Theos-Talk Archives (April 2002 Message tt00232)

Saturday, April 20, 2002


Re: ABSOLUTE


Let me quote what a senior student once said:

Q.	The 1st chapter of the Ocean speaks of the 7-fold division of
the Universe as being "The Absolute, Spirit, Mind, Matter, Will
Akasa or AEther, and Life;" can their relation to each other be
defined ?

A.	"The Absolute is the Causeless Cause, the Root and Sustainer
of All.
SPIRIT represents consciousness or intelligence arising from and
within the Absolute.
MIND is the intelligence of all beings in action--the creative or
constructive power.
MATTER is substance, from the most ethereal to the most concrete:
products of the interaction and inter-relation of the various
classes of beings involved.
WILL is the force of any and all degrees of intelligence; it is
inherent in consciousness as "the power to act;" determination
to act makes it operative.
AKASA is an element, a form of substance, a production of the
creative intelligences.
LIFE is the power to perceive, and give expression to any degree
of intelligence, upon any plane of substance. " -- R C


Q,	Why is it impossible for the mind of man to understand the
Absolute? That does not mean that we can never understand it,
does it ?

A.	"The Ocean says, "The universe evolves from the unknown, into
which no man, or mind, however high, can inquire." The statement
stands as one made by a Teacher, and should have full
consideration. Nevertheless, we should be able to understand why
it is correct. The Absolute is the opposite of the Relative;
the Absolute includes all things and all beings, and being the
substratum of all, past, present and future, cannot be inquired
into by any being who exists in It, not from It.

The word Absolute denotes that which is without qualities or
attributes of any kind, therefore how can any being understand
That which has no form and exhibits or qualities whatever ?

We are familiar with the word Life, and can understand that it is
expressed in all forms whether visible or invisible to us; we use
the term "The One Life" to indicate its presence in all things
and everywhere. As beings we cannot inquire into that power of
infinite expression which each one is; and can only express It
according to his range and quality of expression. No being can
express Life, without being in essence Life Itself.

We say of the Absolute only that "It is," as we can say of
ourselves only, "I am." How can we inquire into that which does
not depend upon any expressions great or small, but upon the fact
of Its Universal Presence?

We should also be able to perceive and understand that each one
of us is both Being and Non-Being; our power to perceive is
Non-Being; our assimilated and embodied perceptions constitute
Being.

The absolute is a name for the One Reality, the Infinite,
Unchanging basis of all. all the rest is "Maya"-- that is, the
ever-changing modes, expressions, degrees of intelligence and
their forms, ever approaching the Light, but never touching the
Flame; for the Real in each being is the Flame itself."
--R C

extract from Q & A p. 40-1.

DTB

I hope this proves to be useful

Best wishes


Dallas

-----Original Message-----
From: Mic Forster
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 5:15 PM
To:
Subject: RE: universal unity

The notion of absolute BE-NESS is both beautiful and
annoying. That we cannot ever fully grasp such a
concept is the cause of this beauty and vexation.
Nevertheless, we must have some idea of the concept
otherwise we could never think of it in the first
place. Imagine being stuck in a cave with musicians
your whole life to emerge one day and be asked to
think of a concept such as sport. Having never had any
experience with sport one would find it most difficult
to understand it. I presume that to have any idea one
would have to use analogies in music, if indeed one
could. Similarly to begin to understand this
"Absolute" I presume we would have to use analogies
with those concepts that we are most familiar with.

Therefore I view the Absolute as a form of energy
which has no impurities, form or differentiation. It
is everything and nothing. Yet somehow form does arise
and once intiated it continues to differentiate then
integrate and so on until all potential forms that can
ever exist have been exhausted. There is never an end
to this as the potential is infinite. There is all
this potential energy that is turn into actual energy
and is manifested in forms such as trees, kangaroos
and humans. We are but one potential that has been
actualised. That MIND, that thinking thing that is not
the brain, is but another potential that has been
actualised. Everything I can see and feel around me is
nothing but a form of energy derived from the
Absolute.

Although these thoughts, in themselves, according to
what I have just stated, is but another form of
potential energy that has become actual and therefore
are probably nothing but an illusion.


--- dalval14@earthlink.net wrote:


> Thursday, April 18, 2002
>
> Dear Mic:
>
> If you were a drop of water how would you identify
> yourself in an
> Ocean ? If you are a thinking MIND, then where can
> you locate
> the center from which you THINK ? I do not mean
> vaguely the
> "brain." I mean WHERE IS THE THINKER ho uses the
> brain and the
> body ?
>
> How can one atom distinguish itself (if it had
> consciousness)
> from another? Indeterminacy indicates some mind of
> individuality
> evening those extremely small items of substance?
>
> A puff of wind is made up of millions of molecules
> all moved by
> some common force. What identifies one puff from ay
> other ?
> Perhaps the wind knows.
>
> Tell me, how does anyone of us direct and control
> his present
> physical body? I known the details that physiology
> give. I am
> familiar with chemistry and physics. But none of
> these tells me
> why there is a difference between a living man and a
> dead one.
>
> So it comes down to defining vitality or life. What
> stand behind
> them and gives them direction and meaning? When our
> lives come
> to an end what happens? when at night we "fall"
> asleep, what
> happens? where does our consciousness go? And why
> does it not
> wake up in someone else's body?
>
> Unity is in a spiritual presence -- it gives meaning
> to the
> contrast of matter -- but have you looked into the
> 7-fold nature
> (or the "principles") of man?
>
CUT