Theos-Talk Archives (March 1998 Message tt00172)

March 20th 1998

Dear Sigtryggur:

Thank you for your response to my suggestion that we use for
reference the ideas found in the KEY TO THEOSOPHY and as for practice
in the VOICE OF THE SILENCE.

Permit me to make some brief answers to your observations (below)
which will clarify my way of thinking.

----------
| From: "Sigtryggur Omar Jonsson" <sigtryggur@isholf.is>
| Subject: Re:The test of life
| Date: Thursday, March 19, 1998 2:22 PM
|
| At 13:56 17.03.1998 -0800, you wrote:
| >Mar 17th 1998
| >
| >Dear Sigtryggur:
| >
| >Do you have, or can you obtain from the library, a copy of Mme.
| >Blavatsky's KEY TO THEOSOPHY ?
| >
| >On the subject of practical Theosophy you will find there many
ideas
| >and directions of practical action for a sincere theosophist.  The
| >whole half of the book from p. 227 on is devoted to every aspect
of
| >this.
| >
| >Additionally in her small book THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE, you will
| >find innumerable statements that relate to the path of life and
| >discipline which a devotee ought to consider and adopt as far as
it
| >is possible for them to do so.
| >
| >If you cannot get these, let me know and I will be glad to send
them
| >to you.
| >
| >			Best wishes,		Dallas  -  dalval@nwc.net
|
| Dear Dallas,
|
| Thank you for your kind offer.  I have these books, and The Voice
of the
| Silence has already been translated into Icelandic.
| I have been paging through "THE KEY" and on page 305, in an answer
to a
| question about the future of the T.S. Theos says: "Every such
attempt as
| the Theosophical Society has hitherto ended in failure, because,
sooner or
| later, it has degenerated into a sect, set up hard and fast dogmas
of its
| own, and so lost by imperceptible degrees that vitality which
living truth
| alone can impart..."
|
| I do not like quoting books all the time, but this sentence
contains much
| of what I have been trying to express.  The truth must be "living"
i.e. it
| must come from the heart and the mind, not just from books.  This
is
| important, because unconsciously this hardening can happen if one
is not on
| guard.  There are many dangers, f.ex. the danger of limitation.
Theosophy is not
| limited to the teachings of H.P.B., it can not because it is
unlimited as
| it is the teaching of unlimited Truth.  "Theosophy is synonymous
with
| EVERLASTING TRUTH" (The KEY, page 304).
| The problem is that words/names limit.  So does the word Theosophy,
it
| tends to become limited to the accepted dogmas of those who call
themselves
| "Theosophists".  So I think it is a good practice to try to avoid
using
| special names, even Theosophy and theosophist.
======================================================
I agree that if one limits ones' self to imitation some very
restricted meaning could emerge.  But I do not mean that.  the
Theosophy which has come to us has been through Mme. Blavatsky, and
the Masters of Wisdom for whom she acted as agent.  Neither They nor
she desired any kind of 'blind' following, or 'copying.'  What was
desired was for individuals who were inquiring into the underlying
meaning of the phenomena of Nature -- and, in a way, everything we
express is a result of invisible thought and invisible feeling,
things known only to us privately as our motives -- become free of
'authority' or develop any kind of' 'dogmatism.'

However, there is such a thing as a recognition and a reverence for a
good expression or statement of reasoning or verity.  Text-books in
any of the disciplines and departments of study are usually referred
to so as to assure the writer and the reader of a common
understanding or basis for discussion.  I use quotations
deliberately, not because I do not think, nor do I accept them
blindly, but rather because I consider myself a very humble and
beginning student.  I find that for me their writings at times
express succinctly the meaning that I am trying to convey.  It is
easy to express vague and mythical things, which may have some
modicum of value, but if one desires to be accurate and to have one's
ideas tested by others, then I would rather use those expressions
which I have found to be valuable.  It is a technique that I use, but
am not bound by it.  I would rather not pretend to be unique, but
would prefer to show others where I found my concepts, and ask, of
them, that they also investigate, and see if it is possibly correct
as to their way of thinking, also.

Why should I suggest books?

I do this so that I am assured that my correspondent and I have had
similar experience and a similarity of aim, purpose and
understanding.  And that is all.

It is my understanding that all minds are innately, FREE.  By this I
mean that their capacity to think and to feel is limited only by
their user.  For, to me these are faculties which, by use and
exercise can be either increased or diminished.  By exchanges such as
these we help each other, I believe.

============================================
|
| If the T.S. is to accomplish what it is meant to, it must express
the
| living truth, the truth in its essence.  Its field of work is
humanity as a
| whole, not just some small group of people who call themselves
| theosophists.  So the separative tendencies must be fought against.

============================================

The reason for the founding of the T S was to provide people
interested in studying the age-old philosophy of the World with a
basis that also considered the inner motives behind all visible acts,
words, etc...

The first barrier to be broken in 1875 ... was that of separateness,
to those that no "race" or "religion" was inferior to any other.  For
this brotherhood in the family of mankind had to be demonstrated.

The next, is to show that "accidents" of fortune, or "reverses"
occurred because of the choices and thoughts and feeling of humans,
who were not limited to one life, but were in fact, immortals
developing their capacity to think, to understand and to fill their
positions of responsibility and duty in the positions where they
found themselves.

So the third idea:  of universal law, justice, mercy, kindness was
shows to be present.  If Reincarnation teaches continuity and hope
for a constantly developing future, the concept of universal Karma
gives the concept of those links which tie our minds and motives to
everything else around us -- these surrounding being made up of
innumerable sensitive and intelligent beings, each having its own
reason for existence, and each being an immortal, or an incipient
man, when it capacity for mind became developed.  We, humankind, are
considered to be at the forefront of this developing wave of
intelligence, of independence and of responsibility.

These ideas were not current in 1875 + and even today are not widely
accepted or used.  However that does not prevent them from
influencing the minds of those who have turned out to be the true
leaders of man since then.  As a result, there is noticeable a vast
difference in humanism today compared to that prevailing 100 years
ago, and in spite of wars, holocausts, and repression.

What I am trying to say in brief is that the 'form' in which ideas
are expressed, ought to be that which is the best suited (in the mind
of the writer or speaker).

=============================================

 We may be fans of the work of H.P.B., A.A.Bailey or Helena Roerich
(I am
| personally a fan of all three of them), but to preach "the
doctrines of
| H.P.B." or "the doctrines of A.A.Bailey" is to stimulate the
tendency to
| separation and limitation. Lets try to study all the best sources
we know
| of, and then just to express the essence as we have worked it out
in our
| meditations and practices.

===============================================

As far as I am concerned, I have read those things written by writers
AFTER Mme. Blavatsky's presentations, and have uniformly found them
to be either copies, adaptations, or distortions of what she
advanced.  I am of the opinion that we do ourselves a great deal of
good by reverting to what she actually said.  Who, for instance, has
been able to fully encompass the information offered in THE SECRET
DOCTRINE?  To me it has the quality of the construction of an
'onion.'  Every time that I revisit it (almost daily, somewhere, I
find that there is an increased depth, which earlier I had not
perceived.  I attempting to relate scattered statements I find that
my grasp of the ideas and facts improve.  In reading and studying
other writings, I find that occasionally things are well expressed.

I agree also with you that one ought not to confine ones' self to any
one source.  that would not agree with the eclecticism of Theosophy
and it would be an expression of prejudice and being a 'closed mind.'
 and that is self-destroying.  No, I do not consider myself limited,
but, having others to read and compare from, and place in
juxtaposition to what HPB and the Masters have said, I have not been
satisfied with either their thoughts (as a continuum) or their views
in relation to those that were presented in original Theosophy.
There are inexplicable gaps of continuity, and those trouble me,
because they do not add to the wholeness of concept that Theosophy (I
mean the original presentation) does.

I also mean to make it clear that I do not think that the
"Theosophical Society" -- what ever its history or derivation may be
(and I am familiar with the recent history of those developments) has
any special 'sanctity' attached to it.  It as a body of free thinkers
was started to assist the world.  It had no 'dogmas' in the accepted
sense.  It advocated search and study.  It advocated brotherhood as a
practice -- not superficially, but philosophically and 'from the
heart.'

So, while the T S may have had much to recommend it, it depended and
depends on the unselfishness and undogmatic application of its
members and especially of those who took the position of being
'officers' -- as that demanded of them, not "Leadership," but a
devotion to the needs and rights of those members, wherever situated
and however set in their beliefs.  That the various T Ses have
developed interiorly into political groups, and that the officers
have dared to accept or reject any group of members is sheer folly
and has nothing to do with the presentation of THEOSOPHY.  If the T
Ses can return to their original intent, then a reform will draw them
all together again.  But it is historically out-of-hand.  it is the
members who will have to draw together by ones and twos until the
unity so formed transcends the boundaries of the formal bodies that
are now our history during the past 125 years.  The T S was designed
to be an ideal state and confront the world with the values of its
non-management by officers who were non-dogmatic.  So a review of
this era shows that in that it has failed.

THEOSOPHY, fortunately, is not bound to any one of the TSes.  It at
least is free and belongs to the World.  So true students need not
feel any allegiance to such bodies, even though they may have
benefited from adherence and membership.  Of course the TSes can be
helped by the free expression of the original purpose of their
formation, and the value of the information that they were set to
preserve and to promulgate.

Isn't it strange that so many seem to desire to be recognized ?  that
so may desire to shine and produce something novel ?  Insidiously
there is an interior desire to place some new and startling idea in
front of others, and then one is able to bask in the light and warmth
of recognition from others.  We find this in Academies, in Politics,
in Business and in common living -- a wild scramble after that most
tenuous of things:  uniqueness !  I always ask myself if what is said
and done will have value in 10, 100, or 1000 years.  That gives
perspective.

===================================================

|
| The reign of the written letter is deadly to the vitality of the
living
| truth.  The truth lives on the fire of the spirit, and it is
eternal and
| endless.  It is constantly expressing itself in new ways.  The
creativity
| of the fire of the spirit is unlimited.  Lets join in that
creativity,
| break the chains of limitation and separation, and be ready to
experience
| new faces of the Truth.
|
==============================================

Yes "Truth" may have many hew 'faces,' but if we do not know TRUTH
with entire security and conviction after many years of search and
proving, how will we be sure that the 'new faces' are in fact
expressions of TRUTH ?  Any claim for novelty has to be backed up
(for me to appreciate it) with a sound link, clearly shown, to the
old basis.  Do you really believe that the growing tip of truth is
something disconnected from the past ?  Are, for instance, advances
in the sciences, the arts, the humanities unlinked to history and
development ?  Or is there not a link of continuity that gives us the
assurance of accuracy and verity ?

===============================================

| Dear Dallas, I admire your great effort and knowledge, and your
care for
| the teachings of HPB.  You know the feeling of the great joy, when
after
| reading some inspired text, the understanding flashes forth as a
bright
| light.  When we try to express that understanding it must contain
that joy,
| or inner fire, to call forth the same fire of the spirit in the
audience.
| That fire can not be expressed fully unless the mind is free from
| limitation and separation, the mind must be free to express the
essence of
| unlimited truth.
===================================================

I well understand what you write.  And I am of the opinion that in an
exchange such as this, we are expressing to eachother the fruit of
our study and thought.  I am neither ashamed of, nor bound to the
'past.'  I recognize that life ever flows on.  Each does the best
that he can with what he has made himself into.  We open doors and
windows of vision for eachother, the 'looking through' is a matter of
self-decision and individual progress.  In that we are always alone,
and as such we generate the Karma of our own future ( and of course
envelope others into its folds also).  So whether we like it or not,
we are still brothers, regardless of distance.

And, with all good wishes to you,			Dallas

==================================

| Yours in the heat of the battle,
|
| Sigtryggur.
|
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