Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00096)

Morten,
You copied a book. Would you write in short what it wants to convey. 

Anand Gholap

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "M. Sufilight" <global-
theosophy@s...> wrote:
> Hallo Anand and all,
> 
> My views are:
> 
> The following might be helpful in understanding some of the 
Blavatskians 
> better...
> 
> 
> - - - A Curriculum of a School - - -
> 
> 
> Here is an interesting piece of spiritual teaching taken from the 
book 
> "Learning how to learn" by Idries Shah. The author Sylvia Cranston 
who was 
> behind the biography "HPB" has called Idries Shah an overlooked 
author.
> 
> What do the Theosophical readers and teachers think about the 
below ? Is it 
> Theosophy or not ?
> 
> 
> 
> A CURRICULUM OF A SCHOOL
> 
> 
> "Q: Could you give us a view of the curriculum of a School, 
from 'inside the 
> School' so to speak?"
> 
> "A: In our teaching, we must group correctly these elements: the 
pupils, the 
> teacher and the circumstances of study. Only at the right time and 
place, 
> with the teacher suitable to these, and with the right body of 
students, can 
> our studies be said to be capable of coherent development."
> 
> "Does this sound difficult or unreasonable? Let us compare these 
> requirements with an analogy of our needs: the ordinary educational 
> institution."
> 
> "If we are learning, say, physics, we must have a man skilled in 
physics 
> [having successfully completed his own training; able also to 
teach; and 
> with a mandate to teach]; students who want to learn and who have 
capacity 
> and some background for the study; and adequate laboratories and 
other 
> facilities for the studies to take place."
> 
> "A physics teacher could not make any real progress with a class of 
idiots, 
> or people who primarily wanted power or fame or gain through 
physics. These 
> factors would be getting in the way of the teaching. A class of 
brilliant 
> students, faced with a man who knew no physics, or who only had a 
> smattering, would make little progress. A good teacher, with a 
student body, 
> could do little unless the instruments and equipment, the building 
and so 
> on, were available as and when needed."
> 
> "Yet this principle, so well established in conventional studies of 
all 
> kinds, is largely passed over and has fallen into disuse, among 
> esotericists. Why? Because they have a primitive and unenlightened 
attitude 
> towards teaching. Like an oaf who has just heard of physics or only 
seen 
> some of its manifestations, the would-be student wants it all 
*now*. He does 
> not care about the necessary presence of other students. He wants 
to skip 
> the curriculum and he sees no connection between the building and 
the 
> subject of physics. So he does not want a laboratory."
> 
> "Just observe what happens when people try to carry on learning or 
teaching 
> without the correct grouping of the three essentials:"
> 
> "Would-be students always try to operate their studies with only 
one, or at 
> the most two, of the three factors. Teachers try to teach those who 
are 
> unsuitable, because of the difficulties of finding enough people to 
form a 
> class. Students who have no teacher try to teach themselves. 
Transpose this 
> into a group of people trying to learn physics, and you will see 
some of 
> their problems. Others group themselves around the literature and 
> methodology of older schools, trying to make the scrap material of 
someone 
> else's physics laboratory work. They formalize rituals, become 
obsessed by 
> principles and slogans, assign disproportionate importance to the 
elements 
> which are only tools, but which they regard as a more significant 
heritage."
> 
> "Anyone can think of several schools, cults, religions, systems of 
> psychology or philosophy which fall into the above classifications."
> 
> "We must categorically affirm that it is impossible to increase 
human 
> knowledge in the higher field by these methods. The statistical 
possibility 
> of useful gains within a reasonable time is so remote as to be 
excluded from 
> one's calculations."
> 
> "Why, then, do people insist on raking over the embers and looking 
for truth 
> when they have little chance of finding it? Simply because they are 
using 
> their conditioning propensity, not their capacity for higher 
perception, to 
> try to follow the path. There is intellectual stimulus and 
emotional 
> attraction in the mere effort to plumb the unknown. When the 
ordinary human 
> mind encounters evidences of a higher state of being, of even when 
it 
> conceives the possibility of them, it will invariably conclude that 
there is 
> some possibility of progress for that mind without the application 
of the 
> factors of teaching-teacher-students-time-and-place which are 
essentials."
> 
> "Man has few alternatives in his search for truth. He may rely upon 
his 
> unaided intellect, and gamble that he is capable of perceiving 
truth or even 
> the way to truth. This is a poor, but an attractive, gamble. Or he 
can 
> gamble upon the claims of an individual or institution which claims 
to have 
> such a way. This gamble, too, is a poor one. Aside from a very few, 
wo/men 
> in general lack a sufficiently developed perception to tell them:"
> 
> Not to trust their own unaided mentation; Who or what to 
trust. "There are, 
> in consequence, two main schools of thought in this matter. Some 
say 'Follow 
> your own promptings'; the other says: 'Trust this or that 
intuition'. Each 
> is really useless to the ordinary wo/man. Each will help him use up 
his 
> time."
> 
> "The bitter truth is that before man can know his own inadequacy, 
or the 
> competence of another man or institution, he must first learn 
something 
> which will enable him to perceive both. Note well that his 
perception itself 
> is a product of right study; not of instinct or emotional 
attraction to the 
> individual, nor yet of desiring to 'go it alone'. This is 'Learning 
How To 
> Learn."
> 
> "All this means, of course, that we are postulating here the need 
for 
> preparatory study before school work takes place. We deny that a 
man can 
> study and properly benefit from school work until he is equipped 
for it: any 
> more than a person can study space-navigation unless he has a grasp 
of 
> mathematics."
> 
> "This is not to say that a man (or a woman) cannot have a sensation 
of 
> truth. But the unorganized and fragmented mind which is most 
people's 
> heritage tends to distort the quality and quantity of this 
sensation, 
> leading to almost completely false conclusions about what can or 
should be 
> done."
> 
> "This is not to say, either, that man cannot take part in studies 
and 
> activities which impinge upon that portion of him which is 
connected with a 
> higher life and cognition. But the mere application of special 
techniques 
> [often to everyone, regardless of their current state and 
requirements] will 
> not transform that man's consciousness. It will only feed into, and 
disturb, 
> more or less permanently, centers of thought and feeling where it 
does not 
> belong. Thus it is that something which should be a blessing 
becomes a 
> curse. Sugar, shall we say, for a normal person is nutritionally 
useful. To 
> a diabetic, it can be poison."
> 
> "Therefore, before the techniques of study and development are made 
> available to the student, he must be enabled to profit by them in 
the 
> direction in which they are supposed to lead, not in short-term 
indulgence."
> 
> "Thus our curriculum takes two parts: the first is in the providing 
of 
> materials of a preparatory nature, in order to equip the individual 
to 
> become a student. The second is the development itself."
> 
> "If we, or anybody else, supply such study or preparatory material 
> prematurely, it will only operate on a lower level than it could. 
The result 
> will be harmless at best. At worst, it will condition, train, the 
mind of 
> the individual to think and behave in patterns which are nothing 
less than 
> automatic. In this latter way one can make what seem to be 
converts, 
> unwittingly play upon emotions, on lesser desires and the 
conditioning 
> propensity; train people to loyalty to individuals, found and 
maintain 
> institutions which seem more or less serious or constructive. But 
no real 
> progress towards knowledge of the human being and the other 
dimension in 
> which he partly lives will in fact be made..."
> 
> 
> 
> Is this what the different theosophical branches are doing today ?
> If not, then why not ?
> 
> It could be to your advantage to read the text more than one time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *******
> 
> 
> M. Sufilight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Anand Gholap" <AnandGholap@A...>
> To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 1:59 PM
> Subject: Theos-World Hypocrisy of Blavatskians
> 
> 
> > Blavatskians always refer Blavatsky's statements to know truth.
> > According to Blavatsky religions are given by Great Teachers from 
the
> > Occult Hierarchy for guiding people.
> > When anybody practices his religion e.g. Christianity, 
Blavatskians
> > criticize him. This is one example of hypocrisy of Blavatkians.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >