gest something of the nature and functions of these spiritual beings that are beginning to come within the range of our understanding, I am going to try to build up our concept from below. Every atom in the universe is composed of substance and consciousness, or matter and spirit. The quality of the consciousness is determined by its vehicle or body; as vehicles for consciousness become more complete, the character of the consciousness ensouling these vehicles, becomes more complete; or we can use the term "higher" and say that the higher the type of body, the higher the type of consciousness inhabiting that body.

The consciousness of a cell is a synthesis of the consciousness of the atoms composing that cell; the consciousness of an organ in the body, is the synthesis of the consciousness of the cells composing the organ. The body itself has a consciousness, as a whole, which is the synthesis of the organs and parts composing it. It gets hungry and thirsty, or feverish, or tired, or cold. We Western peoples say, "We are hungry, or cold," but the Easterner says much more truly, "my body is hungry," or "my body is cold."

Carrying forward this idea that a higher type is the synthesis of many of a lower type, and associating it with what has already been said about great spiritual beings, we reach the logical conclusion that there must be entities, or centers of life and consciousness which are the synthesis of groups of human beings. That is one way of explaining what a Master is. All the souls in the world are "on the ray" of a Master, belong to him, are a part of him. There is no escape from this, for it is the way the universe manifests. Everything above is a synthesis of things below. A Master is the synthesis of the souls of men. He is a man made perfect, for he came up, or evolved, through the human stage, but in the process he became more than man, for, as he reached that stage of progress, he automatically took upon himself the characteristics of that stage; he became a link-in a new place-in the uninterrupted stream leading from the Absolute and running down to the smallest unit of manifestation, which we call the atom.

It does not follow, of course, that all Masters are products of this cycle of evolution. On the contrary we are given to believe that many, if not all of the greatest Masters, became such in previous cycles, but "came back" in this one in order to help forward human evolution.

The Secret Doctrine teaches that there is a Planetary spirit who looks after, guides and directs evolution on the Earth, and who is the synthesis of the Earth and all that it contains, of life and consciousness. Our minds cannot even speculate to advantage about this Being, who is too inconceivably far removed from our range of perception to make speculation worth while. It has been said of him that he could wipe every trace of evil out of the world as easily as a boy wipes a pencil mark off his slate. He does not do it because it would interfere with free will. His point of direct contact with the world is a being known as the Silent Watcher, the ranking member of the Great White Lodge. Next below

are two beings whose names are not given us. Below them again are the four Maha-chohans of the North, East, South and West, the Regents, as they are sometimes called, who preside over the destinies of mankind. These great beings are the Masters of the Masters, and, so far as I know, they are the highest with whom it is possible for a human being to have intercourse. It is probable that this last statement is not absolutely and theoretically true, whatever it may be in practice. But it is known that the Maha-chohans do concern themselves with individuals and, occasionally, though rarely, communicate with them. One or two letters were received from the Regent of the West in the early days of the Theosophical Society, and they have sent messages to individuals. Below the Maha-chohans are the great body of the Masters. We do not know how many there are or how many grades of them there are. There would appear to be no limit to their possible number, but there is a distinct limit to their actual number. There must be ranks or grades among them, for scattered bits of information have filtered down to us indicating this.

We also read of different kinds of Masters. The Voice of the Silence speaks of Nirmanakayas who stay in the atmosphere of the earth, as it were, where they are able to deal directly with human affairs, and Dharmakayas, those who pass on to some Nirvanic condition where they are removed from any possible intercourse with man. We hear of those who renounce their own advancement, who actually retain some of the limitations of humanity, in order to continue to work directly with and for mankind; a ceaseless sacrifice of such appalling magnitude that it transcends our imagination. Their state has been likened to what ours would be if we lived and worked perpetually in a noisome muck heap, in a boiler factory full of raucous and discordant noise. One great Master's name is especially associated with this type of sacrifice, than which it is impossible to conceive of anything higher. Reverend hail to Jesus of Nazareth, the living exponent of what is greatest, even among Masters.

Below the Masters are the disciples of countless different grades, but of two great divisions-those who are conscious of who and what they are, who have conscious intercourse with their Master and with other members of the Lodge; and those who strive for that full communion. But this section is about Masters. I shall endeavor to deal with disciples more in detail, later.

Chohan is a Thibetan word meaning master; Maha-Sanscrit for great, so Maha-chohan means, great master.

The Masters are sometimes called Mahatmas, from Maha-atma, atma meaning, roughly, soul-great souls. The term adept is too loosely used in Theosophical literature to have any special significance. Generally it is used to mean any full member of the Lodge.

Jivanmukti is a Sanscrit word meaning one who has reached the ultimate state of holiness, who has reached the state of Nirvana during

life and is often used to designate the Masters. They are also sometimes called Rishi, a Sanscrit word meaning the inspired one.

We have endeavored to give some idea of their nature and of the place they occupy in the evolutionary stream. What of their powers and functions. First as to their powers. They have conquered death as we know it. That does not mean that they are not subject to the law of cycles. Death is but a period of sleep between two awakenings. The Masters' periods are longer, that is all. They too are subject to the universal law that alternates periods of activity with periods of rest. We must count their periods in thousands of years, however. They are not subjects of time, as we know it, although subject to their own kind of time. Neither are they limited by space, as we know it. Our world is a world of three dimensions. They live in a four dimensional world, and have the powers which necessarily follow, powers which we can understand only in the terms of our own world, and which therefore, can only express phases or aspects of their real capacities. Not being limited by time or space, they can go with the speed of thought instantaneously, from any place to any other place, by a simple act of will. More mysterious still, being in four dimensional space, they can be simultaneously in several different places at once, from the point of view of our space. They can enter closed rooms, see inside of things, including our hearts and minds. They can communicate with each other freely, at any time, no matter where they may happen to be. They can see and hear anything at any part of the earth, or at different parts of the earth at the same time. We can do several things at once. We can eat and read and watch the time, and listen to music simultaneously. A little training enables us to add quite a number of things which we can do at the same time. Having far greater abilities in all directions than we have, and having additional powers of which we know nothing, the Masters can do so many different things at the same time that it appears miraculous to us. They seem omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, and to all intents and purposes they are, so far as we are concerned, but they are not in fact. They have their limits, they get tired; they get overburdened; there are tasks beyond even their exalted strength.

They are the subjects and instruments of Karma; they must work within the limits of the law of cycles; they go with the stream. Man's free will is a perpetual barrier to all their projects and often raises insufferable obstacles to the successful fulfilment of their plans.

Tradition tells us that they meet once a year in formal convention, to receive the instructions of their superiors, and to plan out the work for the coming year. They discuss the state of the world, in all its vast complexities, study the trend of thought and the other activities of the human race; sometimes disagree as to the best course of action, referring the point, in such a case, to the Maha-chohan for decision; and generally assign to each member of the Lodge his task for the immediate future. In order not to get a wrong idea from this, however, it must be remem

bered that they plan movements that take hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years to mature. They prepare centuries in advance for important departures in human affairs. They guide, direct, control, inspire, encourage, retard all human activities, literature, art, music, science in all its branches, including medicine, philosophy, commerce, war, politics, religion. They concern themselves with races, nations, peoples, governments, societies, and all assembles and associations of peoples; but their great work is done with individuals, for after all it is the individual, the soul, with which they are finally concerned. All these other things are of interest only as they affect the souls of men.

In an effort to describe the essence of their functions, I first thought of using the word service. That word certainly is an epitome of their lives and activities; but there is a better, though much misused word, which is even more descriptive, and that is Love.

The Masters are the living exponents of the law of Love, which is the basic law of the Universe. They have been called Masters of Compassion, because they spend themselves, endlessly, ceaselessly, upon mankind, out of compassion for the sufferings of the human race; as they know that all suffering arises from sin, from self-will, from disobedience to the laws of Life, and that the only possible surcease from suffering lies in getting rid of self-will and in making the personal life conform to the divine life. Hence their special interest in the individual. Their activity in other directions, their interest in and guidance of human events and movements, are because of the influence these things have on the individual. Their fundamental concern is with the souls of men. Their interest in outer worldly events is only because of the effect these have upon the souls of men.

They want disciples, for the road to final emancipation is through discipleship, and by no other way whatsoever. Therefore they maintain, always, in the world, a series of agencies which make this appeal to mankind. These agencies vary from time to time, and according to the natures appealed to. The laws of life are interpreted and reinterpreted in an endless variety of ways, so that no single soul shall not be reached by some form of appeal best suited to his needs. They are never discouraged, for they know that in the fullness of time all men will be caught in the net of the Gods, and be drawn home to their eternal Salvation; but their hearts bleed because of man's perversity and self-will, his ignorance and inertia. They do not wish us to be whipped into Heaven by pain and misery, but to travel there joyously and willingly, with heads erect and hearts aflame. They wish us to take Heaven by violence.

Endlessly patient, endlessly compassionate, endlessly wise, they work ceaselessly, in countless different ways, for our salvation. Selfless, impersonal, yet full of personality in the best sense, they are Gods in their divine natures, yet very loving and lovable human beings in their humanity.

This brief sketch would be incomplete if it did not end with an effort to express the unceasing gratitude and recognition which we should bear them for their endless goodness and sacrifice. C. A. G.

War Letters from the Living Dead Man, written down by Elsa Barker.* The last number of the QUARTERLY contained several reviews or articles about books purporting to describe the after death states; one by the same author having received special notice, because it attracted particular public attention. It is a graceless task for the reviewer, because such books almost always contain much that is positively offensive, often are actually pernicious, and nearly always are objectionable and misleading. This book is no exception. In spite of its interest, for it is interesting, we believe that it will do more harm than good. The good that it may do is obvious; almost anything that will stimulate mankind's waning interest and faith in the unseen, has merit, and it is quite conceivable that such a work, crude and blattantly pretentious as it is, will appeal to certain grades of intelligence, which would pass by without notice serious works of a more reliable character. The harm it cannot fail to do is less obvious. The book is thoroughly materialistic. That may seem a queer word to use in connection with a work which avowedly Ideals with the states after death, but it the only word which adequately describes the intensely mechanical and lifeless conditions which are portrayed. There is much talk of God and Devils, of Masters and Demons, of Angels and elementals, but there is no single ray of genuine perception about all these things, from beginning to end. There are pages about love, but never a breath of real feeling. It is sterile, barren, dead.

Two theories may account for this, and for the book itself. One, that the work is from the subconscious mind of Mrs. Elsa Barker. The other, that it really is from the kamic shade of Judge Hatch;-from those remnants and dregs of the late Californian which remain earth-bound for a time after the death of the physical body, and after the soul and the higher principles have passed on to other planes of being. We are not inclined even to speculate as to which of these theories is true, for either accounts for the facts. So would a third possibility,-that the book is a deliberate and conscious fake.

Now the facts are that there is not in the whole book a single statement of anything which could be described as new. It is a hodge-podge of badly digested and misunderstood gleanings from theosophical and spiritualistic literature. Sentence after sentence, phrase after phrase, idea after idea, have the echo and often the actual clothes of the better-known theosophical books; there is nothing anywhere that any intelligent person could not write after six months' study of our literature. Even the errors and misleading statements are the errors and inaccuracies of our pseudo-occult literature. The author, whoever he is, did not know enough to discriminate between his authorities.

The real evil of the work, however, is not its strange blending of partial truth and falsehood; that would be bad enough; its real evil is its casual manner of dealing with sacred things, its total lack of real understanding of Masters, or indeed of anything one can only refer to by that much misused word-spiritual. I suppose most Christians would feel shocked if they heard a Fiji Islander telling