Theos-Talk Archives (July 2002 Message tt00184)

July 20 2002

Re: sharing Theosophy


Dear L R: and Friends:

I fully agree that what passes for music is symptomatic of the
trend of these times -- and the business and financial climate,
as well as the national and racial and religious tensions -- are
other indexes of the current average mind-frame, at least in
those dump heaps we call cities and think represent our
civilization because of sheer noise and numbers.

Look around us. Of all the many buildings, libraries, statues,
bridges, factories, public buildings, homes, museums, etc… where
is there any longevity? 1,000 years from now what will remain of
these present times? If Vesuvius had not entombed Pompey and
Herculaneum, and if those had not been so recently excavated what
would we know of the daily living of the Romans of that time?

We have foundations, monuments, buildings, statues, from
antiquity (see ISIS UNVEILED as an instance, or read Godfrey
Higgins’ books) but without some idea of continuity and of wisdom
that spans the destruction of data and mere knowledge, where can
any one in the future go to secure an inkling of what we know
today.

This is one more instance of the accuracy and need of Theosophy
being recorded and published when it was -- 125 years ago. It
predicted the present. How do we predict the future, 100, 200
500 1000 years hence and what provisions are we making for our
advances to continue?

Of our more recent buildings, say between CE 500 and CE 1500 how
many remain standing as illustrative of a way of living? Some
scattered and fragmentary scripts are in libraries and museums
and scholars spend endless hours trying to reconstruct the
PHYSICAL RECORD of the past they represent.

Archaeologists squabble with Geologists over the dating of the
past. Theories and hypothesis concerning pre-history are
continuing foci of debate in academic circles. And what do they
truly achieve ?

Are the eras and cycles -- engaging enormous periods of time --
of The SECRET DOCTRINE (II 68-70) to be laughed at and set aside?
Is the evolution of our planet and its humanity to be set aside
and derided ? Of what real value are those facts? do they not
provide us with some reasoned basis -- an observers’ eye-view --
of what most probably actually happened ? At least it is not
claimed that they are either fiction or theory. Facts are
advanced there -- said to be HISTORY (S D I 267) to stand until
some other FACTS come to light (if ever) to upset and nullify
them. We are waiting to see if that happens.

We have vast knowledge of Nature and call it science. How about
our records? They are all on short-lived materials that would
hardly survive 300 years. Probably less.

What happens to knowledge when it is eroded, eaten up by time,
and there are no living minds to acquire and pass it on? How do
we record the facts of Science engineering, astronomy,
space-conquest ?

But as said, the actual progress lies within, beyond and behind
such superficial phenomena. The Ocean is deep and vast, and
moves slowly while the surface is whipped by storms. The
reflective minds go below that surface, but they also hold out
“life-preservers” for those that need or want them. There is
where one might find that reassuring stability, so needed by
thoughtful minds that are engaged in finding out the purpose of
our existence.

I think Theosophy is such a “life-preserver.” It declares the
value of basics and fundamentals that survive the “noise” of
frantic activity that goes nowhere. But those same “basics and
fundamentals” are derided by those who see in them threats to
some personal hobby they have espoused. The hobbies like the
many religions of the past will all pas away in time. what
remains are facts and truths relating to human character, human
thinking, and human purpose. We need to ascertain with a great
depth of certitude what those are. It seems to me that the
philosophy and the information conveyed by Theosophy deals or at
least starts to deal with such considerations. Shall we go
further? The decision (as all decisions are) is ours.

I recall H P B in a Message to American Theosophists written
around 1890 indicated a psychic wave that would soon overwhelm
our “civilization” and could trivialize it if it was left to run
its course. She hoped then that the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY and
Theosophy would serve to stem that tide. Inasmuch as students of
theosophy are few, it seems to me we ought to take every
opportunity of seeking to advertise and illustrate sanity and
deliberate thoughtful actions.

The “virtues” need to be advertised, mentioned, illustrated and
hopefully some of the answers that the mob and the crowd seek,
will be made visible through their being spoken of and made
plain. As I see it, it is a groping of the satiated desire
nature which now would desire to find rest, calm and reason --
and finding no solution or objectives, loses itself in -- more
noise and idleness.

But, there again, everything depends on individuals who can,
doing what they can to make some sense prevail.

It was said of Theosophical effort: “Each member a center.”

This underlines the question of what individuals can do. We
might consider a stream to represent the unrolling dynamic flow
of life and its history. All of us are a part of this. In that
stream are rocks, snags, that roil the waters, and cause the
surface to ripple or cascade -- and smooth places where the
stream gradually becomes a majestic Nile, or a Mississippi, or a
Rhine, or a Danube, or a Volga. In those final states where the
mighty rivers meets seas and oceans there is a resolution and a
melding of all the factors of its past passage, from spring, to
stream, to broad and deep river. The OCEAN resolves all -- it is
timeless and represents in this illustration the great cycles and
currents of a different, of a parent dynamic. So are our
lives -- in the on-going development of individual intelligence.
One life is insufficient to learn all or to experience all.
Reincarnation is on consideration, appealing to logic, and the
SOUL/SPIRIT of Man is deemed to be the continuing vehicle for
that INTELLIGENCE -- it is its source, in fact.

Now there is a purpose to this. How will we discover that ?



Best wishes,

Dallas

==========================

-----Original Message-----
From: L.R. Andrews
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2002 7:08 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Sharing Theosophy

Hi,
How true that none of our contemporaries seem to have the depth
of Tolstoy, Hugo, Dostoyevsky. It seems (although of course
appearances can be deceiving), that our race is degenerating,
judging not only by the lack of literary talent, but also by
current trends in "music," among other things.
Have you noticed, for instance, the background noise in
department stores, supermarkets and video stores that passes for
music? Most are either terribly obnoxious or reflect sick or
terribly depressed states of mind. Am I crazy, or does anyone
else feel the same way?
The other day I walked into a video store hoping to rent an
uplifting or intesting film. The background "music" was so
unbearable, I asked the clerk, "How can you work in here all day
with that horrible noise?" "I just tune it out, he said."
While we're on the subject, whatever happened to romance, to
couples just holding hands during a date, to the sweetness of
that first kiss? I was saddened and troubled when I heard, from a
health care professional, the details of how many teenagers, for
instance, behave even on their first dates. I'll spare you the
details. Suffice it to say that the behavior is question is
devoid of all tenderness.
What is happening to us at this point in history, or evolution,
(or involution)? Are we more degenerate than the ancient Romans
are said by some to have been?
Larry, Dallas, Louis and other friends, your comments would be
welcome.
CUT


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