Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00056)

Morten writes:
....
But, if, a teacher of the Wisdom tradition dies, or there is a gap in the
teaching, what then? The interesting thing is, that the very gap is a part
of the training. You may explain certain things to a child : shall we say
teach her or him not to do certain things. Then you will pretend to go out
of the house - and observe her or him. According to how well he/she has
learned, so will he/she react. In this 'absence exercise', precisely the
same thing happens to the teacher of Wisdom, though many are not conscious
of it.
...

Frank:
Well said. If this axiom is true (as we both think) then neither the
theosophists from Adyar after 1886 nor those from [Covina/]Pasadena after
1946 didn't grasped it.

Morten:
After the disappearance from the field of a teacher of Wisdom, the followers
will divide themselves into groups, in accordance with their strength and
weaknesses. Some will assume control of others. They may be good or bad, and
this will be shown by their reaction to - the second teacher - when he/she
arrives.
If they realise he/she is their teacher, then they have merely been
developing themselves and can mature. But if they have become atrophied,
they will be too blind to recognize the Spirituality of the very teacher,
for which appearance they have been prepared. They may attach themselves, in

Frank:
True. How many theosophists have recognized the teacher of the last quarter?
W.Q. Judge was sceptical about our recent time and predicted that in the
year 2000 there would not even 5 (five) theosophists remain the world over!
Also de Purucker believed that this messenger of the the last quarter of the
20th Century will not be recognized by the theosophists - atrophie in plain
words!
What do you think would people like Brian/Brigitte say if a teacher would
reveal his occult status before her? (Despite the fact that he will hold the
rules, if he/she is a true one.

Morten:
Quite obviously the semi-blind among the people, during their
'waiting-period', will try to work out their own interpretation. They may,
as have been done in the past, write books to explain what they have
learned. This is the danger-point, because when a man/woman is accepted as,
say, a philosopher (of wisdom) because she/he has written a book explaining
a philosophy, he/she will not readily accept, that she/he only have been
'fumbling'. He/She has quite possibly become a prisoner of his/hers lower
self. The self-conceit of the man/woman is now bound up with his/hers
'creation', the book or the method, which he/she has used to organise the
fragments, which he/she has. He/she is probably or possibly lost - for the
cause.

Frank:
That actually happened with many self-styled gurus within the TM: Besant,
Leadbeater, Conger, Long...

Morten:
In order to break through this shell of accretions and fossilisations,
the - second teacher - will tend to act in a different, perhaps in a certain
dramatically different manner, from the original one. This could happen, to
break the 'idols', which have been formed out of the thoughts, which were
originally given.

Frank:
You've got it! That's the reason why so many theosophists have had problems
with Katherine Tingley. They were looking for a person fitting their images
and she broke it, although, to follow your words, she was the third teacher.
But perhaps in a certain way she was actually the second!? May it be?

Morten:
So very important: The use of ideas is to shape a man or woman, not to
support a system - which is viewed in a limited manner. This is one way in
which the Wisdom Tradition is 'living', and not just the perpetuations of
ideas and movements. This seems important to understand and know about.

Frank:
Yeah! Hope the present Outer Heads in the various groups will read that! If
they would do what they pray they would cooperate and not like the Summer
School 2000 in Berlin with PTS Radha Burnier present New Age trash and
censor people who would have liked to explain what HPB's ideas were (O how
unbrotherly!)

Morten:
When a system of teaching of wisdom is in a period of fallowness, because
the one who propagated it is dead, then there comes a period of stagnation.
This period can last between 10 years, 15 years or more. In the time, which

Frank:
With theosophists it lasts since several decades! But for the luck of them
they are not aware of it! They think that this narcotic condition is a
SPIRITUAL level!

Morten:
The blind may try to lead the blinder. This takes the form of assumption of
authority by those who were given some sort of authority in the original
mandate. These are the people in the most dangerous position, because the
longer they remain 'orphaned' the more strongly their lower self (or the
three lower bodies) asserts it self.

Frank:
Yes. But the other side of the coin is, as you wrote in fact above, that
this is a temptation, a test of moral strength.
We know that only those ana only that is being tested what is fit for it, so
it is a great change for a soul striving to heaven.

Morten:
Imagine a group of people shipwrecked. They think there is no hope of
rescue. They find a raft, and are glad. After a time more people come along
in a big boat. But the first people will not leave the raft, because they
have become used to it. They may have convinced themselves, that it is
actually a boat. (So it is to some philosophical or religious people today.)

Frank:
That is the picture de Purucker gives in his "Dialogue" about the ULT. Their
founder Robert Crosbie knew two teachers, but the modern ULTer knows but
one. And what about the others in the chain?

Morten:
To sink ecstasy in Wisdom is better than to sink Wisdom in ecstasy. The

Frank:
O, you don't like my pills? :-)