Theos-Talk Archives (June 2006 Message tt00197)

6/8/2006 4:07 PM

Friends:

THEOSOPHY a  most ancient science -philosophy proposes that there is ONE
LIFE that pervades the Universe, our world and ourselves.  

Is this reasonable and true? 

What would our world and civilization be like if it were true ?

Thinking on this an essay emerged, named:


			THE KINGLY MYSTERY


The "kingly mystery" is Life itself. We all have Life. We all are Life.
Every being everywhere is Life-expresses Life. To know what is Life itself
is to know the mystery. 

But there is a condition precedent to this mysterious knowledge, stated by
Krishna, in the opening of the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita: 

"Unto thee who findeth no fault I will now make known this most mysterious
knowledge, coupled with a realization of it, which having known thou shalt
be delivered from evil." 

When the one who desires to learn is not in a critical attitude, when he has
sensed in one way or another that truth lies in a certain direction and
gives all his attention to it without quarreling with terms or the ideas put
forward, his is the attitude of the true student. 

The one who desires to know must set aside for the time being all
preconceptions, pride, and prejudices which he may have held, and then he is
ready to begin his studies- to take the first step in the right direction.


			TRUE  AND  FALSE ?

The world is full of false ideas, false religions, false philosophies which
must be thrown away. 

We of the Western peoples have been taught that we were "poor miserable
sinners" who could do nothing of ourselves. We have assumed that we are poor
miserable sinners and have acted as such. Our whole civilization is colored
and steeped through with this falsity. 

Our theologies, our sciences, our commercial, social and political
conditions are all based on this false idea, which in its turn rests upon
another equally false-that man is here on earth for once only. 

Hence, that his entrance on this physical scene was through the act of
others, and we believe that whatever of merit or demerit is his was handed
on to him by his forebears. As a consequence, man constantly shifts his
responsibility, and acts as an irresponsible being. 

The whole falsity of our existence is centered there, for we are responsible
for every ill that exists among us; every kind of suffering on every hand
has been brought about through a false idea, and the false action which
followed. 

What are sin, disease, sorrow and suffering but the result of our own
thoughts and actions?
Again, we say "we cannot know;" or, "this life is all there is." Therefore,
the whole force of our consciousness is directed in the line of that one
false idea and inhibited in the expression of any other; whereas all
directions lie absolutely open to us, if only we understand our own natures.


Man circumscribes his own conditions by the false ideas he holds in regard
to life. No one holds him back. He holds himself back. Yet, even with his
narrowing, limiting ideas and conceptions, he is able to accomplish
wonderful things. Whatever he sets out to do on the purely physical,
material plane of life, he accomplishes in a shorter or greater length of
time. 

If his ideas of religion are all concerned with the physical aspect of life,
however, how can he know more? All the conquests that he can make will be
physical conquests. What could it avail him in the direction of real
knowledge, if he continued similar conquests from civilization to
civilization, age to age, planet to planet, solar system to solar system? 

He could gain nothing but a small sum of possible combinations and
correlations, and in all that search and effort would not have gained the
first fundamental of true knowledge, of true thought and action.


			GREAT  LIFE  IS  UNIVERSAL

The kingly mystery of Life can not mean physical existence, which is merely
one aspect of the GREAT LIFE. We have to go deeper into our own natures, and
into the natures of all beings, in order to grasp what that great mystery
is. Then the lives of all beings become clear unto us; we understand what
all phases of existence mean; we see the causes for all the difficulties
that surround us; we know how to bring about better results, and we perceive
from the very first that the power lies in us, and in us alone, to bring
about all future changes for ourselves. 

Looking at all existence from A UNIVERSAL POINT OF VIEW, we become able to
exercise the power which lies in the essential spiritual basis of every
being, high or low. The One Self appears only to be divided among the
creatures; in reality, It is not divided at all. Each being is That in his
essential nature. In IT is the foundation of all power; in IT lies the power
of unfolding, of evolution, which makes possible for each being-representing
one ray of that One Life-the attainment of a full knowledge of Life in his
own true nature.

Each one of us stands in the midst of a great and silent evolution. 

Each one of us sees many expressions of different beings- those of the same
grade as ourselves and beings of grades below us. We find relations with
other elements, the power of which we do not see, the source of which we do
not grasp, yet the effects of which we feel. 

On every hand we are getting effects from different beings of different
grades, each one receiving those effects differently. The beings below us in
forms of the mineral, vegetable, and animal world are all working, just as
we are working, toward a greater and greater realization of the whole. 

			WHY  EVOLUTION ?

Sparks of the One Spirit, of the One Consciousness, they have begun their
little lives in forms, or bodies, by which they may contact others. As they
have need for better and better instruments, need for further and further
contact, they evolve, from within, a better instrument. Such is the whole
course of evolution, ALWAYS FROM WITHIN OUTWARDS, and always with the
tendency to an increasing individuality. 

>From the one ocean of Life there finally tends to arise-Divinity.


			DIVINITY

Divinity is always acquired. It is not an endowment. It does not exist of
itself. If we could be made good, if we could be made to turn around and
take a righteous course, life might seem very much easier to us. But there
is no escaping the law; no one can get us "off" from the effects of our
wrong-doing; no one can confer knowledge on another. 

Each one has to see and know for himself. Each one has to gain Divinity of
himself, and in his own way. We think of this as a common world. But it is
not so. There are no two people who look at life from the same view point,
who have the same likes and dislikes, whom the same 
things affect in exactly the same way. 

No two people are alike either in life or after the death of the body. Each
makes his own state; each makes his own limitations; each acquires his own
Divinity. 

Divinity lies latent in each one of us; all powers lie latent in every one,
and no being anywhere can be greater than we may become.

What is Divinity but all-inclusive knowledge? True spirituality is not a
hazy condition. It is not something that denies any portion of the universe,
nor any kind of being. 

A hazy abstract condition would mean no men, no principles, no opposites;
but Divine spirituality is the power to know and see whatever is wished
known or seen; it is an intimate knowledge of the ultimate essence of
everything in nature. Such knowledge would not mean seeing all things at
once, nor being everywhere at the same time, but IT IS THE POWER TO SEE AND
KNOW IN ANY DIRECTION -the power to grasp whatever it wishes, the power to
shut out whatever it wishes. Otherwise it would be no power at all; there
would be no use in having power and wisdom, and such beings as the Masters
could be afflicted with all the grief and misery in the world, unable to
help where help is needed and possible.


			KNOWLEDGE

All-inclusive knowledge lies before every living being, if he will but take
the necessary steps. 

What prevents him are the false ideas he holds; for thought is the basis of
all action, and wrong ideas in regard to life inevitably bring about wrong
actions. We have thought we are all different, because we have different
ideas, but, in essence, we are One. The One Life is in each of us. Each one
of us stands in the same position, looking out; all the rest are seen.
Starting from this point, we begin to find ourselves, to see ourselves, to
feel ourselves, and, in feeling ourselves, feel all others. 

All that a man can know of God is what he knows in himself, through himself,
and by himself. Never by any outside presentation can that realization be
gained. 

All the great saviors of all times have never asked man to rely on some
outside God, to fear some devil, to go by this or that revelation, to
believe in any book, church, "-ology," or "-ism," of any kind. They have
asked him to take the step that the height of his calling demands-to know
himself, TO KNOW HIS OWN TRUE NATURE, and the nature of every other being.

They have shown that the Real Man must assert himself, and must act in
accordance with his own nature, and the responsibility which the oneness of
all nature demands.


	MAN  STANDS  WHERE  SPIRIT  AND  MATTER  MEET

Man occupies the most important place in the whole scheme of evolution. He
stands where Spirit and matter meet. He is the link between the higher
beings and those below. He has so to act, so to think and act, in and upon
and with this physical matter that he raises it all up, and gives it another
tendency, another trend. 

By the very constitution of his nature, by reason of his being connected as
he is in a physical body with all nature, the Secret Doctrine states that
man can become greater than any one of the Dhyan Chohans and equal to all of
them put together. 

That is the goal which lies before him-the goal of the 'Kingly Mystery"-the
seeing and knowing and feeling and acting universally. For there is a power
in man which enables him to judge aright; he has the "all-seeing eye"-the
all-encompassing sight which permits him to see the justice of all things.
And always there is present the power of choice in one direction or another.
The questions before each human being are: Whom will ye serve? Will you
serve the higher spiritual nature, or the body of flesh? WHOM CHOOSE YE THIS
DAY?
 
	[culled fro the FRIENDLY PHILOSOPHER ]
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These are vital questions.  How can we "be good," if we do not know how to
be "good?"

Best wishes.

Dallas