observers, and no scientific man would make any progress in his
science, if he were always in the reverential attitude of the devotee
before a spiritual truth when he is working out experiments in his
laboratory. You may show reverence to great beings like the Masters,
there the posture of reverence is the right one; but when you are
dealing with the phenomena of the astral plane there is no more need
to show reverence than with phenomena of the physical plane. It is out
of place, and if you make that atmosphere round it, you will always
be at the mercy of misconception and error of all kinds. You must try,
in all psychical research, in all weighing of observation of
phenomena, to cultivate the purely scientific spirit, indifferent save
to the truth and the accuracy of the results, looking on every matter
with a clear eye, without bias and without prejudice; not seeking for
facts to verify a doctrine already believed in, but seeking for facts
in order to draw conclusions from them as to the laws and truths of
the unseen world. There is no other safe way of investigation, no
other reasonable condition of mind in face of the objective world; and
if it be possible amongst us to break down this wall between the
physical, astral and mental, to see all objects in all worlds as
simply part of the Not-Self which we are studying, dealing with them
in the same way, interpreting them in the same spirit, then we are
likely to add largely to our knowledge without risking the loss of our
judgment or becoming mere enthusiasts, carried away by marvels and
unable either to observe accurately or judge correctly. The place of
phenomena in the Theosophical Society seems to me to be a constant
place. They must be recognised as fit objects for the study of the
Theosophist. We must recognise frankly that our future literature
depends on the development of these powers which can be utilised in
the worlds beyond the physical; that we are not satisfied to be only
receivers, but also desire to be investigators and students; that
while we will check the observations of to-day by the observations of
the past, and hold our conclusions lightly until they have been
repeatedly verified, we will not be frightened back from
investigation by the idea that psychism is a thing to be disliked, to
be shrunk from, to be afraid of. Some of you think that I have laid
too much stress, when speaking of observations in the other worlds, on
the probability of mistake