Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00350)

Monday, December 17, 2001

Dear Friend:

Let me say first of all that I am no authority. I try to write according
to what Theosophy teaches or according to what I have been able to discover
and annotate. I always leave it up to the correspondent to do their own
research and come to their own free and unbiased conclusions.

I do challenge un-referenced opinions. As you may notice from my postings,
I try to deal only with facts. I am not particularly interested in the
“history” of “who did what” -- as that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PHILOSOPHY
OF THEOSOPHY.

I am primarily interested in what THEOSOPHY TEACHES.

To answer your queries briefly:

Theosophy (the philosophy) advocates moderation in everything. If you study
the KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB) (available at http://www.blavatsky.net ) you
will soon discover that it is a most carefully reasoned philosophy.

It deals with the LAWS of NATURE and shows that extraordinary phenomena ((as
of spiritualism, or channeling )) is explained under those laws.

There are NO MIRACLES. There is no “magic” that will permit one to break
the Laws of Nature and remain unpunished.

In the subjects and quotes being bandied about for the past several days
there is

1. No indication that there is any truth or fact to support the
allegations that H P B was immoderate in smoking tobacco (not Hashish at
all). In other words there is no evidence that H P B did anything to
abbreviate her life. And she certainly had nothing to do with alcohol. The
use of alcohol or drugs that alter the consciousness are prohibited in true
occultism. It is the WILL of the ADEPT that controls all phenomena of
whatever kind. This is made clear in the MAHATMA LETTERS that are
published -- but you will have to read and secure that information yourself,
if you truly want to know. It is all there.

Incidentally, if you study Theosophy (starting with the KEY TO THEOSOPHY
(HPB) you will be able to make up your own mind on these matters. I would
add that H P B sacrificed a great deal in prolonging her life in a body that
was disintegrating -- so that The SECRET DOCTRINE could be written and
published.

2. Suicide is deplored by Theosophy. There is an article [ IS
SUICIDE A CRIME ? -- published in Theosophist for November 1882; Reprinted
in H P B Articles, U L T, Vol II p 329 ] by H.P.Blavatsky in which she
calls it a dangerous thing to do unless one is trying to save others.
Motive and determination determine the result of such a step. Usually moral
cowardice induces it.

3. The philosophy of Theosophy (which you ought to study carefully)
speaks of the after--death states of the immortal soul-ego in all of us --
our REAL SELVES. It indicates that the voluntarily shortening of a
life-span is not to be recommended, and the effects in a secondary
condition, called Kama-Loka (the place of desires) are usually very painful.
The teachings about individual Karma which follows every choice and is
controlled by the motive behind such choices is important.

One thing is clear to me, and that is H P B was not a Psychic investigator.
She KNEW the psychic world through and through, and as an ADEPT she
controlled it. So the conclusions and opinions you are reading about are no
more than bad guesses being made by ignorant persons who ought to know
better. Separately today I have posted a memo saying this and giving
reasons. Ho0pw you see it, and if you wish we can discuss it.

Thanks for asking.

Best wishes,

Dallas

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






-----Original Message-----
From: J----i C----s
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2001 3:52 AM
To: dalval14@earthlink.net
Subject: Queries around suicide

Hello Dallas

One of the Homestudy friends has given me your name in the hope that you may
help with my queries. I am currently subscribed to the Basic study
programme and after reading the topic on death and suicide I had the
following queries which could not be reconciled:

I would ask for your patience and that you only answer if you have the time
and the inclination and I have read your post in the BN-study group on the
subject of HPB's usage of alterants and I don't want to stir up any anger,
just want help in understanding. I also understand that references to H.P.
Blavatsky and her indulgences are second hand.

I first sent an e-mail to the website as follows:
I don't really have a problem understanding the area around suicide - it's
where one draws the line around suicide... if one knows that alcohol kills
are you committing suicide by drinking so much that you get liver disease,
even when doctors recognise alcoholism as a disease? And what about those
that kill themselves unintentionally by cigarettes for instance - one knows
that smoking kills - but I have read that H.P. Blavatsky smoked many
cigarettes. ("She was a life-long chain-smoker, and occasionally pacified
her bouts of raw nerves by inhaling marijuana, which was not illegal in
those days" from http://psychicinvestigator.com/Occult/Blat2.htm
<http://psychicinvestigator.com/Occult/Blat2.htm> .) Do you
know if this is addressed by H.P. Blavatsky anywhere?

I then received the following e-mail back:

> Friend:
>
> Perhaps these articles by W.Q. Judge are more what you're looking for?
> Please let us know.
>
> http://www.blavatsky.net/theosophy/judge/judge-articles.htm
<http://www.blavatsky.net/theosophy/judge/judge-articles.htm>
>
> Replanting Diseases for Future Use
> Thoughts on Karma
>
which I read with interest but, however, they presented further queries:

Thank you for the links - I found the articles very interesting and also
read - The Cure of Diseases. However they presented more questions below.

If alcoholism, or other addictive disorders, are diseases carried down
through generation and theosophy objects to introducing anything that stops
or throws them back into our inner, hidden planes of life diseases and
prefers them to be passed down and out through the natural gateway of our
bodily frame (to quote from the articles) then is one legitimising drinking
and alcoholism? This means we have to work against our strong feelings for
self-preservation Also smoking - I come back to this because it causes
death and we know of it and we can do something to stop this - yet,
allegedly, H.P.
Blavatsky was a chain smoker and her habits meant that her life was
shortened (of course the general public did not know it was so bad for your
health in those days but one can feel it doing damage and it is a very
addictive thing to do - one knows that cigarettes have control over you and
surely H.P. Blavatsky would have been wise to that) - is theosophy
indirectly legitimising smoking also? I was told years ago that smoking
puts holes in our aura!!!

Also the want to commit suicide usually comes from depression or some
imbalance in our physiology and also is something that may be passed down
genetically - and so why should someone that commits suicide have to wait
to fully dissipate until the preordained time of their death -
surely the fact that they maybe of a predisposition to commit suicide would
have been taken into account at the time of incarnation?

I have also always felt that if I was diagnosed with cancer, say, I would
try and treat it naturally and not have current medical interventions - but
reading these articles it appears that I should just accept it and that this
would come under mind or metaphysical healing which is theosophically
frowned upon - but my conscience wouldn't tell me to accept it - I don't
think... ?

Are you able to point me to any other articles - this is the first
theosophical stumbling block that I have come to.

Many thanks.
Jacqui



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