Theos-Talk Archives (April 2001 Message tt00078)

Friday, April 13, 2001




Extracts from LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME -- 4 --


By William Q. Judge

Volume 1 compiled by Jasper Niemand;

The Letters in Volume 1 originally appeared in The Path, December
1888 to March 1890. W. Q. Judge first published them in book form
in 1891,
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SOME EXTRACTS


>From Volume 1

"Seeking for freedom I go to that God who is the light of his own
thoughts. A man who knows him truly passes over death; there is
no other path to go." -- Upanishads

"We need a literature, not solely for highly intellectual
persons, but of a more simple character, which attempts to appeal
to ordinary common-sense minds who are really fainting for such
moral and mental assistance as is not reached by the more
pretentious works."

The experience of one student is, on the whole, the experience of
all. Details differ, however. Some are made more instantly rich
than others: they are those who
put forth more vigorous and generous effort; or they have a
Karmic store which brings aid. Karma, or the law of spiritual
action and reaction, decided this,
as it works on all the planes, physical, moral, mental,
psychical, and spiritual alike. Our Karma may be worked out on
any one of these planes when our life is chiefly concentrated
upon it.

The letters, in the hope that they may assist others, are here
published. They are hints given by one who knew that the first
need of a student is to learn how to think.

The true direction is pointed out, and the student is left to
clarify his own perceptions, to draw upon and enlarge his own
intuitions, and to develop, by his own inward exertions.
Such students have passed the point where their external
environment can affect their growth favorably. They may learn
from it, but the time has also come to resist it and turn to the
internal adjustment to higher relations only.

The brevity of these letters should not mislead. Every statement
in them is a statement of law. They point to causes of which life
is an effect. That life, arising from the action of Spirit in
Nature, is that which we must understand. It is to be manifested
within us before we can advance on the Path.


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Letter 4

Dear Sir and Brother:


In cogitating lately I thought of you in respect to some of my
own thoughts. I was reading a book and looking around within
myself to see how I could enlarge my idea of brotherhood.

Practice in benevolence will not give it its full growth. I had
to find some means of reaching further, and struck on this, which
is as old as old age.


I am not separate from anything. "I am that which is." That is,
I am Brahma, and Brahma is everything. But being in an
illusionary world, I am surrounded by certain appearances that
seem to make me separate. So I will proceed to mentally state and
accept that I am all these illusions. I am my friends, -- and
then I went to them in general and in particular.
I am my enemies; then I felt them all. I am the poor and the
wicked; I am the ignorant. Those moments of intellectual gloom
are the moments when I am influenced by those ignorant ones who
are myself. All this in my nation.
But there are many nations, and to those I go in mind; I feel and
I am them all, with what they hold of superstition or of wisdom
or evil. All, all is myself.
Unwisely, I was then about to stop, but the whole is Brahma, so I
went to the Devas and Asuras the elemental world, that too is
myself. After pursuing this course a while, I found it easier to
return to a contemplation of all men as myself.

It is a good method and ought to be pursued, for it is a step
toward getting into contemplation of the All. I tried last night
to reach up to Brahma, but darkness is about his pavilion.

Now what does all this insanity sound like? I'll tell you what:
if it were not for this insanity I would go insane. But shall I
not take heart, even when a dear friend deserts me and stabs me
deep, when I know that he is myself? NAMASTAE!

W.Q.J.

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Notes by J N

I found the above letter still more valuable when I remembered
that Brahma is "the universal expansive force of Nature" -- from
Brih, to expand; and so stated in an article by H. P. Blavatsky
in FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY.

In the DHAMMAPADA [ Footfalls of the Law - by Gautama Buddha ]
we are told to think ourselves to be the sun and stars, the wet
and dry, heat and cold; in short, to feel all experience, for we
can live all out in the mind. -- J. N.

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