The Friendly Philosopher Author:Robert Crosbie From the preface: — ROBERT CROSBIE left no name to conjure with before the populace, but he lived a life that all might emulate. He was one of the unknown soldiers in the army of those who live to benefit mankind, who strive for the redemption of every creature from the bonds of conditioned existence. — There are biographies and autobiographies w... more »ithout number, of men and women whose lives were spent in the pitiless glare of publicity, whether for their own or their party’s sake, or for the good of humanity—more often a mixture of all three. Rare indeed is there to be found, in history or in tradition, similar record of those whose works were done and whose lives were lived without thought of self. Every hall of learning overflows with all manner of detail concerning the world’s great men—rulers, statesmen, re formers, poets, priests, politicians, soldiers of fortune good or evil. But who knows aught of the personal life of Lao-tse, Buddha, Jesus, Pythagoras, Plato, or any of the great of Soul? If this be true of all the great Captains in the Army of the Voice, how slight the human trophies erected to commemorate the battles and the victories of the common soldier in the ranks? Yet without these soldiers, the greatest Captain would have spent his life in vain: a general in the field is no army.
This book, then, is no biography or autobiography written and uttered for the greater glory of a mortal man, but rather is an introduction to the only life worth living, whether reflected in the small or in the great—the life of the Soul. Its speech is in the language of the Soul; its utterance is that of the Doctrine of the Heart; its purpose is the furtherance of that Cause in which was hid the mortal existence of Robert Crosbie no less than the earthly careers of those great Captains whom he revered and under whom he served: H. P. Blavatsky and Wm. Q. Judge.« less