Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00189)

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

RE: Theosophy vs Occultism


Dear Gerry and friends:

I know we disagree on this matter of astral exploration.

THEOSOPHY as I see and understand it, recognizes the wonders of the astral
plane that underlies the physical. As you indicate in many ways it is
similar to memories of our dreams or possibly more accurately of our "lucid
dreams." But there seems from all accounts to be a great deal more than
that.

I will again try to present a general picture.

The Astral form and plane are closely associated with :

1.	The Psychic world, which in turn, is closely associated with the
personal "self of desire." By nature it (he Astral Body) is formed when the
immortal Soul returns to incarnation -- as a focus or center for their
attraction, of the residue of Karmic skandhas and other lower affinities
from its earlier incarnations.

2.	It forms the substratum or electro-magnetic model on which the
physical molecules accumulate and form the physical organs of our material
bodies 

3.	It serves as a permanent sensitive, photographic record of all
actions, desires and secret thoughts and choices we make, and, which are
made everywhere by everyone.  

4.	After physical death it provides an atmosphere for the temporary
residence (before disintegration -- the "Second Death") of the Kama-rupa
(body of desire) -- spook or ghost --. In addition to these it provides
residence, we are told, for:

5.	Elementals or "nature sprites" and collective energies,

6.	Elementaries -- or the basest and most evil entities that were once
men. 

7.	Its influence on our psychic nature is to make it more selfish and
isolationist It encourages the reverse of "Universal brotherhood." And, it
is most actively used and invoked by the priesthood of every dogmatic creed.

It is for these reasons that THEOSOPHY makes clear that there is danger
connected with any activity connected with the astral and the conjoined
psychic.

Therefore, if anyone is to encounter it voluntarily and by design, it
recommends preparation. It asks we prepare ourself in advance with as much
knowledge as we can secure, concerning this hitherto mysterious area.  

To be forewarned and secure in one's knowledge of what to expect is the sum
and substance of the advice made.

Were one, for instance, to regard every picture seen in the astral light as
a spiritual experience, he might truly after a while brook no contradiction
upon the subject, but that would be merely because, as someone remarks "he
was drunk with this kind of wine."

This is a strong statement and is not meant to demean anyone who has strong
beliefs on this subject.  

There is however a probability that if one were to proceeded with this
pleasant indulgence, he or she might be neglecting their true progress,
which is always dependent upon his, or her purity of motive and conquest of
his or her known or ascertainable personal defects.

The astral plane is the same as that of our psychic senses. It may be
compared to the strange sights and sounds of an untrodden African jungle or
desert, and has to be well understood before the student can stay there long
without danger. 

Every mode of thought and of living may be called a private rite gone over
by each one as his conscious or unconscious religion. In pantheism we might
say he selects the particular "god" associated with the object of his
targeted desires. 

A man usually adopts that which is conformable, or subordinate, to his own
nature, and being full of desires he worships or follows "other gods" than
the Supreme Self. 

In the West these "other gods" are the various pleasures, objects, aims and
modes of life and thought, be they religious or not, which the people adopt.
They have not the many thousands of gods of the Hindu pantheon, each one for
some particular purpose, but it comes to the same thing. The idol-worshiper
bows to the god visible so that he may attain the object of his heart which
that god is supposed to control. 

The Western man worships his object and strives after it with all his heart
and mind and thus worships something else than (quite different from) the
Supreme Imperishable One. The "god" of one is political advancement, of
another— and generally of most— the possession of great wealth. 

While we can overcome the dangers of a Sahara, or a Congalese forest by the
use of medicine and other inventions designed to mitigate or destroy dangers
lurking there, in dealing with the "astral jungle," we have none, or very
few of such aids. 

We may be physically brave and say that no fear can enter into us, but no
untrained or merely curious seeker is able to say just what effect will
result to his outer senses from the attack or influence encountered by the
inner psychical senses.

Anyone who chooses to revolve in isolation around himself, is in greater
danger of delusion than any one else, for he has not the assistance that
comes from being united in thought with all other sincere seekers. There is
always an advantage in sharing experience and issuing warnings.

Let us compare our own "heart" to a dark house. One may stand in such a
dark house where objects cannot be distinguished, and , looking out, quite
plainly see all that is illuminated there. Similarly, we can see from the
darkness of our own house -- our hearts -- such objects which may be now and
then illumined by the astral light outside it. But, what do we gain from
such experience? Nothing, or
---? 

I offer this illustration to show that we need first of all to remove any
ignorance we have within -- an inner darkness -- before trying to see into
the "astral" darkness (or light ?) without.  

In other words, we first need to know our own make up, moral stamina,
potentials and achievements -- we must "know ourselves" (as Hermes said) --
before knowing things extraneous to ourselves. A base has to be established
in two camps.

This road may not seem easiest to some students. Most of them find it far
pleasanter and faster, to look on such or many kinds of strange and
entertaining "astral" allurements, and to cultivate some of their psychic
senses, to the exclusion of real spiritual work.

The true road is plain and easy to find, it is so easy that very many
would-be students miss it because they cannot believe it to be so simple.

It is called "spiritual cultivation".  

Here are some suggestions, Theosophy teaches:


First. That the essence of the process lies in the securing of
supremacy, to the highest, the spiritual, element of man's nature.


Second. That this is attained along four lines, among others,

[a] The entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the cultivation
of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the good of others.

(b) The absolute cultivation of the inner, spiritual man by meditation, by
reaching to and communion with the Divine, and by exercise of the kind
described by Patanjali, i. e., incessant striving to an ideal end.

(c) The control of fleshly appetites and desires, all lower, material
interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests of the spirit.

(d) The careful performance of every duty belonging to one's station in
life, with-out desire for reward, leaving results for Divine law.


Third. That while the above is incumbent on and practicable by all
religiously disposed men, a yet higher plane of spiritual attainment is
conditioned upon a specific course of training, physical, intellectual and
spiritual, by which the internal faculties are first aroused and then
developed.


Fourth. That an extension of this process is reached in Adeptship,
Mahatmaship, or the states of Rishis, Sages and Dhyan Chohans, which are all
exalted stages, attained by laborious self-discipline and hardship,
protracted through possibly many incarnations, and with many degrees of
initiation and preferment, beyond which are yet other stages ever
approaching the Divine.


As to the rationale of spiritual development : 


First. That the process takes place entirely within the individual
himself, the motive, the effort, and the result proceeding from his own
inner nature, along the lines of self-evolution.


Second. That, however personal and interior, this process is not
unaided, being possible, in fact, only through close communion with the
supreme source of all strength.


As to the degree of advancement in incarnations it holds:


First. That even a mere intellectual acquaintance with Theosophic
truth has great value in fitting the individual for a step upwards in his
next earth-life, as it gives an impulse in that direction. 


Second. That still more is gained by a career of duty, piety and
beneficence.


Third. That a still greater advance is attained by the attentive
and devoted use of the means to spiritual culture heretofore stated.


Fourth. That every race and individual of it reaches in evolution a
period known as "the moment of choice," when they decide for themselves
their future destiny by a deliberate and conscious choice between eternal
life and death, and that this right of choice is the peculiar appanage of
the free soul. 


It cannot be exercised until the man has realized the Soul within him, and
until that Soul has attained some measure of self-consciousness in the body.
The "moment of choice" is not a fixed period of time; it is made up of all
moments. It cannot come unless all the previous lives have led up to it. 

For the race as a whole it has not yet come. Any individual can hasten the
advent of this period for himself under the previously stated law of the
ripening of Karma. 

Should he then fail to choose right he is not wholly condemned, for the
economy of nature provides that he shall again and again have the
opportunity of choice when the moment arrives for the whole race. After this
period the race, having blossomed, tends towards its physical dissolution.
The Egos that animated and guided its progress are said to pass on to
further work of a similar nature elsewhere.

A few individuals of it will have outstripped its progress and attained
Adeptship or Mahatmaship. The main body, who have chosen aright, but who
have not attained "salvation," pass into the subjective condition, there to
await the influx of the human life wave into the next globe, which they are
the first souls to people. 

The above are based on statements made originally by Mr. Judge. They are
intended to stand on their intrinsic worth -- morally and logically.

They ought to serve as a "map" might, to an explorer of the caves and
jungles of the "Lower Soul" -- the Kama-Manas -- our intelligent
"desire-nature." 
Further:

Some might be unaware of the 7-fold classification of the active principles
in every human being. Here is a brief review:

THE 7-FOLD CLASSIFICATION (see also S D I 157; II 596)

H. P. Blavatsky directly from the Great Lodge of Initiates...places...the
old doctrine [of seven-fold Man] before western civilization. The
classification is:

1. The Body, or Rupa.
2. Vitality, or Prana-Jiva.
3. Astral Body, or Linga-Sarira.
4. Animal Soul, or Kama-Rupa
5. Human Soul, or Manas.
6. Spiritual Soul, or Buddhi.
7. Spirit, or Atma,

.
The words in the Sanskrit language are adopted for the English terms.

This classification stands to this day for all practical purposes, but it is
capable of modification and extension. For instance, a later arrangement
which places ASTRAL BODY second instead of third in the category does not
substantially alter it. It at once gives an idea of what man is, very
different from the vague description by the words "body and soul," and also
boldly challenges the materialistic conception that mind is the product of
brain, a portion of the body.

No claim is made that these principles were hitherto unknown, for
they were all understood in various ways not only by the Hindus
but by many Europeans. Yet the compact presentation of the
sevenfold constitution of man in intimate connection with the
septenary constitution of a chain of Globes through which the
being evolves, had not been given out... [ see S D I 200; II 596; 
Key 91-2, 135-6, 195-6 ]

Considering these constituents in another manner, we would say
that the lower man is a composite being, but in his real nature
is a unity, or immortal being, comprising a trinity of Spirit,
Discernment, and Mind which requires four lower mortal
instruments or vehicles through which to work in matter and
obtain experience from Nature.

This trinity is that called Atma-Buddhi-Manas in Sanskrit,
difficult terms to render in English. 

ATMA is Spirit, 
BUDDHI is the highest power of intellection, that which discerns and judges,
and 
MANAS is Mind. 

This threefold collection is the real man; and beyond doubt the doctrine is
the origin of the theological one of the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost.
The four lower instruments or vehicles are shown in this table:

Real Man (Trinity) is :

ATMA,
BUDDHI,
MANAS,


Lower Vehicles (Quaternary) are :

THE PASSIONS AND DESIRES,
LIFE PRINCIPLE,
ASTRAL BODY,
PHYSICAL BODY.


These four lower material constituents are transitory and subject to
disintegration in themselves as well as to separation from each other. When
the hour of death arrives the time for their separation begins, the
combination can no longer be kept up, the physical body dies, the atoms of
which each of the four is composed begin to separate from each other, and
the whole collection being disjointed is no longer fit for one as an
instrument for the real man.

These are a few statements culled from the theosophical writings of Mr Judge

They should make clear many things.

Best wishes,

Dallas

=======================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Schueler 
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 3:46 PM
To: 
Subject: Theosophy vs Occultism

<<"But stranger dangers than any you have met are there when one goes
further
on. The dweller of the threshold is there, made up of all the evil that man
has done. None can escape its approach, and he who is not prepared is in
danger of death, of despair, or of moral ruin. >>

Here once again Dallas is providing us with reasons to avoid astral
traveling, the main one being fear. The Dweller on the Threshold is a
projection of that fear. A wise man once said that perfect love casteth out
fear. Anyone with hatred and bitterness, with fear for one's self, had
indeed best leave astral traveling alone until fear and hate and the
ignorance that produces them are eliminated.

The astral plane, and indeed all of the planes, are our own Not-I; they are
vast and intricate projections of our own mind. This is very clear to us in
dreams, but harder to see in the waking state. Yet the waking state is also
a dream, a dream of another sort. And as such, our experiences can be
pleasant or unpleasant according to our mental state.

Fearing to astral travel is like fearing to go to sleep. 

CUT