Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00187)

In a message dated 11/14/04 5:08:52 PM, dan.........@c... writes:

>I just realized that in your message, karma actual belongs to deontology!
>Is it the consequence of fundamental (natural?) laws? 
>

It sure is. The "natural" laws of karma are the basis of all teachings of 
morals and ethics common to all exoteric religions. The only difference 
(between them and pure occultism or theosophy) is that their priests or preachers 
expected their followers to accept such teachings on blind faith or the authority 
of revelatory scripture coming directly from a "Godhead" in whom they would 
have a similar blind faith in -- probably based on their congregation's deep 
intuitive (Archetypal memory?) belief that such an all powerful creator must 
exist to explain all the mysteries of nature they couldn't understand. 

But, I'm sure the original founders of those religions knew the esoteric 
metaphysical truths, but couldn't explain it's complexities to their unlettered 
congregations... So, they cooked up a personal God figure to cover their asses. 
:-) Although, the Buddhists (in their reformation of Hinduism that had 
deteriorated into a hierarchically repressive religion) avoided that by following 
the impeccable logic Buddha used (also with a hierarchy of conscious beings, 
however, of which he was an incarnate of the topmost) to explain the metaphysics 
of Cosmogenesis to his disciples (which every practicing Buddhist is expected 
to know in part), and concluded with the "Four Noble Truths and the moral and 
ethical "Eight-fold Path" -- that, when practiced, seemed to work... Making 
the "godless" Buddhists into a quite peaceful, ethical and moral group for the 
most part, compared to the earlier Eastern and later Western religions... That, 
contrived complex theology's based on anthropomorphizing the hierarchies of 
conscious godlike "builders" and their angelic minions who took their orders 
directly from their God, and then passed on these governing powers to the Popes, 
Mullahs and High Priests. The Christians also cooked up a Heaven and Hell, as 
well as a "vicarious atonement story" to give further empowerment to their 
moral ethical teachings. 

Their only acknowledgment that karma was a natural law is seen in such 
remarks as, "Judgment is mine, saith the Lord" (Bible), "As you sow, so shall you 
reap" (John), and "Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?" 
(Jesus). But, for obvious reasons, the rulers of the Western religions refuse to 
acknowledge the other side of the karmic law that, as Buddha showed, and 
theosophy teaches, must lead to reincarnation as a fact in nature. And, from a 
practical point of view, they hesitated in teaching the deeper truths of how 
these forces of nature could be manipulated -- since such knowledge could usurp 
their power as well as create dangerous adversaries. This, also resulted in 
spinoff mystical societies such as the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Masons, 
Illuminati, etc., that practiced occult "magic," "alchemy," "astrology" and other 
mystical "sciences" ... That are based on consciousness as a separate but 
interrelated a-priori aspect, along with the noumenal roots of matter, of the 
pre-cosmic universe. Of course all these disparities of beliefs bring on the 
continual conflicts between different groups -- that can only be solved when the 
entire world accepts the truths of karma and reincarnation, and understands the 
necessity of a Universal Brotherhood of all Mankind.

It's interesting that in the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible of the Hindus, the 
writer used a metaphorical personification (Krishna) of the universal 
consciousness to expound the yogic philosophy to a warrior on the battlefield who was 
faced with a moral dilemma. Incidentally, Robert Oppenheimer, the leading 
scientist on the A-bomb project, read from this book when they tested the first bomb 
he called "Trinity" in New Mexico -- since he was faced with the same dilemma. 
BTW, it's a very interesting read -- especially in the notated translation 
by William Q. Judge, one of the founders of the theosophical movement in 1875. 
It, along with Judges essays on it, are available at:
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gita/bg-eg-hp.htm 

Lenny