Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00086)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, gregory <gregory@z...> wrote:
> Perhaps Ananda is a disciple of "Ramtha" and other New Age
> mind-numbing, morally-defective gurus who argue that "all
> things are good" - including rape, murder, theft, genocide
> and torture. It is only our "understanding" that is limited
> and fails to see the good in the apparently bad. Welcome
> to a world without morality!

I spit in the wind at Ramtha, but suspect there is another 
perspective you might find interesting. Suppose I have a crazed 
murderer coming at me. Now I know nobody else in the world is going 
to give a rat's ass whether he does or does not succeed in either 
putting an end to my existence or freeing some sort of soul from my 
body. So the question for the moment is a purely personal one. I 
prefer not to be assaulted or murdered and will, as I have done in 
the past, take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it. Since my 
intent is simply to go on with the work I have engaged upon and not 
to wag my finger in anyone's face the "morality" of my intended 
assassin is a matter of no consequence. If the police succeed in 
physically restraining said individual so that he cannot do what he 
wants to do to others, that to me is a practical way to achieve a 
socially useful but morally neutral result. We can clear a lot of 
cobwebs out of our heads by dealing with Hitler, Leadbeater, Pol Pot, 
and other degenerate criminals, Theosophists and otherwise, from a 
practical and not a judgemental perspective.

In a message dated 10/03/04 9:46:16 PM, kpauljohnson@y... writes:

> RS explicitly, and HPB more implicitly, also endorse this
> hearing of the Sound Current/Voice of the Silence as a
> method of making contact with Masters. In its most extreme
> form, the technique is endorsed by the modern Eckankar
> movement as a method of contacting the mythical Eck Masters
> invented by Paul Twitchell. The fact that these are fictional
> characters does not prevent tens of thousands of Eckists from
> meeting them on the "inner planes" using the Sound Current
> method. The readiness and ease with which Eckists meet Fubbi
> Quantz, Rebazar Tars, et al "on the inner" suggests doubting
> any claims RS members or Theosophists make about meeting
> historical (or semi-historical, semi-mythical) figures by
> the same technique.

In Zen these are called "makyos," which literally means "the world of 
spirits" but which are actually the creations of a brain starved for 
sensory stimulation. Patanjali, Vyasa, and the author(s) of THE 
VISHNU PURANA imagined that the Hindu gods were jealous of the 
advancing yogi and presented these experiences to distract him or her 
from his or her quest for enlightenment. I like that explanation 
better and invite anyone to consider it seriously. In my case these 
are not auditory but amazing kaleidoscopic or even psychedelic 
images, obtained with no drugs at all, merely sitting. Others see 
people, animals, etc. Zen masters interpret this in terms of 
Yogacara psychological theory and attribute them to the alaya 
vijnana, which corresponds in Blavatsky's system to the sixth 
principle. (She cxalls this merely "alaya" but does make explicit 
reference to Yogacara ideas.) If you decide you like these makyos 
and do not move beyond them you are said to live in "the cave of 
devils." As the old saying goes, "If you meet the Buddha on the 
road, kill him." From the Zen perspective internal flutes and bells 
and harps are to be disregarded and not concentrated upon. To be 
enlighteneed you must push beyond the sixth principle (alaya) to the 
seventh, which is utterly beyond phenomena of any sort. You have to 
push makyos out of the way of your path to enlightenment, including 
any tinnitus sounds worshipped by the Rhada whatsit sect. Bear in 
mind that is the point of view of a Zen student and is not 
represented as true in any absolute sense.

I do not know where I got this, but I saved a quote I found somewhere 
from the infamous Aleister Crowley which is apropos to this topic:

"Since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk 
in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the 
metaphysical man."

Ultimately all theories are absurd and useless since the object of 
the exercise is to transcend discursive reasoning.

Master contacts as distinguished from makyos are quite easy to 
evaluate. If you get the kind of meaningless rubbish published by 
Elizabeth Prophet or Ramtha you are just contacting internal brain 
noise. I never heard of anything significant coming from Fubbi or 
Rebazar. If you get the real deal, be prepared to have your mind 
blown. In the latter case, there is no way to know if the 
information comes from a mahatma or your own Higher Self, but then 
operationally there may be no meaningful distinction. There is no 
question when you have the real contact, though.

> From my first experience with the Cayce version of this method,
> I did indeed hear the ringing sound described in the readings,
> and felt uplifted by it. But after exploring the subject I
> learned that there is a baseline level of stimulation of the
> auditory nerve, and in the absence of distracting noise
> everyone who listens carefully will hear the high pitched tone
> that is produced when our brain processes this baseline
> stimulation. Hence, it's a physical and not a paranormal
> phenomenon to hear this.

Not everyone. I only hear it after ingesting either caffeine or sugar 
or when very tired. There is nothing mystical about it, though, and 
I do not have to meditate. In extreme and annoying form it is called 
tinnitus, a medical condition associated with aging. There is 
nothing spiritual about getting tinnitus any more than there is about 
wrinkles or liver spots.

> Two questions, then. How real or imaginary is the Sound
> Current/Voice of the Silence/Music of the Spheres as
> described by Radhasoami/Theosophy/Cayce respectively?

All experience is phenomenal and is equally real, which is to say, 
not real at all. What you mean is, is an internal whistling 
objective to the perceiver? No.

> And does this matter in terms of whether or not it is
> useful, productive, advisable as a meditation technique?

Not from a Zen perspective.

19406From: kpauljohnson <kpauljohnson@y...> Date: Mon Oct 4, 2004 
7:00am
Subject: Theosophistry in Fohat

> Not all sophistry is based on emotions. There is also sophistry
> that is based on beliefs, convictions, axioms, and expectations.

So let me ask: on what are beliefs, convictions, axioms, and 
expectations based if not emotion? Why do believers use so many 
asterisks and exclamation points and CAPITAL LETTERS if they are 
bloodless examiners of Truth?

> It is too late to suppress the evidence now that it has
> been published

Not necessarily. Books can be withdrawn from circulation. Books 
have been stolen from libraries by interested parties and then 
destroyed. Theosophists had better get on the stick if they want 
this edition to disappear.

You probably know that Martin Luther was a violent antiSemite. His 
Hitleresque writings do not resonate with the modern age, so his 
ardent admirers have conveniently omitted them from editions of 
his "Complete Writings." There are numerous other examples which 
could be given but it is not worthwhile to do so.