"Life and Death"

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 January 1916, Page 2

"Life and Death"

• THE THEOtiOPHIO IDEA. Mr C. \V. Leadoeater, one of the chief writcis and lecturers of the Theosophists, leceml.) uclivered' at the Town Hall, Auckland, to an audience ol some 1200 person a lecture on "Liie alter DeatJi ; with special reference to those killea 111 tlie war. The lecturer said that there was no subject of .such surpassing interest upon which there are so many misconceptions. Some think that death is the end of everything for man. others think that nothing can be certainly known as to the states which lollow death. Most religious people speak of death as entering into the direct presence of the lieity, yet thej do not sein to regard death with the intense delight which might be i -i.peuledi Ironi such an expression. Only the other day some remarks of a dis tinguished person were quoted in the newspapers, including this phrase: "But for God's mercy 1 should have been m heaven by this time." This expresses what many feel. They hope that alter death they may find themselves in heaven, but tliey do not want it to come too soon. This is because religious beliefs are not held in the same definite way in which scientific facts are believed. That ought hot to be so. There are various w4ys in winch knowledge may be obtained. Such a book as Professor Myer's "Human Personality" gives the life history of a student of these things. In it is .shown how he was iorced from the materialist position by the study of telepathy, mesmerism and psych ometry, and found that there was a higher part of man which could function apart from the physical brain. Then studying apparitions ot the "doublo" during life he found tliat the higher could be separated temporarily from the lower during life and by investigating the cases of apparitions after death he proved to himself that this subtler portion of man survives death and appears to be exactly the same after it as before. That agrees exactly with Theosophic teaching. it is possible to obtain knowledge in the same way ns scientific knowledge is obtained, namely by observation and experiment continually "repeated and verified!, but to do this the senses ot tlie spiritual body must be developed l>v years of hard work, by self-control and self-denial.

St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians speaks of the natural body and the spiritual body. Theosophists subdivide the spiritual body for the purposes of study and speak of the astral body, the mental body, and so on, in accordance with the special functions of each. The spiritual body is not the man himself—the life, the consciousness—but it is a vesture finer than the physical, a body possessed by everyone while alive just as much as after death, but while the consciousness is focused in the physical brain, man is usually unconscious of it. It is possible by long practice for a man to use the faculties of his spiritual body while alive and; by this means to mcike investigation personally and directly outside of the ordinary physical senses. When he is able to use Ihe spiritual body .he is able to stand •-ide Dy side with those whom we call "the dead," and to exchange thoughts' freely with them, for they are using the spiritual "botfly" also. It is open to everyone to do this who will give io it the necessary energy, patience and devotion. What do these facullies show? They show that the laying aside of 'the physical body makes no more difference than taking off a coat. That may alter the outward apepanance. but it does not affect a man's sense of identity. So the change which death makes to a man may be easily detfiuced rrom his cliarroter and tvj>o during life. He does not suddenly become an angel or a devil. He does not suddenly gain greater knowledge. Whatever were his likes and dislikes he has them still What ever his intellectual position ho still lias that position. He does not find himself in a condition of wonderful lightness and well-being. He needs no food, clothing or shelter; ho is beyond fatigue and physical pain, lor all these things pertain to the physical body 'which he - lias cast off. He may still suffer in his feelings and his thoughts, but here again is another misconception. There is no reward or punishment. He is always living in a world of law and of divinely perfect -justice and he gets exactly what lie had made for himself. When the physical vehicle is laid aside, the man. if ho be at all a wise man, begins t-o see that many tilings which down here seemed of enormous importance, are in reality not important. The desire for money, place or power belonged to the lower vehicle andi the real man bins no need of them. He sees that the body was a temporary vestment and was used for the purposes of the soul, the real man. He lived on earth, because there is certain progress and development which can be made by the soul only while it has a dense physical bodv. Theentire life is merely ail cpisodle undertaken by the soul for its own purposes. If a man lias lived, as so many do live, exclusively for the physical plane, totally immersed in business or perhaps in social amenities, when he dies there seems tn nothing left him. Hut if lie has had intellectual or artistic interests, he finds that lie has not lost by any means the nigst important part of his life. If he is devoted to science or philosophy or if he has n true religious devotion, he finds himself in a better position than over for pursuing these lines 01 study, if a man has allowedl himself to havo feelings of jealousy, anger, hatred, he will have the suffering which is attendant upon such feelings though physical suffering exists noTßore for him. An extreme case which is easy to follow will he that of a drunkard. The desire is located in the astral body but it is only in the physical body that he can drink and satisfy it. After dropping the physical body thereFore the desire is as overmastering as. before, but he cannot satisfy it: ho is burned, by the flame ot desire. It is a very real hell but it is not a material hell, nor is it eternal. Finite causes bring finite results and when in time the evil is worn out. all that was good in him has its commensurate flowering of happiness, ami thus he learns and grows. The dead do not see or know our physical life. They see that part of us which cor responds to the vehicle they are wearing. They see our spiritual bodies and that means that they can see our feelings and many of our thoughts. Hence the 'dead' sometimes suffer greatly when men audi women bitterly grieve for them. One who has the use of the spiritual body will again and again see the most pathetic scenes. He will see the mother weeping for her child and the eh del close beside her trying to make her understand "Don't vou see I am hero; don't you see I inn alive." Wo should not mourn our dead, but should help them by loving thouirlits and' good wishes. Death in battle is often so sudden that a man dees uol realize what, lias happened. Again and again we havo sren a man try to pick up his rifle. He finds that lie enrOiot do so. He tries to draw the attention of his comrades .but they cannot -hear. It may be some time before ho understands hut there is no sort of suffering. Be-