IN The Theosophist of Nov., 1882, is printed an address to Madame Blavatsky,
from the fifteen members of the Theosophical Society at
Berhampore, India, wherein occurs the following sentence: “According
to our Hindu teaching, five enemies, residing in every
man, have to be overcome before he can be initiated; viz.,
Lust, Anger, Greed, Ignorance, and Vanity".
This is a remarkably condensed statement of the training
upon which admission to the Mysteries is conditioned. I do
not know that I have seen anywhere a more terse, clear, comprehensive,
and rational summing-up of Theosophic education. There is
far more in it than anyone paper can unfold, and it is only
purposed at present to expand two of the many thoughts therein.
The first is that these five qualities, considered altogether
in themselves and without reference to them when acting
upon other persons than the possessor, have no moral character.
[ It is very doubtful whether these qualities or
vices can be so considered. They either exist under all conditions
and have a moral character, and, therefore have to be reckoned
with by humanity, or they are an illusion and do not exist.
From the view of the "Higher Self", all such things,
however abstract, have a moral bearing, not only upon any
man, per se, but upon others as well, by magnetic
elements of disharmony arising from the presence of the “Five
Enemies", even under the guise of desire only. The author,
in endeavouring to take a wide view of the subject has, at
first, forgotten this fact. (T .P .S.)] “Lust" is
as purely a physical matter as is hunger or thirst, [ The
physical act may be; not so the desire. It is impossible to
divest man of his responsibilities and degrade him to the level
of an animal, which is in the position asserted as regards
the gratification of lust. The author, who at the end shows
himself to be a Theosophist and a Transcendentalist, is here
unconsciously urging a materialistic point which has too often
been put forward as an excuse for the indulgence of vice. (T
.P .S.) ] and the gratification of it,
regarded abstractly, has no more a moral element than has the
consumption of dinner.
The moral element attaches at the moment when someone else
is injured, or when a third person's rights are invaded. “Anger" is
so far from being essentially wrong, that in some of its
forms — indignation, for instance — it may have
very high merit. The man who can look unmoved on cruelty,
perfidy, injustice, or inhumanity is not a philosopher with
an enviable temperament, but a being, whether philosophic
or otherwise, having a defective moral sense, a callous heart,
or an inadequate sympathy. [ The author here
is engaged with the old difficulty of distinguishing between
and separating the "anger" directed against a
wrong act from the anger directed against the doer of that
act. But in either case, “anger" is an "enemy", for
it, and all the other enemies, are emotions directed against
the Harmony of Universal Brotherhood. (T. P.S.)]
For the just punishment of liars and tyrants, [Page
11] for the preservation of the finer sentiments,
for the insistence that men in a community shall respect
the rights of others, for the security of all that is sweet,
and good, and wholesome, and safe in social lire, a swift
check to outrage is most necessary, and this is secured by
nature's linking to the moral sense a moral impulse, adding,
in other words, indignation to disgust. It is, I believe,
a grievous mistake to suppose that Theosophy is flinty-hearted
or mealy-mouthed, that it has not the delicacy to discern
or the vigour to denounce violations of human rights, that
it is indifferent to moral distinctions, careless in the
chastisement of aggression, flabby in moral texture and feeble
in moral nerve. It is sometimes so represented, and extremists
have intimated that there are heights from which all actions
in the plain below are sure to lose
their colour, the good and the bad, the true and the false,
becoming indistinguishable. It would certainly seem strange
for the moral sense to fail in function at the very point
where it had become most acute, and the very suggestion of
such a thing may, perhaps, justify a touch of the indignation
which they deprecate.
There are times, then, when anger is a legitimate feeling,
and the objection to it, from the moral side, arises when
it is excessive in amount, misdirected in expression, and
so a cause of injustice. [ Which, being interpreted,
means that mortal man is wiser than the divine Law of Karma.
(T.P.S.) ]
"Greed", if we understand it as meaning "acquisitiveness,
, is only immoral when it seeks to gain others' property
without fair equivalent. There is nothing wrong in large
fortunes honestly secured. Indeed, the acquisitive instinct
is not only the motive, but even the condition, by which
social advance goes on. Political economy shows that the
first steps in civilization begin in two things, — thrift
in a worker, recognition by others of his right to his gains.
More than this, it shows, too, that the best government is
that which least hinders the citizen in his enterprises and
most protects him in their results. Even the very spread
of Theosophy is made possible by these principles, for, as
one can easily see, it would soon be paralyzed if its members,
together with their means, their books, and their printing
presses, were subjected to the arbitrary will of a civil
despot. Yet, of course, acquisitiveness receives a moral
taint when it passes the boundary of justice, invades the
equal rights of others, and becomes covetous, dishonest,
venal.
"Ignorance" is too negative a quality to have
immediate bearings upon second parties. It is simply the "not
knowing", which is a personal matter, and though there
may be moral issues where it is the consequence of sloth
or wilfulness, it is in itself a mere negation. [ Only
in appearance. Ignorance is the ignorance of Truth. Ignorance
of the relation of man to his "Higher
Self"; of his relation to other men. It is one of
the most potent of the "enemies", for a single-hearted
man would certainly do his duty if he only knew it. INTUITION,
the voice of the Higher Self, is the only guide, and man
has to develop the faculty of hearing that voice, if he would
live the spiritual life and dispel the cloud of ignorance
by which he is surrounded. (T.P.S.) ] [Page
12]
" Vanity” seems to have as its very essence a
claim for the undue admiration of others. But if we leave
others out of the question, it becomes only conceit; and
if conceit is saved of its excess, and reduced to normal
size and function, it becomes merely self-respect. Now self-respect
is a virtue, not a fault, the powerful motive to truthfulness,
honour, and rectitude, the preliminary to respect for fellow-men.
Indeed, the loss of it marks an advanced point on the downward
road. One of its most important missions is the insistence
on individual rights, the withstanding that reckless defiance
of others which so especially flourishes in communities based
on equality, and which can never be checked, there or anywhere,
until each man sees that the maintenance of what is due to
him helps to insure the concession of what is due to all.
In fact, any other policy results in allowing the turbulent,
the pushing, and the selfish to trample on the equal rights
of the more deserving, and thus to give latitude to the very
characters which ought to be suppressed. Yet, here again,
a true quality may become false when in excess, and a self-respect
swollen to conceit will undoubtedly become vicious if it
invades the domain beyond and demands homage from other men
as vanity. [Vanity certainly arises from a false idea
of one's relation to others. Self-respect, if it be true,
is obedience to the dictates of the Higher Self, even without
regard for others; for this depends on a Universal Principle,
and therefore must be in accordance with Harmony and Truth.
(T.P.S.)]
From this analysis we see that the five qualities in every
individual, reduced to their primal form and shut off from
all operation on other individuals, are either purely negative
or actually meritorious. Why, then, one may very well ask,
are they antagonized by Occultism; and why were these Eastern
disciples justified in the assertion that they have to be
overcome before any man can be initiated ? Can there be any
good reason for repressing and excising functions which,
under the above conditions, play a valuable part in social
development and security, and the absence of which would
ultimately reduce society to chaos ?
To these questions there are two answers. The first is that
the sphere of operations contemplated by this discipline
is not general, but, on the contrary, is extremely limited.
Occult Science is not here laying down a maxim in morals,
or a universal rule for human affairs, or an aim to be pursued
in every life, but an element in the training for one specific,
highly differentiated, rarely-sought vocation. [ The
Rules are the Rules of True Life; they enjoin what Humanity
to be true to itself, ought to do. Society and its customs
are shams, and its best efforts and regulations are vitiated
by its false basis and real untruth. Here the author's real
views would be apt to be mistaken, for he seems to recommend
the idea that Truth is only to be followed by a few, and
as a special pursuit, instead of saying that all ought to
follow it, while only few are willing or have the energy
or strength. (T .P .S.)] Modes of life and social
energies, entirely innocent or even laudable, are discarded
in this training, not because they are believed trivial,
or to bear any moral stigma, but merely because they impede
progress on the particular lines the aspirant [Page
13] has preferred. It is precisely here as with
the contestant in athletic sports.
During his preparation for the tests which are to determine
his proficiency, he renounces not a few of his ordinary habits.
His food is restricted in variety and amount, his pleasures
are curtailed in certain directions, his exercises are made
regular and in every way systematic, his whole regimen is
conformed to the rules experience has established. It is
not pretended that these things have any merit in themselves,
or that they contain or exhibit a moral element, still less
that they are a pattern for the world at large. The only
claim is that, for the particular end in view, for the one
sole purpose to which they have any application, they are
the condition of success.
For precisely analogous reasons
are the candidates for initiation subjected to certain discipline
before they are subjected to the trials
which are to decide whether it has been effective. Such candidates
are in an exceptional position. As with the physical, so
with the spiritual athlete. Neither says that bodily pleasure
is sinful, that a business career is unworthy of pursuit,
that his own aim should be that of every fellow-being, but
only that, this aim being the one most attractive to him,
he prefers to part from the habits which are incompatible
with it rather than part from the aim itself. He gives up
that for which he cares less, to gain that for which he cares
more.
This is, indeed, only another case illustrating a universal
law of life. It is impossible to have all things, especially
if opposed. One cannot acquire learning and yet enjoy a repose
fatal to its acquirement; one cannot reach any elevation
without efforts which are always irksome and sometimes painful.
And however innocent, or even meritorious, may be the habits
irreconcilable with any desire, they have to be relinquished
if the desire is to be secured.
This being so, there yet
remains the query why the five qualities we are treating
of require repression. Remembering still that we are now
looking at them in their normal condition, and also as excluded
from any bearing on other parties, the reason seems to be
that they are relatively lower faculties which in the process
of Occult development need
subordination to the higher. We are told that Will is a symbol
of Deity; that it is the very essence of the individual or
Ego; that, seated on its central throne, it must control
all the outlying departments of man's being, having each
within instant and absolute obedience. Hence there can be
no order, no precision, no promptness until its dominion
is secure from all revolt. And as not only the Body, but
the interests rooted in it, and the Mind, with all its faculties
and functions, and the very Soul, rich in emotions and impulses,
are all without that middle chamber of the Will, they must
be brought under its sway and subjected to its rule, till
at last the whole complicated nature obeys the one Sovereign,
moves harmoniously with the one impulse. [Page 14]
It is now easy to see why the five qualities must, at this
stage, be considered as enemies until they are entirely overcome.
Lust, that most potent of all passions, would, by
its perturbations, its memories, its imaginings, paralyze
every effort after meditation or spiritual insight. Anger,
not necessarily excessive, gives, in every grade, a quiver
to the system which disturbs the delicate workings of the
Higher Self. Greed, merely as
acquisitiveness, emphasizes the personality, seeks its honour,
or enrichment, or power, calls the very forces into play
which are most hostile to altruism, elevates the standards
which Occultism avowedly deprecates. Ignorance, even as the
mere negation of knowledge, still more in its wider sense
of incapacity for spiritual vision, unfits at once for any
intelligent effort, any wise exertion.
Vanity, only as self-esteem, is yet a form of self-hood,
and no such form is consonant with a system which breaks
down partition-walls and lets the universal currents flow
without restraint. Unless, therefore, these forces are bridled,
they may run away with the chariot; and unless the reins
are held by a firm hand, they certainly will.
It was said
that there are two answers to the question why the Eastern
disciples were justified in the language they used. The second
appears in that language itself. They assert that the five
enemies have to be overcome. Overcome, you observe;
not extirpated, or annihilated, or even crippled. Indeed,
the word “enemy" implies
this, for civilized people do not butcher or massacre their
enemies, but only subdue them. That is, they first establish
the certainty of their superior power through victory, and
then use it to guide and control the no longer resisting
foe.
Similarly, it would seem, does the (Occult) Esoteric training
treat the inner forces of the man. Under the surface, below
their manifestations, down at their source, they are not
bad. In one of his exquisite essays, “The Soul of Good
in Evil", Frothingham, that master of language, shows
how evil is a perversion, a misapplication, a misdirection
of the essential
good, that at its root there is a truth, distorted into a
lie and an abomination at its far-off appearance. So with
these enemies. The initial force has its uses. We have already
seen some of these, and how they conserve the life of society.
Yet there may be a deeper analysis, easy to the disciplined
insight of the man approaching initiation, who thus can probe
to their essence and take it as one of the treasures he is
to use. Having overcome such forces in even their
least gross manifestations, having made himself their master
and secured himself against revolt, having nothing now to
fear from clamorous passion or insidious selfishness, he
may even draw forth and utilize the inner essence of that
which in a mild form is damaging, and in a coarse form is
disastrous. He has conquered that most difficult of all territories — Self,
and therefore has a right to all of its contents. [Page
15]
So much for the first of the two thoughts to be handled in
this paper. It has been of the five enemies in their somewhat
rarefied state, considered apart from any hearing on other
parties, and as respects their treatment by an advanced student
nearing initiation. They undoubtedly have, however, more
interest to us in their ordinary manifestations, in their
action and re-action around, and as matters with which we,
who are not advanced students, have to deal. It is understood
that all Theosophists, as such, are desirous to progress.
Now if, in a sublimated form, the five enemies are the conquest
which the would-be Initiate has to make, it would seem that,
in their present grosser form, they are the field wherein
the would-be Chela has to strive. It would seem, too, that
the struggle must begin with the grossest form of all. Now,
this is evidently an invasion of the rights of others. Every
time, then, an aspirant perceives an impulse to sensuality,
wrath, selfishness,
thoughtlessness, or self-assertion, which would carry him
across the boundary of his equal privileges with his neighbour,
he is supplied by Nature with an immediate opportunity for
asserting the strength of principle.
You may say, indeed, that respect for others' rights is no
more than what is demanded from any person of proper feeling.
This is true; but it is to be remembered 1st that the number
of such persons is everywhere small; and 2nd , that no man
will be a good Theosophist until he first joins it. It is
in the small details of social life that his membership
is shown. It may seem trivial to say that a man who blocks
the platform of a street-car, or talks during an opera, is
an invader of others' rights, yet such is the fact, and,
it being a fact, we may therefore assert that he is not a
real Theosophist. The principle involved is the same as that
in a large business operation or the policy of an empire,
and the clear-headedness to perceive this and the persistence
in acting on it are part of the initial outfit of him who
is to contend. In truth, until a full recognition of the
rights of others is a permanent, unvarying, inflexible, almost
unconsciously exercised habit to any man, he may have a sentimental
interest in Theosophy, but he is not a Theosophist.
Nor is this, when it has been attained, all. The five enemies,
in their next lesser form of grossness, are not subdued so
long as they rule the man, and not he them. This is the stage
where, though no one else is sacrificed, there is discontent
at the absence of gratification. Now it is not possible to
enjoy equanimity, and hence the condition for much interior
development, so long as either the physical desires or those
of the lower fifth principle cannot be quieted at will. Here
we seem to find the area for the next contest of the mounting
soul. It is not a question of morals, still less of the factitious
moral system society adopts, but rather, generically, of
that self-training undergone by a writer who teaches himself
to compose among talkers, or [Page 16]
by a sickly person who learns to look unmoved upon dainties.
It is a form of abstraction, by which the subject, collecting
his finer faculties, ascends to a height above the coarser
ones in their raging, and orders them to be still while he
attends to his work. When he is able to do this at any time,
and to do it effectually, he would seem to be ready for the
step into the next area — the area referred to by the
Hindu disciples as before initiation, and a slight sketch
of which was attempted in the earlier part of this paper
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