Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00622)

Hallo all of you,

My views are:

Beautifully written by W. Q. Judge.

By referring to the Civil War Judge is
dealing with - corruption - in politics.

-------

In a earliere letter to the American Convent Blavatsky
writes
"Letter I -- 1888
Second Annual Convention -- April 22-23":

"Here in England Theosophy is waking into new life. The slanders and absurd
inventions of the Society for Psychical Research have almost paralyzed it,
though only for a very short time, and the example of America has stirred
the English Theosophists into renewed activity. "LUCIFER" sounded the
reveille, and the first fruit has been the founding of the "Theosophical
Publication Society." This Society is of great importance. It has undertaken
the very necessary work of breaking down the barrier of prejudice and
ignorance which has formed so great an impediment to the spread of
Theosophy. It will act as a recruiting agency for the Society by the wide
distribution of elementary literature on the subject, among those who are in
any way prepared to give ear to it. The correspondence already received
shows that it is creating an interest in the subject, and proves that in
every large town in England there exist quite enough isolated Theosophists
to form groups or Lodges under charter from the Society. But, at present,
these students do not even know of each other's existence, and many of them
have never heard of the Theosophical Society until now. I am thoroughly
satisfied of the great utility of this new Society, composed as it is to a
large extent of members of the Theosophical Society, and being under the
control of prominent Theosophists, such as you, my dear Brother W. Q. Judge,
Mabel Collins, and the Countess Wachtmeister."

We already here read about the need of producing "elementary literature on
the subject, among those who are in any way prepared to give ear to it."
And we may ask, what has been produced since then of what can be called
"elementary literature" ? And by whom ?



At the time of writing the promotion of
the theories of Karma and Reincarnation
was important.

Today everyone knows about them,
but unfortunately only on a superficial level.

That was problably why HPB wrote the following words
in a letter to the American Convent
"Letter III -- 1890
Fourth Annual Convention -- April 27-28":

"The Masters require only that each shall do his best, and, above all, that
each shall strive in reality to feel himself one with his fellow-workers. It
is not a dull agreement on intellectual questions, or an impossible
unanimity as to all details of work, that is needed; but a true, hearty,
earnest devotion to our cause which will lead each to help his brother to
the utmost of his power to work for that cause, whether or not we agree as
to the exact method of carrying on that work. The only man who is absolutely
wrong in his method is the one who does nothing; each can and should
cooperate with all and all with each in a large-hearted spirit of
comradeship to forward the work of bringing Theosophy home to every man and
woman in the country.
Let us look forward, not backward. What of the coming year? And first a word
of warning. As the preparation for the new cycle proceeds, as the
forerunners of the new sub-race make their appearance on the American
continent, the latent psychic and occult powers in man are beginning to
germinate and grow. Hence the rapid growth of such movements as Christian
Science, Mind Cure, Metaphysical Healing, Spiritual Healing, and so forth.
All these movements represent nothing but different phases of the exercise
of these growing powers -- as yet not understood and therefore but too often
ignorantly misused. Understand once for all that there is nothing
"spiritual" or "divine" in any of these manifestations. The cures effected
by them are due simply to the unconscious exercise of occult power on the
lower planes of nature -- usually of prana or life-currents. The conflicting
theories of all these schools are based on misunderstood and misapplied
metaphysics, often on grotesquely absurd logical fallacies. But the one
feature common to most of them, a feature which presents the most danger in
the near future, is this. In nearly every case, the tenor of the teachings
of these schools is such as to lead people to regard the healing process as
being applied to the mind of the patient. Here lies the danger, for any such
process -- however cunningly disguised in words and hidden by false noses -- 
is simply to psychologize the patient. In other words, whenever the healer
interferes -- consciously or unconsciously -- with the free mental action of
the person he treats, it is -- Black Magic. Already these so-called sciences
of "Healing" are being used to gain a livelihood. Soon some sharp person
will find out that by the same process the minds of others can be influenced
in many directions, and the selfish motive of personal gain and
money-getting having been once allowed to creep in, the one-time "healer"
may be insensibly led on to use his power to acquire wealth or some other
object of his desire."
-------
"What I said last year remains true today, that is, that the Ethics of
Theosophy are more important than any divulgement of psychic laws and facts.
The latter relate wholly to the material and evanescent part of the
septenary man, but the Ethics sink into and take hold of the real man -- the
reincarnating Ego. We are outwardly creatures of but a day; within we are
eternal. Learn, then, well the doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation, and
teach, practice, promulgate that system of life and thought which alone can
save the coming races. Do not work merely for the Theosophical Society, but
through it for Humanity.
"http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-am/hpb-am3.htm

And what do we withness today with the many New Age Healers swarming around
the theosophy using OR rather misusing the Theosophical name just to gain
money by vodooing an unhealthy practise.
That is what is called Universal Brotherhood today.

I think the tendencies to forget the importance of what Blavatsky in the
above calls "ethics" has been spreading way too much.
She said: "What I said last year remains true today, that is, that the
Ethics of Theosophy are more important than any divulgement of psychic laws
and facts."

Let us remembet this !
Let the students learn the Laws of Karma and Reincarnation on a very high
leverl before the get swallowed by one of these Psychic-based New Age
groups, which are so prevalent these days.


from
M. Sufilight with peace and love...


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dallas TenBroeck" <dalval14@earthlink.net>
To: "AAA-Dal" <dalval14@earthlink.net>
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 5:22 AM
Subject: Theos-World PROMULGATION OF THEOSOPHY



March 25 2004

Dear friends:

A theme to remember is important for all of us. As we received so do we
pass on.

-------------------------


THE PROMULGATION OF THEOSOPHY

TOO much attention has been paid by several to the opinions of men in
the world who have a reputation in science and in scholarship. Their
opinions are valuable in their respective fields, but the ideas of the
world should not be permitted to dwarf our work or smother our hearts
desire. These owners of reputations do not entirely govern the progress
of the race.

The great mass of mankind are of the common people, and it is with them
we have chiefly to deal. For our message does not come only for the
scholar and the scientific man. In spite of scholars, in spite of
science, the superstitions of the people live on. And perhaps those very
superstitions are the means of preserving to us the almost forgotten
truth. Indeed, had we listened only to those learned in books, we would
long ago have lost all touch with our real life.

If we believe in our message and in the aim of the Society, we ought
never to tire telling the people that which they can understand. And the
rich as well as the poor are the people to whom I refer. They need the
help of Theosophy, for they are wandering very close to the marshes of
materialism. They must have a true ethic, a right philosophy. Tell them
of our great doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation.

Tell of these with confidence, unshaken by opinions of others, and that
confidence of yours will beget confidence in the hearer. Science and
exact scholarship are factors in our progress, but although they are
important, the mass of the people are more important still. You cannot
scientifically prove everything.

But if you are sure, as so many of us are, that we are immortal
pilgrims, then tell the people plainly and practically how they have
been here before in other bodies, and will be here again to suffer or
enjoy just as they may have decided in their other life, and they will
believe it. They will soon come to that belief because these laws are
facts in nature, facts in their own real experience. Were I to attend
only to scholars, I should be able to do no other work, while all the
time my fellow-creatures--not scholars and in the vast majority--would
be deprived of the spiritual help it was my duty to give them.

We are really working for the future, laying the foundation for a
greater day than this. We are all coming back together to carry on this
work if we now take up all our opportunities. We must act from duty now,
and thus be right for the future.

Our duty is to recognize the great human soul with which we have to deal
and for which we should work. Its progress, its experience, its inner
life, are vastly more important than all our boasted civilization. That
civilization could easily be swept away, and what would be left?

Your country could be frozen up solidly in a few weeks, were the Gulf
Stream deflected from these shores. Mines have honeycombed your land,
and a good earthquake might easily shake all your material glories to
destruction beneath the sea. What then could remain save the human
experience, the experience of the soul? But no cataclysm can destroy
your thoughts. They live on.

And so all the work that you do for the inner life of man can meet with
no destruction, even though records and books and all the ingenious
works upon this outer plane were swept out of existence. If then you
believe in this mighty doctrine of Reincarnation, do not be afraid to
tell it.

But do not, as Theosophists, confine yourselves to the intellect. The
dry or the interesting speculations upon all the details of cosmogony
and anthropology will not save the world. They do not cure sorrow nor
appeal to those who feel the grinding stones of fate, and know not why
it should be so. Address yourselves therefore to using your intellectual
knowledge of these high matters, so as to practically affect the hearts
of men.

Our debt to science is very great. It has leveled the barriers and made
freedom of thought a possibility. Science is our friend, for without its
progress you would now, at the order of the bigot, all be in the common
jail. It has combated the strength and cut the claws of bigoted
churches. And even those iconoclasts, such as Robert Ingersoll, who
often violate the sentiment and ideals of many good men, have helped in
this progress, for they have done the tearing down which must precede
the building up. It is our place to supply the new structure, for the
churches are beginning to find that they must look into subjects which
once were kept out of sight.

A sign of this was seen at a recent Council of the Methodist Church in
America, where their brightest lights declared that they must accept
evolution, or they would go down. The only church which does not
publicly as yet proclaim on these matters is the Roman Catholic. It is
so sly that I should not be surprised ere long to hear of its throwing
its mantle over all our doctrines publicly, and saying that such had
always been its doctrine. But if that step be taken it will be the fatal
one. So even that need give us no fear.

We are working with and for the great unseen, but actual, Brotherhood of
Humanity, and in our efforts, if sincere, will have the aid of those our
Brothers who have perfected themselves before us and are ever ready to
help on the human family. So if we are firmly fixed in that belief, we
can never weaken.

I have heard some words about our pretending to be undogmatic, or that
our claim to freedom is against the fact. I do not hold such an opinion.


Our Society is, as a body, wholly unsectarian. It must always be so. But
that does not affect the inevitable result of so many joined in one
effort. A large number of us must have come at last to a common belief.
This we can boldly say, and at the same time also that no enquirer is
obliged to subscribe to those beliefs. For this we have the warrant, not
only of our own statutes, but also that of the oft-repeated declarations
of H. P. Blavatsky. If I have a belief which works with all the problems
that vex us so much, then I will tell it to my fellow who has joined
these ranks. If wrong, the interchange of thought will correct me; if
right, the truth must at last prevail. In this, Brotherhood means
toleration of opinion, and not a fear of declaring the beliefs you hold,
nor does that declaration negative in the least the claim to
unsectarianism.

This Society is a small germ of a nucleus for a real outer Brotherhood.
If we work aright the day must come when we shall have accomplished our
aim and formed the nucleus. If we had five hundred members in the
Society loving one another with true hearts, not criticizing nor
condemning, and all bent on one aim with one belief we could sweep the
whole world with our thoughts. And this is our work in the future, the
work traced out for us by those Masters in whom so many of us firmly
believe.

If we only have patience, what a glorious, wide, and noble prospect
opens up before us!

W. Q. Judge

NOTE--This article is from an address given by Mr. Judge in London, at
the close of the European T.S. convention, July 15, 1892.

----------------------------------

2

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD - A FACT IN NATURE by W. Q. Judge


I have been requested to speak on the subject of Universal Brotherhood
as a fact in nature; not as a theory, not as a Utopian dream which can
never be realized; not as a fact in society, not as a fact in
government, but as a fact in nature.

That is, that Universal Brotherhood is an actual thing, whether it is
recognized or whether it is not. Christian priests have claimed for some
years, without right, that Christianity introduced the idea of Universal
Brotherhood. The reason the claim was made, I suppose, was because those
who made it did not know that other religions at other times had the
same doctrine.

It is found in the Buddhist scriptures, it is found in the Chinese
books, it is found in the Parsee books, it is found everywhere in the
history of the world, long before the first year of the Christian Era
began. So it is not a special idea from the Christian Scriptures.

Every nation, then, every civilization has brought forward this
doctrine, and the facts of history show us that, more than at any other
time, the last eighteen hundred years have seen this doctrine violated
in society, in government, and in nations. So that at last men have come
to say, "Universal Brotherhood is very beautiful; it is something that
we all desire, but it is impossible to realize." With one word they
declare the noble doctrine, and with the other they deny the possibility
of its ever being realized. Why is this the case? Why is it that
although Christianity and other religions have brought forward this
doctrine, it has been violated?

We cannot deny that it has been. The history of even the last few years
proves it. The history of the last forty years in America, without going
any farther back, proves that this doctrine has been violated in the
West. How could it have been a doctrine that the Americans believed in
when they had slavery in their midst? How could it have been believed in
by the French when they stretched out their hand and demanded of Siam, a
weak and powerless nation, that it must give up to them its own
property? How could it have been believed in by the Germans and French
when they constructed engines of war and went into battle and destroyed
each other by the thousand? Does not the American War of the Rebellion
and the vast amount of treasure wasted and the thousands slain in that
civil war prove conclusively that Universal Brotherhood has not been
practiced? It has been professed but not practiced.

Now, go further back, go back in the history of the nations in Europe,
without going to any other country, and what do you find? Do you not
find sectarian prejudice? Their view of Universal Brotherhood has for
years prevented the progress of science. Is it not true that only since
science became materialized -- a most remarkable thing, but it is true
-- I insist that since then only science has made progress.

If Universal Brotherhood had been a belief of this nation, then we would
not have had the burning of witches in America; nor in other countries
would we have had the burning of Catholics by Protestants, nor the
burning of Protestants by Catholics; we would not have had the
persecutions that have stained the pages of history; and yet we have
always claimed that we have had Universal Brotherhood. We have had the
theory but not the practice. Now, then, has there not been something
wanting?

It is a beautiful doctrine. It is the only doctrine of the Theosophical
Society, the only thing that any man is asked by us to subscribe to.
What, then, is the matter with it? Why so many men who say that it is
beautiful, but it is impossible, simply impossible? There are even some
branches of the Christian church which say, "There is Jesus; why, the
altruistic, noble teachings of Christ are beautiful; but no State could
live three months under such doctrine." The reason that it has not
prevailed in practice is that it has been denied in the heart.

The Theosophist who knows anything about life insists that Universal
Brotherhood is not a mere theory. It is a fact, a living ever present
fact, from which no nation can hope to escape; no man can escape from
it, and every man who violates it violates a law, violates the greatest
law of nature, which will react upon him and make him suffer.

And that is why we have had suffering; that is why you have in Chicago,
in London, in New York, in Berlin, in all the great cities of the world,
masses of people who are claiming with violence what they call their
rights and saying they must have them, and that another class is
oppressing them; and danger lurks in every corner because men are
insisting on Universal Brotherhood. This noble doctrine has already
become a danger. The reason of all these things is that men have denied
the fact. Now, we propose to show you, if we can, that it is a fact.

If you will notice you will find that when it rains over a certain area
vast numbers of men are affected similarly. The rain has to fall on the
fields in order that the harvest may grow, so that afterwards it may be
gathered, and all the farmers are affected together by the rain. If you
examine society you will find that at the same hour every day almost all
the people are doing exactly the same thing. At a certain hour in the
morning thousands of your citizens are going down that railway or rush
all together to catch the train and at another few moments afterward
they are rushing out of the train to get to business, all doing the same
thing, one common thought inspiring them.

That is one of the proofs -- a small one -- in social and business life
that they are affected together, they are all united. Then in the
evening they will come home at the same hour, and if you could see, at
the same hour you would see them all eating together and digesting
together, and then later on they are all lying down together at the same
hour. Are they not united even in their social life? Brothers even in
that? And what do we see here in business? Lately I have felt it; every
man has felt it, and many women; doubtless all have felt it; lately we
have had a financial crisis, perhaps have it yet, in which dollars have
been scarce, during which men have discovered that there are only just
so many dollars and half dollars to each person in the country, and we
have altogether been suffering from that panic all over this vast
country. Suffering, why? Because commercially we are united and cannot
get out of it. China even is affected by it, and Japan. India, they say,
was the cause of it. Some men say the reason for this panic is that
India put the price of rupees down, and we who produce so much silver
began to feel it. But I think there is another cause. I think the
American nation is so fond of luxury, so fond of fine clothes, so fond
of having a heap of money, that it has gone too far and there was bound
to come a reaction, because it is all united together with the whole
world, and when it spread itself out too far the slightest touch broke
the fabric. That is the reason, and that is another proof of Universal
Brotherhood. We are all united, not only with each other here, but with
the entire world.

Now, then, go further still materially and you find that all men are
alike. We have the same sort of bodies, a little different perhaps in
height, weight, and extension, but as human beings we are all alike, all
the same color in one country, all the same shape in any country, so
that as mere bodies of flesh they are united, they are the same. We know
every man and woman has exuding from him or her what is called
perspiration. The doctors will tell you there is a finer perspiration
you cannot see, the invisible perspiration which goes out a short
distance around about us; we know it comes out from every person and the
emanations of each person are affecting every other person, being
interchanged always. All those in this room are being affected by these
emanations and also by the ideas of each other, and the ideas of the
speakers speaking to you. So it is in every direction; wherever you go,
wherever you look, we are united; in whatever plane, the plane of mind
as well as the plane of the body; then plane of the emotions, of the
spirit, what not, we are all united, and it is a fact from which we
cannot escape.

Now, then, further: science is beginning to admit what the old
Theosophists have always said, that there is going on every minute in
every person a death, a dissolution, a disappearance. It used to be
taught and thought in the West that we could see matter, that this table
is made of matter. It is admitted today by your best scientific men in
every part of Western civilization that you do not see matter at all; it
is only the phenomena of matter we see; and it is my senses which enable
me to perceive these phenomena. It is not matter at all, and so we do
not see matter.

Now admitting that, they go further and say there is a constant change
in matter so-called; that is, this table is in motion. This is not a
purely Theosophical theory. Go to any doctor of Physics and he will
admit to you as I have stated it. This table is in motion; every
molecule is separate from every other, and there is space between them,
and they are moving. So it is with every man; he is made of atoms and
they are in motion.

Then how is it we remain the same size and weight nearly always from the
moment of maturity until death? We eat tons of meat and vegetables but
remain the same. It is not because of the things you have eaten. In
addition to that the atoms are alive, constantly moving, coming and
going from one person to another; and this is the modern doctrine today
as well as it was the doctrine of ancient India. They call it the
momentary dissolution of atoms; that is to say, to put it another way, I
am losing, all of you in this room are losing, a certain number of
atoms, but they are being replaced by other atoms. Now, where do these
other atoms come from? Do they not come from the people in this room?
These atoms help to rebuild your body as well as does the food you eat.
And we are excluding atoms from our minds, and we are receiving into
ourselves the atoms other men have used. For, remember, science teaches
you, and Theosophy has always insisted, that matter is invisible before
it is turned into this combination of the life cycle, which makes it
visible, makes it tangible to us.

So these atoms leave us in a stream and rush into other people. And
therefore the atoms of good men go into bad men, the atoms impressed by
bad men go into good men, and vice versā. In that way as well as others
we are affecting everybody in this world; and the people in Chicago who
are living mean, selfish lives are impressing these invisible atoms with
mean and selfish characters, and these mean and selfish atoms will be
distributed by other men, and by you again to your and their detriment.
That is another phase of Universal Brotherhood. It teaches us to be
careful to see that we use and keep the atoms in our charge in such a
condition that they shall benefit others to whom they shall go.

There is another view of Universal Brotherhood, and I don't pretend to
exhaust the argument on this point, for I have not the time nor force to
state all that is put forward in the Theosophical books and literature
and thought.

That is, that there is in this world an actual Universal Brotherhood of
men and women, of souls, a brotherhood of beings who practice Universal
Brotherhood by always trying to influence the souls of men for their
good.

I bring to you the message of these men; I bring to you the words of
that brotherhood. Why will you longer call yourselves miserable men and
women who are willing to go to a Heaven where you will do nothing? Do
you not like to be gods? Do you not want to be gods? I hear some men
say, "What, a god! Impossible!" Perhaps they do not like the
responsibility. Why, when you get to that position you will understand
the responsibility. This actual Brotherhood of living men says:

"Why, men of the West, why will you so long refuse to believe you are
gods? We are your brothers and we are gods with you. Be then as gods!
Believe that you are gods, and then, after experience and attainment,
you will have a place consciously in the great Brotherhood which governs
the entire world, but cannot go against the law."

This great Brotherhood of living men, living souls, would, if they
could, alter the face of civilization; they would, if they could, come
down and make saints of every one of you; but evolution is the law and
they cannot violate it; they must wait for you. And why will you so long
be satisfied to believe that you are born in original sin and cannot
escape?

I do not believe in any such doctrine as that. I do not believe I was
born in original sin. I believe that I am pretty bad, but that
potentially I am a god, and I propose to take the inheritance if it is
possible. For what purpose? So that I may help all the rest to do the
same thing, for that is the law of Universal Brotherhood; and the
Theosophical Society wishes to enforce it on the West, to make it see
this great truth, that we are as gods, and are only prevented from being
so in fact by our own insanity, ignorance, and fear to take the
position.

So, then, we insist that Universal Brotherhood is a fact in nature. It
is a fact for the lowest part of nature; for the animal kingdom, for the
vegetable kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. We are all atoms, obeying
the law together. Our denying it does not disprove it. It simply puts
off the day of reward and keeps us miserable, poor, and selfish. Why,
just think of it! if all in Chicago, in the United States, would act as
Jesus has said, as Buddha has said, as Confucius said, as all the great
ethical teachers of the world have said, "Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you," would there be any necessity for legal measures
and policemen with clubs in this park as you had them the other day? No,
I think there would be no necessity, and that is what one of this great
Brotherhood has said. He said: ".all the troubles of the world would
disappear in a moment if men would only do one-quarter of what they
could and what they ought. It is not God who is to damn you to death, to
misery. It is yourself."

And the Theosophical Society desires above all things, not that you
should understand spiritualism, not that wonderful occult works should
be performed, but to understand the constitution of matter and of Life
as they are, which we can never understand but by practicing right
ethics.

Live with each other as brothers; for the misery and the trouble of the
world are of more importance than all the scientific progress that may
be imagined.

I conclude by calling upon you by all that humanity holds dear to
remember what I say, and whether Christians, Atheists, Jews, Pagans,
Heathen, or Theosophists, try to practice Universal Brotherhood, which
is the universal duty of all men.

William Q. Judge

Address given by Wm. Q. Judge at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago,
1893.

----------------------------------

Best wishes,

Dallas






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