Theos-Talk Archives (May 2000 Message tt00133)

May 17th 2000



Dallas offers the following observation:


Dear Friends:

Reference your correspondence at the bottom of this MSG.


To me, this illustrates the "Achilles heel" of all politically
organized bodies.

And the T S was so organized in 1875 and this has been carried
forward.  But the OBJECTS of the T S make it different from any
mere "politically organized" group, society, or organization.
The freedom implied and the IDEAL of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, keep
the T S distinct as a potential that no other political
organization has ever had so far.

However, if the T S is dedicated, and if its members are to
remain independently dedicated to achieving a "nucleus of a
Universal Brotherhood," and to the study and practice of
THEOSOPHY,  then no political moves of any kind will penetrate or
upset their progress and existence.

They cannot be taken over if they are united in being
INDEPENDENTLY UNITED in the STUDY OF THEOSOPHY.  Basically the T
S does not depend on funds and property, it depends on the united
interest of hundred of minds that have some concept, however dim,
of an independence in which free thought can flourish and grow --
a forum -- where there are no impediments such as "religious" or
"occult" bodies to which a joining is either desired or required.

It is the air of freedom that unites and nothing else.  Theosophy
boldly asserts Karma -- the Law of responsibility and duty.  It
asserts reincarnation is a fact for the human Soul is immortal.
It (the Soul) constantly learns from experience.  When we (as the
SPIRIT-SOUL) realize this fact, we take our own education and
future into our own hands.  It (Theosophy) offers a fundamentally
united Universe and World in which we are all bound by our
choices and actions.  Human solidarity is asserted to be a fact
because of the potentials of the human mind and soul.


 My observation is, that most of the members of the T S do not
even know for sure what THEOSOPHY is.  There is a far deeper
aspect to THEOSOPHY than appears on the surface.

If the membership, following an enlightened "leadership," will
undertake to study THEOSOPHY as HPB taught it, there will be no
problem.   So long as members wander around and do not profit
from THEOSOPHY (as originally taught by H P B who was the
accredited Messenger from the Lodge of the "Masters of Wisdom")
there will be always this uncertainty about the teachings, the
present decisions to be made, and the future to be aimed for.

As a guide, may I suggest that the members re-read the Messages
that HPB sent to the American Theosophists in Convention
Assembled for 1888, 1889, 1890 and 1891.  These are reprinted
n  --  Blavatsky: COLLECTED WORKS -- and could bear being
reprinted in this group for the benefit of their inspiration and
current aptness.

Best wishes to all,

Dallas.

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

COPIED from H P B's  FIVE MESSAGES



Key extracts from:

	FIVE MESSAGES  --  H. P. B.


Key Ideas on WORK FOR THE FUTURE --  REASONS

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

Message 1


HPB wrote:

The multiplication of local centres should be a foremost
consideration in your minds, and each man should strive to be a
centre of work in himself.

But let no man set up a popery instead of Theosophy, as this
would be suicidal and has ever ended most fatally. We are all
fellow-students, more or less advanced

Theosophical ideas have entered into every development or form
which awakening spirituality has assumed, yet Theosophy pure and
simple has still a severe battle to fight for recognition

the recognition of pure Theosophy - the philosophy of the
rational explanation of things and not the tenets - is of the
most vital importance

On the day when Theosophy will have accomplished its most holy
and most important mission - namely to unite firmly a body of men
of all nations in brotherly love and bent on a pure altruistic
work, not on a labor with selfish motives - on that day only will
Theosophy become higher than any nominal brotherhood of man.

Orthodoxy in Theosophy is a thing neither possible nor desirable.
It is diversity of opinion, within certain limits that keeps the
Theosophical Society a living and a healthy body, its many other
ugly features notwithstanding. Were it not, also, for the
existence of a large amount of uncertainty in the minds of
students of Theosophy, such healthy divergencies would be
impossible, and the Society would degenerate into a sect

as people are prepared to receive it, so will new Theosophical
teachings be given. But no more will be given than the world, on
its present level of spirituality, can profit by. It depends on
the spread of Theosophy - the assimilation of what has been
already given - how much more will be revealed and how soon.

the Society was not founded as a nursery for forcing a supply of
Occultists - as a factory for the manufactory of Adepts. It was
intended to stem the current of materialism, and also that of
spiritualistic phenomenalism and the worship of the Dead. It had
to guide the spiritual awakening that has now begun, and not to
pander to psychic cravings which are but another form of
materialism

by "materialism" is meant not only an anti-philosophical negation
of pure spirit, and, even more, materialism in conduct and
action - brutality, hypocrisy, and, above all, selfishness

Theosophy seeks to develop the human nature in man in addition to
the animal, and at the sacrifice of the superfluous animality
which modern life and materialistic teachings have developed to a
degree which is abnormal for the human being at this stage of his
progress

the essence of Theosophy is the perfect harmonizing of the divine
with the human in man, the adjustment of his god-like qualities
and aspirations, and their sway over the terrestrial or animal
passions in him. Kindness, absence of every ill feeling or
selfishness, charity, good-will to all beings, and perfect
justice to others as to one's self, are its chief features. He
who teaches Theosophy preaches the gospel of good-will

The function of Theosophists is to open men's hearts and
understandings to charity, justice, and generosity, attributes
which belong specifically to the human kingdom and are natural to
man when he has developed the qualities of a human being.
Theosophy teaches the animal-man to be a human-man; and when
people have learned to think and feel as truly human beings
should feel and think, they will act humanely, and works of
charity, justice, and generosity will be done spontaneously by
all.

my duty lies in England and with the Western Theosophists, where
for the moment the hardest fight against prejudice and ignorance
has to be fought

although there must be local Branches of the Theosophical
Society, there can be no local Theosophists; and just as you all
belong to the Society, so do I belong to you all.

  -----------------------------

>From the   2nd message


a firm will and a steadfast devotion to our great Cause of
Theosophy must and shall break down every obstacle until the
stream of Truth shall burst its confines and sweep every
difficulty away in its rolling flood

in America. Your Karma as a nation has brought Theosophy home to
you. The life of the Soul, the psychic side of nature, is open to
many of you. The life of altruism is not so much a high ideal as
a matter of practice. Naturally, then, Theosophy finds a home in
many hearts and minds, and strikes a resounding harmony as soon
as it reaches the ears of those who are ready to listen. There,
then, is part of your work: to lift high the torch of the liberty
of the Soul of Truth that all may see it and benefit by its light

the Ethics of Theosophy are even more necessary to mankind than
the scientific aspects of the psychic facts of nature and man.

The Society must grow proportionately and not too rapidly, for
fear lest, like some children, it should overgrow its strength
and there should come a period of difficulty and danger when
natural growth is arrested to prevent the sacrifice of the
organism

for each Fellow of the Society to make Theosophy a vital factor
in their lives -- to make it real, to weld its principles firmly
into their lives

Following closely on this is the necessity for Solidarity among
the Fellows of the Society; the acquisition of such a feeling of
identity with each and all of our Brothers that an attack upon
one is an attack upon all.

Unless prepared carefully by a long and special course of study,
the experimentalist risks not only the medium's soul but his own.
The experiments made in Hypnotism and Mesmerism at the present
time are experiments of unconscious, when not of conscious, Black
Magic

the cure is "ALTRUISM." And this is the keynote of Theosophy and
the cure for all ills; this it is which the real Founders of the
Theosophical Society promote as its first object -- UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD

The Theosophical Society has never been and never will be a
school of promiscuous Theurgic rites.

Many are the energetic members of the Theosophical Society who
wish to work and work hard. But the price of their assistance is
that all the work must be done in their way and not in any one
else's way. And if this is not carried out they sink back into
apathy or leave the Society entirely, loudly declaring that they
are the only true Theosophists. Or, if they remain, they endeavor
to exalt their own method of working at the expense of all other
earnest workers. This is fact, but it is not Theosophy

to work properly in our Great Cause it is necessary to forget all
personal differences of opinion as to how the work is to be
carried on. Let each of us work in his own way and not endeavor
to force our ideas of work upon our neighbors.

Theosophy is essentially unsectarian, and work for it forms the
entrance to the Inner life. But none can enter there save the man
himself in the highest and truest spirit of Brotherhood,

A strict account of our actual work will be taken, and the
"wages" earned will be recorded to our credit. But as strict an
account will be taken of the work which any one, by indulging in
personal grievances, may have hindered his neighbors from doing.

"UNION IS STRENGTH"; and for every reason private differences
must be sunk in united work for our Great Cause.

But our union is, and ever will be, our strength, if we preserve
our ideal of Universal Brotherhood

" Let not the fruit of good Karma be your motive; for your Karma,
good or bad, being one and the common property of all mankind,
nothing good or bad can happen to you that is not shared by many
others. Hence your motive, being selfish, can only generate a
double effect, good and bad, and will either nullify your good
action, or turn it to another man's profit." * * "There is no
happiness for one who is ever thinking of Self and forgetting all
other Selves."

How many of you have helped humanity to carry its smallest
burden, that you should all regard yourselves as Theosophists.
Oh, men of the West, who would play at being the Saviors of
mankind before they even spare the life of a mosquito whose sting
threatens them!, would you be partakers of Divine Wisdom or true
Theosophists? Then do as the gods when incarnated do. Feel
yourselves the vehicles of the whole humanity, mankind as part of
yourselves, and act accordingly. "  -- Master


-------------------------------------------


>From the    3rd Message


its members are at last awakening from their apathy and setting
to work in earnest to practice the first principle of true
Theosophy -- UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD. Gradually they are becoming
alive to the duty of helping others, as they have been helped, by
bringing a knowledge of the life-giving truths of Theosophy
within the reach of all. The Tract Mailing Scheme is receiving
increased support, more workers are volunteering assistance, and
funds are forthcoming for carrying on the work with increased
efficiency and ardor

See and realize what great results can be achieved by those who
are really in earnest and unite unselfishly to work for humanity.
Let this year's outcome show you in unmistakable signs the
weighty responsibility that rests upon you, not only towards the
Society, but towards the whole of Humanity. Therefore do not for
one moment relax in your efforts; press closer, shoulder to
shoulder, every day; stand together as one man, come what may,
fine weather or storm, and the victory of the cause to which you
have pledged yourselves is certain. Striving thus in unison with
your Higher Self, your efforts must and will be fruitful of good
to the Society, to yourselves, to Humanity

Coming years will show a steady, healthy growth, a strong, united
organization, a durable, reliable, and efficient instrument ready
to the Masters' hands. Once united in real solidarity, in the
true spirit of Universal Brotherhood, no power can overthrow you,
no obstacle bar your progress, no barrier check the advance of
Theosophy in the coming century.

Let it make all feel that there is a power behind the Society
which will give us the strength we need, which will enable us to
move the world, if we will but UNITE and WORK as one mind, one
heart. The Masters require only that each shall do his best, and,
above all, that each shall strive in reality to feel himself one
with his fellow-workers. It is not a dull agreement on
intellectual questions, or an impossible unanimity as to all
details of work, that is needed; but a true, hearty, earnest
devotion to our cause which will lead each to help his brother to
the utmost of his power to work for that cause, whether or not we
agree as to the exact method of carrying on that work. The only
man who is absolutely wrong in his method is the one who does
nothing; each can and should cooperate with all and all with each
in a large-hearted spirit of comradeship to forward the work of
bringing Theosophy home to every man and woman in the country.
Let us look forward, not backward

As the preparation for the new cycle proceeds, as the forerunners
of the new sub-race make their appearance on the American
continent, the latent psychic and occult powers in man are
beginning to germinate and grow. Hence the rapid growth of such
movements as Christian Science, Mind Cure, Metaphysical Healing,
Spiritual Healing, and so forth. All these movements represent
nothing but different phases of the exercise of these growing
powers -- as yet not understood and therefore but too often
ignorantly misused. Understand once for all that there is nothing
"spiritual" or "divine" in any of these manifestations.

The cures effected by them are due simply to the unconscious
exercise of occult power on the lower planes of nature -- usually
of prana or life-currents. The conflicting theories of all these
schools are based on misunderstood and misapplied metaphysics,
often on grotesquely absurd logical fallacies. But the one
feature common to most of them, a feature which presents the most
danger in the near future, is this.  In nearly every case, the
tenor of the teachings of these schools is such as to lead people
to regard the healing process as being applied to the mind of the
patient. Here lies the danger, for any such process -- however
cunningly disguised in words and hidden by false noses -- is
simply to psychologize the patient. In other words, whenever the
healer interferes -- consciously or unconsciously -- with the
free mental action of the person he treats, it is -- Black Magic.
Already these so-called sciences of "Healing" are being used to
gain a livelihood.

the Ethics of Theosophy are more important than any divulgement
of psychic laws and facts. The latter relate wholly to the
material and evanescent part of the septenary man, but the Ethics
sink into and take hold of the real man -- the reincarnating Ego.
We are outwardly creatures of but a day; within we are eternal.
Learn, then, well the doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation, and
teach, practice, promulgate that system of life and thought which
alone can save the coming races. Do not work merely for the
Theosophical Society, but through it for Humanity.

May Theosophy grow more and more a living power in the lives of
each one of our members


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

4th Message


	ON THE FUTURE


The period which we have now reached in the cycle that will close
between 1897-8 is, and will continue to be, one of great conflict
and continued strain. If the T.S. can hold through it, good; if
not, while Theosophy will remain unscathed, the Society will
perish -- perchance most ingloriously -- and the World will
suffer. I fervently hope that I may not see such a disaster in my
present body. The critical nature of the stage on which we have
entered is as well known to the forces that fight against us as
to those that fight on our side. No opportunity will be lost of
sowing dissension, of taking advantage of mistaken and false
moves, of instilling doubt, of augmenting difficulties, of
breathing suspicions, so that by any and every means the unity of
the Society may be broken and the ranks of our Fellows thinned
and thrown into disarray. Never has it been more necessary for
the Members of the T.S. to lay to heart the old parable of the
bundle of sticks, than it is at the present time: divided, they
will inevitably be broken, one by one; united, there is no force
on Earth able to destroy our Brotherhood..

I have marked with pain, a tendency among you, as among the
Theosophists in Europe and India, to quarrel over trifles, and to
allow your very devotion to the cause of Theosophy to lead you
into disunion. Believe me, that apart from such natural tendency,
owing to the inherent imperfections of Human Nature, advantage is
often taken by our ever-watchful enemies of your noblest
qualities to betray and to mislead you. Skeptics will laugh at
this statement, and even some of you may put small faith in the
actual existence of the terrible forces of these mental, hence
subjective and invisible, yet withal living and potent,
influences around all of us. But there they are, and I know of
more than one among you who have felt them, and have actually,
been forced to acknowledge these extraneous mental pressures. On
those of you who are unselfishly and sincerely devoted to the
Cause, they will produce little, if any, impression.

On some others, those who place their personal pride higher than
their duty to the T.S., higher even than their Pledge to their
divine SELF, the effect is generally disastrous.
Self-watchfulness is never more necessary than when a personal
wish to lead, and wounded vanity, dress themselves in the
peacock's feathers of devotion and altruistic work; but at the
present crisis of the Society a lack of self-control and
watchfulness may become fatal in every case. But these diabolical
attempts of our powerful enemies -- the irreconcilable foes of
the truths now being given out and practically asserted -- may be
frustrated. If every Fellow in the Society were content to be an
impersonal force for good, careless of praise or blame so long as
he subserved the purposes of the Brotherhood, the progress made
would astonish the World and place the Ark of the T.S. out of
danger. Take for your motto in conduct during the coming year,
"Peace with All who love Truth in sincerity,"

Your position as the forerunners of the sixth sub-race of the
fifth root-race has its own special perils as well as its special
advantages. Psychism, with all its allurements and all its
dangers, is necessarily developing among you, and you must beware
lest the Psychic outruns the Manasic and Spiritual development.
Psychic capacities held perfectly under control, checked and
directed by the Manasic principle, are valuable aids in
development. But these capacities running riot, controlling
instead of controlled, using instead of being used, lead the
Student into the most dangerous delusions and the certainty of
moral destruction. Watch therefore carefully this development,
inevitable in your race and evolution-period, so that it may
finally work for good and not for evil


every wish and thought I can utter are summed up in this one
sentence, the never dormant wish of my heart, "Be Theosophists,
Work for Theosophy!" Theosophy first, and Theosophy last; for its
practical realization alone can save the Western World from that
selfish and unbrotherly feeling that now divides race from race,
one nation from the other, and from that hatred of class and
[from] social strifes (1), that are the curse and disgrace of
so-called Christian peoples. Theosophy alone can save it from
sinking entirely into that mere luxurious materialism in which it
will decay and putrefy as older civilizations have done. In your
hands, Brothers, is placed in trust the welfare of the coming
century: and great as is the trust, so great is also the
responsibility.


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

5th Message


To my oldest friend and fellow-worker, W. Q. Judge, in my general
address to you, because I think that his unflagging and
self-sacrificing efforts for the building up of Theosophy in
America deserve special mention.

honor should be given where honor is due, and I gladly take this
opportunity of stating in public, by the mouth of my friend and
colleague, Annie Besant, my deep appreciation of the work of your
General Secretary, and of publicly tendering him my most sincere
thanks and deeply-felt gratitude, in the name of Theosophy, for
the noble work he is doing and has done.

H. P. Blavatsky.

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



D. T. B.

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Bart Lidofsky [mailto:bartl@sprynet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 5:06 PM
To: Theosophy Study List
Subject: Re: Competition for TS

M K Ramadoss wrote:

> The danger as seen in the past may surface again. In the
TS-USA, the at
> large membership is very significant and seems to be growing.
If a group -
> be it NA or Fundamentalist Christian wants to take over, with
some long
> range planning it can take over and the game will be over.

    Which is why the TIT is in place (which is not to say that it
is the best of
all possible solutions).

    Bart Lidofsky


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