every fireside, darkens almost every home. A little while ago I saw a funeral that was a tragedy. Fear or despair drove the wife to the verge of insanity as she staggered shrieking after the coffin that, to her, carried her husband she knew not whither. An observer at a distance might have supposed it to be an execution instead of a funeral. And yet a little thought should convince us that in this sound, sane universe all may be safe. There is no penalty that we ourselves do not create. There is no hell that we ourselves do not prepare; that we at every moment are now preparing, but which process we can stop and check at any moment if we learn how and then wisely use the information.
The trouble with the majority of people is that they have no definite knowledge on the subject. They endeavor to do right in a general way and vaguely hope that in the end all may be well. But until we have a knowledge of the laws of existence, until we have a comprehension of life and death that rests on the sure ground of natural law, we can not be free from doubt about the future. Such definite knowledge this philosophy will give to every thinking person, for Theosophy is the torchbearer of the ages. Into this physical life, where hundreds of millions of the human race are enchained in materiality, blinded with incredulity, narrowed with intolerance, groping in ignorance, and fettered with fear, comes this goddess of enlightenment and emancipation; and for all who study her wisdom the darkness shall vanish and the fetters fall, and in this illuminating flood of reason they can face the future without a doubt and without a fear.
