Theos-Talk Archives (January 2004 Message tt00001)

2004 Some Thoughts









The ACTIVE CYCLE OF WORK -- Does it ever close ? 









In regard to the "closing" of a "gate in 1897/98 there was much
speculation at one time.



Now we are asked about the succeeding 100 year cycle which presumably
ended in 1997/98. As this is reviewed we find:



One of the best way to answer such questions is, perhaps, to look for
the original references and then decide what, philosophically, we can
get out of them in the way of useful and present-time application.
Otherwise they remain as an inexplicable memory and a vague unease in
our minds.



The sun never sets, a period of rest never begins without the hope, or
the certainty, that the economy of Great Nature will always bring on a
renewal, a reawakening. Why should this hope or certainty exist ? 



Consider that Nature (the Universe, our World and Solar system) contains
all, and has provided us with life up to this moment - a life in which
we rejoice (or suffer) depending on our nature and character. Also, we
are endowed with curiosity, and with a desire to find out how and why
things are as they are. What are our powers ? What is our particular
equipment ? How can we use it ? These are all common questions we ask
ourselves, and one-another.



In the matter of cycles we find that in a year we go through several,
and some have more vitality than others on the surface. But even winter
may see the secret growth and nurturing of those seeds that will form
the harvest of next Autumn. So there is overt as well as secret work
progressing all the time. We have to investigate and discover its
methods.



These changes are universal, and when day changes to night and activity
to rest, or Summer becomes Winter we seek to discover the reasons for
change. It is so also in the occult cycles of activity and rest. But
whether one or the other is presently active, work proceeds. And when
this happens the work will still go one. Even during that which is
night to some, there is activity elsewhere. It is a ceaseless urge to
grow, to experience, to learn. The move to progress which is innate in
each one of us, as in all the rest of nature-even to the tiniest atom
continues. It is the beating of the great secret Heart, symbolized in
antiquity by the Central Spiritual SUN - it is an intimation of this Sun
of Life, reflected in our hearts that we note as the innate, persistent
sense of individual immortality - one that leaves its insistent mark
everywhere.



In her article THE ESOTERIC CHARACTER OF THE GOSPELS ["Lucifer," Nov.,
Dec. 1887, Feb. 1888 ] HPB gives (in a footnote) [ ULT 3 Vol. Edn. Of
HPB's Articles, Vol. 3, p. 169 fn ] at the outset an important date
relating to occult cycles and the ending of the "Age of Pisces - and the
starting of that of Aquarius - a cycle of 2,155 years - not long, but
very occult as the influence of sun and zodiac changes in a subtle but
definite way (details not all given).



HPB predicts that psychologists will thereafter have extra work to do as
the psychic idiosyncrasies of humanity will enter on a great change. [
And that means this present cycle and age. She also refers to this in
her FOURTH MESSAGE TO THE AMERICAN SECTION IN CONVENTION IN 1891:



"The period which we have now reached in the cycle that will close
between 1897/98 is, and will continue to be one of great conflict and
continued strain. If the T.S. can hold through it, good; if not, while
Theosophy will remain unscathed, the Society will perish-perchance most
ingloriously-and the World will suffer...the critical nature of the
stage on which we have entered is as well known to the forces that fight
against us as to those that fight on our side. No opportunity will be
lost of sowing dissension, of taking advantage of mistaken and false
moves, of instilling doubt, of augmenting difficulties, of breathing
suspicion, so that by any and every means the unity of the Society may
be broken and the ranks of our Fellows thinned and thrown into
disarray..."



Reviewing the history of the last years we can decide whether this
prophecy has been fulfilled or not. How many FTS have honored HPB by
the close study and learning of that Theosophy which she and the Masters
of Wisdom jointly presented ? Are the ranks of the Theosophical
Societies and Associations one pointed, united, wise and active ? Or,
is there much work left to be done ? Each one has to think of these
things and answer to themselves. Exactly what is/was the work to be
done for ones' self and for others ?



Returning to the matter of intersecting cycles: --



Simultaneously there is the ending of the first 5,000 years of Kali Yuga
cycle ( Total time: 432,000 years for that grand cycle ). 427,000 years
are yet to come under that influence.



In the SECRET DOCTRINE (Vol. I, p. 612) she indicates that the year 1897
will witness a large rent being made in the Veil of Nature whereby
"materialistic science will receive a deathblow." This date has passed
and we have witnessed in the last 100 years a series of great
discoveries, in physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics psychology
and biochemistry that have revolutionized our concept of the atom and
the molecule and the interaction of forces and energies on the subtlest,
as well as the grandest electro-magnetic scales and ranges of
measurement. The rediscovery of the "astral body" and the "astral
plane" whereby all material forms are made to cohere, and especially
those biochemical mixtures in which intelligent consciousness and life
of a higher character is seen (plants, animals, humans). Science has in
fact already entered the realm of energy that leads to an understanding
of the power of the astral and the Pranic energies that make forms
possible and given them the life they enjoy as entities with a definite
purpose in the great scheme of things. [ Mr. Judge in the OCEAN OF
THEOSOPHY speaks of this critical date and gives information on this
theme on p. 125 of the book. ]



The psychological origins and potential achievements of human
consciousness - and its unknown ranges - have been sensed, vaguely
sketched, and it remains for a serious and concentrated investigation to
clear away the concept that all this vast interacting group of diverse
molds or model-forms that underlie the many physical forms and keep them
"living" is moved by one central cooperative INTELLIGENCE and many
Independent But Voluntarily Cooperating Intelligences. 



Man's consciousness represents one of the most advanced powers focused
in such a form at this time, and from this condition the doors open to
an understanding of the Universe, its purpose (see SD I 268) and he can
understand what his own duty and responsibility is as he passes through
the successive degrees of initiation that are possible to him - by his
own determination and will.



Writing on this concept Mr. Judge in THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY (p. 4)
says: this "is an age of transition," when every system of thought,
science, religion, government, and society is changing, preparing for an
alteration into that state which will permit the race to advance to the
point suitable for these elder brothers to introduce their actual
presence to our sight."



Another article speaks of the "precursors of HPB," of the vow taken by
Tsong-Kha-Pa in Tibet to send a mission to the West each hundred years.
And we can trace from that date in the 14th Century, the imprint of the
work of various "Messengers" whose task it was to revive in the West the
memory of the esoteric Wisdom. In the 15th Cent. We had the revival in
Florence of the study of Plato spearheaded by Paschalis, Pico della
Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino.



The next century (16th) saw the work of Giordano Bruno, Paracelsus, Van
Helmont, Reuchlin and Trithemius. 





And then came that of Boehme (17th Cent.), Eugenius Philalethes, and
with them the

Rosicrucians, Hermetic Philosophers and Fire Philosophers. 





In the 18th Cent. we have St. Germain, St. Martin, Cagliostro and
Mesmer. Also the Cambridge Platonists worked then and so did Thomas
Taylor who translated the Greek philosophers into English.



In closing, here is a passage from the SECRET DOCTRINE where HPB speaks
of the future:



"...it is the esoteric teachings, and the initiates of the Future, whose
mission it is, and will be, to redeem and ennoble once more the
primitive conceptions so sadly profaned by its crude and gross
application to exoteric dogmas and personations by theological and
ecclesiastical religionists. The silent worship of abstract or
'noumenal' Nature, the only divine manifestation, is the one ennobling
religion of Humanity." [ SD I 381 fn )





Who are these "initiates of the Future ?"



Perhaps, the inspiring Pledge of Kwan-Yin offers a hint: they are
ourselves. 



It reads:



Never will I seek nor receive private individual salvations.


Never will I enter into final peace alone.

But forever and everywhere will I live and strive

For the redemption of every creature throughout the world.





Best wishes,



Dallas





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





HPB speaks to the importance of cycles and dates in her
articles:



STARS AND NUMBERS Theosophist June 1881 

[ ULT Edn., HPB's Articles Vol. III, p. 401 ]



OUR CYCLE AND THE NEXT Lucifer Vol. 4, p. 177 

[ ULT Edn., Vol. I, p. 367 ]



THE CYCLE MOVETH Lucifer March 1890 

[ ULT Edn., Vol. I, p. 355 ]





THE NEW CYCLE 1889 La Revue Theosophique March 1889 

[ ULT Edn., Vol. I, p. 397 ]





WILL MASTERS' HELP BE WITHDRAWN IN 1898 UNTIL 1975 ? 

- Judge, PATH, Nov. 1894,

[ W Q Judge's Articles, ULT Edn., Vol. II, p. 76 ]





ARE WE DESERTED ? -- Judge PATH, December 1892, 

[ ULT Edn., Vol. II, p. 78 ]





PROPHECIES BY H P BLAVATSKY -- Judge 

[ ULT Edn., Vol. II, p. 81 ]













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