Theos-Talk Archives (June 2003 Message tt00086)

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Dear Roberto:

Glad to have helped, and I see you are helping others - I think
that this our main duty as students of this marvelous
philosophy --to test, to think and study, and when we are sure,
we then pass it on. But we have to do it ourselves, then we are
sure. All that anyone else may say, is but a kind of "open
window," which lets us see how they perceive things. We have to
verify our own perspectives.

I never think the "other" lists -- as we are all in one single
great family: Humanity. To think abut divisions, makes them
possible, and then the work and the time is lost. We are all
students together and we are studying one thing: THEOSOPHY

So let us join all together for that single purpose We honor the
Masters and H P B and any one who has provided us with entrance
to these ancient teachings -- which no doubt we have studied in
earlier lives -- and the food for thought.

Have you ever thought that every one who has been brought up in a
religion thinks of "their God" as THE GOD. Well if all people
think of the ONE GOD, how can there be many "Gods?" To me it has
always seemed to the ONE GOD with many names. I cannot say who is
"true" and who is "false." So why not cut the argument short and
say it is the same God, but is worshiped under many names?

In all cases, with the help of Theosophy and ISIS UNVEILED, I see
that "God" is present everywhere -- omni-present. All powerful --
omni-potent. And, knows everything -- omniscient. The same three
great qualities are claimed for all. They overlap, they conjoin
and they seem to me to be ONE.

My guess is that it is the human minds that made the differences,
and those differences started with arguments about meaning. And,
when we go back in history, we can find how those differences
occurred. They are made by man -- priesthoods to be explicit,
and not by GOD.

So too, the so-called differences in Theosophical history can be
traced. But we re fortunate in one thing. We don't' depend on
translations of The SECRET DOCTRINE, KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB),
ISIS UNVEILED, or the VOICE OF THE SILENCE. We can get and study
the ORIGINALS.

In most religions the originals have even lost or mis-translated.

Let me offer you this for consideration:


Reviewing most of the old religious texts, basic to those great
"faiths," one may not be able to easily trace Karma in operation,
It is universal, impersonal, and ever-active. It is
indispensable and basic to all EXISTENCE. Life is an aspect of
it, as also the continuity of life as action is succeeded by
circumstances that it creates, and so on the cycle will roll,
propelled by the free-will of men and their many choices.

The Moral tales found in some myths appear to have been written
to demonstrate their existence. But when a priesthood took over
the ancient books and then erected a "faith" and a "religion" on
them they usually carefully edited those texts so as to remove
inconvenient facts.

Some of these are:


1.	KARMA and the inevitable justice each attracts to themselves
by their free choices.

2.	REINCARNATION OF THE IMMORTAL EGO. To admit this Eternal
HIGHER SELF, the priests would render their tenure impossible.

3.	The FREEDOM INNATE IN EACH HUMAN BEING.

4.	The fact that ALL "RELIGIONS" ARE ON THE SAME LEVEL and none
is "superior" to another.

5.	The fact that LIFE AND LIVING ARE EVENLY DISTRIBUTED TO ALL
FORMS OF LIFE. In other words the supreme GOAL of all evolution
is within the eventual reach of all those "Monads" that reside at
the core of every "form" -- from the inconceivably "small" to the
inconceivably large ( our UNIVERSE).

6.	The fact of the UNIVERSAL SPIRIT (or GOD) which entirely
pervades the manifested Universe. Hence no GOD is "outside" or
the "shaper and modifier" of the universe or is capable of
changing the "fate" of anything or anyone.

7.	Prayer, contrition, penance, to a "Personal God" to avert
punishment for wrongs done to others and "confessed" is totally
useless as the only reversal (or rather mitigation) is achieved
by redress performed directly to the victim or to his family by
the one who has done wrong. [ The actual practice of the
morality enjoined in the SERMON ON THE MOUNT would achieve
this. ]

8.	Hence the determined practice of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD is the
ONLY method that will enable anyone to actually 'progress.'

There are probably more than this but some thought given to these
may prove helpful. But one can see at a glance that KARMA
prevails universally, or we could not be here now. We would have
no reason to persist in progressing. We would not be able to
understand how Nature supports our life, or what our small
contribution to Nature may convey.

Every statement made in the BHAGAVAD GITA (Krishna) or the
DHAMMAPADA (Buddha), or in the SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Jesus) will
be found based on KARMA as an actual living and active fact. No
VIRTUE can exist without its cooperative presence.

Perhaps there are more observations available on this ?


Theosophy shows how every choice we make affects
our future and that of others around us. It is KARMA in operation
for individuals and for nations, races and religions.

This interlocking network has always existed but has not been
clearly explained. The difference is the fact of individual
responsibility. Karma is produced when we choose. If we do this
according to the laws of Nature we harmonize and support instead
of fighting and degrading our inner and outer environment -- I
mean in addition to the purely physical the "Kama-rupic" element
of selfishness and greed.

Nature (if you will agree to look on it as the GOD-LIKE PRINCIPLE
in all things) did not invent "religions." Men did. Men, who
were selfish, and self-serving, desirous of power and wealth.
And that marks the nature of religion as an exclusive and
orthodoxy and as an "organization" everywhere. But within that
present exterior, there is a core of the original RUTH -- as
envisaged by the Prophet who came to a specific people and at a
specific time to assist them. This is of course the priceless
grain of TRUTH. We can seek and find it in each of them. It is
common to all.

The unfortunate conflicts between current religions as practiced
in their dogmatic and fanatical aspects, have all arisen because
the concept of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD has been submerged by the
priests who have also subverted the original teachings of their
respective prophets. It is they who preach exclusivity instead
of the unity of principle, of ideal, and of VIRTUE that underlies
all in Nature's creative whole.

True religion is all-embracing, kind, compassionate and does not
demand exclusive loyalty or adherence. It looks into the Soul of
things and seeks the origin of the force of life that has brought
them (including mankind) into existence at any one time. It
educates and evokes the Manasic (thinking) faculty and bids its
followers to look into the reasons for things and thus become
truly WISE.

Whether Bible or Koran, if the populace is invited to study it,
then the position of "priest" disappears. Instead the assistance
of a teacher of wisdom and compassion emerges. The difference is
universality, impersonality and charity.

Religion is more of a hindrance than a help; and leads when not
clearly understood, it can be turned into dogmatism, fanaticism
and, from those emerge the horrors of inflicting unnecessary and
unreasonable pain on others, whom we do not know. But for the
fact or reincarnation into another religion, those who are killed
might be in past lives our relatives, friends, brothers and
parents.

Religious wars always are of this nature and the trail of forced
conversions and unprincipled genocide demonstrate this. When
religious orthodoxy is employed for political and wealth-amassing
reasons, insanity results. That it is permitted to continue is
another insanity. The real problem is that people have not been
taught to think things out on principles. The principles
involved have not been clearly exposed. Theosophy does this.

I think the main question is: what is the value of Theosophy.
Underlying that, what exactly is THEOSOPHY? There are many
definitions, but some simple ones are needed.

If we find that THEOSOPHY is actually an impersonal system, like
a "science," which demands no "blind faith" and no "adherents,"
and, if is offered for us to consider and determine if it is
useful, then there is no imposition or pressure placed on any
one.

Some who have found it useful, have tried to trace its origins.

They found it valuable and sharing it with others, they suggested
that a research might determine if was useful. With this
"non-pressure" approach, and a field that is slightly
different -- as it looks into the causes of things -- several
minds, working together might be able to achieve a consensus or a
"proof" of its value.

The following historical review could be considered.

1.	Antiquity shows many religions and faiths were separated in
space and time. There were many "faiths," and these had a history
of many millions of adherents.

2.	The Age of European Exploration: History then records that
the Nations in Europe generally speaking, had one religion.
Moved by the beliefs and dogmas of this religion, the politics
of expansion, trade, colonization were framed. This included
forcible conversion to Christianity of the militarily weak
"natives" of various regions around the world. It also included
the general destruction of ancient records. Genocide is seen
historically to have been widely practiced

3.	The Age of Questioning, and of "Reformation." From the era of
imposed "Faith," and "Blind Belief," which was the field of
"organized religion" we can see that since the days of the
"Renaissance" and the "Reformation" Europe moved into an era of
independent "inquiry" and "research." This is found to be the
beginning of way out of the supervision of "religion."

4.	The Age of Independent Research opened. Independence of
religious overlays, analysis of Nature and her diversity was
initiated. Academic revolution proceeded, and was gradually
removed from Church dominance. Areas of research widened, and as
discoveries were found to contradict dogmas, secularism set in.
This became the era of scientific research and discovery. Its
field is almost entirely ruled by observation. Materialism as an
answer to observed and recorded data set in. The search for
"Cause" was not pursued except in theories based on materialism.
As fresh discoveries were made those theories as to "cause' were
altered. They are still being altered.

5.	The Age of Research into Causes is upon us. The seeking in
various departments of Nature for the facts and ways of life that
are established there since an incredible antiquity has produced
a paradox: Inquiry into "cause" showed materialism unable to
answer everything. This area of fresh research covers a far
wider area, and intriguingly, it seems to involve a synthesis
rather than an analysis of Natures' laws and ways.
anthropology, psychology, religion, mythology, tradition, and
science. It also covers the fragmentary records left to us all
over the world of the saying and reform efforts of Wise Men in
the past of all nations, sects and countries.

We sense that inquiry and research into the composition and
operation of our world and universe is unified, so we look for
the evidence that will support elaborated theories. Facts that
are already in place have to be relevant to diversity.

These questions arise? Are there actual laws, energies and
powers that operate (in Nature) beneath the surface of forms we
can sense? Are these not detectable already? Can they not be
brought into a harmony of interacting fields ? Do electricity
and magnetism play a part in this? And if so what causes them to
act as they are found to do?

Now, from that area we are beginning to look into the CAUSES for
"things as they are." A new era opens, the era of research into
the substratum, the basis, the causes that underlie the
situations we now live in.

6.	This is a "transition age." And it is called that because we
are passing from the cycle of research in the physical into the
research of the sub-physical -- of causes, of energies, of
powers, choices, and the nature of free will.

Those have been there all along, but not well recognized.
Chemistry always has been there, but in medieval ages it was
called "Alchemy." And before that it was "Magic." Not
unsolvable mystery, but, the Wisdom of Chemistry in an age when
it was not generally recognized and no general laws formed part
of everyone's education.

Speaking of tracing the common threads in religion I found in The
SECRET DOCTRINE that H.P.Blavatsky seems to have done this in
part in SECRET DOCTRINE I pp. 363, 424-45, II 23, 143-4, 248,
764, 767.

Also if one traces the prevalence of symbology it becomes clearer
that in many cases the older religious philosophies used common
signs and glyphs. In The SECRET DOCTRINE I found the following
pages seemed relevant: S D I 4 - 6, II 551-2, 536, 621-2,


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Best wishes, fellow pilgrim,

Dallas

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

-----Original Message-----

From: Roberto C
Sent:	Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:28 PM
To:
Subject:	[bn-study] RE: What is authoritative. Claims? Truth ?
Accuracy ? Trust ?

Dallas,

Thanks ... here in Brazil and whenever possible I translate into
Portuguese some of the
ideas posted on bn-study.

It helps me think deeply about what is being shared in terms of
theosophical teaching. The questions you pose to Munise and us
are really something! You gave me some real homework to get done.

Thank you.

Roberto