When Inner and Outer Man Are Off-Kilter

William Quan Judge · Constitution of Man Series · 7 pages

From The Theosophical Forum, answering question 107 and collected in Echoes of the Orient II. The question was a compound one: what the Theosophical view of obsession is, whether the New Testament accounts of casting out devils are literally true, whether obsession is a retribution under the law of Karma, and where the remedy lies when the obsessing power seems so far superior in force of will as to be wholly irresistible.

Judge's first move is to refuse the premise of the question. The Society has no view about obsession; all statements on such subjects must be the expression of individual opinion. He then dissents openly from the Forum's own editor, who appeared to intimate that there are no real cases at all — allowing that instances do abate as superstition abates, but denying that this proves the phenomena wholly the product of belief in their possibility. His argument from experience is put frankly: having, in common with many other members, known clear cases, no amount of argument from someone who has never encountered one would avail; and he adds the observation that those who disbelieve in such occurrences will probably never meet one, because the mind is not directed that way. The mechanism he offers is the one the title names — degrading magnetism throwing the inner and outer man out of alignment.

Read the full text (PDF, 0.4 MB, 7 pages)