Theos-Talk Archives (March 2005 Message tt00349)

Hallo all,

--- To those of you who are eager to read and who are seeking understand some of the theosophical problems ---

--- Part 2 of 3 ---
The following might help to understand the serious situation
theosophy faces even today.
A few words to ponder. Try - the pages 54-57 and - in the PDF-file of Cyril Scott's 
book:
The Initiate in the New World down the page at 
(http://www.sanctusgermano.net/books/books.html )
MH or JMH is or was an initiate. And Sir Thomas in part 3 was said to be one of the english Masters.
:



CHAPTER II
MORALITY AND SUPERMORALITY
"As most of you know by now, much of the teaching I give you on these evenings is
of that nature which may be passed on to those outside our particular Order. To
suppose that we Masters exist merely to instruct a few disciples how t develop their
psychic centers"- (M.H. used the word Chakrams)- "is to suppose a fallacy. Indeed,
with the majority of you, I discourage such development as an obstacle to the goal
rather than a means of atta inment. What we do exist for is principally to guide mankind
at large and to give forth such moral, spiritual, and ethical ideas as may be required at a
particular time. How is this achieved? Through our chela ,? who moving in the world
and using their discretion, spread such portions of our teaching as they seem wise and
as opportunity offers. Thus we help our disciples, and in return our disciples help us. If
they are writers, some of that teaching is set forth in their books; if they are poets, it
appears in their poetry; if they are musicians, the spirit of it echoes forth from their
music. When I look round in this little community, I see members of various
professions, all of whom help me to the best of their ability- at least," he added,
looking mischie vous, "I hope so! It is to them I also look for help in bringing new seep
to the fold, so to say, not only by discreetly spreading our teachings, but by persuading
the incredulous of the mere fact of our existence. Of course, no doubt sensation
mongers would much prefer that we miraculously appeared before our prospective
pupils and said: 'I'm your Guru- come and be my disciple.' But such is not our policy
and never will be. Unless the pupils were clairvoyant and thus could see us without our
having to materialize ourselves, it would merely involve a waste of force, and
incidentally prove us guilty of 'showing off.' One of our rules is never to do things in
an extraordinary way, when they can be done in an ordinary way. What we do after the
disciple and the Master have become closely linked is another matter."
M.H. lit a cigar.
"To - night I am going to speak of practically the greatest obstacle to occult Wisdom"
- he used the term Yog Vidya- "spiritual attainment and mystical progress. That
obstacle is Conventionality in whatever form it may take, be it in relation to morals or
religion. The New Testament writers portrayed the Pharisees as its most typical
adherents, and Jesus is reported to have said that the harlots were nearer the kingdom
of Heaven than these Pharisees- which, allowing for Oriental hyperbole, is in
accordance with fact. If we look at the mental bodies of very conventional people we
find their outlines hard and rigid, and the bodies themselves small and as it were under
- nourished. When we try to impress those bodies with our teaching our thoughts
? Disciples- students- pupils

The Initiate in the New World by His Pupil 11

cannot penetrate the barrier of that hard surface; and sometimes the only way we can
endeavour to break down that barring surface is by music of a modern and rather
discordant nature. That is where some modern composers are doing good work.
"From what seeds does this weed of conventionality grow? From mental laziness,
fear- of what others will think; vanity- or the capacity to be hurt by what they will say;
and superstition- or the false notion that what the majority think must be right.
Conventionality in its relation to religion need not detain us; what I would discuss this
evening is its relation to morals. As you know, conventional morality exists and is to a
greater or lesser degree practiced by the masses; but for the student who is on or about
to tread the Path something much more elastic and elevated is required. That
something we may christen with the name of Super - morality. Whereas the latter is
founded on unselfishness and obtains its criterion from unselfishness, the former all
too often, though purporting to be based on unselfishness, is the result of and the
excuse for selfishness instead. Thus there are many reasons why people choose to be
moral- but there can be only one reason why people choose to be supermoral. A man
may be moral because, as I implied, he fears the aspersions cast upon him by his
neighbours- that man is governed by vanity combined with cowardice. Another man
may be moral because it suits his convenience- that is to say because he gets
something to his advantage from so - being. But a man cannot be supermoral for any
such reasons; on the contrary, what he will reap as far as the world is concerned is
likely to be nothing but kicks and calumny. And this because to the individual in the
street the supermoralist will often appear as an immoralist; for to the undiscriminating
extremes look alike, just as the most dazzling light may be as blinding as the desest
darkness."
Here the Master got up from his chair, stepped for a while as he talked.
"What, then, is the distinguishing feature between morality and supermorality? It is
selflessness of motive. The former comes from the brain, the latter from the heart; the
former is dependent on rules and conventions, the latter is entirely dependent on the
demands of circumstances. Take such a simple example as deception. Are any of you
so innocent as to suppose that even I, whom you are pleased to call your Master, would
not and do not deceive you when I think it is for your own good? Yet there are those
who would hold up their hands in horror at such an idea. 'A Master deceive or tell a lie
- unthinkable, impossible!' They little realize that in one sense a Master needs to actwhich
is but a form of deceiving- the greater part of every day. Imagine an Initiate who
has acquired that unconditional ever - permanent Love - Consciousness (which, as you
know, is a concomitant of Adeptship) behaving in a manner consistent with that inner
consciousness? Do you imagine we Initiates dare show the love we feel for everyone?
Why, we should probably soon find ourselves in the lunatic asylum, and have to waste
our so - called miraculous powers in trying to get out again!"
A ripple of laughter went through the little assembly.

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