Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00244)

As our understandings and knowledge are always only partial and 
incomplete all the more important to make sure students are given the 
freedom to openly compare and critically comment on the veracity of 
any teachings or tradition in theosophical journals and publications.

If this is not allowed how can an organization claim with any 
credibility to be concerned for the promotion and practice of freedom 
of thought so that a process of evolution can occur?

Perry :->


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Hejka-Ekins <jjhe@c...> 
wrote:
> Hello Pedro,
> 
> Thank you for your thoughtful reply. That sloka in the Rig Veda is 
one 
> of my favorites, and yes, perhaps that essential unknowability 
could 
> even be the key to that ultimate question of existence. 
> 
> You write,
> 
> >If a teaching is something which is shown to someone - a person, a 
> >group, a culture - all of which are also experiencing growth and 
> >evolution, such a teaching needs to be dynamic. Theosophy has also 
> >been called the Perennial Wisdom, and that which is perennial 
lasts 
> >for a long time, perhaps because its 'language' is one that 
> >acknowledges the changing environment and the growing perceptions 
of 
> >humans in every age.
> >
> 
> The present prevailing opinion in academia is pointing towards a 
> sixteenth century author named Agostino Steuco as the earliest user 
of 
> the word perennialism (as we use the term) in his book, 
Philosophia 
> Perennis. As to its application to Theosophy, our Theosophical 
group in 
> Los Angeles may have been the earliest ones to apply the term 
> "perennialism" to Theosophy with the release of our video "The 
Perennial 
> Wisdom" in 1990. At least, I wasn't previously aware of the term 
being 
> previously applied to Theosophy, and appropriated to term from 
Aldous 
> Huxley who used it in the title of his book: The Perennial 
Philosophy. 
> Huxley, in turn, credits Leibnitz. If there is a pre 1990 use of 
the 
> term applied to Theosophy (and there may be), I would be very 
interested 
> in seeing the citations. Another term with nearly, if not exactly 
the 
> same meaning is Traditionalism. Interestingly, those who call 
> themselves Traditionalists or Perennialists, such as Katherine 
Raine and 
> Rene Geuenon had been careful to exclude Theosophy from that 
> classification. The only exception was Bill Quinn's doctoral 
> dissertation become book, The Only Tradition (1997). But his book 
is 
> hotly contested by other Traditionalists, particularly those 
connected 
> with Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and is even avoided by the popular 
> Traditionalist, Huston Smith. 
> 
> Nevertheless, I personally find the notion of a perennial wisdom 
very 
> seductive, and my early intuition of it was, I believe, the basis 
of my 
> initial attraction to Theosophy and with HPB's The Secret Doctrine. 
> Sadly, the demonstration of the objective existence of 
a "Perennial 
> Wisdom," "Tradition," or "Theosophy" through an acceptable 
methodology 
> has been no more successful than the theologian's attempts to prove 
the 
> existence of a personal God. With this awareness firmly in mind, I 
> prefer to refer to Theosophy (or Traditionalism or Perennialism) as 
a 
> belief. With that said, I still suspect that Perennialism is a 
> universally appealing notion for those who haven't already learned 
to 
> reject it through contrary religious or academic training. Perhaps 
that 
> makes its "language" a "voice" which is accessible to all who are 
open 
> to sensing humanity and the universe as a oneness. 
> 
> >Like you, Jerry, I also don't have any daily conversations with 
> >higher spiritual realities and in that respect I am very 
> >much "offline". But I like to think on these things and was very 
> >much heartened by what I read on a bookmark produced by TPH 
Wheaton 
> >many years ago:
> >
> >"THINK! It could be a new experience for you."
> > 
> >
> This sentiment must have originated with a cynical remark made by a 
> progressive member who managed to appeal to the "gate keepers" at 
> Wheaton. If that notion were to become integrated into its 
policies, I 
> suspect that the TS could experience a new renaissance.
> 
> Thanks
> Jerry
> 
> 
> 
> prmoliveira wrote:
> 
> >--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Hejka-Ekins <jjhe@c...> 
> >wrote:
> >
> >>Because I'm only willing to speak from my personal 
understandings, 
> >>experiences and intuitions, I'm not one to proclaim that 
Theosophy 
> >>pre-existed in the mind of Parabrahm. You will have to ask 
Parabrahm about these things :-)
> >> 
> >>
> >
> >Hello Jerry:
> >
> >Thank you for your comments. I think the fragment of the beautiful 
> >hymn from the Rig-Veda, quoted by HPB before the Stanzas of the 
> >Cosmogenesis in the SD, seems to indicate that the essential 
> >unknowability of the mystery that surrounds us goes right up to 
the 
> >very top, perhaps to THAT itself:
> >
> >"Who knows the secret? who proclaimed it here?
> >Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang?
> >The Gods themselves came later into being--
> >Who knows from whence this great creation sprang?
> >That, whence all this great creation came,
> >Whether Its will created or was mute,
> >The Most High Seer that is in highest heaven,
> >He knows it--or perchance even He knows not."
> >
> > 
> > 
> >
> >>Since I don't have daily conversations with Parabraham, the 
Masters, or
> >>
> >>even the late Madame Blavatsky, my understanding of Theosophy 
must bemuch more humble. 
> >>
> >>I see Theosophy as an expression of a kind of perennialism which 
demonstrates the universality of ideas among 
> >>
> >>humankind's myths, religions, philosophies and sciences. I think 
this 
> >> 
> >>
> >>definition is more useful, because Theosophy then becomes 
something we 
> >> 
> >>
> >>can personally engage with and grow from--otherwise we are left 
to 
> >>merely be wowed by and parrot writings from old books we believe 
to have 
> >> 
> >>
> >>been inspired. In the SD, HPB writes that even the Dhyani 
Chohans have 
> >> 
> >>
> >>limitations in what they are able to perceive and understand. If 
we are 
> >> 
> >>
> >>to accept her statement here, then, I would ask: why should we 
proclaim 
> >> 
> >>
> >>to be True things that even the gods she writes about do not even 
know? 
> >> 
> >>
> >> To do so is just another form of self delusion, or self 
ggrandizement, 
> >> 
> >>
> >>IMO.
> >> 
> >>
> >
> >
> >I also see it along similar lines. The word Brahman, for example, 
> >derives from the verbal root 'brih', "to grow, to expand". So 
> >perhaps growth, expansion, evolution - all three - belong to the 
> >very nature of the universe as a whole. 
> >
> >If a teaching is something which is shown to someone - a person, a 
> >group, a culture - all of which are also experiencing growth and 
> >evolution, such a teaching needs to be dynamic. Theosophy has also 
> >been called the Perennial Wisdom, and that which is perennial 
lasts 
> >for a long time, perhaps because its 'language' is one that 
> >acknowledges the changing environment and the growing perceptions 
of 
> >humans in every age.
> >
> >Like you, Jerry, I also don't have any daily conversations with 
> >higher spiritual realities and in that respect I am very 
> >much "offline". But I like to think on these things and was very 
> >much heartened by what I read on a bookmark produced by TPH 
Wheaton 
> >many years ago:
> >
> >"THINK! It could be a new experience for you."
> >
> >
> >Pedro 
> > 
> >
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]