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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." | |
See also: | |
Coffee palace @Wikipedia | |
"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 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Annie_Besant | |
LOC: PR585.B3 A3 & BP585.B3 A3 | |
source: gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/1/2/0/8/12085/ | |
tags: biography,ebook,history,non-fiction | |
title: Annie Besant, An Autobiography | |
# Tags | |
biography | |
ebook | |
history | |
non-fiction |