Theos-Talk Archives (October 1999 Message tt00057)

Oct 11

Answers and questions

1.	Who says "If ?"

2.	Why choose a "desert island" ?

3.	Are you there by chance, or did you choose to go there -- or is it
an accident ?

4.	If you decide to survive, what skills can you assemble that will
assist ?

5.	What can you assemble in the way of practical knowledge in regard
to order of importance :  1  water   2  food   3  shelter   4
clothing   5  rescue,  6  resignation to fate,  7  final death.

It helps if your ever read  ROBINSON CRUSOE, or others of that genre

6.	If you wish to sit down and set up questions regarding the how, why
and whither, then you ought to consider that there is a reason why you
were marooned and what your future may be.  Let us assume that:   1.
you may be rescued,   2, you may live alone till you die.  3.  some
catastrophe may supervene and,  will you be prepared for it or will
you allow your life to be snuffed out.

7.	If you are of the opinion (or have demonstrated to yourself that
your inner nature is that of an immortal, and will survive the death
of the present body), then your emotional considerations will be well
in hand.  Your Mind is in control, as it should be.  If on the other
hand you have never visualized such a concept, then you will act
according to what you either hope for or fear -- in both cases there
is a great deal of ignorance.  And there will be a lot of confused and
purposeless waste of time.  What was the story about a wealthy family
that was shipwrecked along with their servants on a desert island, and
after some time it turned out that only the butler was the most
practical of them all ?  They survived because of his knowledge and
organizational ability, and when finally rescued he returned to being
a "butler" to them without any sign of the innate competency superior
to their that he showed in the crisis -- or did you never hear of that
story ?

8.	If you are convinced that nothing ever happens  which has no
purpose, then you will seek to find that area of living and adjusting
which will enable you to survive (or perform some essential and
necessary actions) until it is no longer possible to do that.

9.	Then you die in peace, knowing that you did the best with your
opportunities.

10	Then rises the consideration that whether we are in the midst of a
crowd, family, friends, office, etc., or indeed deserted, should we
not follow a similar line of thought and set ourselves to organizing
our lives according to the area and place we are presently in ?

Should we not seek the "middle way" of contentment ?

How do we learn to evaluate our personal abilities in an impersonal
way?

and even if we are able to do that objectively, do we ever decide to
change our natures and character so as to improve on them as they are
now?

No philosophy is valuable unless the moral and practical aspect of its
theories or tenets match up to its ideals and then, when those are
expressed, do they match up to the UNIVERSAL COMMON- SENSE that
everyone will recognize as being essential to cooperative and
brotherly life ?

Dallas

Dallas
dalval@nwc.net 

=================================

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-theos-talk@theosophy.com
[mailto:owner-theos-talk@theosophy.com]On Behalf Of LeonMaurer@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 1999 11:00 PM
To: theos-talk@theosophy.com
Subject: Re: Theos-World self-evident truths


Randy,

In a message dated 10/10/99 8:44:15 AM, you wrote:

>I would like to discuss with interested parties self-evident truths.
If you
>were alone on an isolated island, what could  you come up with in
terms
>of your origin, purpose and destiny.  What I'm looking for is to
assemble
>self-evident truths that could be apparent to any thinking person and
not
> parroted constructs from "holy books" or  sages...unless these are
revealing
>.

The question first has to be answered; What have we learned (or think
we
learned) about "such self-evident" or other accepted "truths"--before
we
became "alone on an isolated island"?  "Thinking persons"--having diff
erent
backgrounds, different karma, and different heritage--are also
different in
how they think.  Therefore, what one person thinks is a "self evident
truth"
based on whatever point of view taken, what presumptions made, and
what logic
used, may not be so self evident to another.  Of course this doesn't
preclude
the "self evident truth" that one is what one has thought, as Buddha
pointed
out (and as Popeye confirmed when he said, "I am what I am, cause I am
what I
am").

>My feeling is that this is the starting point for any grounded
cosmogony
>or life philosophy.  Let me know if you are interested.  I can send
you the
>ideas I have thus far assembled.

Don't know about that.  How can one base an understanding of a
"cosmogony" or
"philosophy of life" on anything "self evident" to someone else?  But,
if you
meant that the starting point is finding those "self evident truths"
for
yourself (with the help of such sages like HPB, Buddha or Krishna, for
example)--I'm all for it.

So, I, for one, am interested in what ideas you have thus far
assembled, and
would very much like to see them discussed in an open forum such as
this.

LHM

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