Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00183)

Thanks, Brant, for sharing your thoughts and feelings about "book
learning" and coming up against its limitations.  There is so
much literature that claims to *describe* reality for us, but I
don't think contemporary seekers are much attracted to that sort
of thing.  Which represents a challenge for the Theosophical
movement that it doesn't seem to be meeting very well.  Instead,
people want *useful* knowledge, tools to transform their lives,
knowing *how* rather than knowing *that*.  Which in Blavatskian terms
has to do with the heart doctrine vs. the eye doctrine.

Cayce says that "knowledge not applied is sin."  That's pretty
extreme and requires some qualifications; it's not a sin to not
apply knowledge of how to do harmful things.  But if he means
spiritual knowledge, the karmic responsibility for those who know
what they should do and ignore it would indeed seem greater than
for those who are ignorant.  He also said to "keep ever constructive"
which suggests that the priority is on gaining knowledge that can be
useful in some way.

The sense of emptiness one feels after devoting years to reading
metaphysical and occult books is a good and necessary thing, I
believe.  Personally, I relate it to the Jungian idea of
transcendence, and figure you're in the same developmental cycle
(that is, middle age.)  Jung says that one's dominant and
secondary functions are the main focus for the first forty years
of life, but thereafter we need to catch up on the inferior and
tertiary functions.  I, like many Theosophists, am an intuitive
type with secondary thinking.  Was quite disconnected from the
realms of sensation and feeling in my young adulthood.
"Following your bliss" to me meant burying myself in books.
But after 40, it really did all change, and I got much
more attuned to relationships and nature.  Feeling the emptiness
of all that intuitive thinking stuff is a crucial part of the
process of unfolding the hitherto neglected feeling and sensation
elements.  If you don't shift focus in your 40s (whichever way is
indicated by your type) it's a sign of failing to deal with the
evolutionary imperative toward becoming whole.

Namaste,
Paul