“Mr. B. Keightley: What Old is after is the purely general statement here: that the goal of peace is only to be attained by life experience.
Mr. Old: Might I have another try? I think it might be done on the ad absurdum principle, by proving that happiness cannot be attained elsewhere.
For instance: a person dies; he hopes to go to heaven. Ask him his definition of heaven. He says: “the place of happiness.” Ask him what “happiness” is; he says: “it is a relative thing.” (Happiness, I suppose, in heaven would be to have everything you want, and nothing you don’t want.)
Consequently, it is nothing else than an expression or full realization of Karma, desire, of individual desire. Can this be a condition of progress?
Mme. Blavatsky: Even Devachan is a state of exalted selfishness, but this is finite. It is not as theology says, that because a man has been “goody-goody” he will be given a golden harp and be very happy for eternity; there is no logic in it.
A man says very well, if I only believe what I am told, I may have the golden harp and sit – I don’t know what they do there; I think recline on the soft clouds! This is the most absurd thing in the world.
A man is taught thus to believe: that, do what he may, if he only believes that because another man has been put to death on his account, his sins are pardoned to him.
I say it is the most pernicious doctrine in the world. It forces every man to lose self-esteem and self-reliance. It makes him lose sight of this terrible injustice, that because I may go and steal cherries another will be flogged for me. This is an absurdity.
Mr. Old: Moral responsibility is lost sight of.
Mme. Blavatsky: However, I want you to hear to the end, and after he has read all this, then we will have a general conversation, because I want you to see if anything is forgotten.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 