Buchanan"s Journal of Man, January 1888.
by Various.
THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH.
"To be loyal to the truth is of more account than to be merely successful in formulating it."--_Popular Science Monthly_ for December.
Indeed it is; for loyalty to truth is the prior condition of success in formulating or stating it, and that loyalty not only precedes the special success in formulating it, but is the prior cause of _universal success_ in its attainment. Special perceptive powers and favorable opportunities may enable scientists to ascertain certain truths, as a lamp may enable them to discover a few objects near them which darkness hides from others, but loyalty to truth reveals, like daylight, all that lies within our horizon, for it opens widely all the avenues between the mind and universal nature, and prevents our mental transparency from being darkened in any direction or relation.
He who has this loyalty dominant in his nature never p.r.o.nounces anything false which subsequent investigation, or the investigation by others, proves true. He never becomes an obstacle to the spread of any truth. He is always the first to welcome a new truth and the last to falter in sustaining it. He is always ready to recognize the same sincerity and fidelity in others, and to give a kindly welcome to the labors and discoveries of other followers of truth. As brave men readily recognize and honor each other, so do the soldiers of truth meet in quick sympathy and cordial co-operation.
The labors, the discoveries and promulgations of such men ever become criteria by which to test the loyalty and truthfulness of others, for, wherever they are presented, all who live in loyalty to truth are at once attracted and realize their harmony with the truth. As the magnetized iron attracts the unmagnetized, so does the loyal soul charged with truth attract all other loyal souls.
But all through human history we find that inventions, discoveries and, above all, momentous truths uniformly fail to attract the ma.s.ses, either of the learned or the unlearned, as was ill.u.s.trated in our December number, and hence we must conclude that, in the present early or juvenile stage of human evolution, loyalty to truth is one of the rarest virtues of humanity.
And yet, how often do we meet in literature expressions which would indicate that the writers were entirely loyal. They mistake loyalty to their own self-esteem, loyalty to their own dogmatic convictions, mental limitations, prejudices, and prepossessions for loyalty to truth, which is a pa.s.sionless, modest, lovely and n.o.ble quality.
No doubt the contemporaries of Galileo, Newton, and Harvey indulged in the same self-gratulations. The bigot and dogmatist in all ages have entertained no doubt of their own loyalty to truth; but it was loyalty to their own very limited perceptions, and to their profound conviction that all outside of their own sphere of perception was falsehood or nonent.i.ty, and should be received with supercilious scorn or crushing blows whenever presented.
Men"s minds are thus narrowed in the base contests of selfishness, jealousy, and fraud; but of all the demoralizing influences that darken the mind by closing up permanently its most important inlets, none have had such a wide-spread and far-reaching power for evil as the false theology which demands the absolute surrender of reason to self-evident absurdities.
Benumbed by countless centuries of superst.i.tion and pa.s.sive surrender to false education, to social influences, to pre-natal conditions, to the terrors of law and custom, and to the lurid threats and horrors of the imaginary drama of eternity, the ma.s.s of mankind have lost the power of the dispa.s.sionate philosophical reasoning demanded by loyalty to truth, and they do not know how to appreciate it when they see it.
Rebelling now against this limitation and slavery, they still carry in their rebellion the marks of their slavery, and in their honest agnosticism they still fail to reason fairly in loyalty to truth, and indulge in the same dogmatism, narrowness or prejudice as when they were slaves to priestly dogmas.
It is true that in the agnostic scientific cla.s.ses there is far more independent reasoning capacity generally than among those who dwell in the theological limitations, but their independence has not relieved them from the dogmatism which has so long been cultivated in the human race by all religious systems. The dogmatism of the medical college, and of most scientific a.s.sociations, rivals that of theological sectarianism.
The _Popular Science Monthly_, from which the above expression in behalf of loyalty to truth was taken, is itself a striking ill.u.s.tration of _disloyalty_, and rigidly confines itself to the fashionable doctrines of the schools, excluding from its pages whatever differs from the prevalent scientific dogmatism, and while denouncing the dogmatism of theology, exhibiting itself a dogmatism equally blind, unreasoning and regardless of facts. Experimental demonstrations and scientific facts, which transcend the limits of their arbitrary theories, receive as little attention from the dogmatists trained in medical schools, as they would from a college of cardinals.
The JOURNAL OF MAN, in the presentation of new truths, attracts only the candid, loyal and progressive. It does not hope to conquer the results of inheritance, pre-natal influence and old inst.i.tutions, or force any truth upon reluctant and disloyal minds, but it knows that there is an important and growing cla.s.s who sympathize with loyalty and prefer the glowing future to the decaying remains of the past.
To the party of progress, this magnificent republic opens a free and ample field. The domination of habit and transmitted dogmatism is growing continually weaker, fading away in churches and colleges. The pulpit of today is tolerant indeed in comparison with the pulpit of our fathers, and the bright, free thought of the advanced people surrounds the colleges with an atmosphere which is gradually penetrating their walls and modifying their policy. An important duty devolves upon every loyal, progressive thinker,--the duty of speaking out firmly, manfully and distinctly, to swell the volume of thought which carries mankind onward to a n.o.bler future.
OCCULTISM DEFINED.
BY ONE WHO KNOWS.
My own claims to be considered as an exponent of true Occultism are founded upon the following grounds: When quite young, in fact, before I had attained my thirteenth year, I became acquainted with certain parties who sought me out and professed a desire to observe the somnambulic faculties for which I was then remarkable. I found my new a.s.sociates to be ladies and gentlemen, mostly persons of n.o.ble rank, and during a period of several years, I, and many other young persons, a.s.sisted at their sessions in the quality of somnambulists, or mesmeric subjects. The persons I thus came into contact with were representatives of many other countries than Great Britain. They formed one of a number of secret societies, and all that I am privileged to relate of them is, that they were students of the two branches of Occultism hereafter to be described; that they claimed an affiliation with societies derived from the ancient mysteries of Egypt, Greece, and Judaea; that their beliefs and practices had been concealed from the vulgar by cabalistic methods, and that though their real origin and the purpose of their a.s.sociation had at times been almost lost, it had revived, and been restored under many aspects.
They claimed that alchemy, mediaeval Rosicrucianism, and modern Freemasonry were off-shoots of the original Cabala, and that during the past 150 years new a.s.sociations had been formed, and the parties who had introduced me into their arcanum were a society in affiliation with many others then in existence in different countries. These persons, deeming that the intrusion into their ranks of unprepared minds would be injurious to the harmony necessary for their studies, carefully avoided a.s.suming any position of prominence in reference to the society, so that they might never be solicited to admit those whose presence might be prejudicial. Indeed it was one of their leading regulations never to permit the existence of the society to be known or the members thereof named, until they pa.s.sed from earth to the higher life. It is in virtue of this last clause that I am at liberty to say that Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut.
Morrison (better known as "Zadkiel"), and the author of "Art Magic,"
belonged to this society.
I should have known but little of its principles and practices, as I was simply what I should now call a clairvoyant, sought out by the society for my gifts in this direction, had I not, in later years, been instructed in the fundamentals of the society by the author of "Art Magic." When modern spiritualism dawned upon the world, for special reasons of my own, the fellows of my society gave me an honorary release from every obligation I had entered into with them except in the matter of secrecy. On that point I can never be released and never seek to be; but in respect to the statements I am about to make, my former a.s.sociates,--deeming their publication might serve to correct some of the erroneous opinions that are put into circulation by individuals who arrogate to themselves a knowledge, of which they have not the slightest iota,--not only sanction, but command me to present to the candid inquirer the following brief definition of genuine practical
OCCULTISM--ANCIENTLY WRITTEN IN "CABALA."
OCCULTISM is a study and application of the occult, or hidden principles and forces of the Universe, or, in its more limited sense, of Nature.
The study of occultism is called speculative. The application of that study is practical occultism.
Speculative occultism includes opinions and teachings, often so widely at variance with commonly received beliefs that it would be extremely unwise to subject it to the criticism of persons generically called the world. Speculative occultism of course might be regarded as _speculative only_, were it not possible by the aid of practical occultism to demonstrate its truths.
The subjects which engage the attention of the speculative occultist are THE CREATOR, or creative power; WORLD BUILDING, and the order and design of the earth and its spirit spheres; MAN, and his relations to the Creator, the earth, and his fellow-man.
DESCENT OF SPIRIT into matter, and its growth through embryotic stages, during which period it is first _elemental_, then _animal_, then _man_.
ASCENT OF SPIRIT out of matter, and its progress through future stages of growth as planetary and solar spirits.
Besides these purely theoretical subjects are suggestions concerning the best methods of communing with spiritual existences, and of receiving information from lower and higher states than man. These, together with _some mental exercises and practices_, form the main themes of consideration in the colleges of speculative occultism.
Spirit Communion, together with Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics, Geometry, Music, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, and Psychometry, are all kindred branches of study which must engage the attention of the true occultist.
PRACTICAL OCCULTISM.
PRACTICAL OCCULTISM consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the individual"s _own spirit_. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion--realizes no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification at insult, loss, or disappointment--in a word, subdues every emotion that stirs common men"s minds.
To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect _equilibrium_, the next step is _power_. The individual must be able to wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit during bodily sleep where he will, and visit--as well as remember when awake--distant scenes.
He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his fellow a.s.sociates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst.
He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the minds of any persons--not his a.s.sociates--_beneath_ his own calibre of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached), to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to which they belong.
He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature, be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune with them to a certain degree.
To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue his relations with his fellow-men.
He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is undertaken.
A practical occultist may be of either s.e.x, but must observe as the first law inviolable chast.i.ty--and that with a view of conserving all the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one who has not lived the life of strict chast.i.ty, can acquire the full sum of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be attained; the full sum never.
Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary.
Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern times can perform their routine.
The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes, fumigations, and all kinds of anaesthetics.
And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my position--as the former a.s.sociate of a secret society--I have simply to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary degrees to pa.s.s through, there are numerous others to which a thoroughly well organized and faithful a.s.sociation might advance. In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries.
In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power.
In future papers I propose to describe the two Ancient Cabalas, and the present attempts to incarnate their philosophy in modern--so-called--Theosophy.
SIRIUS.