Warnings to those who plagiarized from our books, those who set up sham schools of magic, ambushed seekers after truth by deceiving them with holy names, misused and desecrated the sacred science by using it to get money by various means. Plus to all charlatans, fortune-tellers, and self-styled adepts. With the spread of the spiritualistic cult, the Messiah craze has vastly increased, and men and women alike have been involved in its whirlpools. Liberty to love according, to the impulse of the senses, is the most profound slavery. From the beginning nature has hedged that pathway with disease and death. And the false prophets shall become wind, for the word is not in them. To distinguish the white rays of truth from influx from the astral sphere, requires a training which ordinary sensitives, whether avowed spiritualists or not, do not possess. Ignorance emboldens, and the weak will always worship the bold. In the face of genuine spiritual growth and true illumination, the Theosophist grows in power to befriend and help his fellow-man, while he becomes the most humble, the most silent, the most guarded of men.

In ancient times man stood in a far simpler position and more in harmony with nature, than he does at present in “civilized” life. Human thought, when written, is to a great extent ambiguous. The written symbol, without a constant living oral tradition to infuse into it energy, vitality, and give it concrete value, is absolutely dead. Mystery is not unrevealed knowledge; it is revealed only to those of sufficient intellect, purity, and discretion, who are devoted to the spirit of truth wholeheartedly and with undivided love. In ancient times the written word was only the symbol, the oral instruction transmitted from master to pupil, was the true secret treasure. The western approach to the study of eastern Secret Philosophy requires an impartial mind that can proceed without bigotry but with discrimination, both analytically and synthetically, discern similarities, make comparisons, and draw conclusions as to the merit or demerit of the eastern lore of Occult Knowledge.

On the causal agency of Number Seven in Kosmos and Man, and its presiding role in the Theosophical Society.

Theosophy is the Aletheia of Occult Science and the Religion of Reason. Prerequisites and qualifications and for aspirants. The fundamental propositions of the Secret Doctrine. First proposition — Cosmogenesis. Second proposition — Law governs Cosmos and Man. Third proposition — Anthropogenesis. “Spiritual” nature cannot be “cultivated.” A sincere lover of the race can accomplish more in three incarnations during Kali-Yuga, than he could in a much greater number in any other age. What is the “moment of choice”? The elementals are spirits of the four elements of the terrestrial world. Our Earth is densely populated by these mystifying centres of energy. By coalescing around our thoughts, and being coloured by them, they act as impartial agents of karma. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. As universal law contains within itself the means for its own accomplishment, and the punishment for its violation, it requires no further authority to carry out its decrees. The origin of man, his “original sin,” and his destiny. The doctrine of reincarnation. The inner constitution of man. The real hell is life on earth. The bliss of “paradise” is a delusion of the lower self stemming from the “heresy of individuality,” which heresy determines the monad’s future birth. Upheld through Eternity, Karma decrees harmony across the Universe. Since Compassion is the Spirit of Truth, karma follows its behests and manifests as the Law of ethical causation. It is the One Law that governs the World of Being impartially, to Cosmos, Man, and Angel alike. The universal onward march of evolutionary progress proceeds along contrary directions — spirit falling gradually into matter, and matter ascending to its original condition, that of a pure spiritual substance. Greatness is measured by the standard of genuine spiritual (not psychic) development, i.e., the acquirement of soul-wisdom by personal effort and merit. Heart-wisdom and head-learning are divergent paths. A mountain abyss separates the two, so hopelessly impassable and obstructive to the traveller. The law of spiritual development supersedes the purely intellectual growth; the latter is more of an impediment than of help. Theosophy, being the only system of true religion and philosophy, offers lucid explanations and solutions to the puzzles of life. A rebuke to the Theosophical Publication Society: We are not seeking to cater to fiction readers and curiosity hunters, but to the pressing needs of earnest minds. The United States contain more theosophists and possible subscribers and readers than the whole of Europe. They do not want fiction. They want no padding in their search for truth. They are perfectly able to grasp that which the Theosophical Publication Society in London deems to be “too advanced.”