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Sep 22, 2026

Thoughts Along the Road - 100

The Moral Causes of the
Present State of the World

Carlos Cardoso Aveline

Altruism is the secret to peace and harmony

* To a large extent, the present-day objective facts are the practical harvest of a Karma that was sown in the past. More important than the harvest is the new Karma we are planting with today’s actions.

* Therefore, the seeker of truth must renounce the role of a passive observer of external facts. Free from the hypnosis of the material world, the pilgrim focuses his energy on that which depends on him, and thus begins to learn important lessons.

* A true theosophist is the great reformer of his own world, thus peacefully sowing honesty and goodwill around him.

* The sensible pilgrim makes things happen. He seeks to act in a practical and constructive way, rather than just watching the often regrettable spectacle presented by commercial media under the guise of “journalistic information”. A decisive task consists in listening to the voice of one’s own soul, and remaining at peace with one’s conscience.

The Law of Sacrifice

* French physician and author Paul Carton (1875-1948) was a wholehearted disciple of Hippocrates and a student of Pythagoras and Seneca.

* In his essay on the Law of Sacrifice, Carton speaks of two main kinds of sacrifice. The first kind expresses generosity and consists of selfless renunciation. But there is also a sacrifice that expresses selfishness. It occurs when someone sacrifices others to obtain his own personal gain, or uses them as scapegoats.

* Altruism is a secret factor necessary to obtain peace and harmony in communities. According to Carton, the practice of self-sacrifice for the good of others plays a key role in keeping nations alive and sane. On the other hand, indulgence in selfish behaviour destroys both culture and civilizations. Each time the practice of generous self-sacrifice fails, a moral rebirth is necessary, and war and other calamities emerge as a result of ethical blindness. Carton writes:

* “Wars themselves are in reality blood sacrifices and are only launched as purifying and redemptive punishments. If men knew how to impose on themselves the individual sacrifices of a just, simple and natural life, of a pure diet, of correct hygiene, they would no longer experience these frenzies of unreasonable material enjoyment which never cease to stir up hatred and hostilities between the peoples. The material sacrifice of blood, which is the consequence and expiation of human faults, would then be replaced by the sacrifice of the base instincts of lust and gluttony and the faults of selfishness and pride, which are the great causes of disorder in humanity. They are the ones that lead to collective sacrifices for recovery (epidemics, wars, revolutions, earthquakes), which are more the results of human actions than inevitable fatalities.” [1]

* Decades before Carton, H. P. Blavatsky says something similar in “The Secret Doctrine”. She states that the pilgrim must sacrifice only his own bad habits and sinful inclinations. And the task must be done in the subtle Temple of his inner conscience:

* “The ever unknowable and uncognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart – invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through ‘the still small voice’ of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence.” [2]

* The above-mentioned statement by Paul Carton that earthquakes have moral causes also belongs to some of the main religions – among them Judaism, Christianity, and Taoism – and to theosophy. The fact is examined in the 19th-century article “Human Ethics and Earthquakes” [3], by Blavatsky’s disciple and assistant Damodar K. Mavalankar.

NOTES:

[1] “Enseignements et Traitements Naturistes Pratiques”, Dr. Paul Carton, Deuxième Série, Maloine, Éditeur, Paris, 1928, 394 pp., see p. 358. The essay “Le Sacrifice” starts on page 346 and ends on page 370.

[2] “The Secret Doctrine, Volume I”, p. 280.

[3] “Human Ethics and Earthquakes”. See also “The Battle of Truth”.

The article “Thoughts Along the Road – 100” was published on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists on 22 September 2026. An initial version of it is part of the November 2023 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 20-22.

Explore the full collection of articles: “Thoughts Along the Road”.

* Annotations on Karma.

* Immortal Sages Humbly Obey the Law.

* Are There Conditions Under Which Karma Does Not Exist?

* Visit the channel of The Aquarian Theosophist on YouTube.

Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.

Sep 11, 2026

The Aquarian Theosophist, September 2026

On page one, the September edition of The Aquarian features an article by Boris de Zirkoff: “The Writings of H. P. Blavatsky.” Reading HPB reveals vistas of cosmic splendor and lasting inspiration.

On page four, “The Daily Practice of the Fathers of the Desert – 01” presents the first installment of the questions and answers of the Greek Fathers, selected and translated from Greek into Latin by Paschasius of Dumium in the sixth century AD.

On page 11, “The Invisible Universe and the Intelligence Behind Cosmic Laws” offers selected fragments from “Isis Unveiled”.

Sep 4, 2026

The Seven Ages of Man

An Excerpt from the Play “As You Like It”

William Shakespeare

Editorial Note:

“It is not Shakespeare only who divided the ages
of man into a series of seven, but Nature herself.”

(Helena Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, p. 117.)

Various students of esoteric philosophy claim that the English actor William Shakespeare actually only lent his name, agreeing to appear as the author of the numerous plays written by the thinker and statesman Francis Bacon. Manly P. Hall and Ms. Jean Overton Fuller are among those who present evidence in this respect. The controversy is mentioned twice in passing in the Mahatma Letters (see Letters 55 and 93).

The following excerpt, from the comedy “As You Like It”, is an exercise in irony and a meditation on the cyclic passage of human life. It constitutes an encouragement for us not to waste too much time with our lower selves – the outer shells – and to try to expand our contact with our higher self, Atma-Buddhi, the immortal soul.

The excerpt belongs to Scene Seven of Act II. A few lines earlier, a character in the comedy states:

“It is ten o’clock.
Thus we may see how the world wags.
It’s but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more ’twill be eleven.
And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot,
And thereby hangs a tale.”

The pessimism in Shakespeare is but an outward layer of the message. The practical lesson tells us to live each moment of life with full attention and responsibility.

(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)

The Seven Ages of Man

William Shakespeare

This wide and universal theater
Presents more woeful pageants [1] than the scene
Wherein we play in.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

Then the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard [2],
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws [3] and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

NOTES:

[1] Pageants – theatrical shows.

[2] Pard – a panther, a wild beast.

[3] Saws – sayings.

The above text has been available on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists since 4 September 2026. It is reproduced from “As You Like It”, Act II, Scene VII, in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, edited by W. J. Craig, M.A., Magpie Books, London, 1992, 1142 pp.

* The Mahatmas and Christianity.

* Do Theosophists Fight Demons?

* Freedom From Mind Manipulation.

* Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism.

* Examine the thematic section on Mahatmas, Disciples and the Search for Discipleship.