Theos-Talk Archives (June 2002 Message tt00116)

June 21 2002

Dear Friend:

Each one of us who has Theosophy at heart does the best he can with a
situation such as you describe.

"Honor TRUTH by its use," is a brief expression of our duty.

None of us can set up hard and fast rules for others, nor can we
categorize individuals or label them. Those are generally incorrect
because precisely they do not account for individual differences.
They are tools, and also an expression of our ignorance.

Nature invariably works with individuals according to the necessary
life-environment they deserve, (Karma), and then, providing a
response commensurate with the needs of the environment and those who
have been affected by anything we think, feel or do to, or about them.

If someone is known to be corrupt we ought not to deal with them, but,
H P B says somewhere that exposing them is not one of our duties.

There are always alternatives and the impartial impersonality of even
the written statutes permit us to find and exercise other ways that
are fair, free and legitimate. But I would agree that some are not
expedient.

I cannot see that "prayer" has much to do with the subject. But what
I wrote on that stands as far as I can see, on the logic that
theosophy provides in the matter of relations between individuals.

Theosophy is a philosophy. It is to be used by individuals, first to
be studied and verified, and then used as best they can in practical
daily life. Perforce this exercise is not and cannot be supervised.
Or progress towards perfection is individual. Our "karma" is
individual.

Politic and theologies tend to mass people together and produce a
force that is no longer individual but is capable of being directed
because it has lost its individuality. Advantage is taken of the
inertia of ignorance, and then vague fears are advanced to make this
herd of sheep-like beings move one way or the other. It is highly
undesirable in terms of individual advancement. Only those who have
some personal agenda make use of others in this way.

Theosophy is diametrically opposite to, and opposed to such
manipulation.

Best wishes,

as always



Dallas

-----Original Message-----
From: Morten Sufilight
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 7:39 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Theos-World questions that trick us

Hi all,

Allright Dallas lets us do GOOD and pray (spiritually)...and let us at
least avoid hurting...
But Dallas by reversing the question - you according to me avoid
dealing with the seroius question of making proper PR to the
theosophical cause.

If nobody is printing anything or making any lectures - on the corrupt
politicians - to show them and the world, that the ancient wisdom and
the Masters REALLY is alive and kicking, then theosophy only shows it
self as a poor example to follow, while not following up on the ideas
of HPB on that issue - "corrupt politicians" (The Key to Theosophy).
You see HPB made PR on the issue in her own book ! (Section 12)

What I mean is one ought to call the political system by its proper
name 'corrupt', i.e. when it is so. At least to avoid further bad
actions from taking place.
It is when the disciple is creating a spiritual centre of energies
around himself/herself, that articles and awareness on Theosophy and
its views on politics will come forward. HPB did that in her time.
What are Theosophy doing today on this so very important issue ?
What can be done ?

(Why does politicians, hindus, christians, muslims, buddhists, etc...
NOT meet togehter and pray to their respective Gods ? Is it just
because the politicians are corrupt ? )

I will suggest that the next lecture in New York (or elsewhere) has
the title: "Theosophy on todays corrupt political system(s)".

Allow me to paste the parts of The Key to Theosophy (parts of section
4 and 12 and 'the future of TS'), which makes me wonder why Theosophy
is not much more dedicated to social uplifting.

SECTION 4
***

ENQUIRER. Yet it is rather difficult to draw the line of demarcation
between the abstract and the concrete in this case, as we have only
the latter to form our judgment by.

THEOSOPHIST. Then why make an exception for the T. S.? Justice, like
charity, ought to begin at home. Will you revile and scoff at the
"Sermon on the Mount" because your social, political and even
religious laws have, so far, not only failed to carry out its precepts
in their spirit, but even in their dead letter? Abolish the oath in
Courts, Parliament, Army and everywhere, and do as the Quakers do, if
you will call yourselves Christians. Abolish the Courts themselves,
for if you would follow the Commandments of Christ, you have to give
away your coat to him who deprives you of your cloak, and turn your
left cheek to the bully who smites you on the right. "Resist not evil,
love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you," for "whosoever shall break one of the least of these
Commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in
the Kingdom of Heaven," and "whosoever shall say 'Thou fool' shall be
in danger of hell fire." And why should you judge, if you would not be
judged in your turn? Insist that between Theosophy and the
Theosophical Society there is no difference, and forthwith you lay the
system of Christianity and its very essence open to the same charges,
only in a more serious form.

ENQUIRER. Why more serious?


***
SECTION 12
***


ENQUIRER. All this is very vague. What do you do more than Christians
do?

THEOSOPHIST. It is not what we members of the Theosophical Society
do -- though some of us try our best -- but how much farther Theosophy
leads to good than modern Christianity does. I say -- action, enforced
action, instead of mere intention and talk. A man may be what he
likes, the most worldly, selfish and hard-hearted of men, even a
deep-dyed rascal, and it will not prevent him from calling himself a
Christian, or others from so regarding him. But no Theosophist has the
right to this name, unless he is thoroughly imbued with the
correctness of Carlyle's truism: "The end of man is an action and not
a thought, though it were the noblest" -- and unless he sets and
models his daily life upon this truth. The profession of a truth is
not yet the enactment of it; and the more beautiful and grand it
sounds, the more loudly virtue or duty is talked about instead of
being acted upon, the more forcibly it will always remind one of the
Dead Sea fruit. Cant is the most loathsome of all vices; and cant is
the most prominent feature of the greatest Protestant country of this
century -- England.

ENQUIRER. What do you consider as due to humanity at large?

THEOSOPHIST. Full recognition of equal rights and privileges for all,
and without distinction of race, colour, social position, or birth.

ENQUIRER. When would you consider such due not given?

THEOSOPHIST. When there is the slightest invasion of another's
right -- be that other a man or a nation; when there is any failure to
show him the same justice, kindness, consideration or mercy which we
desire for ourselves. The whole present system of politics is built on
the oblivion of such rights, and the most fierce assertion of national
selfishness. The French say: "Like master, like man"; they ought to
add, "Like national policy, like citizen."

ENQUIRER. Do you take any part in politics?

THEOSOPHIST. As a Society, we carefully avoid them, for the reasons
given below. To seek to achieve political reforms before we have
effected a reform in human nature, is like putting new wine into old
bottles. Make men feel and recognise in their innermost hearts what is
their real, true duty to all men, and every old abuse of power, every
iniquitous law in the national policy, based on human, social or
political selfishness, will disappear of itself. Foolish is the
gardener who seeks to weed his flower-bed of poisonous plants by
cutting them off from the surface of the soil, instead of tearing them
out by the roots. No lasting political reform can be ever achieved
with the same selfish men at the head of affairs as of old.

THE RELATIONS OF THE T. S. TO POLITICAL REFORMS.
ENQUIRER. The Theosophical Society is not, then, a political
organization?

THEOSOPHIST. Certainly not. It is international in the highest sense
in that its members comprise men and women of all races, creeds, and
forms of thought, who work together for one object, the improvement of
humanity; but as a society it takes absolutely no part in any national
or party politics.

ENQUIRER. Why is this?

THEOSOPHIST. Just for the reasons I have mentioned. Moreover,
political action must necessarily vary with the circumstances of the
time and with the idiosyncracies of individuals. While from the very
nature of their position as Theosophists the members of the T. S. are
agreed on the principles of Theosophy, or they would not belong to the
society at all, it does not thereby follow that they agree on every
other subject. As a society they can only act together in matters
which are common to all -- that is, in Theosophy itself; as
individuals, each is left perfectly free to follow out his or her
particular line of political thought and action, so long as this does
not conflict with Theosophical principles or hurt the Theosophical
Society.

ENQUIRER. But surely the T. S. does not stand altogether aloof from
the social questions which are now so fast coming to the front?

THEOSOPHIST. The very principles of the T. S. are a proof that it does
not -- or, rather, that most of its members do not -- so stand aloof.
If humanity can only be developed mentally and spiritually by the
enforcement, first of all, of the soundest and most scientific
physiological laws, it is the bounden duty of all who strive for this
development to do their utmost to see that those laws shall be
generally carried out. All Theosophists are only too sadly aware that,
in Occidental countries especially, the social condition of large
masses of the people renders it impossible for either their bodies or
their spirits to be properly trained, so that the development of both
is thereby arrested. As this training and development is one of the
express objects of Theosophy, the T. S. is in thorough sympathy and
harmony with all true efforts in this direction.

ENQUIRER. But what do you mean by "true efforts"? Each social reformer
has his own panacea, and each believes his to be the one and only
thing which can improve and save humanity?

THEOSOPHIST. Perfectly true, and this is the real reason why so little
satisfactory social work is accomplished. In most of these panaceas
there is no really guiding principle, and there is certainly no one
principle which connects them all. Valuable time and energy are thus
wasted; for men, instead of co-operating, strive one against the
other, often, it is to be feared, for the sake of fame and reward
rather than for the great cause which they profess to have at heart,
and which should be supreme in their lives.

ENQUIRER. How, then, should Theosophical principles be applied so that
social co-operation may be promoted and true efforts for social
amelioration be carried on?

THEOSOPHIST. Let me briefly remind you what these principles are --
universal Unity and Causation; Human Solidarity; the Law of Karma;
Re-incarnation. These are the four links of the golden chain which
should bind humanity into one family, one universal Brotherhood.

ENQUIRER. How?

THEOSOPHIST. In the present state of society, especially in so-called
civilized countries, we are continually brought face to face with the
fact that large numbers of people are suffering from misery, poverty
and disease. Their physical condition is wretched, and their mental
and spiritual faculties are often almost dormant. On the other hand,
many persons at the opposite end of the social scale are leading lives
of careless indifference, material luxury, and selfish indulgence.
Neither of these forms of existence is mere chance. Both are the
effects of the conditions which surround those who are subject to
them, and the neglect of social duty on the one side is most closely
connected with the stunted and arrested development on the other. In
sociology, as in all branches of true science, the law of universal
causation holds good. But this causation necessarily implies, as its
logical outcome, that human solidarity on which Theosophy so strongly
insists. If the action of one reacts on the lives of all, and this is
the true scientific idea, then it is only by all men becoming brothers
and all women sisters, and by all practising in their daily lives true
brotherhood and true sisterhood, that the real human solidarity, which
lies at the root of the elevation of the race, can ever be attained.
It is this action and interaction, this true brotherhood and
sisterhood, in which each shall live for all and all for each, which
is one of the fundamental Theosophical principles that every
Theosophist should be bound, not only to teach, but to carry out in
his or her individual life.

ENQUIRER. All this is very well as a general principle, but how would
you apply it in a concrete way?

THEOSOPHIST. Look for a moment at what you would call the concrete
facts of human society. Contrast the lives not only of the masses of
the people, but of many of those who are called the middle and upper
classes, with what they might be under healthier and nobler
conditions, where justice, kindness, and love were paramount, instead
of the selfishness, indifference, and brutality which now too often
seem to reign supreme. All good and evil things in humanity have their
roots in human character, and this character is, and has been,
conditioned by the endless chain of cause and effect. But this
conditioning applies to the future as well as to the present and the
past. Selfishness, indifference, and brutality can never be the normal
state of the race -- to believe so would be to despair of humanity --
and that no Theosophist can do. Progress can be attained, and only
attained, by the development of the nobler qualities. Now, true
evolution teaches us that by altering the surroundings of the organism
we can alter and improve the organism; and in the strictest sense this
is true with regard to man. Every Theosophist, therefore, is bound to
do his utmost to help on, by all the means in his power, every wise
and well-considered social effort which has for its object the
amelioration of the condition of the poor. Such efforts should be made
with a view to their ultimate social emancipation, or the development
of the sense of duty in those who now so often neglect it in nearly
every relation of life.

ENQUIRER. Agreed. But who is to decide whether social efforts are wise
or unwise?

THEOSOPHIST. No one person and no society can lay down a hard-and-fast
rule in this respect. Much must necessarily be left to the individual
judgment. One general test may, however, be given. Will the proposed
action tend to promote that true brotherhood which it is the aim of
Theosophy to bring about? No real Theosophist will have much
difficulty in applying such a test; once he is satisfied of this, his
duty will lie in the direction of forming public opinion. And this can
be attained only by inculcating those higher and nobler conceptions of
public and private duties which lie at the root of all spiritual and
material improvement. In every conceivable case he himself must be a
centre of spiritual action, and from him and his own daily individual
life must radiate those higher spiritual forces which alone can
regenerate his fellow-men.

ENQUIRER. But why should he do this? Are not he and all, as you teach,
conditioned by their Karma, and must not Karma necessarily work itself
out on certain lines?

THEOSOPHIST. It is this very law of Karma which gives strength to all
that I have said. The individual cannot separate himself from the
race, nor the race from the individual. The law of Karma applies
equally to all, although all are not equally developed. In helping on
the development of others, the Theosophist believes that he is not
only helping them to fulfil their Karma, but that he is also, in the
strictest sense, fulfilling his own. It is the development of
humanity, of which both he and they are integral parts, that he has
always in view, and he knows that any failure on his part to respond
to the highest within him retards not only himself but all, in their
progressive march. By his actions, he can make it either more
difficult or more easy for humanity to attain the next higher plane of
being.


***
'The future'
***
THE FUTURE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
ENQUIRER. Tell me, what do you expect for Theosophy in the future?

THEOSOPHIST. If you speak of THEOSOPHY, I answer that, as it has
existed eternally throughout the endless cycles upon cycles of the
Past, so it will ever exist throughout the infinitudes of the Future,
because Theosophy is synonymous with EVERLASTING TRUTH.

ENQUIRER. Pardon me; I meant to ask you rather about the prospects of
the Theosophical Society.

THEOSOPHIST. Its future will depend almost entirely upon the degree of
selflessness, earnestness, devotion, and last, but not least, on the
amount of knowledge and wisdom possessed by those members, on whom it
will fall to carry on the work, and to direct the Society after the
death of the Founders.

ENQUIRER. I quite see the importance of their being selfless and
devoted, but I do not quite grasp how their knowledge can be as vital
a factor in the question as these other qualities. Surely the
literature which already exists, and to which constant additions are
still being made, ought to be sufficient?

THEOSOPHIST. I do not refer to technical knowledge of the esoteric
doctrine, though that is most important; I spoke rather of the great
need which our successors in the guidance of the Society will have of
unbiassed and clear judgment. Every such attempt as the Theosophical
Society has hitherto ended in failure, because, sooner or later, it
has degenerated into a sect, set up hard-and-fast dogmas of its own,
and so lost by imperceptible degrees that vitality which living truth
alone can impart. You must remember that all our members have been
bred and born in some creed or religion, that all are more or less of
their generation both physically and mentally, and consequently that
their judgment is but too likely to be warped and unconsciously
biassed by some or all of these influences. If, then, they cannot be
freed from such inherent bias, or at least taught to recognise it
instantly and so avoid being led away by it, the result can only be
that the Society will drift off on to some sandbank of thought or
another, and there remain a stranded carcass to moulder and die.

ENQUIRER. But if this danger be averted?


***

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