Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00313)

Aug 17th 1998

Thanks for your views and comments on the possibility of the T S being a
"Mystery School."   { Issued in your posting of Aug. 2nd -- that I have only
just now read. ]

May I add the following observations:

If you look carefully at what has been published, starting with HPB, you
will realize that much offered as Theosophy by that pioneer writer dispelled
the vagueness surrounding the old Mystery Schools and revealed the concepts
and secrets of Nature that had been held so "secret" by them.

With the single exception of Plato, no one in the West has offered any
approximation to a complete philosophy prior to HPB's THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Plato's writing are most carefully veiled on the subject of initiation, even
though one finds him using its symbolisms.  The SECRET DOCTRINE published
over 2,000 years later, and the work of the modern Theosophical Movement,
addresses the scientific thought of our developing time, as we transit from
the influences of the Picean into the Aquarian Age.  If one were to contrast
the two epochs one might observe that the age of Plato was as deficient in a
general use of science as our age is deficient in philosophy.

What does Theosophy deal with ?  Consider with me some of its range:

METAPHYSICS first engage our attention:  The vast and indefinable area of
SPIRIT, idealism, symbolized by SPACE -- that is illimitable, undefinable --
and which contains everything that is manifested or non-manifest.

DURATION in which all periods of time reside.  From the greatest to the
smallest cycle of vibration.

INTELLIGENCE as a necessity for interactive and cooperative LIFE -- and this
includes all aspects, known and unknown of consciousness.

EVOLUTION as a concept, includes every level, degree or peculiarity of
organized life.  It observes that an enormous set of many kinds of
relationships exist.  It conceives of "Nature" as the be-all and end-all of
the constantly changing (Maya) that denotes progress and the alterations of
improvement;  or, of retrogression and the sufferings of those who
contribute to such distress.  Is our present not a witness to this in
operation and is not our instant news and communications constantly bringing
the sad state of affairs to our attention -- even though our marvelous
civilized and scientific developments provide us with remedies, we do not
employ them with diligence.  Why should there be famine in Somalia and the
floods in china -- who helps those people if their "governments" are
incapable ?  Why was genocide permitted in Burundi and a second revolution
in as many years allowed in the Congo?

The SOUL, that which is the ANIMATING CENTER of every being is held to be an
Immortal.  Every human is aid to be endowed with the Soul.  In addition,
every being without exception is held to have a SPIRITUAL SPARK at its core.

Nothing ever "dies" as a UNIT OF LIFE, although its sheaths or vehicles
cease to cohere after some time and change, dissipate and reform around it
in fresh configurations.  And we say:  a new babe is born.  The rules and
laws inherent in Nature guide these events, whether they be the birth and
evolution of Worlds, Galaxies, men or molecules.

KARMA rules the greatest cycles as well as the most minute.  In cooperation
with the innate intelligence of all beings it directs the condition and
place where they (as unit intelligences) will be able to do the most good
for the whole.

MANKIND represents a special condition to which every Unit-Intelligence
eventually arrives.  That condition is the cross roads of evolutionary
development.  The mind faculty is evoked, lit up by those Mind-beings who
have already passed through that condition successfully.  With the mental
faculty being "lit up," independence of choice ensues.  Further development
is entirely self-induced and self-guided.

REINCARNATION of the Human Soul is the natural process whereby it improves
over successive lives in its understanding of its work and responsibilities
in Nature.

CIVILIZATIONS rise and fall.  The society of savages lives concurrent to and
often within the framework of the most elaborate examples of achievement.
True civilization is a moral balance. When this is destroyed a civilization
destroys itself and savagery spreads wide over its ruins.  Look around us at
the sudden ( in the last 80 years) urbanization of almost all the countries
of the world.  The farm lands are abandoned for the pleasures and ease of
city-life.  Small community skills and support dwindles and is almost dead.
Agri-business is a new condition, and should a cataclysm -- earthquakes,
floods, droughts sweep suddenly (as has "El Nino" in this past year ) over
vast sections of the world, who would first suffer ?  The city dwellers.
They are rare among them who still have a base in agriculture, forestry,
fishing, animal husbandry and personal self-sufficiency skills.  We are in a
most vulnerable condition and we are not aware of it.

MOTIVE rules our future.  The circumstances we meet in life, our abilities
and disabilities, our talents or the lack of talent all are the result of
the self-discipline we impose on ourselves, either in the past or the
present.  Our Future is linked to our present and to our past.

There are secret and powerful forces and energies in nature.  We can learn
about them only when we will not abuse them.  Magic is a Science and an art.
[ see ISIS UNVEILED  II pp. 587--592 ]  Magical powers are the same for the
White or the Black Magician.  The motive behind their use makes the
difference in the two kinds of Magic. [ see HPB article PRACTICAL OCCULTISM.
HPB Articles II, p. 92 -- ULT edition ]

Nature does not permit abuses.  It brings to those who abuse eventually, the
results of that abuse so that they will experience it themselves.  Thus they
learn not to abuse their power to learn and employ Nature's secrets.

The states of sleep and dreams, of trances and visions;  the states after
death and the return of the Soul to a new body -- all that is discussed and
detailed as doctrines in Theosophy.

The commencement of this World of ours in the Galaxy which is the home of
the whole immeasurable UNIVERSE is discussed.  The undying Race of the WISE
among men is revealed as an ever-existent group of the well-wishers and
preservers of human knowledge and wisdom.  They are always in the world,
working with it, and are usually anonymous and unknown in their work.

We are shown how mankind as it develops, can, and has to adopt, BROTHERHOOD
as the only true basis for real and permanent progress.  Nature is educative
and not punitive.  "The hands that smite us are our own."  This is a rule
for everyone  No Prayer or petition can cause the ONE JUST LAW to deviate
from its course, and we always receive the just desert of our thoughts,
feelings and actions.  Nature's justice demands that the victim receive due
restitution from the oppressor.

Man's psychology is that of an immortal who is developing a CONSCIOUSNESS of
that power as an active force in his own nature today.  He is enveloped not
only in physical matter, but in psychic (emotional and desire) matter.  An
"astral body" is the lattice work on which the physical atoms arrange
themselves.

Each man has a resident "god."  The HIGHER SELF,  (Or SPIRITUAL SOUL )  It
is the tutor and inner monitor of our living and warns through the Intuition
and the voice of conscience if we are deviating from that which is truly
valuable in our life-work.

Now these are only a small fraction of the bits of knowledge which Theosophy
covers.  Is this not what we gather from the few small bits of information
concerning the MYSTERY SCHOOLS ?

And to cap it all Theosophy shows how the entire Universe forms a living
whole, and we and everything else in it has its due and proper place.

Is this not the reason why we devote time to the consideration of the
information and wisdom to be found in Theosophical literature ?  And where
else can we glean it in it primitive condition save through HPB's original
writings ?

Olcott had the greatest opportunity in working with HPB from the very start,
and it is sad that he apparently did not support her fully after the SPR
Report by Hodgson was published.   If one reads HPB's LETTERS TO A.P.Sinnett
one finds that she was aware of the change and identified it.  Later in
1888, approaching Europe on board the S.S.Shannon, Olcott received a letter
direct from the Master which set him straight on Their regard and relations
with HPB.  It warned him to amend his views.

This letter has been reprinted in Vol. I, LETTERS FROM THE MASTERS OF
WISDOM.  It begins on p. 50 of that book.

G.R.S.Mead was a young scholar and he acted with and for HPB as her
Secretary, as did Bertram Keightley, and others, assisting in the framing
and editing of THE SECRET DOCTRINE and the magazine LUCIFER.

All those who desire to become acquainted with the actual history of the
modern Theosophical Movement ought to read the book

THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT  1875 -- 1950    it is a documentary history and
gives an accurate report on all that developed during those years.  [ Price
$ 6.00 ]

I hope this review will be of assistance.

Dallas

> Date: Sunday, August 02, 1998 6:18 PM
> From: "Brant Jackson" <bjack5259@aol.com>
> Subject: Re: TS as a mystery school?? -- bad idea

>Gentlemen:
>    I hated to put forth the idea of the TS as a modern mystery school, and
>then not take part in the discussions, but then I have been at Olcott for
the
>convention and summer school, and am just not trying to catch up.
>    Some of the ideas posted against the idea of the TS as a mystery school
>seem to reflect a lack of knowledge of that institution and its benefit to
>ancient societies.  As I have an interest in such things, older sources
such
>as Leadbeater, GRS Mead, and also many modern books have given much detail
on >the contribution of the mysteries in the ancient word.  In Greece, as in
many
>parts of the ancient world,  most intellectually and spiritually-minded
>citizens were initiates, at least of the lesser mysteries.   The mysteries
>were major pillars of those societies.   In short, they taught the
Theosophy >of their days.    What was their worth?  I guess that begs the
question, if >one doesn't believe that the TS is much more than a debating
society.   >    Another replied that they never knew anyone in the mystery
schools.  This, >of course, is to be expected.   It has been said repeatedly
that the oath of >secrecy in ancient times was considered so binding that it
was rarely broken.
>                                        SNIP