Editorial Board of Theosophy Trust | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

The pendulum of thought oscillates between extremes. Having now finally emancipated herself from the shackles of theology, Science has embraced the opposite fallacy; and in the attempt to interpret Nature on purely materialistic lines, she has built up that most extravagant theory of the ages-the derivation of man from a ferocious and brutal ape. So rooted has this doctrine, in one form or another, now become, that the most Herculean efforts will be needed to bring about its final rejection. The Darwinian anthropology is the incubus of the ethnologist, a sturdy child of modern Materialism, which has grown up and acquired increasing vigour, as the ineptitude of the theological legend of Man's 'creation" became more and more apparent. It has thriven on account of the strange delusion that-as a scientist of repute puts it-'All hypotheses and theories with respect to the rise of man can be reduced to two (the Evolutionist and the Biblical exoteric account).. There is no other hypothesis conceivable."! The anthropology of the secret volumes is, however, the best possible answer to such a worthless contention. The Secret Doctrine, ii 689