Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00777)

What you're saying has merit, but consider this: one
does not become a criminal by reading books about
crime. So how can one become a mahatma by reading
books about mahatmas?

It is one thing to stare into the astral light, and
quite another to merely read about someone else doing
it. Reading SPORTS ILLUSTRATED does not prepare one
for the Olympics, nor does reading Jack Chick comic
strips make one an artist.

Spending a year in a zendo practicing assiduously is
not a waste of time.

That this is true is a general consensus among
spiritual teachers, but they could of course be wrong.
Just a thought for consideration.

--- Eldon B Tucker <eldon@theosophy.com> wrote:
> At 04:01 PM 2/24/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >--- Eldon B Tucker <eldon@theosophy.com> wrote:
> > > For some, the reading of the books is part of a
> > > spiritual
> > > practice
> >
> >I am sure you are right, but it should be pointed
> out
> >that according to every spiritual teacher I am
> aware
> >of, sitting around reading and doing nothing else
> is
> >not going to lead to any sort of spiritual
> progress.
> >I am not saying they are right, but I am saying
> that
> >seems to be a consensus opinion of every spiritual
> >teacher including Blavatsky herself, who warned
> >against "manasic" development in isolation. Sort
> of
> >like someone trying to become a well rounded body
> >builder by just doing a little arm wrestling.
> 
> It may depend upon what one's definition of "doing
> something"
> is. Some may say, for instance, that spending a year
> in a zendo practicing Zen Buddhism is not doing
> anything.
> I'd think that activities that exercise the mind and
> inner nature, even if lacking in outward, visible
> signs
> of progress, can be highly significant to the
> individual.
> 
> Spiritual progress comes from an inner
> transformation
> that affects one's inner nature and one's
> relationship
> with the world. How one expresses it outwardly is
> completely individual. One person may try to become
> a
> spiritual teacher. Another may devote his or her
> life to
> a certain kind of good works. A third may slip back
> into
> society undetected, like one the person returning to
> society as depicted in the ox-herding pictures.
> 
> I'd agree that if one were sitting around reading
> and
> doing nothing else, one would be following an
> incomplete
> and probably ineffective path. The same could be
> said
> of someone in a monastery sitting around praying and
> doing nothing else, or of someone running around
> feeding
> hungry people and doing nothing else.
> 
> Any practice, to be effective, has to engage all
> parts
> of the inner nature, and to start, so to say, a
> self-sustaining inner spiritual fire that acts as a
> source of creativity, desire to make the world
> better,
> inner direction, and connectedness with all of life.
> 
> The approach that one takes to reach this may differ
> than that taken by a friend. But the important thing
> is that each finds one that works for them. It's
> also
> important to respect those paths that work for
> others,
> even if one does not find much of value for oneself
> in those other ways.
> 
> -- Eldon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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