Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00252)

>There are many who believe that this life in this Personality is the only
>life we will ever live, and they act accordingly.  Are they wrong, or just
>mistaken, because the effort to carry thought  out of the personal into the
>Individual has not yet been mastered  ?

This life is, indeed, the only life that any personality will live. For the
ego, its a one-time deal. This is why the ego fears death--and rightly
so.

>What do we know that they don't ?  The only tool we employ for this inner
>conviction of continuity is the idea of Egoity -- of a continuing Self (a
>"Spiritual Ahankara ?") which is the animus the energizer within. And we
>endow it mentally with the power to survive death.
>

When I raise my consciousness to the Ego level, death seems silly
and I no longer fear it at all. When I return to my body, the certainty
of my own death scares the devil out of me.


>Using this as one of the arguments, the structure that we may construct as
a
>demonstration of reincarnation is supplemented from the records of the
>Adepts who as CONSCIOUS BEINGS have survived such changes and have
witnessed
>the changes that every human goes through after the death of this
>personality.  At least that is how I see it.  HPB speaks to this point in
>detail in the KEY.
>

If the "records of the Adepts" makes you happy, then go for it, my friend.
It does help stimulate my intuition a bit, but the only thing that I have
found
to really be helpful are my own transpersonal experiences.


>I used the term "thought men" to indicate an individual who thinks and uses
>the mind.
>

OK.

>If we "use the mind" then the mind is a tool of the Real Man.

But it is also the "Slayer of the Real." The "Real Man" doesn't
need it or use it at all. The whole point or goal of yoga and
meditation is to go beyond the mind.


 >You speak of
>rising above ratiocination, logic, etc., and the use of the mind -- perhaps
>this is intuition ?

Yes, and also spirituality.


> I look at the "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali," which seem to
>throw the most comprehensive light on the functions of the mind and the
Self
>that uses it.  It appears there that the various steps of self-discipline
>are quite explicit.
>

I used these yogas too many years ago. I like them. But they are
pointing out a way or path, and they are not pointing out Truth. There
are, in fact, many ways and many paths. I agree on the need for
self-discipline, and this is true for any real spiritual path.



>As to a description of the relative functions and faculties of ATMA,
>BUDDHI,  MANAS -- I have used the KEY as a base to study these and as well
>various statements found in the SD  ( Vol. I  570-575)  as an example.  The
>positions, values and conditions of these faculties (principles) above or
>below some "Abyss" is not understood.

No, but it will be when you experience all of this stuff. Until then you can
either take my word for it, or throw my words away. Its your choice.
Its actually all pretty dicey, because experiences above the Abyss
cannot be put into words and are formless. Its only later, after such
experiences, that the human mind puts words and forms to the experience
in an effort to come to grips with what happened as well as to communicate
with others. If my words are poorly chosen, I have to apologise. I am
doing my best.


> As I say above:  where does HPB speak
>of an "Abyss ?"  Why should there be one in a spherical UNIVERSE that has
no
>limits of extension ?

Where did you get this idea? HPB clearly tells us that our 7-plane solar
system is only one of many, and is very limited. I don't recall anywhere
her saying that it is spherical, although it is in the sense that her Globes
make a circlular motion around the planetary chain. The Abyss itself is
actually the plane containing Globes A' and G' (names given by G de P).
Its the third plane downward, fifth upward. Without this plane and its two
Globes, we have ten Globes to exactly match the Qabalistic Tree.
While I am on this circular business, please note that life flows around
HPB's Earth planetary chain of Globes widdershins--exoterically the
direction of evil, and esoterically the direction of magic. Just one
insteresting sidenote that I discovered awhile back.


>As you say our understanding of what Theosophy teaches may seem to be at
>variance, and we may have approached it by different paths and therefore
use
>terms that either of us are not completely familiar with -- so we agree in
>some things and seem to disagree in others, but as I see it, we both profit
>from the encounter, and I can certainly see that there are further depths
to
>be plumbed for me.
>
>Thanks for your consideration.
>
>Best wishes as always,
>
>Dallas
>

Thank you, Dallas. I appreciate your zeal and enthusiasm. Hopefully we
will help each other here.

Jerry S.