Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00289)

Thanks, Zack,

Anytime we can successfully concentrate on what unites us instead of 
what separates us, we are making some progress.

Adelasie

On 14 Jan 2003 at 6:47, Zack Lansdowne wrote:

> There has been much debate in recent days about whose doctrine is
> true: HPB versus AAB; ancient Hindu scriptures versus HPB; HPB versus
> Besant and Leadbeater. Members on this list have pointed out that
> there are clear differences between the writings or doctrines of these
> various authorities.
> 
> Here, I would like to emphasize an area of AGREEMENT among different
> writers.
> 
> In "The Key to Theosophy", published in 1889, H. P. Blavatsky saw two
> possible futures for the TS. On the one hand, she described its
> possible failure: "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."
> 
> That is a very vivid image: "a stranded carcass to moulder and die." 
> But what if the aforementioned danger can be averted? In this case,
> HPB predicted: "Then the Society will live on into and through the
> twentieth century. It will gradually leaven and permeate the great
> mass of thinking and intelligent people with its large-minded and
> noble ideas of Religion, Duty, and Philanthropy. Slowly but surely it
> will burst asunder the iron fetters of creeds and dogmas, of social
> and caste prejudices; it will break down racial and national
> antipathies and barriers, and will open the way to the practical
> realisation of the Brotherhood of all men."
> 
> So, Blavatsky, in 1889, made two quite different predictions for the
> Theosophical Society in the 20th Century: she says that it might set
> up "hard-and-fast dogmas of its own" and then become "a stranded
> carcass to moulder and die"; or it might "burst asunder iron fetters
> of creeds and dogmas" leading to "the practical realisation of the
> Brotherhood of all men." Which outcome has occurred?
> 
> Next, let us turn to Alice A. Bailey. In "A Treatise on White Magic",
> first published in 1934, AAB wrote:
> 
> "All that is possible for me is to grope for those feeble words which
> will somewhat clothe the thought. As they clothe it they limit it and
> I am guilty of creating new prisoners who must ultimately be released.
> All books are prison houses of ideas."
> 
> Here AAB is pointing out that even her own books are "prison houses of
> ideas." The purpose of her books was to free her readers from past
> dogmas that had become barriers to their spiritual progress. But if
> her readers turn her own books into hard-and-fast dogmas, as many of
> her readers have done, then they have become prisoners of those books
> who must be freed by future writers.
> 
> One of the most popular contemporary teachings on spirituality is A
> Course in Miracles (ACIM). As many of you might know, ACIM was
> channelled allegedly from the Master Jesus, was first published in
> 1975, and has sold several million copies. Today, more students are
> probably studying ACIM than the books of HPB and AAB combined. I,
> myself, led a ACIM study group for many years at the Theosophical
> Society in Boston. Here, is what ACIM says: "Words are but symbols
> of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality." And yet
> several ACIM organizations are now fighting each other over the proper
> interpretation of the ACIM words, with bitter lawsuits and legal
> attempts to destroy or prevent opposing interpretations from even
> being published.
> 
> I think that HPB, AAB, and ACIM are telling us the same thing: 
> namely, it is a mistake to turn any written doctrine into a
> hard-and-fast dogma, or standard of truth. This message was
> especially emphasized by Krishnamurti who wrote in "Krishnamurti's
> Journal": "One has to be a light to oneself ... To be a light to
> oneself is not to follow the light of another, however reasonable,
> logical, historical, and however convincing."
> 
> Zack Lansdowne
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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