The Logos Doctrine, by Charles Johnston

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The Logos Doctrine

By Charles Johnston


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ContentsThe Logos Doctrin e... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .5The Logos a nd the Mind......................................................19The Logos and Life.. ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..3 1The Logos and Meditation...................................................41The Logos and the Heart. .....................................................53


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The Logos DoctrineTheosophical Quarterly , January, 1923

Let us begin by trying to translate as l iterally as p ossible t he o peningpassage o f Saint Johns G ospel, retaining the m ore i mportant Greek

words:In Arkhe, in Primal Being, was the L ogos, and the L ogos w as

together with the T heos, and Theos was the Logos. That was inPrimal Being, together with the T heos.

Through This, the All came t o birth, and without This cameto birth not one t hing w hich has come t o birth.

In This, Life w as, and the L ife w as the L ight of men; and theLight shineth in the D arkness, and the D arkness comprehendedIt not.

This was t he Light, t he true, w hich lighteth every mancoming into t he World. In the World, This was, and the World

through This came t o b irth, and the World knew not This.And the L ogos became f lesh, and tabernacled among (or, in)us, and we b eheld His Radiance, the R adiance a s of the o nly-begotten Son of the F ather, full of Grace and Truth.

This is the central e xpression of the Logos doctrine, w ithmillenniums of development behind it, and centuries of applicationafter it. Let us see w hether we can lead up to an understanding of it,beginning with the s implest things i n the co nsciousness of each oneof us.

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6 The Logos Doctrine

Before m e i s a s heet of white p aper. I see i t, I am conscious of it. If I

reflect, I am conscious of s eeing it. I f I reflect st ill f urther, I amconscious of myself as perceiver. These t wo added perceptions, of theseeing and the s eer, are t he co nsequence o f the r ebound from the f irstperception, the t hing seen, the s heet of white p aper.

The t hree, the t hing perceived, the perceiving, and the perceiver,are of necessity linked together. Yet i t i s a curious f act, though nonethe l ess true, that t he st rict m ater ialist rests in the th ing percei ved, payslittle attention to the p ercei ving, and practi cally ignores t he percei ver;

never s eeking to discover t he true character an d nature of theperceiving consciousness, never l ooking steadily at it. We are first conscious of tperceiving and of the p erceiver com es later, as the r esult of a r eboundfrom the thing perceived. T his i s, p erhaps, t he justification of t heobjective world, the w hole process of m anifestation. It is t he startingpoint, the source and cause of all our p resent c onscious p erception.The w orld is a m eans for w aking u p our consciousness. We have taken seeing as the also. For exam ple, as I w rite, I h ear the cl ock ticking; I h ear the w indoutside, among t he b ranches. And the I who hears is the s ame as the I

who sees. So with the There ar e, if we s o number them, five p hases of things p erceived;

five modes of p erceiving; f ive attitudes of t he perceiver, w ho is,nevertheless, consciously one. All modes of perceiving come t o a f ocus

in the same consciousness and are t here h armonized and unified. Theperceiving I is one.Meanwhile t he sheet of paper has bee n covered with writing, the

type o f a different kind of activity, this t ime n ot perceptive but active.Once more we have a group of t hree: what i s written, the act of

writing, and the pe As before, we may let this speech and voluntary m uscular activity. There ar e al ways the t hree: the

thing done, the doing, the doer. And the purposing and impellingdoer is the s ame i n all actions. The I w ho speaks is the s ame as t he I who writes; the same a

We come now to our first applicat


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The Logos Doctrine 7

familiar f acts. If we co nsider t he m atter, we s hall find that the w orld of

each one o f us, beginning with our i ntimate t houghts, including oursense of bodily existence, and going o ut to the r oom in which we m aybe, the l andscape i n the m idst of which we f ind ourselves, even to therim of the s ky, to the s un and the s tars and the G alaxy, is made u p ofthe s um of the p erceiving an d of the i mpulses to action which hold thefield of our con sciousness. In this s ense, the w orld of each one of usgrows out of our consciousness.

From the p erceiving powers we gai n the sense o f the col ouring of

our world, the r ooms in which we l ive, the s plendid pageantry o f dawnand noonday an d sunset and the s tars, of green fields and trees and the

white hills of wintThrough the ac ting powers we gai n the s ense o f space, of form, of

consistence. P ressing a hand upon the table, we get t he sense ofsolidity. Walking across t he room, we measure it b y our ef fort, somany s teps to be t aken, and gain a r ealization of space. Both space a ndsolidity co me t o us as modes of our consciousness.

This i s t rue also, as w e have suggested, of ou r s ense of b odilyexistence. It is built up from phases of our con sciousness.

It may be i nteresting to quote, for com parison, a re cent expressionof t he same thought. It f orms t he conclusion of a review, in TheSpectator , of the ad dress of the P resident of the B ritish Association:

Might w e not s ay, regarding the hierarchy of p ure mind,subconscious m ind, reflex action of nerves, nervous t issue and

body tissue, that the b ody is i n some s ort an emanation of themind? We h ave, perhaps, in the p ast laid too much stress uponthe i mportance o f the q uality of tangibility.

True, for t he quality of t angibility itself i s s imply the expression ofone o f our m odes of perceiving, the s ense o f touch. It is, therefore, anoutcome of our consciousness, an emanation of mind. We see, then, that in the is bu ilt up of the sum of our per ceiving and acting. Our w orld hascome t o birth through the act ivity of our consciousness, and there i s init not one t hing which has not come t o birth through the act ivity ofour con sciousness; through that c onscious m ind which unifies ou rperceiving and impels our acting.


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It is worth noting, at this point, that the m iddle t erm in either set

of three h as t he character of c onscious F orce, of Desire in the w idestsense. It i s q uite easy to see this i n the c ase o f the impulse to act; thishas o f necessity the q uality of force, the d esire t hat s omething shall beaccom plished. But it would seem to be eq ually true o f perceiving; thatin a l arge an d deep sense w e s ee w hat we d esire t o see.

For e xample, if, while r eading the p rinted words of this p age, thereaders mind has been following a m ore i nteresting train of thought,he will find, at t he end of t he page, that t here has bee n no true

reading. The eye s may have seen the words, but the con scious m indhas not a pprehended them. It has been fixed instead on the m ind-images of its own train of thought. The c onscious mind has seen only

what it has desired Numberless i llustrations of t his m ay be found. A geologist w ho

travels t hrough mountainous cou ntry by rail-road will note t he rocksunrolled before him, gr anite, l imestone, r ed sandstone, w ith thedirection of the s trata, and the rel ation of the r ocks t o each other, andto the features o f the co untry. A fellow traveller, looking through thesame window, will see on ly the l andscape, perhaps not even that. Abotanist w ho is s omething of an artist w ill rejoice i n the colours an dforms and manifold beauty o f the f lowers. A hillside cov ered with wildroses, a spired lily in the woods, a field of scarlet p oppies, anoverhanging rock veiled in bluebells, become permanent r iches. Inthese d ays of crowded city life, it is likely th at millions never l ook up atthe stars. But t hose who study the stars w atch their s uccession withdelight and awe, adding t hem to their thought of the wider world in

which they dwell.So we s ee w hat we d esire t o see, just as we d o what we d esire t o do.

Not o nly does each of u s make his world; h e makes it e xactlyaccording to his d esire.

Perhaps it is in this sense t hat one o f the g reat Upanishads says:Man verily is f ormed of desire; as h is d esire i s, so is h is w ill; as

his will is, so he works; and whatever w ork he does, in thelikeness of it he g rows.

So the m iddle t erm of our t wo sets of three, whether it be t heactivity of p erceiving or o f act ing, corresponds i n this r eal sense with


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Rajas, Passion, the p rinciple o f Desire an d impelling Force. We h ave

built u p our w orld. The quality of t hat world is d erived from thequality of our d esire.To the con scious m ind, the u nifying power w hich perceives and

impels, the San khya S utras give t wo names: Manas, and Antahkarana,the second name meaning literally the Inner Working. B ut theconscious m ind itself, according to this philosophy, is derived from apower or being above i t, to which is given the n ame o f Buddhi, theroot m eaning of which is Awakeness, just a s Buddha means the

Awakened, somewhat in Shelleydream of life. Of this p ower, it is s aid that Buddhi is p ure S attva,that i s, p ure Substance, or pure Goodness; i t is the source ofRighteousness, Wisdom, Purity, Divine P ower.

Once again, l et us try to discover the meaning of this byconsidering quite simple things. In the conscious m ind, besides t hepower of perception, we f ind the p ower of recognition. Memory is itssimplest form. We r ecognize what we h ave seen before. We b ring t hepresent image an d the e arlier image t ogether in our minds, and we s eethat they ar e t he s ame.

But this power of recognition pronounces not only o n appearances,but also on qualities. It recognizes Truth, the r elation between what isperceived and our inherent s tandard of R eality. I t al so recogn izesBeauty, t hat d ivine essence which calls forth a certain pure joy,

whether it be joy expression of truth, or in the b eauty of holiness. It recognizes Holiness,that c ompelling power which awakens reverence, i nspiring us tosubject the lower t o the higher, the worse to the b etter, to bring the

wills of self This power to recognize T ruth and Beauty and Holiness touches theconscious m ind from above. The con scious m ind lays its qu estionsbefore i t, as before an incorruptible j udge.

But this divine p ower is the s ource o f something m ore, in addition

to a j udgement that what we ar e co nsidering is true, or b eautiful, orgood. It i s al so a potent cr eative energy. P hidias an d Leonardo daVinci perceived beauty; but t hey did more, they created permanentforms of beauty. Buddha an d Christ not on ly discerned the laws of


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truth and holiness, they embodied these divine inspirations i n their

lives and inspired them in the l ives of their disciples. The m ind is so placed within the r ays of these d ivine an d creativeenergies, that it m ay and should draw them into its p erceiving andacting, building up its w orld of true perception, and holy aspiration,and realization wrought with beauty, a w orld that shall make m anifestthe spiritual realities w hich are above it. And it ap pears t hat, whensome real effort t o do this h as b een made, there arises a sense ofkinship with these d ivine p owers, as something in no sense al ien but in

a d eep and half-understood way r eally b elonging t o us and at one w ithus, the p romise o f a m ore p rofound, more r eal self, drawing nearer to

which we have the sense of coming me. brings w ith it the r ealization of immortality. This deeper and more r ealself, compounded of Truth and Beauty an d Holiness, perceiving thesedivine essences and creatively manifesting them, bears t he imprint ofthe i mmortal. So Buddhi, as the S ankhya S utras say, is the source o fRighteousness, Wisdom, Purity, Divine P ower.

But w hy is ou r c ommon experience so different f rom this? TheSankhya Sutras s uggest t he reason: But w hen Buddhi is r eversed,through being tinged with Rajas and Tamas, it becomes vile, with thecharacter of U nrighteousness, Unwisdom, Impurity, lack of D ivinePower. T he w ord translated tinged m eans stained red; so we h avethe thought, well kno wn to students of T heosophy, of B uddhiinverted and manifested as Kama, the p rinciple o f passional Desire.

In what way is Buddhi tinged with Rajas and Tamas? Perhaps wecan make this i ntelligible b y going back to our gr oups of three. Theconscious mind may become so absorbed and immersed in thingsperceived, t hat i t grows altogether oblivious of t he divine powers

which should stream into the sense of i ts o wn consciousness, l ike a gross f eeder ab sorbed ineating. It i s d rugged and infatuated by the power of Tamas, and isliterally invert ed, resting on what is below, instead of what is above. Or

it m ay be so entangled in the thrill of per ceiving and impelling toaction, saturated with the sense of i ts f eelings an d inebriated withthem, t hat i t once more becomes o blivious of r eality, an d fallscompletely under. the thraldom of Rajas. Losing the freely flowing


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inspiration from above, it i s full of U nrighteousness, U nwisdom,

Impurity, and devoid of Divine P ower. We saw how the rebound of our consciousness from thiperceived wakes u s u p to the consciousness o f p erception, and ofourselves as perceivers. This r ebound seems t o carry with it into ourconsciousness t he image and feeling of our b odily existence; and thisimage b ecomes the b asis of our sense o f personality.

It w ould seem that the divine plan was t hat the consciousness,thus made c oncrete, should immediately draw on the po wers whichirradiate it f rom above, the divine, creative powers o f T ruth andBeauty an d Holiness; that the m an should become t he servant of theGod, as set forth with such convincing truth and beauty in that

wonderful book, Through the Gates of Golhappens that, instead of looking upward for continuous i nspiration,the consciousness, under t he sway of T amas a nd Rajas, falls t o

worshipping the image of the body isacrifices to it.

This is Bondage i n the m eaning of the Sankhya Sutras, and thedeclared purpose o f that teaching is, to enable t he m an to see h is bondsand to break them, to set him free, that he m ay r ealize and makemanifest t he divine powers o f h is i mmortality. F or i mmortality isinherent i n that deeper c onsciousness, and man doubts i t only whenhe h as become so immersed in things perceived, that he h as thoughthimself into identity with their t ransitoriness.

So, ca lling to our aid the divine powers that touch ourconsciousness from above, we ar e o nce m ore t o reverse t he i nversionof Buddhi; to invoke o ur inherent sense o f Truth, that we m ay s eethings as they really are, and may then break the f ascination of thingsperceived and the t hrill of feeling; that we m ay also discern the t ruecharacter of the u surping and tyrannous personal self and invoke t hepower of the G od within us, and all co-operating divine p owers, tobreak the t yrants domination, so that the m an may r ightly worship

and render ob edience to the God. We are to invoke the divinepowers of Beauty and Holiness, perpetually shining on ourconsciousness from above, in order that we m ay b e s o enkindled withthe b eauty of holiness, that we m ay b e n ot only w illing, but ardently


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eager, progressively to subject the l ower in us to the h igher, the w orse

to the b etter. We are so enthralled and fascinaneed of doing this, or gain the p ower to set about it, without the act iveintervention of Divine P owers. But the D ivine P owers ceaselessly seekthe opportunity to do this, i f w e only show ourselves w illing torespond. Again and again in our human history, the D ivine P owershave made themselves objectively manifest, i ncarnate Truth andBeauty an d Holiness, in order to inspire an d help us; such are Buddha

and Christ, in whom the L ogos becomes flesh i n the l iteral sense o fSaint Johns phrase. And all t hat, i n our highest moments ofinspiration, we dimly divine of t he better s elf ab ove our co nsciousminds, a nd a thousandfold more, is made clearly visible in theseDivine I ncarnations, these vi sible e mbodiments of the L ogos.

Let us n ow try to apply to the doctrine of the threefold Logosresting in Primal Being, what we h ave gat hered from our s urvey ofthings f amiliar and near at hand. We have, first, the marvelloactions, the c onscious mind which builds the w orld in which each oneof u s d wells. Our ver y familiarity with it b linds u s t o the continual

wonder and miracle of it the co ntinuous a ctivity of these p owers, the w orld in which we d well,the w orld built up of our per ceptions and actions, is made m anifest. Itmay be t hat we h ave h ere a c orrespondence with the T hird Logos ofThe Sec ret Doctrine , the b asis of the u niverse i n manifestation.

Then we hav e t hat power which touches our conscious minds fromabove, ready to impart to us b oth inspiration and creative energy, assoon as we h ave f irmly resolved to dethrone t he u surping personalityand enthrone t he G od; a r esolution we ar e h ardly likely to make, oreven to conceive, without t he active interposition of t hose DivinePowers on which we are so continuously dependent, but which caneffectively aid us o nly in the measure of o ur s incere co-operation.

Perhaps this region of manifested Divine P ower immediately ab ove u scorresponds to the Secon d Logos.But b y abstraction we can conceive of t he bare essence and

potentiality of Divine P owers, not revealed, not made m anifest. And


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this abstraction, necessarily v ery v ague an d tenuous, may b e as much as

we can at present conceiv which is, perhaps Finally, by a s econd abstraction, we ar rive at the t hought of Being

itself, t he Primal Reality through which all exists. While we canpostulate this absolute Be-ness as an abstraction, i t is necessarilyinconceivable a nd unknowable. For t o know this, would mean that weknow why there is Being, why there is a u niverse; and it i s cl earlyimpossible that a nything within the universe and a part of i t, could

ever answer that question. Yet this ver y Unknowable, this i nscrutableBeing, is t he very essence of u s, now and for eve r. We can neverconceivably know That; but we are That, and that fundamentaloneness i s i nescapable. So we may, per haps, g ain some faint an dshadowy understanding of t he Logos d octrine, the teaching of t hethreefold Logos, resting on Primal Being; confident that, as ou r l ightgrows s tronger t hrough loyal obedience an d service o f the light, wemay c ome t o discern more c learly what is now so vague a n outline.

So far we h ave f or t he m ost part considered life as t hough it weresingle, the adventure of o ne personality only. B ut t here are threedirections in which the ver y nature o f our bei ng perpetually impels usto break down our i ndividual limits a nd go beyond them. There i s,first, the n atural impulse o f exploration in the o uter world. We h avenot only feet to carry us, we h ave al so the i mpulse t o use t hem whichevery child puts into action. The child views its immediatesurroundings, but i t f eels i nstinctively, through the driving force of itsinherent powers, that what it knows i s n ot all the w orld, and it s etsforth eagerly to make discoveries. L ater o n, t his s ame power, thisinherent conviction that there i s more b eyond, will impel it to explorenew lands a nd continents, even to try to find the verge of the solarsystem, to send its t hought forth to search the v ast, mysterious s pacesamong t he s tars.

There is a second direction in which we are impelled by the

inherent c onviction that there is m ore beyond; the direction of ourother selves, which rests on our intuitive certainty of the g enuine b eingand consciousness of those abo ut us. We ar e ac quainted primarily w iththe con sciousness of our own minds. But we k now that there i s also


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consciousness beyon d the ver ge of ou r ow n minds, stretching away

without limit. Whatever a mans fu intuitive cert ainty is w hat h e i nvariably acts on. We are destined to do far more than act unconsciously on this i ntuition of more consciousness outside ourown minds, extending, indeed, like s pace i tself, beyond the h orizon.This too we s hall one d ay s et forth to explore, under the s ame i mpulseto go beyond known limits which sends the chi ld out to seek new

worlds. Perhaps Sophocles a

point; they p ortray m any types of our other selves which we ca n readourselves into imaginatively, an d thus gain practice for real l ife,exercising ourselves in the b roadening of our consciousness, so that wemay t he m ore e asily g ain a gen uine u nderstanding o f others.

But we s hall not make m uch real headway i n this direction until wehave i n some measure recognized and followed the third roadway

which leads us out of ourseDivine Power which touches the conscious mind from above. Wemust gain some en try there, we m ust catch something of that celestiallight, before w e can have an y t rue u nderstanding of the co nsciousnessof our other selves. Without some gl eam of the cel estial light, we m aygo out t oward the consciousness o f ot hers only to be submergedamong ot her lives as dark as our own. We may be s wamped b y someform of mob-consciousness, deeply tinged with Rajas and Tamas, likethe ear th-hungry consciousness of the R ussian peasants.

But if lit by some gl immer of t he h eavenly light we seek beyondourselves in the consciousness o f ot hers, we may be rewarded byfinding souls f ar m ore recep tive of that light, far m ore o bedient to it,than ar e ou r own souls. We may t hus gain divine hel p on our onward

journey.The i mpulse t o open the gat e o f the ch ilds garden, to open the gat e

of the co nstricted heart, to open the g ate o f the b urdened soul to thelight an d life from above, is a threefold admonition to us o f vas t

reaches o f b eing beyond ourselves; vas t exp anses o f n atural l ife, of human life, of spiritual and divine life. And this p erception carries u sfrom the diminutive representation of the Logos in our ownconsciousness, outward and upward toward the immensity an d depth


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and splendour of the h eavenly Logos.

If we ar e ab le t hus to approach a p hilosophical understanding ofthe L ogos doctrine, we s hall be w ise s traightway to turn it to practicalends, for on ly thus can divine p owers really come i nto action. Wemust i nvoke t he spirit of Truth which illumines ou r m inds fromabove, to the end that we may perceive the truth concerning thepersonal self t hat w e have built u p within our co nsciousness, abedecked image of the b ody in the m ind, which fascinates us andusurps o ur s ervice. Here, it is n ot ill luck, but supreme g ood fortune,

to break the mirror an d so dispel the image of self; for o nly as t hepersonality is dissolved, can we ag ain become r eceptive o f the cr eativelight and power from above. T he false personality, t he hugelyadmired image o f the b ody i n the m ind, is at first a s ource o f intenseenjoyment, as a yo uthful natural body with all its u ntried powersmay b e. But in old age t he n atural body, limp and torpid and flaccid,laden down with infirmity and the wear and tear of t ime, maybecome n othing but a source of w eariness. So through the p ainfulexperiences of human life t he f alse p ersonality may come t o be anintolerable burden, i n spite of t he residue of van ity that d ecks i t.

When that revulsion comes, therDivine P owers above and the succouring D ivine P owers about us, wemay dethrone our t yrant, and begin through painful, c ourageouseffort, to live f rom above, struggling upward toward the l ight. This isthat new birth, o r birth from above, which Saint John records,through which we are born into the kingdom of H eaven, theregion of Divine P owers above u s. We should remember that all the powers, active, which have built up our life, are i n origin powers of the L ogos.Even when deflected to evil ends, as in the b uilding and feeding of thefalse p ersonality, they are divine powers w arped. For t his ver y reasonthe false personality is st rong and intensely resistant; t he combat t odethrone it c an never be easy, can never be less t han a fight t o thedeath. It is the m ore i mperative t o wage i t courageously.

It i s philosophically interesting to notice how much of d ivinepower misdirected has gone i nto the b uilding of the f alse p ersonality.Both its p erceiving and acting are creative, because these powers ar e


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derived from the Logos. And it h as caught a reflection even of the

Absolute, in virtue as ab solute, the real centre o f the u niverse, for w hose u ses everyt hingelse exists. To see through the usurpers p retences an d to dethronehim, is our p ractical problem. It is p ossible o nly becau se d ivine f orcesacting rightly and truly are stronger t han divine forces w arped andturned aside.


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The Logos and the MindTheosophical Quarterly , April, 1923

Io veggi o b en s come gi risplendenello intelletto tuo letern a luce . . .D ANTE , Parad iso , V.

Well do I note h ow in thine i ntellect already doth reglow theeternal Light, w hich only seen doth ever k indle love; and ifaught else l ead your love aw ay, naught is it save s ome ves tige ofthis Light, ill understood, that shineth through therein.

In the t wo lines quoted above, from the l onger passage gi ven inEnglish, Dante h as said almost everything that can be s aid regardingthe L ogos and the m ind. The e ternal Light of the L ogos glows again inour s piritual consciousness, when mind and heart have b een cleansedand restored by the long process of purification so marvellously

described in the Purgatorio .The heart of the matter would seem to be that not on ly ourspiritual insight a nd will, but e very power t hat w e possess w ithoutexception, the w hole s ubstance an d force o f our e xistence, comes tous from the L ogos through the col lective D ivine P ower which we c allthe Lodge of M asters, and in particular f rom and through thatMaster on whose r ay of spiritual life an d force w e ar e. It is the w orkof the Master t o give form to the spiritual ideal for eac h one of us,

and to lead us, so far as we p ermit and co-operate, to fulfil that idealand to make i t concrete.

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Our powers are n ot our own, but come to us without exception

from the Logos, while t he way i n which we should use t hese p owers,the p lan and ideal we should follow, are gi ven to us by t he M aster on whose ray we are, who himself

conception from the Logos. Plato speaks of the secondary creativegods who formed mankind, according to his t eaching, as mirrors ofthe et ernal Artificer. Dante i n like m anner cal ls t he d ivine p otenciesand high angels mirrors of the et ernal Light. We m ay, perhaps, thinkof Masters in the same t erms, and think of them as carrying out the

same work.Quite l iterally, we ar e n ot our own. We d id not provide o urselves

with bodies, which come to from an impulse h aving its origin in the L ogos; and this is true b oth oftheir form and of their substance, i n the view of students ofTheosophy. In exactly t he same way w e d id not provide ou rselves withconsciousness, that miraculous p ower w hich looks out a t t he worldthrough our eyes. We d id not provide o urselves with will, the ab ility t oset our powers in motion, and actively t o use t hem. Consciousness and

will are more palpably our bodies; and it m ay be helpful for us t o consider that o urconsciousness and will, exact ly as they are at this moment, are i ntegralparts of t he L ogos, of the divine, universal Consciousness an d Will;not rays remotely d erived from the L ogos, but undivided parts of theLogos, here and now, just as, accor ding to the m ost recent scientificview, our h ands, for i nstance, are integral parts o f t he sum total ofelectrons which make u p the p hysical substance of the w orld. Why then, if the Logos be didarkness, at bes t abl e to say: the good I w ould, I d o not; the evil I

would not, that I To begin with, is it not evident that the p ower thus to discern the

dissonance b etween the go od we seek and the evi l we d o, is already agift of the L ogos, an illumination of our minds by that ineffable L ight?

But the d eeper mystery remains: Why are w e s o prone t o darkness, ifthe L ight be o ur Father? Why d o we f ollow evil, if we ar e ch ildren ofinfinite G ood?

Here i s at once t he d eepest mystery o f human life, and the f act of


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The Logos and the Mind 21

which we have, from hour to hour,

knowledge: namely, the mystery of f ree w ill. From one side, thatproblem may be forever beyond our understanding, but fromanother side w e kn ow all that we ca n possibly u se r egarding i t, muchmore than we are at a ll inclined to use. It i s exac tly as w ith theproblem of Being; from one p oint of view, Being is, and must everremain, an inscrutable m ystery; from another point of view we kn owall we need to know, since we are possessed of b eing, and actconfidently on that possession every instant of our lives. So we h ave

free w ill, and we u se i t continually. We may find a workable expression of the d ivine P ower, having given us s ubstance an d form, consciousnessand will, all drawn from the d ivine B eing itself, determined to add thefinal prerogative o f divinity, the p ower of choice; not simply the p owerto choose b etween two directions, as a b ird chooses one o r another treefor i ts n est; but t he power t o choose, with the perception that onechoice i s good, and the o ther evil; the p ower to conform to the d ivine

Will, with the power to diterrible gi ft with which Divinity h as endowed us; and we can see t hat,had we not t he power to disobey, the final virtue would be foreverlacking f rom our obedience.

But if we h ave both the p ower to perceive a nd the p ower to choose, why do we habitually drag

us, to turn from the evi l we r ecognize as evil, and to turn to the go od which we know to be good? Why are we so

our obedience?Time seems t o enter i nto the equ ation as an almost dominating

factor. But p erhaps that d ominance of time exists only in ourimaginations; perhaps i t i s t here, only because we think it i s t here. Afew years ago, t he followers o f D arwin used to think that almostendless t ime entered into the change from a species t o a derivedspecies, through the ad dition of innumerable ch aracters s o small as t o

be invisible. B ut t he followers of Mutation now think that t hecomplete ch ange t akes but one gen eration, as the m oss rose s uddenlyappeared, or t he n ew evening primrose w hich started this h ypothesis.It may be that time does n ot enter at all into either t ransformation;


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that our f eeling of the i nnumerable d ivisions of t ime n eeded for a ny

definite ch ange in ourselves, any advance i n conformity to the d ivine Will, is simply treluctance really to exert ourselves.

If we co nsider i t, our r eluctance, our s loth is a v ery curious t hing.Going to the limit of ou r p hysical knowledge in one direction, wereach the at oms, built up, according to the p resent view, of electronsrevolving at the r ate o f thousands of miles a s econd; keeping up a p acethat w ould circle the globe more swiftly than Ariel. Going to the

opposite extreme, we have the suns and stars, p erpetually racingthrough interstellar space. We, somewhere between these swiftextremes, are sodden with sloth. A s w e have said, it i s p rofoundlystrange f rom a p hilosophical point of view.

The s olution lies, perhaps, in that strange w orld, between earth andheaven , in which we h ave el ected to dwell: the w orld of psychic l ife.From one p oint of view, it is t he w orld of mind-images; of picturesformed in the mind and by the mind, which exercise over us a nextraordinary power of fascination.

Many t houghtful minds have p ondered over this power of ours toform mind-images. P atanjali, f or example, calls them Sanskaras , a

word derived originallpotters o n the soft cl ay of t heir u nbaked pots. Aristotle calls t hemPhantasmata , pictures first made t hrough the s enses and remaining inour minds after the o uter objects are w ithdrawn. The S utras of Kapilaadd that, once t hey are formed, they have a certain power of s elf-perpetuation, j ust as the potters wheel, o nce it is set spinning,continues to rotate af ter the i mpelling f orce i s withdrawn.

Here we come to another gi ft which the gods have given us,seemingly w ith the s ame t errible com pleteness with which they gave u sthe power o f c hoice: the gift, namely, of being attracted. The linesquoted from Dante s uggest the d ivine p urpose o f that gift. We p ossessit i n order t hat we may have the power of bei ng attracted toward

divinity. Its purpose i s, to lead us home. But w e use this d ivine gift as w e use all our g ifts, capriciously,perversely. We el ect to be at tracted by things w hich we k now to beunworthy, our power to choose b etween good and evil giving us quite


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clear i ndicati ons. It is p ossible th at w e m ay sin ignorantly; it is cer tain

that we r epeatedly s in with our eyes open. To go back to the m ind-images; it would seem that we of ten conferon them our power to be attracted, that we purposely endow them

with the quality of a we deliberately prefe

a wholly unworthy mood.The mind-image on which we confer the amplest qu ality of

allurement is often the i mage o f ourselves. Like N arcissus who saw hisimage i n the b rook, we t ake as our beginning the i mage o f our visibleforms. This we ad orn with treasures stolen from heaven, as magpiesand jackdaws, though free f rom our culpability, sometimes deck theirnests w ith pilfered jewels. Once m ore, it is p hilosophically curious t hat

we do not hesitate to attqualities eve n of God; w e give it t he absoluteness of Parabrahm,convincedly holding it to be t he d ead centre o f the U niverse, which allelse serves an d around which all e lse circles. A nd we steal G odsbenignant will, turn it about, and make of it malice, with which thebeloved image is ready to defend himself aga inst an ything thatthreatens h is i nfinite complacence. Perhaps somewhere in the wideUniverse th ere i s an other s pectacle eq ually grotesque, since i t is a l argeUniverse and contains many t hings. Aristotle holds, as it phantasmataform the basis of ou r or dinary mental life. From a group of m ind-images we f orm a d erivative m ind-image w hich has in it something ofthem all, and then, repeating the s ame p rocess up a s eries of steps, wecome at l ast t o those universals w hich Aristotle so freely uses, to ourharas sment, in his Logic. But it is evident that, to serve this purpose, tobecome t he b asis of our mental picture-book, mind-images must havesome p ermanence. Perhaps that need is the cau se o f their inertia, theirpower to continue s pinning, as Kapila d epicts it. And we t ake t he t wogifts, this needed quality of permanence i n the m ind-images, and our

power to be at tracted, and mix them into a p otion which thereuponfascinates us, and holds us bewitched.There are these perverse possibilities al l about u s. For exam ple, we

pass ou r l ives in a sea o f m ingled nitrogen and oxygen, w hich we


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habitually breathe i nto our lungs; but these s ame el ements blended in

nitrous oxi de q uickly upset our bo dily powers and make o ur bo diesinert and insensible. Two good things bl ended, it would seem, maymake a poi son. And from one poi nt of view we and all human kind

with us have been sedulou juggling with the gift

possibility of harm.Every p erception and power that we p ossess without excep tion is, if

this vi ew be true, an integral part of the Logos, a gift coming to us

through the M aster on whose r ay w e ar e; not arbitrarily, but in perfectconformity with the life and principles of t he Logos, including theprinciple o f loving kindness and infinite m ercy.

If we h ave t erribly abused our f reedom of moral choice, knowinglyand repeatedly preferring the d earer t o the b etter, if we h ave endlesslymisused the p ower to be at tracted, conferring it continually on thingsthat we k now to be u nworthy, nevertheless the saving truth remainsthat these ar e s till parts a nd powers of t he L ogos, and that that divineand benignant Light stands per petually ready to illumine, guide an dstrengthen us, focused in the u nderstanding an d the h eart of each of usby the M aster w ho stands above u s, and who ever presents to us theideal of our divine possibilities. S o generous, s o benignant i s themediation of the M aster, so close t o us d oes he b ring the ever lastingLight, that we h ave on ly t o use t he p owers we al ready possess and havealways possessed, in order to repair the evi l we h ave d one, to begin thelaborious as cent of the M ount of Purgation toward the s piritual lifethat is our t rue d estiny. We have light within us; we can

would seem to be a certaifocused upon us by t he M aster, is so benignant, so provident, that theduty which we s ee s et immediately before u s, whether of effort or ofabstinence, does in fact constitute t he f irst step of our return. And this

would seem to be true, he

we perceive it to be faithful performance, in almost complete d arkness, is a u sing of ourpowers i n conformity with the divine Will, a nd that r ight u sageimmediately strengthens these p owers, bringing into them more l ight


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and life. So we ar e al ready b etter prepared for the s econd step.

The reason for t his s overeign quality in the performance o f anyduty simply for t he s ake o f duty, would seem to be t hat it is at last aright use o f what we h ave s o long misused: our power of free c hoice.By choosing duty for d utys sake, we at last align our w ills, which arealso a d ivine g ift, with the P ower that preserves t he s tars from wrong,and we t hereby begin to partake in the s trength and freshness of themost ancient heavens.

It is o ne of the great p ositive truths o f Life, that a sp iritual powerrightly used is far stronger t han the s ame s piritual power wrongly used.

As soon as we begin to oof duty, we b egin to profit by that benignant law. Even a s mall dutyfaithfully performed with entire disinterestedness w ill prevail over alarge accu mulation of self-will, and will begin to undermine an d lessenthe h eap. So we can definitely make a beginning, by responding tothat unquenched spark that is i n every one o f us, the s ense t hat theduty immediately before u s ought to be d one b ecause i t ought to bedone, becau se t hat course i s right. We can gain an initial leverage Through following the L ight in the f irst step, we s hall find ourselves i npossession of a l ight already growing brighter, a l ight that will begin toillumine the f urniture of our i nner dwelling, and will begin to bringout the u gliness of much that we ac cumulate t here. And we s hall see,perhaps, that we h ave b rought these u nlovely things i nto our d wellingby misusing that o ther s piritual gift, the power t o be attracted; byfixing it on ugly an d unworthy t hings.

If this be s o, and if we s o perceive i t, then it would seem possible t odetach that power of attracting us from these u nlovely things, and totransfer it immediately to the P ower to which it rightfully belongs, thedivine P ower which so unwearyingly s eeks to lead our feet into the w ayof Peace.

If w e succeed even to a little degree in making this t ransfer, in

detaching the g olden particles of attraction from things w e n ow see t obe i gnominious, and attaching them to the guiding Light above u s,then sheer duty, at first a s tern lawgiver only, will begin to appear t o us

with the Godheads most benignant gr


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caught a f irst glimpse o f the t ruth that the P ower which is guiding us

and strengthening us on our way upwards is inspired by fullyconscious and responsive l ove, that it is the p ower of the l iving Master,then we m ay b egin with reverent heart to worship the Lord in thebeauty o f holiness. And once more we may remind ourselves that sprestored to their r ight place an d their right use s teadily overweigh andoverbear the s ame p owers wrongly u sed; so that the go lden particles ofattraction, once w e h ave det ached them from the u nworthy things in

our m inds and restored them to the Light and Power above u s, willimmediately gain in drawing power, reinforced by all the s trength ofcelestial Being. Emerson has a h appy simile to express t his l aw: cutdownward with an axe, and the whole weight of our planet aids you;try t o cut upward with the s ame axe, and the w eight of the p lanet pullsagainst you.

Let us then consider how we m ay us e ou r powers so that the whole weight of the Divine Power may

against them. And let us note, in passing, that that steady pull againstour p erverse w ills, bringing with it p ain and suffering, has a gain andagain kept us back from destruction. It is as ready, yes, far more r eady,to labour f or our salvation.

Let us begin with will, the p ower to use o ur powers. Jules Payot has well said that t

voluntary attention. Truly, a great power, and a magical power, if weso see it. It is not difficult to illustrat e th is. We o f this ge nerat ion haveseen a succession of t he most m arvellous scientific discoveries; an deach of t hese was t he fruit o f vo luntary attention. It i s t rue that anelement o f h appy accident entered into the first d iscovery of t hematter-penetrating cathode rays, w hile a second happy accidententered into the first d iscovery of the radioactivity of uranium. But

without the steady, accidents would have b orne n o fruit. And it seems certain that, in this

providential Universe, we are all surrounded with happy accidents,potentially capable o f bearing no less valuable f ruit, if only we u sed anequal power of attention. For i t seems that attention not only is t hepower to hold the p erceiving thought steady, but that it also contains


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within it the power to per

steadily view; this, in virtue o f its being a ray o f the L ogos. So we can begin to turn our attention, and to fix our attention, onthat divine st ar i n our h earts, which shines w ith the ev erlasting Light;and, in virtue o f our m iraculous gi ft of true p erception, we s hall beginto learn more o f that Light, we s hall see m ore cl early what part of thefurniture o f our inner dwelling is worthy and what unworthy, what isgood and what is evil.

Then we have the power to form mind-images, and to con fer uponthem the p ower to attract us. But this power also, which has hitherto

worked to allure and enmesh us work for our liberation

things true an d holy, which will draw us toward the ever lasting w ay. And, as soon as we consider the matthat other p ower of at tention, as a s earchlight is t urned upon sceneryhidden in the d arkness of night, we s hall find that endless riches havealready been gathered for us, i mmediately available for this verypurpose. Those b ooks which deal with the t hings of the Logos, and ofour r elation with the l ife o f the L ogos, the S acred Books of the w orld,are f illed from cover to cover with mind-images lit with the b eauty ofholiness. We hav e on ly to build them up in our own minds, and weshall have an army of l ovely images, r eady to fight t he battle ofpurification and redemption within us continually.

Take, for example, that a ncient U panishad, w hich pictures t he

youth, Nachiketas, descending into the House of D eath. Here aremind-pictures which show us ou r ow n position, in the House ofDeath in which we h ave elected to dwell, and also the c hoice w e m ustmake, to find the w ay o f liberation.

Or take t he s etting of the Bhagavad Gita : the f ield of Kurukshetra with the armies of kien

of t he battle within ourselves, against t he deformation of o urselves, which we have undertaken to wage; and Kri

valour i n that contest is an exhortation to us. Or, again, take the kingly figure of the Buddha, Siddhartha theCompassionate, which has drawn millions of hearts, even though hisfollowers have r endered much of his teaching almost sterile, through


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their over-use o f the ar gumentative m ind, neglecting almost wholly t he

power of t he heart. Yet e ven with this h andicap, the story of t heformation of his Order is full of compelling b eauty. Again, if we consider iMaster Christ doubly enriched with food for the imaginationspiritually used. Christ constantly exerci ses the p ower to create m ind-images t hat s hall hold our t hought an d draw our h earts. All theparables are s uch images. And he h as set in them those p articles of gold

which do draw us; in

Take t he p arable o f the P harisee an d the P ublican: no two figures were ever more vividly

temple as background, the at titudes of the t wo men, their c ontrastedprayers . If our cen tral sin be s elf-worship, what an image o f ourselves i spresented to us in the Pharisee, who prayed with himself,congratulating G od on His perfect handiwork. And if the b reaking o fthe i mage o f self be t he b eginning of the w ay, when the d ivine L ightreveals t o us t he evil of it, what t ruer p icture of our at titude of heart ,

when we perceive this evmerciful to me a s inner.

Or t ake what i s, perhaps, the greatest o f al l the parables, theProdigal Son. Where i n all literature has e loquence ri sen to greaterheights t han in his e xpression of repentance: I w ill arise an d go tomy father?

But there is a more immediate and one-pointed use of t he

imagination, than this general enrichment of our hearts with dynamicimages, rich in compelling beauty, that shall draw our h earts t owardthings d ivine an d holy; and it happens that the p arable o f the P rodigalSon precisely i llustrates this one-pointed use.

He was not c ontent w ith a vague p urpose, dimly figured in hismind. H e completed in his imagination the details o f h is ac t o fpenitence: I w ill arise and go to my father, and will say unto him,Father, I have s inned against heaven, and before t hee, and am no more

worthy to be called t completed mental mould, of what he purposed to do and say; and, when he met his father,

and the M aster who framed the parable m ade in it a m ould for hi s


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children, in which many a p enitent heart has found a r esting place, a

perfect expression of its own burden of sorrow and contrition. In this way, seeing the n ext duty in the l ight of the D ivine P owernow glowing more b rightly in our hearts, we m ay f orm in detail thepicture o f ourselves performing that duty, and then endow the p icture

with those golden partias we w ithdraw these p articles from the w rong uses to which we h avehitherto put them. The living mould we thus form and endow willalmost carry us forward to the com pletion of our duty, again to use a

simile o f Dantes, like a b oat carried with the s tream.Our central s in of s elf-adoration has many subdivisions: s elf-

referen ce, s elf-attribution, s elf-concern , s elf-pity, s elf-admiration. W ehave e ndowed each with the p ower to attract and draw us. But we a renow at the p oint where. we c an begin to make restitution. We see that every one of our powerof the Master, misused through perversity. Self-worship is t he misuseof the p ower to worship whatever things are h oly. Seeing the i mage w ehave m ade o f ourselves as false, grotesque, addicted to theft, and at thesame time seeing something of the magnanimous beauty andgenerosity of the D ivine P ower which is leading and guiding us backinto the way of l ife, we can, through an effort o f c lear s eeing andsteady attention, change the direction of our w orship, bending it n olonger toward the f alse i mage, but to the go dlike P ower. And insteadof referring all things that happen to the cen tre o f self, we can , by thesame st eady effort, refer t hem to that Power, realizing that al l even tshappen, not for t he p urposes of self-indulgence, but for t he p urposesof Soul. As we s ee m ore cl early t hat all our powers are f rom and of theLogos, it will become eas ier to attribute t o the L ogos whatever we m ayfind in ourselves of understanding and of valour, thus changing fromself-attribution to a right at tribution of t hese gifts t o the Power t o

which they really belong will wane; we can help tha

thanksgiving to the d ivine G race w hich begins t o lead us ou t of ourself-made l abyrinth. As f or s elf-pity, a time w ill come when we s hallbegin to realize t he w rong we h ave d one, the i njury w e h ave i nflicted,through our perverse d isobedience; we m ay b egin to turn our pity t o a


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more ho nest use.

In this work of restitution we s hall be h elped by t he d rawing powerof the et ernal Light, which only seen doth ever kindle l ove. And weshall come t o realize t hat the t reasures of beauty are i n the b ooks whichspeak o f the S oul, because t he S oul which created and inspired them isthe fountain of a ll beauty. The parable of t he Prodigal draws o urhearts, because t he M aster who created it has infinite power to drawour hearts; to lead us, like t he P rodigal, homeward.


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The Logos and LifeTheosophical Quarterly , July, 1923

E la s ua vo lontate n ostra p ace:Ella q uel mare, al qual tutto si moveCi ch ella cr ea e ch e n atura f ace.D ANTE , Parad iso , III.

Nay, tis t he essence of t his b lessed being to hold ourselves within the Divine Will, whereby our

made o ne. . . . And His will is our p eace; it is that sea t o whichall moves that it createth and that nature m aketh.

If we consider the Logos to be infinite Wisdom and Power andLove i mmortal, we m ay h old that all life, guided, inspired and ruled bythe L ogos, has as its purpose t o infuse i nto our hearts wisdom and loveand power a nd immortality, and steadily to increase their m easure

there t oward the m easure o f its own boundless beneficence. And, if we hold that the Master the L ogos, we m ay then consistently believe t hat the ceas eless p urposeof the M asters, the B uddhas and the C hrists of a ll past times and ofthe p resent and all time to come, is t he s ame: to infuse into us s uch

wisdom and love and power and immortalown majestic life; a purpose which in them flames as a fire ofbenediction, from which we al so may ca tch fire.

If t his b e true as a universal principle, it m ust b e true in everypart icular; not only life as a to tality, but every detail, every daily and

31


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hourly setting of life, must have t he s ame b enignant purpose. If this be

so, then nothing happens at random or uselessly; all things a re w eighedand planned and directed to that end.But before w e can become r eceptive o f a con sciousness so deep, so

rich, so holy, there m ust be l ong preparation and apprenticeship. And we may learn to see, i whom we pass our lives,

truth going on, the training of m ultitudes w ho, in one sense, arehardly co nscious that they ar e al ive; who never pause t o ask themselves

whither they are bound, and for us all, may b e. We may, perhaps, gain a deeper and preparation, if we ask ourselves w hat must be the quality of aconsciousness which shall be f it to approach, and in due t ime t o enterinto the m ighty an d immortal consciousness of the Logos; what mustbe t he t emper and texture o f a s oul, fitting it to become o ne w ith theDivine So ul.

In such a soul, in such a consciousness, there must be a quick,sensitive conformity with the spirit an d nature of t he Logos, t heessence o f filial love and an ever o bedient will; a w ill obedient as Dantetells us that the an gels are, becau se o f their o wn nature t hey freely will

what God wills, and eagerly discern of the p urposes of God.

Therefore a l ong training in obedience t o law must be es sential, a

training continued until the soul is saturated through and through with joy in obedience. times, that w e h ave so little reveren ce f or o bedience a s a p rinciple, solittle willingness t o obey becau se it i s r ight t o obey, becau se the spiritof obedience i s e ssential in order that we m ay respond to the d ivineleading of the L ogos, which penetrates every detail, every circumstanceand force o f our lives.

It is a p art of the same cri ticism, that men have so largely lost the

sense of those powers a nd qualities in other men which deserve an ddemand obedience; that so few seek, by t heir own higher obedience, tobring into activity in themselves t hat q uality of s oul which othersshould obey; neither t hrough fear n or through any shade of self-


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The L ogos and Life 33

seeking, but for love of that which deserves l ove, through reverence o f

what inspires reverence If life were rightly and worthily lived, in filial conformity with thebeauty of holiness, there w ould be, among the vi sible l eaders of men,something of that which disciples reverence i n their M aster, whomthey joyfully obey, not because t hey seek anything for t hemselves, notbecause t hey f ear, but through overmastering love.

Through this j oyful, loyal obedience o f spirit and heart and mindand the whole nature, disciples gr ow into the divine nature of t heirMaster, as he h as grown, by a l ike l oyal and loving obedience, into thedivine l ife o f the L ogos. While the purpose of the Logos and i

Wisdom, must in many ways be thwarted the quality of n obility in our l ife today, w hether i t b e the nobility

which inspires obedience oLogos, t he eternal Wisdom, i s too resourceful, t oo potent, t oopenetrating, not to seek t he same end by some ot her means which ourlife t oday, though lacking in nobility, maybe ab le t o afford.

Perhaps this i s one of t he causes o f what w e call the age ofindustrialism. We m ay, if we ar e s o disposed, rejoice i n its s upposedtriumphs; or w e m ay lament its har dness and raw ugliness. But weshall be w ise al so to seek its deeper purpose, its more en during fruit.

This age o f industry is bu sy, not so much with materials, as withthe f orces embodied in materials. And no material can be s uccessfully

employed except by seeking and gaining an insight into the f orces i tembodies, and by a f aithful obedience t o these f orces. We call this the age of sheaves of f orce. They are force m ade visible, force which must bestudied and its l aws f aithfully complied with, if our s tructures ar e tostand up and hold together; if our complex m achines are t o do their

work. In the handling of tm, obedience, an obedience w hich is in fact willingly and loyally ren dered.

It is well worth while, with this thought in mind, to watch those who are engaged in our many mechanical industr

operations; to see h ow the complex machine teaches and trains t heman, after the m an has invented and built the m achine; to note t he


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qualities o f at tention, of al ertness an d energy which the machine

imposes on the m an who operates it. His conscious vi ew is, in all probability, that he i s earning moneybecause he needs or w ishes to spend it on many things which hedesires. But, if our thought be t rue, there i s a s econd purpose g oing on,a deeper en d attained; t he all-wise Logos i s t eaching him lessons,drilling essential qualities i nto his soul, while h e i magines h e i s servi nghis own purposes only. While the workman counts up his earningsreckons the gai ns or l osses of the w hole com plex o peration in whichthe workman is a part, the Logos may draw up a more significantbalance-sheet, recording t hat he h as, through so many h ours, gained somany units in the p ractice an d training of obedience: not the h ighestobedience, not t he noble obedience o f a l oyal soul to a greater a ndmore luminously inspired soul, b ut s till ob edience; a n obedience

which, when it has been ttime b e t ransmuted into the n obler obedience of the con senting heart.

If we take a penetrating and imaginative view of the wholeimmense an d pervading activity of our industry, we s hall see t hat thelesson is going forward on a t remendous scale. While m illions of menthink they are s erving their o wn ends, they are r eally being trained tothe en ds of the L ogos; quite unknowingly, but n one t he l ess r eally,they are g aining those q ualities which shall fit them, when their d ay ofspiritual birth comes, to enter i nto conscious co nformity with the lifeof the L ogos in the s plendour of its immortality.

Take n ext our commerce: the bu ying an d selling o f so many t hings,useful or u seless, which engages l arge classes f rom morn till eve, dayafter day, year i n and year o ut.

It i s a truism among these people themselves t hat t he first s teptoward every sale i s to find out what the b uyer wants, and to supply it.There would seem to be no exception to the rule that every greatfortune has been gained in this on e way: by discovering something

which large masses of may b e a g ood deal of cheating, of fraud, of chicane; but they d o notbring the g reat s uccesses. People know what they want, in a general

way. They may, and often do,


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better without; but that is beside t he q uestion for our p resent thought.

The es sential fact is, that the s uccessful merchant must discern exact ly what they want, and must suppTo do this, he m ust exercise a quality of divination, he m ust learn

to study an d read their wishes, and sensitively t o respond to them; and,if h e seeks a continuing success, he must gi ve them the feeling thatthey h ave g ot exact ly what they d esire, so that they w ill come b ack tohim for more.

So far as he i s concerned, his motive m ay be n o better than self-seeking. None the less h e is b eing trained, un known to himself, insomething finer than self-seeking. Looking forward with faith, we cansee t hat the s ame s ensitive d ivination will, in the f ullness of time, whenhis d ay of spiritual light h as d awned, guide him into seeking anddiscerning the p urposes of the L ogos, the t houghts and wishes in theheart of God.

Take an other s ide o f our l ife: the g regariousness s o charact eristic o fthe ci ties, which are s o imperiously drawing us into their whirlpool lifetoday. Think of the immense crowds which s urge t hrough our railwaystations morning and evening, threading their di vergent ways amongmeeting crowds; t he swarms of h uman beings gathered in ourfacto ries, our huge o ffice b uildings.

Underneath much in all this that is repellent and a ceas eless strain,something of greater value is being gained. O nce more quiteunconsciously, these seething masses of men and women are being

inducted into an instinctive realization of the sea of humanconsciousness in which they m ove. In our immense r ailway s tations, inpacked trains, in the ru shing rivers of the s treets, they must take n oteof each other as l iving beings, even when there is l ittle sense of f inerhuman values. I f o nly in self-defence, t hey must be alert, ac tive,observant, on pain of colliding w ith each other. Thus something o f thetotal of human consciousness, albeit on a l evel not yet fully human, istrained and driven into them, just as obedience i s b eing driven into

those who o perate m achines. The swiftly moving crowds teach each other cer tain essentiallessons, one day to become available for l arger an d nobler e nds. Aseach one i s no w compelled to remember t hat he is par t of a gr eat


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human consciousness, so he may in time be prepared to recognize

himself as a p art of a greater d ivine consciousness, and with grateful joy to conform himself Take ag ain that s triking feature of our l ife today, the swiftness o f

movement, the ceaseless r ushing through space, which is ei ther a novermastering passion or an all-compelling necessity. At n o time of

which we have any record did miles in his journey from birth to death, or c over them at so great aspeed. This must inevitably drive i n upon the co nsciousness a q uality

of c easeless m otion, an aroused, alert en ergy, w hich may graduallyascend step by step to the wide-sweeping yet p erfectly focusedconsciousness and will of the M asters of Wisdom, from whom furthersteps go upward to the supreme con sciousness, the et ernal motion, ofLife itself, the e verlasting Logos.

It is p art of the i nfinite b eneficence o f that L ife, that t he M asters o f Wisdom come among us, as the Buddha came,

reveal t o us the essential n ature of Divine Life, t hat supremeConsciousness an d Will of i nfinite beauty, i nfinite wisdom, infinitelove, whither all our human pathways tend.

The B uddha i n his serene s elflessness, the C hrist with his passionatelove, bring close to us, and put us i n immediate touch with, thesplendours of Divine L ife w hich are o ur destiny an d goal.

It w ould not be difficult t o press h ome the same lesson, t heceaseless t eaching and guidance of t he Logos, with regard to every

activity of our complex l ife. In our consideration, we h ave t ouched ononly a few external points. We have s aid nothing of the individualgenius o f nations an d the revelation that u nderlies t rue national life.

We have said nothing of t which so evidently tea which might reveal so much o

the beneficent lessons of pain and suffering and sorrow, w hichadmonish us of laws of the L ogos which we ar e i gnoring or violating,

thus mercifully doing their part of the et ernal work. All these things must be stheir significance an d meaning, seeking to understand them, not as thehuman souls who are in the m idst of them see t hem, nor as they m ay


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appear in our own personal view, but as the M asters of Wisdom see

them, as they are d irected to serve t he et ernal ends of the L ogos. For w e shall be well advised to hold that, however much men anddevils may seek to pervert life, to make i t mischievous and destructive,the M asters of Wisdom and the Logos in the l ong r un win, the d ivineends ar e always s erved and attained, even in the face o f p erpetualblindness o r o pposition. Every detail, every quality and fact, is b eingused and turned to the uses o f d ivinity, n ot occasionally or atfavourable j unctures only, but everywhere an d always.

If t his be so, t hen it would seem that we may draw certainconclusions for our own use.

If the w hole o f human life, and even all the p erversions of life, arebeing directed by a conscious, divine p urpose t o beneficent spiritualends, i n the transmutation of human consciousness into divineconsciousness; if this b e t rue o f life i n general, it must be t rue o f mylife an d yours. It must be t rue o f us in every d etail, at every p oint ofour l ives; in every hour, every moment eve n, the divine lesson isbeing presented for o ur l earning, an d therefore at t his p oint, t hishour, this m oment; the lesson which, as we learn it, will lead us astep nearer t o divine wisdom, divine love, immortality. We mustlearn to see t hese lessons; we m ust teach ourselves t o look for t hem,that we m ay see t hem. The f irst step is to understand that they ar ethere, and that to a co nsiderable d egree w e ar e m issing them because

we keep our eyes shut.

A second conclusion we may draw is tha and all human beings are b eing so taught and guided and helped inspite o f blind incomprehension, in spite o f recal citrance an d resistance,in spite of w ilful disobedience and evil contrary purposes; if, in theteeth of all this, true progress i s b eing made toward the divine goal,then it must follow that, if we s ubstitute f or resistance a l oyal and eagerobedience, if we are willing to open our eye s and to be cured ofblindness, if we will go gallantly forward to meet the divine t eaching,

we shall instantly cha wills into conformity into harmony with the t eaching of the M asters of Wisdom; and thegain will be incalculable.


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The child whose heart is filled to overflowing with loving

obedience, the p upil who is full of enthusiasm, the s tudent whose s oulkindles with intuitive an d sympathetic u nderstanding, how rapidly an d with what joy they l

eager c o-working of genuine l ove, alight a nd aflame, is t he true stoneof t ransmutation, transforming, p urifying, e nkindling heart an d souland understanding. The d isciple w ho has given his whole h eart to theMaster i n devoted love, receives i n full the blessing of the Masterspeace, a p eace w hich. is full of the co nsuming activity of devotion. In

the fullness o f time, he learns t o set h is h and wisely and effectively tohis M asters w ork, even to lift s omething of t he heavy burden hisMaster bea rs; in time h e t oo may b ecome a minister of the Logos,

working to lead mankind f We may elect to be pushed and dragged along prisoners u nder a rrest, or t o go forward of happy choice, inspired bylove. It will be p rofitable, perhaps, in the b eginning, to realize t hat what

we call our minds, so much plastic m aterial, to be m oulded to better uses. We m ay b eginby d irecting o ur powers of thought and understanding f irmly t o impresson these minds of ou rs t he primary truth that e ach moment, each

juncture, has it with this fundamental

follows, and set our i ntelligence t o work to seek the lesson, enkindlingour h earts t o learn it, to follow it, to put it into effect.

Since w e h ave s o long been wilfully or heedlessly blind, we s hall atfirst s ee vaguely and indistinctly, w ith the eyes of i nfants n ot y etcoming to a cl ear focus; we s hall go forward with the h alting steps oflittle children, n ot y et ab le to stand firmly, o r to walk withoutunsteadiness and feebleness.

Like infants, like little children: could there be any simile of moreevident promise? I s i t not of universal experience t hat infants l earn tosee, that l ittle children learn to walk?

Let us borrow from them something more: the happy, confidentfaith with which all childhood accomplishes t hese miracles, and thecontinuing joy in effort which sets the ch ild going again, after never s omany f alls.


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The l essons are t here, set as clearly in the f rame o f day an d hour as

the p ictures on our walls; as the ch ild learns in no long time t o see t hepictures on the w alls, and to understand their meaning, so may w e, if we put our hearts into

the t ask, discerning just what lesson, what fault to be co rrected, whatgift of illumination, of humility, has been put there b y the M asters of

Wisdom, ministers of the Logospossible to long ardently to be taught by Masters, and to sit throughlesson after l esson with our eyes shut.

As our love is kindled by rshall see, we shall learn, we shall obey. We shall muster cou rage todrive the self o f evi l out o f o urselves with increasing detestation, todraw into our hearts in stead obedience an d light and love; we s hall seethat these d ays of ou rs a re vei ls of t he E ternal, not in some v ague o rabstract w ay, but i nstantly, i n every moment, a t eve ry point. B ydesiring to cooperate, we shall already begin to cooperate i n the g reatand magnificent work the L ords of Life, the M asters of Wisdom, havein hand. By receiving the spirit of ob edient love into our h earts, andentering in spirit with our own efforts into the d ivine p urpose, we s hallshare in the work of l eading the innumerable assemblage of soulsforward to ward the ever lasting home; toward a l ife w hich is i nfinitelove, infinite b eauty, infinite w isdom, infinite b eneficence. We shall discover that work to thobedient love, far f rom wearying us, deeply refreshes us. As w e s pendourselves a nd pour f orth our ef forts, we become t hereby richer, notpoorer; as w e f ollow the l ight, we s hall gain light; as w e su rrender j oy,

we shall increase in rewards, but rather in purity of heart, through love, in humility andobedience, in reverence an d awe before the living miracle of d ivinelove an d mercy a nd benediction.


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The Logos and MeditationTheosophical Quarterly , October, 1923

Consider t he lilies of t he field, h ow they grow; t hey toil n ot,neither d o t hey spin: and yet I s ay u nto you , that even Solomon inall his glory w as not arra yed like on e of these.

The p assage f rom which this beautiful word picture i s taken might well serve to ill

its three s tages: observation, understanding, embodiment. The word rendered consider i s more e mphatic i n Greek; it meansstudy intently, observe accu rately. T he p arallel passage i n Luke u sesanother word, but with the s ame e mphatic m eaning: to fix t he p owersof observation intently an d accurately o n the t hing o bserved.

Neither the t ranslation we h ave qu oted, from the Ser mon on theMount, nor the r endering of the p assage i n Luke, does full justice t othe acc uracy o f the M asters observation. The G reek of Luke s ays, of

the lilies: t hey spin not, t hey weave not; t he two processes,spinning the thread with a spindle, and weaving warp and wooftogether on a l oom, which go to the m aking o f the p iece of cloth tobe m ade i nto raiment. The acc epted translation gives only a p art ofthe picture in the Masters m ind; he was t hinking, not of t oil ingeneral, but of the p articular t oil involved in the m aking of raiment:spinning an d weaving.

In another p assage, which follows s hortly after t he image of t helilies, in the S ermon on the M ount, the t ranslators us e a word whichsomewhat blurs t he cl ear outline o f the M asters picture, and thereby

41


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obscures a p oint of high interest. They translate:

Why b eholdest thou the m ote t hat is in thy b rothers eye, butconsiderest not the b eam that is in thine ow n eye

The word mote c alls up no clear image i n the m ind, unless it bethe m ote in the sunbeam. But the Greek word means, among otherthings; a ch ip cut by a car penter, hewing a b eam into shape with anaxe. The t hought in the M asters mind would seem to be t his:

Why beholdest thou the ch ip that is in thy brothers eye, but

considerest not the p lank that is in thine o wn eye?The simile may come from the workshop of t he Carpenter of

Nazareth. Thus rendered, it is far more vi vid; it has also an element ofkeen humour, of which something will presently b e s aid. Yet another word regarding the lirendered. The M aster asked his disciples intently to observe t he l ilies ofthe field, how they grow. The Greek word means, how they

increase, growing in height, in strength, in beauty. T he lily sendsforth the s tem, unfolds the l eaves, forms the b uds, opens the f lowers. Itis a p icture n ot static b ut dynamic, a p icture o f evolving life. And it is worth noting thtrees, he speaks al so of their gro wth, in this s ense of increase. He seesthe f ruit tree, not simply standing in an orchard, but bearing fruit; thebranch of the v ine l ikewise b ringing forth fruit; the wheat sown ongood ground, springing up and bringing forth fruit, some an

hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold; the seed springing upand growing, the sower knoweth not h ow; the ea rth bringing forthfruit, first the b lade, then the e ar, after t hat t he f ull corn in the e ar; thefig tree, when the b ranch is yet t ender, putting forth leaves, foretellingthe coming of summer. Always the same intent, accursense of growing, increasing life. The Master s ees n ot on ly the lily,the wheat, the vine; he sees a lso the life, the divine, creative Spirit,the b reath of the F ather, moving in the l ily, the w heat, the b ranch ofthe vi ne.

If space al lowed, it would be p rofoundly interesting to illustrate i ndetail the M asters keen, intent observation of the l ife ab out him in


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The L ogos and M editation 43

all its as pects; not o nly the growth of plants an d flowers an d trees,

but the b irds of the ai r, the h en with her chickens, the s parrow; theraven and the eagle, seen, per haps, when the Master ascended themountains; household episodes, a woman sweeping, the m ending ofa t orn garment, the k neading of dough; then pictures of life i n smalltowns, children playing gay or t ragic games, men standing in themarket place w aiting to be h ired, others gi ving alms o stentatiously;scenes in the co untry, the p loughing of fields, the s owing of wheat,the fields w hite for t he harvest, the reaper w ith his s ickle; shepherds

tending their sheep upon the hills; a red and lowering sky;portending foul weather, the cl oud rising from the W est, from theMediterranean, bringing a s hower, the So uth wind, from the Arabiandesert, bringing heat. So complete, so many sided, so accurate i s hisobservation, that it is al most possible t o see t he f ace o f the l and andits people w ith the M asters eyes.

This i s t he intent, accu rate observation which is t he first s tage ofMeditation, the r ight use o f the f irst power of the L ogos. In the YogaSutras o f Patanjali, it is cal led Dharana: the b inding of the p erceivingconsciousness to a certain region. Patanjali adds: When theperceiving consciousness i s w holly given to illuminating the essentialmeaning of the o bject contemplated, and is f reed from the sense o fseparateness and personality, this is Meditation (Samadhi).

Intently noting the life about h im, the lily, the raven , the reaper,the m en praying in the t emple, the M aster brought what he h ad soaccurately observed to the inner, s piritual co nsciousness, t he divineLight of the L ogos, in order to illuminate t he es sential meaning of theobject contemplated.

He s aw the l ily, the r eaper; the m en praying, first as they ap pearedto the natural vision, keen, alert, perfectly focused. He then directedupon their images the divine vision, the highest spiritualConsciousness, to see t heir es sential meaning as i t appears t o the eyesof the F ather.

The at titude o f the M asters mind and heart, in this regard, are b estreveal ed in his words, recorded by the b eloved disciple:Verily, verily, I s ay unto you, the Son can do nothing of

himself, but w hat he seeth the Father do : for what things


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soever the F ather doeth, these al so doeth the S on likewise. For

the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things t hathimself doeth.

If the soul, s eeking light in Meditation, w ill r everently andfaithfully lift t he object of Meditation toward the divine Light of t heLogos, t hat L ight w ill i llumine it, r eveal ing its essential m eaning,because t he L ight is kindled by d ivine L ove. When the disciple, in faibrings his problem to the Master, t he Master so strengthens t hespiritual light o f the disciple that t he disciple can find the solution ofhis problem; not yet fully, not completely; he can not yet see t he l ily asthe M aster sees it, as God sees it; but he can , if he h ave faith and loveand obedience, see en ough for his next step. And that is all he n eeds, inorder to obey.

Let us go back over some of the gr ound we h ave traversed, with theendeavour t o see h ow the M aster perceived the es sential meaning of

the o bject contemplated; how he d iscerned the r eal values of things,the val ues they h ave i n the eyes of the F ather.He w as able t hus to see e ye t o eye w ith the F ather, because h e gave

himself u p to the Fathers w ill, c ompletely, w ithout r eservation, i ndevoted, ardent love, saying, not my w ill, but thine, be d one.

He s aw the l ily o f the f ield sending forth stem and leaf and bud andblossom; though neither spinning nor weaving, yet c lothed moreperfectly in beauty than Solomon in all his gl ory. And he saw the

essential m eaning of t he lily: t he divine Life, t he infinite, cr eativeSpirit, the power o f the Father, flowing into the lily, penetrating it t othe tip of ever y leaf an d petal; and the lily clad in perfect b eauty,becau se o f this divine, inflowing Life.

That, i n itself, would have been a complete perception, aMeditation which had attained its end. He h ad perceived the es sentialmeaning of the l ilys b eauty: the indwelling Life of the F ather. Thepoet who truly perceives an d truly meditates, goes thus far.

But the M aster, though he f inds joy, and deep joy, in the b eauty o fthe lily, t hus seei ng in it t he revelation of t he Fathers l ove, i s y etpreoccupied with another purpose: He s peaks of the b eauty o f the l ily,only as a m eans to his real end.


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This real purpose i s, to reveal the l ove of the F ather to the h earts of

the m en he i s t alking to; to the h earts of h is d isciples, and, throughthem, to the h earts of all mankind, to whom he s ends his disciples, tocarry this m essage. The m ission of the d isciples is, to bring the h eartsof men to the M aster, that he i n turn may b ring t hese w eary h earts tothe Father, establishing in them the Fathers joy, the Fatherskingdom. And because he sees these heartsanxious for the m orrow, sorely an xious regarding f ood and raiment, he

makes available for t hem what he has ob served, and what he hasinwardly understood regarding the l ife o f the l ilies and the r avens.

The r avens neither sow nor reap, they h ave n either storehouse n orbarn; and the Father f eedeth them. The lilies o f t he field, the wildlilies, i ncrease in their beauty; t hey spin not, t hey weave not, yetSolomon in all his glory w as not so arrayed. As the lilies, restflowing life o f the F ather, whereby t hey i ncrease, and form buds, andblossom in beauty, so should we r eceive t he f lowing love o f the F atherin our hearts, that our joy m ay b e f illed; that we m ay en ter into the j oyof the F ather, the j oy of a l ife, infinite an d eternal. And the p urpose o fthe M aster, in putting the l ily before h is d isciples, is t o make t he l ilyreveal the Fathers l ove within their h earts. This i s al ways h is p urpose:he reveals t o his d isciples, t o the multitudes, t o us, t he form andloveliness of h is ow n life, that he m ay thereby reveal to us t he l ove ofthe F ather.

To come bac k to the ot her picture we began with, the c hip and theplank, an impression drawn from the c arpenters shop in Nazareth.

In this p icture, there is k een, precise observation, but t here is al sohumour. We read and hear his words with a feeling of r everence,because o f which, perhaps, this element of humour escapes us. But weought to seek his purpose i n using just this image. That a car penter,hewing a l og of wood into the r egularity of a b eam, might get a f lying

chip in his eye, would be q uite n atural. But ho w could he get the whole log in his eye?Is i t n ot cl ear t hat t he Master i s u sing the expedient o f w ild

exaggeration for a p urpose: to rivet t he at tention of his hearers on the


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image; t o give them a picture, u nforgettable just because it is

supremely l udicrous? The p icture o f a m an walking ab out with a l og i nhis eye, and not knowing it, has, in fact, the el ement of the r idiculousin an almost infinite degree. Once t he mind sees i t, it can never b eforgotten.

Take another image, with exactly the same quality of wildexaggeration: the cam el climbing, with only a s light effort, through theeye o f a n eedle; the cam el being chosen, rather than a h orse o r a n ox,

just because of the humped,

standing matter o f comedy, the last ani mal that can be imaginedperforming a difficult acr obatic feat with ease and grace. Had theMaster spoken of a c amel jumping t hrough a h oop, we should alreadyhave h ad a h umorous, ridiculous i mage; but the ef fect is heightenedalmost to an infinite degree; by substituting for t he h oop the eye of aneedle. M entally form the picture, and it is startling in itsludicrousness.

The pu rpose i s once m ore t o fix on the m emory o f his audience animage unforgettable because it i s so supremely ludicrous. A nd he

wishes thus to fix may n ever forget the m essage w hich he t ies up with the i mage.

To go back to the chi p and the p lank The M aster i s seeking toreveal to his d isciples the obstacles w hich men put i n the w ay of theFathers love; t he barriers t hey build up: i n themselves ag ainst t heFathers love, which the M aster has come t o reveal.

Most potent of these b arriers is self-love, the k ind of self-love whichhe cal ls hypocrisy; the q uality which concentrates and hardens t hefalse self; the nucleus o f ego tism, setting it ag ainst o thers, and at t hesame t ime s etting it against the l ove an d will of the F ather.

He h as expressed the p urpose of his coming i n these w ords:Neither pray I f or these al one, but for t hem also which shall

believe on me t hrough their word; that they al l may b e o ne, asthou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they al so may b e o nein us: that the world may b elieve t hat thou hast sent me. Andthe glory which thou gavest me I h ave given them; that theymay be o ne, even as we a re on e: I in them, and thou in me; thatthey m ay b e m ade p erfect in one.


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What more insuperable barrier to

the h arsh egotism, full of vanity, self-assertion and superiority, whichthe M aster calls hypocrisy?The u se o f the w ord talent i n the M asters parable, like h is use o f

the tribal name, Samaritan, has stamped on these words a newmeaning, which has attained universal currency. The G reek weight ofprecious metal has come t o mean an intellectual or moral power; solelybecause o f its use i n the M asters unforgettable s tory. The n ame o f adespised tribe h as come t o mean a m an of compassionate h eart, for the

same reason. T he Master has re-minted both words, i ndeliblystamping h is hall-mark on them.

So it is with hypocrite. It now carries for u s the m eaning gatheredfrom his repeated use o f it, to indicate-that tendency o f the h umanmind and heart which he f ound to be t he gr eatest barrier, the m ostdangerous obstacle, in the w ay o f what he sought to accomplish: thebringing o f the h earts of men into oneness with his own heart, in orderthat he m ight thereby b ring t hem into oneness with the F athers heart. Just because of the new currand Samaritan, w e are likely to lose something of t heir originalmeaning, as a w eight of metal, an unpopular tribe. So it is with the

words hypocrite and hypocrisover t he h istory of these w ords, to follow their or iginal meaning anddevelopment.

In Homer, the verb from which they come meant to reply, to

answer. In Athens, with its p assionate love of d rama and of t hetheatre, the word came al so to have a m ore t echnical meaning, theanswer of an actor on the s tage; and from this the p assage w as easyenough to the meaning, to play a part on the stage, as when

Aristotle speaks of the m oral application, playing a p art, feigning, pretending, in wordor deed, was easy.

Perhaps we shall ge t b ack something of the words original

vividness, if we t ake A ristotles phrase, playing the p art of the k ing. Is n ot that, after al l, exactly what vanity does, what egotism does, what the false self wi

usurps, and plays t he p art of the k ing, taking, both in perception and


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in action, the i nitiative w hich rightly belongs to the d ivine L ight of the

Logos i n us a nd should rightly flow from the L ogos; because o f thisusurpation, t he false self i s hardened against t he Logos, h ardenedagainst other men, children of the L ogos, hardened against the M aster,against the F ather, whom the M aster came t o reveal.

It was to reveal this situ

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The Logos Doctrine, by Charles Johnston