Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00057)

Darrin:

>Before I discovered HPB and the SD I was in India learning with Deepak
>Chopra and he said to realize who the GURU was, just spell it out loud.

That's good -- it spells "Gee, you are you." Never thought of that
before. Of course, there's more to it than that, but unusual mental
images are useful in picturing different aspects of life in a fresh
and new way, without the baggage of all the old connotations that
existing words, terms, figures of speech carry. That's why new
language evolves, with words falling into disuse and new words being
coined to say the same thing.

A dead language, not in popular use, used only by scholars and
priests, like perhaps Latin or Sanskrit, doesn't carry the baggage
of connotations and shifting meanings found in modern languages.
In a sense, it preserves its freshness and can therefore retain
a relatively timeless quality. It's not burdened with the shifting
meanings given its terms from popular usage.

It isn't quite that simple, of course ...

There are perhaps two aspects of the philosophy. One part is like
popular music. We hear it and are touched, it moves us, it sweeps
us up with its power. But after many times hearing the same song,
it loses some of its power, and some new song comes along that
takes its place. This part relates to the dynamic, at-the-moment,
enjoyment-of-life, desire/enjoyment side of life.

The second part is like the learning of mathematical formulas,
the study of physics, the learning of how to type. We learn
how something works, or acquire a specific skill, and have grown
and bettered ourselves. The learning or skill is specific, not
subject to interpretation, not something that quickly goes stale
and needs freshening, and is as useful now, perhaps, as it was
25 years ago or 25 years hence.

In the first case, we're keeping open a fresh stream of
creative energies flowing though us into the world. In the
second case, we're building ourselves, growing, becoming more
skilled, intelligent, capable, useful in the world.

Our study of Theosophy has these two aspects. We seek to
keep the creative energies flowing, to be alive, dynamic,
vibrant, shining in our experience and sharing of it. And
we seek to learn, know more, become more familiar with the
great thought available to us from the people we meet and
the vast libraries at our disposal.

Both aspects are important. With just the first, we become
a creative fool, entertaining perhaps, but with nothing of
weight to offer, perhaps limited to playing a clown or
trickster. With just the second, we become a dried-up-old
bookworm, a lifeless sap, a cold, unexpressive recounter
of the words of others, with nothing of our own heartlife
to give value or meaning to our words.

Astrologically, the first might relate to the expansive
energies of Jupiter, and the second to the structure,
accumulation, growth of Saturn. How we balance these two
forces in our spiritual life and our studies/explorations
determines our ability to progress. If we neglect either,
we can only go so far, then life becomes unbalanced, we
get stuck, and our lives darken.

-- Eldon