ELEMENTARY THEOSOPHY

Copyright
By
L. W. Rogers
1917

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PREFACE

To comprehend the significance of great worldchanges, before Time has fully done his work, isdifficult. While mighty events are still in theirformative period the future is obscure. But our inabilityto outline the future cannot blind us to theunmistakable trend of the evolutionary forces atwork. One thing that is clear is that our boastedChristian civilization is the theater in which has beenstaged the most un-Christian war of recorded historyand in which human atrocity has reached a point thatleaves us vaguely groping for a rational explanationof it. Another obvious fact is that the more thantwenty nations involved have been forced intomeasures and methods before unknown and whichwholly transform the recognized function and powersof governments. With these startling facts of religiousand political significance before us thoughtfulpeople are beginning to ask if we are not upon thethreshold of a complete breaking down of moderncivilization and the birth of a new order of things, inwhich direct government by the people throughoutthe entire world will be coincident with the rise of auniversal religion based on the brotherhood of man.

In such a time any contribution to current literaturethat will help to clear the ground of misconceptions[6]and to bring to the attention of those interestedin such things, that set of fundamental natural truthsknown as theosophy, may perhaps be helpful.Whether or not the world is about to recast its ethicalcode there can at least be no doubt that it is eagerlyseeking reliable evidence that we live after bodilydeath and that it will welcome a hypothesis of immortalitythat is inherently reasonable and therefore satisfiesthe intellect as well as the heart. Those whoare dissatisfied with the old answers to the riddle ofexistence and demand that Faith and Reason shallwalk hand in hand, may find in the following pagessome explanation of the puzzling things in life—anexplanation that disregards neither the intuitions ofreligion nor the facts of science.

Of course no pretension is made of fully coveringthe ground. The book is a student's presentation ofsome of the phases of theosophy as he understandsthem. They are presented with no authority whatever,and are merely an attempt to discuss in simplelanguage some of the fundamental truths about thehuman being. No claim is made to originality butit is hoped that by putting the old truths in a somewhatdifferent way, with new illustrations and arguments,they may perhaps be seen from a new viewpoint.The intention has been to present elementarytheosophy simply and clearly and in the languagefamiliar to the ordinary newspaper reader. All technicalterms and expressions have been avoided andthe reader will not find a single foreign word in thebook.

L. W. R.

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CONTENTS