Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00366)

Oct 21 2004

Dear M:

Why not view "good" and "bad" in terms of "the pairs of opposites?"

1	GOOD -- lawful, orderly, constructive, cooperative, brotherly, ...

2	BAD -- unlawful, disorderly, destructive, chaotic, evil, ....

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Here are some further views: 


"Individual Spirit or Purusha is said to be the cause of experiencing pain
and pleasure [through the connection with nature found in the instrument];
for spirit, when invested with Matter or prakriti experienceth the qualities
that proceed from prakriti; its connection with these qualities [and
self-identification with them] is the cause of its rebirth in good and evil
wombs." ["wombs" signify "environments."]	Gita p. 96


EVIL


"EVIL"	"Ancient wisdom alone solves the presence of the universal fiend in
a satisfactory way. It attributes the birth of Kosmos and the evolution of
life to the breaking asunder of primordial, manifested Unity, into
plurality, or the great illusion of form.  

Homogeneity, having transformed itself into Heterogeneity, contrasts have
naturally been created; hence sprang what we call Evil, which thence
forward reigned supreme in this "Vale of Tears."...

The Eastern pantheist, whose philosophy teaches him to discriminate between
Being or Esse and conditioned existence...knows he can put an end to form
alone, not to being--and that only on this plane of terrestrial
illusion...he knows that by killing out in himself Tanha (the unsatisfied
desire for existence, or the "will to live")--he will thus gradually escape
the curse of rebirth and conditioned existence...as a personality...
believing but in One Reality, which is eternal Be-ness, the "causeless
Cause" from which he has exiled himself into a world of forms, he regards
the temporary and progressing manifestations of it in the state of Maya
(change or illusion), as the greatest evil...but at the same time as a
process in nature, as unavoidable as are the pangs of birth.  

It is the only means by which he can pass from the limited and conditioned
lives of sorrow into eternal life, or into that absolute "Be-ness," which is
so graphically expressed in the Sanskrit work sat. [Glos. p.292] ... The
idea that matter and its Protean manifestations are the source and origin of
universal evil is a very old one...Gautama Buddha...the great Indian
Reformer...who sacrificed himself for Humanity by living for it, in order to
save it, by teaching men to see in the sensuous existence of matter misery
alone, ... his efforts were to release mankind from too strong an attachment
to life, which is the chief cause of Selfishness--hence the creator of
mutual pain and suffering... 

Even in India, the primitive thought underlying the formula already cited,
had been disfigured by Sectarianism, and has led to the ritualistic, purely
dogmatic observances of the Hatha Yogis, in contradistinction to the
philosophical Vedantic Raja Yoga."
-- HPB The Origin of Evil HPB Art I 124	



"Can a man go against the general will of nature and escape destruction, and
also be able to desire wickedly with knowledge, and accomplish, through
will, what he wishes?

Such a man can do all these--except to escape destruction. That is sure to
come, no matter at how remote a period.

He acquires extraordinary knowledge, enabling him to use powers for selfish
purposes during immense periods of time, but at last the insidious effect of
the opposition to the general [38] true will make itself felt and he is
destroyed forever. [the "personality"]

.wickedly desiring people, having great knowledge, increase to an enormous
extent and threaten the stability of the world. Then the adherents of the
good law can no longer quietly work on humanity, but come out in force, and
a fight ensues in which the black magicians are always destroyed, because
the good Adepts possess not only equal knowledge with the bad ones, but have
in addition the great assistance of the general will of nature which is not
in control of the others, and so it is inevitable that the good should
triumph always. This assistance is also the heritage of every true student,
and may be invoked by the real disciple when he has arrived at and passed
the first abyss."  
WQJ G. Notes p. 37-8



"On the ruins of the altar has arisen the temple of the lower self, the
shrine of the personal idea... in America, being totally unrestrained and
forming in fact the basis of independence here, it has culminated...Its bad
effects [are as yet, vaguely shadowed]...after sweeping away the fetters
forged by priestly dogma and kingly rule, we find springing up a
superstition for worse than that [88] which we have been used to call by the
name. It is the superstition of materialism that bows down to a science
which leads only to a negation...[92] [Krishna] makes it very clear that he
refers to the principle of reciprocity or Brotherhood. And this he declares
must be kept revolving; that is, each human being must live according to
that rule, or else he lives a life of sin to no purpose...that which moves
the people...on the contrary, [they are] spurred by the personal selfish
idea of each one becoming better, greater, higher than his neighbor. If
continued unchecked it would make this nation one entirely of Black
Magicians. And it was to counter act this that the T S was founded, with
the object of inducing men to one more revolve this wheel of Brotherly Love,
first set in motion by the "Creator when of old he had created mortals."
G. Notes, pp. 87-8 91-2


"Personality is always an illusion (a rock upon which many persons fall to
pieces), a false picture hiding the reality inside.	G. Notes 109


"When a man uses the powers of nature indiscriminately with partiality and
no regard to justice, it is Black Magic...Magic is power over the forces of
nature...the first exercise of Black Magic is to psychologize people."
Letters, 161


"The Astral Light...becomes in, and for, man--if at all psychic--and who is
not? --a tempting Demon, his "evil angel." and the inspirer of all our
worst deeds. It acts on the will of even the sleeping man, through visions
impressed upon his slumbering brain (not to be confused with dreams)...The
will of the outer man, our volition, is of course dormant and inactive
during dreams; but a certain bent can be given to the slumbering will
during its inactivity(*)...but this is one of the dodges of "black magic,"
and when used for good purposes belongs to the training of an Occultist.
One must be far advanced on the "path" to have a will which can act
consciously during his physical sleep, or act on the will of another person
during the sleep of th latter, e.g., to control his dreams, and thus control
his actions when awake. [ (*) and certain after-results developed by the
mutual inter-action--produced almost mechanically--through union between two
or more "principles" into one, so that they will act in perfect harmony,
without any friction or a single false note, when awake,]	Trans. p.
66

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

No the Universe is not one of competition, but rather, a comprehension of a
universal fact. All participate in this. Now how can we test this? Can we
divest it of any emotional or personal, selfish attitudes? Can pure thought
be attained?

As I see it, comprehension is a Mind faculty and all have it developed in
various stages. We need to exercise our minds to seek to know anything. It
includes selection, comparison, analysis, re-formation, and above all an
openness to the thoughts and ideas of others - so as to extract all that is
of the ideal and the universal from them. 

But over anything else, we (as personal minds) have to assure ourselves that
what we learn is valid and universal - of course the ultimate truth is (as I
see it) a profound intuition (a universal certainty, Buddhi perhaps) -- also
called Apara Vidya -- a "knowledge of things in themselves" - as causes.

If so, then, those CAUSES are eternal and ineffaceable energies and powers
which are an integral part of the ONE SUPREME SPIRIT. 

In the effort to grasp these concepts, it is our present personal
consciousness that is transformed, made ineffable (spiritual ?) which in its
purity (free from emotion and Kama), alone, is able to make this transition
- in the words of the Gayatri verse, it becomes that (substantial, purified)
"vase" that surrounds the absolute SUN or, the one UNIVERSAL SPIRIT - (and
the individual ATMA is a "ray" of THAT). I would say this is the 2nd
Principle: Buddhi, and is made of that spiritualized and individualized
substance (a specialized grouping of 'monads,' called "Suddha Sattva." (
Glos p. 11) 

And, it is for this reason that our personal and individual "perfection,"
when attained, is an integration of our individual and personal selves. The
temporary "personal" mask-like self of this, and every "incarnation" --
become one with its master "Thread" - the ONE ATMIC SELF -- or, the HIGHER
SELF within each of us.  

Looking at it from the point of view of the Universe - all the billions of
scattered "rays" of that one Divine, reunite (eventually) and CONSCIOUSLY
into ONE. They come into existence, polarized out so to say, when the great
cyclic Breath begins to blow out. None is "wiped out" or "erased" by
Devachan, Sleep or Nirvana. Together they form that "bundle of sticks" that
are the basis for the Unity of all Monads, of which a portion form those who
have perfected themselves, and are the Ancient Spiritual Lodge of the Wise -
of the Avatars, the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the Rishis, the Adepts and
the "Elder Brothers" -- the Mahatmas of the Race and Family of MAN - They
are of the eternal (not the personal) Man. 

To work with (as a brother Immortal) and manifest alongside of all other
"points of Spirit involved in Matter," each Spiritual morsel (Ray)
self-consciously adopts a "rising self"-- a unit of "personal
consciousness," which, as a MONAD, is now trying to become fully
SELF-CONSCIOUS. [see S D II 167]

All the rest is a passing show - illusion and maya -- but always recorded
imperishably by the universal scribes the Lipika in the imperishable fabric
/ substance named the Akasa. (yet in its own way and at its own place it
has validity as "Para Vidya.")

We are neither "beneath," nor "above," nor "besides" anyone or anything.
This is not pride or selfishness, but a statement of impersonality and
universalism - a fact that only a pure, impersonal SPIRIT can make.  

And, it has to be done only by the "impersonalized and universalized
PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS." It is the final sacrifice (a sacred deed) offered
by every "personal Self" to the ONE PURE SPIRIT of which it recognizes a
Ray in itself as an embodiment - an "Elder Brother." It is ever in our
Higher Nature as the Monad -- as the triune Monad: ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS.

"Evil" by definition becomes a denial of this condition and power in us --
is it not a vast error? It opens the "door" to acts,. thoughts, and feelings
that tend to destroy the harmony of universal virtue and law. And of course
every part of universal NATURE rejects and fights such a violation. So we
have the "eternal war" between the Higher SELF, and the "lower selfish, evil
self." [depicted in the BHAGAVAD GITA]

I ask: Isn't the cure today's work -- brotherhood and compassion -- the
giving of ourselves to others and trying to assist wherever we are allowed?

There is nothing we do not do which is not a "service" to another - in some
way. If this is the key to active brotherhood, how do we search and find it?
That is our task and pilgrimage. 

When one is sure of something and can at will and any time review the logic
of its formation, then "belief" changes into "certitude," or "reality" for
us.

We are the eternal Pilgrims. We carry with us all the successes and
failures of our past living and choices. We are living Karma. We are as you
suggest the eternal pupils and verification is our very real task. For this
we develop "attention," so that as the Buddha said, we all AWAKEN -- to
What? To the universal truth and BEING that is ourselves.

We say SPIRIT IS one -- the conversely, there is not a single moment of time
when we are "without" SPIRIT. The "Central Spiritual SUN" is mentioned as a
philosophical reality -- but the development of the Hubble telescope has
shown us that the further we "see," the more UNIVERSES THERE ARE.  

Now if we take this as evidence, don't we LIVE in a vast almost
incomprehensible SUN -- the SUN OF THE ONE SPIRIT. And we are aspects of
THAT at all stages of our lives. This is something we need to grasp with the
mind as the purely physical eye is not able to perceive the infinite spectra
of radiations that cooperate and interpenetrate themselves and all "things."

Actually there is nothing that can be eliminated or stashed in a "dust heap"
of obsolete of effete ideas. There is no place to "hide." We cannot 'fool'
"NATURE," which, as the ONE WHOLE UNIVERSE, sees and knows everything,
including our most remote thoughts and ideas as private persons. 

So the "daily conquest of self" relates of the eternal war (as in the
BHAGAVAD GITA) between the TRUTH and SPIRIT -- and the false and
ever-changing maya or illusion of the Lower Selfish Self -- the Kama-Manas.

So teaches THEOSOPHY as I understand it. 


PERFECTION


"Perfection, to be fully such, must be born out of imperfection, the
incorruptible must grow out of corruptible, having the latter as its vehicle
and basis and contrast." S D II p. 95


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

Best wishes,

Dallas

=====================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Mauri 
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 9:01 PM
To: 
Subject: re "good and evil" 

"If evil disappeared, good would disappear along with it from Earth."
(SD I, 413)

I thought "good" and "evil" were/are 
essentially interpretations ("karmic 
influences," say ...), and so, as such, 
both of them seem to me to be mayavic 
in essence. As I tend to see it, it's 
as if the orthodox/fundamentalist 
tendencies and various apparent/"real" 
extremes (in contrast to "more 
gnostic"/eclectic and "more moderate" 
approaches) might have contributed to 
the kind of extremes of karma/life and 
attitudes that, in general, might be 
defined as "good and evil," as if things 
often tended to be, or often could be 
seen to be, somehow, (somewhat 
mysteriously ...), more or less either 
black or white (as if there were 
extremes of "good" and "evil") in 
essence, as if such as "wiser 
moderations" (per Theosophy, say ...) 
were somehow not "good enough" or not 
"understandable enough" or not 
"effective enough" or not "applicable 
enough" for whatever reason or cultural 
tendency or excuse.

I tend to see Theosophy as a moderating 
influence on extremes (in various 
senses) of what might be called "good 
and evil." In other words, as I tend to 
see it, one might be somewhat better 
off, in general, if one were to calm 
down, (preferable without taking a pill, 
I'm guessing), and then see if, (with 
the help of something like "just being," 
say, in some cases, maybe ...), one 
might acquire some sort of more 
applicable, wiser/broader and more 
moderate view of things, by which view 
various kinds of kamic/karmic extremes 
might be seen as being basically (ie, 
regardless of the extent of their 
apparent reality) all "too mayavic," in 
essence, in a sense, or too silly, 
essentially, for "grown ups" to get 
particularly interested, let alone 
extremistically excited about. Surely 
one could "do good," eg, by way of some 
sort of more even-keeled, 
"neutral-enough" sense/perspective so 
that one's "successes or failures to do 
good" or one's apparent or real or 
"real enough" problems or "evils" 
(whatever they might be) might be seen 
in terms of their karma/maya, rather 
than in terms of the kinds of extremes 
that, in turn, might be seen to result 
in more extremes ("life after life," in 
whatever sense) until ... one might 
imagine that one might be living on a 
planet where there's no shortage of 
extremes ... So, in some cases, maybe, 
seems to me as if one might maybe even 
somewhat "directly experience" some of 
those extremes ("good" or "bad") during 
one's stay on this planet ... I keep 
hoping that any apparent extremes 
(especially the "problematical kinds" ), 
that I, myself, might've "directly 
experienced" in my formative years 
(long, long, long time ago, I like to 
think) might be enough for me in this 
and all other lives. So I've been busy 
studying Theosophy and "just being" in 
order to cultivate an antidote, in a 
sense, for all apparent extremes.  


CUT