Ideas for a Better World

13. The Meaning and the Use of Pain   Annie Besant [A LECTURE GIVEN AT THE BLAVATSKY LODGE]   THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY Benares and London 1910 ___________   I propose to take for tonight a matter which is full of deep interest, I think, to everyone, as everyone comes in the way of it –… Read More

12. The Dual Aspect of Wisdom   Helena P. Blavatsky   [Lucifer, Vol. VII, No. 37, September 1890, pp. 1-9. Collected Writings, Volume XII-1890]   [The original of this document, handwritten by H.P.B., is held in the Archives of the Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai, India.]   Editor’s Note: The following is a collection of quotations… Read More

  ADDITIONAL TEXTS:   11. THE EXISTENCE OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY   Arnaldo Sisson Filho       The notion of the existence of a Perennial (or Esoteric) Philosophy can be presented, very briefly, from the well-known phrase of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “Everything that rises converges”. In other words, if it is possible for… Read More

10. WHAT THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY DOES FOR US     It must already be obvious to the careful reader how utterly these conceptions of the Perennial Philosophy change the man’s entire view of life when he once becomes fully convinced of them; and the direction of many of these changes, and the reasons on which… Read More

9. MAN’S PAST AND FUTURE     When we have once grasped the fact that man has reached his present position through a long and varied series of lives, a question naturally arises in our minds as to how far we can obtain any information about this earlier evolution, which would obviously be of absorbing… Read More

7. THE WIDER OUTLOOK     A little thought will soon show us what a radical change is introduced into the life of the man who realises that his physical life is nothing but a day at school, and that his physical body is merely a temporary vesture assumed for the purpose of learning through… Read More

6. REINCARNATION     Since the finer movements cannot at first affect the soul, he has to draw round him vestures of grosser matter through which the heavier vibrations can play; and so he takes upon himself successively the mental body, the astral body, and the physical body. This is a birth or incarnation –… Read More

8. DEATH     One of the most important practical results of a thorough comprehension of the truths of the Perennial Philosophy is the entire change which is necessary brings about in our attitude towards death. It is impossible for us to calculate the vast amount of utterly unnecessary sorrow and terror and misery which… Read More

  5. THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN     The astounding practical materialism to which we have been reduced in this country can hardly be more clearly shown than it is by the expressions that we employ in common life. We speak quite ordinarily of man as having a soul, of “saving” our souls, and so… Read More

4. CAUSE AND EFFECT     In previous chapters we have constantly had to take into consideration this mighty law of action and reaction under which every man necessarily receives his just deserts; for without this law the rest of the Divine scheme would be incomprehensible to us. It is well worth our while to… Read More