Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00196)

Hello Bill,

Your remarks bring my thoughts back to a very remarkable woman who used 
to walk around this country some years ago. She called herself a "Peace 
Pilgrim" and her mission was to teach anyone who would listen that world 
peace was possible if we all learn to have peace within ourselves. But 
before she began her trek, she went through about fifteen years of 
spiritual development. When she began teaching, she had herself already 
become what she had to teach. I met her once about thirty years ago 
when she came to speak at a Theosophical Lodge. I was going through a 
personal crises at the time. Though I never spoke to her about it, what 
she had to say did a lot to change how I was seeing my situation. Over 
the years her simple lessons have taken on more and more meaning for me, 
and my respect for her keeps increasing. 

I think that she would answer that we need to do what we can for others 
according to and to the best of our abilities. But my experience with 
her suggests that those who teach best are those who have already 
attained to what they are teaching. 

--j



Bill Meredith wrote:

>Hello Jerry,
>
>Thank you for your response. Your last question sounds like a good one to
>take into meditation. I did, and this is what came to me:
>
> I am inclined to think, tentatively, very tentatively, that what we may be
>able to do toward the goal of helping others to free themselves from any
>addiction, attachment, or relationship is best exemplified by the effort we
>continually give toward freeing ourselves from our own individual sets of
>addictions, attachments, and relationships. Perhaps we are at yet another
>of life's crossroads and our focus on helping others prepares us to help
>ourselves by allowing us to see the results of the choices that lay before
>us on the path of our own creation.
>
>I would be very interested in your thoughts on these matters.
>
>
>bill
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Jerry Hejka-Ekins" <jjhe@c...>
>To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 3:30 PM
>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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>
>
>
>
>
> 
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> 
>
>
>
>
> 
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]