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Judge W.Q. - Answers to Questioners: Difference between revisions
Judge W.Q. - Answers to Questioners (view source)
Revision as of 05:44, 11 November 2026
, Wednesday at 05:44Add the April 1888 installment, opening this series within Volume III, checked against the 1888-89 scan
m (Add the March 1888 installment, concluding this series within Volume II, checked against the 1887-88 scan) |
m (Add the April 1888 installment, opening this series within Volume III, checked against the 1888-89 scan) |
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| description = The first installment of the "Zadok" question-and-answer department announced the previous month: on celibacy and spiritual attainment, vegetarianism, whether one can be an occultist without consciously experiencing the Astral, and the two paths of out-of-body travel. | | description = The first installment of the "Zadok" question-and-answer department announced the previous month: on celibacy and spiritual attainment, vegetarianism, whether one can be an occultist without consciously experiencing the Astral, and the two paths of out-of-body travel. | ||
| work type = articles | | work type = articles | ||
| publication date = November, December 1887, January, February, March 1888 | | publication date = November, December 1887, January, February, March, April 1888 | ||
| publication date sortable = 1887-11 | | publication date sortable = 1887-11 | ||
| publication place = ''The Path'' | | publication place = ''The Path'' | ||
| read links = [[Path/Vol2/Text|Electronic journal edition in Teopedia]] | | read links = [[Path/Vol2/Text|Electronic journal edition in Teopedia]] (vol. II); [[Path/Vol3/Text|Electronic journal edition in Teopedia]] (vol. III, continuing) | ||
| publications = [[Path/Vol2/Text|''The Path'', vol. II, no. 8]], November 1887, pp. 249-251; no. 9, December 1887, pp. 278-281; no. 10, January 1888, pp. 309-310; no. 11, February 1888, pp. 344-346; no. 12, March 1888, pp. 378-381 | | publications = [[Path/Vol2/Text|''The Path'', vol. II, no. 8]], November 1887, pp. 249-251; no. 9, December 1887, pp. 278-281; no. 10, January 1888, pp. 309-310; no. 11, February 1888, pp. 344-346; no. 12, March 1888, pp. 378-381; [[Path/Vol3/Text|vol. III, no. 1]], April 1888, pp. 21-23 (continuing further in Volume III, outside the scope of this project) | ||
| ctd rus = Джадж У.К. - Ответы спрашивающим | | ctd rus = Джадж У.К. - Ответы спрашивающим | ||
| note = Signed "Zadok," the pseudonym established the previous month in [[Judge W.Q. - Notice to Inquirers|"Notice to Inquirers"]] (October 1887). The December and February installments' final answers, and the last answer of the March installment, are signed "Julius," a pseudonym of [[Keightley, Julia|Julia Keightley]] | | note = Signed "Zadok," the pseudonym established the previous month in [[Judge W.Q. - Notice to Inquirers|"Notice to Inquirers"]] (October 1887). The December and February installments' final answers, and the last answer of the March installment, are signed "Julius," a pseudonym of [[Keightley, Julia|Julia Keightley]]. The April 1888 (Volume III) installment's final answer is signed "Hadji," another of Judge's established pseudonyms. The rest are signed "Zadok." | ||
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{{Style P-Signature|Julius.}} | {{Style P-Signature|Julius.}} | ||
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{{Page aside in Path|v=3|n=1|p=21}} | |||
{{Style P-Subtitle|From G. H.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|(1.) During sleep I have a feeling that I can fly by an intense act of will. I then do float in dream over the ground, my body seeming rigid. The force exhausts, then I have to descend. What is your explanation of this?}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|''Answer''.—It is part of the effort of your inner man to demonstrate to your outer self the existence and action of unrecognized and unfamiliar forces, which every man has in him the latent power to use. Dreamless slumber is better.}} | |||
{{Page aside in Path|v=3|n=1|p=22}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|(2.) In Theosophical books I find occult or magical phenomena referred to. I am disposed to reject these and consider their publication of a very questionable character in light of matter for the improvement of intelligent seekers after truth. Still I do not deny them, and hold myself open for conviction in any direction.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|''Answer''.—Why then bother yourself with the phenomena of your dream state? The dream of flying is as much a phenomenon as any other that Theosophical literature contains. The proper attitude for true theosophists is not to be ready or anxious to bring conviction as to any phenomena to inquirers. Hence we cannot enter into proofs. We know personally that phenomena of a most extraordinary character have taken place, and are still occurring; we also agree with you that the constant publication of accounts of phenomena is unwise. Still it must sometimes be done, as some minds have to advance through the aid of these things.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|We also know that the Masters who are behind the Theosophical Society have, in writing, condemned the thirst for phenomena made so often degrading, and stated that the Society ought to progress through its moral worth. One phenomenon can be seen by but a limited number of people, some of whom even will always doubt, and each one hearing of it afterwards will want a repetition for himself. Further than that, it would be certain to bring on a thirst for mere sight-seeing, resulting in a total forgetfulness of spirit. But, on the other hand, there are laws that cannot be guessed at without phenomena. And in each human being is a complete universe in which daily occur phenomena that should be studied. This is the proper realm for each student to investigate, for therein—and nowhere else—is placed the gate through which each one must advance.}} | |||
{{Style P-Signature|Zadok.}} | |||
{{Style P-Subtitle|From G. B.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|Why does the Baron in Mr. Sinnett's "Karma" advise Mrs. Lakesby not to communicate with the "astral spectres" she saw about the Professor?}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|''Answer''.—The answer to this will not yet be well understood. The English language has not acquired the needed words. The Baron's reply was that thereby the real ego of the deceased would be retarded in its advancement, and Mrs. Lakesby might lay herself open to influences from the astral world that would prey upon her unexpectedly.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|This answer opens fire at once upon the whole "philosophy" of spiritualism, and contains a challenge of the ignorance of most seers and nearly every student of psychical laws. The ordinary spiritualist sees complete proof for the returning of deceased friends in the phenomena of the seance room, and nearly every seer is fascinated with his or her own pictures in the astral light and the absolute truth of what is seen.}} | |||
{{Page aside in Path|v=3|n=1|p=23}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|Mrs. Lakesby did not see the spirit of any person, but only the reliquae. The spirit is never seen, and the soul is engaged in experiencing a certain portion of its deserts in other states. These states are unnameable and incomprehensible to English speaking people. But for a period there is a magnetic connection between that soul and the reliquae seen at seances and by seers. By means of that connection the soul is prevented—against its will, except when it is extremely wicked—from passing through its purification preparatory to entering into devachan. This purification, or preparatory state anterior to devachan, has not been explained by theosophical writers. It is, nevertheless, a fact of the highest importance.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|The second portion of the Baron's reply is also valuable. When a seer or medium perceives these shades of the departed and desires to communicate with them, a crowd of nature-spirits, of no moral character but solely moved by magnetic impulse, rush into the shade of the deceased and give it a temporary life. They too are then able, on their part, to see the seer or medium, and may and do often transfer themselves from the shade to the medium, whose lower, baser nature they occupy and vivify. By thus incorporating themselves with the reliquae of dead persons, these elementals stop the process of disintegration of the atoms of matter composing the shade, which would have gone on to completion if left to nature. As soon as this disintegrating process is inhibited, the soul itself is held, so to say, in a vise which it is powerless to open, and unaware as well from whence comes the disturbance. Thus, then, these who run after their deceased friends' shades or reappearances are each day condemning their loved ones to a longer and more painful stay in a state that closely corresponds to the Christian hell.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|I know my words will sweep unheeded over the forest in which our spiritualistic friends are wandering, but some sincere students will believe me.}} | |||
{{Style P-Signature|Hadji.}} | |||