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RE: On changing headers, toxicity, etc.

Nov 13, 2004 08:53 PM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck


Nov 13 2004

On a search and study of truth and truths. 

Dear Friends:

It is true that one may identify wit others, by the use of words a common,
or a unique source, employed for the expressing of ideas. Language can be
simple and also complex. It is the difference between simplicity and the
basis for ay project, and the complexity of the explanations of observed
operations needed to achieve it.

We all look at Nature, at our Universe (either through telescopes or
microscopes) and wonder how it originated and how it got to be so difficult
to be fully understood.  

To be told that 30 (or more) billions of years of antiquity lie between us
here on little Earth and the furtherest regions of the Kosmos that the
Hubble telescope reveals, has little bearing on how we behave to each other
in daily life. How can such information be made practical? But if we are
told that LAWS of Nature are uniform here and there, and in the vast past we
were far closer than now, the importance of community and family
relationships are seen to acquire a new dimension of importance. 

My personal use of words is not directed, or even unconsciously, at
employing styles and verbiage, or at emulating any one "school," unless you
take the way in which the Masters, HPB, and WQJ express themselves.  

I have over the years tested their expressions and their logic, and have
been satisfied that they did no more than transmit a very ancient and
continuous system of science, research, study, testing, philosophizing, and
compiling evidence of that which Nature employs continually and with great
sensitivity to support life everywhere.  

I have asked myself why this complexity is there, and how is this care for
uncountable myriads of beings of so many diverse natures and degrees of
intelligence actually done. I can see in imagination hierarchies of
dependent and semi-dependent (and semi-independent) agents that serve as
links passing on ideas and actions from one to another, so that apparent
disharmony is eventually resolved into a grand symphony. Is this not the
basis for a universal, cooperative brotherhood?

I am confronted with such ideas as cooperation, free and fair exchanges,
consideration and care for one-another, interactions on a most generous
basis, etc... There is no isolation or selfishness in this approach, but
only a vast and quite reasonable coexistence and mutual help in action. 

So, considering this complexity, I asked myself if there were any laws,
short-cuts, correspondences, and analogies that could be traced. I looked
carefully into the many departments of Science, and the fine arts, and
discovered that emphasis had been placed on the repetition of phenomena, as
the faithful demonstration of universal, inviolable and continuous laws.
[And yet certain phenomena that were considered disruptive and
"out-of-line," were being either neglected or suppressed. I ask: Why ?]

Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, logic and psychology,
the history, not only of events of government, invasions, religious
fanaticism, as we have all been taught -- are expressed in brief compressed
manner -- but also those of most myths and religions. We have a very wide
spread of "history" and of "opinions" about it. How to get stability and
truth from that?  

It seemed to me we ought to look for regularities and repetitions while not
loosing sight of the conflicting diversities and curious incidents of
apparent dissent. The only way I could devise for myself was making
extensive notes as I read and studied and thought.

My childhood and youth were developed among those who were students of
Theosophy. That helped. When I was 18 I received a copy of ISIS UNVEILED
and read it with pleasure, its exposition vast diversity and logic appealed.
I tried then to see if its concepts could be disrupted, disproved, and found
to be inadequate and/or false.  

To my surprise and pleasure I found they had the strength of pure and
accurate Science, and they employed careful observation my many observers,
and showed signs of an impeccable logic, such as all great philosophers can
be found to have used. My study of Theosophy, and of the progress in many
departments of research in the world has proceeded side by side.

One thing that emerged as a valuable point, was that no law, no science, no
philosophy when viewed impartially and impersonally was destructive to
itself or to others. Cooperation and honesty are the reigning laws.

But when one entered the study of the history and practice of religions,
everything became chaotic and followed diverging opinions. Law was abandoned
and the authority of illogical opinions was adopted.  

Seeking deeper, I found that every religion pitted itself against the rest.
Each based itself on the life, work and sayings of some great reformer of
the past. But current practice was usually diametrically opposite to the
efforts of the original reformer. Further, when he was quoted on some item
of method, practice or morality, the response was that those statements were
obsolete, out-of-date and impractical in the present world that had since
developed. 

In THEOSOPHY I discovered a well balanced review of the chief religions of
the world. They showed a sequence. Also, it is apparent that there has
always been duality in every religion: (1) the superficial religion of rites
and rituals for the average masses, and (2) the deeper gnosis of the
priesthood.

Looking backwards from the present we find Christianity (Protestant,
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) emerged as a reform from Judaism. It, in turn
emerged from a combination of the religious Mysteries of Greece and Egypt,
and the wisdom of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persian Zoroastrians. The
first Patriarch A-Braham indicates by name he was a non-Brahmin. But we
could also say that these sprang from Buddhism -- itself a reform of
Brahmanism and Hinduism. The religious philosophy of ancient China (still to
be found in Mongolia and Tibet) was epitomized by Lao Tse in the
"Tao-Te-King" and Confucius codified it in his "analects." Buddhism later
added to this as it spread through China and Japan and the South East Asian
countries. Islam (meaning "Peace") is to be seen as a reform of popular
Judaism. Of the religions of North, Central and South America, Australia
and of Polynesia, little is known, thanks to the destructive hordes of
Europeans who submerged those countries and systematically destroyed or
obliterated their records. What little is left shows a great similarity in
symbology to the ancient records and monuments of Europe, Africa and Asia.
What becomes apparent is that underlying all religions, everywhere in the
world, is a single unifying set of basic concepts relating to the origins of
our Earth and its peoples, as well as to their evolutionary development.
[See: "The Ancient Religion in Africa - P. Bowen -- SOURCE:
THEOSOPHIST, Madras, India, August 1927]

Living in the West and surrounded with various shades of "Christianity," we
tend to overlook Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, etc... and
we have relegated the antique religions of Greece, Scandinavia, Assyria,
Babylon, Zoroastrianism and Egypt to the studies of a few specialists in
such relics. 

The Masters, through Mme. Blavatsky, in re-promulgating THEOSOPHY, revealed
this line of continuity, and stated that there existed down the ages a
fraternity, a college, of Wise Men who held to a single line of study: the
study of NATURE (and her laws) as she exists and existed. 

They declared that one of the great "principles" of the Kosmos was the
"Akasa" -- in that a permanent and accurate record was made of every event,
and this was accessible to the Adepts. HPB gave evidence of this in several
places.

THEOSOPHY states that They were the originators of those ancient reforms,
and that eventually those entrusted to a succession of mankind, were turned
by priestcraft into the inconsistent "religions and theologies" such as we
know of today. Are we allowing THEOSOPHY to also make such a turn? 

In the SECRET DOCTRINE we discover that they (the Elder Brothers of mankind)
belong to a group that never dies. They have succeeded in dissecting the
personal and selfish man -- a mind that incarnates periodically -- from its
eternal "Source" -- the "Father in Heaven" who is immortal and eternal.
They state that every human has this opportunity and capacity. They also
state that the whole of Nature and every part of her has this identical
built-in potential.

"the birth of man from a Superior Being, or what materialism would call a
supernatural Being, though it is only super-human — it is evident that our
teachings have very few chances of an impartial hearing. Add to it the claim
that a portion of the Mankind in the Third Race — all those Monads of men
who had reached the highest point of Merit and Karma in the preceding
Manvantara — owed their psychic and rational natures to divine Beings
hypostasizing into their fifth principles, and the Secret Doctrine must lose
caste in the eyes of not only Materialism but even of dogmatic Christianity.
For, no sooner will the latter have learned that those angels are identical
with their "Fallen" Spirits, than the esoteric tenet will be proclaimed most
terribly heretical and pernicious.* [* It is, perhaps, with an eye to this
degradation of the highest and purest Spirits, who broke through the
intermediate planes of lower consciousness (the "Seven circles of fire" of
Pymander), that St. James is made to say that "this Wisdom (psuche in the
original) descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish"; and
Psuche is Manas, the "human soul," the Spiritual Wisdom or Soul being
Buddhi. Yet Buddhi per se, being so near the Absolute, is only latent
consciousness.]  

The divine man dwelt in the animal, and, therefore, when the physiological
separation took place in the natural course of evolution — when also "all
the animal creation was untied," and males were attracted to females — that
race fell: not because they had eaten of the fruit of Knowledge and knew
good from evil, but because they knew no better. Propelled by the sexless
creative instinct, the early sub-races had evolved an intermediate race in
which, as hinted in the Stanzas, the higher Dhyan-Chohans had incarnated. †
["† This is the "undying race" as it is called in Esotericism, and
exoterically the fruitless generation of the first progeny of Daksha, who
curses Narada, the divine Rishi, alleged to have dissuaded the Haryaswas and
the Sabalaswas, the sons of Daksha, from procreating their species, by
saying "Be born in the womb; there shall not be a resting place for thee in
all these regions"; after this Narada, the representative of that race of
fruitless ascetics, is said, as soon as he dies in one body, to be reborn in
another." ] 

"When we have ascertained the extent of the Universe and learnt to know all
that there is in it, we will multiply our race," answer the Sons of Will and
Yoga to their brethren of the same race, who invite them to do as they do.
This means that the great Adepts and Initiated ascetics will "multiply,"
i.e., once more produce Mind-born immaculate Sons — in the Seventh
Root-Race. 

It is so stated in the Puranas; in Adi Parvan (p. 115) and Brahma Purana,
etc. In one portion of the Pushkara Mahatmya, moreover, the separation of
the sexes is allegorized by Daksha, who, seeing that his will-born progeny
(the "Sons of passive Yoga"), will not create men, "converts half himself
into a female by whom he begets daughters," the future females of the Third
Race which begat the giants of Atlantis..." S D II 274-5 


"Going up and down" means an untrammelled communication and intercourse
between the two worlds. Not being in a position to give out a full and
detailed history of the Third and Fourth Races, as many isolated facts
concerning them as are permitted must be now collated together; especially
those corroborated by direct as well as by inferential evidence found in
ancient literature and history. 

As the "coats of skin" of men thickened, and they fell more and more into
physical sin, the intercourse between physical and ethereal divine man was
stopped. The veil of matter between the two planes became too dense for even
the inner man to penetrate. 

The mysteries of Heaven and Earth, revealed to the Third Race by their
celestial teachers in the days of their purity, became a great focus of
light, the rays from which became necessarily weakened as they were diffused
and shed upon an uncongenial, because too material soil. 

With the masses they degenerated into Sorcery, taking later on the shape of
exoteric religions, of idolatry full of superstitions, and man-, or
hero-worship. 

Alone a handful of primitive men — in whom the spark of divine Wisdom burnt
bright, and only strengthened in its intensity as it got dimmer and dimmer
with every age in those who turned it to bad purposes — remained the elect
custodians of the Mysteries revealed to mankind by the divine Teachers. 

There were those among them, who remained in their Kumaric condition from
the beginning; and tradition whispers, what the secret teachings affirm,
namely, that these Elect were the germ of a Hierarchy which never died since
that period: — 

"The inner man of the first * * * only changes his body from time to time;
he is ever the same, knowing neither rest nor Nirvana, spurning Devachan and
remaining constantly on Earth for the salvation of mankind.. . ." "Out of
the seven virgin-men ( Kumβra ‡ ) four sacrificed themselves for the sins of
the world and the instruction of the ignorant, to remain till the end of the
present Manvantara. 

Though unseen, they are ever present. 

When people say of one of them, "He is dead"; behold, he is alive and under
another form. These are the Head, the Heart, the Soul, and the Seed of
undying knowledge (Gnyana). Thou shalt never speak, O Lanoo, of these great
ones (Maha . . .) before a multitude, mentioning them by their names. The
wise alone will understand." . . .* (Catechism of the inner Schools.) 
S D II 281-2


And Mr. Judge wrote:

"That High Spirits work on Earth in bodies of men, while those spirits are
still in the highest spheres [ see SD I 233-4 &fn, 235fn ]...it is clearly
explained that the author [HPB] does not mean that which is called among the
spiritualists "control" of mediums by a spirit, but the actual continuance
of the status and functions of the incarnated spirit in the supersensuous
regions, while actually using as its own and working in a mortal envelope on
earth. So that, according to her, there are certain persons on this earth,
living and working as ordinary human beings and members of society. whose
informing divine part is so immeasurably high in development that they as
such high beings have a definite status and function in the "supersensuous
regions."  	

We should say...that she herself was such a case, and that "H.P.B.," whether
hourly in the day and night when all around was still, had a status and
functions" in their spheres where she consciously carried on the work of
that high station, whatever it was.  

There were many events in her daily life known to those who were intimate
with her that this hint may reveal, or at least shed much light upon. And
in one of her letters the sentence appears--in substance--"The difference
between you and me is that you are not conscious except at day, while I am
conscious day and night, and have much to do and to endure in both of these
existences from which you, being thus half-conscious, are happily saved."

In the Hindu books and teachings there is a reference to this when the speak
of high gnanees --that is, persons full of knowledge and spiritual
power--being attracted to this earth by certain acts and at certain times in
the history of nation, race or city."	"Hidden Hints in the S. D."
WQJ Art I 615-6

Some adopt this idea with acclaim and many with incredulity -- and of these
many are terribly scared by it. On examination, it is the concept of
consequent responsibility for all self-made and independent decisions that
causes insecurity, defensiveness and fright. 

We find that the religion they were brought up in taught differently. Now
the task of discovering which is correct looms. 

Shall we then close all Theosophical books and literature ? Or, with a part
of our own nature attracted, how are we going to reconcile our fear with our
interest. How can we "find out?" How can we resolve our confusion?

Most of us are in this situation. 

If we desire to "find out" we know it will demand time and energy. Shall we
begin or not?  

Are we apprehensive of the results we may discover? Are we honest enough to
ourselves to agree to accept whatever answers we may verify and then apply
those to our own living? 

A few enjoy being explorers, many enjoy watching their accounts and record
of struggle. But, are we to engage in it for ourselves?

I am not sure how this can be resolved, but for myself I have used most of
my life in the exploring, the most difficult thing is making time to record
notes on the events seen, and thought of. 

I think we may all agree that there are degrees of difficulty in the quality
and nature of theosophical writing. A child in the early grades of primary
school cannot possibly appreciate the language and thought of a Mathematical
monograph or equation such as an Einstein might propound and labor to prove.
But the link lies in an assiduity of application, a desire to "find out."
Any child can turn itself into a genius -- as Edison said (I think?) it
needs the 1% of inspiration and the 99% of perspiration.

Best wishes, 

Dallas
 
===========================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Hejka-Ekins [mailto:jjhe@c...] 
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 12:31 PM
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Theos-World On changing headers, toxicity, etc.


Hello Bill,

Thanks for your comments. See some responses below:

Bill Meredith wrote:

>Hi Jerry, I have been following your discussion with interest. I have had
>similar discussions with Dallas in the past -- one quite recently. I see
>your points and I understand your view that "the future of Theosophy
>depends upon this kind of dialoguing." You asked if others might chime in,
>so I wish to offer these observations.
>
>Sometimes people are talking about different world-views even though each
is prone to label his/her particular view Theosophy with a capital T or in
>Dallas's case THEOSOPHY with all capital letters.
>
Yes, and in my case I was a bit slow on the uptake. It wasn't until 
after Dallas stated that he defines THEOSOPHY as synonymous with TRUTH, that
he was talking in terms of a divine universal, while I was 
discussing the texts.  

>In my opinion, some students may have fallen in love with a particular
>rendition of Theosophy. In such cases, one's thought processes become like
>the well-worn grooves in a phonographic record that lead logically and
>inevitably to the certainty one chose in the beginning. A lover's mindset
>is developed over time. One becomes deaf to the small "scratches" and
minor "skips" in the object of one's adoration. Anyone else who notices the
flaws, becomes at once out of touch with "reality," and more importantly,
not
>harmonious with the words and music flowing logically and inevitably
>through the lover's phonographic mind.
>
Yes, well said. I've noticed that when someone talks to me about 
Theosophical teachings, by the time they get to the third sentence I 
have already identified which Theosophical organization they have 
dedicated themselves to. Of course, names live Purucker, Crosbie and 
Besant are giveaways, but also so are phrases like, "Original 
Teachings", "Jesus the Avatar", "Guruparampara", and "Nirvanic Plane." 
Students have a way of becoming text bound and falling into jargons, 
which, as you are saying, are repeated until they lose touch with the 
meanings.  

>The machinery can be bumped, but the jiggle seems only momentary before the
>diamond point settles into that well-traveled path again.
>
Great metaphor!

>In my discussions with various lovers of Theosophy I find that they
>"present" similar to lovers of Jesus or lovers of Nature or lovers of
>NASCAR. I have at times been able to embrace the thought processes of such
lovers to satisfy my own desire to see the world from their view. In so
>doing I have felt myself on a roller coaster ride of thought that while
>exhilarating the first few times around the course quickly begins to settle
>into a repetitive cycle that winds in grooves round and round to the same
>logical and inevitable certainty again and again and again.
>  
>
Yes, and what can we do to help people to free themselves from their 
"groovy" prison (pun intended), so that they can begin to use the 
information as a means to expand their understanding? On the other 
hand, perhaps some people are so comfortable in their prisons that it 
might be an act of cruelty to try to push them out into the open air.  
--j






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