RE: Socrates
May 26, 2006 08:03 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
5/26/2006 7:58 AM
Dear Friends:
Having appreciation for Ken's view (below)
Could these ideas also be considered?
INNER EGO.DOC
===============
November 9, 2005
There are a number of terms used here and one ought to go to the
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY to secure more accurate description of them. That is
the starting base we all need. Next would be to go to the SECRET DOCTRINE
INDEX and look up all the references that throw light on this subject. It
is best that each student do this work for himself -- there are no
"short-cuts."
Allow me to offer this to be checked out and considered:
The SPIRIT (ATMA) which is universal (as MAHATMA) already exists as a basis
in every smallest aspect of Nature and also in Man, as the ATMA [a “Ray” of
the ABSOLUTE] is the base for the 6 + 3 other principles which extend
between SPIRIT and the “MATTER.” of which our physical body is a
representative.
Our Consciousness is ONE. Yet it is said to pierce up and down the 7 planes
of being and serves to uphold the memory of the Souls' experience on any
plane and in every state. The vehicle USED BY THIS One Consciousness on
any plane or any state of matter, depends on the effort made by the
Individual to refine and purify the matter that he uses there in each of
those states or planes.
It seems that our personal life always shields and secretes the moral
Chooser who is the eternal PERCEIVER [ATMA-BUDDHI] that resides within. It
is the employer of the human Mind [BUDDHI-MANAS], the Psyche [KAMA-MANAS]
and Astral-Physical body as its amanuensis. [And these in turn are composed
of innumerable immortal Monads, each at its appropriate position in this
enormous and all encompassing evolutionary scheme [ see S D I 632 ] -- a
scheme that is based on an individual balance point of exactitude so
sensitive, that any and all deviations from harmony reverberate throughout
the vast whole and affect the advance of all the rest.
If this is true, then nothing is unimportant. The "Moment of Choice" is
always Now, and is a moral imperative which no one can escape.
This is the "magic" or, the WISDOM of the esoteric or that which is called
"occult wisdom," and, we may try to begin to grasp some of its parameters.
One might consider that the real “magic“ is wisdom and is obtained from
within, shunning any exoteric practices or “selfish black-magic” whatsoever.
By focusing on the Divine ATMA within, we allow the spirit-Life (Jiva) of
Divine Universal Compassion and Love to work in us and then we may diffuse
it amidst neighbours. kin and the rest of humankind. We may, without
personal expectations, serve the processes of the great Law of Karma.
What is TRUTH for us the “embodied minds”? Is it an endless quest ?
If one takes Karma and Reincarnation into account, and the concept that the
REAL MAN is an eternal Monad, the paradox unravels.
An immortal being [Monad (Atma-Buddhi), such as we all are fundamentally
is not concerned with time -- as it uses many bodies in which to assist any
brother Monad (as a reference source) to "perfect" its own Wisdom. This for
it, is true independence – without losing any of its own heard-earned wisdom
and responsibility, it seeks to make of its organism a useful helper in
Nature’s continual struggle to provide an equilibrated, harmonious flow of
existence, and assist
in the process of general evolution. This is brotherhood in action.
It seems to be based on the free gift of mutual assistance and service. An
example of this kind of sublime SERVICE is offered to us to consider in
SECRET DOCTRINE, Vol. I, pp. 207-210. There the nature, function and
devotion of a Planetary Spirit is described.
An impersonal channel of Karma is opened by acting for a just desire, when
that is seen in another Yogi’s mind. No personal benefit or acquisition is
expected.
This effort marks the evolution and progress of Nature and the important
service that each human performs in this process.
Consider the task as outlined in the SECRET DOCTRINE :
It is the process of lifting the whole mass of "matter" up to the
condition, nature and stature of CONSCIOUS GOD-HOOD.
It is the “gift of mind” passed on by the original and primordial Dhyanis
to the host of Monads that are “ready.” Are they thus not encouraged to
assume again the true "Gods" that they were before they plunged
voluntarily again into the experiences of diversified material existence
(consisting of those Monads which are now entering the period and process of
a self-willed development of Manas) where the "maya" of illusion (desires,
feelings, passions – Kama makes all that is real appear evanescent and
seemingly incomprehensible.
It appears, when presented with an event or a report, we ought to ask: “What
caused this ? What Laws are involved? Why am I involved? What should be
the ideal reaction?” -- In other words, we have to universalize and
impersonalize our concepts. One of the best guides will be fund in the
close study of PATANJALI'S YOGA SUTRAS translated by Mr. W. Q. Judge, and
The VOICE OF THE SILENCE by H P B . These cause us to delve into causes.
Shall we say: One of the problems is now identified. How do we, as
embodied
Minds, forced to work in and use a brain of matter [living Monads], view the
period and
condition of our existence beyond the birth and death of the personality it
is now
living in.? It becomes clear that the Personality of this present existence
has limits to its memories and views, but no limits to its intuitive
potentials. These it derives from the immortal and universal fund of
“wisdom”
BUDDHI. Buddhi-Manas is then the “link.”
We may well ask ourselves: "How did I derive the knowledge, character and
capacities I have surrounding me, the Perceiver and the Thinker, as my
abilities and disabilities? We can logically derive their source as having
been fashioned in previous lives.
Theoretically, may we consider: our INDIVIDUALITY (ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS)
periodically illuminates (when appealed to) with its wisdom the Personality
-- when this latter seeks for DIVINE WISDOM. All true wisdom comes from
within. I (our INDIVIDUALITY) is one with the UNIVERSAL OCEAN of BUDDHIC
WISDOM which are manifesting through the great LAWS of KARMA, Evolution
and Eternal Life.
Because our embodied mind is a spark of the UNIVERSAL MIND [or MAHAT] --
which is an attribute of the ABSOLUTE, there are no barriers that it cannot
traverse or planes that it may link to, as needed.
We find it taught that the records of the great Buddha's teachings show us
that our present limitations and incapacities are explained by the concept
of "universal MAYA" -- when the UNIVERSE is in its temporary phase of
"manifestation." The “vestures” come and go as ages of experience pass by
and we work in and through them – the SELF is always stable and ONE with the
WHOLE. But why does this occur? Is not the concept of mutual assistance and
cooperation, bathed in the light of COMPASSION ABSOLUTE, a good basic
reason?
The "maya" is dispersed by the (wisdom) innate to the BUDDHI principle (when
linked to MANAS). Every component of Nature (the UNIVERSE in manifestation)
has this as a part of its essential constitution.
If we can consider using the designation Monad for these innumerable
constituents, and grasp the concept that they are of seven "grades" of
"primordial differentiation," [S D I 570-575] then the Monad that is in
the human stage (or grade), is at present undergoing the trials and
tribulations of self-mastery, self-knowledge and learning the unlimited
extent of its true responsibility.
To consider that the UNIVERSE, as radiated from the ABSOLUTE operates under
universal, immutable and compassionate LAWS cannot be demeaning to any
Monad, since each is a radiation of the same qualities from that one single
source? Is it not, for itself, in its essence, an administrator of the same
universal impersonal and altruistic LAWS?
Are we not also faced with a seeming paradox, as the material of which our
evanescent and mayavic forms are composed are themselves Monads each in its
own level and place of perfect need. How is this to be regulated in such an
incomprehensibly vast SPACE where incomprehensibly small units swarm? --
Unless each is both a mirror of the grand WHOLE, and in itself, is a
UNIVERSE to still more minute forms and aspects of LIFE ?
It seems this ever existent balancing point of consciousness, intelligence
and progress synthesizes the actual work that a period of Manvantaric
evolution for the entire WHOLE demands. No wonder that a grasp and
comprehension of this as a pattern, a schema, a living WORK is startling and
almost incomprehensible as our present brain-mind equipment is very much
attached to our recent personalities and their very limited experience this
life around.
It seems that what we (as human minds) are discovering this fact and
beginning to acquire a concept of how responsible we actually are. We not
only receive our "karma," but as Spiritual beings, resident in material
forms, we are also one of the many out-posts of KARMA – and thus we
represent the ever-active LAW of cooperation, benevolence and BROTHERHOOD.
"There is only one Perceiver [ATMA-BUDDHI]; the sights are modified by the
channels [ principles ] through which the Perceiver looks...
The power of seeing is the Soul [BUDDHI-MANAS] the power of the Soul [
CHOICE, DISCRIMINATION, WILL ] goes into the seeing, hence what It "sees"
are to it real, because seen; as sights, each is a reality;
but the nature of the Soul is different from any and all "sights."
A study of the seven-fold Constitution of Man finds that there is of
necessity a constant definition of the relations between any one “principle”
and the rest, which serve in several cooperative relations to it. Some
duplication of references is inevitable. Interactions constantly occur.
The following references to Buddhi and its function as an active link
between Atma and Manas in man. They are Buddhi made “active.” It has a
“passive” aspect as the ‘vehicle’ (sheath, kosha, sthula) of Atma, without
which, Atma would be forever an abstraction to matter.
Yet we find, HPB in the SECRET DOCTRINE, draws attention to a secondary base
of a “desire” in the aggregation of "Matter.”
“Kama (the Makara-ketu) is "Aja" (the unborn), and "Atma-bhu" (the
self-existent), and Aja is the LOGOS in the Rig-Veda, as he is shown therein
to be the first manifestation of the ONE: "Desire first arose in IT, which
was the germ of mind," that "which connects entity with non-entity" (or
Manas, the fifth, with Atma, the seventh, esoterically) say the Sages. " S
D II 167, Glos 170-1.
This might be called the first stage.
And we could consider the second, on the following plane of manifestation,
that shows Brahma (whom we select as a representative for all the other
first gods of the nations) as causing to issue from his body his mind-born
sons: "Sanandana and others," who, in the fifth "creation," and again in the
ninth (for purposes of blind) become the Kumara. “
S D II 578-9
“Let us note one more thing in relation to the mysterious number five. It
symbolizes at one and the same time the Spirit of life eternal and the
Spirit of life and love terrestrial — in the human compound; and, it
includes divine and infernal magic, and the universal and the individual
quintessence of being. Thus, the five mystic words or vowels (vide infra)
uttered by Brahma at "creation," which forthwith became the Panchadasa
(certain Vedic hymns, attributed to that God) are in their creative and
magical potentiality, the white side of the black Tantrik five "makaras," or
the five m's. "Makara," the constellation, is a seemingly meaningless and
absurd name.
Yet, even besides its [MA] anagrammatical significance in conjunction with
the term "Kumara," the numerical value of its first syllable and its
esoteric resolution into five has a very great and occult meaning in the
mysteries of nature.
Suffice it to say, that as the sign of Makara is connected with the birth of
the spiritual "microcosm," and the death or dissolution of the physical
Universe (its passage into the realm of the Spiritual) *; so the Dhyan
Chohans, called in India Kumara, are connected with both. Moreover, in the
exoteric religions, they have become the synonyms of the Angels of Darkness.
Mara is the God of Darkness, the Fallen One, and Death †; and yet it is one
of the names of Kama, the first god in the Vedas, the Logos, from whom have
sprung the Kumaras, and this [ Death of every physical thing truly; but Mara
is also the unconscious quickener of the birth of the Spiritual. connects
them still more with our "fabulous" Indian Makara, ] S D I 580-1
“The five words (Panchadasa) of Brahma have become with the Gnostics the
"Five Words" written upon the akasic (shining) garment of Jesus at his
glorification: the words ZAMA ZAMA OZZA PAXAMA, OZAI , translated by the
Orientalists "the robe, the glorious robe of my strength."
These words were, in their turn, the anagrammatic blind of the five mystic
powers represented on the robe of the "resurrected" Initiate after his last
trial of three days' trance; the five becoming seven only after his
S D I 579-80
I hope this may be of some help,
Dallas
================================================
-----Original Message-----
From: Cass Silva
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 5:22 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Socrates
Thanks Ken, I guess in the words of the master, this seals the debate. I am
purely speculating here, but I am thinking that the spiritual test of
arrogance is whether or not we can silence the daemon to open up to true
universal knowledge. That rather than rely on our daemon, we are able to
source the true records in the Akashic should we decide that daemon doesn't
necessarily know everything. It would be a true test of humility letting go
of a source that ensures we are more knowledgable than the bulk of humanity?
On Socrates (M L) :
"Plato was right to readmit every element of speculation which Socrates had
discarded. The problems of universal being are not unattainable or
worthless if attained."
M L, p 400 Letter 117 Dec. 1883 from KH to Sinnett
"Suby Ramï¿" truly good man�yet a devotee of another error. Not his
guru�s
voice�his own. The voice of a pure , unselfish, earnest soul, absorbed in
misguided, misdirected mysticism. Add to it a chronic disorder in that
portion of the brain which responds to clear vision and the secret is soon
told: that disorder was developed by forced visions; by hatha yog and
prolonged asceticism. S. Ram is the chief medium and at same time the
principal magnetic factor, who spreads his disease by
infection unconsciously to himself; who inoculates with his vision all the
other disciples. There is one general law of vision physical and mental or
spiritual) but there is a qualifying special law proving that all vision
must be determined by the quality or grade of man�s spirit and soul, and
also by the ability to translate diverse qualities of waves of astral light
into consciousness. There is but one general law of life, but innumerable
laws qualify and determine the myriad forms perceived and of sounds heard.
There are those who are willingly and others who are unwillingly--blind.
Mediums belong to the former, sensitives to the latter. Unless regularly
initiated and trained--concerning the spiritual insight of things and the
supposed revelations made unto man in all ages from Socrates down to
Swedenborg and "Fern"-- no self tutored seer or clairaudient ever saw or
heard quite correctly." M L, p.98 letter 31 Nov. 1881 Morya to
Sinnett
"Conscience, as it was already remarked may be well compared to that demon
whose dictates were so zealously listened to and so promptly obeyed by
Socrates. Like that demon, conscience may perchance tell us what we must
not do; yet it never guides us as to what we ought to perform, nor gives
any definite object to our activety. And�nothing can be more easily lulled
to sleep and even completely paralyzed, that this same conscience by a
trained will stronger than that of its possessor."
p. 36 letter 11 K.H. to Hume , Dec. 1880
Ken
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