Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00364)

Hallo all,

My views are:

The following taken from the below "CYCLES OF PSYCHISM" (10-part series)
might be worth contemplating:

" What are the consequences of an unregulated emotional life? Of imagination
or fantasy run wild? Of dabbling in "magic," in spiritualism and the "occult
arts"? Ask a psychiatrist this question, and, ignorant as he may be of the
realities which these labels conceal, he will relate horrors that would make
the tales of Poe sound like bedtime stories. A writer in Harper's recently
described our time as "The Age of Schizophrenia," of split-personality, so
named because of the splitting apart of the emotional from the intellectual
life which characterizes the mental state of literally millions of people.
We learn that "schizophrenic patients occupy one-fifth of all the hospital
beds in the United States, reckoning in general hospital as well as in
mental hospital beds." Turn to the literature of psychiatry on the subject
of "Obsession," a term retained from the theories of obsessing demons
believed in in the Dark Ages, and see what proportion of the victims of this
kind of insanity are or have been spiritualists or mediumistically inclined.
Find, if you can, the line between religious fanaticism and actual madness.
In the wake of the visiting yogis and psychic seers are to be found human
beings with emotionally shattered lives. They were told that a certain kind
of breathing would bring them knowledge -- they would "see things." They did
the breathing exercises, and now they can't stop seeing things, are going
crazy, or have gone. Others, who thought Hatha Yoga was "spiritual," find
that their organisms break down under the insidious discipline. In many such
cases, insanity may be a blessing in disguise, deferring until a later
incarnation the moral trial which may then come at a time when the character
of the victim has grown stronger and more able to withstand psychic
temptations. "
http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/CyclesOfPsychism-Series/ArticleNumber5-of-10.html

Also:

" Discussing so-called "practical yoga" in another place, Mr. Judge called
attention to the fact that the directions found in the Upanishads, with
regard to breathing and postural exercises, should never be practiced except
under the following conditions: (a) a complete knowledge of all the
consequences, with a knowledge of correctives to be applied when changes
take place; and (b) the possession of a thoroughly competent guide to point
out errors, to restrain endeavour and to indicate danger, as well as to cure
troubles that ensue.
Yet in the face of all this, and of repeated warnings, there are those who
will foolhardily begin the practices in complete ignorance. They do not even
pursue the ethical regulations that accompany all the others, such as the
doing away with all vices, bad habits, uncharitable thoughts and so on; but
go in for the practices, merely in the hope of procuring psychic powers. It
is time it were stopped, and time that those who give out this literature
looked into what they give out to a grasping and stiff-necked generation.
That damage has been wrought cannot be contested, in face of actual
experience.

It is well known that these postures, even when ignorantly used, bring on
physiological changes in the body, with great nervous derangements. "

http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/CyclesOfPsychism-Series/ArticleNumber5-of-10.html



-------

This was written in 1943 or earlier.
And yet, even today we withness these problems, and an unknown number of
ignorant optimisitc fools who try to use the "do-it-the-fast-way method" -
even if that method won't work.

I can only recommend those who practise Hatha-Yoga by themselves and who are
making postures from one of the many New Age books on that particular
subject, to CAREFULLY reconsider the above words. Because they were not
written by a fool.

Let us have the last sentence again:
"It is well known that these postures, even when ignorantly used, bring on
physiological changes in the body, with great nervous derangements."

I will gladly sign my own name beneath this sentence.
I have myself tried Hatha Yoga privately by myself without a guide.
And indeed these exercise do bring changes - and UNFORTUNATLY also
unexpected ones of a quite unpleasant kind, which can lead to decades of
suffering
if not cured.
So the readers are hereby warned.



from
M. Sufilight



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

From: "Compiler" <compiler@w...>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 6:39 AM
Subject: Theos-World "CYCLES OF PSYCHISM" (10-part series)


> Because the subject of "psychics"
> is one of the discussions currently
> going on, this very informative series
> of articles, which I presented back on
> April 26, 2004 in message number 16524,
> is worth pointing to again at this time:
>
> "CYCLES OF PSYCHISM" (10-part series)
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/16524
>
> John DeSantis
> (Compiler)
> -------
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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>
>