Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00303)

Dear Dallas,

Thanks for the correction. For some reason I caught your meaning, but it
is good to have affirmation of my reading. Please excuse the delay 
in answering. I was gone for awhile and am trying to catch up with 
my email. 

> 
> I found a serious error in something I sent you (and you quoted
> back) It should have been WITHOUT.
> 
> 
> > By the way, in recent acrimonious cross-fire comments, the only ones
> > worth paying attention to are those that are specific -- quoting
> > chapter and verse. if any one is so careless as to put forward
> > anything WITHOUT adequate "BACK-UP" it really is not
> worth
> > taking notice of. However, thinking of the potential wide
> > audience, and the effect on them of information they would find it
> > difficult to verify, it is necessary to protest or to
> readjust so
> > many things.

There certainly do seem to be many different interpretations of the 
material we share an interest in. Perhaps this is healthy, if we can 
only manage to approach our discussion with the principles of 
theosophy in mind. Otherwise we descend into bickering and 
meaningless skirmishing on personal issues. This concerns me, 
since I wonder what the effect is on those who are new to 
theosophy. Does it say to them that theosophists pay lip service 
but do not try to live according to the principles they say they 
study? That would have discouraged me, at that time in my life.
> 
> 
> We are all STUDENTS, even when we may be rated "Adepts." Look at the
> way the Masters write in MAHATMA LETTERS They show that they have
> THEIR MASTERS and that there are rules and laws in the Universe that
> require careful "avoidance" [in giving information] or "interfering,"
> or "guiding," or "assisting."

Perhaps it is just difficult for 21st Century westerners to accept that 
there could be laws that govern their behavior, whether they 
recognize them or not. Civil disobedience is a way to question 
man's laws, some of which don't seem to be very reasonable, but 
nature's laws cannot be avoided. When we accept this, we find a 
greater freedom than any amount of disobedience to them can 
afford. But until we do consciously accept nature's right to rule our 
existence, we are doomed to wondering about everything, since we 
are just not ready to be given the power which lies in the occult 
revealed.
> 
> As to providing such information as I have gleaned. It is a
> pleasure. I only hope others will be inspired (as I was) to
> persevere, and to actually discover for themselves the accuracy
> and fulfillment that can be had from a deep study of THEOSOPHY.
> It does not eliminate hardships of various kinds, but it does
> eliminate the sense of isolation and of despair that can
> seemingly come out of "nowhere."

I find this to be true also. It appears, however, that there is some 
missing link for some seekers, some inability to perceive the 
essential truth of the material. We can investigate anything with our 
intellect alone, but in the case of theosophy, if we don't accept the 
mystery behind the teachings, it seems we rob ourselves of the 
opportunity to develop our inner understanding to the point that the 
rewards you mention can occur. 
> 
> You are right that true wisdom comes from WITHIN == from the
> HIGHER SELF. There we are all ONE TOGETHER WHOLE.
> But it would seem that one of the tasks of those who have
> attained such a state is to volunteer to remain with humanity and
> Nature and continuously assist. In so doing they of course seem to be
> able to prove the philosophy even deeper.

It is this that keeps me trying to discuss these things, in the face of 
some pretty strong skepticism. If those who have truly attained to 
wisdom can renounce eternal bliss in order to help us, who are so 
fractious and seemingly blind, then perhaps I can overcome my 
distaste of certain behavior in order to try to reflect what seems 
important to me in this material. Maybe someone out there will find 
some ray of light in something I may chance to say. That would 
make it all worth while. 
> 
> I have been puzzled fro some years now by the seeming phrasing
> found in The SECRET DOCTRINE that would indicate there are TWO
> EGOS in man. Let me give you some page references and see what
> you make of them
> 
> [ SECRET DOCTRINE I 105, 210, 130, 267, 574, 610; II 87, 161, 241,
> 246, 254-5, 275.
> 
> Then in TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE, pp. 66 - 78 -- we
> find the puzzling description of the confabulation that goes on
> nightly during deep sleep between the Embodied Self (I presume
> this is Kama-Manas -- the altruistic side of it) and the HIGHER
> SELF ( ATMA-BUDDHI) It looks as though there were TWO EGOS in
> Man: One is the WISE MONAD represented in our "principles" by
> ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS. The other is a Monad "of lesser experience"
> (see SECRET DOCTRINE I 634, 619, ) It is the "son," the "pupil" of
> the OTHER who acts as an advisor -- a tutor - only.

Reading through the references you recommend, I find emerging in 
my mind the idea, not new to me but not fully thought through, that 
the two egos, or ego and Ego, of mankind are the essential or 
composite identities of the duality of humanity's make-up, the 
material and the spiritual, the quartenary and the triad, the lower 
manifested entity and the higher unmanifested and eternal being, 
the latter of which, in its higher aspect, corresponds to the Christos, 
the first emanation of the Absolute in the cycle of manifestation. 
Our evolution is the process of the Ego, the higher consciousness, 
informing and imbuing the ego, the animal nature, with 
enlightenment. 
> 
> I also agree that real meditation is HIGH CONCENTRATION. But the
> selection and the reasoning have to be very rigorous, pure, and have
> as motive the acquirement of knowledge that can help others. It is
> always an ACTIVE state and not a PASSIVE one.

Indeed, as much as it would seem attractive to live in seclusion 
and spend one's life in a bliss of inner contemplation, it is pretty 
clear that in this cycle at least, the work of serious and sincere 
students is among their brothers and sisters, trying by example and 
compassionate ministration, to spread some of the light that the 
teachings make available, for those who will open their eyes and 
their hearts. 
> 
All the best to you,
Adelasie
> 
>