Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00268)

	Wednesday, July 23, 2003

CORRECTION


Dear Friends:

An error occurred in sending you the transcript of CYCLES [
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AT AN "OCEAN" CLASS ] Chapter 14.

Pages 191 to 196 were unfortunately (and unexpectedly) omitted.

Here they are.

Sorry for the trouble,

Dallas

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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS p. 191 TO p. 196 END of chapter
on CYCLES

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name, as They stated, and the knowledge put forward by Her, or by
Him, is what we know as Theosophy.

Q. Did any marked changes take place among men in general, at the
intersection of these cycles?

A. Religions, sciences, governments, and peoples were all
changing. For that very reason the Great Personage came. The
conditions were such as to permit that visit and make possible
the greatest benefit from it. When old forms are changing, men's
minds are more open, and then is the time for the work that only
great Beings can do.

Q. Why was the work begun in this country in 1875?

A. Because the cycle has brought again that which was before.
Here among this people the old Egyptians have come again; old
Persians, too; old Hindus and those of other ancient nations you
may find incarnated among us, if you know how. Lower down in the
scale are those who in previous incarnations were the Red Indians
of America; their Karma permits them to be reincarnated in the
race which mistreated and supplanted them. In this country, too,
is an aggregation of individuals from almost every country of the
globe, so that a mixture of physical strains is going on which in
time will produce a body of quite a different nature from any
precedent physical bodies. At the same time, the psychic nature
of these old peoples moves forward, increasing in sensitiveness,
and has its influence on the physical strain. Altogether then, we
have here a class of Egos with a wider range of ability to
understand and perceive than has existed in previous classes of
Egos.
All these are considerations which bring back Saviors, and they
point to one thing which we ought and need to understand-that the
One who began the work in this country is second to none. If we
will study the teachings of that Being and of that Great Lodge
with
p.192
this idea in mind, the better will be our understanding. The more
we can understand from that point of view, the more we shall
receive-the closer shall we reach to wisdom. The status of that
Being is one great lesson which an understanding of the law of
cycles should teach us.

Q. Why is it that the teachings of Jesus which were to a limited
people receive so much more consideration from these Western
nations than the teachings of Theosophy which were written in
black upon white, with an appeal to all the world, inclusive?

A. Is it not a fitting Karma that the now incarnated Egyptians
who enslaved the Jews of old should he enslaved by the dogmas of
the Jewish religion? For it is not the teachings of Jesus which
are put generally into practice by so-called Christian peoples.
The true teachings of Jesus were the teachings of Theosophy.
Jesus taught the same things that Buddha taught some six hundred
years before him; He but repeated the same teachings to a smaller
people, to the Jews, who were His mission, as He himself said.
That mission spread to a people unprepared for knowledge, but
prepared rather for all sorts of superstition and dogmas. Jesus
came in a lower cycle than that which brought Buddha. An age of
mental and spiritual darkness was beginning, and instead of
knowledge being given out, it had actually to be withdrawn from
the ignorant class of Egos then existing. Even in India where
much of this ancient knowledge was held, and was a matter of
record, it was maintained apart from the masses. This is why
Jesus taught the multitudes in parable.

Q. If the law of intersection of the cycles points to the fact of
a very great Being appearing on the earth, it would also
obliterate any idea of a successor, would it not?

A. The fact of the intersection of three cycles pointing to a
very extraordinary event in the coming
p.193
of a certain Personage lies at the root of an understanding of
the whole philosophy. If we do not grasp the fact that the source
of the philosophy is an actual knowledge, and realize that the
Being who presented that knowledge knew it, and gave out all that
could be given at this time, we have not got the first clue. With
that clue, we can get more and more light in every direction; we
can see what these things mean, for it actually tends to open
what you might call the spiritual eye.

Q. In this chapter it speaks of a coming Avatar who will combine
the qualities of two of the greatest of the past Ones. What would
that mean?

A. Of course, we need to recognize that we have not gotten to the
end of our orbit yet, and there is much yet to occur before then.
There will be no end of the attempts to further and spread the
ideas that must arouse men's minds. Like the striking of rapid
hammer blows, these attempts will precede whatever and whoever is
to come, Now Krishna was warrior, not in the military but in the
true sense; He was an administrator, while Buddha was ethical
intelligence. The next great Avatar will be the uniting of
administrative and ethical intelligence.

Q. I have heard some Theosophists say that another great Savior
is coming very so on.

A. He will come when we are ready, but the Masters have not given
the cycle of His coming, for a very good reason. Many of the Jews
who were promised a Messiah did not recognize Him when He came
and are still looking for Him, Just so, many Theosophists knew
Him not, and have had Him incarnating in various bodies,
proclaiming Him.

Q. Would the cycle of Theosophy depend upon the work of the
students?
p.194
A. If every effort is made to carry on the work as the Masters
left it to he carried on; if it is promulgated, not speculated
upon, it will have a much wider influence, and in the next Coming
a body of people will be found ready for the Teacher.

Q. Are these general efforts made at a time when the destruction
of some of the great civilizations is imminent?

A. Yes; but we must remember that the destruction of a
civilization does not mean the destruction of the Egos. It means
the destruction of the system previously followed. Then
individuals, who follow the old system, in one manner or another
die out, or are destroyed physically. It is a matter of the Great
Choice for all, and a question as to which side, as to which path
we shall take.

Q. Does the ignorance of man change his evolution, or does the
law of cycles change his ignorance?

A. The ignorance of the man keeps him ignorant. That is his
evolution. If he wants to stay ignorant, no cycle and no person
can change him.

Q. What are the cycles of destiny?

A. All are cycles of destiny. Applied to ourselves, it is we who
make our own destiny-we fix it for ourselves. The hole we fall
into is the hole we dug. That is our destiny.

Q. Will you explain something as to the application of this law
of cycles, in the formation and breaking of personal habits?

A. The doctrine of cycles applies everywhere. There is not a
single impression of any kind that we have that will not return;
not even a thought that we think that will not return; not an act
that we do that will not return. We are going through regular
cycles all the time-self-established cycles. Now, the way to
correct habits is to recognize that wrong thoughts will return,
that even unwelcome thoughts
p.195
are bound to return under law. So then, set up an opposite
thought-a thought of an opposite nature, or a feeling of an
opposite kind, or start an act of an opposite kind. Keep on doing
that as best you can, and finally you will destroy the old cycle
and establish a new one.
There are people who have the "blues"-their days of despondency.
Mr. Judge once said, "I have other things, but I never have the
blues." Most people, however, do have them. The blues come on and
seem to take complete possession of the person; but they can be
cured, if he will take the opportunity of establishing a
different cycle. He must note the fact that they come at about a
certain period, that usually a certain interval elapses between
periods of blues, and knowing that they are coming be prepared
for them. Then he begins to think of the happiest day or the
happiest moment or the happiest association he has ever had, and
hangs on to that happiness as best he can. He won't succeed the
first time, nor even the second time, perhaps, but if he keeps up
the effort, each time he will find all the strength put into the
previous efforts, until by and by, instead of the period of
despondency there will be a period of happiness.
So it is by watching the return of impressions that we can
correct these habits. Habits of any kind are instituted by
repetitions. The first time we do a thing, it is not yet a habit;
but we repeat the action and keep on repeating it and finally it
becomes automatic. With the knowledge of cycles, habits are
within our intelligent control.

Q. What are the principal factors entering into the period of
time which elapses in the case of individual returns of
impression?

A. The cause itself. The first impression has within itself its
own limitation, for the return of an impression is in accordance
with the quality and strength of the first causation. For
instance, if we look at a light
p.196
for a little while and then close our eyes, that light will he
seen on the eye within, changing a little, coming and going,
until the impression fades out. This takes hut a few seconds;
other causes take longer for ripening, according to their nature
and the nature put into them.
The subject of cycles is of the utmost importance and value, both
for man, considered personally and individually, and for nations
and civilizations, considered as large bodies of units. There are
two points in this chapter which, particularly, should give the
student a perceiving view. One is, that it is man, spiritually
considered, who holds all the other kingdoms together. When his
work is done on the earth, he leaves it,-his force is withdrawn,
and the disintegration of the various lives that compose the
globe begins. The cataclysms, in fire and flood, by means of
which this disintegration proceeds, are not causes, but the
result of man's withdrawal.
Another point is, that cycles are not the return of impressions
forced upon us. We are those cycles. Cycles are the returns of
causation that we had set in motion before, as individuals, as a
people, as a race, and as the whole of humanity. We are all bound
together with every other being in the universe in which we are
moving. All the returns in the Zodiac, in the orbits of the
planets, in the course of the sun, and in any other direction are
ever the return of causes set in motion by those who are feeling
the effects. If we find ourselves in existence in a dark age, in
a time of physical and psychological epidemics, it means that we
are related to it. We should be gin to see the cause in the
effect, and if the effect is wrong, come out from among that kind
of effects to a true basis in thought and action, while remaining
with our brother pilgrims, and going through with them. Thus the
Masters have done.