Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00029)

Paul J. writes in #345:

>.  All the love, respect,
>honor, service, etc. that we are capable of is rooted in
>the
>personal.  Every concern we can show for the rest of the
>universe
>is personal.  To the extent that impersonal love is a
>reality, we
>can grasp it through the experience of personal love.  I
>am
>speaking in terms of individual psychological
>development.
_________________________
    IMHO you have this idea upside down.  The personal is
able to "love" because of the undercurrent of impersonal
love and harmony in the universe that exists.  Mystics
claim to experience Impersonal Love (an aspect of the
Buddhi Principle.)   Personal love is always polar, and its
flip side comes up sooner or later.

      "Individualities higher than us don't have personality" -
meaning Dhyan Chohans, gods  because personality is a
function of our lower state of consciousness.  IMHO It Is
Not Possible on their superior level of
perception/consciousness.
___________________________-

>Many theosophists would object that Judge, or Olcott, or
>Hartmann, etc. etc. were not big failures with ruined
>lives.  But even granting that assumption, the next one is
>more disputable.  That
>is that the conditions of chelaship *per se* are
>dangerous,
>likely to lead to ruined lives in 69/70 cases, and that the
>circumstances of HPB's Theosophical recruits are simple
>illustrations of this universal truth.  On the other hand, I'd
>say that the circumstances in which the various chelas of
>the
>1880s Theosophy found themselves were *particularly*
>inauspicious
>and likely to lead to frustration and discouragement.  Lots
>of
>secrecy, multiple versions of the truth floating around, a
>volatile cast of international characters... recipe for
>disaster.
>Cheers,
>PJ
____________________________

         The comments about failures is from one of HPB's
articles - I think "Chelas and Lay Chelas."  I think Judge
was a success, and Olcott wasn't a total failure surely, and
Hartmann got a lot of great work done too.
       I think you are naive about the real tests of
chela-probation.  To be successful, as I understand it,
EVERY aspect of one's personal psychology has to be
mastered and under control.   Celibacy (no conscious
sex-action of any kind)  is a simple part of it compared to
more subtle moral evils to overcome.  Being able to make
it through the difficulties of those times would just be
another part of the natural test one put oneself under.
IMHO there isn't one person in a million optimistically who
could survive a real probation and maintain their status
(which is a test by the Higher Self, actually.) (I'm not one of
them!)   We'd probably have to agree to disagree on this, I
suppose.  There's a large group of various types of sincere
mystics and occultists who aren't up to chela-level.

BAZZER/PAUL:  Great quote!

-  Jake J.