Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00459)

Dallas,

You are right ICQ (i seek you) does not allow for such elaborate answers. I
was sort of hoping it would be used for brief Q&A style communications. I
was going to post the ongoing communications in the form of a dialogue (a
la Key to Theosophy). But however ot develops is fine by me. If we are
online together we can have more immediate response style Q&A.

Viva Mutation

Darren

At 03:02 PM 6/18/98 -0700, you wrote:
>June 18th
>
>Dallas offers:
>
>ICQ -- does allocate enough space for discourse.  so answer here.
>
>LIGHT OF ASIA  Book 8, (p. 149-51 my copy ) gives answer to
>"right
>employment" as Buddha saw it.
>
>Karma is Law,  Dharma is agreement and living with the Law as a
>basis for brotherhood.  Essentially it is universal benevolence
>and unselfishness.  The strong support the weak.  The wise
>instruct the ignorant without interfering in their free-will and
>power of choice.
>
>Man is the one free agent in Nature. His "intelligence" makes him
>free.  Will is not directly free elsewhere in Nature;  the law of
>Karma adjusts the encroachment of matter on the flow of the
>will -- which is the power of Spirit in action.  Only in the
>human kingdom with the birth of intelligence, Will becomes free.
>And thus, at last, Karma finds the aid of an intelligence
>independent of itself, instead of a passive instrument for its
>compensating operations.  Thus, even that Law of LAWS, KARMA,
>offers itself to become the Servant of Man.
>
>All Nature, except human nature, is non-conscious though animate,
>sensitive and vital.  For, the rest of Nature is the assemblage
>of the resultant factors of the diverse properties of the
>universal qualities (called Gunas in the Bhagavad Gita:  Sattva,
>Rajas, and Tamas or Illumination, activity and inertia).
>Therefore, outside of the human kingdom Nature is neither moral
>nor immoral, and is destitute of malice or cruelty, or their
>reverse:  affection.  Karma is only just.  Good and evil are, in
>truth, absent in Nature, and only make their appearance in the
>Kingdom of Man.  [ Man in his independence has the power to go
>against the Laws of justice and fairness that rule Nature.
>Accordingly, Karma being invoked, will respond. ]
>
>In the many transformations of the Universe;  in its vast
>progress there is a particular stage when the two opposing
>energies ( Spirit and Matter ) are so balanced that the resulting
>friction produces a third energy with the properties of both, and
>yet it is different from either of them.  This Plane of Balance
>is the Human Kingdom.
>
>A habitat for this energy and for its many levels of development
>is needed.  In the harmony of Nature it is this Earth -- as an
>example of this type of balance -- and this will also include all
>sidereal bodies where this type of balance exists.
>
>In the space between the atom and the Galaxy it manifests as the
>majestic progress of vast hopes of human intelligences of various
>levels and degrees of perception and understanding (knowledge,
>learning, wisdom) and this is expressed in terms of the
>moral/ethical Law, which governs the heart of man -- compassion.
>Man thus needs a different kind of definition.  This is what the
>Buddha seems (to me) to be saying.
>
>If you wish to direct this theory of man's intelligence, growth
>and work to the business and corporate world around us, and in
>which we all share to some extent, the answers are (tome)
>obvious.  It is a very rare business that is run on strictly
>ethical grounds and employs only ethical methods of work and
>service.  Yes Service !  For if you inquire into the cause for
>trade you will find that it exists to provide service from one
>group or person to others.
>
>It is clear that  all businesses international or not, and all
>countries and nations touch the world in many ways -- and leave
>an impress, an impact on the lives of their employees.
>
>In terms of individual Karma it is up to the employee to agree to
>serve a business, or to resign in protest, if the methods he is
>expected to employ are such as, impartially, he knows cannot
>stand up honestly and clearly in a court of law.  If this were
>seen and adhered to 9 / 10ths of the evils of corporations and
>nations would cease.
>
>This is PRACTICAL IDEALISM.  The sooner that we all get down to
>applying it, the sooner will the world become a better place.  I
>have been fortunate that in the businesses I was associated with,
>or which I managed, such an ideal could be implemented and
>adhered to, and not so strangely, those businesses prospered.
>
>Dallas  ICQ 13,760,916
>
>=============================================
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: "Darren Porter" <dport@ozemail.com.au>
>Date: Tuesday, June 16, 1998 7:24 PM
>Subject: ICQ Group Discussion Topic #1
>
>
>>ICQ participants are invited to submit their responses to the
>first weekly
>>discussion question:
>>
>>Karmically, what does the buddhist philosophy of 'right
>employment', mean
>>to westerners? Do internatioanal corporations have a collective
>karma like
>>countries and does this effect an employee?
>>        SNIP  ====
>
>Note:  ICQ gives inadequate space for an answer such as this.
>
>
>
>
>
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