Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00742)

June 30th

Dear Alan:

Some comments interjected below             ---            Dallas

> Date: Monday, June 29, 1998 6:24 PM
> From: "Dr A M Bain" <guru@nellie2.demon.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: Some intersting quotaions from Original theosophical sources

>W. Dallas TenBroeck <dalval@nwc.net> writes
>>June 29th
>>
>>Dallas offers a few more quotes for consideration:
>>
>>
>>>From HPB on the T S :
>>
>>"...the Theosophical Society...It is a brotherhood of humanity,
>>established to make away with all and every dogmatic religion
>>founded on dead-letter interpretation, and to teach people and
>>every member to believe but in one impersonal God;  to rely
upon
>>his (man's) own powers;  to consider himself his only saviour;
>>to learn the infinitude of the occult psychological powers
hidden
>>within his own physical man;  to develop these powers;  and to
>>give him the assurance of the immortality of his divine spirit
>>and the survival of his soul;
>
>That may have been her intention. It hasn't happened, and HPB
herself
>has become a source of dead-letter interpretation.

=============================================
DALLAS:

I am afraid you are right, but fortuately, not everyone fell
under that situation.  There are those who study so as to
understand the implications of what Theosophy has to say:
Consider these:

IMHO it is because few have really studied Theosophy, starting
with the "Trhee Fundamentals"  [ S D  I  14 - 18 ] so as to
really know them and then use them in studying the reat of that
book and any "Theosophical" writing of any kind.

Then [ S D  I  272-3 ] -- the 1st Item there. on the "Ancient
Source of Theosophy" .  that is important to grasp.

To consider that we are in our innermost essence Spiritual
Beings, and therefore we are immortals.  And therefore we are
"brothers" to all other beings around us.

As Soul/Minds we are responsible for the direction we give to our
thoughts and choices (which implies that we direct our way of
living and acting)

That there is a range of evolution which links without breaks all
entities, from the minutest of "life-atoms" to the greatest of
Gallaxies -- and that link is Life, Intelligence, Consciousness.

And, that mankind represents the "Thinking" and "Feeling" stage
in this evolutionary scheme -- a stage that is midway between
ignorance and wisdom (or total knowledge).  We are able to
contact, and, to imagine the condition of any being we may select
to study and understand -- is that not because all potentials are
focused in us as either thought or feeling ?

The third important piece of information we can make use of are
the 10 points of "oriental psychology" that HPB gives in ISIS
UNVEILED,
Vol. 2, pp 587-590 - Summarized briefly : --

1    There are no "miracles";  the Universe is entirely lawful.

2.    Nature consists of body (form), soul (indwelling energic
form which includes mind and feeling) and Spirit (source of all
forces, it is eternal and indestructible -- changeless).

3.    Man is also three-fold (follows the same pattern).

4.    Magic as a science is a knowledge of these principles.
Magic as an art, is an application in practice of that knowledge.

5.    When such knowledge is misapplied we have sorcery.  When
used beneficently we have Wisdom.

6.    Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship.  The medium is
passive.  The Adept actively controls his powers and all inferior
potencies.

7.    The astral Light retains as one of its properties the
indelible image (impression) of all things and events.  The
Adept, using his spiritual vision can see into this at will and
thus all knowledge is available to him.

8.    Mankind is made up of many qualities and various "races"
carry hereditary factors in their physical, psychic, and mental
lines.  In some groups sorcery is the general tendency, in others
there is a tendency to passivity (mediumship), and a third group,
seership, tending to adept study and initiation is the tendency.
In this present period of ours these several "lines" are
intertwined and mixed.

9.    One phase of magical skill is the ability to withdraw the
inner man ( Astral form) from the physical -- this may occur
involuntarily as in the case of a medium.  In the case of an
Adept it is deliberate and controled.

10.    The corner stone of Magic (Wisdom) is an intimate and
practical knowledge of magnetism, electricity, and their effect
on the human and animal kingdoms as also in all other aspects of
nature.  Occult properties are universal.

To sum up all these in a few words:  Magic is spiritual wisdom.
It is harmless and beneficent only.  The whole of nature is the
pupil, ally and servant of the true Magician.  One common vital
principle pervades the entire manifesation and this is
controlable by the perfected human Will.

====================================
>
>>  to make him regard every man of
>>whatever race, color, or creed [as a brother], and to prove to
>>him that the only truths revealed to man by superior men (not a
>>god) are contained in the Vedas of the ancient Aryas of India,
>
>Such truths are contained there, but were never *confined*
there.


=========================================
Dallas :
No implication of "confinement" was intended.  Truth of itself is
free.
Descriptins vary, and some are better than others, or are
clearer.

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

>
>>Finally to demonstrate to him that there never were, will be,
nor
>>are, any miracles;  that there can be nothing 'supernatural' in
>>this universe, and that on earth, at least, the only god is man
>>himself."
>
>We are still waiting for the demo ..... and what arrogance to
suggest that
>the only god is "man himself".  How the hell can anyone *know*
that!

========================================
Dallas:

If "god" is OMNIPRESENT, then IT is present in Man too.  NO
arrogance, but a mere statemnt of fact.  It is man's opinions
that compartmentalize "God."  How can "God" be a "he," "she" or
even an IT ?  Logically if God is Everything the UNIVERSE IS GOD
IN MANIFESTATION.  "I and my Father are ONE."  Arrogance ?  or a
statement of fact ?

And why should Man not aspire to be ONE with the "Father ?"  and,
say so ?

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

>>"It lies within his powers to become and to continue a god
after
>>the death of his physical body.  Our society receives nothing
the
>>possibility of which it cannot demonstrate at will.  We believe
>>in the phenomena but we disbelieve in the constant intervention
>>of 'spirits' to produce such phenomena.  We maintain that the
>>embodied spirit has more powers to produce them than a
>>disembodied one.  We believe in the existence of spirits, but
of
>>many classes, the human spirit being but one class of the
>>any."  -- HPB:  "She Being Dead, Yet Speaketh" -- PATH, June,
>>July, August 1892.
>>(ULT HPB Articles I, pp. 116-7)
>
>"We maintain?"  upon what evidence? Like real life experience,
not, "It is written ...."
>>
========================================
Dallas:

HPB spoke on behalf of the Adepts.  They maintain..... on the
basis of logic and their experience.........  Are we to set
limits to the ultimate  and the indefinable ?

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

>>HPB on "loyalty" :
>>
>>"H.P.B.is loyal to the death to the Theosophical CAUSE, and to
>>those great Teachers whose philosophy can alone bind the whole
of
>>Humanity into one Brotherhood.....Therefore the degree of her
>>sympathies with the "Theosophical Society and Adyar" depends
upon
>>the degree of the loyalty of that Society to the CAUSE.  Let it
>>break away from the original lines and show disloyalty in its
>>policy to the CAUSE and the original programme of the Society,
>>and H.P.B., calling the T.S. disloyal, will shake it off like
the
>>dust from her feet.....

---------------------------------------------------------------->
>I suspect she did this a long while back.


MAYBE as a group, as a society.  But not for individuals who make
their own independent cnnection with Adept Wisdom.  Theosophy is
not "confined" by, or into the "Theosophical Society" no matter
what may be its legal derivation and inheritance.

As a pioneer, the T S  has had a responsibility and a duty.  The
way in which it is managed is an ongoing matter.  The managers do
not necessarily like to be compared with the ideals that
Theosophy present for them to use.   The membership is
responsible for keeping the management straight and in line with
Theosophy.  How many have that kind of strength ?  Why do
"revolutions" degenerate into "government ?"

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

>>There is no longer a "Parent Society";  it is abolished and
>>replaced by an aggregate body of Theosophical Societies, all
>>autonomous, as are the States of America, and all under one
head
>>President, who, together with H.P.Blavatsky will champion the
>>CAUSE against the whole world.  Such is the real state of
>>things.....Madame Blavatsky does not owe the slightest
allegiance
>>to a Council which is liable at any moment to issue silly and
>>untheosophical ukases.....It is the two Founders and especially
>>the President, who have virtually sworn allegiance to the
>>Fellows, whom they have to protect, and teach those who want to
>>be taught, and not to tyrannize and rule over them."   -- HPB
"A
>>Puzzle from Adyar."  LUCIFER, Aug. 1889
>>(ULT --- HPB Articles, Vol. 1, pp. 219-220)
>----------------------------------------------------------------
------
>A sad and forlorn hope which has yet to become anywhere near a
>reality.
>----------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
>>"...[ the Brothers are everywhere ] ...silent, secret,
retiring,
>>and who would never divulge themselves entirely to anyone,
>
>True, perhaps, not "brothers" but "colleagues, readily available
to
>anyone who can reach them.

============================================
Dallas:

The designation "Brothers" was commonly used in early T S days in
referring to members of the Adept Brotherhood.  Colleagues has a
dendency to bring down to our level the concept.  The Buddha, for
example, or Jesus, as Men that succeeded in making their physical
envelope transparent to the inner SPIRIT (which all men share in)
are for us EXAMPLES which we respect.  They fearlessly exposd for
us to see a practical example of how a divineman ought to live
and speak.  As "immortals and as Spirit" we are all equals, but
some have achieved far more than we have done yet, and we (or I
at least) sense the difference and would consider it an honor to
be their devotee.

==============================================
>
>> unless
>>one did as I did--passed 7 and 10 years probation and given
>>proofs of absolute devotion, and that he, or she, would keep
>>silent even before a prospect and a threat of death.  I
fulfilled
>>the requirements and am what I am, and this.....no one can take
>>away from me."  --- HPB
----------------------------------------------------------------


>If asked for proofs of devotion - run like hell.  Only those who
would
>control us ask for this kind of thing.  The Truth of which there
is no
>religion higher is free for all who seek it.  No strings.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Dallas: AGREED  --  No one needs be controlled.

Theosophy does not ask for that.

It teaches Knowledge which leads to self-control.

How far can one run from ones' self ?  How about studying and
undertanding it ?  Which "self" is to be studied by what "SELF ?"
And, Why ?

Hermes the god of ancient wisdom said:  "Man know thyself."


-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------


>>( Letter on Masters, and the early days of the TS in America
and
>>India.  PATH  Vol. X, pp 370-1 )
>>
>>Offered in the hope of evoking thought and discussion
>
>With success.
>---------
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>
>