Theos-Talk Archives (April 2002 Message tt00264)

Thank you Dallas, that was quite useful. Although I
still believe we can draw analogies from what we know
to obtain some idea what this Absolute might be like,
even though we can never know exactly what it is -
that is, we can have some kind of intuitive sense of
the Absolute. However its exact form could never be
replicated in a textbook, so to speak.

mic


--- dalval14@earthlink.net wrote:
> 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
> 
=== message truncated ===


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