Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00263)

Sept 7 2004

Dear Eldon:

These idea might be considered seriously:

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THEOSOPHY : WORKING FOR IT

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Question:	What are Theosophical lines of work ?

How are they to be applied ?


Several quotations suggest answers:


ALL WORK CAN BE THEOSOPHICAL


"Theosophy can only find objective expression in an all-embracing code of
life, thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of mutual tolerance, charity,
and brotherly love. Its Society, as a body, has a task before it which,
unless performed with the utmost discretion, will cause the world of the
indifferent and the selfish to rise up in arms against it.  

Theosophy has to fight intolerance, prejudice, ignorance, and selfishness,
hidden under the mantle of hypocrisy. It has to throw all the light it can
from the torch of Truth, with which its servants are entrusted. It must do
this without fear or hesitation, dreading neither reproof nor condemnation. 

Theosophy, through its mouthpiece, the Society, has to tell the TRUTH to the
very face of LIE; to beard the tiger in its den, without thought or fear of
evil consequences, and to set at defiance calumny and threats...

No Theosophist should blame a brother, whether within or outside of the
association; neither may he throw a slur upon another's actions or denounce
him, lest he himself lose the right to be considered a Theosophist. For, as
such, he has to turn away his gaze from the imperfections of his neighbor,
and center rather his attention upon his own shortcomings, in order to
correct them and become wiser.  

Let him not show the disparity between claim and action in another, but,
whether in the case of a brother, a neighbor, or simply a fellow man, let
him rather ever help one weaker than himself on the arduous walk of life.

The problem of true Theosophy and its great mission are, first, the working
out of clear unequivocal conceptions of ethic ideas and duties such as shall
best and most fully satisfy the right and altruistic feelings in men; and,
second, the molding of these conceptions for their adaptation into such
forms of daily life, as shall offer a field where they may be applied with
most equitableness.

Such is the common work placed before all who are willing to act on these
principles...Do not indulge personally in unbrotherly comparison between the
task accomplished by yourself and the work left undone by your neighbor or
brothers. In the fields of Theosophy none is held to weed out a larger plot
of ground than his strength and capacity will permit him.

Do not be too severe on the merits or demerits of one who seeks admission
among your ranks, as the truth about the actual state of the inner man can
only be known to Karma, and can be dealt with justly by that all-seeing LAW
alone." MASTER, THEOSOPHY 70, p. 242


HOW THE MASTERS WORK


"I have laboured for more than a quarter of a century night and day to keep
my place within the ranks of that invisible but every busy army which
labours and prepares for a task which can bring no reward but the
consciousness we are doing our duty to humanity; and, meeting you on my way
I have tried to...simply draw your attention, excite your curiosity if not
your better feelings to the one and only truth... If your efforts will teach
the world but one single letter of the alphabet of Truth..."	MASTER,
MAHATMA LETTERS, p.242



THE WORK OF THE CHELAS AND THE MASTERS


"It is only the chelas that can live in the world...And it is because the
Adepts do care for the world that they make their chelas live in and work
for it...Each cycle produces its own occultists who will be able to work for
the humanity of those times..." HPB ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 118


"It is the Masters's work to preserve the true philosophy, but the help of
the companions is needed to rediscover and promulgate it. Once more the
elder brothers have indicated where the truth--Theosophy--could be found,
and the companions all over the world are engaged in bringing it forth for
wider currency and propagation."
JUDGE - OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY, p. 6


"We have offered to exhume the primeval strata of man's being, his basic
nature, and lay bare the wonderful complications of his inner Self...and
demonstrate it scientifically...It is our mission to plunge and bring the
pearls of Truth to the surface; theirs [men of science] to clean and set
them into scientific jewels...For countless generations hath the adept
builded a fane of imperishable rocks...to invite the elite of mankind to
cooperate with him and help in his turn enlighten superstitious man...until
that day when the foundations of a new continent of thought are so firmly
built..."	MASTER, MAHATMA LETTERS, p.
51



WHAT WORK CAN THEOSOPHISTS DO ?


"We seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality--a passing flash--for
the welfare of the whole of humanity."	MASTER, MAHATMA LETTERS, p.231


"The main and underlying effort of the work of the members of the Society
should be to furnish a real and philosophical basis for ethics ... 

Opposition to dogma is not opposition to truth, and hence the Society is a
builder up and not a mere destroyer of old beliefs... the philosophy put
forward by members...gives reasonable explanations of life, of man, and of
nature: tends to remove superstition by showing what psychical phenomena
are, and why they occur...meets all the facts and solves them, and shows how
man may, if he will, reach to the power hinted at by all the great teachers
of the world."	
WQJ - THEOS. MVT. Vol. 28, p. 85-86



BEGINNING WORK. WHAT PRACTICAL WORK CAN EACH DO ?


"...learn that you may teach, acquire spiritual knowledge and strength that
the weak may lean on you...make your home one of the most important centers
of spiritualizing influence in all the world...encouraging the visits of
your fellow members and of enquirers and by holding meetings of the more
congenial for study and instruction...constantly advise with your associates
in the Council how to make the general meetings of the Lodge interesting.  

New members should be taken in hand from the first...and instructed
thoroughly in what you have already learnt, so that they may be capable of
participating intelligently in the proceedings...keep in correspondence with
all others [who] need your help...your Branch can, and should help...to
circulate [the Mother Society's] publications and to have them translated
into other languages when worthy of it...Deeds are what we want and
demand...

Think you the truth has been shown to you for your sole advantage? That we
have broken the silence of centuries for the profit of a handful of dreamers
only ? The converging lines of your Karma have drawn each and all of you
into this Society as to a common focus that you may each help to work out
the results of your interrupted beginnings in the last birth." MASTER,
LETTERS, THE MASTERS OF WISDOM, 1st Ser., p. 20-4



WAYS OF WORKING TOGETHER


"A band of the students of the Esoteric Doctrines, who would reap any profit
spiritually must be in perfect harmony and unity of thought...utterly
unselfish, kind and full of goodwill towards each other...no party
spirit...no backbiting, no ill-will or envy or jealousy, contempt or
anger..."	MASTER, LETTERS, THE MASTERS OF WISDOM, 1st Ser., p.
16-17
				

"...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 endeavour to force our ideas of work
upon our neighbour."	H.P.B. FIVE MESSAGES, p. 16


"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...a true
hearty 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 out that work. The only man who is absolutely
wrong in his method is the one who does nothing."	H.P.B. FIVE
MESSAGES, p. 24



HOW TO WORK ON ONE'S HIGHER SELF


"...he who is desirous to learn how to benefit humanity, and believes
himself able to read the characters of other people, must begin first of
all, to learn to know himself, to appreciate his own character at its true
value."	MASTER, MAHATMA LETTERS, p. 222


"It is he alone who has the love of humanity at heart, who is capable of
grasping thoroughly the idea of a regenerating practical Brotherhood who is
entitled to our secrets."	
MASTER, MAHATMA LETTERS, p. 252



ETHICS - PERSONAL DISCIPLINE - VIRTUE


"..the ethics of Theosophy are more important than any divulgement of
psychic laws and facts...the Ethics sink into and take hold of the real
man--the reincarnating Ego...Learn well, then, the doctrines of Karma and
Reincarnation, and teach, practice and promulgate that system of life and
through which alone can save the coming races."	-HPB 5 MESSAGES, p. 26


"...the real esoteric system...renunciation of Nirvana for the sake of
mankind is preached...One of its fundamental laws is, that ordinary morality
is insufficient to deliver one from rebirth; one has to practice the six
Paramitas or cardinal virtues...Bodhisattvas...become Nirmanakayas. ...for
the sake of having a chance of inspiring a few with the desire of learning
the truth and thus saving themselves." 
HPB ARTICLES, Vol. I, p. 452



WORKING WITH MANKIND


"At present, the main, fundamental object of the Society is to sow germs in
the hearts of men, which may in time sprout, and under more propitious
circumstances lead to a healthy reform, conducive of more happiness to the
masses than they have hitherto enjoyed."	HPB KEY TO THY., p. 257


"...the theosophist's duty is like that of the husbandman: to turn his
furrows and sow his grains as best he can; the issue is with nature, and
she, the slave of Law."
MASTER, MAHATMA LETTERS, p. 339-40


"It is the rich who have to be regenerated, if we would do good to the
poor... Work, therefore, to bring about the moral regeneration of the
cultured [classes] before you attempt to do the same for our ignorant
younger Brethren... If asked, what is it that will help, we answer
boldly:--Theosophical literature: hastening to add that under this term,
neither books concerning adepts and phenomena, nor the TS publications are
meant... Theosophy alone can gradually create a mankind as harmonious and as
simple-souled as Kosmos itself; but to effect this, theosophists will have
to act as such."	H.P.B.- THE TIDAL WAVE - HPB ARTICLES, Vol. I,
p.103-5


"Theosophists are of necessity the friends of all movements...for the
amelioration of the conditions of mankind...who seek to lift a little of the
tremendous weight of misery that is crushing down the poor...The function of
Theosophists is to open men's hearts and understandings to charity, justice,
and generosity, attributes which belong to the human kingdom and are natural
to man when he has developed the qualities of a human being. Theosophy
teaches the animal-man to become a human-man."	H.P.B. FIVE MESSAGES, p.
8-9


"...the voice of the great human Soul proclaims, in no longer timid tones,
the rise and almost the resurrection of the human Spirit in the masses...A
new era has begun in literature...he who, parting company with his beloved
"authority," lifts boldly and carries on unflinchingly the standard of the
Future Man...will have bravely fought for human rights and man's divine
nature, who will become...the teacher of the masses in the coming
century..."
HPB - THE TIDAL WAVE - HPB ARTICLES, Vol. I, p. 99-101


"On that day when Theosophy will have accomplished its most holy and most
important mission--namely to unite firmly a body of men of all nations in
brotherly love and bent on a pure altruistic work, not on a labor with
selfish motives--on that day only will Theosophy become higher than any
nominal brotherhood of man."	
H.P.B. FIVE MESSAGES, p. 5



FUTURE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY


"[ The Theosophical Society ]...its basis was intended to rest on equality,
autonomy and toleration, its prime object being universal brotherhood, of
which it was hoped the germ or nucleus might be formed. All members are on
an equal footing, as is shown by its rule that caste, color, religion,
creed, sex have no bearing on the question of membership in any way. The
founders did not hold the idea that all men are equal in all things, but
they did lay it down that in respect to membership they were and should be
equal. This has even been its law."
Judge - THE T S AND ITS BASIS - THEOSOPHY Vol. 34, p. 5


"...the great need which our successors in the guidance of the Society will
have of unbiased and clear judgment. Every such attempt as the TS has
hitherto ended in failure, because sooner or later, it has degenerated into
a sect, set up hard-and-fast dogmas of its own, and so lost by imperceptible
degrees that vitality which living truth alone can impart."
H.P.B., KEY TO THEOSOPHY, p. 305-6


"...the plan is to keep [the TS] alive as an active, free, unsectarian body
during the time of waiting for the next great messenger, who will be herself
beyond question...And in this time of waiting the Master, that great
Initiate, whose single will upholds the entire movement, "will have his
mighty hand spread wide behind the Society." W.Q.Judge - WQJ
ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 153

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

Best wishes to all,

Dallas

========================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Eldon B Tucker [mailto:eldon@theosophy.com] 
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 1:04 PM
To: Young-Theosophists@yahoogroups.com
Cc: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Young Theosophists] what is missing from the overall
Theosophical Society

At 10:24 PM 8/23/2004, you wrote:

>To everyone,
>
>Along the lines of thought already began by Eldon, I would like to hear 
>from others what they feel is missing from the overall Theosophical
Society.
>
>What would you like to see more of?
>
>What opportunities would you like to have?
>
>What might draw you into greater involvement?
>
>There are well over a hundred people subscribed to this list. I would 
>love to hear from as many as possible, even it is just a few words.
>
>Peace,
>
>Chris

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

Eldon:

I haven't seen many replies, so I'll put forth a few more ideas the 
subject. Some are bigger ideas that likely will never happen. Others are 
more easily attainable. I'm just saying what readily comes to mind. This is 
in no way a comprehensive list.

1. Decentralization. Sell most of the Wheaton estate and buy regional 
centers. Insure that more people rotate through elected offices. Take away 
most restrictions against running for various offices. Divest most elected 
positions of most of their power, changing their function to facilitator 
and coordinator rather that manager and supervisor.

2. More socialization. Have some meetings and gatherings for people to get 
together on both regional and national scales. Involve children and 
families and the general public. Tie in with holidays. Make our own 
holiday, "Theosophy Day," and invent some holiday celebration to go with 
it. See how other theosophical groups have tried these things and learn 
from their experience.

3. More openness. Encourage joint meetings and cooperation between local 
branches of all the theosophical groups including the Pasadena T.S. and 
ULT. Publish a lodge directory showing all branches and contact people in 
the United States including those of the other societies.

4. Have a clearing house of "interesting ideas." References, quotes, 
reprints, and information on advances in science, religion, and philosophy 
would be collected and put online. A digest would be mailed to members or 
lodges. (These are the materials we all come across that spark our interest 
and we sometimes feel inclined to share on our mailing lists.)

5. Protect Freedom of Thought. Insure no one gets expelled for having 
contrary ideas about the philosophy, the history of our organization and 
its founders, or life in general. (The only reason for expulsion would be a 
pattern of acts harmful to other members or to the Society, like an attempt 
to bring in an overwhelming number of members from some church in order to
take over the organization or a pattern of abusive attacks against the 
right of other members to participate and voice their own ideas.)

6. Comedy. Not everything in life is serious and if we cannot laugh at 
ourselves and the world, we've become way too pious and lost the 
theosophical spirit. This should be a regular feature in publications and 
meetings.

-- Eldon