A survey of the contents and authenticity of “The Secret Doctrine, Volume III,” as published in 1897.

What the masses call gods, are simply the First Principles of a Divine Essence permeating the creative and intelligent forces of Nature, and being diffused throughout the universe which is infinite. Theosophy is the spiritual as well as the physical science of that Truth, the very essence of deistic and philosophical research. We point to new intellectual horizons; we outline unexplored routes leading to the amelioration of humanity; and we offer a word of consolation to all the disinherited of the earth, whether suffering from starvation of soul or from lack of physical necessities. If one does not work for others one has no right to be called a Theosophist. The strife will be terrible between brutal materialism and blind fanaticism on the one hand, and philosophy and mysticism on the other — mysticism, that veil of more or less translucency, which hides Eternal Truth.

Human life, devoid of all its world-ideals and beliefs, becomes deprived of its higher sense and meaning. But the world-ideals can never completely die out. Exiled by the fathers, they will be received with open arms by the children. The Theosophical Movement was reborn in 1875 and thus the cyclic evolution of theosophical ideals continues.

The Theosophical Movement was started among Western people by Western people, in the country where the preparations for the new Root Race are already going on. One object of the Movement runs along two parallel lines: 1. The union of the West with the East by reviving in the East of the towering eminence which once were hers. 2. The development in the West of that Occultism which is appropriate for it so that it may, in its turn, uplift the Eastern fatherland of virtues. Organisations, like men, tend to fall into ruts of mental and psychic action which, once established, are difficult to obliterate. It is more difficult to touch the heart of those who, crippled by metaphysical dogmatism, have built a hard shell around themselves and contradict a priori that which clashes with their encrusted notions, than to warm up the cockles of the occidental heart, which is neither encumbered with deeply entrenched opinions laid on a foundation of oriental mysticism, nor buttressed with a pride inherited from the past. Heaven’s Light always shines in the heart of every man. That Light is our true Master. All other Masters are but servants of the same Light; in it all Lodges beat to heaven’s own music. Woe to those who, having started in the path with the aid of Madame Blavatsky, shall in any way try to belittle her and her work. “The angered gods have feet of wool.” Those who are partial receive but a limited view of truth. The elementals are partial forms, while the human soul is total and, according to the power and purity of that form which it inhabits, “waits upon the Gods.” Pure motive is prerequisite to True Knowledge. Devotion to others is prerequisite to True Magic. The magic amulet which alone can protect the aspirant from evil is harmlessness and that boundless love of humanity and self-sacrifice which led Buddha to say: “Let the sins of this dark age fall on me.” Motive alone determines whether an out of body experience is horrendous or tremendous. The greatest struggle and yet the highest honour for the man of flesh is to transfer all the love and affection from his little self to all selves, and love them with all his heart. This kind of total yet joyful surrender will please the Higher Self, who the Lord of all living beings and Master of Compassion in the Universe. The evolutionary cycle of the Universal Monad necessitates an eternal spiral journey of spirit into the darkness of matter, with a proportionate obscuration of spirit (though the two are one, active and passive by turns), followed by an inverse ascent of spirit towards its previous state and finally the defeat of matter. The diastole and systole of the heart (one spiral moving inside the other) are caused by the rhythmic movement of Akasha, the Soul of the World. But do not rush to grasp that movement too soon, for when heart beats too fast it destroys life. The Light of Atma-Buddhi is a spiralling force which, if misused, it can kill. It is much easier and safer to sink back into the Eternal than to dive in. Resist without resistance. No replies should be made to attacks. The elementals are mirrors of our own mind and of the mental strata formed by the age, the race, and the nation we are living in. Their action is invariably automatic and unconscious. They can only be contacted through correlations of colours and sounds. Fear them not, nor recoil in horror or repulsion. While the lower mind keeps whirling in a narrow circle, seemingly dead, kept alive by its own motion, the higher mind watches over and waits patiently for its hour to strike. When spirit wills, matter obeys. Whoever feels his heart beating in unison with the great heart of humanity; whoever feels his interests are one with those who are poor and less fortunate than himself; every man or woman who is ready to hold out a helping hand to those who suffer; whoever understands the true meaning of the word “egoism,” is a Theosophist by birth and right. The American Republic was meant to be a brotherhood of nations, and that is the core value of its declaration and constitution, and the symbol of Western Occultism — “a new era in the affairs of the world.” We are all bound together in one living whole. Hence the thoughts and acts of one react upon all, and vice versa. Theosophy is the only universal system of philosophy and high ethics underpinned by Divine Laws, which underlies the religions of every age. Practical Occultism is incidental to the journey along the path. Between theoretical Occultism or Theosophy, and practical Occultism or Occult Science, there is a bottomless pit. Let us all draw closer together in mind and heart, soul and act, and try thus to make that true brotherhood through which alone our universal and personal progress can come.