may be framed against the holders of philosophical
truth. They are regarded by their critics as keeping guard over their
intellectual possessions, declaring, "We have won this knowledge with
strenuous effort and at the cost of sacrifice and suffering; we will
not make a present of it to luxurious idlers who have done nothing to
deserve it." Most critics of the Theosophical Society and its
publications have fastened on this obvious idea, and have denounced the
policy of the Brothers as "selfish" and "unreasonable."

It has been argued that, as regards occult powers, the necessity for
keeping back all secrets which would enable unconscientious people to do
mischief, might be granted, but that no corresponding motives could
dictate the reservation of occult philosophical truth.

I have lately come to perceive certain considerations on this subject
which have generally been overlooked; and it seems desirable to put
them forward at once; especially as a very considerable body of occult
philosophical teaching is now before the world, and as those who
appreciate its value best, will sometimes be inclined to protest all the
more emphatically against the tardiness with which it has been served
out, and the curious precautions with which its further development is
even now surrounded.

In a nutshell, the explanation of the timid policy displayed is that the
Brothers are fully assured that the disclosure of that actual truth
(which constitutes the secret doctrine) about the origin of the World
and of Humanity--of the laws which govern their existence, and the
destinies to which they are moving on--is calculated to have a very
momentous effect on the welfare of mankind. Great results ensue from
small beginnings, and the seeds of knowledge now being sown in the world
may ultimately bear prodigious harvest. We, who are present merely at
the sowing, may not realize the magnitude and importance of the impulse
we are concerned in giving, but that impulse will roll on, and a few
generations hence will be productive of tremendous consequences one way
or the other.

For occult philosophy is no shadowy system of speculation like any of
the hundred philosophies with which the minds of men have been
overwhelmed; it is the positive Truth, and by the time enough of it is
let out, it will be seen to be so by thousands of the greatest men who
may then be living in the world. What will be the consequence? The
first effect on the min