To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

158 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
The awful uncertainties of the times are a blessing, in
that they impel us to reexamine our thinking and motives
and to come to terms with the central issues of life and
death, and how best to prepare our children for the world
they are inheriting. Science with its ‘‘miraculous pitcher’’ of
marvels has confirmed our interdependence not only as a
humanity but, more importantly, as participants in an ecosphere
whose families of entities share in the one life flow.
Yet with all our knowledge we have not discovered what we
most need: how to live in harmony with ourselves and with
one another. As a result, many are despondent, fearful of
themselves and of the future, seriously questioning where
civilization is heading.
It should not surprise us that various Fundamentalists
are urging us to ‘‘believe and be saved’’ before it is too late:
for the ‘‘perilous times’’ of which both Paul and Peter wrote
are soon to come, when the corrupt and the covetous, the
truce-breakers and despisers of all that is good, will walk
the land, ‘‘the heavens will pass away with great noise, and
the elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also ...’’*
We would do well not to wholly discount such warnings, for
no species can escape the consequences of action; certainly
not we humans, who should know better than wantonly to
violate natural law. Of course, since every living being in
the universe is subject to birth and death, and rebirth in a
new form, so likewise our present civilization, and our
planet and its kingdoms of lives, will eventually disappear
after fulfilling their respective life cycles.
*Cf. 2 Timothy 3:1‒5 and 2 Peter 3:3‒13.