Theos-Talk Archives (June 2002 Message tt00089)

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Dear friends:

On the material plane of solid material and substantial forms this
question is a paradox.

But Theosophy points to the Spiritual origin of all things, and
employs the concept of the Universal Mind (fractioned into the
individual mind in all and every being -- either manifest or latent),
as the "bridge" between Spirit (or IDEAL), ideas ( or MIND) and matter
(or FORMS).

The question is then made a matter of ideal and idea.

Does any "word" come into usage without an idea behind and within
it -- unexpressed in sound, until necessary to convey an idea to
another via air and sound ?

The "trick," as a practicing theosophist, is to relate any such
paradox/es (and there are many) to the tents, fundamental concepts and
teachings what H P B originally brought to us as a "Message" from the
Masters of Wisdom.

Let us then use the KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB) as a book that will help
us to see how the evolution of all things is coordinated, how SPEECH
arose (well described and illustrated in S D II pp. 198- 200.)

Best wishes,

Dallas

-----Original Message-----
From: Eldon B Tucker [mailto:eldon@theosophy.com]
Sent:	Monday, June 17, 2002 10:56 AM
To:	theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	Theos-World questions that trick us


>In the evolution of the animal kingdom, a question is posed to the
>scientist, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
>
>In the spiritual evolution of humanity, a question is posed to the
>disciple, "Which came first, the Teacher or the Teaching?

Monica:

There are a number of trick questions, which mislead
us into some form of circular thinking and a false
paradox. The question, "which came first, the chicken
or the egg," is one.

The question assumes that there are two events: (1) the
chicken hatching the egg and (2) the egg hatching and
a chick growing up to be the chicken. Asking "which came
first," assumes that one could come before the other.

But one cannot come before the other. They are co-dependent.
They are different points in time of the same cycle. There
is a single cycle of life that they represent. One cannot
exist without the other, even if they don't happen at the
same time.

Which came first? Neither. They both arose together as
a new cycle of life, a new manner of procreation by some
creature that later evolved into what we now know as a
chicken.

Asking "which came first" is something of a trick. It's
like a stage magician directing one's attention to his
right hand which quickly slipping something into the left.

I tend to look upon this and similar trick questions as
a test of our powers of discrimination. We need to
learn to discern when we're being told something useful
and when we're being misled. We need to refine our
abilities to sift truth out from the dross and develop
our ability to think things through ourselves, rather
than just relying upon everything that we're told from
others.

Two other trick questions :

(1) Zeno's paradox, where you get 1/2 of the way to the
wall, then you're 1/2 of the remaining distance, then
1/2 of the rest of the way, but never reach it.

(2) What happens when an irresistible force meets an
immovable object?

-- Eldon