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" "But if from a certain point of view we may think of Theosophy as a religion, we must note two great points of difference between it and what is ordinarily called religion in the West. First, it neither demands belief from its followers, nor does it even speak of belief in the sense in which that word is usually employed. The student of occult science either knows a thing or suspends his judgment about it; there is no place in his scheme for blind faith. Naturally, beginners in the study cannot yet know for themselves, so they are asked to read the results of the various observations and to deal with them as probable hypotheses--provisionally to accept and act upon them, until such time as they can prove them for themselves. Ch I
(16 February 1854 – 1 March 1934) was a member of the Theosophical Society, Co-Freemasonry, author on occult subjects and co-initiator with J. I. Wedgwood of the Liberal Catholic Church. Originally a priest of the Church of England, his interest in spiritualism caused him to end his affiliation with Anglicanism in favour of the Theosophical Society, where he became a pupil of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and an associate of Annie Besant. He became a high-ranking officer of the Society and remained one of its leading members until his death in 1934, writing over 60 books and pamphlets and maintaining regular speaking engagements. *See also:
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Would the delicate ladies who devour sanguinary beef-steaks like to see their sons working as slaughtermen? If not, then they have no right to put this task upon some other woman's son. We have no right to impose upon a fellow-citizen work which we ourselves should decline to do. It may be said that we force no one to undertake this abominable means of livelihood; but that is a mere tergiversation, for in eating this horrible food we are making a demand that some one shall brutalize himself, that some one shall degrade himself below the level of humanity.
One of the superstitions condemned by the Master, you will remember, is that man needs flesh for food. That IS, of course, a superstition, because there are many thousands of people who exist in perfect health without it. There are probably some few people who, owing to bad heredity, and of course to their own karma, are really unable to make their bodies digest the purer forms of food, but they are very few. I have myself known of some two instances, I think, among the great many thousands of Theosophists, and others—who, after really trying for a long time to adopt vegetarian diet, found that they were absolutely unable to do it, but all the rest, after a certain amount of difficulty just at first, were able to settle down to vegetarian food. It is unquestionably proved that people (all but a very few) can exist perfectly well without saddling themselves with the crime of taking part in the slaughter of animals. (Thirty-second Talk)