Read Occultism, Its Past, Present and Future Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The student of Occultism says, I want to know when the ideal which determined all its future growth was stamped upon that germ. I want to know why, when it reached that point, it became a man instead of a bird; why it drew to itself certain elements and threw off others. I want to know the laws that govern the subjective side of life; I want the veil to be torn away, that I may see the cause of form, and not only its effects. This is why he attempts to study first upon the objective
side of life and then upon the subjective, or to study them contemporaneously.
As materialistic as was the Nineteenth Century, we find that a few men once more began to turn their thoughts toward the realm of the unknown and unseen in order to discover, if possible, the "why" of existence.

And certain scientific men thought it not unreasonable nor undignified to investigate the Occult or to organize The Society for Psychical Research for the purpose of investigating these occult subjects. We have seen the great cult of Spiritualism spreading through the
world and have witnessed the revival of Palmistry and of Astrology and other quasi Occult Sciences.

Then following these, the crowning effort of all, we find that a great psychic wave swept over the world and man began to realize that he was Mind and as such was neither bound by time nor by space, but could send his thoughts in any given direction and could communicate without words with distant minds; and that mind could compel matter to obey it. With the awakening of the world the Occult Sciences have again challenged the attention of the most progressive men of the race.

But man grows tired of externals and life after life as he evolves he studies deeper and deeper into Nature's laws. We do not always accomplish the same amount of study in each life because we think we have not the time for study. We believe we have so much else to do that is of much more importance to us. Then there is the external world with its duties and pleasures and our attention is so deeply engaged with these things that we have no time left for more serious subjects.

But in each life we take up as much of the study of these sciences as we have the time and inclination for, and gradually after many ages have passed we become earnest and devoted students. A knowledge of Occult Law may be gained in two ways, by original research and by teachers.

There are courageous souls who choose to progress along the lines of personal experimentation instead of taking the easier and perhaps the better way of gaining a knowledge of its principles through the aid of teachers. These strong souls often make terrible mistakes and unnecessary sacrifices, for, after leaving the objective plane, they come upon the hidden or subjective side where there are forces and agencies that turn to naught man's thought and efforts unless both be properly
directed. But even when knowledge has been gained through teachers it does not put an end to experimentation; because the teacher explains the law and leaves the pupil to make his own verification after having been taught how it should be done. The knowledge comes, however, as all real knowledge must, by experimentation and by experience.

Who are the teachers? They may be grouped into three great classes, Masters, Adepts and Students. The Masters of Occultism are those who, in a prior period of Cosmic evolution, passed upward through the human stage until they reached the Divine, and became Gods. When a new Cosmic Day commences, and new planets are formed, and men are brought into existence for the purpose of unfolding more and more of the Deity within themselves and enlarging their consciousness as individualized parts of nature, the Masters are they who lead and teach the evolving race. The Adepts are those advanced men of our race who are students of the Masters, while at the same time they are teachers of their less developed brothers. They are men who have perfected themselves along certain lines, but have not reached perfection along all lines. The Students are they who are studying under these Adepts; they are persons who desire to know the truth, and have devoted themselves to the study of these particular sciences.

They hold the same relation to the Adepts as the Adepts hold to the Masters.
There are different grades of Masters because they who finished their evolution upon their system of worlds earlier in the great Cosmic Day are stronger than they who finished later. And so there are grades of Adepts and of Students. We find that there are everywhere grades of intelligence.

In other words, that which Huxley speaks of as a scientific necessity is true, and there are intelligences in this Universe as superior to man as man is superior to a black beetle. Take, for instance, a Patagonian or an Australian Bushman, and contrast him with an Emerson. What a vast gulf separates these two intelligences! Yet both are proceeding upward in their evolutionary career; the one, of course, being in advance of the other.

And it does not require much scientific imagination to conceive that there is an infinite gradation of intelligence because we see such a diversity everywhere. Then it is only logical to suppose that what is true upon the lower plane of our daily experience is also true throughout nature. The Masters and Adepts are the custodians of the Occult Sciences, which are perfected sciences, it is claimed, because they cover all departments of nature, both physical and metaphysical, the objective and the subjective.

Now, all the facts and principles of these sciences must be verified by each person as he progresses along his evolutionary path. I may tell you something that may seem absurd to you; or you may say "that sounds reasonable," and therefore you believe it. I may tell you something else, and you say, "I believe that is true because both the intuitive and rational portions of my nature endorse it." But you do not know whether it is true or not. In the first case you have a disbelief, in the next two cases a belief; but before you have a knowledge, you must verify the truth of
my assertion. And so it is that every student of Occultism must verify each statement of his teacher in order that he may make it a part of his own being - that he may know that it is true; otherwise it would be only a belief, and beliefs do not amount to much, because there are almost as many beliefs and theories as there are individuals.

In this Cosmic Day Occultism commenced when the Masters came upon this planet to teach mankind. The evolution on this planet is divided into a certain number of periods, and we are at the present time in what the Occultists know as the fifth period. In the first and second periods very little was accomplished by man. He was, as it were, in a new world with new sensations and new experiences, and his life was entirely objective, and largely animal. His theater of activity was that continent known to tradition as "The Land of the Gods Mount Muru," "The Imperishable Isles," or what we would prosaically call the "Continent of the North Pole."

During the third period of evolution, man lived upon the continent known as Lemuria - a continent lying in the Pacific Ocean, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Its Northern portion was much in the present location of Australia, the Philippines, and the Islands of the Southern Pacific; all of which constitute the remnants of that continent now sunken beneath the seas. That periods occur in which there is a sinking of certain continents, and a rising of others, is as well known to Physicists
as to Occultists. In Lemuria man passed from his lowest state of animal existence into what we may call a more rational or human state. His development during this time is substantially shown in the history of primitive man. Some of the egos, outstripping the others, succeeded in reaching adeptship along certain lines, but the great mass of the people lived sensuous and sensual lives. There was very little spirituality manifested by the race during this period, and the perversion
of natural laws and forces became marked toward its close.

The most notable event which occurred on that continent, immediately prior to the cataclysm which swept it beneath the waters, was the establishment of colonies in India. The colonists consisted of Masters, the Adepts and the cream of the race. It was these colonists who built the rock temples of Elephanta and the other great temples of India - those temples in which mysticism seems to have had its earlier home; and where, upon their walls, are painted the strange old symbols, in colors, that indicate the history and the growth of man.

Those were the souls who gave to India its riches in literature and philosophy, and established the mighty empires which even tradition has forgotten. But it was the degenerate descendants of these colonists who spread Northward and Westward, and populated first Asia, and later, Europe. After the continent of Lemuria had passed away, then came the fourth period, with man's field of activity in Atlantis.

Read Occultism, Its Past, Present and Future Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4