OUR magazine is only four numbers old, and
already its young life is
full of cares and trouble. This is all as it should be; i.e., like
every
other publication, it must fail to satisfy all its readers, and this is
only in the nature of things and the destiny of every printed organ.
But
what seems a little strange in a country of culture and free thought is
that Lucifer should receive such a number of anonymous, spiteful, and
often
abusive letters. This, of course, is but a casual remark, the
waste-basket
in the office being the only addressee and sufferer in this case; yet
it
suggests strange truths with regard to human nature. (1)
Sincerity is true wisdom, it appears, only to the mind of the moral
philosopher. It is rudeness and insult to him who regards dissimulation
and deceit as culture and politeness, and holds that the shortest,
easiest, and safest
way to success is to let sleeping dogs and old customs alone. But, if
the
dogs are obstructing the highway to progress and truth, and Society
will,
as a rule, reject the wise words of (St.) Augustine, who recommends
that
"no man should prefer custom before reason and truth," is it a
sufficient
cause for the philanthropist to walk out of, or even deviate from, the
track
of truth, because the selfish egoist chooses to do so? Very true, as
remarked
somewhere by Sir Thomas Browne, that not every man is a proper champion
for
the truth, nor fit to take up the gauntlet in its cause. Too many of
such defenders are apt, from inconsideration and too much zeal, to
charge the
troops of error so rashly that they "remain themselves as trophies to
the
enemies of truth." Nor ought all of us (members of the Theosophical
Society)
to do so personally, but rather leave it only to those among our
members
who have voluntarily and beforehand sacrificed their personalities for
the
cause of Truth. Thus teaches us one of the Masters of Wisdom in some
fragments of advice which are published further on for the benefit of
the Theosophists (see the article that follows this(2)). While
enforcing upon such public
characters in our ranks as editors, and lecturers, etc., the duty of
telling
fearlessly "the Truth to the face of LIE," he yet condemns the habit of
private
judgment and criticism in every individual Theosophist.
Unfortunately, these are not the ways of the public and readers. Since
our journal is entirely unsectarian, since it is neither theistic nor
atheistic, Pagan nor Christian, orthodox nor heterodox, therefore, its
editors discover eternal verities in the most opposite religious
systems and modes of thought. Thus Lucifer fails to give full
satisfaction to either infidel or Christian. In sight of the former
whether he be an Agnostic, a Secularist, or an Idealist-to find divine
or occult lore underlying "the rubbish" in the Jewish Bible
and Christian Gospels is sickening; in the opinion of the latter, to
recognise the same truth as in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures in the
Hindu, Parsi, Buddhist, or Egyptian religious literature, is vexation
of spirit and blasphemy. Hence, fierce criticism from both sides,
sneers and abuse. Each party would have us on its own sectarian side,
recognising as truth, only that which its particular ism does.
But this cannot nor shall it be. Our motto was from the first, and ever
shall be: "THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN--TRUTH." Truth we -search
for, and, once found, we bring it forward before the world,
whencesoever it comes. A large majority of our readers is fully
satisfied with this our policy, and that is plainly sufficient for our
purposes.
It is evident that when toleration is not the outcome of indifference
it must arise from wide-spreading charity and large-minded sympathy.
Intolerance is pre-eminently the consequence of ignorance and jealousy.
He who fondly believes that he has got the great ocean in his family
water-jug is naturally intolerant of his neighbour, who also is pleased
to imagine that he has
poured the broad expanse of the sea of truth into his own particular
pitcher.
But anyone who, like the Theosophist, knows how infinite is that ocean
of
eternal wisdom, to be fathomed by no one man, class, or party, and
realizes
how little the largest vessel made by man contains in comparison to
what
lies dormant and still unperceived in its dark, bottomless depths,
cannot
help but be tolerant. For he sees that others have filled their little
water-jugs at the same great reservoir in which he has dipped his own,
and if the water in the various pitchers seems different to the eye, it
can only be because it is discoloured by impurities that were in the
vessel before the pure
crystalline element--a portion of the one eternal and immutable
truth--entered
into it.
There is, and can be, but one absolute truth in Kosmos. And little as
we, with our present limitations, can understand it in its essence, we
still know that if it is absolute it must also be omnipresent and
universal; and that in such case, it must be underlying every
world-religion--the product of the thought and knowledge of numberless
generations of thinking men.
Therefore, that a portion of truth, great or small, is found in every
religious
and philosophical system, and that if we would find it, we have to
search
for it at the origin and source of every such system, at its roots and
first
growth, not in its later overgrowth of sects and dogmatism. Our object
is
not to destroy any religion but rather to help to filter each, thus
ridding
them of their respective impurities. In this we are opposed by all
those
who maintain, against evidence, that their particular pitcher alone
contains
the whole ocean. How is our great work to be done if we are to be
impeded
and harassed on every side by partisans and zealots? It would be
already
half accomplished were the intelligent men, at least, of every sect and
system,
to feel and to confess that the little wee bit of truth they themselves
own
must necessarily be mingled with error, and that their neighbours'
mistakes
are, Eke their own, mixed with truth.
Free discussion, temperate, candid, undefiled by personalities and
animosity, is, we think, the most efficacious means of getting rid of
error and bringing out the underlying truth; and this applies to
publications as well as to persons. It is open to a magazine to be
tolerant or intolerant; it is open to it to err in almost every way in
which an individual can err; and since every publication of the kind
has a responsibility such as falls to the
lot of few individuals, it behooves it to be ever on its guard, so that
it may advance without fear and without reproach. All this is true in a
special degree in the case of a theosophical publication, and Lucifer
feels
that it would be unworthy of that designation were it not true to the
profession
of the broadest tolerance and catholicity, even while pointing out to
its brothers and neighbours the errors which they indulge in and
follow. While
thus keeping strictly, in its editorials, and in articles by its
individual
editors, to the spirit and teachings of pure theosophy, it nevertheless
frequently
gives room to articles and letters which diverge widely from the
esoteric
teachings accepted by the editors, as also by the majority of
theosophists.
Readers, therefore, who are accustomed to find in magazines and party
publications only such opinions and arguments as the editor believes to
be unmistakably orthodox--from his peculiar standpoint-must not condemn
any article in
Lucifer with which they are not entirely in accord, or in which
expressions
are used that may be offensive from a sectarian or a prudish point of
view,
on the ground that such are unfitted for a theosophical magazine. They
should
remember that precisely because Lucifer is a theosophical magazine, it
opens
its columns to writers whose views of life and things may not only
slightly
differ from its own, but even be diametrically opposed to the opinion
of
the editors. The object of the latter is to elicit truth, not to
advance
the interest of any particular ism, or to pander to any hobbies, likes
or
dislikes, of any class of readers. It is only snobs and prigs who,
disregarding
the truth or error of the idea, cavil and strain merely over the
expressions
and words it is couched in.
Theosophy, if meaning anything, means truth; and truth has to deal
indiscriminately and in the same spirit of impartiality with vessels of
honour and of dishonour alike. No theosophical publication would ever
dream of adopting the coarse--or shall we say terribly sincere-language
of a Hosea or a Jeremiah; yet so
long as those holy prophets are found in the Christian Bible, and the
Bible is in every respectable, pious family, whether aristocratic or
plebeian; and so long as the Bible is read with bowed head and in all
reverence
by young, innocent maidens and school-boys, why should our Christian
critics fall foul of any phrase which may have to be used-if truth be
spoken at
all-in an occasional article upon a scientific subject? It is to be
feared
that the same sentences now found objectionable, because referring to
Biblical
subjects, would be loudly praised and applauded had they been directed
against
any gentile system of faith (Vide certain missionary organs). A little
charity, gentle readers-charity, and above all--fairness and JUSTICE.
Justice demands that when the reader comes across an article in this
magazine which does not immediately approve itself to his mind by
chiming
in with his own peculiar ideas, he should regard it as a problem to
solve
rather than as a mere subject of criticism. Let him endeavour to learn
the
lesson which only opinions differing from his own can teach him. Let
him
be tolerant, if not actually charitable, and postpone his judgment till
he extracts from the article the truth it must contain, adding this new
acquisition to his store. One ever learns more from one's enemies than
from
one's friends; and it is only when the reader has credited this hidden
truth
to Lucifer, that he can fairly presume to put what he believes to be
the
efforts of the article he does not like to the debit account.
--H. P. BLAVATSKY
Lucifer, January, 1888
1 "VERBUM SAP." It is not Our intention to notice anonymous
communications, even though they should emanate in a round-about way
from Lambeth Palace. The matter "Verbum Sap" refers to is not one of
taste; the facts must be held responsible for the offence; and, as the
Scripture hath it, "Woe to
them by whom the offence cometh!"
2 "Some Words on Daily Life".--Eds. http://www.katinkahesselink.net/daily.htm