Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00175)

Saturday, October 13, 2001

Dear Wesley:

Let me answer with a few thoughts of my own, based on
theosophical study.

Dal


Yours :


1. What is the value of an impossible-to-grasp concept such as
"the
absolute," or "Parabrahm?" Isn't the idea of an "Oversoul,"
"world soul,"
or source of intelligence and nature, enough of a philosophical
ground?
----------------------------

DTB	Difficult, but not "impossible" I would say. Gives us a
sense of UNITY with the vast whole.

Also gives us a sense of having a portion of the Divine (however
named) in and with ourselves all the time.

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

2. What is time? Modern physics shows it to be the "fourth
dimension," but
HPB calls it an illusion resulting from our limited
consciousness.
-----------------------------

DTB	I think H P B calls it the memory of our passage through
various kinds and states of experience, and the Mind's ability to
anticipate future results in terms of those past choices and
experience. [Perhaps S D I 37 to 40 gives a moiré
comprehensive explanation -- which I tried to summarize just
above.]

In SECRET DOCTRINE I p. 142, 673 she gives reasons for the
limitation to 3 dimensions in this plane of matter we know when
awake. But can we not consider that visions, and dreams also
represent different states of matter with our ONE CONSCIOUSNESS
experiences and is able partially to transmit memory of to the
making brain? I think TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE , PP.
66 TO 78 .

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



3. What is the significance of Judge's statement that "man IS a
soul?"
Elsewhere, he indicates that the identity of these two words is
important,
as by comparison the statement "man HAS a soul" may lead us to
think of soul
as something we possess, and therefore could lose. What do
others think?

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

DTB	I believe in the OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY he devotes quite a lot of
space to explaining the equivalence and synonymous nature of the
two words.

But if we look on the Mind as a tool, the SOUL of man, if taken
to be a portion of the IMMORTAL DIVINE SELF, (Atma), resident as
the Spiritual Wisdom of man ( ATMA-BUDDHI) is superior to Mind as
the tool.. After all don't we direct the mind and don't we apply
the power of will and choice to selecting what we will do with
out minds? If so, then WE are superior to the Mind (as tool).
There ought to be some straightening out of terms and their
meaning here.

If I open and read PATANJALI's Yoga Sutras, or the BHAGAVAD GITA
(Krishna), I find the words Soul and Mind used in what appears
several ways. In one case it means the HIGHER MIND
(Buddhi-Manas) and in another it means Kama-Manas the lower and
personal brain-mind. The only way I ever made sense of these is
to read them in context. They are either impersonal and
universal (higher mind) or they are selfish and full of
desire/passion (LOWER MIND).

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


4. What is the *practical* value of such abstractions? How do
they relate
to *real* world problems such as war, death, hunger, suffering,
etc?

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


DTB	Why not turn that around and say that the REAL WORLD is the
unchanging SPIRITUAL state and condition. But it sacrifices
itself for the same of the Lower Mind embodied in a sea of past
karma not all of which is pleasant. Faced with sorrow and pain,
the Lower Mind often cries out asking for the chaos of daily life
to make sense, and for the breaking waves of passion to be
pacified, so that it can think of some way out of the mess.

What does Theosophy offer? it speaks of Law which is changeless
and immutable that rules all relationships in the universe, on
earth and mankind. But can this be proved in the way we prove
hot water will scald our hands?

Our memories do not always relate the suffering that is
psycho-mental to the choices we made earlier. But we do know
what happens if we allow boiling water to fall on us.

Supposing we take the law of Nature to be a harmony. suppose
some of our choices are selfish and personal and might or do harm
to ethers, in a careless manner. Is Nature going to forgive and
forget? Or will she react on behalf of those we have abused or
injured, and exact from us a response to a situation we have
created by our earlier made hurtful choices? How are we going to
settle the debt we owe to others we may have deprived or injured?
Theosophy says that nature acts to do this.

At the end of LIGHT ON THE PATH there is a lovely essay on KARMA
which goes a long way to explaining this.

These "abstractions" serve to explain to us how our actions are
always witnessed by Nature, and we have no place to go to escape.
Nor can we be forgiven by saying we are sorry, or acted
irresponsibly or because of ignorance. There is NO PERSONAL GOD
out there, inscrutable, lost in the infinitudes of SPACE, which
only the priests of some religions claim they can contact and
persuade "to forgive and forget," is going to be moved by our
supplications, prayers, laudations and pleas for forgiveness --
unless we first take our lives and desires into our own mental
hands and make our lower natures "toe the line" and behave in a
decent brotherly manner. Are we prepared to make adequate
reparations to those we have injured or deprived unlawfully? If
we do then we go a long way towards redressing the wrongs we may
have done. If we still desire to hide and have "others forget"
the wrongs we have done, then we have learned little of the
lessons and purposes of life.

If "Sublime Perfection" is our goal then the doing of good deeds,
thoughts and feelings is our surest and quickest way to achieve.

Universal Brotherhood, actively, carefully, but personally
applied by all of us, all the time, is the only way in which
ourselves and our environment can be harmonized and purified.
Are we willing to treat our neighbors as "brothers?" That is
where universal charity and generosity begin.

And UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD is the first object of the THEOSOPHICAL
MOVEMENT
All our study, even of the enables us to prove this to
ourselves.

The IDEAL LIFE is enshrined precisely in those "absolutes" and
"Ultimates," that seem so remote, yet, when examined, it is seen
that they are the true unifiers of mankind, working for the level
of the SPIRITUAL SOUL they make Brotherhood reasonable. They
make immortality a certainty, they make justice and firmness and
fairness and charity the rules of the UNIVERSE.

Science demonstrates in all its departments the rule of LAW in
every part of Nature. why should the family of man be alone
excluded from this universal system?

One wonders why it is that the fact of our "freedom" so tempt us
to violate the laws of life all around us.? That to me is very
puzzling. Can anyone explain why evil and selfishness are so
attractive?

Best wishes,

Dallas.

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



Best Regards,
Wes







-----Original Message-----
From: Wes Amerman [mailto:wamerman@socal.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 7:05 PM
To: basic@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-basic] Syllabus

Dear Friends,

A couple of additional thoughts on our current syllabus material: