Theos-Talk Archives (February 2000 Message tt00022)

W. Dallas TenBroeck wrote:
> 
> Feb 8 2000
> 
> Dear Friends:
> 
> The MSGS below are very important and interesting.  I would like
> to make some comments as answer, observation and for
> consideration:
> 
> As I recall HPB said that mankind did not need any new kind of a
> Church or "belief system" imposed on them.  Look around and
> witness the imposition of belief systems and their results.
> Rigidity, conformity and freedom of thought are at opposed
> extremes.  Hence, if true, Theosophy is not a religion but only a
> philosophy that seeks to be understood and offers (constantly)
> proofs.
> 
> Theosophy has never promoted the formation of religious or
> political bodies of any kind.  As a philosophy it exists to
> assist man in developing clarity of thought by every pointing to
> the roots of being and the
> interaction of the whole of Nature.  Nature is EVERYTHING.  She
> is a living, vibrating whole.  And we are the most sentient
> aspect of those developments.  This is because we are endowed
> with the powers of the MIND.  Potentially we can discover all her
> secrets.  And as such we as scientists, philosophers and
> psychologists are investigating her methods of cooperation.  We
> already share in them;  and our existence is evidence of the
> marvelous intelligence that guides all things.
> 
> Additionally, it (Theosophy) will be found to be a history
> text-book as it reviews the history of our world, universe and
> the place that mankind occupies in the scheme of things.  The
> whole is a study in evolution.  The essential being that evolves
> is the immortal MONAD.  The MONAD is an infinitesimal spec of
> SPIRIT/MATTER -- a "ray" of the ABSOLUTENESS in manifestation.
> It is these Monads  (see SD I 174-5fn, 618-32) that animate every
> least atom, as well as Man, and, in fact, in their collectivity,
> the many monads in evolution make up the ONE MONAD that is
> EVERYTHING.
> 
> The Monad is the intelligence, the consciousness, the intuition,
> the Perception of all events, and finally it is the intelligent
> agent of nature, always providing new Monads with the kind of
> "school" where they also can discover and learn the lessons of
> LIFE.  WE are in this Universal School and we are immortals, each
> incarnation is a "day" of learning in that ever-living School.
> All "paths" lead to it.
> 
> Hence, if true, the Masters would certainly not set about
> establishing some kind of a Church based on theosophy again.  WE
> can all secure the same kind of information from Theosophy if we
> want it and desire to study and work to acquire it.  We are not
> required to join anything. And whether we do or not, the practice
> of individual study determines the final eminence of any
> individual student.  Many such students, all working together,
> give the Theosophical Movement its age-old continuous life.
> 
> This cooperative work is called the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD OF ALL
> BEINGS.  Mankind, consisting of thinking units (with minds that
> are capable of embracing universal concepts and the most minute
> of the working of Karma) become the body of intelligent
> cooperators who assist Nature in her many kinds of work.  We
> belong to this group which is headed by the great Buddhas and
> Teachers of Wisdom down the Ages.  (see SD I 570-575).
> 
> The presentation of Theosophy marks, as I think about it, a
> change in the method of thinking that humanity ought to gradually
> adopt.  The old way as the acceptance of authority and such
> "beliefs" or "faiths" as were held out to the masses and the
> crowds, is passing away.  Political and religious freedom have
> permitted a relaxation of the many kinds of bonds that have
> traditionally been imposed on the masses of mankind.  Each senses
> this freedom and strives to make use of it.  The sense of
> individuality, and the concept that we can acquire knowledge and
> wisdom so that we may guide our own future is gaining increased
> recognition in every part of the world.
> 
> The new spirit of our age is marked by the dynamism of
> discovery -- of individual seeking -- of independent demand for
> "proof."  Old values are being questioned and reviewed so that
> whatever good is there may be culled, harvested and carried
> forward to grow and provide the fruit and grain of the future.
> There is an unbroken sequence of thought, and of learning which
> needs to be seen and used.  And it will always be individuals who
> develop and do this.  First individually, and then slowly the
> accretions will begin of free-thinking minds which need to feed
> off each others visions and intuitions.
> 
> The most that one needs is to be able to assure ones' self that
> what someone else says is TRUE.  Are the sources and paths of
> reasoning being offered for us to recheck by ourselves, so that
> we may independently assure ourselves of their accuracy?  Is
> anything being "imposed" on us?  Are we being treated as
> reasonable people able to think and discriminate, or, are we
> again to be treated as children who are expected to "bow before
> the evident scholarship of authorities and academics -- an should
> we then parrot the words and ideas of those who claim the
> "authority" to explain, teach, and impose ?
> 
> There are many who know far more than we do in a variety of
> subjects.  Is the price we are to pay for their teachings that of
> servility?  Of respect for their claims to ling years of
> discipline?  Or are they going to let us see and know how they
> arrived at the conclusions that they now offer to us?
> 
> Consider the teachings of Theosophy.  What are they?  In SD I
> 272-3 we are told that they are the fruit of many long years of
> "checking and verifying the traditions of old."  SD I 267, we may
> read at the top of the page "...the Secret Doctrine teaches
> history..." and if we look at a number of pages in that great
> book we find that the theme of history arises again and again.
> 
> [ The study of History I mentioned. may be found in the SD in:
> 
> SD I 52 108 229 267 269 272-3 303-4fn 306-7 341 406 425 472 639
> 640-1 646-7 676
> 
> SD II 182 260 311 327 336 351 424 437-448 438 444 711 795-6 . ]
> 
> Nothing novel is claimed for it.  It is not a "Revelation."  But
> what it does is gather together evidence -- and show us how a few
> great ideas can be traced everywhere in our past -- they are at
> the root of every philosophy, religion and science, and they have
> been the subject of investigation, argument, and study by all
> truly great thinkers down the ages.
> 
> Theosophy teaches that there is a "College" (ISIS II 98-103) of
> the WISE. and all Prophets, Reformers, Avatars, Budhas, Dhyan
> Chohans, etc. are "Brothers,"  Members of that great Brotherhood
> of the Wise.  They declare that they were once men such as we
> are, and have graduated (through self-effort and rigorous study
> an application) into positions of responsibility and power in
> Nature's vast economy.
> 
> Look at ISIS UNVEILED. The two volumes are a vast compendium of
> facts, historical evidence, ancient and contemporary to HPB, of
> the existence of the secret world which serves as the cause for
> physical events and phenomena.  It shows how desire and thought
> rule the world and always have.  It also shows how they have been
> abused and employed to make victims of mankind in various ways.
> Isis was published in 1877 -- 11 years earlier than the Secret
> Doctrine -- and it paved the way for inquiry into the facts that
> the SD provided in 1888.  Those facts were evoked by the
> questions that ISIS generated.
> 
> Students have often said that they would like to know what
> happened to the 3rd and 4th volumes of the SD.  But how can those
> be made public if the present student body of inquirers into
> Theosophy do not study what is already provided?
> 
> Take even so simple a text as THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY.  Is it being
> seriously studied and are its contents being inquired into?  Or
> does everyone know them well ?  As one sees the posting from day
> to day, it is clear that there is still vast unfamiliarity with
> even so brief a text.
> 
> On philosophical and metaphysical points there may be
> disagreement, but setting that aside, the focus of each such
> separate source of interest is seen to be similar in range and
> point of the considerations needed to resolve it.
> 
> This, to me, points to the areas where there is growth in all our
> thinking -- we all have this capacity, we each develop it at our
> own rate of progress.  But we need not be compacted into some
> purely receptive, passive state of "acceptance."  We need to be
> encouraged as individuals to do our own thinking and study.
> Learning to think is one of the beginning requirements.  That is
> not memory of other's concepts or masses of "data" but rather,
> the measured and sure process of our own verification of certain
> statements made.  We have to make those ideas "our own," by
> thinking and reasoning them out.
> 
> It is very easy to slip into a condition of indifference and
> passivity, where we allow others to frame opinions, and we
> through indolence, then adopt them without any critical
> appraisal.  Theosophy desires us to avoid that.
> 
> Briefly the key ideas, are the THREE FUNDAMENTALS of the SECRET
> DOCTRINE and can be found in SD I 14-19.  Everything else is
> derived from them. The rest of the SD provides evidence that
> gives reason to the facts and processes of Nature.  This we are
> invited to verify.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Dallas
> 
> =======================
> 
> dalval@nwc.net
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Teos9@aol.com [mailto:Teos9@aol.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 6:50 AM
> To: study@blavatsky.net
> Subject: [bn-study] Re: Transitions of Christianity
> 
> In a message dated 02/07/00 4:53:57 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> carson@blavatsky.net writes:
> 
> <<  A long-time Theosophist
>  once said to me "The masters can pull the rug out from under
> Christianity at
>  any time.  They don't because they want something to be ready
> and in place
>  before they do."   >>
> 
> Fascinating idea Reed. That would make the real work of theosophy
> within the
> last 125 years even more esoteric than many suspect. The notion
> that one of
> the by-products of the spread of Theosophy, both popular and
> classical, would
> be to create a deeper spirtiual/religious underpinning seems to
> be supported
> by the ever changing face  of traditional Christianity. Where is
> the single
> original St. James version of the bible that was the common study
> reference
> of most English speaking Christians even up thru the 50's and
> 60's? How many
> new, or significantly edited and revised versions of twentieth
> century bibles
> are there? When was the last Catholic Mass heard in its original
> Latin,
> instead of, liberally translated forms of English? How does
> Charismatic
> Catholicism accommodate speaking in tongues, when in traditional
> Catholicism
> it was a considered a form of possession? One could go on like
> this for a
> long time, pointing to the many changes in traditional
> Christianity that your
> post here indicates, as the expected observable phenomena that
> might attend
> any period of major dramatic transition.
> 
> The Idea that we have been in the midst of a shifting spiritual
> awareness, as
> one of the goals, of the those that guide humanity on its
> evolutionary path,
> is filled with intuitive power and insight. Thanks for sharing.
> 
> Louis
> 
> Think Deity......
>                 Deity, thinks you!
> 
> -- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com
> 
> Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
> teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
> "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.
  


     Oh ,yes I would agree with this.It has always been a feeling in the
back of my mind that we were BORN individuals for a reason;that reason
may be that we have a unique contribution to make to the brother hood of
human kind?Blindly following is limiting I believe ,but then I do not
profess to be wise.This path is one that I'm glad to be traversing with
all humans.
        Scott

-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com

Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.