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# 2021-05-27 - Annie Besant, An Autobiography
The author grew up in a sheltered childhood and started out as an
ardent Christian. She married a Christian priest and experienced a
rude awakening. After certain experiences, she converted to atheism.
This autobiography tracks the experiences and thoughts of Annie
Besant as she progresses through several such conversions, from
Christian, to atheist free-thinker, to socialist, and finally to
theosophist. It is half biography and half philosophical discussion.
I enjoyed the earnestness and intelligence of the author, and i know
that i would have enjoyed a conversation with her.
Below she gives an analogy to argue the case that consciousness is a
result of the arrangement of matter, or in other words, to justify a
materialist description of life.
"Every one knows the exquisite iridiscence of mother-of-pearl, the
tender, delicate hues which melt into each other, glowing with soft
radiance. How different is the dull, dead surface of a piece of wax.
Yet take that dull, black wax and mould it so closely to the surface
of the mother-of-pearl that it shall take every delicate marking of
the shell, and when you raise it the seven-hued glory shall smile at
you from the erstwhile colourless surface. For, though it be to the
naked eye imperceptible, all the surface of the mother-of-pearl is in
delicate ridges and furrows, like the surface of a newly-ploughed
field; and when the waves of light come dashing up against the ridged
surface, they are broken like the waves on a shingly shore, and are
flung backwards, so that they cross each other and the oncoming
waves; and, as every ray of white light is made up of waves of seven
[let's just say "many"] colours, and these waves differ in length
each from the others, the fairy ridges fling them backward
separately, and each ray reaches the eye by itself; so that the
colour of the mother-of-pearl is really the spray of the light waves,
and comes from arrangement of matter once again. Give the dull,
black wax the same ridges and furrows, and its glory shall differ in
nothing from that of the shell."
When the author fell into hard times and was beginning to take an
atheist worldview, she received little empathy from her Christian
peers. For example, after seeking to clarify her thoughts in a
conversation with Dr. Pusey, she wrote:
"Little feeling of pride was there in me just then, but only a
despairful feeling that in this rigid, unyielding dogmatism there was
no comprehension of my difficulties, no help for me in my
strugglings."
She did find a few rare exceptions of Christian empathy.
Below is a quote from a Christian clergyman's letter to Annie Besant.
He opted for human connection rather than quoting scriptures.
"But when I talk face to face with one who is in sore need of them,
my faith in them suddenly becomes so vast and heart-stirring that I
think I must help most by talking naturally, and letting the faith
find its own way from soul to soul."
Below is a similar liberal sentiment from Dean Stanley:
"He finally told me that conduct was far more important than theory,
and that he regarded all as Christians who recognised and tried to
follow the moral law of Christ. On the question of the absolute
Deity of Jesus he laid but little stress; Jesus was ``in a special
sense the Son of God,'' but it was folly to quarrel over words with
only human meanings when dealing with the mystery of the Divine
existence, and, above all, it was folly to make such words into
dividing walls between earnest souls. The one important matter was
the recognition of ``duty to God and man,'' and all who were one in
that recognition might rightfully join in an act of worship, the
essence of which was not acceptance of dogma, but love of God and
self-sacrifice for man."
Below are interesting quotes from the book.
"... read opinions you disagree with, and you will catch aspects of
truth you do not readily see." -- Charles Bradlaugh
"The contemplation of the ideal is true prayer; it inspires, it
strengthens, it ennobles. The other part of prayer is work; from
contemplation to labour, from the forest [meditation in solitude] to
the street [service in everyday life]. Study nature's laws, conform
to them, work in harmony with them, and work becomes a prayer and a
thanksgiving, an adoration of the universal wisdom, and a true
obedience to the universal law."
"... you serve warmly a God unknown and invisible, in a sense the
projected shadow of your own imaginings, and can only serve coldly
your brother whom you see at your side?"
"Things are better now, but in those days temperance hotels were for
the most part lacking in cleanliness."
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"Passing out of the slums into the streets of the town, only a few
steps separating the horror and the beauty, I felt, with a vividness
more intense than ever, the fearful contrasts between the lots of
men; and with more pressing urgency the question seemed to ring in my
ears, 'Is there no remedy? Must there always be rich and poor?' Some
say that it must be so; that the palace and the slum will for ever
exist as the light and the shadow. Not so do I believe. I believe
that the poverty is the result of ignorance and of bad social
arrangements, and that therefore it may be eradicated by knowledge
and by social change. I admit that for many of these adult dwellers
in the slums there is no hope. Poor victims of a civilisation that
hides its brutality beneath a veneer of culture and of grace, for
them individually there is, alas! no salvation. But for their
children, yes! Healthy surroundings, good food, mental and physical
training, plenty of play, and carefully chosen work--these might save
the young and prepare them for happy life."
"... how strong the conviction was growing that there was something
to be sought to which the service of man was the road..."
"If there be a faith that can remove the mountains of ignorance and
evil, it is surely that faith in the ultimate triumph of Right in the
final enthronement of Justice, which alone makes life worth the
living, and which gems the blackest cloud of depression with the
rainbow-coloured arch of an immortal hope."
author: Besant, Annie, 1847-1933 |