Theos-Talk Archives (July 2005 Message tt00065)

July 10 2005

Dear Reed and Henry:

These definitions seem helpful to me

	
PSYCHOLOGY -- Study of Soul Powers


Statements and Warnings by HPB


"Psychism, with all its allurements and all its dangers, is necessarily
developing among you, and you might beware lest the Psychic outruns the
Manasic and Spiritual development. Psychic capacities held perfectly under
control, checked and directed by the manasic principle, are valuable aids in
development. But these capacities running riot controlling instead of
controlled, using instead of being used, lead the Student into the most
dangerous delusions and the certainty of moral destruction. Watch therefore
carefully this development, inevitable in your race and evolution-period so
that it may finally work for good and not for evil..."	HPB -- 5
Messages, p. 29


"[Bhagavad Gita] embodies "the psychological system of the Hindus--which
really underlies every word of this poem..."	Gita Notes, p. 2



Moral States Classified


"The following classification and discussion of the three qualities ( B.
Gita, Ch. 14) illustrates the vital difference between the ancient, true
psychology of the East, and what is termed Western psychology. Both abound
in classifications; those of the East are much more numerous...and cover a
wider field; Western psychology in its classifications refers solely to
mental states. The psychology of the Gita and the ancient sages classify
the moral states, treating the mental states as mere effects produced by
moral conditions. Herein lies the secret of the hold the Gita has had all
down the ages, and continues to have increasingly. It lays bare the
unsuspected bases of error; it discloses the most subtle forms of
self-delusion; it marks out the true course so painstakingly that the
dullest mind cannot fail to grasp a clear perception of the path to true
knowledge."	G. N. p. 197


"...the word Kama...means "desire,"...the 4th principle was the "body or
mass of desires and passions." [GITA NOTES 197: -- "Western psychology in
classifications refers solely to mental states...[Eastern} and the ancient
sages classifies the moral states, treating the mental states as mere
effects produced by moral conditions...It lays bare unsuspected bases of
error; it discloses the most subtle forms of self-delusion; it marks out
the true course so painstakingly that the dullest mind cannot fail to grasp
a clear perception of the path to true knowledge."]...The West divides man
into intellect, will and feeling, but it is not understood whether the
passions and desires constitute a principle in themselves or are due
entirely to the body..."desires of the flesh,"... "fleshly appetites."	 
OCEAN 45



Western Scientific Psychology Stymied


"The lack of an adequate system of Psychology is a natural consequence of
the materialistic bias of Science and the paralyzing influence of dogmatic
religion; the one ridiculing effort and blocking the way, the other
forbidding investigation...Real psychology is an Oriental product
today...the system was known in the West when a very ancient civilization
flourished in America, and in certain parts of Europe anterior to the
Christian era, but for the present day, psychology in its true sense belongs
to the Orient...


"In man are the same powers and forces which are to be found anywhere in
Nature. He is held by the Masters of Wisdom to be the highest product of
the whole system of evolution, and mirrors in himself every power, however
wonderful or terrible, of Nature; by the very fact of being such a mirror
he is man." OCEAN 135-6


"Some day proofs as conclusive [as that of the theory of Evolution in the
Rig Veda or the Books of Hermes] will be discovered of the reliability of
the ancient writers as their evidence on psychological matters...There can
be no real enfranchisement of human thought nor expansion of scientific
discovery until the existence of spirit is recognized."	HPB Mod. Pan. p. 93



Passions and Desires


"The passions and desires are not produced by the body...on the contrary,
the body is caused by the former. it is desire and passion which caused us
to be born, and will bring us to birth again and again in some body on this
earth...[it] is the balance principle of the whole 7. It stands in the
middle, and from it the ways go up or down. It is the basis of action, and
the mover of the will..."Behind will stands desire." OCEAN 46

"[Low desires] the constant placing of the consciousness entirely below in
the body or astral body... [High desires] the influence of and aspiration
to the trinity above, of Mind, Buddhi and Spirit...

[During life] the emplacement of the desires and passions is...throughout
the entire lower man...it may be added to or diminished, made weak or
increased in strength, debased or purified.

[After death] it (Kama) informs the astral body, which then becomes a mere
shell; for when a man dies his astral body and principle of passion and
desire leave the physical in company and coalesce, It is then that the term
Kamarupa may be applied, as Kamarupa is really made of astral body and Kama
in conjunction, and this joining of the two makes a shape or form which
though ordinarily invisible is material and may be brought into visibility.


Although it is empty of mind and conscience, it has powers of its own that
can be exercised whenever the conditions permit. These conditions are
furnished by the medium of the spiritualists, and in every seance room the
astral shells of deceased persons are always present to delude the
sitters... For the astral spook--or Kamarupa--is but the mass of the desires
and passions abandoned by the real person who has fled to "heaven and has no
concern with the people left behind, least of all with seances and mediums.

Hence, being devoid of the nobler soul, these desires and passions work only
on the very lowest part of the medium's nature and stir up no good elements,
but always the lower leanings of the being...

The Kamarupa spook is the enemy of our civilization, which permits us to
execute men for crimes committed and thus throws out into the ether the mass
of passion and desire free from the weight of the body and liable at any
moment to be attracted to any sensitive person. Being thus attracted, the
deplorable images of crimes committed and also the picture of the execution
and all the accompanying curses and wishes for revenge are implanted in
living persons, who, not seeing the evil, are unable to throw it off. Thus
crimes and new ideas of crimes are willfully propagated every day by those
countries where capital punishment prevails."	OCEAN 47-48




Danger of Exercising Psychic Powers


"To attempt to acquire the use of the psychic powers for mere curiosity or
for selfish ends is also dangerous for the same reasons as in the case of
mediumship. As the...present day is selfish to the last degree and built on
the personal element, the rules for these powers in the right way have not
been given out, but the Masters of Wisdom have said that philosophy and
ethics must first be learned and practiced before any development of the
other department [psychism] is indulged in...

Equally improper is the manner of the scientific schools which...indulge in
experiments in hypnotism in which the subjects are injured for life... 

"The Lodge of the Masters does not care for Science unless it aims to better
man's state morally as well as physically, and no aid will be given to
Science until she looks at man and life from the moral and spiritual side.
For this reason, those who know all about the psychical world, its denizens
and laws, are proceeding with a reform in morals and philosophy before any
great attention will be accorded to the strange and seductive phenomena
possible for the inner powers of man."	OCEAN 152



S O U L -- M I N D 


MAN - THE SOLE FREE AGENT


"...man is a free agent during his stay on earth. He cannot escape his
ruling Destiny, but he has the choice of two paths that lead him in that
direction, and he can reach the goal of misery--if such is decreed to him,
either in the snowy white robes of the Martyr, or in the soiled garments of
a volunteer in the iniquitous course; for, there are external and internal
conditions which affect the determination of our will upon our actions, and
it is in our power to follow either of the two...this destiny is guided
either by the heavenly voice of the invisible prototype outside of us, or by
our more intimate astral, or inner man, who is but too often the evil genius
of the embodied entity called man. Both these lead on the outward man, but
one of them must prevail; and from the very beginning of the invisible
affray the stern and implacable law of compensation steps in and takes its
course, faithfully following the fluctuations...this self-made destiny..."
SD I 639


"...Consciousness is not developed; Consciousness always is. It is
intelligence which is developed in different ways, in different degrees of
substance, on different planes of being. The intelligence gained is an
understanding of externalities in their relation to Consciousness
itself...This acquired intelligence is the basis of the Archetypal World, in
which types are formulated...it is Consciousness first, last and all the
time at the root of all manifestation. Always the Perceiver is behind every
form. What is learned in regard to externalities or any instrument is the
amount of intelligence gained...as that intelligence increases it becomes
the basis on which better instruments are formed."	Q & A
203-4



PURPOSE - THE GOAL


"...the Universe, which manifests periodically, for the purposes of the
collective progress of the countless lives."	SD I 268


"The soul emerges from the unknown, begins to work in and with matter, is
reborn again and again, makes karma, develops the six vehicles for itself,
meets retribution for sin and punishment for mistake, grows stronger by
suffering, succeeds in bursting through the gloom, is enlightened by the
true illumination, grasps power, retains charity, expands with love for
humanity, and thenceforth helps all others who remain in darkness until all
may be raised up to the place with the "Father in Heaven" who is the Higher
Self."	
"The Mahatmas as Ideals & Facts" WQJ ART II 39


"The course of Being is an ever-becoming. Ever-becoming is endless,
therefore beginningless. This solar system and its planets of course had a
beginning and will have an ending, but every manifestation is but a further
becoming of that which had been. Periods of Manifestation and
Non-Manifestation succeed each other in Infinite Space, to which neither
beginning nor ending can be applied...The ancient way of stating any
beginning is, "the Desire first arose in It;" It referring to Spirit, which
is the cause and sustainer of all that was, is, or shall be. There is a
beginning to the first glimmerings of external consciousness, which ever
tends to widen its range of perception and manifestation until it
encompasses and becomes at one with All; Potential Spirit having become
Potent Intelligence. The ending of the process results in a new beginning
based upon the totality of intelligence attained. Whatever begins in time
ends in time. Time is due to perceptions in Consciousness; as the Secret
Doctrine says...beginnings and endings pertain to that "illusion," and not
to the beginningless and endless Spirit which is the Perceiver. As the Gita
says: "The Spirit in the body, is called Maheshwara, the great Lord, the
Spectator, the admonisher, the sustainer, the enjoyer, and also the
Paramatma the highest soul;" itself without beginning or ending, it makes
beginnings and endings in manifestations, which as manifestations are
beginningless and endless in their turn."
Q & A 102-3



SPIRITUAL SOUL - HIGHER MIND - EGO - BUDDHI-MANAS


"...the higher Mind in Man, or his Ego (Manas) is, when linked indivisibly
with Buddhi, a spirit..." 
GLOS 306-7


"...Occultism calls this the seventh principle [Atma], the synthesis of the
six, and gives it for vehicle the Spiritual Soul, Buddhi...in conjunction
these two are One, impersonal and without any attributes (on this plane)..."
KEY, 120


"The Spiritual divine EGO is the Spiritual Soul, or Buddhi in close union
with Manas, the mind-principle, without which it is no EGO at all, but only
the Atmic Vehicle." KEY 176


"Buddhi becomes conscious by the accretions it gets from Manas after every
new incarnation..."	SD I 244


"Plato defines Soul (Buddhi) as "the motion that is able to move itself."
"Soul"..."is the most ancient of all things, and the commencement of
motion," thus calling Atma-Buddhi "Soul,"... which we do not."	KEY
114


"It is by development that the soul becomes spirit, both being at the lower
and the higher rungs of one and the same ladder whose basis is the Universal
Soul or spirit." HPB II 306


"...there is no impossibility in supposing [ that the Ego is a "god on a
higher plane"] so surrounded by the clouds of matter as to become latent or
hidden until the time when the form suitable for this plane is
evolved...that Ego, who is the Spectator of all things...[the Self] ..."
FORUM ANSWERS 108


"...Pythagoras...described the Soul as a self-moving Unit Monad) composed of
3 elements, the Nous (Spirit), the phren (mind), and the thumos (life,
breath or the Nephesh of the Kabalists), which 3 correspond to our
"Atma-Buddhi," (higher Spiritual-Soul), to Manas (the EGO), and to Kama Rupa
in conjunction with the lower reflection of Manas."	KEY 94


"...[the Agnishwatta Pitris] were destined to incarnate as the Egos of the
forthcoming crop of Mankind. The human Ego is neither Atman nor Buddhi, but
the higher Manas: the intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the
intellectual self-conscious Egotism--in the higher spiritual sense. The
ancient works refer to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of the Sutratma,
which is the golden thread on which, like beads, the various personalities
of this higher Ego are strung...these beings were returning Nirvanees, from
preceding Maha-Manvantaras--ages of incalculable duration..."	S D
II 79


"The Ego does not enter the body at any time...the connection of the Ego
with the body--by means of the principle Manas--is made in general, at seven
years of age, and from then on the Ego is involved or entangled in body.
But before such material entanglement it was first caught and involved in
the passions and desires...kama--which is always the efficient or producing
cause for the embodiment of the Ego. This kama is known to form a part of
the skandhas or aggregates, of which the material body is one."
Forum Answers 47


"...man...Spiritual Fire is its instructor (Guru)...This fire is the higher
Self, the Spiritual Ego, or that which is eternally reincarnating under the
influence of its lower personal Selves, changing with every re-birth, full
or Tanha or desire to live. It is a strange law of Nature, that on this
plane, the higher (Spiritual) Nature should be, so to say, in bondage to the
lower. Unless the Ego takes refuge in the Atman, the ALL-SPIRIT, and merges
entirely into the essence thereof, the personal Ego may goad it to the
bitter end...That which propels towards, and forces evolution, i.e., compels
the growth and development of Man towards perfection, is (a) the MONAD, or
that which acts in it unconsciously through a force inherent in itself; and
(b) the lower astral body or the personal SELF...unless the higher Self or
EGO gravitates towards its Sun--the Monad--the lower Ego, or personal Self,
will have the upper hand in every case. For it is this Ego, with its fierce
Selfishness and animal desire to live a Senseless life (Tanha), which is
"the maker of the tabernacle" as Buddha calls it...the Atman alone warms the
inner man; i.e., it enlightens it with the ray of divine life and alone is
able to impart to the inner man, or the reincarnating Ego, its immortality."
SD II 109-110



MANAS - THE HUMAN SOUL - MIND - INTELLECTUALITY


"...the thinking Soul or mind..."	KEY 74


"...the Soul, Psyche..."	KEY 91


"...man and Soul have to conquer their immortality by ascending towards the
unity."	KEY 102


"...the Soul of man (or his higher "principles, and attributes")...(as
defined by Pythagoras, Plato, and Timmaeus of Locris)...[ are derived ]
from the Universal World Soul...AEther (Pater Zeus)..."	KEY 104


"...the reasoning soul comes from within the Universal Soul..."	KEY
105

 
"From the fact that the soul (Higher Manas) is conjoined in the body with
the organ of thought (Lower Manas), and thus with the whole of Nature, lack
of discrimination follows, produces misconceptions of duties and
responsibilities." PAT 24-5


"...the work of the soul is to seek Wisdom, and the substance of earthly
wisdom is to know Universal Wisdom."	MODERN PANARION, 379


"Since Manas, in its lower aspect, is the seat of the terrestrial mind, it
can, therefore, give only that perception of the Universe which is based on
the evidence of that mind; it cannot give spiritual vision."	KEY
158


"...Manas-Taijasi, the Buddhi-lit human soul...if it can be said of Buddhi
that it is unconditionally immortal, the same cannot be said of Manas...no
post-mortem consciousness or Manas-Taijasi, can exist apart from Buddhi, the
divine soul, because the first (Manas) is, in its lower aspect, a
qualificative attribute of the terrestrial personality...In its turn, Buddhi
would remain only an impersonal spirit without this element which it borrows
from the human soul, which conditions and makes of it. in this illusive
Universe, as it were something separate from the universal soul for the
whole period of the cycle of incarnation. Say rather that Buddhi-Manas can
neither die nor lose its compound self-consciousness in Eternity, nor the
recollections of its previous incarnations..." HPB ART II 198-9




LOWER MANAS - PERSONALITY - ANIMAL SOUL


"Astral Soul," another name for the lower Manas, or Kama-Manas so-called,
the reflection of the Higher Ego." GLOS 37


"...Anoia, (folly, or the irrational animal Soul)..."	KEY 91


"...the instinctual soul...derived from and through and ever influenced by
the moon [astral light]..."	
KEY 96


"The Soul of man (i.e., the personality) per se, is neither immortal,
eternal, nor divine."	KEY 106


"From the fact that the soul (Higher Manas) is conjoined in the body with
the organ of thought (Lower Manas), and thus with the whole of Nature, lack
of discrimination follows, produces misconceptions of duties and
responsibilities." PAT 24-5


"...the animal soul, that which becomes a ghost after death, when lust or
liking or the memory of ill-deeds holds it to the neighbourhood of human
beings..."	L on P p. 49



WHY THE UNIVERSE ? - WHY THE SOUL ?


"The Universe (visible and invisible--compounded of purity, action and
rest)...exists for the sake of the soul's experience and emancipation...For
the sake of the soul alone, the Universe exists..."
PAT 25-6


"the soul is the Perceiver; is assuredly vision itself pure and simple;
unmodified; and looks directly upon ideas."	PAT 26


"Spirit is universal...It cannot know itself except as Soul. Spirit is the
"power to become;" Soul is "the becoming." Spirit is the power to see and
know; Soul is the seeing and knowing. Soul is the accumulation of
perceptions and experiences by means of which Spiritual Identity is
realized." Q & A 21
(see GLOS 306)


"...a soul which thirsts after a reunion with its spirit, which alone
confers upon it immortality, must purify itself through cyclic
transmigration..."	KEY 111


"What then is the universe for, and for what purpose is man the immortal
thinker here in evolution? It is all for the experience and emancipation of
the soul, for the purpose of raising the entire mass of manifested matter up
to the stature, nature, and dignity of conscious god-hood. The great aim is
the reach self-consciousness; not through a race or a tribe of some favored
nation, but by and through the perfecting, after transformation, of the
whole mass of matter as well as what we now call soul. Nothing is or is to
be left out. The aim for present man is his initiation into complete
knowledge, and for the other kingdoms below him that they may be raised up
gradually from stage to stage to be in time initiated also. This is
evolution carried to its highest power; it is a magnificent prospect; it
makes of man a god, and gives to every part of nature the possibility of
being some day the same; there is strength and nobility in it, for by this
no man is dwarfed and belittled, for no one is so originally sinful that he
cannot rise above all sin."	OCEAN, 60-1



"Starting upon the long journey immaculate; descending more and more into
sinful matter, and having connected himself with every atom in manifested
Space--the Pilgrim, having struggled through and suffered in every form of
life and being, is only at the bottom of the valley of matter, and half
through his cycle, when he has identified himself with collective Humanity.
This, he has made in his own image. In order to progress upwards and
homewards, the "God" has to now ascend the weary uphill path of the Golgotha
of Life. It is the martyrdom of self-conscious existence. Like Visvakarman
he has to sacrifice himself to himself in order to redeem all creatures, to
resurrect from the many into the One Life. Then he ascends into heaven
indeed; where, plunged into the incomprehensible absolute Being and Bliss
of Paranirvana, he reigns unconditionally, and whence he will re-descend
again at the next "coming," which one portion of humanity expects in its
dead-letter sense as the second advent, and the other as the last "Kalki
Avatar." SD I 268


"Theosophy considers humanity as an emanation from divinity on its return
path hereto. At an advanced point upon the path, Adeptship is reached by
those who have devoted several incarnations to its achievement...many
incarnations are necessary for it after the formation of a conscious purpose
and the beginning of the needful training..."	KEY 214-5



	
Some Notes derived from studying HPB
( A Student's Notes and Guesses )
		

Metaphysics is the "mother-plant" of psychology. It is a science of first
principles.

The Esoteric Philosophy recognizes in the ultimate analysis that there is
only One Reality. This lies behind the illusions (Maya) of our Universe of
forms. It is called variously Sat or Para-Brahm, the "Great Unknown."

There is a continual circuit of manifestation followed by rest (pralaya, or
non-manifestation - a supra-physical, "spiritual" state). This compares
with our cycle of sleeping and waking.

The duality, in manifestation of Spirit and Matter is a fact. These emerge
from the One Reality, and are found in ancient philosophy designated as the
Word (Logos)--Spirit; and, Matter (Mula-prakriti) --Root Matter. They
equilibrate each other constantly.

The great Law of cause and effect, measured, regular, constant and
consistent, ever merciful and totally just runs continuously through all
periods. It has been called variously: the One Life, Karma, the "Great
Breath." It works in and on everyone impartially.

One of the chief differences between antique psychological philosophical
systems and the modern is that in antiquity, the moral states were
classified. States of Consciousness and Perception were held to be the
result of those moral conditions.

Morality is defined as those acts, thoughts and feeling which harmonize with
the Great Law of the Evolutionary progress of the Universe. Of necessity
this is universal in scope, considers the value and necessity of every
creature, every particle of substance. Nothing is excluded or held to be
unrelated to its all-encompassing purview.

Immorality is held to be anything adverse, by definition it is limited,
selfish, acquisitive defensive of territory and possessions.

Eastern Psychology recognizes in Man's conscious constitution several
distinct and active principles:

1.	The Emotions: feelings, desires, needs and wants, all
centered around the personality the "I"-self in waking consciousness. It is
very "territorial." These are seen to come and go and change constantly.
It rarely considers consequences, is rash and wayward.

2.	The Mind: thoughts, imagination, fancy, ability to study
and analyze, memory, extrapolation, etc... This is called the True Self and
the Individual. This sense of Individuality persists throughout the life in
spite of many changes. It is "superior" to the "emotional, the selfish
self, as it can control and direct it. It tends to be deliberate and
considers results that may accrue to actions.

3.	In waking consciousness these two are combined to form two
operative points of dialog: There is an alliance between one aspect of the
mind and the emotions. This makes up the "Lower Mind" - selfish,
territorial, vicious, amatory, etc... The second unit is that aspect of the
mind which coalesces with experience, with the memory of results and
considers those which are beneficial to itself or dangerous in potential.
It has been called "The Higher Mind." One of its faculties is to access to
the common and universal plane of Mentality in the Universe where results of
all past events and actions are recorded. ["Actions" include: desires,
thoughts, and physical acts.]

4.	Mind (Soul) is that which persists. In Eastern psychology
it is held that it constitutes an unbreakable thread of consciousness
between the life experiences of this personality and that of previous
personalities ensouled by it through the process of reincarnation.

5.	Mind is allied, in it higher, nobler aspect, to a principle
of Universal Wisdom--the source of Law, Karma, Justice and Progress. It has
been named Wisdom, Buddhi. This the Higher Mind is called Buddhi-Manas to
use terms that philosophers employ in Sanskrit. The "Lower Mind" is denoted
Kama-Manas, or the desire-mind. This last informs the personality and gives
it its awareness. It transfers constantly its impressions to the Higher
Mind, and at the death of the body it makes a final transfer to the Higher
Mind. This becomes the conveyor of the life of the Entity through a review
and resting period to its eventual return on Earth in a new body.

6.	Intuition and the "Voice of Conscience" are evidence of the
communications between the Higher and the Lower Minds during life. The
Higher, having access to past experience in full, warns the lower, when
necessary at the time when it makes decisions or choices. These may or may
not be heeded by the embodied Lower Mind. Consequences ensue and this is
called "Karma," the ledger balance of all our activities, visible and
invisible, physical or immaterial.

7.	We are part of a vast host of intelligences. Men-minds like
ourselves, and levels of consciousness represented by the animals, plants,
minerals and other elements of the Universe. It is also reasonable to
consider that there are our predecessors on the Ladder of Evolution. Those
once men like ourselves who have progressed to a wiser and wider view of
things. Like our teachers, instructors and professors they remain as
assistants, whose advise is available to those of us who care to seek for
and ask for it.

8.	The subject of the "will." or the executive power which
transfers an "idea" into an action is also to be considered. It is
volitional, directive, serves as a bridge between the mind and the hands
that work in the world of physical matter. It is "colorless." It can be
employed by either the Lower or the Higher Mind.

9.	The Buddha was the greatest of psychologists. He showed the
inquirer how to understand Suffering as part of a pair. Happiness was the
alternative. There is something in Man which sees both sides. This
sensitivity evokes compassion. To refrain from hurting others while gently
but firmly insisting on equity is the study of the ages. The personal
application leads to Adeptship through true non-violence.

10.	The Higher Self is common to all it being Atma, and
universal. As a drop resides in the Ocean, so the Higher Self of each
individual resides in the Universal Spirit. It is at once a part of THAT,
and yet is individualized. We therefore share in all the sufferings and the
pleasures of others. We are their brothers and sisters in Spirit.

11.	Each individual has to come to the realization that he alone
will save or damn himself.  

12.	Each one is morally obliged to assist all others when able
to do so. The motive for such assistance has to be disinterested, to be
true.




Reincarnation -- A Basic Fact


"A student of occultism...gets into...a vortex of occultism...he passes into
the whirl caused by the mighty effort of his Higher Self to make him
remember his past lives. Then those lives affect him..."
LETTERS 15.


"Getting back the memory of past lives is the whole of the process."
LETTERS p. 78  
[ see also WQJ ART I 571 bottom, II 462 middle ]



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

Best wishes,

Dallas


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

-----Original Message-----
From: Reed Carson [mailto:reed3@blavatsky.net] 
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 11:35 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] Re: psychology/psychiatry and Theosophy

Henry,

You have raised some points at the end of your letter that it happens have 
interested me also for a long time.

cut