HPB-SB-10-68

T i

vol. 10, p. 68

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 10

 

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eng • рус

Spiritualism and the Church of England

By Isabel de Steiger.

The above is the title of a short paper written by “A Young Clergyman” concerning another by Mr. Farquhar, in The Spiritualist of September 20, on “What May be Known of God.”

The first, the one by Mr. Farquhar, is the work evidently of a mind which has deeply sounded the religious thought of this and preceding ages.

There is neither haze nor confusion apparent to me, either in the conception or in the expounding of his ideas; consequently it appears to me also that there is more in the result than “abstraction or generality,” though these are qualities which, in their places, are to be admired.

“Philosophic calm,” as a rule, is the natural repose the soul attains when, after being tossed to and for by mental disquietude and uncertainty, conviction seizes it in its sure grasp. This "philosophic calm/’ a haven of peace, where "most persons fain would be, deeply tinges every thought in this paper of Mr. Farquhar’s, and one feels in it the influence of a mind at peace. In no other frame of mind could any one be in the mental condition to conceive or write so beautiful an essay as the one to which both “A Young Clergyman” and myself refer.

The author of the paper, “What May be Known of God,” evidently has the advantage of writing on a subject he has deeply studied and well understands, and he only writes out of the abundance of material; whereas “A Young Clergyman” is labouring under the disadvantage of opposing circumstances, and doubtless is doing what many happily are doing at this moment, only inquiring into Spiritualism. He should, therefore, be pardoned if he fails to appreciate Mr. Farquhars stored philosophic mind.

It is difficult to write for various classes of minds, and those in different stages of development; and Mr. Farquhar’s papers are evidently not meant for young students in theosophy and Spiritualism. Mr. Farquhar also chooses his audience, and knowing that neither “costermongers” nor “needy knife- grinders” will be among it, he very properly writes to suit this audience. Perhaps if required he could and would easily find words also to suit the needs of those poor beings, for out of a deep well much water can come. It is our misfortune, I imagine, if we fail to appreciate the striking beauty and profound thought in his paper, one redolent not only of “philosophic calm” but of mental aspiration, suggestive of such vast realms of thought that life seems all too short to enjoy its fruition.

There is no inaction in earnest aspiration, and the search after Divine knowledge, as enjoined and explained in his paper, means something altogether opposed to mental passivity and, with it, bodily sloth. The whole aim and object of the paper is to raise our souls or spirits—(I am afraid of words and terms, but I will decide on “soul”)—our souls to a higher platform of thought, and to place our aim towards appreciating Divine excellence on a loftier height; in short, to kindle in each of us the spark of Divinity latent in all. This higher platform of thought only increases the view upwards, and our horizon expands. It may diminish the objects left on lower planes.

If we ascend in a balloon, and we begin to appreciate quietly some hitherto unfelt and unappreciated sense of space, so at the same time we begin to appreciate in also a hitherto unsuspected manner a truer sense of dimension, and as we soar upwards we begin to think differently; we do not deny facts of size or height, we only say, as' the objects are fading from our eyes, that after all size is relative. So it is when we are raised to a higher plane of thought; we then necessarily feel the philosophic calm brooding over us, as more and more truly do we realise the relative value of various phrases and schools of thought, beginning with the history of our own minds. Neither from want of feeling nor of knowledge, but from a juster appreciation of the value of what we formerly thought all-important, does this philosophic calm proceed.

The differences and rivalries and histories of all creeds and ideas, must all sink in time to their real proportions. They will be looked upon in their true ones as the mind Becomes properly balanced, neither too near to exaggerate them, nor too far to overlook them; and a true theosophic mind will study with no diminished interest all the various searches after God, exemplified in man’s various religions, all coming from the same Divine Source, to suit the requirements of each race and age.

There is neither indifference nor coldness hi this view; it is only that the time has come when all the noblest thoughts of antiquity, of the Middle Ages, and of the present are gathering such force and strength that already some few minds are standing lonely on fresh ground which by-and-by many will occupy. From this standpoint such a mind can view the turmoils of the past, religious and otherwise, not in slothful calm, but in the profound repose preparatory to great effort, full of joyous life, and so Brimming over with the consciousness and activity of new thought engendered by the vast area of the new horizon he sees round him, that he can well afford, and indeed can do nothing else but regard with philosophic calm all that lies below him, and all that he has passed from and through as he journeyed upwards. In this state dawns upon the man the first feeling of that peace that passeth understanding, and with it comes also the consciousness that this is only a mystery on a lower plane of thought, and as this mystery unveils there comes also the conception of the Divinity.

After this, creeds become words, not to be despised, or their value unjustly or unfairly estimated; but exactly the reverse will take place, and creeds then take their proper niches of the proper sizes in history, and the battles over creeds can only be fought by minds on the lower planes of thought.

This higher level, where confusion disappears and order reigns, is, I surmise, not yet arrived at by “A Young Clergyman.” To begin with, he admits he knows of Spiritualism only some little derived through other minds; nothing much through his own. Still some of its teachings seem to have entered into his thoughts, for he says that his “inclination to believe in Spiritualism has lent greater vividness to various parts of the New Testa-<... continues on page 10-69 >

Editor's notes

Sources

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  London Spiritualist, No. 373, October 17, 1879, pp. 184-85