 |
vol. title: vol. period: pages in vol.: A blue line extends from the Roden Noel clipping, around the right side of the circular, towards the lower pasted letter. The writer has not been identified. |
< Epes Sargent and the Spirit Body. (continued from page 14-132) >
soul or spirit, &c.” Page 137. The spirit body is here spoken of as the thinking substance. The synthetic unity of the Ego is nowhere acknowledged as the true substance, the spirit body being its object only, or phenomenon.[1]
I need quote no more. A subtle mind may interpret such expressions in accordance with its own opinions, but it is obvious enough from them what the writer himself thought when he wrote them; he may possibly have modified his views afterwards. But he is a very able and valuable writer on these subjects.[1]
< The Theosophical Society of Great Britain. (continued from page 14-133) >
be generally acceptable; but to all who may think that my long connection with the Society, and intimate relations with those most completely identified with its interests, entitle my opinion to any consideration, I may say that I have not decided on making this proposal without the most careful deliberation and consultation, and that I regard its adoption as of vital importance. It only remains to add on this subject, that Dr. Kingsford herself has, I rejoice to say, given a conditional consent to the nomination.
Enclosed is an extract from The Theosophist of November, 1882, on “The Individuality of Branches.” As this has been especially recommended to our notice, and as it gives the best view yet put forward of the relation of the Theosophical Society to the denominational religions of the world, it is very suitable for distribution, as well among ourselves as to others who may wish for information on the subject with which it deals.
London, S.W.
December, 1882.
<[Dark curved strokes cross “to others” in the preceding paragraph.][2]>
Light. December 23, 1882.
<Untitled> (I have not read this book, but your correspondent may be interested…)
I have not read this book, but your correspondent may be interested to learn that something like the theory put forward in it to explain communications through tables, &c., has other very respectable authority in its favour. “Les expériences de Mesmer et de ses successeurs,” says Eliphas Levi, in “La Science des Esprits,” “ont prouvé que le magnetisme animal peut communiquer aux objets inertes la vie et la volonté de l’homme. Il n’y avait pas lieu de s’étonner du phénomène si multiplié de nos jours des tables tournantes et parlantes.” He then quotes a long letter, published in M. Morin’s Journal de Magnétisme, from an anonymous writer, described in “Isis Unveiled” as one whom “fame proclaims as a great Kabalist, and whom a few friends know as a truthful and honest man.” A sentence or two must suffice here from this letter, which will be found set out at some length in both the books above cited. “We, who well know the value of the phenomenon. . . . are perfectly sure that, after having charged the table with our magnetic efflux, we have called to life or created an intelligence analogous to our own, which, like ourselves, is endowed with a free will (sic), can talk and discuss with us, with a degree of superior lucidity, considering that the resultant is stronger than the individual, or, rather, the whole is larger than a part of it.” . . . “The magnetisation of a table or of a person is . . . the saturation of a foreign body by either the intelligent vital electricity, or the thought of the magnetiser and those present.”
Let us be quite sure that we understand these ideas and the principles on which, perhaps, they depend, before we brand them as “monstrous” or “materialistic.” It is this understanding which we seek in the study of what is awkwardly called “Occultism,” the region of neutral philosophy between pure metaphysics and physical science.
P.S.—The reference to Eliphas Levi’s “La Science des Esprits” is p. 267 et seq.; to “Isis Unveiled,” vol. 1, p. 321 et seq.
Editor's notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Letters hidden or lost at the bound left edge have been restored from Light, December 23, 1882, p. 578 (PDF page 6).
- ↑ The writer has not been identified.
- ↑ I have not read this book, but your correspondent may be interested… by unknown author (signed as C.C.M.), Light, Vol. II, No. 103
Sources
-
Light, v. 2, No. 103, December 23, 1882, pp. 578, 581