Theos-Talk Archives (December 1997 Message tt00103)

At 09:14 AM 12/20/1997 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
>Nicholas:
>>>However, according to the SD (vol. 2, 300-01, for example) the human life
>>>wave passed through the descending arc, where matter dominated spirit,
>>>many millions of years ago.
>
>Mark K:
>>Maybe we've rounded the corner, so to speak, and have started on
>>the long climb up, especially since we are now well into the fifth root
>>race and beginning to respond to ascending impulses, but by and large,
>>we are still very much in the thick. We are by no means, as a race, "out
>>of it yet." Maybe you don't share my opinion, that's OK with me.
>
>N:
>I did not say we are free or even approaching freedom from self
>cherishing, only that it will not go away without our efforts to remove
>it. By the way, what is your opinion based on?
>>>So selfishness now is very much a retrogressive energy. A rebel against
>>>Nature as HPB put it.

Anything that is done without love can be objectionable. We only are able
to know ourselves fully when we experience the great LOVE in the universe
pouring down upon us. When this happens we become a rich person: wealthy,
happy, aspiring, generous. Love changes us. If a selfish person could
accept love from a supreme being, they would change. The problem is that
the selfish person can't understand why this love is theirs for the asking.
If it were valuable enough, then it wouldn't be available in such
abundance, etc.

Just because the love comes through their own ego, instead of makes itself
available exteriorly, they have difficulty KNOWING God is there for them.
By knowing themselves as a recipient of love from great beings, selfish or
not, they become more fully aware of who they are, what the nature of the
self is, and why we exist together. Isn't it possible that we all ask these
questions because we haven't yet opened ourselves to Christ love? The only
problem is that some people become deadened and stop asking these important
questions.

>M:
>>I disagree. It may be a current opposed to the goal and intent of
>>evolution, ultimately, but for the time being, it's in, through and all
>>around us if we are only honest with ourselves. It is Natural that it be
>>so. I want to stress the fact that I believe it is psychologically
>>healthier to understand the cause of "selfishness" and "ego,"
>>(theosophically speaking) etc., than to react with fear and
>>self-loathing against it.
>
>N:
>Understanding the cause of suffering is only part of the equation.  Buddha
>(for example) also taught a path to cure the illness or remove the cause
>-- a path requiring more than loathing.  But if one is comfortable or
>accepting of a major vice I do not see how or why one would do anything
>about it.
>
>>From the SD 2, 110: "In sober truth, vice and wickedness are an
>*abnormal, unnatural* manifestation, at this period of our human
>evolution -- at least they ought to be so. The fact that mankind was
>never more selfish and vicious than it is now... is an additional proof
>of the exceptional nature of the phenomenon."

If we could know God's love, we could look at a being - see our own face in
the mirror - as someone we confirm to be a type of being manifesting light
in a way we gladly identify with. We don't want to identify with a being
down on its luck, in the doldrums, downcast. But show us someone with a
God-relationship, and that's who we know as the Self, that is man, that is
someone flowering, overflowing with gifts and blessings. That is the self
we all seek, a success and a God-realized being.

The trick is that while everyone values the outcome - blessings and
success, there aren't enough people showing the way to this result. So,
when self-taught people try to realize the goal, they may be working
without the necessary "inner" consciousness. So be sure and tell everyone
you meet that through God's love they will someday know their true being.

Where are all the teachers?

Brenda