Five Years of Theosophy | Page 2

or hope, that, immediately on joining, some extraordinary
advantage over the rest of mankind will be conferred upon the
candidate. Some even think that the ultimate result of their initiation
will perhaps be exemption from that dissolution which is called the
common lot of mankind. The traditions of the "Elixir of Life," said to
be in the possession of Kabalists and Alchemists, are still cherished by
students of Medieval Occultism--in Europe. The allegory of the Ab-e
Hyat or Water of Life, is still credited as a fact by the degraded
remnants of the Asiatic esoteric sects ignorant of the real GREAT
SECRET. The "pungent and fiery Essence," by which Zanoni renewed
his existence, still fires the imagination of modern visionaries as a
possible scientific discovery of the future.
Theosophically, though the fact is distinctly declared to be true, the

above-named conceptions of the mode of procedure leading to the
realization of the fact, are known to be false. The reader may or may
not believe it; but as a matter of fact, Theosophical Occultists claim to
have communication with (living) Intelligences possessing an infinitely
wider range of observation than is contemplated even by the loftiest
aspirations of modern science, all the present "Adepts" of Europe and
America--dabblers in the Kabala--notwithstanding. But far even as
those superior Intelligences have investigated (or, if preferred, are
alleged to have investigated), and remotely as they may have searched
by the help of inference and analogy, even They have failed to discover
in the Infinity anything permanent but--SPACE. ALL IS SUBJECT TO
CHANGE. Reflection, therefore, will easily suggest to the reader the
further logical inference that in a Universe which is essentially
impermanent in its conditions, nothing can confer permanency.
Therefore, no possible substance, even if drawn from the depths of
Infinity; no imaginable combination of drugs, whether of our earth or
any other, though compounded by even the Highest Intelligence; no
system of life or discipline though directed by the sternest
determination and skill, could possibly produce Immutability. For in
the universe of solar systems, wherever and however investigated,
Immutability necessitates "Non-Being" in the physical sense given it by
the Theists-Non-Being which is nothing in the narrow conceptions of
Western Religionists--a reductio ad absurdum. This is a gratuitous
insult even when applied to the pseudo-Christian or ecclesiastical
Jehovite idea of God.
Consequently, it will be seen that the common ideal conception of
"Immortality" is not only essentially wrong, but a physical and
metaphysical impossibility. The idea, whether cherished by
Theosophists or non-Theosophists, by Christians or Spiritualists, by
Materialists or Idealists, is a chimerical illusion. But the actual
prolongation of human life is possible for a time so long as to appear
miraculous and incredible to those who regard our span of existence as
necessarily limited to at most a couple of hundred years. We may break,
as it were, the shock of Death, and instead of dying, change a sudden
plunge into darkness to a transition into a brighter light. And this may
be made so gradual that the passage from one state of existence to

another shall have its friction minimized, so as to be practically
imperceptible. This is a very different matter, and quite within the reach
of Occult Science. In this, as in all other cases, means properly directed
will gain their ends, and causes produce effects. Of course, the only
question is, what are these causes, and how, in their turn, are they to be
produced. To lift, as far as may be allowed, the veil from this aspect of
Occultism, is the object of the present paper.
We must premise by reminding the reader of two Theosophic doctrines,
constantly inculcated in "Isis" and in other mystic works--namely, (a)
that ultimately the Kosmos is One--one under infinite variations and
manifestations, and (b) that the so-called man is a "compound being"--
composite not only in the exoteric scientific sense of being a congeries
of living so-called material Units, but also in the esoteric sense of being
a succession of seven forms or parts of itself, interblended with each
other. To put it more clearly we might say that the more ethereal forms
are but duplicates of the same aspect,--each finer one lying within the
inter-atomic spaces of the next grosser. We would have the reader
understand that these are no subtleties, no "spiritualities" at all in the
Christo-Spiritualistic sense. In the actual man reflected in your mirror
are really several men, or several parts of one composite man; each the
exact counterpart of the other, but the "atomic conditions" (for want of
a better word) of each of which are so arranged that its atoms
interpenetrate those of the next "grosser" form. It does not, for our
present purpose, matter how the Theosophists, Spiritualists, Buddhists,
Kabalists, or Vedantists, count, separate, classify, arrange or