Section 3

The process of evolution up to reunion with the Divine is and includes successive elevation from rank to rank of power and usefulness. The most
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exalted beings still in the flesh are known as Sages, Rishis, Brothers, Masters. Their great function being the preservation at all times, and when cyclic laws permit, the extension of spiritual knowledge and influence.
When union with the Divine is effected, all the events and experiences of each incarnation are known.
As to the process of spiritual development, Theosophy teaches :
First. That the essence of the process lies in the securing of supremacy, to the highest, the spir- itual, element of man's nature.
Second. That this is attained along four lines, among others, —
(a) The entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the cultivation of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the good of others.
(b) The absolute cultivation of the inner, spiritual man by meditation, by reaching to and communion with the Divine, and by exer- cise of the kind described by Patanjali, i. e., incessant striving to an ideal end.
(c) The control of fleshly appetites and desires, all lower, material interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests of the spirit.
(d) The careful performance of every duty belonging to one's station in life, with- out desire for reward, leaving results for Divine law.
Third. That while the above is incumbent on and practicable by all religiously disposed men, a yet higher plane of spiritual attainment is condi-
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tioned upon a specific course of training, physical, intellectual and spiritual, by which the internal faculties are first aroused and then developed.
Fourth. That an extension of this process is reached in Adeptship, Mahatmaship, or the states of Rishis, Sages and Dhyan Chohans, which are all exalted stages, attained by laborious self-dis- cipline and hardship, protracted through possibly many incarnations, and with many degrees of ini- tiation and preferment, beyond which are yet other stages ever approaching the Divine.
As to the rationale of spiritual development it asserts:
First. That the process takes place entirely within the individual himself, the motive, the ef- fort, and the result proceeding from his own inner nature, along the lines of self-evolution.
Second. That, however personal and interior, this process is not unaided, being possible, in fact, only through close communion with the supreme source of all strength.
As to the degree of advancement in incarnations it holds :
First. That even a mere intellectual acquaint- ance with Theosophic truth has great value in fit- ting the individual for a step upwards in his next earth-life, as it gives an impulse in that direction.
Second. That still more is gained by a career of duty, piety and beneficence.
Third. That a still greater advance is attained by the attentive and devoted use of the means to spirituaKculture heretofore stated.
Fourth. That every race and individual of it reaches in evolution a period known as "the mo- ment of choice," when they decide for themselves
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their future destiny by a deliberate and conscious choice between eternal life and death, and that this right of choice is the peculiar appanage of the free soul. It cannot be exercised until the man has realized the soul within him, and until that soul has attained some measure of self-conscious- ness in the body. The moment of choice is not a fixed period of time; it is made up of all moments. It cannot come unless all the previous lives have led up to it. For the race as a whole it has not yet come. Any individual can hasten the advent of this period for himself under the previously stated law of the ripening of Karma. Should he then fail to choose right he is not wholly condemned, for the economy of nature provides that he shall again and again have the opportunity of choice when the moment arrives for the whole race. After this period the race, having blossomed, tends towards its dissolution. A few individuals of it will have outstripped its progress and at- tained Adeptship or Mahatmaship. The main body, who have chosen aright, but who have not attained salvation, pass into the subjective condi- tion, there to await the influx of the human life wave into the next globe, which they are the first souls to people; the deliberate choosers of evil, whose lives are passed in great spiritual wicked- ness (for evil done for the sheer love of evil per se), sever the connection with the Divine Spirit, or the Monad, which forever abandons the human Ego. Such Egos pass into the misery of the eighth sphere, as far as we understand, there to remain until the separation between what they had thus cultivated and the personal Ishwara or divine spark is complete. But this tenet has never
AN EPITOME OF THEOSOPHY
been explained to us by the Masters, who have always refused to answer and to explain it con- clusively. At the next Manvantara that Divine Spark will probably begin again the long evolu- tionary journey, being cast into the stream of life at the source and passing upward again through all the lower forms.
So long as the connection with the Divine Mo- nad is not severed, this annihilation of personality cannot take place. Something of that personality will always remain attached to the immortal Ego. Even after such severance the human being may live on, a man among men — a soulless being. This disappointment, so to call it, of the Divine Spark by depriving it of its chosen vehicle consti- tutes the "sin against the Holy Ghost," which its very nature forbade it to pardon, because it cannot continue an association with principles which have become degraded and vitiated in the absolute sense, so that they no longer respond to cyclic or evolutionary impulses, but, weighted by their own nature, sink to the lowest depths of matter. The connection, once wholly broken, cannot in the nature of Being be resumed. But innumerable opportunities for return offer themselves through- out the dissolving process, which lasts thousands of years.
There is also a fate that comes to even Adepts of the Good Law which is somewhat similar to a loss of "heaven" after its enjoyment for incalcu- lable periods of time. When the Adept has reached a certain very high point in his evolution he may, by a mere wish, become what the Hindus call a "Deva" — or lesser god. If he does this, then, although he will enjoy the bliss and power
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of that state for a vast length of time, he will not at the next Pralaya partake of the conscious life "in the bosom of the Father," but has to pass down into matter at the next new "creation," per- forming certain functions that could not now be made clear, and has to come up again through the elemental world; but this fate is not like that of the Black Magician who falls into Avitchi. And again between the two he can choose the middle state and become a Nirmanakaya — one who gives up the bliss of Nirvana and remains in conscious existence outside of his body after its death; in order to help Humanity. This is the greatest sac- rifice he can do for mankind. By advancement from one degree of interest and comparative at- tainment to another as above stated, the student hastens the advent of the moment of choice, after which his rate of progress is greatly intensified.
It may be added that Theosophy is the only sys- tem of religion and philosophy which gives satis- factory explanation of such problems as these:
First. The object, use, and inhabitation of other planets than this earth, which planets serve to complete and prolong the evolutionary course, and to fill the required measure of the universal experience of souls.
Second. The geological cataclysms of earth; the frequent absence of intermediate types in its fauna; the occurrence of architectural and other relics of races now lost, and as to which ordinary science has nothing but vain conjecture; the nature of extinct civilizations and the causes of their ex- tinction; the persistence of savagery and the un- equal development of existing civilizations; the differences, physical and internal, between the var-
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ious races of men; the line of future development.
Third. The contrasts and unisons of the world's faiths, and the common foundation under- lying them all.
Fourth. The existence of evil, of suffering, and of sorrow — a hopeless puzzle to the mere philan- thropist or theologian.
Fifth. The inequalities in social condition and privilege ; the sharp contrasts between wealth and poverty, intelligence and stupidity, culture and ig- norance, virtue and vileness; the appearance of men of genius in families destitute of it, as well as other facts in conflict with the law of heredity; the frequent cases of unfitness of environment around individuals, so sore as to embitter disposi- tion, hamper aspiration, and paralyze endeavor; the violent antithesis between character and condi- tion; the occurrence of accident, misfortune and untimely death — all of them problems solvable only by either the conventional theory of Divine caprice or the Theosophic doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation.
Sixth. The possession by individuals of psychic powers — clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc., as well as the phenomena of psychometry and statuvolism.
Seventh. The true nature of genuine phenom- ena in spiritualism, and the proper antidote to superstition and to exaggerated expectation.
Eighth. The failure of conventional religions to greatly extend their areas, reform abuses, reor- ganize society, expand the idea of brotherhood, abate discontent, diminish crime, and elevate hu- manity; and an apparent inadequacy to realize in individual lives the ideal they professedly uphold.
[30]
Other Writings By William Q. Judge
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