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{{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Spiritual Selfishness|12-46}} | {{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Spiritual Selfishness|12-46}} | ||
... | {{Style P-No indent|as selfish and unnatural. “No good can come of any science that has to be acquired in a life of lonely isolation, out of communion with the world, and without any human sympathy. The soul cannot expand under such conditions. It must become morbid, and be attended with morbid physical conditions, in fact we have no hesitation in saying that such a mode of life is at variance with God’s commands, and therefore a sinful life, not sinful against others, but sinful against self. Every man’s duty is to be of use to his fellow-men, and the man who spends years of his life away from all human sympathy, and sets before himself as an end and aim in life, the attainment of powers over matter that are abnormal, though they may perhaps be curious and exceptional, is laying out for himself a course of life that will inevitably tend to evil for himself. Such a man cannot possibly be doing his duty in life, which is to mix with his fellow men, and, by his example, and his teaching, to lead them to higher lives. He may succeed in astonishing his fellow-men, and he may be proud of his achievements, and value his wonderful powers as the rich man values his gold, and the power it gives him, but ''cui bono ''if no one is any better for it? What is the good of being able to make a tea-cup appear at the root of a gooseberry bush or a letter be found in the bark of a tree? It is all conjuring, or very much akin to it. Christ performed far more marvellous works; but He did them to attract attention to His Teachings, and he succeeded in making bis miracles the wonder of the world, even to the present time. They were a sign that he had peculiar credentials from on High. They were not acquired, but were inborn in Him, and He used them for the purpose stated. Now, the Himalayan Brothers do not come down from their fastnesses and preach to the common people as Christ did. They wrap themselves in mystery and pretend to have a mission to perform, but they make no sign of accomplishing it. They secure a few adherents, it may be, but it is all vague and mysterious. What they are aiming at, and the conditions of life they propose to those who are to become as they are, are impracticable and at war with the natural instincts of the human race. They are to avoid tobacco and wine and meat, it may be. We only guess at these things, but we understand that they must lead absolutely pure lives, and purity is said to be identical with celibacy, which is only another proof of what we have said that their lives are unnatural and therefore contrary to Divine Law, which certainly shews that for every human being there is a counterpart in the opposite sex, and that the two united can alone form the perfect man. Therefore we declare and we defy any Theosophist to prove the contrary, that the life of the celibate, be its object what it may, unless indeed it is to sacrifice self for the good of humanity, as Christ did—is not a life such as God has ordained for any man. Love is the basis of happiness in life, either on the earth or in the spirit world, and the man whose nature is warped by adeptship and such unnatural practices, is not living in accordance with the highest law of nature. There is something wanting, something wrong; he has sold himself to the devil as it were—given up the world, for the sake of possessing powers that are denied to bis fellow-men. He even associates the natural, and therefore pure and divine life of wedlock, with ''impurity, ''and talks of the necessity of leading an absolutely pure life as involving a life of celibacy. We deny this utterly and emphatically. A married man may be as pure physically and spiritually as the celibate, and he will certainly, if happily married, be a much more perfect man than the miserable, one-sided, soul-starved ascetic, who flatters himself that he is better than other men because he possesses a few abnormal powers acquired at the sacrifice of his better nature. We say t his advisedly. It is unnatural and contrary to all divine law for males to live isolated and celibate lives, shut up in themselves. It is unnatural for the spirit and it is so for the body; neither can prosper under it, and in the spirit world it is as unnatural as it is in yours. The spirit of such a person is one-sided, undeveloped, morbid and unhappy. We defy any man to be happy who has no human sympathies, and we defy any Theosophist to prove that living a life of solitude and self-immolation can tend to the happiness either of the person concerned or of those related to him. It is every man’s destiny to be allied to one of the opposite sex, and he cannot escape his destiny by cultivating strange modes of life and thinking that he has raised himself to a higher level than his fellow-men, and become a little god. Vain folly! There is abundant work to do in the world to-day by those who lead good and pure lives, and we would warn all against believing that eccentric and mysterious modes of life are essential to the highest usefulness in life. Reform your lives by all means. Men are sunk in ignorance and given to all kinds of malpractices in their daily lives and habits. That cannot be denied;}} {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on |12-48}} | ||
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