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The cruel disease which carried him off, at the age of 39,<ref name="v2-p323-n1">Louis Dramard was born at Paris, Rue de Provence, on December 2nd, 1848.</ref> had been undermining his health for more than 15 years, leaving him no hope of recovery. But such was the nature of the man whose loss we deplore, that the fatal and torturing disease, instead of darkening his mind and drying up his sympathies, could only exalt the gifts of intellect and heart which were his. Under the bitter teaching of suffering, he became the refined thinker, the kind, just, and generous man, the devoted friend, the valiant socialist we have known. He was thus the living demonstration of D’Alembert’s noble thought, that suffering, in the gifted, enlarges and ennobles the soul. | The cruel disease which carried him off, at the age of 39,<ref name="v2-p323-n1">Louis Dramard was born at Paris, Rue de Provence, on December 2nd, 1848.</ref> had been undermining his health for more than 15 years, leaving him no hope of recovery. But such was the nature of the man whose loss we deplore, that the fatal and torturing disease, instead of darkening his mind and drying up his sympathies, could only exalt the gifts of intellect and heart which were his. Under the bitter teaching of suffering, he became the refined thinker, the kind, just, and generous man, the devoted friend, the valiant socialist we have known. He was thus the living demonstration of D’Alembert’s noble thought, that suffering, in the gifted, enlarges and ennobles the soul. | ||
A man truly worthy of the name knows, without needing to read it in the Iliad or in the Bible, that “life is bitter and full of tears,” that “every creature groans,” that consequently everyone has his burden which must be courageously borne. He knows too, that life is nothing, unless consecrated to personal improvement and the accomplishment of social duty; and that, according to a | A man truly worthy of the name knows, without needing to read it in the Iliad or in the Bible, that “life is bitter and full of tears,” that “every creature groans,” that consequently everyone has his burden which must be courageously borne. He knows too, that life is nothing, unless consecrated to personal improvement and the accomplishment of social duty; and that, according to a {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=324}}powerful saying of Strauss,<ref name="v2-p324-n1">“Essays in Religious History,” &c., by D. F. Strauss.</ref> he alone is to be reckoned in reality among human beings who, in his sphere, whether great or small, has toiled according to his strength to bring about a just condition of things, and has been enlightened, good and useful. | ||
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powerful saying of Strauss,<ref name="v2-p324-n1">“Essays in Religious History,” &c., by D. F. Strauss.</ref> he alone is to be reckoned in reality among human beings who, in his sphere, whether great or small, has toiled according to his strength to bring about a just condition of things, and has been enlightened, good and useful. | |||
This is the reason why, under the pressure of physical illness, of a torn and bleeding heart, of mental and bodily fatigue – content if he but had bread and a roof, dear ones who loved him, the possibility of not being useless to his fellows, and of working at the holy task of the moral and social renovation of humanity – he could, nevertheless, number himself among the happy. He would have blushed to think of his own troubles, in face of the immense veil of suffering which the cruel nature of things has spread over human life and still more even over life universal. He employed all his remaining strength to combat the evil and the suffering around him, to create for himself an altruistic rule of conduct, and he found in the fulfilment of his duties, and in spite of adversity, the austere consolation that comes to the good and the strong. | This is the reason why, under the pressure of physical illness, of a torn and bleeding heart, of mental and bodily fatigue – content if he but had bread and a roof, dear ones who loved him, the possibility of not being useless to his fellows, and of working at the holy task of the moral and social renovation of humanity – he could, nevertheless, number himself among the happy. He would have blushed to think of his own troubles, in face of the immense veil of suffering which the cruel nature of things has spread over human life and still more even over life universal. He employed all his remaining strength to combat the evil and the suffering around him, to create for himself an altruistic rule of conduct, and he found in the fulfilment of his duties, and in spite of adversity, the austere consolation that comes to the good and the strong. | ||
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{{Style P-Quote|1=. . . . Towards the close of his life, already undermined by the cruel disease | {{Style P-Quote|1=. . . . Towards the close of his life, already undermined by the cruel disease {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=325}}to which he was destined to succumb, Louis Dramard devoted himself to a new class of studies; he joined the ''Theosophical Society.'' | ||
{{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=325}} | |||
to which he was destined to succumb, Louis Dramard devoted himself to a new class of studies; he joined the ''Theosophical Society.'' | |||
He had, indeed, penetrated to some extent the sanctuary of the ancient traditions and civilisations of India. He returned thence marvelling. He plunged into these subjects anew, and brought to the study of the sciences called occult, called mysterious, of which contemporary hypnotism lifts one corner of the veil, his scientific and vigorous mind, as his articles on the “Esoteric Doctrine” prove. | He had, indeed, penetrated to some extent the sanctuary of the ancient traditions and civilisations of India. He returned thence marvelling. He plunged into these subjects anew, and brought to the study of the sciences called occult, called mysterious, of which contemporary hypnotism lifts one corner of the veil, his scientific and vigorous mind, as his articles on the “Esoteric Doctrine” prove. | ||
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This clear vision Dramard thought he had found in Hindu esotericism, which has recently become known in the West under the name of ''Theosophy.'' | This clear vision Dramard thought he had found in Hindu esotericism, which has recently become known in the West under the name of ''Theosophy.'' | ||
The fact of the adhesion of Louis Dramard to the Theosophical Society is a fact too important in his life to permit us to abstain from entering into some detail concerning it; and one cannot do better in the first instance, than reproduce, on this subject, a letter from our regretted friend to Mme. Camille | The fact of the adhesion of Louis Dramard to the Theosophical Society is a fact too important in his life to permit us to abstain from entering into some detail concerning it; and one cannot do better in the first instance, than reproduce, on this subject, a letter from our regretted friend to Mme. Camille {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=326}}Lemaitre; <ref name="v2-p326-n1">“Madame Camille Lemaitre, the co-religionary, and to some extent the disciple of Dramard, sends us this extract in a letter full of feeling, in which our departed friend is spoken of with an eloquence inspired by a sympathy and an admiration which he fully deserved. We regret extremely to be unable, owing to want of space, to reproduce this touching tribute to our valued friend. – [<span style="font-variant:small-caps">B. Malon.</span>]</ref> one of those rare letters in which this thinker, who united to an exquisite delicacy the very greatest modesty, spoke a little about himself. We quote: | ||
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Lemaitre; <ref name="v2-p326-n1">“Madame Camille Lemaitre, the co-religionary, and to some extent the disciple of Dramard, sends us this extract in a letter full of feeling, in which our departed friend is spoken of with an eloquence inspired by a sympathy and an admiration which he fully deserved. We regret extremely to be unable, owing to want of space, to reproduce this touching tribute to our valued friend. – [<span style="font-variant:small-caps">B. Malon.</span>]</ref> one of those rare letters in which this thinker, who united to an exquisite delicacy the very greatest modesty, spoke a little about himself. We quote: | |||
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“I was not, however, the dupe of the inconsistencies of this system, the moment it passes from analysis to synthesis, and I perceived very clearly that the materialists, as touching, for instance, the future life, were as dogmatic in their denials as the metaphysicians in their affirmation, and were altogether outside of the famous criterion which they employed to demolish the theories opposed to them, but carefully put on one side in order to build up the materialistic theories. | “I was not, however, the dupe of the inconsistencies of this system, the moment it passes from analysis to synthesis, and I perceived very clearly that the materialists, as touching, for instance, the future life, were as dogmatic in their denials as the metaphysicians in their affirmation, and were altogether outside of the famous criterion which they employed to demolish the theories opposed to them, but carefully put on one side in order to build up the materialistic theories. | ||
“Nevertheless, I remained a materialist; for want of anything better, I deduced, from the law of the universal attraction of atoms, the solidarity of all | “Nevertheless, I remained a materialist; for want of anything better, I deduced, from the law of the universal attraction of atoms, the solidarity of all {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=327}}that lives, in direct proportion to the resemblance of the forms, and in theory as in practice, I was a socialist, that is to say that I admitted for all men the equality of the goal to be attained, and the obligation to mutually assist each other. | ||
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that lives, in direct proportion to the resemblance of the forms, and in theory as in practice, I was a socialist, that is to say that I admitted for all men the equality of the goal to be attained, and the obligation to mutually assist each other. | |||
“Now, during this period, and even previously, when I was struggling against Catholic obscurantism, in spite of my best reasonings, a fixed idea kept on returning to me without cessation, and always more imperious and more precise: – ''There must certainly exist one Universal Truth, comprehensible to each one according to his intellectual capacity, and that Truth you shall one day know.'' | “Now, during this period, and even previously, when I was struggling against Catholic obscurantism, in spite of my best reasonings, a fixed idea kept on returning to me without cessation, and always more imperious and more precise: – ''There must certainly exist one Universal Truth, comprehensible to each one according to his intellectual capacity, and that Truth you shall one day know.'' | ||
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{{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=328}} | {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=328}} | ||
After stating in a few words the objects of the Theosophical Society, too well known to need repetition here, M. Malon continues: – | After stating in a few words the objects of the Theosophical Society, too well known to need repetition here, M. Malon continues: – | ||
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“2nd. ''The law of Universal Solidarity'' which follows from the principle of Unity and the preceding law, as can be demonstrated mathematically. This law teaches men that they are intimately linked to all things that exist, as well in the present as in their previous causes, and in their future effects, and that this solidarity between all beings increases in the direct ratio of their nearness to each other. | “2nd. ''The law of Universal Solidarity'' which follows from the principle of Unity and the preceding law, as can be demonstrated mathematically. This law teaches men that they are intimately linked to all things that exist, as well in the present as in their previous causes, and in their future effects, and that this solidarity between all beings increases in the direct ratio of their nearness to each other. | ||
“From the most distant nebulæ to the nearest planets, from the mineral or vegetable categories to the animal kingdom, from the lowest insect up to the least advanced of savages, from the foreigner to the compatriot, from the neighbour to the friend or relation, the solidarity between the beings born of the ''Unity'' increases in the inverse ratio of the square of the distances separating them. Mathematical science, cold and infallible, would permit to an adept, sufficiently advanced, to calculate the sum of the evils which are engendered | “From the most distant nebulæ to the nearest planets, from the mineral or vegetable categories to the animal kingdom, from the lowest insect up to the least advanced of savages, from the foreigner to the compatriot, from the neighbour to the friend or relation, the solidarity between the beings born of the ''Unity'' increases in the inverse ratio of the square of the distances separating them. Mathematical science, cold and infallible, would permit to an adept, sufficiently advanced, to calculate the sum of the evils which are engendered {{Page aside in Lucifer|v=2|n=10|p=329}}for themselves respectively by the despot who oppresses his fellow-men, by the egotist who exploits them, and even by the indifferent man who neglects to succour them. | ||
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for themselves respectively by the despot who oppresses his fellow-men, by the egotist who exploits them, and even by the indifferent man who neglects to succour them. | |||
“3rd. ''The law of Karma'', which proceeds from the two previous laws, and demonstrates that man, physical, moral, and intellectual, is modified, transformed, created, by causes resulting from his action upon the surroundings through which he passes. As, on the other hand, he is constantly acting upon this environment, it may be asserted that this environment is almost exclusively the product of his thoughts, his words, his actions, and that he is maker of his own destiny.”}} | “3rd. ''The law of Karma'', which proceeds from the two previous laws, and demonstrates that man, physical, moral, and intellectual, is modified, transformed, created, by causes resulting from his action upon the surroundings through which he passes. As, on the other hand, he is constantly acting upon this environment, it may be asserted that this environment is almost exclusively the product of his thoughts, his words, his actions, and that he is maker of his own destiny.”}} | ||