Theos-Talk Archives (May 2001 Message tt00089)

Sunday, May 13, 2001

Dear Friend:
Concerning terminal illness and the prolongation of "life" in the
physical body, it seems to me that on the whole the factor to be
consider is: Is the REAL MAN still able to use that body?
Modern medical and biological science has advanced to the state
where a physical body can be kept functioning as only a physical
organism (without purpose) until artificial life-support is kept
functioning.
Since our Medical and psychological sciences and correlated
systems (also the Judicial) is still unable to recognize or
determine in the REAL MAN -- the IMMORTAL, THINKING AND WILLING
ENTITY is still present, or has gone into the "Post-Mortem
States" between this incarnation and the next, the only
paradoxical action that can be taken (or permitted by Law in most
cases) is to ":pull the plug." If the entity still has use for
that body it begins again functioning on its own.
It is a nebulous area as there have been cases of victims in a
come that have reawakened after may months or years. Question:
Would they have 'died" if the "plug" had been pulled?
The one comforting idea Theosophy offers us all is that
fundamentally we are all IMMORTALS in our Spiritual nature. We
will all reincarnate; and if our present bonds are strong, then
we may reincarnate together again (though the exact nature of the
relationship will always be conjectural).
Here are some of the theoretical considerations Theosophy offers:

According to Theosophy, the life we lead might in some ways be
compared to the Bank account in which are recorded our Motives.
All are recorded. None can be effaced.

The account began when EVOLUTION BEGAN an eternity ago, and we
were indissoluble parts of that ETERNITY and will continue to be
so. We are now in the "human stage." Here the human mind
receives its own independence and is able to choose its future --
the challenge is to identify Nature's great Laws in operation and
learn how to conform to them. That they are cooperative and
beneficial down to the slightest atom or to the greatest Sun, is
a fact, since we already rely on nature's impartiality,
generosity and justice for our survival and our present form.
This is important as it makes Virtue reasonable.

The Spirit/Soul in Man (his INDIVIDUALITY) is ETERNAL. He
incarnates in personality after personality solely for the
benefit of the "little-lives" (the Monads of lesser experience)
which aggregate and need guidance so as to understand (with their
nascent Mind) the operations in Nature of her laws.

At the beginning of every incarnation a certain amount of Karma
(our "bank" balance) established the tensile limits of living in
the new personality. No accident, murder, sudden death by
accident or any other cause happens without the participation of
Karma to allow for it to mature into an event. The sensitivity
and recording capacity of nature in regard to every being is
inconceivably ENORMOUS. In fact as we are all 7-principled
beings, this record is kept in the Akasa -- the highest level of
the "Astral Light". It follows us around. It cannot be changed
unless we establish the ways and means of "balancing" it.

The ramifications of Karma extend far beyond any one individual
and Personality and in fact touch most of his environment and the
rest of the Universe. So while we are free-willed and can choose
our future course and goal, w remain bound by the choices we
already made in the past.

This is the general theory.

Individual causes for accidents, murder, death, etc.. can only be
traced by an ADEPT -- who has the impersonal knowledge and power
to do that. But since all in nature operates under law, such an
Adept would only act if the GREAT LAW OF KARMA permitted such an
intrusion.

This is how I understand the matter.

If you wish additional details then why not see the "on line" THE
OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY by Mr. W. Q. Judge (Chapter 11) and Mme.
Blavatsky's THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY (sections: VII, VII, X, XI)
available through http://www.blavatsky.net

Best wishes,

DTB

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

-----Original Message-----
From: lisa a kolts [mailto:llkingston2@juno.com]
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 7:45 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] Terminal illness & theosophy

Bill asks an important question concerning the extending of life.
I could
not find any direct quotes on the subject, perhaps Dallas, Jerome
or one
of the other scholars of the group can help.

The logic of this seems to say that once the karma of that life
is over
(i.e. the present incarnation has done all it can and the astral
says it
is time to go) then anything we do to try to prolong life is in
reality
futile.

Does this mean we should do nothing? I think the more important
point
here ( and this reflects also on the point made about Timothy's
Karma and
execution by others) is that while it may be part of someone's
karma for a
certain thing to happen, we do not have to be the agent of that
karma.

A strong example: we have heard it reflected that it was the
national
karma of the Jewish people to be put through the Holocaust, but I
certainly wouldn't want the karma that was engendered by those
Nazis who
were the agents of that karma!!

Personally I would do what I could to relieve the suffering of a
loved
one. This is one several levels.

I believe theosophy would be just as strongly opposed to mercy
killing as
to capital punishment, and for the same reasons. We should
provide all
the comfort and relief from pain possible, however.

The question then come down to "heroic efforts" Would failure to
remove
an infected leg constitute a karmic action. Do we pile up "bad"
karma by
failure to act? I would go ahead personally and remove the leg,
knowing
that if the astral breakdown is happening then something else
will take
her that we can not prevent. At least we can have the peace of
mind that
our lack of action did not contribute towards her death. (Others
may
disagree with this-please, your thoughts-this is a tough one.)

My own grandmother had a brain tumor and was comatose for several
months
before she died. We just let her go naturally and offered no
heroic
measures.

I know I've rambled here, hope others "come to the rescue" These
are the
kinds of questions I feel are important. We should have more of
them on
this site!

Peace

Larry


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