Theos-Talk Archives (July 2004 Message tt00139)

July 8 2004



Re: "Occultism" some definitions and statements



Dear Friends:



This and the subject of "esotericism" have come up for review and discussion
in recent posts. Perhaps some of these statements will be found relevant






O C C U L T I S M




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Occult Study is not Easy





"Ordinary enquirers may be attracted to Theosophy because of its mysterious
appearance, but that is no reason for giving them just what they demand. For
surely later on they will find that the pursuit of the mysteries and the
occult is hedged about with many difficulties and that it demands an
acquaintance with every other philosophy that ought to have been first
offered to them when they first enquired.



Furthermore it is not the many who are fitted for Occultism, but rather the
few, and those few will soon find their way into the path no matter how they
may have approached it. Enquirers will then be directed to this philosophy
and the ethics of the Theosophical system, as true Occultism springs from
philosophy, and its practice is alone safely possible for those who have a
right system of ethics." WQJ ART II 481





"Occultism is a dangerous, double-edged weapon for one to handle who is
unprepared to devote his whole life to it...Occultism or Magic--which stands
in relation to Spiritualism as the infinite to the finite, as the cause to
the effect, or as unity to multifariousness...



In relation to the Kabala, or the compound mystic text-book of the great
secrets of Nature, we do not know of anyone...who could have commanded a
sufficient dose of that moral courage which fires the heart of the true
Adept with the sacred flame of propagandism, to force him into defying
public opinion..." HPB - MOD. PANARION 38





"...would-be aspirants must not lure themselves with the idea of any
possibility of their becoming practical Occultists by mere book-knowledge.
The works of the Hermetic philosophers were never intended for the
masses..."

MOD PANARION 49







Occult Lodges and Schools





"...regular colleges for the neophytes of this Secret Science...such places
are in the East--in India, Asia Minor, and other countries. As in the
primitive days of Socrates and other sages of antiquity, so now, those who
are willing to learn the Great Truth will ever find the chance if they only
"try" to meet some one to lead them to the door of one "who knows "when" and
"how." HPB - MOD. PANARION 40





"The Masters do not have to hunt up recruits.nor drill them through mystical
non-commissioned officers: time and space are no barriers between them and
the aspirant; WHERE THOUGHT CAN PASS THEY CAN COME". HPB Art. I
290





"For the extension of the Theosophical Movement, a useful channel for the
irrigation of the dry fields of contemporary thought with the water of life,
Branches are needed everywhere; not mere groups of passive
sympathisers.Active, wide-awake, earnest, unselfish Branches are needed,
whose members shall.be putting to themselves the question "Can we not do
substantial good to mankind by working in this good cause with all our
hearts, our minds, and our strength?". 



Occult truth cannot be absorbed by a mind that is filled with preconception,
prejudice, or suspicion. It is something to be perceived by the intuition
rather than by the reason; being by nature spiritual, not material. .



Suspicion and inharmony.[cause] the psychic atmosphere [to be] thrown into
confusion, and the reaction. is very harmful. Sometimes vanity blinds what
was at first strong intuition, the mind is effectually closed against the
admission of new truth, and the aspiring student is thrown back to the point
where he began. .



The Lord Buddha particularly warned his hearers against forming beliefs upon
tradition or authority, and before having thoroughly inquired into the
subject." 

HPB LODGES OF MAGIC HPB Art I 290-1





Mahatmas and Chelas





".what is it that incarnates? The occult doctrine.shows that the.higher
Manas, the pure man, which is associated with the sixth and seventh
principles, [is] that [which] goes into Devachan to enjoy there the effects
of its good Karma, and then to be reincarnated as a higher individuality. .



.an entity, that is passing through the occult training in its successive
births, gradually has less and less (in each incarnation) of that lower
Manas until there arrives a time when its whole Manas, being of an entirely
elevated character, is centered in the higher individuality, when such a
person may be said to have become a MAHATMA. .



The real MAHATMA is then not his physical body but that higher Manas which
is inseparably linked to the Atma and its vehicle (the sixth principle) -- a
union effected by him in a comparatively very short period by passing
through the process of self-evolution laid down by the Occult Philosophy. .



Higher things can be perceived only by a sense pertaining to those higher
things. And whoever therefore wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its perception will be
clear and all mists created by Maya must be dispelled. His vision will then
be bright and he will see the MAHATMAS wherever he may be, for, being merged
into the sixth and the seventh principles, which are ubiquitous and
omnipresent, the MAHATMAS may be said to be everywhere. .





Chelaship





.although the whole of humanity is within the mental vision of the MAHATMAS,
they cannot be expected to take special note of every human being, unless
that being by his special acts draws their particular attention to himself. 



The highest interest of humanity, as a whole, is their special concern, for
they have identified themselves with that Universal Soul which runs through
Humanity, and he, who would draw their attention, must do so through that
Soul [Manas] which pervades everywhere.. 



.the true perception of the Manas is that enlightened belief, which is the
real meaning of the word "faith." This belief should at the same time be
accompanied by knowledge, i.e., experience, for "true knowledge brings with
it faith." Faith is the perception of the Manas (the fifth principle), while
knowledge, in the true sense of the term, is the capacity of the Intellect,
i.e., it is spiritual perception. .



.the higher individuality of man, composed of his higher Manas, the sixth
and the seventh principles, should work as a unity, and then only can it
obtain "divine wisdom," for divine things can be sensed only by divine
faculties. .



.the desire, which should prompt one to apply for chelaship, is to so far
understand the operations of the Law of Cosmic Evolution as will enable him
to work in harmonious accord with Nature, instead of going against its
purposes through ignorance. 

HPB in LODGES OF MAGIC HPB Articles I 293-4





Occult Knowledge





"Occult Science has its changeless traditions from prehistoric times. It
may err in particulars; it can never become guilty of a mistake in
questions of Universal laws, simply because that Science, justly referred to
by philosophy as the "divine," was born on higher planes, and was brought to
Earth by beings who were wiser than man will be, even in the seventh Race of
his Seventh Round. And that Science maintains that Forces are not what
modern learning would have them; e.g., Magnetism is not a "mode of motion;"
and, in this particu-lar case, at least, exact "modern Science" is sure to
come to grief some day." SD I 516





...Pythagoras--so says Jamblichus--having by sheer force of energy and
daring penetrated into the mysteries of the Temple of Thebes, obtained
therein his initiation and afterwards studied the sacred sciences in Egypt
for twenty-two years, many foreigners were subsequently admitted to share
the knowledge of the wise men of the East, who, as a consequence, had many
of their secrets divulged...unable to preserve them in their purity these
mysteries were so mixed up with fictions and fables of the Grecian mythology
that truth was wholly distorted.



As the primitive Christian religion divided, in course of time, into
numerous sects, so the science of Occultism gave birth to a variety of
doctrines and various brotherhoods. So the Egyptian Ophites became the
Christian Gnostics, shooting forth the Basilideans of the second century,
and the original Rosicrucians created subse-quently the Paracelsists, or
Fire Philosophers, the European Alchem-ists, and other physical branches of
their sect...The Brotherhood of the Rosy-Cross was not founded until the
middle of the thirteenth century... The Rosicrucians strove to combine
together the most various branches of Occultism, and they soon became
renowned for the extreme purity of their lives and their extraordinary
powers, as well as for their thorough knowledge of the secret of secrets.



As alchemists and conjurers they became proverbial. Later...they gave birth
to the modern Theosophists, at whose head was Paracelsus, and to the
Alchemists, one of the most celebrated of whom was Thomas Vaughn
(seventeenth century), who wrote the most practical things on Occultism
under the name of Eugenius Philalethes...[he was] "made before he became."



The Rosicrucian Kabala is but an epitome of the Jewish and the Oriental
ones, combined, the latter being the most secret of all. The Oriental
Kabala, the practical, full, and only existing copy, is carefully preserved
at the headquarters of this Brotherhood in the East, and...will never come
out of its possession...One who wants "to become" has to hunt for his
knowledge through thousands of scattered volumes, and pick up facts and
lessons, bit by bit. Unless he takes the nearest was and consents "to be
made," he will never become a practical kabalist, and with all his learning
will remain at the threshold of the "mysterious gate." MOD.
PANARION 41-42





Kabala and Occultism





"The Kabala may be used and its truths imparted on a smaller scale now than
it was in antiquity, and the existence of the mysteri-ous Lodge, on account
of its secrecy, doubted, but it does exist and has lost none of the
primitive secret powers of the ancient Chaldeans. The lodges, few in
number, are divided into sections and known but to the Adepts; no one would
be likely to find them out, unless the Sages themselves found the neophyte
worthy of initiation...(43) the Oriental Rosicrucians (for such we will call
them, being denied the right to pronounce their true name), in the serene
beatitude of their divine knowledge, are ever ready to help the earnest
student struggling "to become" with practical knowledge, which dissipates,
like heavenly breeze, the blackest clouds of skeptical doubt."

MOD. PANARION 44-45





"The first Kabala in which a mortal man ever dared to explain the greatest
mysteries of the universe and show the keys...was compiled by...Simon Ben
Jochai, who lived at the time of the second Temple's destruction. Only
about thirty years after the death of this renowned Kabalist, his MSS and
written explanations, which had till then re-mained in his possession as a
most precious secret, were used by his son Rabbi Eliazzer and other learned
men. Making a compilation of the whole, they so produced the famous book
called Sohar (God's splendour). This book proved an inexhaustible mine for
all subsequent Kabalists, their source of information and knowledge , and
all more recent and genuine Kabalas were more or less carefully copied from
the former. Before that the mysterious doctrines had come down in an
unbroken line of merely oral tradition as far back as man could trace
himself on earth. They were scrupulously and jealously guarded by the wise
men of Chaldea, India, Persia and Egypt, and passed from one Initiate to
another, in the same purity of form as when handed down to the first man by
the angels, students of God's great Theosophic Semi-nary. For the first
time since the world's creation, the secret doctrines, passing through Moses
who was initiated in Egypt, underwent some slight alterations." [Moses
responsible for changing the ancient Occult teachings and as a result,
Pentateuch is not accurate] MOD PANARION 45





"While the Oriental Kabala remained in its pure primitive shape, the Mosaic
or Jewish one was full of drawbacks, and the keys to many of the
secrets--forbidden by the Mosaic law--purposely misinterpreted. The powers
conferred by it on the Initiates were formidable still, and of all the most
renowned Kabalists, King Solomon...[was] the most powerful. But still the
doctrine remained secret and purely oral, until...the days of the second
Temple's destruction...Kabala...to receive, as in former times the Initiate
received it orally and di-rectly from his Master, and the very book the
Sohar was written out on received information, which was handed down as an
unvarying stereo-typed tradition by the Orientals, and altered, through the
ambition of Moses, by the Jews... HPB MOD. PANARION 45-6





Occult Dogmas





"...one of our fundamental occult dogmas--namely, that (a) the Sun is the
store-house of Vial Force, which is the Noumenon of Elec-tricity; and (b)
that it is from its mysterious never-to-be-fathomed depths, that issue those
life currents which thrill through Space, as through the organisms of every
living thing on Earth. " S D I 531





[ Universal seven-fold constitution of Kosmos, Earth and all beings--"the
first mystery the initiates of old have learned." ]

SD I 536





"In Occultism the word Element means "rudiment" in every case." SD
I 567





"It is on the doctrine of the illusive nature of matter, and the infinite
divisibility of the atom, that the whole science of occultism is built. It
opens limitless horizons to substance informed by the divine breath of its
soul in every possible state of tenuity, states still undreamt of by the
most spiritually disposed chemists and physi-cists." SD I
520





"The conception of matter and spirit as entirely distinct, and both
eternal...is one of the elementary and fundamental doctrines of Occultism
that the two are one, and are distinct but in their respec-tive
manifestations, and only in the limited perceptions of the world of senses."
M L p. 141





Responsibility in Occultism





"...there is one important fact with which the student should be made
acquainted. Namely, the enormous almost limitless responsibility assumed by
the teacher for the sake of the pupil...From the moment they begin really to
teach, from the instant they confer any power--whether psychic, mental or
physical--on their pupils, they take upon themselves all the sins of that
pupil, in connection with the Occult Sciences, whether of omission or
commission, until the moment when initiation makes the pupil a Master and
responsible in his turn...This is clear why the "Teachers" are so reticent,
and why "Chelas" are required to serve a seven years probation to prove
their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the security of both
Master and pupil." HPB ART II 91-2





This is also hinted at, by analogy by HPB, when, in the TRANSAC-TIONS, p.
68, she indicates that the: "Higher Ego, though innocent and without
blemish, has to bear the punishment of the misdeeds com-mitted by the lower
Self together with it in their future incarnation."



"In common daily life parents, nurses, tutors and instructors are generally
held responsible for the habits and future ethics of a child...Let us hope
that the Western Mind, although being "steeped in Individualism," has not
become so dulled thereby as not to perceive that there would be neither
logic nor justice were it otherwise. And if the moulders of the plastic
mind of the yet unreasoning child must be held responsible, in this world of
effects...how much more the "Spiritual Guru"? The latter, taking the
student by the hand leads him into, and introduces him to a world entirely
unknown to the pupil. For this world is that of the invisible but ever
potent causality, the subtle, yet never-breaking thread that is the action,
agent and power of Karma, and Karma itself in the field of the divine
mind...no adept can...plead ignorance in the event of even an action, good
and meri-torious in its motive, producing evil as its result; since
acquaint-ance with this mysterious realm gives the means to the Occultist of
foreseeing the two paths opening before every premeditated as
unpre-meditated action, and thus puts him in a position to know with
cer-tainty what will be the results in one or the other case. So long...as
the pupil acts upon this principle, but is too ignorance to be sure of his
vision and powers of discrimination is it not natural that it is the guide
who should be responsible for the sins of him whom he has led into those
dangerous regions ?" HPB ART II 97-8





HPB then gives us an insight into the working of this Karmic law:



"How much more forcibly this simple law of retributive justice must act on
the psychic plane; and what, therefore, may be the re-sponsibility incurred
by using such psychological powers [ magical interference with the will ],
in the face of Karma and its punitive laws may be easily inferred. Is it
not evident that, if even human justice recognizes the impossibility of
punishing an irrational idiot, a child, a minor, etc., taking into account
even hereditary causes and bad family influences--that the divine Law of
Retribution, which we call Karma, must visit with hundredfold severity one
who deprives reasonable, thinking men of their free will and powers of
ratiocina-tion?...What adept or even a moderately informed chela would ever
risk an endless future by interfering with, and therefore taking upon
himself, the Karmic debt of all those whom he would so psychologize as to
make of them merely the tools of his own sweet will !" ... Is it not enough
to bear the burden of the knowledge that from birth to death, the least, the
most unimportant, unit of the human family exercises an influence over, and
receives in his turn, as unconscious-ly as he breathes, that of every other
unit whom he approaches, or who comes in contact with him? Each of us
either adds to or diminishes the sum total of human happiness and human
misery, "not only of the present, but of every subsequent age of
humanity..."

HPB - ON PSEUDO-THEOSOPHY - HPB ART I 170-1

[ see also Mahatma Letters, p. 40; Transactions,
pp. 66, 76 ]





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I found these statements very though provoking.



Best wishes



Dallas





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