Theos-Talk Archives (June 2004 Message tt00096)

June 17 2004

The cycle of THEOSOPHY & the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY -- H P B 

Solstice 2004 - a consideration

Dear Friends:


We were consulting the matter of cycles - in reincarnation, recently,
when we reviewed H P B's important article, some selections from which
we offer below.

These are quite apposite in view of the approaching sol solstice which
marks a change in cycle for this year 2004.

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THEOSOPHY-&-THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY . How to distinguish them  
-- HPB

From: H P B Articles I 397
[March 21 1889 , La Revue Theosophique, Paris 1st
issue.]



THEOSOPHY 


P. 397	Theosophy is Divine Wisdom, or the Wisdom of the Gods
(Theo-Sophia),

P. 397	Aristotle said: "The Divine Essence permeating nature and
diffused throughout the entire Universe (which is infinite), .simply .
. . the first principles"-- . the creative intelligent forces of
Nature. 

P. 398	Theosophy is [essentially] the spiritual as well as the
physical science of this Truth--the very essence of deistic and
philosophical research. As visible representative of the universal
Truth, since it contains all religions and philosophies, and since
each of them contains in its turn a portion of this Truth--the Society
could not be sectarian.

P. 299	with regard to the one [main objects] dearest to our heart,
the first: Universal Brotherhood without distinction of race, color or
creed.this object has almost always been ignored

P. 399	Since 1876 we have been compelled to deviate.from the main
highway of general principles, originally laid down, and to take ever
widening subsidiary paths.These researches have resulted in a
synthesis which has just been sketched in The Secret Doctrine

P. 399	The doctrine is barely outlined in our volumes; and yet the
mysteries unveiled therein concerning the beliefs of the prehistoric
peoples, cosmogenesis and anthropology, had never been divulged until
now.

P. 399	Certain of its dogmas and theories.explain and throw light
on.and fill more than one gap, left open. by official science. 

P. 399-400 He who is frightened by these infinite prospects and
would seek to reduce them.will do better not to enter the Thermopylae
[narrow pathway] of archaic science. 

P. 400	.Such is one of the results.achieved.that will.be followed
by further revelations, exoteric or purely esoteric. 

P. 400	.we do not preach any religion in particular, leaving each
member utterly free to follow his own particular belief. 

P. 400	"There is no Religion higher than Truth." 

P. 398	.men slander only those they hate or "fear." 

P. 398	Theosophy is [essentially] the spiritual as well as the
physical science of this Truth--the very essence of deistic and
philosophical research. As visible representative of the universal
Truth, since it contains all religions and philosophies, and since
each of them contains in its turn a portion of this Truth--the Society
could not be sectarian.

P. 399	Truth is not always welcome and.we utter too many real
truths! 

P. 400	Whoever feels his heart beating in unison with the great
heart of humanity, whoever feels his interests at one with those who
are poorer and less fortunate than himself; whoever, man or woman, is
ever ready to lend a helping hand to those who suffer, whoever is
fully conscious of the real meaning of "Egoism," is a Theosophist by
birth and by right. 

P. 401	Buddhism recognizes neither a God nor Gods.the Arhat, for
whom each atom of dust is as full of Swabhavat (plastic substance,
eternal and intelligent, though impersonal) as he is himself, and who
tries to assimilate this Swabhavat by identifying himself with the All
in order to reach Nirvana, must in order to reach it follow the same
Path of sorrows, of renunciation, of good works and of altruism, and
has to lead as saintly a life.less selfish in motive, as the
Christian. 

P. 401	What matters the passing form, if the goal pursued is the
same Eternal Essence, whether that Essence appear to human perception
under the guise of a Substance, of an immaterial Breath, or of a
No-thing! Let us admit the PRESENCE, whether called Personal God or
Universal Substance, and let us admit a cause, since we all see
effects. But these effects being the same. and the cause being as
inscrutable for the one as for the other, why should we.pursue an
illusive shadow? 

P. 401	.the greatest of materialists, as well as the most
transcendental of philosophers, admits the omnipresence of an
impalpable Proteus, omnipotent in its ubiquity throughout all kingdoms
of nature, including man--a Proteus indivisible in its essence,
without form and yet manifesting itself in all forms, which is.the All
and the Nothing, which is all things and always One, Universal Essence
which binds, limits and contains everything, and which everything
contains.

P. 401	.to recognize these verities [is] to be a Theosophist.that
not only humanity.but all that lives and vegetates, all that.is made
up of the same essence and substance, is animated by the same spirit,
and that, therefore, there is solidarity throughout nature, on the
physical as well as on the moral plane. 



THE FUTURE IN POTENTIAL


P. 406-7 But you.who aspire to something more. prepare yourselves
for a future that few of you have dreamed of unless you have already
set your feet upon the Path. For you have chosen a way which, in the
beginning lined with thorns, will soon widen, and lead you straight to
the Divine Truth. 

You are free to doubt at first; free not to accept on someone's word
what is taught concerning the source and the cause of this Truth, but
you can always listen to what the voice is saying, you can always
watch the effects produced by the creative force which emerges from
the depths of the unknown. 

P. 407	Now is the time for action by all who see the sterility and
foolishness of an existence blinded by materialism and so ferociously
indifferent to the fate of others. [We of the T S have to] devote
their best energies, all their courage and all their efforts to bring
about an intellectual reform.

P. 407	This reform cannot be accomplished except through
Theosophy, and, let us say it, Occultism, or the Wisdom of the East.
Many are the paths leading to it, but Wisdom is forever one. Artists
foresee it, those who suffer dream of it, the pure in spirit know it.
Those who work for others cannot remain blind before its reality .

P. 407-8 .these pages are not written for the masses. 

P. 408	They are addressed only to those who are ready to
understand them, to those who suffer, to those who are thirsty and
hungry for any reality in this world of shifting shadows. And why
should those not have enough courage to give up their frivolous ways
of life, above all their pleasures and even some of their business
interests.No one is so busy or so poor that he cannot be inspired by a
noble ideal to follow. 

P. 408	Why hesitate to blaze a trail toward that IDEAL through all
obstacles, all hindrances, all the daily considerations of social
life, and to advance boldly until it is reached? Ah! those who would
make this effort would soon find that the "narrow gate" and "the
thorny path" lead to spacious valleys with unlimited horizons, to a
state without death, for one rebecomes a God! 

P. 408	.the first requisites for getting there are absolute
unselfishness and unlimited devotion to the interests of others, and
complete indifference as to the world and its opinions. To take the
first step.requires a perfectly pure motive; no frivolous thought must
be allowed to divert our eyes from the goal; no hesitation, no doubt
must fetter our feet. Yet, there are men and women perfectly capable
of all this, and whose only desire is to live under the aegis of their
Divine Nature. Let these .have the courage to live this life and not
to hide it from the sight of others! 

P. 408 No one's opinion could ever be above the rulings of our own
conscience, so, let that conscience, arrived at its highest
development, be our guide in all our common daily tasks. As to our
inner life, let us concentrate all our attention on our chosen Ideal,
and let us ever look beyond....Those capable of such an effort are
true Theosophists



The THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 


P. 398	The T S.believes in nothing, accepts nothing, teaches
nothing.

P. 398	.[The T S] cannot and must not have any religion, for it
contains all religions.containing more or less of the essence of the
One and Universal Truth. 

P. 400	.an impersonal Society.must welcome Truth wherever it may be
found, without partiality for any one belief.we acclaim and
welcome.every earnest seeker after truth

P. 400	there is no place in our ranks for the sectarian, the
bigot, or the hypocrite.[we admit] the free use of reason [as]. the
very root [of].Theosophy, is free and complete research into all the
mysteries, natural, divine, or human! 

P. 400	.the Society invites everyone to participate in its
investigations and discoveries. 

P. 400	Whoever feels his heart beating in unison with the great
heart of humanity, whoever feels his interests at one with those who
are poorer and less fortunate than himself; whoever, man or woman, is
ever ready to lend a helping hand to those who suffer, whoever is
fully conscious of the real meaning of "Egoism," is a Theosophist by
birth and by right. He can always be sure of finding sympathetic
hearts amongst us. Our Society is in fact a small, special humanity.

P. 400-1 [The T S welcomes all] If an individual is a
materialist.discerns in matter an infinite potency for the.evolution
of all terrestrial life; or else a spiritualist endowed with a
spiritual perception the other one does not have.Besides, those who
worship a Personal God or Divine Substance are far more materialistic
than the Pantheists who reject the idea of a carnalized God but who
perceive the divine essence in each atom. 

P. 401-2 "Born in the U S A, the T S was constituted on the model
of its mother country. The latter.omits the name of God from its
constitution.they wanted to grant absolute equality in its laws to all
religions.
 
P. 402	.our Society may be truly called the "Republic of Conscience."


P. 402	.each member must do his own chosen part.by way of mental
work or otherwise, for the good of all. If he does not work for
others, he has no reason for being a Theosophist. 

P. 402	.All of us must work for the liberation of human thought, for
the elimination of selfish and sectarian superstitions, and for the
discovery of all the truths that are within the reach of the human
mind. This goal cannot be attained with greater certainty than through
the culture of solidarity on the plane of mental work. 

P. 403	The founders of the Society have always been the first and
humblest servants of their co-workers and colleagues; always showing
themselves ready to help others with the feeble lights at their
disposal, and to support them in the fight against the egoists, the
indifferent and the sectarians

P. 4003	.at this moment [1889] of Theosophical history.the goal of a
Magazine.would.be able to open up new intellectual horizons, to trace
unexplored paths leading to the amelioration of humankind; to offer
words of comfort to all the disinherited of the earth who suffer from
a spiritual void, or from an absence of material goods. 




PROPHECY


P. 403	We are now facing all the glorious possibilities of the
future. Once again the hour has struck for the great periodical return
of the rising tide of mystic thought in Europe. We are surrounded on
all sides by the ocean of universal science--the science of life
eternal--bringing in its waters the buried and long forgotten
treasures of vanished generations, treasures still unknown to the
modern civilized races. The powerful current rising from the submarine
abysses, from the depths where lie the learning and arts engulfed with
the antediluvian Giants.may once again reappear on the surface.
Prepare yourselves." 

P. 404	Happy those who understand the language of the elements.
But, where are those heading to whom the word element conveys no other
meaning than the one given to it by materialistic physics and
chemistry?.Will they be carried toward the summit.where are light.and
a safe spot to stand on, or toward a bottomless abyss that will engulf
them as soon as they attempt to fight against the irresistible waves
of a new element? [Astral ?]

P. 404	Let us prepare, and let us study Truth in all its aspects,
trying not to ignore any of them, if we do not wish, when the hour
will have struck, to fall into the abyss of the unknown.The battle
will be fierce, in any case, between brutal materialism and blind
fanaticism on the one hand, and on the other : philosophy and
mysticism--the.thick veil of the Eternal Truth. [ 5 Messages, pp.
24-5, 27-9 ? ]

P. 404	It is not materialism that will have the upper hand.
Everyone fanatically clinging to an idea isolating him from the
universal axiom--"There is no Religion higher than Truth"--will find
himself separated.from the new ark called Humanity. Tossed by the
waves, chased by the winds, buffeted by this element so terrible
because unknown, he will soon find himself swallowed up. 
[Moment of Choice ? EPITOME, pp 17, 26-7 ? ]




WAR BETWEEN SPIRIT AND ASTRAL, BETWEEN THE TWO MANASES


P. 404-5 Those who cannot conceive of a spiritual Ego, of a living
Soul, and of an eternal Spirit, within their material shell (which
owes its illusory life only to these principles); those for whom the
great wave of hope in a life beyond the grave is.the symbol of an
unknown quantity.those will do well to be prepared for the keenest of
disappointments.from the depths of the.black waters of matter, hiding
from them.the horizons of the great beyond, a mystic force is rising
towards the closing years of this century. A mere touch.but a
superhuman touch... 


The Spirit of Truth is.moving upon.these black waters, and, separating
them, forces them to yield their spiritual treasures. This spirit is a
force that cannot be either checked or stopped. Those who recognize it
and feel that this is the supreme moment of their salvation, will be
carried by it beyond the illusions of the great astral serpent. The
bliss they will experience will be so sharp and so keen that were they
not in spirit detached from their bodies of flesh, this beatitude
would wound them like a sharpened blade. It is not pleasure that they
will feel, but a bliss which is a foretaste of the wisdom of the gods,
of the knowledge of good and evil, and of the fruits of the Tree of
Life.         
[ 5 Messages, pp. 24-5, 27-9 ? ]


P. 405	.lit is fruitless to struggle against these two moral
forces [Spiritual and Astral ?] now unleashed and engaged in a fight
to the finish. He is at the mercy of these two adversaries and there
is no intermediary power capable of protecting him. It is but a matter
of choice: to let oneself be carried away naturally and without
struggle by the flood of unfolding mysticism, or else to struggle and
react against the stresses of the moral and psychic evolution .
[ Buddhi-Manas vs. Kama-Manas ? ]


P. 405	It is useless to.hope one will.remain neutral between these
two warring forces; one can only be crushed, or has to choose between
them. The man who thinks he has chosen freedom and who nevertheless
remains submerged in this seething and foaming cauldron of filth
called social life, utters the most terrible lie to his Divine Self; a
lie that will blind this Self through its long series of future
incarnations. 


P. 405-6 All of you who waver on the path of Theosophy and of the
occult sciences, who tremble on the golden threshold of Truth, the
only Truth still open to you, since all the others have failed, one
after the other--look the Great Reality now offering itself to
you.These words are for the mystically inclined only, for them alone
they will be of some importance; for those who have already made their
choice they will prove vain and useless. 


P. 406	But you Occultists, Kabalists and Theosophists, you know
well that a word as old as the world.a note, never before heard by the
men of the present era, has just been sounded.fostered by the
evolutionary forces. This thought differs.yet it is identical with
what was the keynote and the keystone of every century.: "ABSOLUTE
FREEDOM OF HUMAN THOUGHT." 


P. 406	.one has no other choice than either to allow oneself to be
lifted up.or to be swallowed in the gaping abyss of the ocean of
matter? Vain are your efforts to plumb the unsoundable in search of
the roots of that matter so glorified in our century; for these roots
grow in Spirit and in the Absolute, and do not exist, though being
eternal. 


P. 406-7 But you.who aspire to something more. prepare yourselves
for a future that few of you have dreamed of unless you have already
set your feet upon the Path. For you have chosen a way which, in the
beginning lined with thorns, will soon widen, and lead you straight to
the Divine Truth. You are free to doubt at first; free not to accept
on someone's word what is taught concerning the source and the cause
of this Truth, but you can always listen to what the voice is saying,
you can always watch the effects produced by the creative force which
emerges from the depths of the unknown. 

P. 407	Now is the time for action by all who see the sterility and
foolishness of an existence blinded by materialism and so ferociously
indifferent to the fate of others. [We of the T S have to] devote
their best energies, all their courage and all their efforts to bring
about an intellectual reform.

P. 407	This reform cannot be accomplished except through
Theosophy, and, let us say it, Occultism, or the Wisdom of the East.
Many are the paths leading to it, but Wisdom is forever one. Artists
foresee it, those who suffer dream of it, the pure in spirit know it.
Those who work for others cannot remain blind before its reality .

P. 407-8 .these pages are not written for the masses. 

P. 408	They are addressed only to those who are ready to
understand them, to those who suffer, to those who are thirsty and
hungry for any reality in this world of shifting shadows. And why
should those not have enough courage to give up their frivolous ways
of life, above all their pleasures and even some of their business
interests.No one is so busy or so poor that he cannot be inspired by a
noble ideal to follow. 

P. 408	Why hesitate to blaze a trail toward that IDEAL through all
obstacles, all hindrances, all the daily considerations of social
life, and to advance boldly until it is reached? Ah! those who would
make this effort would soon find that the "narrow gate" and "the
thorny path" lead to spacious valleys with unlimited horizons, to a
state without death, for one rebecomes a God! 

P. 408	.the first requisites for getting there are absolute
unselfishness and unlimited devotion to the interests of others, and
complete indifference as to the world and its opinions. To take the
first step.requires a perfectly pure motive; no frivolous thought must
be allowed to divert our eyes from the goal; no hesitation, no doubt
must fetter our feet. Yet, there are men and women perfectly capable
of all this, and whose only desire is to live under the aegis of their
Divine Nature. Let these .have the courage to live this life and not
to hide it from the sight of others! 

P. 408 No one's opinion could ever be above the rulings of our own
conscience, so, let that conscience, arrived at its highest
development, be our guide in all our common daily tasks. As to our
inner life, let us concentrate all our attention on our chosen Ideal,
and let us ever look beyond....Those capable of such an effort are
true Theosophists


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

Best wishes,

Dallas