Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tt00079)

There is no question that Theosophy respects all "beliefs." But
it goes further, and seeks to reconcile all "beliefs" with
knowledge -- a knowledge of facts which are the common property
of all humanity, and are accessible to all who desire to find and
learn about them.

This attitude, would, I think, transorfm "beleif" into
"knowldge." a knowledge which would be the property of everyone.

When I have written or expressed the opinon that Theosophy is
worth studying and investigating, I have always had this as my
basis -- a vast community of information and a process of
reasoning based logically and openly on all information
available.

In the "Secret Doctrine" Vol.  I, pp 272-3 in the 1st Item there,
HPB gives this as a basis.  Most of that book from its start to
p.  300 gives basic ideas and statements which are then developed
through the rest of the two volumes.

A reading, then a study of ISIS UNVEILED, would reveal the
community of basis for all religions and faiths that are current
as well as those of antiquity.  They form a vast "tree," each, as
era succeeds era, can be seen to emerge from earlier ones, and be
modified by the developing thoughts of important thinkers who
emerge in each of those systems, as they come into contact with
other systems of thought that are contemporaneous.  That leads
the student to consider that all organized faiths lead, if one
goes back to their source, to the same set of common and basic
metaphysics and ethics.  This is what Theosophy presents to us
all again.

These are briefly presented in the "Secret Doctrine" authored by
HPB and the Masters, (Vol.  1, pp 14-18) as "The Three
Fundamentals."

1.  God or Deity is Universal, therfore present in every part of
Nature in every Bening and in every human.  Therefore the "Spirit
in Man" is as immortal as are also, the rest of the "Spirits"
found at the base of every being in Nature.  Spirit is a
Universal basis for all Life.  The "Life-Atom" or MONAD is the
unit which works through the whole cycle of evolution and everges from
that vast experience as a "god." That is why I stated
earlier that we, at present, as intelligent Mankind are
metpahorically, mid-way between our distant "beginnings." and our
equally distant future "ending." But even this is only an
illustration, a picture, since in fact we are the "Immortal
Pilgrims of LIFE."

2.  Law pervades the entire Kosmos, our World, and in humanity it
forms the basis for morals and ethics -- "as ye sow, so shall you
reap" -- is the simplest expression.  "Each action is balanced by
an equal an opposite reaction,"-- 1st law of Motion.  Under this
are to seen time cycles, reincarnation of the human Spirit/soul,
and the individual progress or evolution of all beings.

3.  Evolution is universal, as every being is an immortal at
base, and is ever learning through experience and choice--which
lead increasingly to the experience of self-reliance and
individual responsibility as we find exists in the human kingdom.
The future of mankind is only grandly sketched as the becoming
WISE.  Of this Wisdom and all-knowingness we have as example the
Sages and Prophets of the past and the Theosophical "Masters," to
whom we owe this presentation of Theosophy in our era.