Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00323)

Hallo all,

My views are:

I thought the following might be helpful to add.
I was written by what I call a friends of mine...and
then later rewritten a bit my little me.

On the Theosophical Society

Blavatsky died, of course. There were contingencies but something like
Theosophy that is so clearly associated with transformational activities
could never continue in its original form any more than a kaleidoscope
shows the same image twice. Blavatsky may have "closed up shop" but the
materials out of which the shop was constructed did not cease to exist
but were simply reconfigured with a different functionality. You can
think of that as a puzzle if you are the type of person who delights
in puzzles or you can think of it as a fraud if you think that
everything that is not as it appears is a fraud. Neither say anything
about the reality however.

The reality is that people who allowed themselves to be conditioned to
behave in a certain way become agitated if the thing they are
conditioned to - ceases to function in the same way. Notice I said
"allowed themselves to be conditioned to". The function of Blavatsky's
school was at least in part not to condition or indoctrinate but to provide 
the raw
materials for people to begin to work on themselves and to follow that
with a means for people to enter into the work. After all, medicinal
drugs exist to help people who are sick. People who take so many of
the drugs that they become addicted can hardly complain against the
doctors and pharmacologists who designed the drugs in the first place.
Nor can anyone really complain if after one shop closes down its
replacement fails to open up selling exactly the same confectionaries
they were so pleased with.

It is often said that "when the seeker is ready the master will
appear" but it can also be said that if the seeker is 'too ready' or
perhaps not ready 'in the right way' the teacher will wait until this
situation corrects itself.

I am not making a big mystery of this or mystifying or pretending
omniscience or anything like that. We can all fail to do something we
want to achieve very much - simply through 'trying too hard'. In
Luke's Gospel, Jesus says "The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you"
or in another translation "Right under your nose!". And it is also
said that "it is not the path that is hard but our Commanding Self
that makes it so". It is also common experience that you can spend
hours looking for something you have lost and then give up and turn to
something else and the moment you stop thinking about the lost object
your remember where you left it.

Trying too hard; engaging the Commanding Self to attempt to find a
source of teaching rather than allowing the real self to find the way
to The Way is a very common failing. It is easy to get trapped in
either intellectualisation or emotionality.

The reality is that if you adopt the right attitude - the teaching
will draw you to it. As long as you are in touch with your own
sincerity your sincerity will guide you. Have an inappropriate
attitude - for
example be motivated by greed for new experiences or food for the ego
and you will only draw to you the means of satisfying the outer
hunger; whether physical, emotional or intellectual. The more subtle
nutrition will evade you.

If you crave excitement the means to obtain excitement will be
presented to you. It is no use saying "What I REALLY wanted was a
teacher!" - if the craving you were projecting was for excitement and
entertainment. "You cannot wear your cloak AND wave your flag" - as
the saying goes. Just because you have 'tried everything else' and now
think you should have a Sufi teacher does not mean you are entitled to
one. A Sufi teacher is not the pudding course of life's dinner! If
life has got you into a certain way of thinking - as it does with all
of us - you cannot expect to continue in the same way of thinking and
receive a teacher 'as a reward'. That is not what 'being ready' means.
It is said that if you are ready "nothing can prevent you from
attaining your heart's desire" but if you are not ready "ANYTHING can
prevent you - even from setting out!"

It is even said that it is "tantamount to blasphemy" to believe other
than that; the way is being prepared for you - even as you pine as a
lover for the beloved. Trusting to providence that you will find the
way to The Way is the way forward rather than attempting to 'force
your destiny' by sheer, physical effort and imitative activity. Your
intended teacher is waiting for you to 'engage with him' on a more
subtle level. There is nothing your Commanding Self can do to speed up
the process once started and putting effort into it will tend to slow
you down.

I suppose a short, pithy way of summing this up might be "If you want
your spear to reach its target you have to let go!"

May you soon discover your own way to The Way.

Very best wishes,

xxx

-------



from
M. Sufilight with peace and love...


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Hejka-Ekins" <jjhe@charter.net>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 9:00 PM
Subject: Re: Theos-World Jerry: "...conversations I have had with John 
Algeo, Joy Mills and Shirley..."


> Daniel,
>
> After twenty years, in most cases, I couldn't even tell you "exactly"
> what my words were, let alone someone else's. Further, I think you have
> been around the TS long enough to have at least intuited that when an
> action is taken against an activity, lodge, individual etc. the
> officially stated reasons rarely have much to do with what is really
> going on. In the TS information travels through what is called "the
> Theosophical grapevine." It is not recorded in the journals, and
> questions aimed at tracing the source of the information typically
> brings the answer: "I heard it on good authority." Even that inner
> group meeting at Lake Geneva I mentioned in an earlier post is not
> documented in any way. There was no written announcement of that
> meeting, no notes were taken, no tape recorder was running. Even at the
> level of the National Board, those who attend those meetings are told
> not to discuss what goes on. "Privacy" is given as the reason. But
> there is more to it than that. Much is discussed and done which does
> not show up in the official minutes. I know this from corroborating
> statements from several different Board members of the past. Though
> there are occasional leaks. Ever since the days of Besant, the mode for
> maintaining control has been passive aggressive. Few members are aware
> of this, unless they happen to get caught up in one of the currents.
> Even then, they often don't get it. If you are interested in how these
> things work, you have to look at the underlying process. Published
> official statements and "talking points" never reveal the true
> complexities. I am not suggesting conspiracy theories. I'm trying to
> describe how the political side of any institution which has to deal
> with a large voting membership works to maintain power. The TS is no
> exception.
>
> --j
>
>
>
>
> Daniel H. Caldwell wrote:
>
> > Jerry,
> >
> > You wrote:
> >
> > =============================================
> > Also keep in mind that because of conversations
> > I have had with John Algeo, Joy Mills and Shirley
> > Nicholson, I was already perfectly aware of their
> > attitudes towards the Networking movement.
> > =============================================
> >
> > Did they ever specifically say why they were
> > AGAINST the Networking movement?
> >
> > And exactly what were John Algeo's words that
> > lead non-Adyar members to come to the conclusion
> > you have stated?
> >
> > Daniel
> > http://hpb.cc
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links