see farther than the objects in sight. You are to have a grand part to perform in the events which will succeed to the present state of affairs. ”

“ He continued, “Phœbe, don’t you like the summer time the best of all? The woods are so cool and green and there’s so many flowers.”
“Oh, yes, I do love it. But I think I like the spring time best because I think the little flowers, so pale and tender, are the very dearest of all. The summer flowers are so strong and bright. I love the little spring flowers the best, and best of all the big, beautiful purple violet.”
Tommy thought a while and then he said:
“I know. I guess you mean that we love the things that aren’t strong the best. ”

“ Then in a very fine passage Wagner indicts Modern Art, based, as it is, on fame and gain and serving all the lower needs of a debased public taste. The Drama is separated into Play and Opera; the one losing its idealizer—Music,—the other, its dramatic aim and end: “What serves it us, that Shakespeare, like a second Creator, has opened for us the endless realm of human nature? What serves it, that Beethoven has lent to Music the manly, independent strength of Poetry? ”

“ Study is not overlooked, but on the contrary, our students are learning how to study and the true value of study as the precursor of right action. Thanks to Madam Purple, the study of philosophy is no longer looked upon as the end and aim of life. Theoretical study is good and necessary, but our students realize that Brotherhood is more than a theory, that it is an actual fact to be consciously realized and that they must seek to make Theosophy a living power in their lives. ”

“ Everyone was glad to see Madam Purple who it was known to all had established a school to revive the ancient wisdom and to teach the laws of physical, moral and mental health and of spiritual development and for the purpose of accentuating the importance of Music and Drama as vital educative factors had already reproduced one of the old Greek Tragedies in such a way as to arouse the attention of the public and astonish the critics, touching a new chord and awakening new possibilities for the influence of the stage on the lives and characters of the people. ”

“ Madam Purple.—“It is indeed gratifying that there are so many interested in almost every line of work that will benefit humanity and who are naturally drawn to help along educative lines. All work to be of real benefit must be educative.”
Dr. Wyld.—“Let me go back to what I said just after I came into the room, it comes upon me with greater and greater force, and I felt it too while watching the performance that somehow it moved one right away from this grasping, money-making world to a new-old world near to the silence and peace of things where words are not needed.” ”

“ Society, to the eye of the philosopher, is in a state of disorder. It has neither direction, object nor leader; and it is reduced accordingly to the instinct of conservatism. A sect that is religious, moral, social and political,—that has a creed, a watchword, an object, a leader, and mind, if it were to advance compactly and directly at the midst of the disordered ranks in the present social order, would inevitably gain the victory. ”

“ Is not the idea of motion stamped on the systems of worlds, sufficient to prove God to us? We busy ourselves very little about the pretended nothingness which precedes birth while we fumble in and ransack the dark gulf that awaits us, that is, we make God responsible for our future and we demand from him, no record of the past. ”