Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00575)

Jan 23 2003

Dear Friend and W.

Yes, I use the INDEX and other reference material a lot, and I post it
so that readers may be able to get the same definitions to work with
that I look at.

I do not write for any one or against any one -- but only so that all
may read and be informed. I have found that generally, few are up to
date with the necessary information in INDEXES, TEXTS etc... some are
newcomers who need that kind of background.

I aim at discovering the truth, or exposing what THEOSOPHY has to say
on a subject. I let the information stand, so that others may decide
what is for them useful.

I try to encourage individual study. It is the only way to become
assured of anything. Starting in School, we have all been subject to
this rule. We progress then, as now, depending strictly on the
enthusiasm and energy we put into learning and testing information
received. We all have to do it ourselves.

In writing, then, I make it a point to take account of others' views,
if they appear to seriously disagree with the impersonal and universal
aspect of things. I am well aware that I know little about anything,
like old Socrates, But I can ask questions.

As for myself, I do expect that any one will feel free to question,
criticize or ask why I say or write things. I make errors and desire
to be corrected when necessary. I refuse to place myself as an
"authority." So I offer works to be considered, that others have
discovered, or described, and which seem valuable to me and relative
to the questions being considered.

My motives are never, as far as I am able to make them, personal, or
adverse to any one. We are all in this living business together. We
have each one of us been brought up in various "Schools" and "systems"
(such as religions, philosophies and sciences). So it is natural that
our ways of looking at things will differ. Not "wrong," but
"different."

I consider we are a "Brotherhood of Souls." Further, I have seen
enough evidence to hold that every Soul, is an immortal Just like the
scientific definition of an atom -- a perpetually moving being under
Natural Law. Perhaps the Soul of Man is such an atom, made by
experience into a self-moving inquisitive, sensitive and curious Mind.
Extending this, it is natural for the man-Mind to inquire into his
environment -- the Earth and the Universe -- to see what they are
composed of, and what their purpose may be.

Reincarnation as a concept, would make for a long trail of previous
personalities and earlier relationships under the law of Karma...and,
if true we have lived together, met and discussed in earlier lives --
we may have participated in the Platonic dialogs, or have listened to
Jesus as he preached on the "Mount," seeking to reform the thinking
and practices of the Jewish tribes of his time -- or to the Buddha, in
India 2,500 years ago when he pleaded for mercy and clemency for the
weak and the under-privileged -- or even Krishna, 5,000 years ago,
when, as an advisor to Kings, he tried to assist Arjuna to
self-knowledge and to self-victory (for the Kurus are our interior
passions and desires, and the Mind has to become victorious over
them).

My conclusion is that we can all learn from each other. If we deal
with facts that can be demonstrated or proved, we step aside and let
those things plead for themselves.

While admitting that argument has its uses, I am not terribly
interested in it, and would rather seek for those laws and parameters
that unify. Argument divides. A knowledge of law and truth unifies.

I hope this is clearer now ?

Best wishes,

Dallas.

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

-----Original Message-----
From: wry
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 12:22 PM
To:
Subject:: Re to Dallas - Buddhism

Hi.. .

What do you do, just go to the index and look something up and then
just
post it out here? The passage from HPB you have quoted is not relevant
to
this discussion as it does NOT serve to clarify the issue in question.
Plus
the wording in your message makes it sound it like Jerry said that HPB
was
against Buddhism. I am starting to notice you use words this way a
lot. It
is sad. If Jerry is really your friend, why would you do this, as it
makes
him sound bad and yourself sound good? I have some problems with
Jerry, but
he is trying to communicate with you sincerely and in good faith, plus
he is
somewhat knowledgeable on a subject you understand zilch about. Wry