Cosmopolitanism Is Far Holier And Nobler Than Grasping Greediness Cloaked In Patriotism

True patriotism is the kinship of the most unselfish of human affections. Morality is no accident of human nature, but its essential characteristic. Though the principle, which is the abiding spirit of the law, remains perpetual and unaltered, the letter of the law and the mode of realizing it in actual practice, must be modified by circumstance. Patriotism is a link in the golden chain of our affections and virtues, and turns away with indignant scorn from the false philosophy or mistaken religion, which would persuade him that cosmopolitism is nobler than nationality, and that the human race a sublimer object of love than a people. Patriotism is the kinship of the most unselfish of human affections, the powers and interests of men spread without confusion through a common sphere, like the vibrations propagated in the air by a single voice, distinct yet coherent, and all uniting to express one thought and the same feeling. What were the Greeks while they remained free and independent? When Greece resembled a collection of mirrors set in a single frame, each having its own focus of patriotism, yet all capable of converging to one point and of consuming a common foe? They were the fountains of light and civilization, of truth and of beauty, to all mankind, the thinking head the beating heart of the whole world! They lost their independence, and with their independence their patriotism, and became the cosmopolites of antiquity. And what came out of these men, who were eminently free without patriotism, be-cause without national independence? While they were intense patriots, they were the benefactors of all mankind, legislators for the very nation that afterwards subdued and enslaved them. Even in cases of actual injury and just alarm the patriot sets bounds to the reprisal of national vengeance, and contents himself with such securities as are compatible with the welfare, though not with the ambitious projects of the nation, whose aggressions had given the provocation: for as patriotism inspires no superhuman faculties, neither can it dictate any conduct which would require such. He is too conscious of his own ignorance of the future, to dare extend his calculations into remote periods; nor, because he is a statesman, arrogates to himself the cares of Providence and the government of the world. Without local attachment, without national honour, we shall resemble a swarm of insects that settle on the fruits of the earth to corrupt and consume them, rather than men who love and cleave to the land of their forefathers. Deceit and hypocrisy is national politics are elevated to noble patriotic aspirations. Until final emancipation reabsorbs the Ego, it must be conscious of the purest sympathies called out by the aesthetic effects of high art, its tenderest cords responding to the call of the holier and nobler human attachments until all human and purely individual personal feelings — blood-ties and friendship, patriotism and race predilection — all will give away, to become blended into one universal feeling, the only true and holy, the only truly Unselfish and Eternal one — Love, an Immense Love for Humanity. Patriots may burst their hearts in vain if circumstances are against them. But no human power, not even the fury and force of the loftiest patriotism, has been able to bend an iron destiny aside from its fixed course, and nations have gone out like torches dropped into water in the engulfing blackness of ruin. Speculative lucubrations of an Aristotelean philosopher. He is the mouthpiece of that majority in modern society which has worked itself out an elaborate policy full of sophistry and paradox, behind which every member clumsily hides his personal views. His “respectable deference to public opinion,” is short-hand for hypocrisy. He confuses phenomena for which the agency of “disembodied spirits” is claimed, with natural phenomena for which every tithe of supernaturalism is rejected. The great, the glorious hour has come at last! Ambition, grasping greediness or envy — miscalled Patriotism — exist no longer. Cruel selfishness has made room for universal altruism, and cold indifference to the wants of the millions no longer finds favour in the sight of the favoured few. Selfishness kills every noble impulse. It is the prolific mother of all vices, Lie being born out of the necessity for dissembling, and Hypocrisy out of the desire to mask Lie. Deceit and Hypocrisy work for dear self’s sake everywhere. Nations, by tacit agreement, have decided that selfish motives in politics shall be called “noble national aspiration, patriotism,” and the citizen views it in his family circle as “domestic virtue.” Nevertheless, selfishness, whether it breeds desire for aggrandizement of territory, or competition in commerce to the detriment of one’s neighbour, can never be regarded as a virtue. Equally, a diplomat’s qualification, “dexterity or skill in securing advantages” for one’s own country, at the expense of other countries, can hardly be achieved by speaking truth but, verily, by a wily and deceitful tongue. The Turks have been convicted of systematic lying and atrocities in nearly every country. But the condition of Israelites in Russia has immensely improved since the accession of Alexander II to the throne of his father. The chief Rabbi of Moscow published an earnest address to his co-religionists throughout the empire to remind them that they were Russians by birth, and called upon them to display their patriotism in subscriptions for the wounded, prayers in the synagogues for the success of the Russian arms, and all other practical ways. The aim of Christian missions is to pervert people from their ancestral religions, rather than convert them to Christianity, in order to destroy in them every spark of national feeling. For when the spirit of patriotism is dead in a nation, it very easily becomes a mere puppet in the hands of the rulers. A true theosophist must be a cosmopolitan in his heart. He must embrace the whole of humanity in his philanthropic feelings. It is higher and far nobler to be one of those who love their fellow men, without distinction of race, creed, caste or colour, than to be merely a good patriot, or still less, a partisan.

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

The dark cycle of Kali Yuga has brought back a Babel of modern thought, compared with which the “confusion of tongues” itself appears a harmony. · Let us summon disciples and fill them with sacred fire. · Let us establish mysteries and teach the Doctrine. · Let us build a temple tower whose top may reach unto heaven. A scientist is wiser in his own conceit than seven theosophists that can render a reason. No new philosophy is set up in The Secret Doctrine, only the hidden meaning of some of the religious allegories of antiquity is given, light being thrown on these by the esoteric sciences, and the common source is pointed out, whence all the world-religions and philosophies have sprung. Truth must represent an unbroken continuity. It must have no gaps and contradictions, no broken or missing links. And which of our modern religions, sciences or philosophies, is free from such defects? One who affirms that the Universe and Man are objects of the senses only, and who fatally chains thought within the region of senseless matter (as do the Darwinian evolutionists) is, at best, a sophiaphobe when not a philosophaster — never a philosopher. The period when nascent Humanity, following the law of the natural and dual evolution, was descending along with spirit into matter has been closed. We are now helping matter to ascend toward spirit; and to do that, we have to help substance to disenthrall itself from the viscous grip of sense. The so-called barbaric peoples, who stood before the present division of nations, had a much higher civilization than has yet been found in geological strata. The period when nascent human speech was preceded by gesture signs, anteceded the Sanskrit only by two thousand years or so. However, relics of social and psychological culture can hardly be found in layers of soil.

On the essence of Truth beneath and beyond external appearances. 1. The Beacon-Light of occult truth is Nature without the illusory veil of the senses. She is the Rainbow of Hope and our only hope. 2. True wisdom, being a projection of our perceptive consciousness, acts within without, and not vice versa, awakening the spiritual senses in us and the power to act. Brain power and logic, being outward looking, can only serve the interests of lower minds. 3. Inner Wisdom is the Wisdom of Love and code of sublime ethics. Its noble ideals alone can empower people to reject the parasitic plants of human fabrication which are choking all goodness and truth in the world. 4. The ancient Egyptians, the Ethiopians of the East who came from Lanka or Ceylon, were a colony of dark-skinned Aryans, the Dravidians of Southern India, who took an already existing civilization with them to Egypt. He who dissipates the darkness of ignorance by the torch of truth awakens in our benumbed souls the faculty of distinguishing the true from the false, and kindles a divine flame hitherto absent. 5. Theosophy is the white ray from which arise the seven colours of the solar spectrum, each human being assimilating one of these rays to a greater degree than the other six. Theosophy, or rather the occult sciences it studies, is something more than simple metaphysics: it is universal transcendentalism. 6. The numerical value of the names of old divinities was taught in the Lesser Mysteries. But Mystery Language itself was reserved for the high initiates alone. Envy, jealousy, and rivalry, reign supreme in a society whose principal object is brotherhood. Instead of helping one another, many look askance at each other, always ready to make fun of each other and criticise. 7. The Theosophical Society is a Republic of Conscience. Knowledge of Cosmogenesis is the key to All-knowledge. The Theosophical Society is the Tree of Brotherhood, grown from a kernel planted in the earth by the angel of Charity and Justice. It depends upon its members to make of their Society an ark destined, in a future not too distant, to transport the humanity of a new cycle beyond the vast muddy waters of the deluge of hopeless materialism. In the meantime, we all should seek to bring some peace on earth to the hearts of those who suffer, by lifting for them a corner of the veil which hides from them divine truth.

The only God whom we should serve is Humanity, and our only cult should be the love of our fellow man. Doing evil towards him, we wound God and make him suffer. This is our religion and only dogma. There now follows the response of Madame Blavatsky to an article by Charles Limousin, Editor of the Journal Acacia. A. The scientific aristocracy is full of vanity and struts on stilts of its own fabrication. B. A ray feeble light from the Sun of Truth worths much more than the artificial lights offered by physiologists and pathologists, and those elevated to the ranks of psychologists. C. The supernatural does not exist in Nature when one knows how to awaken the latent principle that animates matter. D. Divine wisdom rests on esoteric philosophy and facts of nature. E. A solitary ascetic is a living symbol of the most cowardly egotism. F. Universal Esotericism presents a periodic cosmic and human genesis which is logical and based on natural sciences, as well as on a pure transcendental philosophy. G. Budhist Esotericism has nothing to do with the Buddhist religion (note the difference in spelling). H. Theosophy is the forbear of modern science, though greatly transcending it in logic; and its metaphysics are vaster, far more beautiful and powerful than any emanating from a dogmatic cult. I. Happiness cannot exist where Truth is absent and egotism reigns supreme. It is merely a house of cards tumbling down at the first whiff. J-K. As long there is no room in the human heart for love of one’s fellow man for his own sake, and not for personal gratification, poor and rich man alike will always be unhappy. Modern science opposes to a natural force another natural force more powerful on the physical plane. Esoteric science opposes to a physical force, a spiritual or psychic force. L. Theosophists see in the priest of any religion a useless if not a pernicious being. M. The first law of the Sacred Science is never to use one’s knowledge for one’s own interest, but to work with and for others for their health and happiness. N. If a fusion of opposing and competing interests does not come about, individuals and nations will end devouring each other. O. Theosophy has nothing to do with Brahmanism, except to combat its abuses, remove the opium of superstition, and expose ecclesiastical cruelty. P. True Theosophists strive to be useful to their fellows, more especially to the disinherited ones of the world. Q. As long as the Brotherhood of Man remains an empty phrase in the air, progress will accomplish no other function than that of executioner of the poor and the downtrodden. R. As long as moral progress slumbers in inactivity, paralyzed by the ferocious egotism of everybody, the rich as well as the poor, happiness will remain a pie in the sky. S. The Secret Doctrine shows that at the beginning of the periodic evolution of our globe and its beings, the processes of generation offered varieties not even suspected in the modern laboratories. T. The infinite cannot associate with the finite; the unconditioned ignores the conditioned and the limited. Neither Brahmanas nor Bonzes, in their most acute exoteric delirium, have ever accepted the finiteness of Kosmos. U. Material progress, the so-called modern civilisation, has served only to provide the rich with enjoyments unknown in the centuries of barbarism. V. The West has not always refused the hand extended to it by the Eastern Adepts. X. Exoteric Brahmanism will soon be replaced by Esoteric Vedism, and Brotherly Love will bring about a fusion of the two Aryan Races. Z. But the mass has always bitten the hand that offered it help.