Never then look for the matter in one place and progress towards it in another....
What then is progress? ... lo, if a man, in every matter that occurs, works out his principles, as the runner does in reference to running and the trainer of the voice does with reference to the voice—this is the man who truly makes progress, and who has not traveled in vain.
If I were talking to an athlete, I should say, Show me your shoulders. And then he might say, Here are my Halteres. You and your Halteres look to that, I should reply, I wish to see the effect of the Halteres!
That is the point and that is Theosophy.
The burden of this ancient problem of woman's work lies heavy upon the world, unspeakably heavy because so many lesser problems are enfolded within it—the problems of the home, of the protection of childhood, of man's true place in the grand creative scheme, of the much misunderstood and more discussed sex-question, in short, of education in all its phases. To borrow the old Socratic metaphor, myriad other problems hang down from it as from a ring held in suspension by a magnet other rings hang down, chainlike, one depending from the other. To carry such a burden, or even part of it, requires not treatises nor diplomas but shoulders, strong shoulders, strong in a threefold sense, physically, yes, but still more mentally and spiritually.
We women of Lomaland see now why this great public work for women could not have been begun earlier with absolute confidence on the Teacher's part that the heat of noontide endeavor would not cause it to wither and fall away. It would have withered if begun earlier, as women's efforts are withering all over the world today, partly because they are mistaken in themselves, it is true, but mainly because the soil is not there. The workers themselves cannot stand the test. The storms of jealousy and rancor, the hot winds of ambition, the noontide heat of heavy demands, the shallow soil of brain-mind interests and desires which point like a weathercock to a new quarter with every gust of illusion—ay, these are what test the nature.
Thinking it all over, a gratitude wells up within the heart too deep for words to touch—gratitude to the Teacher who has led us along the path with so much patience and love; helping but not putting props under us; heartening and encouraging, but not carrying us along on silver platters; forcing us to put into practice these treatises we have been studying—for Theosophy is the science of soul-strength and it enunciates principles and possesses rules. Lomaland is verily a great School of Philosophy, greater than those of past ages, for here divine principles are actually demonstrated which in the golden days of our historic past were but dreamed of, and the Woman's International Theosophical League is one of its Halls of Learning. Plato and Epictetus, Sappho and Hypatia, would understand.
Gratitude—it is a feeble word, plumb the depths of its meaning though you will. Even the most splendid examples of womanhood that graced the audiences at the various Women's meetings which the Teacher of Theosophy addressed, can realize what is being done and what is going on only to a very limited degree. We in Lomaland do not realize it fully for if we did we would rise to that height of trust and calm that would verily make us like the Teacher; not like her in wisdom, for that is the rare fruit of ages of search and service, and we are but beginners on the Path; but like her in a certain quality of courage and devotion that would makes us ten times in effectiveness the instruments in her hands that we are today.
For the acquirement of soul-strength is the object of this soul's gymnasium, this life, the living out of which in all its fulness of opportunity alone makes it possible for the Teacher to sow the seeds of that tree the leaves of which shall be for the healing of the nations. Here is the keynote, sounded clear amid the resolving harmonies of Katherine Tingley's last address:
Overcome! That is the song the gods would sing to you women and to all the world. Overcome! Learn to overcome and learn to love!