Theos-Talk Archives (February 2006 Message tt00524)

>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "carlosaveline cardoso aveline" 
wrote:

> Dear Mr. Dave,
...
> This is indeed a fundamental point. According to Leadbeater,
> you should believe him because he says so. You also should go
> to rituals, etc.

It is surely untrue, and moreover, probably it is a deliberate
attempt to mislead, for Carlos claims his aquaintaince with
Leadbeater's works.

"But when I have tried to follow Madame Blavatsky's example in
spreading the gospel of Theosophy I always said: Don't believe
anything just because I tell you, because I am liable to make
mistakes just as any human being can.
 ...
What I want to say is, don't despair of your future. Great and
new aspects of the truth, new ways to attain it, are being very
beautifully, very poetically, very forcefully put before you.
Try them, and follow by all means, if that is the way it
appeals to you. I feel very strongly that every man must think
for himself, and in thinking for himself he must follow that
which seems to him to be the best."
("The Future of the Theosophical Society", lecture,
Adyar Pamphlets No. 184)


"Above all things and under all circumstances the student of
occultism must hold fast to common sense. He will meet with
many new ideas, with many startling facts, and if he allows the
strangeness of things to overbalance him, harm instead of good
will result from the increase of his knowledge. Many other
qualities are desirable for progress, but a well-balanced mind
is an actual necessity. The study of occultism may indeed be
summed up in this: it is the study of much that is unrecognized
ordinary man — the acquisition therefore of a great multitude
of new facts, and then the adaptation of one's life to the new
facts in a reasonable and common-sense way. All occultism of
which I know anything is simply an apotheosis of common sense."
("The Inner Life", vol. 1)

Noteworthy that abovequoted passage is near the beginning of the
book where chapters on brotherly attitude, ethics and things like
that are contained; and if someone ingored them and proceeded right
to technical matters and clairvoyant revelations it characterizes
his attitude.

"It should be an intelligently receptive attitude — not one of
carping criticism on the one hand, nor of blind belief on the
other, but of endeavour to understand the different facts as
they are presented to him, and to make them his own. In
Theosophy we strongly deprecate the attitude of blind belief,
for we say that it has been the cause of a vast amount of the
evil of the world. On this point the teaching of the Eastern
Masters is emphatic, for they regard superstition as one of the
fetters which it is absolutely necessary that a man should cast
off before he can hope to make any progress on the occult Path.
They also regard doubt as a fetter, but they say that the only
way to get rid of doubt is not by blind faith, but by the
acquisition of knowledge. It would be quite useless for a man
to exchange blind faith in orthodox Christianity for a similar
blind faith in those who happened to be writing or speaking on
Theosophy. To say: "Thus saith Madame Blavatsky or Mrs. Besant,"
is after all only a small advance on saying: "Thus saith S.
Paul or S. John"."

("The attitude of the enquirer", Adyar Pamphlet No.2)

> According to the Esoteric Philosophy, on the other hand,
> trees can be known by their fruits. Masters and true disciples
> never tell you that you should believe them because they have
> such or such siddhi or psychic abilitiy.

"Our Masters will not ask you what you [i]believe[/i]; that, as
I have said, is your own affair; but They [i]will[/i] ask you
what good work you are doing. You [i]can[/i] know; you have an
infallible criterion, if you will only be absolutely honest
with yourselves. Are you living a higher, purer, nobler, and
above all a more unselfish and [i]useful[/i] life than you were
? Are you thinking ever less and less of yourself and your
progress, less and less of gratifying your desires and your
emotions, and ever more and more of serving your fellow-men ?
Are you working more strenuously than ever ? If so, then you
are passing your test; you are advancing, and our Masters'
blessing will rest upon you. But those who for fancied
self-realization or self-development forsake the helping of
their brethren are moving backwards, not forwards. Deeds, not
words alone, are the sign of real progress."

("The work of theosophists", lecture)

There was also a joint statement of Besant & Leadbeater "on
revelations" to the same effect.
Such passages are so numerous that it's hard not to notice them;
those which were quoted are the first ones which I could find
haphazard. So the special attitude of mind is needed to
overlook them all.

There's a passage also about "You also should go to rituals, etc."

"The third fetter to be got rid of comprehends all kinds of
unreasoning or mistaken belief, all dependence on the efficacy
of outward rites and ceremonies to purify the heart. He who
would cast it off must learn to depend upon himself alone, not
upon others, nor upon the outer husk of any religion.
 ...
Uparti (cessation) - explained as cessation from bigotry or
from belief in the necessity of any act or ceremony prescribed
by a particular religion - so leading the aspirant to independence
of thought and to a wide andgenerous tolerance."
("Invisible Helpers")