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(September 1891)
Publications:
- The Path, vol. VI, no. 6, September 1891, pp. 175-178
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CTD entry in Russian: Фуллертон, Александр - Один из многих
DATA
Title for references: Fullerton A - One of Many
Short description: A satirical short story of Mr. Wilkinson Blynn, who seeks Adeptship from the President of a fictitio...
175 "I wish to become an Adept," said Mr. Wilkinson Blynn as he seated himself in the law office of the President of the Occidental T. S., Mr. Henry Peters.
"At once!", asked Mr. Peters.
"As soon as the rules permit," replied Mr. Blynn.
"It is a matter rather of fitness than of rules, I should suppose," said Mr. Peters. "But what has led you to desire it?"
"I am quite sure that I could serve humanity more efficiently as an Adept, and I do not wish to waste any time. Besides, the books say that many persons are quietly receiving the training, and why should not I?" Pressed with further questions, Mr. Blynn avowed certain experiences which seemed to point to fitness for the Occult. He had heard strange sounds during the watches of the night, a curious blue light seemed at times to burn behind his eyes, and he perceived a diminution of interest in business and in the pursuits habitual for many years. Moreover, he was conscious of a deep-seated desire to go about in his astral body.
Mr. Peters gazed for a moment at the visitor. He was short and stout, with a somewhat weak forehead and mouth, but not without a complacent expression indicative of self-satisfaction. He was certainly not the type of Mahatmic grace, nor did the thought of him on astral excursions conduce to sobriety. But Mr. Peters comported himself with much decorum. He briefly sketched the training understood to be preliminary to Adeptship, stated the motives and work of the Tibetan Brotherhood, and hinted at the many incarnations prior to initiation. "You are a member of the Theosophical Society, I presume, Mr. Blynn?"
"No, sir, I am not! I do not consider it necessary. A man can become an Adept without putting F. T. S. after his name. I serve humanity better otherwise than by paying a dollar a year to a Society. Besides, I understand that Madame Blavatsky smoked."
"Very possibly", rejoined Mr. Peters. "I have even heard that she ate. But what steps did you purpose taking in respect to Adeptship?"
"That is in part what I have come for," Mr. Blynn replied. "I suppose I should first join the Esoteric Section, and then advance as an Accepted Chela. The way seems quite plain."
"But you can hardly be a member of a Section without first becoming a member of the body of which that may be a Section. And, indeed, I do not see how you can expect the guidance of Masters if you hold aloof from the Society They cherish. If we want Their help we must give Them ours, I should say."
"Just like the Church!", exclaimed Mr. Blynn. "If you don't come in and pay your dollar, you can't have any spiritual enlightenment." And warming with his theme, Mr. Blynn explained how independent was internal development of material props, and that he had not in vain read The Light of Egypt and The Occult World. "Then you won't introduce176me to a Mahatma unless I join your Society!", he asked at his close.
Mr. Peters gasped. "I have no acquaintance with a Mahatma, and no power to introduce anybody", he at last said.
"Then, Sir, you don't amount to much," sternly rejoined Mr. Blynn. "Better read your own books and exercise Universal Brotherhood. I wish you good morning, Mr.—ah—President!", and after that subtle sarcasm he closed the door with an asperity which would have seemed like a slam in anybody not an incipient Adept.
As Mr. Blynn went his way he was conscious of a mixture of feelings. It was something to have exposed and rebuked a hollow pretense like the Occidental T. S. and its Chief, and so far elation was proper. But otherwise the visit was less successful. No appointment had been made to present him to a Thibetan Brother, and he had not even been taken into the Esoteric Section. As for joining the T. S., not he! Never would he countenance a system of fees and dues in an organization for spiritual culture, nor would he part with his own cash for any such. The water of life was without money and without price. As for Masters, he was in no way bound to follow Their policy or obey Their orders. No vows of obedience could be exacted until Initiation, and as Initiation conferred "powers", he would find in those "powers" ample safeguard against oppression. Meantime he should seek development of the Occult germs within him, and serve humanity in such wise as opportunity—here he gave an angry flip with his cane at an obtrusive newsboy, and heard with satisfaction a responsive wail.
The day was warm and his home was distant. After some hesitation over the outlay he found refreshment in two glasses of beer, and then repose in a car. As he unwillingly paid his fare, the thought of astral travel recurred, and then the memory of that blatherskite Peters who had sought to obstruct his Occult career. "Won't I blast him when I am initiated and know how!", said the candidate to himself. But this, he had been told, was incarnations off. Surely there must be some way to expedite progress and to release him from the various encumbrances of fat, ignorance, and impotence.
As the car crept slowly along, Mr. Blynn felt additional surgings of what he considered his "higher being". He was abundantly well off, but was tired of business, there was a good deal of monotony in the matters of food and routine life, and planes of loftier consciousness allured him.177Certainly Adeptship was the solution of his discontent. But for that damned Peters he might be now on the way to it.
It was just at that moment that an idea sprang into his brain. Its suddenness and completeness were so emphatic that there could be no doubt of its origin; it was a gift vouchsafed from an unseen Mahatma, one of the Brotherhood doubtless ready to welcome him. As he recalled what he had read of clairvoyance, astral journeys, and hypnotic experiments, Mr. Blynn discerned the whole process of Adept training. It was simply self-hypnotization. This explained, moreover, why Theosophical books insisted on illumination from within, and on the futility of seeking it from without. How simple was the whole matter when thus regarded. Paralyze the outer senses and leave the inner free! Dissolve away the physical encasement, so to speak, and the Ego was emancipated from its bonds. And the means were no less facile. A coin, a bright spot, a little globe a few inches from the eyes, and soon the rebellious flesh would be subdued, the astral being liberated, and the aerial voyage begun. Peters be hanged!
The few preparations were readily made. Mr. Blynn fortified himself with an ample repast from which pork chops and sherry were not absent, cemented a gold dollar to the end of a stick, and adjusted it and his easy chair to a fitting distance. Then gazing intently at the shining disk, the proper degree of strabismus secured, he lay easily back in his chair and awaited the coming emancipation. There was some discomfort in the strain on the eyes, and he had to resist an impulse to wink, but he knew that the path to Adeptship is not only over roses. Gradually as his head began to swim and nervous twitches to multiply through his brain, he felt more and more the incipience of Occult process. Queer lights flashed before him; dull sounds, mighty in significance, if as yet uninterpretable, rolled through his ears; time and space seemed gradually to vanish; the whole import and secret of being was on the point of disclosure. Then came a gliding away from existence, a suspension of consciousness when he neither knew nor felt. But not for long. Suddenly he rose into the translucent air of perennial gladness, he soared through regions of light indescribable, visions glorious and thrilling passed before his enraptured gaze, he saw bands of the Brotherhood in mystic converse, he joined them, he communed with them, he was one of them! Into that transcendent experience no thought of Peters intruded. He was free, free from his earthly tedium, every aspiration met, every hope fulfilled.
But alas! it is not given to mortals long to partake of unearthly bliss. In the midst of this supernal scene came a cry, a harsh and loud ejaculation, a start, a splutter, a rude recall to earth. "Heavens, Blynn, what is the178meaning of this?", had exclaimed the coarse Maginnis, a frequent visitor, suddenly entering the room of the sleeper and finding him snoring before a gold dollar on a stick. "Are you crazy, man?", and Maginnis shook him till the sherry and the hypnotism and the beer had subsided. No, Mr. Blynn was at last able to explain, he was not crazy, but he had dozed off while thinking out a problem which had perplexed him.
"I never suspected you of being an adept at problems," said Maginnis.
"I don't know that I shall ever be an Adept at all," replied Mr. Blynn as he pocketed his dollar.
Alexander Fullerton.
Footnotes