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vol. title: vol. period: 1879-1880 pages in vol.: 577 |
<Untitled> (Spiritualism in Bombay:..)
Spiritualism in Bombay:—Under the title of the Theosophist, a spiritualistic journal, edited by H. P. Blavatsky, made its appearance in October, 1879. It is devoted to Oriental Philosophy, Art, Literature, and Occultism:—embracing Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and, as the title expresses it, “Other Secret Sciences.” No. 4, for January, 1880, gives an account of the fourth anniversary of the Theosophical Society of Bombay, on November the 29th. Colonel H. S. Olcott, the President of the Society, delivered an address, in which he said, “They had not only founded a journal to serve as an organ for the dissemination of Hindu Scholarship, but also a workshop with machines of various kinds, in which to manufacture Indian goods for export. The invitation card of the evening, whose equal could not be turned out from any existing lithographic press in Bombay, Calcutta, or Madras, had been mainly executed by a young Parsee, taught by his colleague, Mr. Edward Wimbridge, within the past six weeks. Adopting, as he (Col. Olcott) had, India as his country, and her people as his people, it was his sacred duty to do all that lay in his power to promote the physical welfare of the teeming millions of this peninsula, no less than to humbly second the efforts of that great Aryan of our times, Swami Dyanund Paraswati for the revival of Vedic Monotheism and the study of Yoga.”—Trübners’ Literary Record.
The Occult Powers of Savages
A correspondent writes from Simla:—
“There are some points in Spiritualism on which I have been pondering for some time. One is the question whether there is any resemblance between the way in which, at séances, spirits build up the bodies in which they appear, and that in which spirits build ordinary human bodies before birth. I first thought of this from reading that materialised spirits have a distinct pulse. They must therefore have a heart or something corresponding to it to drive the blood and make a pulse; but one would think that nothing more could be necessary than an outward shell resembling our bodies. Possibly the reason why they fade away so quickly is that they build their bodies rapidly and therefore imperfectly, instead of taking time to do the work like ordinary human beings.
“Another question is connected with the fact that among uncivilised or (so-called) uneducated natives, visions, prophetic dreams and the general perceptions of what modern Europeans call supernaturalism are far more common than with ourselves. Are these people liars or mere dreamers, or is it not very probable that they have certain powers of perception which have become atrophied among educated Europeans through the excessive development of their reasoning faculties.
“The curious power possessed by the lower animals and by savages of finding their way in a straight line across an unknown tract of country is a case in point. It is certainly absent in white men of ordinary education, though apparently known sometimes in those who have been brought up by savages without having a chance of acquiring book learning.
“In the account of the ‘Northwest Passage by Land,’ written by Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, they say:—‘The unerring fidelity with which our guide followed a straight course in one direction in the dense forest where no landmarks could be seen, on days when the sun was not visible nor a breath of air stirring, seemed to us almost incomprehensible. La Ronde was unable to explain the power which he possessed and considered it as quite a natural faculty. Cheadle, on the other hand, found it quite impossible to preserve a straight course and invariably began to describe a circle by bearing continually towards the left; and this weakness was quite incomprehensible to La Ronde, who looked upon it as the most arrant stupidity.’”
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Editor's notes
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, p. 323
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London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, p. 318
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London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, pp. 321-23