Boris de Zirkoff – USA
Original Cover of Theosophia*
In the quiet depths of every human soul there is a divine Urge which ever cries out for higher and nobler realizations.
The mystic Light which guides men to greatness shines star-like on the firmament of the human heart, amid the gloom of the outer desolation, and the gloom "Comprehendeth it not."
Whatever the blight of human passions, the despondency of bleak despair, the aggressive universalism of Truth invariably wins the final victory, and while the curtain is rung down upon some dying era, it rises elsewhere upon the ever receding vistas of greater eras to come.
Rushing from one illusion to another, swept by the whirlwind of sensuous life, men and women worship phantasms, then weep over their own blasted lives, while the Pioneers of Peace look on unrecognized, working for the good of the many through the awakened souls of the few. Age succeeds age, century chases century down the crested pathway of cycles, and the procession of the Great Ones winds its way through the maze of existence, mostly unheeded and often unknown.
Through the lurid smoke of human passions, and the frigid blast of negation and unbelief, Lights never-fading throw their golden gleam upon the turbulent waters of human life. Messengers of Good Tidings, Heralds of the Unseen, Servus Servorum Dei - they call one to the other across the echoing halls of Time, passing the flaming Torch to unborn centuries.
Channels of Solar Forces, it is to them we owe the varied impulses which have given rise to the manifestations of the Universal Theosophical Movement - One in nature and essence, though varied in form and aspect.
In this day and age, once again, there is a Global manifestation of the ageless Theosophical Movement at work. Fortunate are those indeed who are born in the present cycle; twice fortunate those who have deserved the inestimable privilege actively to share in the dissemination of Light, the seeding of the fertile ground of human minds with the seeds of Truth.
The great thought-currents of the present era are carrying mankind into a vast open sea. The cycle ushered in by the formation of the modern Theosophical effort, through the chief instrumentality of Helena Blavatsky, acting on the direct instructions of her Teachers, has now gathered momentum and its signposts are practically everywhere.
The most characteristic keynote of this cycle is Universality, and its primary objective is to bring about the birth of Global Consciousness on the part of a sizeable portion of the human race.
Hence every dogmatism, whether religious, scientific, philosophical, or social, is out of time. Hence every intolerance, every incrustation, every unyielding emotional mould, every restrictive discrimination, every barrier to human understanding and goodwill, is so much useless ballast which mankind collectively - and everyone of us individually - must in time cast aside, if we are to rise into the spiritual stratosphere of our potential greatness.
The clarion-call of a Global Culture has been sounded, and the Forces of Light are rallying all those who have heard the call and have discerned its symbolic message. To them will be entrusted the task of building a greater Temple, whose bricks are living human hearts, cemented by bonds of unbreakable solidarity, domed by vaulting aspirations towards the stars.
Challenged by the Light-bearers, the powers which dwell in darkness have been forced into the open everywhere. It is but natural that it be so. The opposing elements of conservatism, separateness and inertia fight a losing battle on the field of the human mind; their days are numbered, hard though the struggle may be.
In the conflict of the present era, standing at the threshold of a new age, it behooves every student of the Ancient Wisdom to re-evaluate his ideas, and to search his soul for hidden purposes and motives. Let him ask himself where his allegiances are in this era of tottering reputations and false credentials; Are they to self-styled leaders, or are they to the Universal Ideals presented by and embodied in every true leader? Are they to man-made Organizations, however grand in objectives, or are they to the Banner of Truth, beyond organizations and forms? Is he a worshiper of books and scriptures, or are his thoughts roaming the infinite spaces of ageless Wisdom, carried by the Wind of the Spirit towards the stars?
If it is the former, he will stumble on the Path leading to the coming era. Caught in the viscosity of tradition, he will be unable to cross the threshold of the Portals of Light. If the latter, his will be the great, wide, open spaces of the future, where a new Sun shines over a regenerated humanity.
Some groups and students, whose zeal outran their wisdom, have attempted from time to time to set themselves up as the sole custodians of the Esoteric Wisdom, and the purest exponents of its mysteries. The unbeatable logic of historic events has invariably disproved their assertions. For the Guardians of Mankind do not work in that way. Their sympathies are universal. Their efforts to help, subservient to the karmic pattern, are limited mainly by the ability of men to respond. They are neither respecters of persons, nor do they countenance selfish ambitions. They have their agents the world over, and seeds of their Wisdom may be found in places least likely, when judged by worldly standards, to contain them.
The Lodge-Force is a leaven at work everywhere. Disciples of the Hierarchy of Compassion are active in every constructive aspect of [5] human life. Some have had a hand in the epoch-making developments of Modern Science; others have sponsored and encouraged the great shift towards world-fraternization taking place today in the consciousness of progressive religious bodies; others yet have leavened certain world-wide social efforts, bringing to pass more humane laws and instituting far-reaching reforms. Some have worked in the slums, others among the so-called "elite" of mankind; still others have registered their powerful thought in the literature of the day; and others yet have presided at times over the disintegration of worn-out vehicles of expression which had fallen prey to organized incrustations and the spirit of self-opinionated separateness.
Irrespective of organizations or groups, the Theosophical Movement in its most universal meaning is in need of men and women with a dynamic Faith, a Faith strong enough to break through the restricting walls of barren intellectualism. It calls for living Brotherhood, versus sublimated metaphysics unrelated to the urgent necessities of the opening era. It is in constant need of that Spiritual Impetuosity which alone can rise over the dangers of mental stagnation and carry the Movement into the vast fields of the future.
The currents of the Lodge Force flow through every open channel in the world and are opening new and better channels as the need for such arises. It is therefore imperative for us to remember that the future of any Theosophical Society lies in its ability to respond to the changing frequencies of a growing age, and that greater than any organized Society is the Theosophical Movement.
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*Theosophy Forward is indebted to Anton Rozman for making this publication possible.