i88o.] 
Mysticism and Asceticism . 
697 
been repeated in a hundred laboratories, and that these emi- 
nent men have been conscious that such scrutiny would 
follow. Surely, therefore, all who have new truths of any 
kind to bring forward should be prepared to meet this reason- 
able demand, and should be the more careful both as to he 
quantity and quality of their experimental evidence the 
stranger the conclusions which have to be demonstrated 
On the other hand, it must be owned with regret that 
fadts which do not square with established opinions are 
received not with critical scrutiny, not with a philosophical 
suspension of judgment, but with an obstinate and prejudiced 
scepticism ; with the wish and the determination to find 
nothing but jugglery and imposture. Such a spirit is, 
possible, more misleading than the grossest credulity. 
F Anv thoughtful person on taking up Dr. W. s work, 
which differs little in its teachings, from Bulwer-Lytton s 
“ Zanoni ” will above all things wish to know how the 
knowledge and power of the adept are to be obtained ? He 
will ask If the teachings of occult science supplement and 
extend those of open and acknowledged scienc^ these 
spirit and its methods are similar ? The replies to these 
Questions are not satisfactory. We may read the chapter 
How best to become a Theosophist,” not as sceptics or 
scorners but as earnest searchers for truth, yet we shall find 
in the instruaions nothing feasible or tangible. No intellec- 
tual discipline is enjoined ; indeed occult science seems more 
an affair of the will and of the moral faculties than of the 
reason. The course of training prescribed consistsmam y 
in austerities and asceticism,— of which moie anon 1 and 
contemplation rather than speculation. " The adept is sub 
jeaive rather than objeaive in his endeavours. He does 
not seek to sharpen his senses, or to improve ms obseivant 
'•“SltVion Star source “ he learns .0 live under- 
groundf and for this purpose he digs a ^l^tim ^The 
(the gublia) in which he passes most of his time. The 
temperature must be warm and perfectly even, and the 
cavern is entered only by a hole which can be closed with a 
stone Indeed, the essentials of the mode of life are the 
complete exclusion of free air, impenetrable darkness, and 
an unbroken silence. He lies upon a pallet of cotton 
w00 j — something warm and soft— at the bottom of this 
subterrranean cell, and repeats from day to day the mystic 
. I use this term in its true and original sense and not as an apologetic 
synonym for gambling and thieving. 
