Page:The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism.djvu/504

 CHAPTER XIX. WISDOM IN MAN IS NOBODY'S SERVANT.

Modern materialistic philosophy is a system of theoretical specula- Hon, based upon reasoning from the known to the unknown, drawing illogical deductions from accepted material opinions; but true theosophy is the possession of knowledge obtained by prac:ical experience.

To be a true Philosopher it is necessary to have acute reasoning powers and to calculate possibilities ; to be a true theosophist it is neces- sary to have the power of spiritual perception and to know the things perceived, irrespective of any possibilities, probabilities or accepted opinions.

A speculative Philosopher occupies an objective or material stand- point in regard to the things which he examines; the theosophist finds the character of that thing in himself. There is nothing in the Macrocosm of Nature that is not contained in man, because man and Nature are essentially one, and a man who is conscious of being one with Nature (God) will know everything in Nature if he knows only himself. A Philosopher having no knowledge of self can only speculate about things which he does not see; a practical theosophist, knowing his own self, does not need to speculate, because he knows what he sees and he sees what he knows.

There is a true and a false philosophy. As the froth in new-made wine swims upon the top and hides the true wine below, so there is a froth of sophistry and pseudo-philosophy swimming at the top of true philosophy; it looks like knowledge, but it is the outcome of ignorance, gilded and varnished to deceive the vulgar (materialist).

It is like a parasite growing upon the tree of knowledge, drawing the sap out of the true tree and converting it into poison.

The intellectual working of the brain alone is not sufficient to give birth to a physician; the true physician is not he who has merely heard of the truth, but he who feels the truth, he who .tees it before him as clearly as the light of the sun, he who hears it as he woidd hear the noise of the cataract of Niagara or the roar of the storm upon the ocean, who seeks it and tastes it, it being sweet to him or bitter as gall.

Nature produces diseases and effects their cures, and where then could be found a better teacher than Nature herself? That alone which we see and feel and perceive constitutes true knowledge, not that of which we are merely informed in books and which is not confirmed by experience.

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