The Professor.—“Having delivered yourself of your objection, I trust you feel a little relieved, my friend, but you have not hit the nail on the head, Alec. Study is not overlooked, but on the contrary, our students are learning how to study and the true value of study as the precursor of right action. Thanks to Madam Purple, the study of philosophy is no longer looked upon as the end and aim of life. Theoretical study is good and necessary, but our students realize that Brotherhood is more than a theory, that it is an actual fact to be consciously realized and that they must seek to make Theosophy a living power in their lives.
“You know well the scriptural saying which I will slightly paraphrase, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good works will glorify the higher law and follow it.’ It behooves us to practice Brotherhood as well as to profess it. But it is the things they don’t like that the objectors see but they fail to see that the study which they are crying out for is still pursued though on higher and broader lines than heretofore, become possible by the advance made by the whole Movement. The inner work and the real study have never ceased but have taken on a deeper meaning. Thank the gods, instead of the members seeking to have or to become special gurus and imagining themselves better than others, the whole organization moves along in touch with the life of the world, all striving ever to put into practice that which they preach. The time-honored methods of which you speak were fast becoming time-honored ruts and you ought to thank your stars, that here is an opportunity to get out of the ruts and enter upon a broader field of life and activity as well as of study. And so far as the Play is concerned you seemed to have missed entirely its purpose and the wide influence which can thus be exerted in the world.”
Rev. Alex. Fulsom.—“There may be some good in it no doubt, but there are so many other things that are needed in the world. I certainly think a teacher would have a higher work to do. There are enough philanthropists and elevators of the drama, whereas our philosophy is unique, and surely we ought to carry out the original plans of the Founder.”
The Professor.—“And you assume, I might say, presume, to know what those original plans were, but your conception of them admits of no growth, but only stagnation or the continuing in ruts which so many have formed for themselves through their misconception and limited knowledge of, if not deliberate indifference to those plans.”
I often wondered how it was the Professor did not lose patience completely with the Rev. Alec., always so pessimistic, trying to tear down. But then we all knew that his moods depended on his digestion, and upon that subtle disease—the love of approbation and prominence.
Madam Purple.—“Mr. Fulsom, do, I beg of you, try to rise a little above your pessimistic fears and let a little of the sunshine of hope and trust come into your heart. Students of Theosophy above all others ought to be able to take a larger grasp of the problems of life and perceive that the greatest truths which will ultimately bring the grandest results and happiness to all mankind must necessarily be often at first obscured; that to help the masses we must begin where they can appreciate the work, and so move out gradually along the lines of least resistance. Thus will all those who seek the Light be attracted and helped, whatever their development. Our grand philosophy must be presented in various ways if the many different minds are to be touched, for you well know that all men are not built alike—to use a common expression. Babes need to be fed as well as strong men. For some the teaching must be given in parables and there are some truths that but few can bear to hear. As for the original plan of the work, H. P. B., the great artist, spread the canvas and sketched the outline with a bold hand, then the second Helper put in the colors of the background thus making clearer the design upon the trestle board, but do you think you have been able to see the whole of the grand design and have grasped the harmonious proportions of the noble edifice in all their beauty and grace.”
Then turning her head for a moment with her wonderful smile, Madam Purple continued after a short pause.
“Imagine for one moment that when H. P. B. began her work in the world she could have shown what is now being done, or that it could be shown to you what will be the outcome of her efforts two hundred years hence, would it not be entirely beyond belief, can you even imagine it? There must be a gradual growth and unfoldment suited to the comprehension of the people. How then dare anyone say that the present activities are contrary to the plan of H. P. B. Ah! Mr. Fulsom, is not such a position evidence of retrogression and not of growth?
“But, pardon me, Dr. Wyld, this is somewhat of a digression from the subject of the Greek play which you were discussing. Let us come back in thought to the old Greek Drama. There, at least, the gods wait for us and call to us to rise above this XIXth Century materialism into the realm of the beautiful, the ideal and the true.”
Dr. Wyld.—“An almost unknown land to so many, but I hail with joy the prospects that once more the geography of that celestial country shall form part of the education of the race and lead us further back in the history of humanity into that greater and more ancient land of the pyramids and the silent sphinx.”