Few experiences lying about the threshhold of occult studies are more perplexing and tormenting than those which have to do with the policy of the Brothers as to what shall, and what shall not, be revealed to the outer world.  In fact, it is only by students at the same time tenacious and patient—­continuously anxious to get at the truths of occult philosophy, but cool enough to bide their time when obstacles come in the way—­that what looks, at first sight, like a grudging and miserly policy in this matter on the part of our illustrious teachers can be endured.  Most men persist in judging all situations by the light of their own knowledge and conceptions, and certainly by reference to standards of right and wrong with which modern civilization is familiar a pungent indictment 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.