Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt01088)

Jan 30 2005



Dear friend Nick: 



Welcome.



Here is a very brief answer:



The word EGO (meaning SELF) is used in THEOSOPHY for several purposes.



It indicates MYSELF, YOURSELF, a THINKER, an EXPERIENCER, a "FEELER OF
EMOTIONS, a CHILD, an ADULT, etc.. -- so, to be exact we have a central :
--



1 PERCEIVER, and



2 its range and capacity of PERCEPTION.



Also, we may notice that in us, when we examine or critically try to
evaluate anything, we seem to split ourselves into two (or more) - adopting
in each of such created mind-entities, if carefully done, any position or
attitude that might be useful for us to assume so as to increase our
understanding of the subject being observed or investigated. Basically, it
is One PERCEIVER, and his/her use of many "point of view," so that an
examination may be thorough. Some enjoy this kind of approach, and others
find it very difficult. But we all, without exceptions use it as a process
all the time. It assists in framing our "choices." 



Further, these positions may be seen as cooperative, antagonistic or
neutral.



In spite of these temporary created fragments of mental and emotional
position/condition, we KNOW we are just ONE PERSON -- with a single ROOT
CONSCIOUSNESS - the EGO SUM. 



Yes, briefly, each of us is THE EGO. It is a synonym for THINKER, a MIND
as well as INDIVIDUAL.



So (if you will allow me to continue) we are looking in ourselves as a
THINKER and each one of us at his / her THOUGHTS. It will be found on
examination that we do this easily (without thinking ?) and almost
instinctively. 



In Theosophical philosophy we employ the words PERSONALITY and INDIVIDUALITY
as follows:



1 PERSONALITY is our Mind (EGO) surrounded (and invaded and even
sometimes overtaken and controlled for a while) by our own selfish likes,
dislikes, desires, urges and emotions.



2 INDIVIDUALITY is OUR MIND as an independent Observer - a Judge
(so to say) It is our real SELF and one thing that distinguishes it is an
innate and intuitive capacity to discriminate between "right" and "wrong." 



It does this because over a very long time of experience, it has discovered
that universality, impersonality and impartiality are of the highest value
in making decisions which will least impede its progress -- as it carries
on the processes of its living in so many ways. In fact, no aspect of living
is exempt from this. 



3 Faced with this capacity (obviously, in separate individuals, it
is developed or modified personally in various ways) we are forever the
CHOOSERS of our fate, the "Captains" of our own "ship." 



As such, we determine each moment that we choose, our future, and the
actions and reactions that will inevitably ensue. This has been called the:
"effect cycle," and, that will inevitably follow all our
dependent/independent choices. 



In Nature (which supports us all, and protects our "living self," as a mind
living in a body) there is a grand universal and faultless impersonal law of
equity and justice (it is the very subtle, and often overlooked Law of moral
equity) which, in brief, demands that every "cause" be followed by an
immutable "effect" (similar to the law of physics to CAUSE - EFFECT BEING
EQUAL AND OPPOSITE). 



This moral law insures that every victim receives due recompense from anyone
who has been responsible for hurting it, and every "good" deed be
compensated by a just and fair return for its compassion and brotherly
sentiments.



In positing this observation, one of the important aspects of Theosophical
philosophy demands we recognize (bear in mind and practice all the time) a
demonstrable fact: that the Human EGO / Mind is an immortal being and every
incarnation (life on earth) is part of an ongoing succession of educative
experiences. Our present life and living is the result of our decisions made
earlier, and some seem to emanate from our previous lives. 



These two "laws" of all life are called "Karma, and Reincarnation. Much can
be said further on this if you desire.



As to the problem you speak of as one dealing with "separateness, consider
this: 



You may well ask why we are here and where we are going according to
Theosophy. In a general, but ultimately in a very compelling and complete
way, each Ego/Mind is expected by Nature (called a great "mother" by some),
to learn (over the panorama of many incarnations and experiences) all her
"secret workings." 



Thereafter, and voluntarily, we are expected, as human Minds/Egos, to become
each, an active and beneficent participant in her enormous work of
humanizing all beings. 



The "goal to which all this enormous and vast effort, here on earth and
elsewhere in the Universe leads, has been expressed as : the individual
attainment of Supreme Spiritual WISDOM - the knowledge and powers of Nature
are only entrusted to those who have fully proved they are benevolent and
compassionately intelligent humans. 



Such individuals have been called the Christs, the Buddhas, the Great
Teachers and the Sages of the world - the wise "Sons of God," as some say.
(see below)

This gives a partial sketch of the wisdom available from antiquity.



The "Family of Man" thus becomes a reasonable fact, because of the actuality
of an observable brotherhood of mankind where each depends on the
cooperative assistance of all the rest. How else could the Universe be
sustained, and we receive the friendly comfort of the waves of life we all
bathe in? We might hazard a question: "What are we doing for all we so
freely receive?" 



Once we realize that it is incumbent on us to work to achieve such a
glorious future, we can make a start, wherever we are. In a way, it is an
enormous responsibility and involves everything we do. 



I do hope this may be of some help, 



Best wishes, 



Dallas



(1.) The Secret Doctrine [THEOSOPHY ] is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages,
and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system: e.g.,
even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such is the mysterious power of
Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless
generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set down and
explain, in the bewildering series of evolutionary progress, are all
recorded on a few pages of geometrical signs and glyphs. 



The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of
matter, and recorded the soul of things there, where an ordinary profane,
however learned, would have perceived but the external work of form. 



But modern science believes not in the "soul of things," and hence will
reject the whole system of ancient cosmogony. 



It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or
several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering
thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to
test and to verify traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of
the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood
of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the Fifth Race, of the
stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents,
had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. 



How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in
every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions
of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical,
mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree.
No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the
visions-so obtained as to stand as independent evidence-of other adepts, and
by centuries of experiences." S D I 272-3







"To recapitulate. The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion
of the ancient and prehistoric world. Proofs of its diffusion, authentic
records of its history, a complete chain of documents, showing its character
and presence in every land with the teaching of all its great adepts, exist
to this day in the secret crypts of libraries belonging to the Occult
Fraternity." Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxiv. 





"This statement is rendered more credible by a consideration of the
following facts: the tradition of the thousands of ancient parchments saved
when the Alexandrian library was destroyed; the thousands of Sanskrit works
which disappeared in India in the reign of Akbar; the universal tradition in
China and Japan that the true old texts with the commentaries, which alone
make them comprehensible - amounting to many thousands of volumes - have
long passed out of the reach of profane hands; the disappearance of the vast
sacred and occult literature of Babylon; the loss of those keys which alone
could solve the thousand riddles of the Egyptian hieroglyphic records; the
tradition in India that the real secret commentaries which alone make the
Veda intelligible, though no longer visible to profane eyes, still remain
for the initiate, hidden in secret caves and crypts; and an identical belief
among the Buddhists, with regard to their secret books. The Occultists
assert that all these exist, safe from Western spoliating hands, to
re-appear in some more enlightened age." Secret Doctrine,
Vol I, intro., page xxxiv.





"For it is not the fault of the initiates that these documents are now
"lost" to the profane; nor was their policy dictated by selfishness, or any
desire to monopolize the life-giving sacred lore. There were portions of the
Secret Science that for incalculable ages had to remain concealed from the
profane gaze. But this was because to impart to the unprepared multitude
secrets of such tremendous importance, was equivalent to giving a child a
lighted candle in a powder magazine [armory]."

Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., pages xxxiv to xxxv.





"The documents were concealed, it is true, but the knowledge itself and its
actual existence had never been made a secret of by the Hierophants of the
Temple, wherein MYSTERIES have ever been made a discipline and stimulus to
virtue. This is very old news, and was repeatedly made known by the great
adepts, from Pythagoras and Plato down to the Neoplatonists. It was the new
religion of the Nazarenes that wrought a change for the worse - in the
policy of centuries."

Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxv.





"Is it [Theosophy] a new religion, we are asked? By no means; it is not a
religion, nor is its philosophy new; for as already stated, it is as old as
thinking man. Its tenets are not now published for the first time, but have
been cautiously given out to, and taught by, more than one European Initiate
- especially by the late Ragon."

Secret Doctrine, Vol I., intro., page xxxvi.





"These truths are in no sense put forward as a revelation; nor does the
author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore, now made public for
the first time in the world's history. For what is contained in this work
is to be found scattered through thousands of volumes embodying the
scriptures of th great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden under
glyph and symbol, and hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil."
. Secret Doctrine, Vol. I,. preface, page ,vii





"Thus every nation received in its turn some of the said truths, under the
veil of its own local and special symbolism; which, as time went on,
developed into a more or less philosophical cultus, a Pantheon in mythical
disguise. Therefore is Confucius, a very ancient legislator in historical
chronology, though a very modern Sage in the World's History, show by Dr.
Legge - who calls him "emphatically a transmitter, not a maker "- as saying:
"I only hand on: I cannot create new things. I believe in the ancients and
therefore I love them." Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., pages xxxvi to
xxxvii.





"The traces of an immense civilization, even in Central Asia, are still to
be found. This civilization is undeniably prehistoric. And how can there be
civilization without a literature, in some form, without annals or
chronicles? Common sense alone ought to supplement the broken links in the
history of departed nations."

Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxii.





"The gigantic, unbroken wall of the mountains that hem in the whole
table-land of Tibet, from the upper course of the river Khuan-Khe; down to
the Kara-Korum hills, witnessed a civilization during millenniums of years,
and would have strange secrets to tell mankind. The Eastern and Central
portions of those regions -- the Nan-Schayn and the Altyne-taga -- were once
upon a time covered with cities that could well vie with Babylon. A whole
geological period has swept over the land, since those cities breathed their
last, as the mounds of shifting sand, and the sterile and now dead soil of
the immense central plains of the basin of Tarim testify."

Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxii.





"But there is no need to send the reader across the desert, when the same
proofs of ancient civilization are found even in comparatively populated
regions of the same country. The oasis of Tchertchen, for instance, situated
about 4,000 feet above the level of the river Tchertchen-D'arya, is
surrounded with the ruins of archaic towns and cities in every direction.
There, some 3,000 human beings represent the relics of about a hundred
extinct nations and races -- the very names of which are now unknown to our
ethnologists. An anthropologist would feel more than embarrassed to class,
divide and subdivide them; the more so, as the respective descendants of all
these antediluvian races and tribes know as little of their own forefathers
themselves, as if they had fallen from the moon. When questioned about their
origin, they reply that they know not whence their fathers had come ."
Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxiii.





"An immense, incalculable number of MSS, and even printed works known to
have existed, are now to be found no more. They have disappeared without
leaving the slightest trace behind them. Were they works of no importance
they might, in the natural course of time, have been left to perish, and
their very names would have been obliterated from human memory. But it is
not so; for as now ascertained, most of them contained the true keys to
works still extant, and entirely comprehensible, for the greater portion of
their readers, without those additional volumes of commentaries and
explanations. Such are, for instance, the works of Lao-tse, the predecessor
of Confucius." Secret Doctrine, Vol I., intro., page xxv





"As to the Chaldeans, they assuredly got their primitive learning from the
Brahmans, for Rawlinson shows an undeniably Vedic influence in the early
mythology of Babylon; and Col. Vans Kennedy has long since justly declared
that Babylonia was, from her origin, the seat of Sanskrit and Brahman
learning." Secret Doctrine, Vol I, intro., page xxxi.





======================================





-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Gorrell 
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 8:08 PM
To: 
Subject: [bn-study] Ego



I am new to this group so please forgive any naivity.



I respond to the question about whether ego is good or bad.



To ask this question you must see the World differently from me so I am
intrigued. 



My question is, in what way do you perceive the ego as being separate from
'you'?



I have a problem with all this perception of separateness and would like to
understand it better.



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