Theos-Talk Archives (December 2000 Message tt00047)

Dear Mauri, and Rodolfo:

Thank you.

As Theosophy does not claim to be a dogma or an "ism" which is to
be "believed" in.

Absolutely nothing is to be taken "on faith." Everything is to
be considered in the light of one's developing ability to check
out propositions with that which is available to all of us. The
entire S.D. and all the literature of H.P.B. and W.Q.J. -- as
well as everything else -- has TO STAND ON ITS OWN MERITS.

Sometimes we read things we do not understand, but later on (if
we have marked and set them aside for future consideration. I
was just looking up some meaning in S.D. II and found:

In the S.D. (II p. 447) we discover H.P.B. says: " these
teachings are as old as the world...the present work is a simple
attempt to render [them] ...in a modern language..." She adds
that To Fully discern and comprehend them one needs to be
"initiated" into the "spirit of archaic philosophy."

She then offers a key idea. Embodied in the ancient Sanskrit
words SAT and ASAT will be found the philosophical secret of
examination and criticism. "ASAT is not merely the negation of
SAT, nor is it the "not yet existing;" for SAT is the IMMUTABLE,
THE EVER PRESENT, CHANGELESS AND ETERNAL ROOT, from and through
which ALL PROCEEDS. But it is far more than the potential force
in the SEED, which propels onward the process of...evolution. It
is the EVER BECOMING, though the NEVER MANIFESTING." She then
adds a paradox: "SAT is born from ASAT, and ASAT is begotten by
Sat: the perpetual motion in a circle, truly; yet a circle that
can be squared only at the threshold of Paranirvana."

It is a good idea to go through the S.D. and make notes
concerning the explanations on Symbolism, Numbers, and Geometric
figures, as this gives keys to relationships between the
divisions and active powers of evolution spoken of in other
places. They are the keys to Analogy and Correspondences.

Hope this may help.

Dallas

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Rodolfo Don [mailto:rdon@garlic.com]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 8:56 AM
To: sd@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-sd] Re: bn-sd digest: December 10, 2000

>"DTB EACH PART ALTHOUGH INDIVIDUAL YET
>MIRRORS THE QUALITIES OF ALL THE REST.
>BROTHERHOOD is a fact, and a basis for all further
>considerations. THE DIVISIONS OF SELFISH
>SEPARATENESS LEAD EVENTUALLY NOWHERE
>except to confusion. Extend the process and seek for a goal and
>you will find only divergence. On the other hand if one uses
>cooperation, brotherhood, compassion and the virtues as a base
>one grows ever closer to the WHOLE, the ONE CENTER
>where all merge into each-other without their loosing their
>IDENTITY."
>==============
>
>Dallas, thanks for your thoughtful post. At the stage of
>learning/evolution I seem to be in currently, (not having any
proof
>of theosophic in-depth knowledge), I read your comments and
>everybody else's HOPEFULLY, hoping that at some future
>more-knowledgable stage in my evolution it will all somehow
>come together more-meaningfully from the standpoint of (at
least)
>a more-direct kind of knowing.
>

Mauri, you bring an important point in your first paragraph
responding to Dallas. What you say is true, however, you also
talk
about a future stage in your evolution when you will be able to
understand about 'brotherhood' in a more-direct kind of knowing.
Here I say that only you can make those changes in your thinking.
Time alone won't produce the changes.

We all know that the answer to the question of 'Universal
Brotherhood,' and all other questions pertaining to spirituality
reside in the Self. We simply need to validate that with ACTION.
We
can do it in several ways. We can start by making an honest
commitment to the Self and follow that with ACTION. This can be
a
problem since the mind will try to have an image of the Self and
give
it attributes. Maybe we can replace the name Self with Truth.
Truth
has a reality of its own since it projects a meaning of "that
which
is." Very much like what we need if we are willing to go to the
ultimate aspect of truth, and I think we are.

Once we start to depend on the Self for fundamental answers and
make
it our main source for true knowledge, it becomes our main
authority
in spiritual matters. When that happens a change takes place in
the
individual who is doing the search. The simplest way to put it
in
words is: his eyes open. What before was an intelectual picture
of
some kind, now becomes a fact that nobody else can challenge.

That is in a nut shell what happens when we are serious about
theosophy. The thing that we have to remember is that ultimately
we
have to put in practice what we 'know.' We have to live it.

I hope that I was able to convey my ideas correctly since this is
a
difficult subject to discuss in writing.

Rodolfo Don

--
web: http://www.teosofia.com/

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