Re: Pedro again on "ORIGINAL TEACHINGS"
Sep 01, 2004 05:04 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
Sept 1 2004
Dear Friends:
Some possible misunderstandings have arisen over the fat that many writers
in these lists seem to have chosen certain writers as their "authorities."
I find the statements quoted below, if taken as a whole, reconcile any
differences.
There is no "campaign" against anyone.
There is a strong campaign FOR the study, an acquiring individually a
deeper, more ready knowledge of what H P B and Mahatmas have taught.
So far as we are concerned in the present era those writings represent the
latest version of the ancient "Sanatana Dharma" - the perennial
WISDOM-RELIGION.
The Mahatmas have stated HPB was their "messenger" for this age and era.
THEOSOPHY, (I mean the "original teachings") if carefully studied and
assimilated, will be seen to fit accurately into the vista of religious and
occult truths that come to us from the past.
But we have to study and verify this for ourselves. No authority shields us
from errors. No "religion" or "society" provides us a safety-net, unless we
also study and KNOW for ourselves what is reasonable, logical and probably
TRUE.
If we insist on reading and studying other writers, how can we be sure that
they accurately represent the ORIGINAL TEACHINGS - if we have not also
studied those?
Thanks for the quote from FIVE MESSAGES by HPB:
ORTHODOXY in THEOSOPHY
=============================
In one of her letters to the American Conventions (April 1888),
Madame Blavatsky wrote:
"Orthodoxy in Theosophy is a thing neither possible nor desirable. It
is diversity of opinion, within certain limits, that keeps the
Theosophical Society a living and a healthy body, its many other ugly
features notwithstanding.
Were it not, also, for the existence of a large amount of uncertainty in the
minds of students of Theosophy, such healthy divergencies would be
impossible, and the Society would degenerate into a sect, in which a narrow
and stereotyped creed would take the place of the living and breathing
spirit of Truth and an ever growing Knowledge."
5 Mess p. 5
-----------------------------
Here are some additional statements made by HPB in her MESSAGES :
----------------------------
"But you in America. Your Karma as a nation has brought Theosophy home to
you. The life of the Soul, the psychic side of nature, is open to many of
you.
The life of altruism is not so much a high ideal as a matter of practice.
Naturally, then, Theosophy finds a home in many hearts and minds, and
strikes a resounding harmony as soon as it reaches the ears of those who are
ready to listen. There, then, is part of your work: to lift high the torch
of Liberty of the Soul of Truth that all may see it and benefit by its
light.
Therefore it is that the Ethics of Theosophy are even more necessary to
mankind than the scientific aspects of the psychic facts of nature and man.
With such favorable conditions as are present in America for Theosophy,
it is only natural that its Society should increase rapidly and that Branch
after Branch should arise. But while the organization for the spread of
Theosophy waxes large, we must remember the necessity for consolidation. The
Society must grow proportionately and not too rapidly, for fear lest like
some children, it should overgrow its strength and there should come a
period of difficulty and danger when natural growth is arrested to prevent
the sacrifice of the organism.
This is a very real fact in the growth of human beings, and we must
carefully watch lest the "Greater Child"-the Theosophical Society- should
suffer for the same cause.
Once before was growth checked in connection with the psychic phenomena, and
there may yet come a time when the moral and ethical foundations of the
Society may be wrecked in a similar way.
What can be done to prevent such a thing is for each Fellow of the Society
to make Theosophy a vital factor in their lives-to make it real, to weld its
principles firmly into their lives-in short, to make it their own and treat
the Theosophical Society as if it were themselves.
Following closely on this is the necessity for Solidarity among the Fellows
of the Society; the acquisition of such a feeling of identity with each and
all of our Brothers that an attack upon one is an attack upon all. Then
consolidated and welded in such a spirit of Brotherhood and Love, we shall,
unlike Archimedes, need neither fulcrum nor lever, but we shall move the
world.
We need all our strength to meet the difficulties and dangers which
surround us. We have external enemies to fight in the shape of materialism,
prejudice, and obstinacy; the enemies in the shape of custom and religious
forms; enemies too numerous to mention, but nearly as thick as the
sand-clouds which are raised by the blasting Sirocco of the desert.
Do we not need our strength against these foes?
Yet, again, there are more insidious foes, who "take our name in vain," and
who make Theosophy a by-word in the mouths of men and the Theosophical
Society a mark at which to throw mud. They slander Theosophists and
Theosophy, and convert the moral Ethics into a cloak to conceal their own
selfish objects.
And as if this were not sufficient, there are the worst foes of all-those of
a man's own household,-Theosophists who are unfaithful both to the Society
and to themselves.
Thus indeed we are in the midst of foes. Before and around us is the "Valley
of Death," and we have to charge upon our enemies-right upon his guns-if we
would win the day. Cavalry-men and horses-can be trained to ride almost as
one man in an attack upon the terrestrial plane; shall we not fight and win
the battle of the Soul struggling in the spirit of the Higher Self to win
our divine heritage?
Let us, for a moment, glance backwards at the ground we have passed
over.
We have had, as said before, to hold our own against the Spiritists, in the
name of Truth and Spiritual Science. Not against the students of the true
psychic knowledge, nor against the enlightened Spiritualists; but against
the lower order of phenomenalists-the blind worshippers of illusionary
phantoms of the Dead. These we have fought for the sake of Truth, and also
for that of the world which they were misleading.
I repeat it again: no "fight" was ever waged against the real students of
the psychic sciences. .The experiments made in Hypnotism and Mesmerism at
the present time are experiments of unconscious, when not of conscious Black
Magic. The road is wide and broad which leads to such destruction; and it is
but too easy to find; and only too many go ignorantly along it to their own
destruction.
But the practical cure for it lies in one thing. That is the course of study
which I mentioned before. It sounds very simple, but is eminently difficult;
for that cure is "ALTRUISM."
And this is the keynote of Theosophy and the cure for all ills; this it is
which the real Founders of the Theosophical Society promote as its first
object-UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.
Thus even if only in name a body of Altruists, the Theosophical Society
has to fight all who under its cover seek to obtain magical powers to use
for their own selfish ends and to the hurt of others.
Many are those who joined our Society for no other purpose than curiosity.
Psychological phenomena were what they sought, and they were unwilling to
yield one iota of their own pleasures and habits to obtain them. These very
quickly went away empty-handed.
The Theosophical Society has never been and never will be a school of
promiscuous Theurgic rites.
But there are dozens of small occult Societies which talk very glibly of
Magic, Occultism, Rosicrucians, Adepts, etc. These profess much, even to
giving the key to the Universe. but end by leading men to a blank wall
instead of the "Door of the Mysteries." These are some of our most insidious
foes. Under cover of the philosophy of the Wisdom-Religion they manage to
get up a mystical jargon which for the time is effective and enables them,
by the aid of a very small amount of clairvoyance, to fleece the mystically
inclined but ignorant aspirants to the occult, and lead them like sheep in
almost any direction. .
But woe to those who try to convert a noble philosophy into a den for
disgusting immorality, greediness for selfish power, and money making under
the cloak of Theosophy. Karma reaches them when least expected. But is it
possible for our Society to stand by and remain respected, unless its
members are prepared, at least in future, to stand like one man, and deal
with such slanders upon themselves as Theosophists, and such vile
caricatures of their highest ideals, as these two pretenders have made them?
But in order that we may be able to effect this working on behalf of our
common cause, we have to sink all private differences.
Many are the energetic members of the Theosophical Society who wish to work
and work hard. But the price of their assistance is that all the work must
be done in their way and not in any one else's way. And if this is not
carried out they sink back into apathy or leave the Society entirely, loudly
declaring that they are the only true Theosophists.
Or, if they remain, they endeavor to exalt their own method of working at
the expense of all other earnest workers. This is fact, but it is not
Theosophy. There can be no other end to it than that the growth of the
Society will soon be split up into various sects, as many as there are
leaders, and as hopelessly fatuous as the 350 odd Christian sects which
exist in England alone at the present time.
Is this prospect one to look forward to for the Theosophical Society?
Is this "Separateness" consonant with the united Altruism of Universal
Brotherhood? Is this the teaching of our noble MASTERS?
Brothers and Sisters in America, it is in your hands to decide whether it
shall be realized or not. You work and work hard.
But to work properly in our Great Cause it is necessary to forget all
personal differences of opinion as to how the work is to be carried on. Let
each of us work in his own way and not endeavor to force our ideas of work
upon our neighbors.
Remember how the Initiate Paul warned his correspondents against the
attitude of sectarianism they took up in the early Christian Church :-"I am
of Paul, I of Apollos," and let us profit by the warning.
Theosophy is essentially unsectarian, and work for it forms the entrance to
the Inner life. But none can enter there save the man himself in the highest
and truest spirit of Brotherhood, and any other attempt at entrance will
either be futile or he will lie blasted at the threshold.
But Karma will reconcile all our differences of opinion.
A strict account of our actual work will be taken, and the "wages" earned
will be recorded to our credit.
But as strict an account will be taken of the work which any one, by
indulging in personal grievances, may have hindered his neighbors from
doing.
Think you it is a light thing to hinder the force of the Theosophical
Society, as represented in the person of any of its leaders, from doing its
appointed work? So surely as there is a Karmic power behind the Society will
that power exact the account for its hindrance, and he is a rash and
ignorant man who opposes his puny self to it in the execution of its
appointed task.
Thus, then, "UNION IS STRENGTH ;" and for every reason private
differences must be sunk in united work for our Great Cause."
5 Mess pp 12-15 (1889)
--------------------------
" 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.
[ See Key, pp. 15-6]
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."
5 Mess. p 26 (1890)
-------------------------
"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. I fervently hope that I may not see such a disaster in my
present body. 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 suspicions, 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.
Never has it been more necessary for the members of the T. S. to lay to
heart the old parable of the bundle of sticks than it is at the present
time; divided, they will inevitably be broken, one by one; united, there is
no force on earth able to destroy our Brotherhood.
Now I have marked with pain a tendency among you, as among the Theosophists
in Europe and India, to quarrel over trifles, and to allow your very
devotion to the cause of Theosophy to lead you into disunion.
Believe me, that apart from such natural tendency, owing to the inherent
imperfections of Human Nature, advantage is often taken by our ever-watchful
enemies of your noblest qualities to betray and to mislead you. Sceptics
will laugh at this statement, and even some of you may put small faith in
the actual existence of the terrible forces of these mental, hence
subjective and invisible, yet withal living and potent influences around all
of us. But there they are, and I know of more than one among you who have
felt them, and have actually been forced to acknowledge these extraneous
mental pressures.
On those of you who are unselfishly and sincerely devoted to the Cause, they
will produce little, if any, impression.
On some others, those who place their personal pride higher than their duty
to the T. S., higher even than their pledge to their divine SELF, the effect
is generally disastrous.
Self-watchfulness is never more necessary than when a personal wish to lead.
and wounded vanity, dress themselves in the peacock's feathers of devotion
and altruistic work; but at the present crisis of the Society a lack of
self-control and watchfulness may become fatal in every case. But these
diabolical attempts of our powerful enemies- the irreconcilable foes of the
truths now being given out and practically asserted-may be frustrated.
If every Fellow in the Society were content to be an impersonal force for
good, careless of praise or blame so long as he subserved the purposes of
the Brother hood, the progress made would astonish the World and place the
Ark of the T. S. out of danger. Take for your motto in conduct during the
coming year, "Peace with all who love Truth in sincerity," and the
Convention of 1892 will bear eloquent witness to the strength that is born
of unity.
Your position as the fore-runners of the sixth sub-race of the fifth
root-race has its own special perils as well as its special advantages.
Psychism, with all its allurements and all its dangers, is necessarily
developing among you, and you must beware lest the Psychic outruns the
Manasic and Spiritual development.
Psychic capacities held perfectly under control, checked and directed by the
Manasic principle, are valuable aids in development. But these capacities
running riot, controlling instead of controlled, using instead of being
used, lead the Student into the most dangerous delusions and the certainty
of moral destruction.
Watch therefore carefully this development, inevitable in your race and
evolution-period so that it may finally work for good and not for evil; and
receive, in advance, the sincere and potent blessings of those whose
good-will will never fail you, if you do not fail yourselves."
5 Mess pp 27-29 (1891)
-----------------------------------------
"After all, every wish and thought I can utter are summed up in this one
sentence, the never-dormant wish of my heart,
"Be Theosophists, work for Theosophy !"
Theosophy first, and Theosophy last; for its practical realization alone can
save the Western world from that selfish and Unbrotherly feeling that now
divides race from race, one nation from the other; and from that hatred of
class and social considerations that are the curse and dis grace of
so-called Christian peoples.
Theosophy alone can save it from sinking entirely into that mere luxurious
materialism in which it will decay and putrefy as civilizations have done.
In your hands, brothers, is placed in trust the welfare of the coming
century; and great as is the trust, so great is also the responsibility.
My own span of life may not be long, and if any of you have learned aught
from my teachings, or have gained by my help a glimpse of the True Light, I
ask you, in return, to strengthen the Cause by the triumph of which that
True Light, made still brighter and more glorious through your individual
and collective efforts, will lighten the World, and thus to let me see,
before I part with this worn-out body, the stability of the Society
secured."
5 Mess p. 31 (1891)
-------------------------------
DTB:
I find these statements, taken as a whole reconcile any differences.
There is no "campaign against anyone.
There is a strong campaign FOR the study and deeper more ready knowledge of
what H P B and Mahatmas have taught.
If we insist on reading and studying other writers, how can we be sure that
they accurately represent the ORIGINAL TEACHINGS - if we have to also
studied those?
Best wishes,
Dallas
==================================
-----Original Message-----
From: prmoliv
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:22 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Pedro again on "ORIGINAL TEACHINGS"
> But as far as I can tell, you have chosen to
> ignore the serious issues to be found in what both
> Madame Blavatsky and the Mahatma Koot Hoomi
> wrote about:
>
> "wild and fanciful speculation" about Theosophy
>
> "erroneous notions" about Theosophy
>
> "garbled and distorted versions" of Theosophy
>
> "false ideas" grafted onto Theosophy
>
> "disfigured" expositions of Theosophy
>
> "imitations of Occultism and Theosophy"
>
An independent observer might see that your attitude to Theosophy and
its 'original teachings' is becoming increasingly theological,
sectarian and crystallized. It seems to replicate, for example, the
Church's attitude to the different Gnostics groups in the early
Christian era by establishing a definitive and granite-like Theology
that must be accepted as the only true and real benchmark of the
Christian tradition.
In one of her letters to the American Conventions (April 1888),
Madame Blavatsky wrote:
"Orthodoxy in Theosophy is a thing neither possible nor desirable. It
is diversity of opinion, within certain limits, that keeps the
Theosophical Society a living and a healthy body, its many other ugly
features notwithstanding. Were it not, also, for the existence of a
large amount of uncertainty in the minds of students of Theosophy,
such healthy divergencies would be impossible, and the Society would
degenerate into a sect, in which a narrow and stereotyped creed would
take the place of the living and breathing spirit of Truth and an
ever growing Knowledge."
CUT
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