IX. PHILOSOPHY AND THEOSOPHY 



Modern philosophy is a system of theoretical specula- 

 tion, based upon reasoning from that which is believed 

 to be true to the unknown, drawing logical deductions 

 from accepted opinions and establishing new theories ; 

 but theosophy is the possession of spiritual knowledge 

 obtained by practical experience. To be a philosopher 

 it is necessary to have acute reasoning powers, and to 

 calculate possibilities and probabilities; to be a true 

 theosophist it is necessary to have the power of spiritual 

 perception and to know the things perceived, irrespective 

 of any possibilities, probabilities, or accepted opinions. 

 A speculative philosopher occupies an objective stand- 

 point in regard to the thing which he examines ; the 

 theosophist finds the character of that thing in himself. 

 There is nothing in the Macrocosm of Nature that is not 

 contained in man, because man and Nature are essen- 

 tially one, and a man who is conscious of being one with 

 Nature will know everything in Nature if he knows only 

 himself. A philosopher having no knowledge of his 

 own spirit can only speculate about things which he 

 does not see ; a practical theosophist, knowing his own 

 spiritual state, does not need to speculate, because he sees 

 the spirit of things and knows what he sees. Philosophy 

 is the love of wisdom and the speculation thereon ; theo- 

 sophy is nothing more nor less than the clear under- 

 standing itself. 



" There is a true and a false philosophy. As the 

 froth in new-made wine swims upon the top and hides 

 the true wine below, likewise there is a froth of sophistry 



and pseudo-philosophy swimming at the top of true 



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