Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00208)

May 6 2005

Question for Occultists

Dear Mark:

I am not sure if this will help, and if it does not tell me exactly in what
areas you want more detail. I'll try to get it to you. At the moment here
are some general basics.

You say you are under training. Why? What is your own deep seated motive? 

Answer that to yourself and some of your "problems" will be visible and
resolvable. Changes can only be done by one's own will. But as it is a
tremendous force when knowingly applied, directions for its use are scanty.

There is no substitute for study you do by yourself. It may take years --
and patience as well as attention are needed And, you will learn that you
need to be framing your own progress. As for instance, if you desired to
take advanced studies at a University, how would you plan your work? You
have to make sure of your objectives. You have the rest of your life to
work at them. 

Nor can any "powers" be "given" to anyone. If you have paid money, then you
can be sure it is not esotericism or occultism -- since if it were that
easily available, those who offer to sell it would not need to do so. So,
be careful.

Have you looked into and read at least the beginning pages of Vol. I of ISIS
UNVEILED -- it is available "on line" at 

www.phx-ult-lodge.org/

It will at least introduce to some of the complexities and interesting
aspects of your study. Also may be explain how difficult it can be.

Another text you might read is:

PATANJALI -- YOGA APHORISMS

This will introduce you to the complexities of the dual Mind. We all have
that. Hence, the warnings. 

Best wishes, 

Dallas


PS Here goes:

------------------------------------------------

 
THEOSOPHY GENERALLY STATED

 
THE claim is made that an impartial study of history, religion and
literature will show the existence from ancient times of a great body of
philosophical, scientific and ethical doctrine forming the basis and origin
of all similar thought in modern systems. 

It is at once religious and scientific, asserting that religion and science
should never be separated. It puts forward sublime religious and ideal
teachings, but at the same time shows that all of it can be demonstrated to
reason, and that authority other than that has no place, thus preventing the
hypocrisy which arises from asserting dogmas on authority which no one can
show as resting on reason. 

This ancient body of doctrine is known as the "Wisdom Religion" and was
always taught by adepts or initiates therein who preserve it through all
time. 

Hence, and from other doctrines demonstrated, it is shown that man, being
spirit and immortal, is able to perpetuate his real life and consciousness,
and has done so during all time in the persons of those higher flowers of
the human race who are members of an ancient and high brotherhood who
concern themselves with the soul development of man, held by them to include
every process of evolution on all planes. 

The initiates, being bound by the law of evolution, must work with humanity
as its development permits. Therefore from time to time they give out again
and again the same doctrine which from time to time grows obscured in
various nations and places. This is the wisdom religion, and they are the
keepers of it. 

At times they come to nations as great teachers and "saviours," who only
re-promulgate the old truths and system of ethics. This therefore holds that
humanity is capable of infinite perfection both in time and quality, the
saviours and adepts being held up as examples of that possibility.

>From this living and presently acting body of perfected men H.P.Blavatsky
declared she received the impulse to once more bring forward the old ideas,
and from them also received several keys to ancient and modern doctrines
that had been lost during modern struggles toward civilization, and also
that she was furnished by them with some doctrines really ancient but
entirely new to the present day in any exoteric shape. 

These she wrote among the other keys furnished by her to her fellow members
and the world at large. Added, then, to the testimony through all time found
in records of all nations we have this modern explicit assertion that the
ancient learned and humanitarian body of adepts still exists on this earth
and takes an interest in the development of the race.

Theosophy postulates an eternal principle called the "unknown," (sometimes
THE ABSOLUTE) which can never be cognized except through its manifestations.


This eternal principle is in and is every thing and being; it periodically
and eternally manifests itself and recedes again from manifestation. In this
ebb and flow evolution proceeds and itself is the progress of the
manifestation. 

The perceived [physical and psychic] universe is the manifestation of this
unknown, including spirit and matter, for Theosophy holds that those are but
the two opposite poles of the one unknown principle. They coexist, are not
separate nor separable from each other, or, as the Hindu scriptures say,
there is no particle of matter without spirit, and no particle of spirit
without matter. 

In manifesting itself the spirit-matter differentiates on seven planes, each
more dense on the way down to the plane of our senses than its predecessor,
the substance in all being the same only differing in degree. Therefore from
this view the whole universe is alive, not one atom of it being in any sense
dead. It is also conscious and intelligent, its consciousness and
intelligence being present on all planes though obscured on this one. 

On this plane of ours THE SPIRIT FOCALIZES ITSELF IN ALL HUMAN BEINGS WHO
CHOOSE TO PERMIT IT TO DO SO, and the refusal to permit it is the cause of
ignorance, of sin, of all sorrow and suffering.

In all ages some have come to this high state, have grown to be as gods, are
partakers actively in the work of nature, and go on from century to century
widening their consciousness and increasing the scope of their government in
nature. 

This is the destiny of all beings, and hence at the outset Theosophy
postulates this perfectibility of the race, removes the idea of innate
unregenerable wickedness, and offers a purpose and an aim for life which is
consonant with the longings of the soul and with its real nature, tending at
the same time to destroy pessimism with its companion, despair.

In Theosophy the world is held to be the product of the evolution of the
principle spoken of from the very lowest first forms of life guided as it
proceeded by intelligent perfected beings from other and older evolutions,
and compounded also of the egos or individual spirits for and by whom it
emanates. 

Hence MAN AS WE KNOW HIM IS HELD TO BE A CONSCIOUS SPIRIT, THE FLOWER OF
EVOLUTION, with other and lower classes of egos below him in the lower
kingdoms, all however coming up and destined one day to be on the same human
stage as we now are, we then being higher still. 

Man's consciousness being thus more perfect is able to pass from one to
another of the planes of differentiation mentioned. If he mistakes any one
of them for the reality that he is in his essence, he is deluded; the object
of evolution then is to give him complete self-consciousness so that he may
go on to higher stages in the progress of the universe. 

His evolution after coming on the human stage is for the getting of
experience, and in order to so raise up and purify the various planes of
matter with which he has to do, that the voice of the spirit may be fully
heard and comprehended.

He is a religious being because he is a spirit encased in matter, which is
in turn itself spiritual in essence. Being a spirit he requires vehicles
with which to come in touch with all the planes of nature included in
evolution, and it is these vehicles that make of him an intricate, composite
being, liable to error, but at the same time able to rise above all
delusions and conquer the highest place. He is in miniature the universe,
for he is as spirit, manifesting himself to himself by means of seven
differentiations. 

Therefore is he known in Theosophy as a sevenfold being. The Christian
division of body, soul, and spirit is accurate so far as it goes, but will
not answer to the problems of life and nature, unless, as is not the case,
those three divisions are each held to be composed of others, which would
raise the possible total to seven. 

The spirit stands alone at the top, next comes the spiritual soul or Buddhi
as it is called in Sanskrit. This is [known as WISDOM] as it partakes more
of the spirit than any below it, and is connected with Manas or mind, these
three being the real trinity of man, the imperishable part, the real
thinking entity living on the earth in the other and denser vehicles by its
evolution. 

Below in order of quality is the plane of the desires and passions shared
with the animal kingdom, unintelligent, and the producer of ignorance
flowing from delusion. It is distinct from the will and judgment, and must
therefore be given its own place. 

On this plane is gross life, manifesting, not as spirit from which it
derives its essence, but as energy and motion on this plane. It being common
to the whole objective plane and being everywhere, is also to be classed by
itself, the portion used by man being given up at the death of the body. 

Then last, before the objective body, is the model or double of the outer
physical case. This double is the astral body belonging to the astral plane
of matter, not so dense as physical molecules, but more tenuous and much
stronger, as well as lasting. It is the original of the body permitting the
physical molecules to arrange and show themselves thereon, allowing them to
go and come from day to day as they are known to do, yet ever retaining the
fixed shape and contour given by the astral double within. 

These lower four principles or sheaths are the transitory perishable part of
man, not himself, but in every sense the instrument he uses, given up at the
hour of death like an old garment, and rebuilt out of the general reservoir
at every new birth. 

The trinity is the real man, the thinker, the individuality that passes from
house to house, gaining experience at each rebirth, while it suffers and
enjoys according to its deeds - it is the one central man, the living
spirit-soul.

Now this spiritual man, having always existed, being intimately concerned in
evolution, dominated by the law of cause and effect, because in himself he
is that very law, showing moreover on this plane varieties of force of
character, capacity, and opportunity, his very presence must be explained,
while the differences noted have to be accounted for. 

The doctrine of reincarnation does all this. It means that man as a thinker,
composed of soul, mind and spirit, occupies body after body in life after
life on the earth which is the scene of his evolution, and where he must,
under the very laws of his being, complete that evolution, once it has been
begun. In any one life he is known to others as a personality, but in the
whole stretch of eternity he is one individual, feeling in himself an
identity not dependent on name, form, or recollection.

This doctrine is the very base of Theosophy, for it explains life and
nature. It is one aspect of evolution, for as it is re-embodiment in
meaning, and as evolution could not go on without re-embodiment, it is
evolution itself, as applied to the human soul. But it is also a doctrine
believed in at the time given to Jesus and taught in the early ages of
Christianity, being now as much necessary to that religion as it is to any
other to explain texts, to reconcile the justice of God with the rough and
merciless aspect of nature and life to most mortals, and to throw a light
perceptible by reason on all the problems that vex us in our journey through
this world. 

The vast, and under any other doctrine unjust, difference between the savage
and the civilized man as to both capacity, character, and opportunity can be
understood only through this doctrine, and coming to our own stratum the
differences of the same kind may only thus be explained. It vindicates
Nature and God, and removes from religion the blot thrown by men who have
postulated creeds which paint the creator as a demon. 

Each man's life and character are the outcome of his previous lives and
thoughts. Each is his own judge, his own executioner, for it is his own hand
that forges the weapon which works for his punishment, and each by his own
life reaches reward, rises to heights of knowledge and power for the good of
all who may be left behind him. 

Nothing is left to chance, favor, or partiality, but all is under the
governance of law. Man is a thinker, and by his thoughts he makes the causes
for woe or bliss; for his thoughts produce his acts. He is the centre for
any disturbance of the universal harmony, and to him as the centre the
disturbance must return so as to bring about equilibrium, for nature always
works towards harmony. 

Man is always carrying on a series of thoughts, which extend back to the
remote past, continually making action and reaction. He is thus responsible
for all his thoughts and acts, and in that his complete responsibility is
established; his own spirit is the essence of this law and provides for ever
compensation for every disturbance and adjustment for all effects. 

This is the law of Karma or justice, sometimes called the ethical law of
causation. It is not foreign to the Christian scriptures, for both Jesus and
St. Paul clearly enunciated it. Jesus said we should be judged as we gave
judgment and should receive the measure meted to others. St. Paul said:
"Brethren, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth
that also shall he reap." And that sowing and reaping can only be possible
under the doctrines of Karma and reincarnation.

But what of death and after? Is heaven a place or is it not? Theosophy
teaches, as may be found in all sacred books, that after death the soul
reaps a rest. This is from its own nature. It is a thinker, and cannot
during life fulfill and carry out all nor even a small part of the myriads
of thoughts entertained.

Hence when at death it casts off the body and the astral body, and is
released from the passions and desires, its natural forces have immediate
sway and it thinks its thoughts out on the soul plane, clothed in a finer
body suitable to that existence. This is called Devachan. It is the very
state that has brought about the descriptions of heaven common to all
religions, but this doctrine is very clearly put in the Buddhist and Hindu
religions. 

It is a time of rest, because the physical body being absent the
consciousness is not in the completer touch with visible nature which is
possible on the material plane. But it is a real existence, and no more
illusionary than earth life; it is where the essence of the thoughts of life
that were as high as character permitted, expands and is garnered by the
soul and mind. When the force of these thoughts is fully exhausted the soul
is drawn back once more to earth, to that environment which is sufficiently
like unto itself to give it the proper further evolution. 

This alternation from state to state goes on until the being rises from
repeated experiences above ignorance, and realizes in itself the actual
unity of all spiritual beings. Then it passes on to higher and greater steps
on the evolutionary road.

No new ethics are presented by Theosophy, as it is held that right ethics
are for ever the same. But in the doctrines of Theosophy are to be found the
philosophical and reasonable basis for ethics and the natural enforcement of
them in practice. 

Universal brotherhood is that which will result in doing unto others as you
would have them do unto you, and in your loving your neighbour as yourself -
declared as right by all teachers in the great religions of the world.

WILLIAM Q JUDGE Lucifer, December, 1893
 
>From the Official Report, World's Parliament of Religions, 1893
---------------------------------------------

 
THE APPLICATION OF THEOSOPHICAL THEORIES


The mistake is being made by a great many persons, among them being
Theosophists, of applying several of the doctrines current in Theosophical
literature, to only one or two phases of a question or to only one thing at
a time, limiting rules which have universal application to a few cases, when
in fact all those doctrines which have been current in the East for so long
a time should be universally applied. 

For instance, take the law of Karma. Some people say, "yes, we believe in
that," but they only apply it to human beings. They consider it only in its
relation to their own acts or to the acts of all men. Sometimes they fail to
see that it has its effect not only on themselves and their fellows, but as
well on the greatest of Mahatmas. 

Those great Beings are not exempt from it; in fact they are, so to say, more
bound by it than we are. Although they are said to be above Karma, this is
only to be taken to mean that, having escaped from the wheel of Samsara
(which means the wheel of life and death, or rebirths), and in that sense
are above Karma, at the same time we will find them often unable to act in a
given case. 

Why? If they have transcended Karma, how can it be possible that in any
instance they may not break the law, or perform certain acts which to us
seem to be proper at just that juncture? Why can they not, say in the case
of a chela who has worked for them and for the cause, for years with the
most exalted unselfishness, interfere and save him from suddenly falling or
being overwhelmed by horrible misfortune; or interfere to help or direct a
movement? It is because they have become part of the great law of Karma
itself. It would be impossible for them to lift a finger.

Again, we know that at a certain period of progress, far above this
sublunary world, the adept reaches a point when he may, if he so chooses,
formulate a wish that he might be one of the Devas, one of that bright host
of beings of whose pleasure, glory and power we can have no idea. 

The mere formulation of the wish is enough. At that moment he becomes one of
the Devas. He then for a period of time which in its extent is incalculable,
enjoys that condition--then what? Then he has to begin again low down in the
scale, in a mode and for a purpose which it would be useless to detail here,
because it could not be understood, and also because I am not able to put it
in any language with which I am conversant. In this, then, is not this
particular adept who thus fell, subject to the law of Karma?

There is in the Hindoo books a pretty story which illustrates this. A
certain man heard that every day a most beautiful woman rose up out of the
sea, and combed her hair. He resolved that he would go to see her. He went,
and she rose up as usual. He sprang into the sea behind her, and with her
went down to her abode. 

There he lived with her for a vast length of time. One day she said she had
to go away and stated that he must not touch a picture which was on the
wall, and then departed. In a few days, fired by curiosity, he went to look
at the picture; saw that it was an enameled one of a most ravishingly
beautiful person, and he put out his hand to touch it. At that moment the
foot of the figure suddenly enlarged, flew out from the frame, and sent him
back to the scenes of earth, where he met with only sorrow and trouble.

The law of Karma must be applied to everything. Nothing is exempt from it.
It rules the vital molecule from plant up to Brahma himself. Apply it then
to the vegetable, animal and human kingdom alike.

Another law is that of Reincarnation. This is not to be confined only to the
souls and bodies of men. Why not use it for every branch of nature to which
it may be applicable? Not only are we, men and women, reincarnated; but also
every molecule of which our bodies are composed. In what way, then, can we
connect this rule with all of our thoughts? Does it apply there? It seems to
me that it does, and with as much force as anywhere. 

Each thought is of definite length. It does not last for over what we may
call an instant, but the time of its duration is in fact much shorter. It
springs into life and then it dies; but it is at once reborn in the form of
another thought. 

And thus the process goes on from moment to moment, from hour to hour, from
day to day. And each one of these reincarnated thoughts lives its life, some
good, some bad, some so terrible in their nature that if we could see them
we would shrink back in affright. 

Further than that, a number of these thoughts form themselves into a certain
idea, and it dies to be reincarnated in its time. Thus on rolls this vast
flood. Will it overwhelm us? It may; it often does. Let us then make our
thoughts pure. Our thoughts are the matrix, the mine, the fountain, the
source of all that we are and of all that we may be.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE	The Occult Word, May, 1886


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


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Hamilton Jr.
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 7:33 AM
To: 
Subject: RE: : Question for Occultists -- What is sorcery ?

I'm not really interested in developing "powers", just more or less
trying to find out what I was doing wrong in my training. In the
future I'm going to pay less attention to the occultism aspect (using
it), and more attention to the nature aspect (learning how it works).

I think I need a low-level, completely basic tutorial on how
everything in the universe works now. Is that asking too much?

-Mark H.

CUT