Theos-Talk Archives (July 2006 Message tt00416)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Dear  Deborah:

		Re:	STUDYING THEOSOPHY

Sorry you landed without warning into a discussion group with many threads.


Do consider this:

THEOSOPHY is dedicated to providing study material and a thinking area so
that " A Universal Brotherhood of Humanity." may be actually realized.
 
 Its motto is:  "There is no religion higher than Truth."

 Of necessity this is addressed to you as an individual student.  

But note: It presents my opinions only.

As I see it:  The organizations and societies can at best provide the
necessary study material and the places where sincere, interested and
persistent students can meet and discuss: 

1          What is THEOSOPHY ?

2          Is it reasonable enough that it can it be applied?

3          What has been its impact on our world civilization during the
last 130 years? 

4          How is it likely to continue to affect the world?

5          What can I contribute?


In my opinion:  it is vital that the "original teachings" [HPB,  Masters, W.
Q. Judge] be our conjoint focus, as writings by many students later than the
Masters, HPB and Judge tend to be filtered and altered by their
personalities and interests.

It is my observation that most of us are unfamiliar, critically, of the
"original 
teachings" of THEOSOPHY  --  particularly of what HPB and the Masters 
actually wrote.

Without that as the personal base of our own study, how can we make any kind
of independent valuation of THEOSOPHY ?

If I were asked what course to follow, I would recommend: first to carefully
study HPB's The KEY TO THEOSOPHY (1889), its nomenclature and definitions.  

I would follow this with The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY as it is written for this
age and is true to The SECRET DOCTRINE .

H P B wrote The SECRET DOCTRINE -- which is true for all of whatever age. It
contains the history of evolution and the record of experience in teaching
about it.

Platonic dialog has shaped the human mind (which is the battlefield of
Self-consciousness) down the ages, as it has been read and studied  It marks
for us in this cycle, in the West, the beginning of Kama-manasic debate and
questioning.  The embodied mind (Kama-manas) is a “shadow” of the Nous --
the Higher Mind -- it is (when aspiring and reflective) seeking to know and
understand itself, its origin and its objectives. 

“We have to learn to renew our spiritual stamina” -- H P B says: this
internal mind work is to be done through study and independent thought --
meditation.

The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY is a declaration of independence based on the true
psychology of man in evolution.  This book presents a philosophy of
enlightenment.  It deals with the “personal” and the “Universal” -- as
ideals all can realize and practically embodied.  The Universal is enshrined
in the “personal.”  

The "atom" is a miniature Universe, and each human Mind depicts the
potentials of all evolutionary effort lading to the final SUPREME WISDOM.

Then move to a careful study and evaluation of ISIS UNVEILED (1877), The
VOICE OF THE SILENCE (1889) , the SECRET DOCTRINE (1888)'  and the MAHATMA
LETTERS.  It is probably well to have these at hand to secure as broad a
view of the WISDOM as is presently available.

We have an advantage over the students who participated in earlier studies,
inasmuch as The KEY TO THEOSOPHY (1889) and the SECRET DOCTRINE (1888)
established and corrected some of the early variants of technical
designations used in ISIS UNVEILED (1877) ESOTERIC BUDDHISM (Sinnett) and
early articles in THEOSOPHIST (1879 - 1891) magazine.  

LUCIFER and The PATH (1886 - 1896) magazine articles are clear and definite,
and provide more clearly defined practical applications of THEOSOPHICAL
tenets and fundamental bases. 

The THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY (1892) and TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE
(1890) are of great help to the earnest student.

Mr Judge's one of the original founders of the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY in New
York wrote several books and many articles.  

Mr. Judge's works include:  The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY, The EPITOME OF
THEOSOPHY, have been found to be most helpful, and also his articles:  such
as the series CONVERSATIONS ON OCCULTISM, and LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME.  

Both HPB and the Masters have praised his writings and his work and have
repeatedly called him their "colleague." 

There is enough in this short list to keep a group of students busy for
several years if this kind of work if undertaken sincerely and with
persistence. 

The real questions each student has to answer to themselves are:

1          Do I want to really learn what THEOSOPHY teaches?

2          Do I want to see if any practical application of use can be
		derived from that study for myself?  

One has to admit - so that this may function -- that there can be no
enforcement, nor any criticism of members, or of each others' applications.
No organization or society has any rights or powers over the work or lives
of their members. In other words, "authority" of any kind must be and is
abolished. ] 

                        "Theosophist is, who Theosophy does." 

Best wishes,

Dallas

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


-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Silvernail [mailto:silvernail56@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 12:11 PM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] Re: RULES IN OCCULTISM --- H P B on

Hi,
I am lost. I thought I was signing up for a class study. I am getting a lot
of people that are having discussion but I haven't even been taught on the
subject. How do I start here. I have so many emails and I read some and it
is in the middle of a subject.

Can you help?