Theos-Talk Archives (June 2004 Message tt00032)

June 5th 2004

CORRECTION TO I'll wait for you there like a stone

TEACHING THEOSOPHY 

Dear Friends:


Apologies:


Some CORRECTIONS are to be made:


Re: The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY 

It is available at	www.phx-ult-lodge.org/ 




THEOSOPHY as a record of ancient teaching: see S D I 272-3



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


TEXTS ON FUNDAMENTALS OF THEOSOPHY 



1 ANCIENT SOURCE


Let us recapitulate and show, by the vastness of the subjects
expounded, how difficult, if not impossible, it is to do them full
justice. 

(1.) The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and
its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system: e.g.,
even in the exotericism of the Puranas. 

But such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts
which have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers
and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain, in the bewildering
series of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages of
geometrical signs and glyphs. [see for instance the Theosophical
Symbol.]

The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel
of matter, and recorded the soul of things there, where an ordinary
profane, however learned, would have perceived but the external work
of form. But modern science believes not in the "soul of things," and
hence will reject the whole system of ancient cosmogony. It is useless
to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or several
isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering
thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were
made to test and to verify 
the traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the
teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood
of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the Fifth Race, of
the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of
continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did
they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in
every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent
visions of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and perfected
their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the
utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept was accepted till it
was checked and confirmed by the visions-so obtained as to stand as
independent evidence-of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences.


S D I 272-3

["Does your B.T.S. know the meaning of the white and black interlaced
triangles, of the Parent Society's seal that it has also adopted?
Shall I explain? -- the double triangle viewed by the Jewish Kabalists
as Solomon's Seal, is, as many of you doubtless know the Sri-antara of
the archaic Aryan Temple, the "mystery of Mysteries," a geometrical
synthesis of the whole occult doctrine. 

The two interlaced triangles are the Buddhangums of Creation. They
contain the "squaring of the circle," the "philosophical stone," the
great problems of Life and Death, and -- the Mystery of Evil. The
chela who can explain this sign from every one of its aspects -- is
virtually an adept. 

How is it then that the only one among you, who has come so near to
unravelling the mystery is also the only one who got none of her ideas
from books? Unconsciously she gives out -- to him who has the key --
the first syllable of the Ineffable name! Of course you know that the
double-triangle -- the Satkiri Chakram of Vishnu -- or the six-pointed
star, is the perfect seven. In all the old Sanskrit works -- Vedic and
Tantrik -- you find the number 6 mentioned more often than the 7 --
this last figure, the central point being implied, for it is the germ
of the six and their matrix. It is then thus . . . 

[At this point in the original there is a rough drawing of the
interlaced triangles inscribed in a circle. -- ED.]

-- the central point standing for seventh, and the circle, the
Mahakasha -- endless space -- for the seventh Universal Principle. In
one sense, both are viewed as Avalokitesvara, for they are
respectively the Macrocosm and the microcosm. 

The interlaced triangles -- the upper pointing one -- is Wisdom
concealed, and the downward pointing one -- Wisdom revealed (in the
phenomenal world). The circle indicates the bounding, circumscribing
quality of the All, the Universal Principle which, from any given
point expands so as to embrace all things, while embodying the
potentiality of every action in the Cosmos. 

As the point then is the centre round which the circle is traced --
they are identical and one, and though from the standpoint of Maya and
Avidya -- (illusion and ignorance) -- one is separated from the other
by the manifested triangle, the 3 sides of which represent the three
gunas -- finite attributes. In symbology the central point is Jivatma
(the 7th principle), and hence Avalokitesvara, the Kwan-Shai-yin, the
manifested "Voice" (or Logos), the germ point of manifested activity;
-- hence -- in the phraseology of the Christian Kabalists "the Son of
the Father and Mother," and agreeably to ours -- "the Self manifested
in Self -- Yih-sin, the "one form of existence," the child of
Dharmakaya (the universally diffused Essence), both male and female. 

Parabrahm or "Adi-Buddha" while acting through that germ point
outwardly as an active force, reacts from the circumference inwardly
as the Supreme but latent Potency. 

The double triangles symbolize the Great Passive and the Great Active;
the male and female; Purusha and Prakriti. Each triangle is a Trinity
because presenting a triple aspect. The white represents in its
straight lines: Gnanam -- (Knowledge); Gnata -- (the Knower); and
Gnayam -- (that which is known). The black-form, colour, and
substance, also the creative, preservative, and destructive forces and
are mutually correlating, etc., etc. 

Well may you admire and more should you wonder at the marvellous
lucidity of that remarkable seeress, who ignorant of Sanskrit or Pali,
and thus shut out from their metaphysical treasures, has yet seen a
great light shining from behind the dark bills of exoteric religions.
How, think you, did ...come to know that Adonai was the Son and not
the Father; or that the third Person of the Christian Trinity is --
female? 

Verily, they lay in that work several times their hands upon the
keystone of Occultism. Only does the lady -- who persists using
without an explanation the misleading term "God" in her writings --
know how nearly she comes up to our doctrine when saying: -- "Having
for Father, Spirit which is Life (the endless Circle or Parabrahm) and
for Mother the Great Deep, which is Substance (Prakriti in its
undifferentiated condition) -- Adonai possesses the potency of both
and wields the dual powers of all things." 


We would say triple, but in the sense as given this will do.
Pythagoras had a reason for never using the finite, useless figure --
2, and for altogether discarding it. 

The ONE, can, when manifesting, become only 3. The unmanifested when a
simple duality remains passive and concealed. The dual monad (the 7th
and 6th principles) has, in order to manifest itself as a Logos, the
"Kwan-shai-yin" to first become a triad (7th, 6th and half of the
5th); then, on the bosom of the "Great Deep" attracting within itself
the One Circle -- form out of it the perfect Square, thus "squaring
the circle" -- the greatest of all the mysteries, friend -- and
inscribing within the latter the -- WORD (the Ineffable name) --
otherwise the duality could never tarry as such, and would have to be
reabsorbed into the ONE. The "Deep" is Space -- both male and female.
"Purush (as Brahma) breathes in the Eternity: when 'he' in-breathes --
Prakriti (as manifested Substance) disappears in his bosom; when 'he'
out-breathes she reappears as Maya," says the Sloka. The One reality
is Mulaprakriti (undifferentiated Substance) -- the "Rootless root,"
the. . . MAHATMA LETTERS 345-7 ]

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


THREE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

From: SECRET DOCTRINE I 14 - 19



"Before the reader proceeds to the consideration of the Stanzas from
the Book of Dzyan which form the basis of the present work, it is
absolutely necessary that he should be made acquainted with the few
fundamental conceptions which underlie and pervade the entire system
of thought to which his attention is invited. These basic ideas are
few in number, and on their clear apprehension depends the
understanding of all that follows; therefore no apology is required
for asking the reader to make himself familiar with them first, before
entering on the perusal of the work itself. 

The Secret Doctrine establishes THREE FUNDAMENTAL PROPOSITIONS: -- 

(a) An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable PRINCIPLE on
which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of
human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or
similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought -- in the
words of Mandukya, "unthinkable and unspeakable." 

To render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set out
with the postulate that there is one absolute Reality which antecedes
all manifested, conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal Cause --
dimly formulated in the "Unconscious" and "Unknowable" of current
European philosophy -- is the rootless root of "all that was, is, or
ever shall be." It is of course devoid of all attributes and is
essentially without any relation to manifested, finite Being. It is
"Be-ness" rather than Being (in Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond all
thought or speculation. 

This "Be-ness" is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two aspects.
On the one hand, absolute abstract Space, representing bare
subjectivity, the one thing which no human mind can either exclude
from any conception, or conceive of by itself. On the other, absolute
Abstract Motion representing Unconditioned Consciousness. Even our
Western thinkers have shown that Consciousness is inconceivable to us
apart from change, and motion best symbolises change, its essential
characteristic. This latter aspect of the one Reality, is also
symbolised by the term "The Great Breath," a symbol sufficiently
graphic to need no further elucidation. Thus, then, the first
fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this metaphysical ONE
ABSOLUTE -- BE-NESS -- symbolised by finite intelligence as the
theological Trinity. 

It may, however, assist the student if a few further explanations are
given here. 
Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to
assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more
logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the
"Unknowable," may be essentially the same as that of the Consciousness
which wells up within us: in short, that the impersonal reality
pervading the Kosmos is the pure noumenon of thought. This advance on
his part brings him very near to the esoteric and Vedantin tenet.* 

Parabrahm (the One Reality, the Absolute) is the field of Absolute
Consciousness, i.e., that Essence which is out of all relation to
conditioned existence, and of which conscious existence is a
conditioned symbol. But once that we pass in thought from this (to us)
Absolute Negation, duality supervenes in the contrast of Spirit (or
consciousness) and Matter, Subject and Object. 

Spirit (or Consciousness) and Matter are, however, to be regarded, not
as independent realities, but as the two facets or aspects of the
Absolute (Parabrahm), which constitute the basis of conditioned Being
whether subjective or objective. 

Considering this metaphysical triad as the Root from which proceeds
all manifestation, the great Breath assumes the character of precosmic
Ideation. It is the fons et origo of force and of all individual
consciousness, and supplies the guiding intelligence in the vast
scheme of cosmic Evolution. On the other hand, precosmic
root-substance (Mulaprakriti) is that aspect of the Absolute which
underlies all the objective planes of Nature. 

Just as pre-Cosmic Ideation is the root of all individual
consciousness, so pre-Cosmic Substance is the substratum of matter in
the various grades of its differentiation. 

Hence it will be apparent that the contrast of these two aspects of
the Absolute is essential to the existence of the "Manifested
Universe." Apart from Cosmic Substance, Cosmic Ideation could not
manifest as individual consciousness, since it is only through a
vehicle** of matter that consciousness wells up as "I am I," a
physical basis being necessary to focus a ray of the Universal Mind at
a certain stage of complexity. Again, apart from Cosmic Ideation,
Cosmic Substance would remain an empty abstraction, and no emergence
of consciousness could ensue. 
The "Manifested Universe," therefore, is pervaded by duality, which
is, as it were, the very essence of its EX-istence as "manifestation."


But just as the opposite poles of subject and object, spirit and
matter, are but aspects of the One Unity in which they are
synthesized, so, in the manifested Universe, there is "that" which
links spirit to matter, subject to object. 

This something, at present unknown to Western speculation, is called
by the occultists Fohat. It is the "bridge" by which the "Ideas"
existing in the "Divine Thought" are impressed on Cosmic substance as
the "laws of Nature." Fohat is thus the dynamic energy of Cosmic
Ideation; or, regarded from the other side, it is the intelligent
medium, the guiding power of all manifestation, the "Thought Divine"
transmitted and made manifest through the Dhyan Chohans,* the
Architects of the visible World. Thus from Spirit, or Cosmic Ideation,
comes our consciousness; from Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in
which that consciousness is individualised and attains to self -- or
reflective -- consciousness; while Fohat, in its various
manifestations, is the mysterious link between Mind and Matter, the
animating principle electrifying every atom into life. 

The following summary will afford a clearer idea to the reader. 

(1.) The ABSOLUTE; the Parabrahm of the Vedantins or the one Reality,
SAT, which is, as Hegel says, both Absolute Being and Non-Being. 

(2.) The first manifestation, the impersonal, and, in philosophy,
unmanifested Logos, the precursor of the "manifested." This is the
"First Cause," the "Unconscious" of European Pantheists. 

(3.) Spirit-matter, LIFE; the "Spirit of the Universe," the Purusha
and Prakriti, or the second Logos. 

(4.) Cosmic Ideation, MAHAT or Intelligence, the Universal World-Soul;
the Cosmic Noumenon of Matter, the basis of the intelligent operations
in and of Nature, also called MAHA-BUDDHI. 

The ONE REALITY; its dual aspects in the conditioned Universe. 


Further, the Secret Doctrine affirms: -- 

(b.) The Eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless plane;
periodically "the playground of numberless Universes incessantly
manifesting and disappearing," called "the manifesting stars," and the
"sparks of Eternity." "The Eternity of the Pilgrim"** is like a wink
of the Eye of Self-Existence (Book of Dzyan.) "The appearance and
disappearance of Worlds is like a regular tidal ebb of flux and
reflux." (See Part II., "Days and Nights of Brahma.") 
This second assertion of the Secret Doctrine is the absolute
universality of that law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb and
flow, which physical science has observed and recorded in all
departments of nature. An alternation such as that of Day and Night,
Life and Death, Sleeping and Waking, is a fact so common, so perfectly
universal and without exception, that it is easy to comprehend that in
it we see one of the absolutely fundamental laws of the universe. 
 

Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches: -- 

(c) The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal
Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and
the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul -- a spark of the former --
through the Cycle of Incarnation (or "Necessity") in accordance with
Cyclic and Karmic law, during the whole term. In other words, no
purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have an independent
(conscious) existence before the spark which issued from the pure
Essence of the Universal Sixth principle, -- or the OVER-SOUL, -- has
(a) passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world of
that Manvantara, and (b) acquired individuality, first by natural
impulse, and then by self-induced and self-devised efforts (checked by
its Karma), thus ascending through all the degrees of intelligence,
from the lowest to the highest Manas, from mineral and plant, up to
the holiest archangel (Dhyani-Buddha). The pivotal doctrine of the
Esoteric philosophy admits no privileges or special gifts in man, save
those won by his own Ego through personal effort and merit throughout
a long series of metempsychoses and reincarnations." [ S D I pp.
14 - 19 ]


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


10 PROPOSITIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY  

ISIS UNVEILED II 587. 


TEN ITEMS FROM "ISIS UNVEILED"


To comprehend the principles of natural law involved in the 
several phenomena hereinafter described, the reader must keep in
mind the fundamental propositions of the Oriental philosophy
which we have successively elucidated. Let us recapitulate very
briefly:

1st. There is no miracle. Everything that happens is the result
of law eternal, immutable, ever active. Apparent miracle is but
the operation of forces antagonistic to what Dr. W. B. Carpenter,
F.R.S. - a man of great learning but little knowledge calls "the
well-ascertained laws of nature." Like many of his class, Dr.
Carpenter ignores the fact that there may be laws once "known,"
now unknown to science.

2nd. Nature is triune: there is a visible, objective nature; an
invisible, indwelling, energizing nature, the exact model of the
other, and its vital principle; and, above these two, spirit,
source of all forces, alone eternal, and indestructible. The
lower two constantly change; the higher third does not.

3rd. Man is also triune he has his objective, physical body; his
vitalizing astral body (or soul), the real man; and these two are
brooded over and illuminated by the third - the sovereign, the
immortal spirit. When the real man succeeds in merging himself
with the latter, he becomes an immortal entity.

4th. Magic, as a science, is the knowledge of these principles
and of the way by which the omniscience and omnipotence of the
spirit and its control over nature's forces may be acquired by
the individual while still in the body. Magic, as an art, is the
application of this knowledge in practice.

5th. Arcane knowledge misapplied, is sorcery; beneficently used,
true magic or WISDOM.

6th. Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship; the medium is the
passive instrument of foreign influences, the adept actively
controls himself and all inferior potencies.

7th. All things that ever were, that are, or that will be, having
their record upon the astral light, or tablet of the unseen
universe, the initiated adept, by using the vision of his own
spirit, can know all that has been known or can be known.

8th. Races of men differ in spiritual gifts as in color, stature,
or any other external quality; among some peoples seership
naturally prevails, among others mediumship. Some are addicted to
sorcery, and transmit its secret rules of practice from
generation to generation, with a range of psychical phenomena,
more or less wide, as the result.

9th. One phase of magical skill is the voluntary and conscious
withdrawal of the inner man (astral form) from the outer man
(physical body). In the cases of some mediums withdrawal occurs,
but it is unconscious and involuntary. With the latter the body
is more or less cataleptic at such times; but with the adept the
absence of the astral form would not be noticed, for the physical
senses are alert, and the individual appears only as though in a
fit of abstraction - "a brown study," as some call it.

10th. The comer-stone of MAGIC is an intimate practical knowledge
of magnetism and electricity, their qualities, correlations, and
potencies. Especially necessary is a familiarity with their
effects in and upon the animal kingdom and man.

To sum up all in a few words, MAGIC is spiritual WISDOM; nature,
the material ally, pupil and servant of the magician. One common
vital principle pervades all things, and this is controllable by
the perfected human will.

(ISIS UNVEILED, Vol. 2 p. 587 et seq.) 

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


Best wishes,

Dallas

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

This has referene to:
 

-----Original Message-----

From: Dallas TenBroeck [mailto:dalval14@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 6:24 AM
To: 
Subject: RE: I'll wait for you there like a stone

June 5th 2004

RE: I'll wait for you there like a stone
Can THEOSOPHY be taught?


Dear M and friends: 


Theosophy is indeed difficult to explain to others. Possibly this
happens because we have to find a plane of common experience Or one
where the inquiry is baffled by a lack of existing explanations that
make sense.

The Hermetic statement of evolution you use is cryptic at best, unless
one has as a basis the idea of the universality of INTELLIGENCE that
ever-grows and progresses working its way through many channels --
ourselves as human "Minds" in particular. The Logic of a "spiritual
base" using a "material form" requires a complete revision of the
ideas that most early religious upbringing have furnished to us all,
regardless of the "religion" into which our family was involved. The
hard facts of "Science" have done away with most of the veils of
theologies. Now that same science of ours has to go into the causes
of physical existence and the many interactions we witness. It is
already moving in that direction, as instrumentation improves, it
shows there are forces and powers in "the very small" that only an
intelligent and conscious NATURE can install, maintain and erect
complex physical structures therefrom. 

CUT