Theos-Talk Archives (June 2003 Message tt00174)

Hi. Morton. I have just reread your other message which I replied to earlier
and I realized, when scrolling down, that you did include the original
message. Maybe I will reply again. Re the teaching story below: personally,
I did not get that much out of it. I have already pointed out one (seeming
to me) irrelevancy today, so, since this act just occurred, I would say your
story is an overkill and therefore irrelevant. This kind of teaching story
is tricky. One cannot glean that much from it unless it is presented under
appropriate conditions and in a certain sequence in relationship to other
events. Two more comments below:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Morten Nymann Olesen" <global-theosophy@adslhome.dk>
To: "Theos-Talk" <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 1:00 PM
Subject: Theos-World Spiritual teachers...and the like


> Hi all of you,
>
> This is offered to Wry and other readers.
>
>
> Spiritual Teachers
>
> What do true Theosophical teachers give to their followers?
> People i the eastern countries have given the matter some thought. After
all,
> thay have had the oppotunity of observing the question.

Wry: More gibberish. I'm sorry. I do not mean to offend you, but I need to
point this out. One last comment at the end.
>

> Three wandering socalled Theosophists applied to the captain of a great
ship to
> take them from USA to Iraq. 'As you are without money,'
> said the Captain, 'what can you contribute to the journey?'
> 'My perceptions,' said the first, 'for I can see at such a great
> distance that things invisible to the ordinary person are plain to
> me.'
> 'My perceptions,' said the second, 'for I can hear
> things which are utterly inaudible to anyone else.'
> The Captain agreed that they might be useful on his voyage,
> and agreed to take them. To the third he said: 'And what is your
> speciality?'
> The third Theosophist said, 'I point out irrelevances, so that
> relevances might remain.'
> 'That does not sound very interesting to me,' said the Captain,
> but he agreed to take the third Theosophist , out of the
> kindness of his heart, free of charge.
>
> Since the first two Theosophists seemed to have greater endowments
> than the third, the Captain sat with them, repeating their
> invocations, while the ship sailed eastwards, in the hope of
> gaining spiritual merit thereby.
> Suddenly first of the Theosophists cried out:
> 'I can see, away in the far distance, the beautiful daughter of the
coming leader of Iraq,
> looking out a window of a big house while a young gardener is passing by!'
> The second Theosophist shouted:
> 'And I can hear that she has just dropped her handkerchief and it has
reached the ground!'
> The third Theosophist, who had been standing by, looked at the
> Captain, who was beginning to fel greatly impressed by these
> miracles. The Captain caught his eyes, and remembered that he
> stood for the observing of irrelevancies.
> 'I think,' said the Captain to the third Theosophist, 'that the time
> has come for me to become - your - disciple, for I nearly failed to
> learn your lesson: which I need before I can benefit from
> information about the life of the beautiful daughter!'
>
> But the ship's first officer, it is understood, was so impressed
> by the amazing powers of the two Theosophists that he became their
> follower. They were able to keep him attached to them for
> many years through the recitation of their truly astonishing
> powers.
> What do people really want, and what do spiritual guides
> actually give their followers?
>

Wry: Actually this is a pretty good story, but it will go in one ear and out
the other as, though it does have a certain kind of grip, it is, in my
opinion, not of the right texture for this forum. Also, I believe it is the
nature of a particular task that defines what is or is not relevant. When
building a brick house, one does not use pieces of a boat. The task is to
know oneself as one is. Eventually one will find a greater aim. This is the
task I would give to anyone who wants to develop to his full potential. It
is not about teachers, more like people in a difficult position who are
trying to help each other. When an intelligent method is pointed out that
makes sense, the person who understands it first may lead the way, but he is
no authority. Each person has his own irrelevancies. To sort things out is a
matter of weeping. Remember these words. Afterwards comes the dove, not
before. To attempt to reverse this process, is, in my opinion, the wrong
approach. It is probably most relevant to focus on practicing a direct
verification model and to use simple language to talk about this. I have
enjoyed many of your messages, and it is good to see someone experimenting
with a different approach on this list, but I believe the camera must first
focus on oneself in a way that is very specific. This is very hard to do and
requires a group as well as an individual focus. Though I do not believe
this forum is appropriate for this, as it has not been established for this
purpose, I am nonetheless interested in experimenting with presenting
certain material to a (somewhat) random population, as this material does
relate to theosophy, and the study of bulletin board formats such as email
lists has been my passion for eleven plus years.

>
> So what is has relevancy and what not ?

Wry: It cannot be answered. People are drawn to their position. The dirt
will come out in the wash or the chaff in the milling. Personally, I am not
interested in the subject of giants who used to walk the earth, and I do not
care whether such creatures existed or not. It should not be necessary to
point out that this subject is irrelevant to the spiritual development of a
human being, and it is most sad that anyone would need to do so. A person
should do what is meanful to himself and, technically, that cannot be
irrelevant, but if my aim is to develop, I need to ask myself if "this" is
relevant to achieving "that". I, Wry, need to do this, in my day tomorrow.
I hope I can remember. Sincerely, Wry

>
>
>
> from
> M. Sufilight with peace and love...
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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