Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00391)

Aug 21st

Dallas offers:

It has always seemed to me that the matter of application is left to the
student.  It is (as always, even from our first days at school or college) a
matter of how much we decide we are going to put into the opportunity, and
how careful we will marshal such facts or data as are offered to us.  We
advance in learning, or remain somnolent, as we decide.  It has always
puzzled me as to how many there are who do not feel challenged by the
opportunity of learning that is offered to them every day and at all times.
Some may say there is too much detail.  then, is not the challenge one of
organization ?  How do we categorize and condense the information into
methods of study and observation, so that we can grasp the "laws of
correspondence and analogy" and make use of them ?  None of us is so "busy"
or so "old" that we cannot make use of these methods of learning.  And,
there is always reincarnation for the inner, the immortal Ego, and the
consideration that nothing we do or learn is ever "lost."

As a continuous and coincident rate, is our own thinking (meditation) on the
information received.  Is it true ?  Can we find corroboration ?  I, for
one, have always assumed that it was my responsibility to find out the
accuracy of information given, based on such structure of information and
personal thinking that I have received, and/or worked on.

I would assume that the reminiscences or records in the exoteric world and
history concerning "Mystery Schools,"  "Occultism,"  "magic," etc... are to
be subjected to the same intense and very personal scrutiny.  Why should I,
or anyone else ever take anything on "faith," without checking it for
reasonableness ?

If we assume that Nature already contains everything, both visible and
invisible, the doorways to the "esoteric," or the "occult" lie all around
and within us.  Then, what is it in us that seeks, that wants to know ?  Is
it not the mind, urged thereto by some form of "desire?"  What is the nature
of our inner propelling desire ?  what is our true motive ?

But I do not think that these things can be answered or broadcast, and must
truly always remain "esoteric" to us and us alone.  We can speak of our
experiences, and offer such shortcuts as we have found that work for us, but
it is always to those who read or listen to what we offer to accept, use or
reject.

Throughout HPB's writings we are given evidence by her of the existence of
the College of the Adepts, the Mahatmas.  It is a College of Immortals and
the truly Wise.  Is this so impossible?  Are we rally so credulous as not to
have investigated such a claim in search of its foundation in any ?

We are given proofs of their records in all departments of inquiry and
experience -- can we not take the S D and ISIS, or her many articles as
evidence of this type of eclectic wisdom for which there are no longer the
barriers that seem to encompass our inquiries ?  Are we not given clues
again and again to our own natures, qualities, capacities and talents
(either actual or those that we can develop if we desire to do that ) and to
the methods we can use to delve into the secrets and mysteries of Nature and
her ways ?

HPB speaks again and again of a regular system of manifestation and
evolution.  she speaks of three lines that are interblended at all points:
SPIRITUAL  (or Monadic.).  INTELLECTUAL (or thought and mind), and PHYSICAL
or the refinement and evocation from Matter, of its inherent capacities.

She speaks of Man being the microcosm of the Macrocosm, and indicates that
all the powers and forces of Nature are present in each of us in germ.  WE
all take a certain pride in discovery ?  why should we if the facts and
secrets of Nature have been all around us all the time ?  It is rather :
How slow are we to discover them !

Theosophy puts forward a most important but usually missed link in the
acquisition of wisdom.  It is, to my mind, the link of application.  If we
get knowledge how do we use it ?  This is the moral ( I think I ought to use
the word "ethical" ) factor.  I think, since it is one that affects us very
personally that it must be the real key to occultism and esotericism.  It is
the key that opens our personality to our view (as mind-beings) without any
veil as to our real motives.  Here is, to my way of thinking, the real arena
of battle and conflict.  We have to confront our "Lower Selves," the
animal-man.  Such an appellation may not please many.  But, is it not really
so ?  Which is the superior faculty ?  Desire and wants or the keen seeing
and deeply investigating power of the MIND ?  Which is more constant ?  The
feelings and passions, or our MINDS ?  What is that which ought to be our
real aim and purpose in life ?  All these questions are to be answered by
each one for and to themselves.  As is such a discipline not a primary part
of the path to true Occultism ?  Do we not find HPB at many points in her
books and articles saying these same points in her own words ?

What is so difficult to accept and use for investigation ?  Are we afraid to
find on close investigation that our motives are faulty and not wide or
generous enough as to prove to be invariably of good-will to others ?  HPB
tells us that the secrets of Nature can only be revealed to those who are
benevolent.

Hence the first Object of the T S is Universal Brotherhood ?

Thse are some of the ideas that this line of inquiry has raisd for me.  I
hope thy can prove tobe useful.

Dallas

> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 1998 8:58 AM
> From: "Brant Jackson" <bjack5259@aol.com>
> Subject: Re: TS as a mystery school?? -- not a bad idea

>Dallas:
>    You set forth at very detailed list of concepts taught in modern
Theosophy
>which it offers to the public in plain language for the first time.   I
agree
>that we have gotten much more detail from the S.D. and other Theosophical
>works than from the "fragments of an ancient faith", but that is the nature
 of
>secret organizations.
> I personally like Barborka's The Divine Plan, a study guide to the S.D.,
for
>the way its organizes and presents these doctrines, starting with the
>fundamental propositions, in a gradual and sequential pattern.  Given the
fact
>that the church no longer has the power to burn us at the stake for heresy,
>public disclosure is now both possible and necessary.
> But I happen to think that Theosophy must be more than study and
memorization
>of facts.  It must be more than a mere body of esoteric knowledge.  There
is
>too much in its literature that stresses that personal self-transformation
>through a process of union, [the Path?] is necessary to really understand
>[through experience?] the occult truths contained in the S.D.    IMHO, the
>mystery schools probably taught the process necessary to understand the
>knowledge, always a subjective process depending on the development of the
>seeker, as well as the knowledge itself.   Are we doing this today?
>
>    Brant Jackson [BJack5259@aol.com]
>
>
>
>