Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00313)

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Re: H P B ON TRUTH, REAL AND TRUTH RELATIVE

Dear Friend: 


Further to the recent posting:

<<<<You write:

>>>> In some discussions I have been having with acquaintances
the issue has
come up concerning the "search for the truth". In these
discussions of
course I support that search. No one else seems to. They want
relevance. They want to know how to act in the here and now.
Actually I
have noticed this dichotomy of interests extending over many
years.

So when I see you mention truth - so naturally weaving it into
some larger
question - I long for this more simple question: Is it really
important to
search for truth? Why not just learn what to do in the here and
now?<<<<<<


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

Dear friend:  

If you take any one's "say-so," unverified and unchecked with
experience and study, you become a blind believer. You think ,
that to save time you will trust an "authority."

DANGER IS THERE.

One can only trust those who tell us how to do the work
ourselves.
Who show us the actual basis and the laws concerned. Who respect
Our intelligence and not our anxiety for some speedy patch work
of
catch-phrases.

Your interlocutors, being pragmatic and educated into the average
worldly philosophy of business and "success," want speedy
answers that sound "right." How do they know they are not being
fooled?

Are they not seeking a "patch" for some area of their own nature
they sense is leaking away, and they also sense they need to stop
that happening? But why is it they are unwilling to devote much
time to an actual search and study? Is it because, to them, it
is not FUN ?

No one got wise through entertainment alone. Acquiring wisdom is
POSITIVE. Entertainment is NEGATIVE. Why is it that so few read
Plato or Tolstoy? Not FUN to most.

If you reason things out you become self-assured, because you
elect a universal unalterable basis. You voluntarily attune
yourself to the WHOLE of life and its laws of cooperation -- not
competition. You seek to apply brotherhood wherever and whenever
you can.

Lets get this straight:  

Real TRUTH is immovable and changeless. It
will always be there for those who seek it. The "TRUTH" does not
go out hunting "true believers." It waits patiently for those
who wander and, who eventually find themselves dissatisfied with
false leads, to return at last to the plain and obvious, which
has always been waiting.

Relevance is not expediency.  

Relevance is the connection of CAUSE and EFFECT. But I am afraid
that not many will agree with such a strict definition. There
are no "hiding places" there.

So the wise man teaches the prevalence and majesty of universal
KARMA and the fact that we all have our due place in the vast
scheme of things -- as a brother IMMORTAL SELF. Few want to hear
they are responsible, they want an excuse, or somebody else to
blame -- fate, God, their parents and teachers. NO, not
themselves ! I say they are cowards, but don't know it, because
they have not been taught to be totally honest.

Since this is not a favorable teaching these days among pragmatic
relevancy seekers, it gets rejected. They believe (erroneously)
they will live a single life, and have to do as much as possible
(usually with inadequate knowledge) in it. So they blunder
along taking 10 times the amount of time to achieve anything good
or lasting.

Do you think Karma has no relevance in daily or business life?
It is at the pulsing root of true decision. It alone drives
forward the aspirations of the intuitional few, who sense the
immortal MONAD within themselves and others. But such a
statement has no relevance to the deluded man eager to be a
financial giant, clawing his way through the forest of
frustration.

Theosophy teaches clearly that Karma rules all. As such,
everyone will have the kind of life he deserves, and as he lives
through it mentally, morally, psychically and physiologically,
events will be forever modified by his choices, motives and
aspirations. He ought to make quite sure of those and their
value, as virtues to be used.

He may not like having to admit this is so. But that does not
make it any less a fact, speaking Theosophically.

If you are given the opportunity to help others morally, while
doing ordinary business in the wide field of work and daily life,
then such a basis is innately wiser than the average -- ignorant
of this as being more secure, and adding to the growing store of
true worth in one's immortal character

Take these as ideas to be reviewed and chewed over.

Let us see if we can develop some more valid explanations.>>>>

Let me introduce the following observations made
originally by H P B.


"WHAT IS TRUTH?" by H. P. Blavatsky

These are some sentences that seemed to me to be of particular
value:


Truth is the Voice of Nature and of Time-- 
Truth is the startling monitor within us--
Naught is without it, it comes from the stars, 
The golden sun, and every breeze that blows. . . . 
--W. THOMPSON BACON 


. . . Fair Truth's immortal sun 
Is sometimes hid in clouds; not that her light 
Is in itself defective, but obscured 
By my weak prejudice, imperfect faith 
And all the thousand causes which obstruct 
The growth of goodness. . . .
--HANNAH MORE


p. 1	the truth which He [Jesus] did not divulge, remained
unrevealed

p. 1	only such Words of Wisdom had been given to them as
contained a share of the truth, itself concealed in parables and
dark, though beautiful, sayings.

p. 1	The possible truths, hazily perceived in the world of
abstraction, like those inferred from observation and experiment
in the world of matter, are forced upon the profane multitudes,
too busy to think for themselves, under the form of Divine
revelation and scientific authority.
 
p. 1	There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject
whatsoever, in a world as finite and conditioned as man is
himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make the
best we can of them. 

p. 2	In every age there have been Sages who had mastered the
absolute and yet could teach but relative truths.

p. 2	For none yet, born of mortal woman in our race, has, or
could have given out, the whole and the final truth to another
man, for every one of us has to find that (to him) final
knowledge in himself. 

p. 2	no two minds can be absolutely alike, each has to receive
the supreme illumination through itself, according to its
capacity, and from no human light. 

p. 2	The greatest adept living can reveal of the Universal
Truth only so much as the mind he is impressing it upon can
assimilate, and no more. 

p. 2	Polarity is universal, but the polariser lies in our own
consciousness. In proportion as our consciousness is elevated
towards absolute truth, so do we men assimilate it more or less
absolutely. 

p. 2	Still each of us can relatively reach the Sun of Truth
even on this earth, and assimilate its warmest and most direct
rays...  

p. 2	To achieve this, there are two methods: --

On the physical plane we may use our mental polariscope; and,
analyzing the properties of each ray, choose the purest. 

On the plane of spirituality, to reach the Sun of Truth we
must work in dead earnest for the development of our higher
nature. We know that by paralyzing gradually within ourselves the
appetites of the lower personality, and thereby deadening the
voice of the purely physiological mind.. which depends upon, the
organic brain--the animal man in us may make room for the
spiritual; and 

once aroused from its latent state, the highest spiritual
senses and perceptions grow in us in proportion, and develop pari
passu with the "divine man." This is what the great adepts, the
Yogis in the East and the Mystics in the West, have always done
and are still doing. 

p. 3	Such articles as our editorials…are addressed to
Theosophists, or readers who know in their hearts that Masters of
Wisdom do exist: an…absolute truth…has to be searched for in
higher regions…

p. 3	absolute truth is… immovable… the kingdom of absolute
truth is not of this world, while we are too much of it. 


p. 4	truth is a multifaced jewel, the facets of which it is
impossible to perceive all at once

p. 4	develop in you the inner knowledge. 

p. 4	when the Delphic oracle said …"Man, know thyself," no
greater or more important truth was ever taught. … Man has to
know himself, i.e., acquire the inner perceptions which never
deceive, before he can master any absolute truth. 

p. 4	Absolute truth is the symbol of Eternity, and no finite
mind can ever grasp the eternal, hence, no truth in its fulness
can ever dawn upon it. To reach the state during which man sees
and senses it, we have to paralyze the senses of the external man
of clay. 

p. 4	first of all, love of truth for its own sake

p. 4	an impartial, unprejudiced mind, illuminated by pure
Spiritual Consciousness

p. 5	Observe the doings and the moral attitude…then name…that
exceptional spot on the globe, where TRUTH is the honoured guest,
and LIE and SHAM the ostracised outcasts.

p. 5-6	Selfishness is the impassable wall between the
personal Self and Truth. It is the prolific mother of all human
vices

P. 6	Selfishness kills every noble impulse in our natures

p. 8	Theosophy is divine knowledge, and knowledge is truth;
every true fact, every sincere word are thus part and parcel of
Theosophy. 

p. 9	Theosophy allows a hearing and a fair chance to all. It
deems no views--if sincere--entirely destitute of truth. 

p. 10	Outside a certain highly spiritual and elevated state of
mind, during which Man is at one with the UNIVERSAL MIND--he can
get nought on earth but relative truth, or truths, from
whatsoever philosophy or religion. 

p. 10	Concerning the deeper spiritual, and one may almost say
religious, beliefs, no true Theosophist ought to degrade these by
subjecting them to public discussion, but ought rather to
treasure and hide them deep within the sanctuary of his innermost
soul. 

Such beliefs and doctrines should never be rashly given out,
as they risk unavoidable profanation by the rough handling of the
indifferent and the critical. Nor ought they to be embodied in
any publication except as hypotheses offered to the consideration
of the thinking portion of the public. 

p. 10-11	Theosophical truths, when they transcend a
certain limit of speculation, had better remain concealed from
public view, for the "evidence of things not seen" is no evidence
save to him who sees, hears, and senses it. 

It is not to be dragged outside the 'Holy of Holies," the
temple of the impersonal divine Ego, or the indwelling SELF… a
ray from the absolute truth can reflect itself only in the pure
mirror of its own flame--our highest SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS. And
how can the darkness (of illusion) comprehend the LIGHT that
shineth in it? 

[The are extracted From an article WHAT IS TRUTH by H P B,  
B P B Articles Vol. 1, p. 1]
DTB












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