Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00207)

Hello Adelasia,

There was a time when "the hero" filled that function of teacher and 
exemplar. The hero was the person who demonstrated excellence in some 
area and modeled one or more virtues. When I first started teaching 
college composition courses, I had a list of questions for students to 
respond. Among them was "who is your hero and why?" I found out 
quickly that, except for an occasional essay about the student's mother 
or father, most would answer that they don't have a hero. They would 
explain that whenever someone is offered as a hero, within a short time, 
some scandal about them hits the news and exposes them for what they 
are. I think it a sad commentary about our times.

--j



adelasie wrote:

>Hi Jerry,
>
>This caught my eye:
>
>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. 
>
>Indeed, how true. We could possibly say that we are all teachers for 
>each other. We only learn through our own experience, but we can gain 
>information, tools, inspiration, from each other. There is always 
>someone who knows more about something than we do, just as we know 
>more about something than others do. Perhaps we could say that the 
>more we learn to recognize the excellence in others, the more we can 
>develop similar qualities in ourselves.
>
>Adelasie
>
>--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@charter.net>
>>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
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>> 
>>>
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>>Yahoo! Groups Links
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