By Lois J. Brisbois

Years ago, when I was teaching a group of students who required special intervention to reach their learning potential, a twelve year old student asked me one morning, “Do you know that when the planets move around the sun they make a most beautiful music? “ I replied that the music was called ‘the music of the spheres.’ He then went on to tell me, “there is no music on earth as beautiful as this music”. We had a little talk about my belief that our most famous musicians could probably hear this beautiful music and attempted to bring it into the world for our enjoyment.

The boy in question had been diagnosed with learning disabilities, and had Tourette’s syndrome as well as obsessive compulsive disorder. School presented daily challenges for him. Until he shared with me his thoughts on music he had never played a musical instrument. Within a few months he was playing lovely pieces at school assemblies. His spirit had attuned to a higher reality and it was being set free.

Many people have realized that music is a great gift to all of us. Following are some quotes that will demonstrate the power of music:

“If I was not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” Albert Einstein

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” Plato

“Music is the universal language
of mankind.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“There is no truer truth obtainable by man than comes of music.” Robert Browning

“…man is a musical being. His origin is in the spoken word. By sound was he sustained and by music he endured. One day he would recognize music as a vital factor in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual evolution of the whole human race.” Corinne Helene (1882-1975)

“There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st but in his motion like an angel sings.” William Shakespeare

“Each celestial body, in fact, each and every atom, produces a particular sound on account of its movement, its rhythm or vibration. All these sounds and vibrations form a universal harmony in which each element, while having its own function and character, contributes to the whole.”

– Pythagoras

I think my young student happened upon a truth that the above mentioned great thinkers also discovered. For those who would like to further explore these ideas on music, here are some suggested readings:

“Divine Harmony” subtitle ‘The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras’ by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook

“Music, the Keynote of Human Evolution” by Corinne Heline

“The Cosmic Octave” subtitled ‘Origins of Harmony’ by Hans Cousto

“Sacred Geometry” by Robert Lawler

By P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D., review by Lois J. Brisbois

In all of my adult life, my work has been with children, in Public, Catholic and Private Schools and most recently, in Centres for children diagnosed with learning disabilities. This has afforded me many unique opportunities to observe how children have changed over the past fifty years. For me there is no doubt that new waves of more aware children are appearing on the earth plane.

This summer I found a book, CHILDREN OF THE FIFTH WORLD,  that confirmed so many of my own observations, and vastly expanded my perceptions. While reading it, my overwhelming thought was that every person interested in humanity needs to read this book – parents, teachers, counselors, police, and anyone who deals with children and youth, including their grandparents. People who are asking the age old questions, why am I here, who am I, what is life all about, will be fascinated by the truths and often shocking statistics in this book.

The author, P.M.H. Atwater, is a well-known researcher of near death experiences, prayer chaplain, spiritual counsellor and visionary. She has authored fifteen books, including Beyond the Indigo Children, The Big Book of Near Death Experiences, Future Memory, and others.

In her Preface, Atwater states the following:

“The subject of our newer generations and our changing world snuck up on me. For the past thirty three years I have been busily pursuing a deeper and clearer understanding of the near death phenomenon, what it is, how it affects the people who experience it, and the changes that result – in both adults and children. I have written ten books on my findings”. She further states that she quickly noticed in her work a similarity in altered behaviors and character traits between children who were near death experiencers and kids who were naturally born with the same distinctive patterning. She began to wonder why near death kids were so much like our newest generation of children, especially those born since around 1982. Her book, THE NEW CHILDREN AND NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES was her initial attempt to find links between the behavior differences she kept seeing and the possibility of evolution, that the human race was changing as a species right under our noses. This was happening globally, and she knew it was important.

In the book here under consideration, Atwater’s intention is to “cut to the chase, and tackle the fuller story of what is happening to our children, our species, our world.” She feels that “it is absolutely necessary that we look at the whole picture, not just the parts we prefer.”

Atwater respects all forms of information, but considers of value only that information that can be verified and tested through multiple sources over time. Her investigative techniques are those used by the police. Raised as a policeman’s child, she early learned the value of fieldwork.

Atwater succeeds in her intentions with this book. It is available in bookstores and online.

By Eusebio Urban

There are some members of the Theosophical Society who expose themselves to the charge of indulging in hypocrisy or being ignorant about their own failings and shortcomings. They are those who, having studied the literature of the movement and accepted most of its doctrines, then talk either to fellow- members or to outsiders as if the goal of renunciation and universal knowledge had been reached in there case, when a very slight observation reveals them as quite ordinary human beings.

If one accepts the doctrine of Universal Brotherhood, which is based on the essential unity of all human beings, there is a long distance yet intervening between that acceptation and its realization, even in those who have adopted the doctrine. It is just the difference between intellectual assent to a moral, philosophical, or occult law, and its perfect development in ones being so that it has become an actual part of ourselves. So when we hear a Theosophist say that he could see his children, wife, or parents die and not feel anything whatever, we must infer that there is a hypocritical pretension or very great ignorance. There is one other conclusion left, which is that we have before us a monster who is incapable of any feeling whatever, selfishness being over- dominant.

The doctrines of Theosophy do not ask for nor lead to the cutting out of the human heart of every human feeling. Indeed, that is an impossibility, one would think, seeing that the feelings are an integral part of the constitution of man, for in the principle called Karma- the desires and feelings- we have the basis of all our emotions, and if it is prematurely cut out of any being death or worse must result. It is very true that theosophy as well as all ethical systems demands that the being who has conscience and will, such as are found in man, shall control this principle of Karma and not be carried away by it nor be under its sway. This is self-control, mastery of the human body, steadiness in the face of affliction, but it is not extirpation of the feelings, which one has to control. If any theosophical book deals with this subject it is the Bhagavad Gita, and in that Krishna is constantly engaging in enforcing the doctrine that all emotions are to be controlled, that one is not to grieve over the inevitable- such as death, nor to be unduly elated at success, nor to be cast down by failure, but to maintain an equal mind in every event, whatever it may be, satisfied and assured that the qualities move in the body in their own sphere. In no place does he say that we are to attempt the impossible task of cutting out the inner man an integral part of himself.

But, unlike most other systems of ethics, theosophy is scientific as well, and this science is not attained just when one approaching it for the first time in this incarnation hears of and intellectually agrees to these high doctrines. For one cannot pretend to have reached the perfection and detachment from human affairs involved in the pretentious statement referred to, when even as the words are uttered the hearer perceives remaining in the speaker all the peculiarities of family, not to speak of those pertaining to nation, including education, and to the race in which he was born. And this scientific part of theosophy, beginning and ending with universal brotherhood, insists upon such an intense and ever-present thought upon the subject, coupled with a constant watch overall faults of mind and speech, that in time an actual change is produced in the material person, as well as in the immaterial one within who is the mediator or way between the purely corporal lower man and his Higher divine self. This change, it is very obvious, cannot come out at once nor in the course of years of effort.

The change of pretension and ignorance is more grave still in the case of those theosophists guilty of the fault, who happen to believe – as so many do – that even in those disciples whose duties in the word are nil from the very beginning, and who have devoted themselves to self- renunciation and self- study so long that they are immeasurably beyond the members of our Society, the defects due to family, tribal, and national inheritance are now and then observable. It seems to be time then that no theosophist shall ever be guilty of masking pretension to any one that he or she has attained to the high place, which now and then some assume to have reached. Much better is it to be conscious of our defects and weaknesses, always ready to acknowledge the truth that, being human, we are not able to always or quickly reach the goal of effort.                              

Eusebio Urban – Path, December 1891

By S.Treloar

The bronze nameplate “Toronto Theosophical Society” that once adorned the entrance of the T.T.S.’s old headquarters at 52 Isabella St., has been found.

About a year ago I was attending a regular meeting of the district York Rite Masonic Lodge in Perry Sound, Ontario. In some discussion I mentioned Mme. H.P.Blavatsky’s name. After the meeting a member, Mr. James Cumberland, owner of a bookstore in Bracebridge, asked me if I knew of the Theosophical Society. I replied that indeed I did, and advised him of the various positions I have held over the years (64 years now), including currently being a director. He then stated that he had a Theosophical plaque and did I want it, I replied that I did and would get it retuned to the T.T.S. if they wanted it. Eventually I got the plaque. I requested of our President if she would convey the plaque to Toronto, as to the plaques history, it would appear that a T.T.S. member took this bronze door sign from the Isabella St. building before it was wrecked to make way for a high-rise apartment building. Said T.T.S. member eventually died and the bronze plaque was meaningless to the heirs, and so was sold to an antique dealer. About 20 years ago, Mr. Cumberland attended an antique dealers show in some big Centre in Toronto, spotted the T.T.S. plaque and purchased it. He has an interest in Theosophy and has read a number of TS books, including H.P.B.’s “Secret Doctrine”. He had the plaque displayed in his house for some years, and then they eventually tired of it, retired it to a storage shed on his property. When he found out about my Theosophical connection, he offered it to me. Our President, Lois Bribois, has a cottage on a lake about a half hour’s drive from my house. On Thanksgiving weekend she came to my place and picked up the plaque. I presume that now it has been returned home to the Toronto Lodge.     

The Theosophical Society in Canada has now fulfilled its plan to dedicate a row of seats at The Royal Conservatory of Music (Koerner Hall), in memory of Dr. David Gardner, our past President.

Last Spring, Board members and David’s brother and sister were invited to a special event at Koerner Hall, at which time we had the opportunity to select the row of seats that would be dedicated. Row G was chosen and we were able to enjoy the evening’s musical presentation from the middle of that row. We agreed that our seats were possibly the best in the house. Koerner Hall is Toronto’s acoustically superb 1135 seat covert hall and offers an unparalleled experience for live music or corporate presentations.

On October 24, a group of six of us were able to attend a complimentary Concert featuring Conductor, Tito Muñoz and violinist Emily Kruspe. We heard Bela Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, and Dimitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E. minor. The performances were mesmerizing. At this event we were very pleased to see the installed plaques at both ends of the dedicated row.

Attending this event were myself, our Treasurer, Bohdan Wysochanskyj, David’s brother, Rev. Philip Gardner, his sister, Linda Kapoor, with her two sons,
Dr. Andrew Kapoor and Christopher Kapoor, who is currently home on vacation from Brazil. Christopher attended the Glen Gould School and played in the Royal Conservatory Orchestra when he lived in Canada.

Over the past, year our Society has been transitioning to the new Not for Profit Act, as required by Corporations Canada. We are a designated Charitable organization, and, as such, we will probably find other worthy organizations to collaborate with in the future.

We held our Annual General Meeting on October 25, and we thank the Toronto Theosophical Society for the use of their premises. The space has recently undergone a major interior renovation and is now lighter and brighter. After the AGM it has always been our custom to invite all attendees to a local restaurant for dinner. This provides all of us the opportunity to share ideas in an informal setting.

We decided at the AGM to continue gathering  the needed information for a possible web presence for our Society. We have identified an individual who may be able to assist is in the development of our own website. Please be sure to complete the related questionnaire, included in this issue. We always welcome the ideas and suggestions of you, our members.

By Lois J. Brisbois

Over the past 15 years, I was fortunate to find and have as a teacher and mentor, Dr. Eugene E. Whitworth of San Francisco. He was the founder, in 1957, of Great Western University and its counterpart, Great Western Brotherhood School of Sacred Studies. The goal of the University was to make studies in religion, metaphysics, philosophy, meditation and communication, available and affordable to any and all seekers. In his role as leader of GWU he undertook a number of journeys around the world to explore ancient cultures and primitive religious practices. One such journey stretched from the Lacadon Tribal group, in the jungles of Mexico, to India and to the Himalayas. He lectured and counseled worldwide, spreading the significance of the universality of religious thought to help bring about world peace. His sense of humour, exemplary lifestyle, and essential philosophy earned him the love, honour and respect of thousands domestically and abroad.

My first introduction to Dr. Whitworth’s many writings was the book “Nine Faces of Christ – Quest of the True Initiate”. Dr. Whitworth states that the book practically wrote itself and was completed in just 60 days. This book deals with the secret and true religion behind all religions, and with the preparation and initiation of the candidate into many secret and sacred metaphysical studies – from the Mysteries of the Magi to the ancient Egyptian training for the God-King. Here are disclosed Initiate Truths such as those the Greek Philosopher Plato dared not disclose , because he was under sacred oath not to do so. It deals with the inspired and relentless search for the True Religion, the unveiling of religious Truth long held so secret that one risked life itself to find that truth.

As you read this compelling book. You find that the central character is the Eternal Initiate, the great candidate of all religions. You become so emotionally involved with this character, Joseph bar Joseph or Jeshuau –Jeshua,  that, as he approaches initiation after initiation in his preparation for the Final Effort on the Cross, you feel that you are there. You will certainly see yourself in the eternal candidate.

About ten years ago, approaching 90 years of age, Dr. Whitworth and his wife, Dr. Ruth Whitworth, undertook a world trip to visit all the places mentioned in “Nine Faces of Christ”. Many verifications were made, the last in old Druid territory.

Note: “Nine Faces of Christ” has recently been reprinted and is available at Amazon.com and other bookstores.

By Rodman R. Clayson

Grand Master’s Message from 1959

The contemplative attitude involves the practice of meditation. The most comprehensive definition of contemplation is that it is a process of orderly reflection upon what we have done, what we propose to do, and what it all means in the larger framework of our highest values and basic responsibilities. Contemplation is the interrelation of thought. Contemplation helps to reveal life underlying meaning and purpose; it includes desire, which is often expressed in the form of petition, but petition- the effort to get inspiration that will be helpful- while a part of meditation, is only an incidental part of the whole process. Meditation, contemplation, petition, thanksgiving, each represents an attitude of mind and spirit essential to a sound mystical life. Each one of these parts is important to all the others. Taken together, they add up to the fullness of life, a life of profound and thoughtful reflection.

We must empty our minds of the idea that contemplation depends upon the use of particular words and phrases drawn from the archaic languages of the past. We need not think in terms of thou, thee, and thy. It does not matter that your petition should imitate neither the stately language of ancient times nor attitudes of body such as kneeling, closing the eyes, or bowing the head. These would not have any significance except as they aid in the concentration of the mind. Concentration essentially is a mental and emotional discipline, a training of the mind and will, a focusing of the consciousness. Contemplation does not depend upon words and gestures, but upon the sincerity and integrity, and patience with which we undertake to live an active and orderly mystical life, in which we frequently reflect upon the meaning of our action. Thanksgiving, which everyone experiences or should experience, has to do not only with a form of gratitude toward specific persons for specific gifts and benefits, but that more general gratitude that moves a man simply to appreciate and enjoy the world and the wonder of life and the variety of possibilities and challenges that fill it. Contemplation, like prayer, traditionally involves giving praise and expressing thankfulness. Sometimes that thankfulness is simply man’s spontaneous rejoicing in the fact of his own life and the lives of others in the world of nature, in the wonder and beauty of being alive. Everyone, to a more or less degree, partakes of the experience of contemplation. Everyone knows something of self-examination. It is necessary for man to examine his life, to make searching and thoughtful judgment, to measure his words and acts by the standard of necessity and excellence. Often he needs help in this process-cosmic help.

Self-examination more or less goes on continuously in our hearts and minds. It is a necessity of self-knowledge and self-understanding. Socrates said, “Unexamined life is not worth living.” We must examine ourselves to find out who we really are, what we mean, and what we most truly want to be in this process we must strip away the many self-deceptions and evasions which we all practice. In our self- examination we should try to get outside ourselves so we can see ourselves as we truly are. We put aside the flattery or the condemnation, which the world accords to that part of us which the world, can see. We disengage ourselves from the illusions and poses, which make up so large a part of our daily active life. We try to dig deep into the impressions, which we make on others, the picture of ourselves, which we would like the world to see, and find out what we are really worth. If we are faithful and patient, a new picture of ourselves begins to emerge. We accept our limitations; we admit that perhaps we are not as good as we wish people to think we are nor indeed as good in our hearts as we truly want to be. There must be self- acceptance. We must not delude ourselves.

In contemplation you go into the quiet of your inner self, search your heart and mind in an effort to win inner wholesomeness, integrity, and self- knowledge. Honest self-examination is necessary. It is the effort to think things imaginatively and sensitively until we know what we ought to do and be or at least until we can see what the next step is. A good deal of what is loosely called contemplation and meditation today is not much more than idle day dreaming, directed thought requires concentration, and when we associated with contemplation is a sober effort to clarify the main purposes and meaning of life. This requires a high degree of concentration and persistence. It involves the effort to increase wisdom through imagination. We are growing toward a deeper understanding. We discipline ourselves and refine our desires until those, which we presume to contemplate on, are the very best that we have. Even those desires must be offered with the full realization that in the light of wisdom greater than ours and more perfect than any we know, they may not be possible, or even good. It is probably fortunate that some of our desires for which we petitioned most earnestly were never realized. In the simple direct expression of our best desires and for ourselves and for others, and for the world, we are not challenging God and the Cosmic to interrupt natural order and break down natural law in our own behalf; rather we are seeking to understand that order more truly and find our place and responsibility within it.

Contemplation is a meditation mood in which we reflect, ponder, analyze, consider and express our feelings, thoughts, desires, and concerns. In true mystical meditation, we simply endeavor to open ourselves and be receptive. We do not dwell on the problems and failures of life. We dwell on that which is beautiful and inspiring, that which invites infinite impressions. This is perhaps the most difficult thing to do because it is our habit to be very active, and silence and solitude do not produce a condition to which we are normally attracted. All of us from time to time need to step aside from the world and its concerns, to be still and know, to receive rather than to give, to be inwardly renewed and reassured. There are depths in the inner self beneath all words, ideas, and activities. In meditation you quietly and reverently withdraw to the inner self.

The meditative silence is a familiar thing to mystics, poets, artists, and deep thinkers. Out of it have come some of their most creative insights, the necessary strength for the task to be done, the capacity to love and to serve and to care deeply. Many busy people have learned to make little islands of quiet meditation in the midst of their day, so there will be time for them to collect themselves and bring to their most important decisions the perspective of deep and quiet mind. The mystic finds his inner life enriched and strengthened by contact with the inner self.

(To be continued)

H. P. Blavatsky

Will is the exclusive possession of man on this our plane of consciousness. It divides him or her from the brute in whom instinctive desire only is active.

Desire, in its wildest application, is the one creative force in the Universe. In this sense it is indistinguishable from Will; but we never know desire under this form while we remain only men. Therefore Will and Desire are here considered as opposed.

Thus Will is the offspring of the Divine, the God in man; Desire the motive power of the animal life.

Most men live in and by desire, mistaking it for will. But who would achieve must separate will from desire, and make his or her will the ruler; for desire is unstable and ever changing, while will is steady and constant.

Both will and desire are absolute creators, forming the man himself and his surroundings. But will creates intelligently- desire blindly and unconsciously.

The man, therefore, makes himself in the image of his desires, unless he creates himself in the likeness of the Divine, through his will, the child of the light.

His or her task is twofold: to awaken the will, to strengthen it by use and conquest, to make it absolute ruler within his or her body; and, parallel with this, to purify desire.

Knowledge and will are the tools for the accomplishment of this purification.

“WILL and DESIRE are the higher and lower aspects of one and the same thing”

H. P. Blavatsky in Lucifer first published this article for October 1887 

By Bohdan

Let us face the East

So we may greet the day

As the sun comes up to lift our spirits

Our hearts and soul rejoice

Once more we can thank our Loving God

Who has given us another day

To enjoy all of his creation

Oh what joy, our world might bring

And in the morning the birds will sing

Pristine waters and good clean air

Will vitalize our bodies

As we prepare for another day

And when night falls its not the end

For it is then when prayer is sent

Thanking God for a lovely day

And as we sleep throughout the night

The Lord does keep us in his fold

Preparing us for another

Glorious and beautiful day to behold

I thank you lord with all my heart

For letting me see another day

By Bohdan

The wind has brought dark clouds

From across the mountains

To settle in the valley

Where mankind did dwell

The fires alone could not lighten

The darkness that dwelled in man’s ignorance

For man had groped through a forest so thick

That sunlight could not penetrate

In his despair man awoke to his heart

And a glimmer of light shone upon his being

For now he began to question his existence ,

His actions and thoughts

A love profound had awoke in man’s mind

His desire to know

And the thirst to feel love

Because the turning point in man’s hope

For the truth that was always there

A gentle breeze came  out from the East

And it pushed the dark clouds away

And lo and behold

Man stood in a world

That lifted his spirits so high

The darkness had gone

The flame in man’s heart

Had shone far and bright

For now his conscience

Had become the seeker of the light