Theos-Talk Archives (April 1998 Message tt00346)

April 18th 1998

Dalas writes:

 Of claims and claimants there are many.

 What is the "touchstone" we can all apply to determine
the
 value of any claims made ?

Actually the question of reliability of claims and messages can
be resolved if one has a knowledge of what the "original message
of Theosophy" is.

What did H.P.Blavatsky set out to propose to the world to
consider ?

What did the Masters teach ?

One has to have read and remembered what HPB taught in THE KEY TO
THEOSOPHY, or Mr. Judge's OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY. these two books
condense into clear words the key ideas that Theosophy offers.

Theosophy is for us a record of what generations of students in
esotericism and occultism have studied as they searched all the
hidden nooks and crannies of Nature. [ SD I 272-3 II 795 ]

The great Primary Cause of All Existence, Karma the law of
equitable balance, Reincarnation the immortality of the student
Soul, and the Unity through brotherhood of all beings is,
briefly, the heart and soul of Theosophy.

These are rooted in the "Three Fundamentals" : The Universality
of SPIRIT/Deity, the undeviating equity of LAW, and the
universal proposition that all "Beings" of whatever grade can
become perfect in wisdom and knowledge (it being granted that the
word "Being" implies the spiritual essence that is resident in
every Being).

All of HPB;s writings reflect this. All the Masters' letters
reflect this.

This is simplicity as compared with the marvelous revelations
which those who desire to establish a "following" have spun out
for the confusion of the gullible. How can one hope to
understand Calculus if one has not studied simple arithmetic ?
Is arithmetic to be despised ?
How can one paint, if one does not know the color wheel ? How
can one compose good music if one does not study rhythm, notation
and harmony ?

Astronomy offers us greater detail than the unaided eye sees
without lenses. Calculus tells us how to locate movement and
moving objects and define them in spire of changing conditions of
space and time. But all these are based on the first 10 numbers
that constitute the Pythagorean Triangle -- from which emerge all
the details of numeration, harmony, cycles, etc... and which
ends, in a final resolution back to UNITY, encompassed in the
great CYPHER from which all manifestation periodically emerges.
To discover the purpose of this vast activity, and our present
reason for existence, is the reason why we make inquiry of, and
study what Theosophy has to offer. (At least, I do.)

In the meantime we have to deal with our own existence and the
urges to a greater area of learning and knowledge that constantly
precedes us like the proverbial carrot.

The urge to know and to BE are for us, a deriving force, inasmuch
as within each there is that aspect of the WHOLE -- the ONE
SPIRIT - which seeks through knowledge and wisdom to "return" to
a knowledge of "Itself." Mystically, this statement is like
saying something in Calculus notation to one who is only able to
deal with ordinary arithmetical logic. And yet, each of us will
sense the need for making the inscrutable scriptable.

If we depend on ourselves we take admittedly a long time to drive
the fundamentals into the realm of Calculus, or to drive the
logic of many observations into the certainty of laws in Nature
which can be observed in action. One of the most difficult is
that of the operations of the moral/ethical aspect of life. And
that is precisely the key that HPB states repeatedly is the most
valuable to us. It is the only one which will open the realms of
esotericism and occultism.

But many hope that there are "shortcuts." And they hope that
someone else by mysterious or magical means will be able to
reveal this (or sell) it to them. The many forms of payment
include not only money, but homage and sops to personal pride and
ambition. No scientist ever truly achieved success by "hoping,"
or by taking for granted the "hypothesis" of another. They have
to prove its validity for themselves.
Someone observed once that doubt and credulity are brothers,
because if we adopt them, we do not have to go through the
exercise of thinking.

In matters Theosophical we are not all in that condition. We
have to prove it for our self. So after assuring ourselves of
the importance of the fundamentals, we can all proceed. No one
can advance much further than anyone else, unless this slow, sure
process is followed - that has been my observation.

I offer this in regard to the many recent postings that relate to
the credibility of messages said to be from Masters, HPB, Judge,
and all those who have made claims as to the possibility of
developing some new kind of Theosophy on which they claim to be
able to give processes and facts. Are these in line with the
past ?

My observation has been that there has to be a continuity and a
coherence in Theosophical thought just as one finds in the
development of philosophy, logic, or science. Truth is no one's
property. It is only valuable when we understand and can apply
it.

One can spend a lot of time trying to make sense of proclamations
and claims, but without some sure basis, is it not time wasted?

Why be vague, when one can be certain ? I ask this without any
motive, as I am just as uncertain on many matters as anyone else,
and I can only say that I have always felt happier if I try to
get back to the basics, and proceed from there.
Dallas

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

>From: "Govert Schuller <schuller@prodigy.net>
>Date: Friday, April 17, 1998 2:19 PM
>Subject: Re:Govert Schuller on the Masters

>
>>Govert Schuller wrote:
>>
>>> Meanwhile I am contemplating the possibility that the Masters
changed
>some
>>> of their policies. I see no reason why They could not be
flexible in the
>>> packaging of theosophy, while maintaining the integrity of
its contents. SNIP