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Preface to the Second (Revised) Edition
(p.
i)
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
__________________________
"Make me to know the way wherein I should
walk: for to Thee have I lifted up my soul. (...)
"Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the right
land." (Psalm
143:8-10)
"I will give thee understanding, and will
instruct thee in the way wherein thou shalt
go." (Psalm
32:9)
"He that walketh
in a perfect way, he shall serve Me." (Psalm 101:6)
"Be ye therefore perfect." (Matt. 5:48)
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
whence cometh my help." (Psalm 121:1)
THE nine
lectures which constituted the First Edition of this book were delivered by Anna
Kingsford and Edward Maitland before a private audience, in the months of May,
June, and July 1881: and were, in the following winter, published anonymously
under the title of The
(p.
ii)
while yet in
the body." (1) With such solution, these Lectures teach that "God is in the
generation of the righteous"; (2) and they represent, as the full
title of the book denotes, the doctrine that by "Christ" is designated neither a
person merely historical nor one supernatural: but the type of the highest
possibilities of humanity, the summit of the ladder of evolution where "the
manhood" is taken "unto God," and man melts into, blends with, and becomes one
with Divinity, and "God and Man is one Christ": (3) for the product of the union of
the Divine Will in action (or Holy Ghost) and the Pure Soul in man (or Virgin
Mary) is Christ, the God-Man and our Lord, (4) the attainment of the
Divine Union, which alone constitutes perfection, being open to all persons. And
it represents this supreme point of perfection as attainable through, and only
through, the following of a perfect ideal of life in all things appertaining to
Man in each department of his fourfold nature, namely, in body, mind, soul, and
spirit. This great truth is symbolised
by the Catholic Church in the Mass, when, at the offering up of the Bread and
Wine, the Priest mixes a little Water (representing the Soul
or Humanity) with the Wine (representing Spirit or Divinity) in the Chalice, the
Water having been previously sanctified
(p.
iii)
and so made worthy
to be taken up and lost in the substance of the Wine about to be consecrated;
the Priest at the same time praying on behalf of himself and of the congregation
that by the mystery represented or symbolised
by this Water and Wine they may be made partakers of the Divinity of Jesus
Christ who vouchsafed to become partaker of our Humanity. (1)
“The
term 'Christ' has from the world's spiritual beginning denoted a definite and
positive system of thought, which system alone interprets the nature of Being,
making Christianity, properly understood, a philosophy and a science, as well as
a religion and a morality, whose appeal is to the mind no less than to the
feelings." For this reason, said Edward Maitland, "I feel sure that when the
Christ is rightly 'lifted up' and expounded, the name will be hailed by all who
are capable of thought as well as of feeling, and this all the more because
hitherto it has been so grossly perverted and abused. Men will be eager to make
amends for the misconduct of the Churches. For the world has
passed beyond the stage at which an appeal to the emotions is sufficient to
kindle enthusiasm. The evolution of its intellect has brought it to the
stage wherein the whole humanity, of mind as well as heart, must be satisfied,
and faith and love must be based on knowledge and understanding." (2)
(p.
iv)
The
Perfect Way was "designed to exhibit the process of the
interior perfectionment of the individual – the process, that is, whereby
'Christ' becomes 'Christ' – and thereby to interpret the Christ: it did not come
within the scope of this book to elaborate the various practical
applications
of its doctrine, if only for the reason that, when once the spirit of the man is
perfected, conduct will order itself accordingly." (1) Two practical
applications, however, are emphasised, namely, as
regards Vegetarianism and Vivisection. "The former is insisted on as essential
to the full apprehension and realisation of the ideal
implied by the term 'Christ' – among other reasons for its sensitising influence on the higher planes of the
consciousness: and the latter is unsparingly denounced as constituting a total
repudiation of that ideal by its suppression of the higher self in favour of the lower as the rule of conduct." (2)
For –
“There is a path
which no bird of prey knoweth,
And
which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
The lion's whelps
have not trodden it,
Nor the fierce lion
passed by it." (3)
and
"They are miserably deceived who expect eternal life, and restrain not their
hands from blood and death." (4)
"That
which The Perfect Way represents is in no sense a compilation, a
selection, or an innovation, but a restoration, and this of a peculiar
and twofold kind; for it is a restoration both of knowledge and of faculty – the
knowledge being obtained through the faculty." For Anna Kingsford and Edward
Maitland it was “an original discovery,”
(p.
v)
in that
this knowledge was obtained “directly and at first hand through the faculty in
question, and altogether independently of extraneous sources of information”:
and, Edward Maitland says, it “proved, on subsequent research, to be, for the
world, a recovery of the most momentous kind (...). The mode of the discovery,
moreover, was such as to constitute, of itself, a verification of the
fundamental doctrine involved.”
Revelation consists in the disclosure to man of himself by his own Divine
Spirit; and Religion consists in the culture by man in himself
of that Divine Spirit; which Spirit is not the less God because it is man's, nor
the less man's because it is God.” (1) Anna Kingsford, being under
Illumination, was told: “The Spirit within you is divine. It is God.” (2)
The
Perfect Way represents and is the product of a Divine
Revelation: (3) a Revelation in the direction of Mysticism: a Revelation
which has restored to the World “that famous system of cosmogony which – known
to initiates as the Hermetic Gnosis – has from the remotest antiquity been
venerated as the one true divine revelation concerning the nature of man and the
universe; and which
(p.
vi)
constituted the
core and substance of all sacred scriptures, mysteries, and religions –
Brahmanism and Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Osirisism,
Mithraism, Hellenism, Judaism, (1) and Christianity, being in turn
designed as vehicles for and expressions of it; but in each of which its true
meaning became perverted, obscured, and finally lost to view behind the forms in
which it was presented, and the religion degraded into an idolatry through the
substitution, as the objects of worship, of its material symbols for its
spiritual realities.” And the discovery included also “the interpretation of
these forms – together with the spiritual facts to which they correspond – to
the full explication of Christianity, its identification with the Gnosis, and,
consequently, its vindication as constituting, when rightly apprehended, a true
science of divine things, and therein a perfect system of thought and rule of
life.” (2)
It thus claims to be “both Christian and Catholic in their original and true
sense.” (3) In fact, the Gnosis finds “its fullest and most perfect
formulation by the mouth and in the dogmas of the Catholic Church.” (4) “The Initiate has no quarrel with the true Christian
religion or with its symbolism, but only with the current orthodox
interpretation of that religion and symbolism.” (5) For, while it is
affirmed in these teachings
(p.
vii)
that
Christianity has failed to regenerate the world as it was designed to do, it is
affirmed also that the reason is not because Christianity is false, but because
it has been falsified by its official formulators and exponents. (1)
“The
Gnosis, while in the world, has never” (prior to the publication of The
Perfect Way) “really been given to the world, or presented under a form
which would render it comprehensible by the world; but has been reserved for
initiates pledged to secrecy, and concealed under symbols to the
interpretation of which they alone had the key. It is in part because this key
has been lost, or so carefully concealed as to be no longer available – even for
initiates themselves, as would appear to be the case – and because only by a new
illumination could it be restored,” that such a Revelation as is represented by The Perfect Way became necessary. (2)
Edward
Maitland says: “Our researches failed utterly to disclose to us as already
existing in the world aught that was comparable to the revelations received by
us, whether for fullness, profundity, coherence, lucidity, or beauty. So that it
became manifest to us that we were obtaining in plenitude and perfection a
sublime system of doctrine of which – if others had ever had it in full – only
fragments and glimpses survive. And the very method, moreover, by which we were
obtaining it constituted a practical demonstration of its truth, by reason of
the process being that of psychic or intuitional recollection, and therein a
demonstration of the reality and persistency of the Soul, and of her ability to
recover, in a later incarnation, the knowledges
(p.
viii)
acquired by her
in her past incarnations, and to communicate of them to her possessor.” (1)
Referring to "the approximations to Christianity preexisting in the older
worships of Krishna, Osiris;
Mithras, and the rest," Edward Maitland was inclined to believe that
"while the fullest revelation to the world was that made in
relation to 'Jesus Christ,’ there was a full revelation in
the world from a period indefinitely remote, and that only the communication of
it to the outside world was gradual, being given out in such measure as
that world was deemed able to receive it, by its Divinely-appointed and directed
guardians, the hierophants of the Sacred Mysteries." He points out that "owing
to the materialistic tendencies of mankind at large, spiritual truth has always
existed in the world as in an enemy's country," and that "there were truths that
even the disciples of Jesus were unable to bear, and which were accordingly
withheld from them": and, he says, “May it not be that that which is now seeking
for recognition is a yet further instalment of the
same truth, which differs from former instalments
chiefly in the fact of its being more abstract and spiritual, and less concrete
and personal?” and that “He is taking away the first (the letter or person) that
He may establish the second (the spirit or abstract truth)” in order that men
may at length come to “Worship God only?” (2) The fundamental
principle of the Gnosis is "to show the divinity both of the human Soul and
human Spirit, and through this of the man who being
regenerate is constituted of them." (3)
In a
recently published book, a well-known writer says that "the great need of today"
is "a complete reformation
(p.
ix)
in
Christian interpretation, a re-casting of popular exegesis, a re-moulding of Christian teaching in pulpit, school, and
college.” (1) More than thirty years ago, Anna Kingsford expressed a
similar opinion when she said: "It is not so much the revelation of a new
religious system that is needed here, as a true interpretation of the religion
now existing. (...) Orthodox Christianity, both in Catholic and in Protestant
countries, is languishing on account of a radical defect in its method – to wit,
the exoteric and historical sense in which, exclusively, its dogmas are taught
and enforced.” (2) Edward Maitland was also in
agreement. He said: “It is not a new Gospel that the world needs or that a new
religion should be propounded, but a new interpretation, and one that, though
new to this age, shall not be really new, but shall represent a recovery of that
which is either so old as to have become forgotten, or so profound as to have
escaped recognition by superficialists
– a recovery of that, too, which was intended by its original formulators.” (3) The revelation contained in the pages of The
Perfect Way supplies this great need of a true interpretation of the
Christian religion. It represents “an actual re-delivery of religious doctrine
from its original source,” made for the express purpose of rescuing religion
from the perversion it had undergone at the hands of a materialising priesthood, by interpreting it, and
re-establishing it as a verity purely spiritual and wholly reasonable, and so
carrying on the spiritual consciousness of the race to a new and higher stage
(p.
x)
of its
evolution. (1) “The end in view is not denial, but interpretation; not
destruction, but reconstruction, and this with the very materials hitherto in
use.” (2) No new Gospel of Salvation was necessary or possible, but a
new Gospel of Interpretation was indispensable. Anna Kingsford, being under
illumination, was told as follows: –
“The
days of the covenant of manifestation are passing away: the gospel of
interpretation cometh.”
“There
shall nothing new be told; but that which is ancient shall be interpreted.” (3)
“For the
interpretation of hidden things is at hand; and men shall eat of the precious
fruits of God.”
“They
shall eat manna from heaven; and shall drink of the
“The
Lord maketh all thinks new: He
taketh
away the letter to establish the spirit.” (4)
In the
recognition, application, and adoption of the method of the interpretation set
forth in The Perfect Way lies the best hope for the rehabilitation of
religious faith and its reconciliation with science; for, “by exchanging the
current materialistic, and therein idolatrous, presentation of divine things,
for their spiritual and true one” – as does this book – “religion will be at
once emancipated from the bondage of the letter and the form, and lifted to a
level, inaccessible alike to the ravages of time, the assaults of
scepticism, and the fluctuations of opinion, remaining, meanwhile,
eternally verifiable by, and satisfying the
(p.
xi)
loftiest
aspirations of, the soul, to which alone it is addressed.” (1)
From
this it will be seen that Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland sought, not the
abolition of the
In her
Presidential Address to the British Theosophical Society, on the 17th
July, 1883, Anna Kingsford said: "We Theosophists understand by the word Divine,
the hidden, interior, and primal quality of existence; the noumenal as opposed to the phenomenal. Our relations to the
Divine we hold to be relations, not to the exterior, but to the within; not to
that which is afar off, but to that which is at the heart of all Being, the very
core and vital point of our own true self. To know ourselves is, we hold, to
know the Divine. And, renouncing utterly the vulgar
(p.
xii)
exoteric,
anthropomorphic conception of Deity, we renounce also the exoteric acceptation
of all myths and legends associated therewith, replacing the shadow with the
substance, the symbol by the significance, the quasi-historical by the ideal.
(...) We proffer an
Eirenicon
to all Churches, claiming, that once the veil of symbolism is lifted from the
divine face of Truth, all Churches are akin, and the basic doctrine of all is
identical (...). Greek, Hermetic, Buddhist, Vedantist,
(1)
Christian – all these Lodges of the Mysteries are fundamentally one and
identical in doctrine. (...) We hold that no single ecclesiastical creed is
comprehensible by itself alone, uninterpreted by its
predecessors and its contemporaries. Students, for example, of Christian
theology will only learn to understand and to appreciate the true value and
significance of the symbols familiar to them, by the study of Eastern Philosophy
and Pagan Idealism. For Christianity is the heir of these, and
she draws her best blood from their veins. And, forasmuch as all her
great ancestors hid beneath their exoteric formulas and rites – themselves mere
husks and shells to amuse the simple-minded – the esoteric or concealed verities
reserved for the initiate, so also she reserves for earnest seekers and deep
thinkers the true interior Mysteries which are one and eternal in all creeds and
Churches from the foundation of
(p.
xiii)
the world.
This true, interior, transcendental meaning is the Real Presence, veiled in the
Elements of the Divine Sacrament: the mystical Substance and Truth figured
beneath the Bread and the Wine of the ancient Bacchic
orgies, and now of our own Catholic Church. To the unwise, the unthinking, the
superstitious, the gross Elements are the objects of the rite; to the initiate,
the seer, the son of Hermes, they are but the outward and visible signs of that
which is ever and of necessity, inward, spiritual, and occult.” (1)
That
upon which Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland were bent, was, “not the support
of any existing presentation or system, but the actual truth respecting the
nature of existence, and this at first hand and independently of any existing
system whatever.” (2) The line of thought introduced by
The Perfect Way, therefore, “is not more friendly
to the popular presentation of orthodox Church doctrine than to the fashionable
agnosticism of the hour. It represents, indeed, a revolt against all
conventional forms of belief, whether ecclesiastical or secular, and a conviction that the rehabilitation of religion on reasonable and
scientific grounds is not only possible to the human mind, but is
essential to human progress and development.” (3) “Of one thing,” said
Anna Kingsford, “I am sure, and that is, that there is not, and cannot be, any
half-way house between Atheism and that doctrine which I have.” (4)
It is
necessary to understand what is meant by “Mysticism.” In its true sense
“Mystery” denotes, not something
(p.
xiv)
that
transcends and contradicts reason and exalts authority in the place of
understanding, but that which, being interior, hidden, and spiritual, requires
the application of reason to a higher plane than the exterior, phenomenal, and
sensible. (1) Mysticism is Substantialism, and
is the opposite to Materialism. The true plane of
religious belief is subjective and spiritual, not objective and physical.
Mystics speak from within, which implies experience of that which is within,
and not, as do the multitudes, from without, as spectators merely.
Mystics are “those who, in virtue of their own spiritual maturity and
development, have been enabled to transcend the outer and lower spheres of the
consciousness, the material and the astral, and to attain to the inner and
upper, the kingdom within of the soul and spirit, and who are able, therefore,
to discern the principles of things, where others can discern things only, and
thus know the realities of which things are the appearance.” (2)
Edward Maitland says: “Divine Revelation is a reality, and so far from being
supernatural in the sense ordinarily supposed, and contravening or transcending
reason, it is a natural prerogative of man, and the crown and completion of
reason; in that it represents the extension of reason to a region which,
although divine, is within and belongs to man: a region to attain to the full
consciousness of which is to become an instrument of perception competent for
the infallible discernment of truth.” (3) “I have heard of Thee
by the hearing
(p.
xv)
of the
ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee,” said pious Job:
(1)
and it was as a Mystic that David spoke, when he said: “The uncertain and hidden
things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made manifest unto me”; (2)
and he called upon all those who dwelt “in the world” – or outer consciousness – to open their hearts unto Wisdom. (3)
“To
discern the inner sense and true meaning of the terms enunciating Divine
knowledges – to recognise through the letter which
kills the spirit which gives life – requires the hearing ears and seeing eyes so
constantly insisted on by Jesus. ‘To these it is given
to know the mysteries of the
(p.
xvi)
and fix the
polaric point of thy mind in the central and substantial.” (1)
To a
correspondent who ascribed to "Mysticism" in Christianity the failure – in so
far as it has been a failure – of that religion, and the numerous abuses which
have prevailed under its name, Edward Maitland replied: “It is not ‘Mysticism’
at all, but its negation and opposite materialism, that is responsible for the evils in
question. The Founder, Himself, of Christianity, is credited by His biographers
with positively asserting the mystical character of His doctrine. For the
saying, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’, implies that it has no
reference to persons or events which are physical and historical and of the
senses, but deals only with those realities which are spiritual, eternal, and of
the soul. And the mystic, and the mystic alone, is he who receives Christianity
in this sense, and accordingly devotes himself to the culture, not of the things
of sense, but of the things of the soul, using persons and events as but symbols
and parables to express these. And it is precisely because mysticism has been
dethroned in favour of materialism in things
religious, and the worship of Principles superseded by that of Persons, and the
Spirit ignored in favour of the Letter, that
Christianity has been degraded to the monstrous fetish it has become. (...) Only
by a return to mysticism is the true Christianity to be realised.” (2) The central and supreme object of
mysticism is that which is the central and supreme element in
man, namely, the Soul. The failure, also, to recognise
the distinction between the mystical and the occult has been and is productive
of a vast amount of confusion. “The two
(p.
xvii)
terms are, it
is true, etymologically identical, being respectively the Greek and the Latin
for the same thing. But, actually, they differ, and the difference is one of
first-rate importance, inasmuch as they refer to totally distinct spheres of
being and activity. Occultism implies transcendental physics, and belongs to the
domain of science. Mysticism implies transcendental metaphysics, and belongs to
the domain of religion. Or, to put it yet more plainly, Occultism deals with the
region which, being exterior to the soul, constitutes the soul's magnetic
environment. And Mysticism deals with principles and processes which, being
interior to the soul, determine its progress and state.
(...) In the difference between the Occultist and the Mystic, we have the secret
of the difference between the Adept and the Christ.” (1)
Anna
Kingsford defined “Mysticism” as “experiential
Theosophy.” She said: “While Theosophy, in its broader signification, represents
and includes the entire range of Transcendentalism, the science of the Mystic is
strictly and singly spiritual. It is the
science of the Saint rather than of the Adept, and occupies itself immediately
and concentratively with the interests of the Soul,
and the aspirations of the Heart. It takes scant account of occult physics and
dynamics, or of the intellectual ceremonials of
(p.
xviii)
spiritual, and
all its articles relate to interior conditions, principles, and processes. It is
based upon experimental knowledge, not on authority, and its central figures are
attributes, qualities, and sacraments (mysteries), not persons nor events,
however great or remarkable. These latter, with all the material accessories and
accidents they imply, are by the Mystic regarded as constituting the
Vehicle, not the essential element of religion, since they are not, and
cannot be, noumena or absolutes." (1)
Just as
there were many who saw no necessity for the further
unfoldment
of the spiritual consciousness represented by Christianity, and resented the
introduction of that religion; so there are, and must be, many who similarly
object to the further unfoldment of Christianity,
represented by a movement in the direction of Mysticism. (2)
It is necessary, therefore, again to emphasise the
fact that this book of “the Mysteries of the
(p.
xix)
it on the
authority of an Order, such as the Sacerdotal.” (1) In her Presidential
Address to the British Theosophical Society, before referred to, Anna Kingsford
said: "Ours may be indeed the religion of the poor, but it cannot be that of the
ignorant. For we disclaim alike authority and dogma, we appeal to the reason
of humanity, and to educated and cultivated thought. Our system of
doctrine does not rest upon a remote past; it is built upon no series of
historical events assailable by modern criticism; it deals not with extraneous
personalities or with arbitrary statements of dates, facts, and evidence; but it
relates, instead, to the living to-day, and to the ever-present testimony of
nature, of science, of thought, and of intuition. That which is exoteric and
extraneous is the evanescent type, the historical ideal, the symbol, the form,
and these are all in all to the unlearned. But that which is esoteric and
interior is the permanent verity, the essential meaning, the thing signified;
and to apprehend this, the mind must be reasonable and philosophic, and its
method must be scientific and eclectic.” (2)
To one
who objected to an appeal to the "reason of humanity," on the ground that
" there is an infinity of truth beyond the reach of human reason," Anna
Kingsford and Edward Maitland replied as follows: – "As all things proceed from
mind, mind is necessarily competent for the comprehension of all things.
So that there is
not
‘an infinity of truth beyond the reach of human reason.’ But all that
that reason has to do is so to purify and expand itself as
(p.
xx)
to become
one with the infinite reason which has produced all things. It is not that truth
is not infinite, but that reason, when perfected, is also infinite. There is
nothing that is incomprehensible or cannot be understood. The doctrine of the
‘incompetence of the human reason to comprehend the truth’ has ever been the
stronghold of superstition, and worst enemy of the faith that is based on the
‘rock’ of the understanding, the only faith that ‘saves’. (1)
“I
rarely” said Edward -Maitland, “see any question raised
which, for those who are spiritually intelligent, has not been adequately
treated in The Perfect Way.” (2) It is “especially valuable for
the genuine student of things spiritual, because, instead of representing
foregone conclusions mechanically adopted or hastily formed, or conclusions
rested on a narrow range of observation, or consisting of mere speculations and
theories, or being a compilation of the opinions of others, it represents the
actual experiences, perceptions, and recollections of its own writers,
concerning orders of beings and spheres of activity at once including and
transcending those familiar to Spiritualists, while its conclusions have the
further advantage of coinciding with and receiving confirmation from those of
the most advanced souls known to our planet, whether as formulated in the sacred
mysteries of antiquity, or as since discerned by all who have, by ‘living the
life,’ specially qualified themselves to be instruments of spiritual
perception.” (3) In the case of Anna Kingsford and
Edward Maitland, that life consisted, “not in the search for phenomenal
experiences – though these would sometimes occur –
(p.
xxi)
but in the intense
direction of the will and desire towards the highest, and an unchanging resolve
to be satisfied with nothing less than the highest, namely, the inmost and
central idea of the fact or doctrine to be interpreted; the motive also
being the highest, namely, the emancipation, satisfaction, and benediction of
souls, our own and those of others.” (1) Edward Maitland says: “I have
continually insisted that, in order to have cognisance
of things interior, mystic, spiritual, men must direct their minds forcibly and
reverently to the region of the consciousness within themselves, leading
meanwhile the life which accords with such high thought. (...) In order to
appreciate the solution of any problem, man must first be conversant with the
elements of that problem, and for this he must be sensitive and vitalised in that plane of the consciousness to which the
problem is related.” (2)
In the Preface to the Second Edition, reference
is made to certain “experiences” of which this book is the result. Since the
publication of that Edition, Edward Maitland has related (shortly), in
The Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation, (3) and (fully) in his
great and final work, The Life of Anna Kingsford, (4)
these experiences, and the following facts are derived mainly from these
sources. In telling the tale of The Perfect Way, I have endeavoured as far as possible – and even at the risk of
some repetition – to tell it in the words of the participants, so as to give to
this Preface the additional value that
must attach to ipsissima verba.
(p.
xxii)
The
collaboration between the late Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland, of which this
book was the chief product, (1) may be said to have commenced in
February, 1874, when Edward Maitland first visited Anna Kingsford at her
husband's rectory at Pontesbury, Salop, in
(p.
xxiii)
not from
any Church or a section of any Church visible, terrestrial, and corrupt, but
“from the Church invisible, celestial, and incorruptible.” (1)
Prior to the publication of The Perfect Way, there was not any
satisfactory work in existence enunciatory of the true
spiritual interpretation of the allegories of the Bible, (2)
but therein the key has been restored which unlocks the meaning of the symbols
in which the doctrines of all the Churches, pre-Christian as well as Christian,
has been at once concealed and revealed “to the elucidation of all the problems
which have so sorely perplexed the world, and the verification, by actual
experience, of the truth contained in them.” (3)
It is a remarkable fact that, precisely at the moment when Anna Kingsford and
Edward Maitland were entering upon the collaboration which had for its aim the
restoration, interpretation, and vindication of the great mystical system of the
West which underlay all its ancient religions and sacred Scriptures, Colonel
Olcott and Madame Blavatsky – the founders of the Theosophical Society – were
preparing,
(p.
xxiv)
on the other side
of the Atlantic, to do precisely the same thing for the corresponding system of
the East; and it is remarkable that the whole movement comprising these two
events, had its rise precisely at the time for which it had been announced in
numerous predictions from before the Christian Era to the latter Middle Age, and
partook of precisely the characteristics then prescribed. (1)
Their method of procedure consisted in “the forcible projection of their mind's
perceptive point inwards and upwards to its central and radiant point in search
of the informing idea of any phenomenal fact, following meanwhile the mode of
life which always has been found essential to
(p.
xxv)
such
intro-vision, one indispensable condition being the renunciation of flesh as
food.” (1) The inward and upward direction of the mind, and the
knowledges thereby received, constitute the Intuition, which faculty, Edward
Maitland says, “consists in such polarisation
– by means of intense concentration – of the consciousness to its innermost and
highest point, as brings the man into open relations with his central,
essential, permanent ego, the Soul, and makes him a participator in the
knowledges concerning God and the universe which, in the long ages of its past
as an individualised entirety, the Soul has acquired
by experience. This condition constitutes for the subject of it
Spiritual Illumination, and its products are Divine Knowledges. It may be attained
both through the act of the man from below and of the Spirit from above. Either
may take the initiative. But the Spirit must be willing. The Spirit may
(p.
xxvi)
coerce the man,
withdrawing him from the most engrossing preoccupations, or no less vividly
impressing him when sunk in slumber – according to the meaning of the
expression, ‘He giveth to His beloved in sleep.’” (1)
In 1876, Edward Maitland was writing a book having for its text and title The
Finding of Christ, the Completion of the Intuition, and the Restoration of the
Ideal. “This Book,” Edward Maitland said, “I was allowed neither to
complete nor yet to abandon. Through some compulsion, the source and reason of
which I was at the time unable to discern, the writing of it was suspended; but
only – as the event proved – to be resumed, in another form, after the course of
education, experience, and unfoldment necessary for its due accomplishment.” (2)
Two years later, he was engrossed with a task he had set himself of elaborating
out of his own consciousness a key to the interpretation especially of the
initial chapters of Genesis, and on this behalf he had “written enough to make a
moderate volume,” defining the principles on which, as it appeared to him, the
Bible, in order to be a book of the Soul, must be constructed, and on which,
therefore, it must be interpreted. (3) What he had written was not
intended for publication. But, though he had consciously been assisted in his
work by light from interior sources, it was still incomplete, and he “had come
to a complete standstill, being unable to obtain a glimmer of a fresh idea.” (4) He had no books to help him, nor the
knowledge of any which could help him. He did not speak of the direction
of his thought, or of his difficulties to Anna
(p.
xxvii)
Kingsford (with
whom he was then staying in Paris), partly because he wished to exhaust his own
resources first, partly because he did not wish to take her mind off her medical
studies in which she was then engrossed, (1) and partly because he
knew that, unaided by illumination, she could not help him; and, at that time,
she had not received any special illumination for many months. (2)
In this state of affairs, Edward Maitland says: “It was near midnight on June 4th,
1878, when, having retired to my sleeping-room, I stood by the open window
gazing on the brilliantly starred sky, and the impulse came upon me to address a
mental request for aid to the unseen agents of our past illuminations, whom we
were wont to call the Gods. It was without any definite idea of a practical
result that I did this, and rather as an expression of impatience and despair
than of hope. ‘If I really am to carry on this work, I must have help. I have gone as far as I can go of myself, and
must stop and give it up unless I receive correction, confirmation, or
extension. For my own resources are exhausted.’ Having thus silently formulated
my needs to the rulers of the starlit expanse, I went to bed.”
(3)
Two mornings after this, Anna Kingsford, not knowing anything of Edward
Maitland's request, handed him a manuscript, containing about 800 words, written
in pencil, saying it was something she had read in her sleep during the night
and written down immediately on waking, so far as she could recollect it; and
she wanted to know if it was anything that he wanted – for she hardly knew what
it was about, having written it down so rapidly, and not having had time to read
it over and think about it. “Eagerly perusing it,” Edward
(p.
xxviii)
Maitland says, “I
found it to be a direct answer to my appeal, which for fullness and lucidity
surpassed the most sanguine expectations I could have formed, and affording at
once precisely the correction, the confirmation, and the amplification I had
asked for.” (1) They read and re-read this
wonderful instruction with amazement and delight, and found that it gave the key
which related the initial chapters of Genesis to the whole Bible, even to the
Apocalypse, and shed on the Bible a light which rendered it luminous from
beginning to end, disclosing it as pervaded by a system of thought which, when
once seen, was as obvious as it had previously been unsuspected. But, to their
disappointment, the communication was incomplete, leaving off in the middle of a
sentence. Anna Kingsford then told Edward Maitland that she had received this
exposition under the following circumstances: she had dreamt that she was in an
old-fashioned library, in which sat an elderly couple, at whose invitation she
mounted a ladder and took down a book the appearance of which had attracted her.
“On opening it, she found that the leaves consisted of plates of silver, thick
and massive, and every page reflected herself, and that
which she wrote down on waking was what she had read in this book. At the point
where the exposition broke off, the writing had disappeared from the book and
its pages became mirrors in which she beheld only her own image.” (2) They both longed for the exposition to be completed;
(p.
xxix)
and, in due course,
it was; for, two mornings afterwards, Anna Kingsford gave to Edward Maitland a
further manuscript of a like character, and in continuation of the former one,
the information contained in which, she said, she had received also in sleep –
it having been “delivered as a lecture by a man in priestly garb to a numerous
class of neophytes,” of whom she was one, “as they sat in an amphitheatre of
white stone.” In her dream she had taken notes of this lecture. Her notes, of
course, disappeared with her dream; but she was able, on waking, to reproduce
the lecture from memory, when she wrote it down, her memory having been
“abnormally enhanced” – for “the words presented themselves
again to her as she wrote, and stood out luminously to view.” (1)
Speaking of these Illuminations, Edward Maitland says: "We felt that we had
indeed been permitted to tap – so to speak – a reservoir of boundless wisdom and
knowledge, and were filled with joy and thankfulness accordingly, for we saw
that we had obtained access to a sphere where all memories of the world's past
were indelibly preserved and stored up, so that no part of its history, however
remote and lost so far as men are concerned, is beyond recovery, and where also
are the solutions of all problems.” (2)
Soon after this, Anna Kingsford had “a terrible illness, lasting several weeks,
which threatened to break her down
(p.
xxx)
altogether, and,
for a long time, quite destroyed her psychic memory”; but, in the following
September, her faculty began to recover its power, and, for the next year and a
half, she continued to receive similar instructions, most of them being so timed
as to come when, having exhausted his own power of interpretation, Edward
Maitland stood in need of help, and this generally without Anna Kingsford
knowing his need, and always without her being able to supply it had she known
it – for, Edward Maitland says, ”the knowledges were far beyond us both, as also
was the language in which they were expressed, and they equally excited her
wonder and admiration and mine." (1)
In March 1880, Anna Kingsford found herself again in the Library where she had
received the Chapter “Concerning the
Interpretation of the Mystical Scriptures,” and was told by the same old
gentleman who had received her on the former occasion, and whom she again saw,
that “he desired to communicate with Mr. Maitland on a matter too delicate to be
entrusted to a third person, but that he had a difficulty in doing so, as he
(Mr. Maitland) had not been able to find his way to his (the old gentleman's)
house.” Neither Anna Kingsford nor Edward Maitland, at that time, had any idea
as to who the old gentleman was. Soon after this, Edward Maitland, while sitting
at his work, “received a sudden vivid impression” to the effect that the book
which he was writing – The
Finding of Christ – which was then nearly complete, “had better be
published anonymously, in order to prevent the consideration of it from being
impaired by association with the name of any person.” Under date of 13th
March, 1880, Edward Maitland, writing of this in
(p.
xxxi)
his Diary,
says: "There was at the time a question about the book which exercised me, and
does so still. It is not that of putting my name to it. I have had no idea of
withholding that. It is as to how far I am at liberty to use our chapters on the
interpretation of Scripture. I can neither assume the authorship of them, nor
can I avow their derivation; and I have been greatly perplexed accordingly. The
impression above mentioned was accompanied by another which caused me to exclaim
to myself that there was but one person from whom it could justly proceed, this
being Emanuel Swedenborg. For the impression was to
the effect that he (Swedenborg) hoped by our means to
correct and complete his work." Edward Maitland made no mention to Anna
Kingsford of this occurrence, nor had either of them thought of connecting
Swedenborg's name with the owner of the Library that Anna Kingsford had
visited in sleep. “But" (Edward Maitland's Diary continues) "yesterday evening,
having been prompted to sit for some writing, the instrument (1) wrote the words 'Mr. Maitland.'
As this was the first time that I had ever been thus designated by it, or by any
of our invisible visitants, and as it was also the name by which the occupant of
the Library had spoken of me, I concluded that it was he who was writing, and,
accordingly, inquired whether I was correct in my idea as to what it was that he
wanted to say to me. In reply to this he wrote, ‘Not quite,’ and presently
added, 'It is not considered desirable in our circle that you should produce the
book in your name. I will suggest to Mrs. Kingsford what should be done. Good
night. – E. S.” These being the initials of Swedenborg,
I referred to Carpenter's Life of him, of which I have lately obtained a copy,
and found that the specimen there given of his handwriting closely resembled
that of our
(p.
xxxii)
message; while Mary
(1)
declared that the portrait of him in the book, which she now saw for the first
time, was exactly that of the tenant of the Library, showing him as the same
placid-looking, smooth-shaven, courtly man, she had described to me. In short,
every particular corresponded, even to his formal and measured mode of address,
making it impossible to doubt that it was indeed the famous Swedish seer himself
who had quitted the earth-life close on a century ago, and that he was now
interesting himself in the work of the New Gospel of Interpretation, of which he
had been the forerunner.” (2)
Edward Maitland's Diary continues – “March 14th – This evening
Swedenborg came to us again, and, in reference to the change of plans
recommended to me, wrote: (3) ‘You may probably have
a good deal of recasting to do; but do not let that discourage you. You will be
repaid.
(p.
xxxiii)
In fact, the book
should not see the light until the campaign has been opened at Mrs. Kingsford's
house by a few parlour addresses from her lips. But do
not be too kind to the Christians.' On this we asked what precisely he meant by
this caution, when he wrote: 'I use the word in its popular, not in its eclectic
sense. You are emphatically Perfectionists. Since I have had my library, I have
occupied myself much with pre-Nazarene eclecticism; and I find it much richer
and more profound than that of the comparatively uncultivated
On the night of 22nd March, 1880, Anna Kingsford dreamt that she and
Edward Maitland had a conversation with Swedenborg,
who said: "The general plan of your book is good, but you are recommended to
avoid identifying the writer with the author of any former work. (2)
Use the first personal pronoun in writing if this facilitates the expression,
and as in effect you have used it largely. Let that form
stand, but avoid recognition as Edward Maitland. You are recommended to
introduce a chapter on the prophetic faculty as the product of Memory, and to
cite such passages as occur to you in support of this doctrine. Let this chapter
or paragraph introduce the citations you give from the prophetic explanations of
the esoteric books of the Bible, and quote them as fragmentary specimens of this
recollection occurring to one now a woman, but formerly an Initiate, who is
beginning to recover this power by slow degrees." (3)
The question was, how best to make known to the World the Truth of which they
were the Guardians – their Holy
(p.
xxxiv)
Evangel? Their
idea, of which their Illuminators approved, was to begin their campaign with
some lectures, but on the 20th December, 1880, while under
Illumination, Anna Kingsford said: "My Genius says that nothing of much
importance can be done by us before the Spring, on
account of the state of the Earth's magnetic currents. (1) So that we must work
on without being disappointed at the smallness of the results. They repeat
several times that we must wait till the Spring. In the
meantime we should seek publicity, but must depend on ourselves, and make
ourselves known in our own way. (2)
On the night of the 13th January, 1881, Anna Kingsford, in her sleep,
had a conversation with one whom she “recognised
as William Lilly, the Astrologer,” who had their “Bible of Interpretation,”
which he refused to communicate to others. On her asking him the reason for his
refusal, fixing his eyes upon her intently, he replied, “I will communicate
them” (these Scriptures), “when I can find Seven Men who for forty days have
tasted no flesh, whose hands have shed no blood, and whose tongues have tasted
of none.” (3)
Shortly after this, Anna Kingsford, speaking under Illumination, said: "It seems
that we cannot do anything to facilitate the reception of the new Revelation,
but my Genius wants me to lecture during the coming season. (...) We may tell
all we know, but only to the persons of the kind described in my interview with
Lilly. If we attempt to speak to others, it will be made impossible for us; we
(p.
xxxv)
shall be
stopped. (1) This prohibition applies only to the Greater Mysteries. We
may speak to others of things historical or interpretative, such as explain or
reconcile the religions. He says, I must not lecture under my own name.”
Subsequently, she said: “My Genius tells me that my addresses are to begin at
drawing-room meetings, where, as they will be private, there will be no need to
conceal my name. It is otherwise in the case of public assemblies, lectures, and
publications. The name must be suppressed for the sake of husband and relatives,
and a synonym or an assumed name used. (...) My lectures are to begin with the
beginning of our work and the earlier truths given to us. The Greater Mysteries
are to be reserved until we have a circle of pure livers, in number, if even, of
40, 12, or 10; and, if uneven, of 9, 7, 5, or
Edward
Maitland says: “In such manner was knowledge poured in upon us, in a steady and
abundant stream, until the time came when it was necessary to prepare for the
promulgation which, by accomplishing the doom of the 'evil and adulterous
generation,' which has been in possession ever since the Fall, was to be the
'end of the world' as it has hitherto been; and the inauguration of that new and
better order of things variously implied in Scripture under the images of the
reign of Michael, the fall of Lucifer and Satan, the breaking of the seals and
opening of the books, the budding of the fig-tree, the resurrection and
(p.
xxxvi)
ascent of the two
witnesses, the flight of the angel in mid-heaven having an eternal gospel to
proclaim, the exaltation and illumination of the woman, the battle of
Armageddon, the second coming of Christ, and the revelation and destruction of
‘that wicked one,’ the controlling evil spirit of the world's selfish
sacrificial system in Church, State, and Society, and the coming of the Kingdom
of God with power, the whole stupendous program of which was to be accomplished
by the simple means of a new ‘Gospel of Interpretation,’ such as was being
vouchsafed to us, and the time for the promulgation of which was now at hand.” (1)
“The materials for our coming lectures were in our possession and in abundance,
and there was no doubt that more would be forthcoming as we proceeded with the
preparation of them ; but the task was a vast one, and not only was the time at
our disposal short, if we were to take advantage (as we proposed) of the London
season – for it was no ordinary quality of workmanship that would serve as the
fitting expression for the teaching committed to us – but our own physical
condition was still such that, had we only ourselves to trust to, we should have
despaired of success. The plan in view comprised the writing and delivery of
nine compendious lectures in about as many weeks, and while Mary's health was as
variable as ever, comprising rapid alternations from the summits of spiritual
insight and power to the lowest depths of disability from pain and weakness,
mine – though the ‘broken link in the golden chain' had been repaired, as
promised, as the Spring advanced and the sun waxed in strength – showed but
little abatement of the physical distress, which seemed to have become chronic,
and, if curable at all, to require a term of
(p.
xxxvii)
years rather
than of weeks or months, and this combined with absolute cessation of mental
work. So deep-seated were the effects of the nervous strain and depletion to
which I had been subjected during the years passed in
“The manner of our collaboration in The Perfect Way – for such was the
title determined on – was in this wise. Having arranged the order of the
exposition and ascertained the number of its main sections, we selected each the
subjects which we felt the best able to treat, but not with any intention of
confining ourselves exclusively to the subjects thus chosen. It was necessary
that our collaboration be particular as well as general, and extend to every
sentence and detail, however minute, so that no single word go forth which did
not represent the full light of our combined perception. Accordingly, whatever
was written by either of us was passed to the other to be dealt with freely, and
then passed back again to be similarly dealt with anew – a process the result of
which was sometimes the complete disappearance of the original draft. Not that
there was anything tentative about the
doctrine
to be expounded. We were both masters of that. The question was of selection,
arrangement, and expression, and the restriction of the exposition to the
essential and fundamental, the primary and the interior, to the exclusion of the
accidental and superficial, the secondary and the exterior. Thus seeking always
inwards and upwards to the highest, resolved to be content with nothing short of
the highest, it would sometimes happen that what had at first presented itself
would vanish in favour of something far superior, of
which the former had been the suggestion only, essentially identical, but
connoting rather an exterior orbit of the systems of which the latter was the
true centre. This was a process which frequently reminded me of the motto of my
once favourite pastime, archery – for proficiency in
(p.
xxxviii)
which I had gained
the champion's medal in 1878 – the phrase ‘Centrum Pete,’
and led me to see in that art a training for the lofty work in store for me,
while Mary would remark that it was like mounting to a height by climbing
alternately on one another's shoulders. And sometimes what we had thus
conjointly written would serve as a platform from which she would spring, as it
were, into the infinite, so exalted would be the truth suggested, which from
such level she was able to discern.
“All that portion of the work which consisted in selecting and arranging the
teachings received fell to me, Mary desiring rather to reserve herself for the
fresh illuminations which might be in store as we proceeded. (1)
And, moreover, I was the more familiar of the two with what had been received,
having, as their copyist, committed them largely to memory, while for her they
had become somewhat dimmed. Among the sources of my satisfaction, while thus
engaged, was the discovery that much of what I had written while in
When the time came for the delivery of the lectures, there was no lack of
persons who were willing and eager to attend them; but, owing chiefly to the
conditions, to which reference has been made, imposed on them, Anna Kingsford
and Edward Maitland were much exercised about the composition of their audience.
Finally, an audience of more than average intelligence and culture of the kind
required for the appreciation of the message to be delivered was
(p.
xxxix)
selected. Among
those present, there were several whose names are well known as those of persons
who have been leaders in the spiritual movement of the age. (1)
The lectures, which were largely written from week to week while in actual
course of delivery, were, in the months of May, June, and July, 1881, delivered
by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland in a “little drawing-room” at No.11 Chapel
Street, Park Lane, London, (2) each lecture being followed by a
discussion, and a frank and marked recognition was shown of the value and beauty
of the teachings received by them.
The lectures having been duly delivered, the remainder of the year was spent in
preparing them for publication. The revision, first of the text and next of the
proofs, was "a task of infinite toil" to them both; but they were “all the time
conscious of close supervision.” (3) They were anxious to
complete the book in time for it to be published during the year 1881, but,
owing partly to the “constant reception of fresh points of light, which required
to be added in,” (4) they were unable to do it. The
other hindering cause was of a very different nature. Edward Maitland says: "We
were determined that the printer's part of the work should be as perfect as our
own, and it was as if there was
(p.
xl)
a no less
resolute endeavour on the other side to baffle us, so
persistent were the compositors in making fresh mistakes when in the act of
correcting previous ones. Never, probably, was there a book which required so
many revises. It seemed to us that a ‘printer's devil’ of exceptional malignance
had been charged to baffle and spoil our work.” (1)
The cover of the book was designed by Anna Kingsford. It had "in the centre a
figure of the ‘woman clothed with the sun,’ to denote the Soul and her full
illumination by the Spirit; at the corners the symbols of the four evangelists
and elemental divinities, which signify the four divisions of existence, both
within man and without him; and round the borders the texts, ‘The Path of the
Just is as the shining Light, that shineth
more and more unto the Perfect Day!’ and ‘Arise, shine, for thy Light is come,
and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!’ Mary was very proud of this
design. (…) The design on the back cover was the symbol of the double triangle,
interlaced, which denotes the interlinking of the worlds
unmanifest and manifest; and a monogram composed of the letters A, E, and
M, being the initials of our Christian names and that of Lady
Caithness, which was added to our own in token of her part in the
enterprise.” (2)
(p.
xli)
On the 4th November, 1881, Anna Kingsford, writing to Lady Caithness, said: “I doubt not that Mr. M. keeps you ‘posted
up’ in the progress of the Book, which we are doing our
utmost to get out as a Christmas present to the world. You can have no idea what
a labour it has been, and, I may say, still is: for
not only has it been exceedingly difficult to compress into moderate dimensions,
and to express clearly in popular language, the enormous mass of truth we have
to put forth, but we have also found it necessary to elucidate the text by means
of woodcuts, the designing, copying, and perfecting of which, having been
exclusively assigned to me, have occupied a considerable amount of time. The
Triangle, which occupies so large a part in your own symbolic system of thought,
is now newly exemplified in the threefold united effort by means of which our
book is to be introduced to the world. And it seems to be somewhat significant
that the trio thus chosen represents, respectively, three distinct powers, with
none of which we could have dispensed. (...) As regards the Book, I am anxious
only that it should become known. Once known, I am confident of
its success on every plane. (...) I regard the prophecy concerning this year as
already fulfilled in the production of our book, which will, for the first time
in the world's history, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ – the Perfect Way.” (1)
The work accomplished in the production of The Perfect Way, was, Edward Maitland
says, “accomplished only at that maximum cost, physical, mental, and other,
which seemed to be the appointed condition of all our work; and,
(p.
xlii)
indeed, it
sometimes seemed as if the two things were in inverse ratio to each other, and
that the greater the cost and suffering, the greater the results to the work,
and the more the sowing had been in tears, the more the reaping was in joy”: (1) but, he says, “Since we had neither sought nor obtained the
revelation in it for our own exclusive benefit – but for the world's salvation
from the abyss of Materialism and Negation in which it was being rapidly
engulfed – we were prepared and ready to undertake it at any sacrifice to
ourselves.” (2)
The Perfect Way was actually published in February, 1882; and, in
accordance with the directions given to the Writers, it was published
anonymously; and it was “bound in the nearest colour
to purple that was to be had, namely, a peacock blue,” in order – while
symbolically including the Seven Spirits of God – to combine Anna Kingsford's
and Edward Maitland's own colours, the red and the
blue. (3)
On the publication of the book, a copy was sent to – among others – the Editor
of The Theosophist, for review; Anna Kingsford, at the same time,
but without disclosing her name, writing to Madame Blavatsky (who was then known
to her only by repute) a letter as follows: –
(p.
xliii)
To Madame Blavatsky.
Madam, – It is probable that about the same time that this letter reaches your
hands, you will receive, addressed to the Editors of The Theosophist, a book
entitled The Perfect Way.
The history of the production of that book is so strange that, feeling you may
not improbably be at a loss to account for its raison d’être, I write you these
lines. Do not think it is the work of one (or of more than one) versed in any
occult literature, or having been initiated into any occult Society. I, who
write to you, am the recipient of all it contains, but none of these things have
been taught me by men, nor have I anywhere read them. But now that the book sees
the light, I am reading The Theosophist and find in its pages
a perfect agreement with all that I have been shown. When I say “shown,” do not
suppose that I have any dealings with “spirits.” I am no “medium” nor have I any
mediumistic “powers.” Neither can I produce “raps” nor “writing” nor signs of
any kind, nor do I desire these things. But for twelve years I have abstained
from all flesh meats, and have desired, as much as is possible to me, to do the
Divine Will. Not wholly have I succeeded, for the way of my path is not an easy
one, nor a level, and both the “world” and the “flesh” are against me. But I
think I have at least seen clearly, and never have I transgressed when I plainly
understood.
It would not have been in my mind to write thus to you, but that I find in The
Theosophist for February (on p. 114), certain words concerning
"Initiates" which cause me to desire you should know something of the genesis of
the book of which I have spoken. I have said that all that
book contains came forth from my heart and lips. Yet I know nothing of your
literature, – and between you and me there is nevertheless perfect agreement and
accord. Steadily, and not once nor twice, have I refused invitations to join the
Theosophical Society in
(p.
xliv)
See then, that it
is possible to be initiated of one’s own interior Spirit, through whom the voice
of the Gods speaks to a man, if but his life be
pure and free from lust. You, who are initiated, will know whether I have the
truth. There is more – far more – that I am straitly forbidden to publish. If, in what is
written, there be any error, that is the fault of the writer or of the seer, but
not of that which was seen.
Madam; I pray you to ask your Brothers (1) whether I have the truth. Tell
them; if they need to be told, how it came to me, and whence I obtained it; and
on what conditions.
You are doing a splendid work in
The first knowledge I had of you was from the Author of The Occult World, (2)
who came to see me in
I wish, that is, in my outer will, to tell you certain things which would prove to you that I know, and that I have seen an