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An Outline of Theosophy

Charles Webster Leadbeater

1858? - 1934

The Three Great Truths

In one of our earliest Theosophical books it was written that there are three truths which are absolute and cannot be lost, but yet may remain silent for lack of speech. They are as great as life itself, and yet as simple as the simplest mind of man. I can hardly do better than paraphrase these for the greatest of my general principles.

I will then give some corollaries which follow naturally from them, and then, thirdly, some of the more prominent of the advantageous results which

necessarily attend this definite knowledge. Having thus outlined the scheme in tabular form, I will take it up point by point, and endeavour to offer such elementary explanations as come within the scope of this little introductory book.

1. God exists, and He is good. He is the great life-giver who dwells within us and without us, is undying and eternally beneficent. He is not heard,

nor seen, nor touched, yet is perceived by the man who desires perception.

2. Man is immortal, and his future is one whose glory and splendour have no limit.

3. A Divine law of absolute justice rules the world, so that each man is in truth his own judge, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the decreer

of his life, his reward, his punishment.

To each of these great truths are attached certain others, subsidiary and explanatory.

From the first of them it follows:-

1. That, in spite of appearance, all things are definitely and intelligently moving together for good; that all circumstances, however untoward they may seem, are in reality exactly what are needed; that everything around us tends, not to hinder us, but to help us, if it is only understood.

2.That since the whole scheme thus tends to man’s benefit, clearly it is his duty to learn to understand it.

3That when he thus understands it, it is also his duty intelligently to co-operate in this scheme.

From the second great truth it follows:-

1.That the true man is a soul, and that this body is only an appanage.

2.That he must therefore, regard everything from the standpoint of the soul, and that in every case when an internal struggle takes place he must

realise his identity with the higher and not with the lower.

3.That what we commonly call his life is only one day in his true and larger life.

4.That death is a matter of far less importance than is usually supposed, since it is by no means the end of life, but merely the passage from one stage of it to another.

5.That man has an immense evolution behind him, the study of which is most fascinating, interesting and instructive.

6.That he has also a splendid evolution before him, the study of which will be even more fascinating and instructive.

7.That there is an absolute certainty of final attainment for every human soul, no matter how far he may have seemed to have strayed from the path of evolution.

From the third great truth it follows:-

1.That every thought, word, or action produces its definite result – not a reward or a punishment imposed from without, but a result inherent in the action itself, definitely connected with it in the relation of cause and effect, these being really but two inseparable parts of one whole.

2.That it is both the duty and interest of man to study this divine law closely, so that he will be able to adapt himself to it and to use it, as we use other great laws of nature.

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