First Edition copyright ©1944; Second Revised Edition copyright ©1984 by Theosophical University Press (print version also available). Electronic version ISBN 1-55700-128-6. All rights reserved. This edition may be downloaded for off-line viewing without charge. No part of this publication may be reproduced for commercial or other use in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission of Theosophical University Press. For ease of searching, no diacritical marks appear in this electronic version of the text.
Wind of the Spirit
The Heritage of Man Is Man Himself
Where Are the Sages and Seers?
Shifting Our Center of Consciousness
Altruism
Carving Your Destiny
After Death: You Are Yourself
The Secret of Human Conflict
The Divine Proportion
Civilization Built upon Thought
The Injunction of Pythagoras
Universality and the Esoteric Tradition
Where the Masters Work
Prayer and Aspiration
The Only Way Out
Where Two or Three Are Gathered
The Direct Road to Wisdom
What Is Old Age?
Work Out Your Own Salvation
The Touchstone of Truth
To Those Who Mourn
The Giving of the Self
Why Not Laugh at Yourself?
The Guardian Angel
Strength through Exercise
The World's Trouble and Its Cure
Guard Your Thought Processes
Initiation and Suffering
The Weighing of the Heart
The Ensouling of Man
Overcoming Doubt
The Essence of H. P. Blavatsky's Message
The Yoga of Theosophy
Beauty and Science
The Understanding Heart
Karma: Pleasant and Unpleasant
Young People and Theosophy
Making Mistakes
The Lost Cause of Materialism
The Virgin Birth
Let the Christ-Child Live
The Exoteric and Esoteric H. P. B
The Vision of the Lord Buddha
Rules of Conduct
Common Sense in the Home
An Attitude of Balance and Vision
Forgiveness and Karmic Action
Capturing a World with Ideas
Karmic Results and the Bardo
The Guerdon of Self-Forgetfulness
"Vengeance Is Mine"
Human Consciousness
Theosophists and Prayer
Strength and Balance in Occultism
Fear, the Great Destroyer
Soul Loss and Insincerity
The Relation of the Finite to the Infinite
Misuse of the Free Will
"Lead Us Not into Temptation"
Help from the Gods
Predestination
What Is Truth?
We Have No Dogmas
Making Resolutions
Help from the Teachers
Encouragement on the Path
Nature in Silent Prayer
Two Ways of Viewing Reality
Oracles of the Ancients
Duty and the Moral Balance
One Life — One Law
The Theosophy of China
Responsibility of Scientists
Angel and Demon
About Healing
Man in a Just and Ordered Universe
Where Can Truth Be Found?
Win with Gentleness and Kindness
The Hill of Discernment
Three Aspects of Karma
How Easter Became a Christian Festival
Time, Duration, and the Eternal Now
Nature's Way after Death
Wine as a Mystic Symbol
The Four Yugas
How Can You Prove Reincarnation?
The Invincible Fire of Spirit
Knowledge Brings Responsibility
The Adversary
The Christmas Tree
The Living Buddhas in Tibet
Thoughts on Karma
The Ancient Doctrine of Vicarious Atonement
The Golden Chain of Platonic Succession
Lost Continents and Our Atlantean Heritage
Three Stages of Visioning Truth
Aham Asmi Parabrahma
"THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT that is blowing over the world, tumultuous, cold and biting as it seems to our sensitive lives, is nevertheless the wind of the spirit" — this is the theme of an address given by Gottfried de Purucker in 1940 and used as the title and opening chapter of the present book. He urges us to penetrate appearances and discern the eternal beyond the temporal, for behind and within the current turmoil there is "power, spiritual power."
In the near-half century since these words were spoken the winds of destiny have been blowing hard, at times with gale force. Certainly not a nation or race, not a single human being, not Mother Earth herself with her families of lives, has been untouched by karmic change. Yet out of the pain and disruption a new worldview and a new and grander vision of humanity's role in the cosmic drama are coming into focus. Despite the prevailing self-seeking in subtle and gross forms, the practice of altruism is on the rise as the counter-impulse toward spirit gains momentum.
During his leadership of the Theosophical Society (1929-1942) Dr. de Purucker lectured constantly on the manifold aspects of theosophy, both in Europe and in the United States, and these addresses form the basis of his larger works. Wind of the Spirit is different. In this seemingly random collection of remarks made spontaneously at public and private gatherings and drawn from letters and notes to students, we rediscover how immensely practical theosophy is. Of course there is teaching aplenty — it could scarcely be otherwise, so profound was his knowledge of the world's spiritual and literary heritage; but it is de Purucker's lucid and direct response to human need that constitutes the book's appeal: always compassionate of human frailty yet ever challenging the nobility within each of us to shine forth. Understandably, when Wind of the Spirit first came out in 1944, within two years of the author's death, it was an instant favorite.
In the present edition the eight formal lectures included in the first edition are omitted as the subject matter is amply treated elsewhere by the author. Outside of this, only minor editing of the text has been done so as to preserve the vitality of the spoken word; and, as an aid to the reader, an index and glossary of philosophical terms, prepared by Ingrid Van Mater, have been added.
Wind of the Spirit concludes with the talk given by Dr. de Purucker a week before he died: "Aham Asmi Parabrahma" — I am Parabrahma, the Boundless. This was the alpha and omega of his teaching mission: to remind us again and again that at the core of every human being, indeed of every atom in the cosmos, is a living divinity. "Think if every man and woman on earth were thoroughly convinced of the utter reality of this cosmic truth! Never again would the hand of man be raised against man. Always it would be the extended hands of succor and brotherhood. For I am my brother — in our inmost we are one."
GRACE F. KNOCHE
June 21, 1984
Pasadena, California
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