Some FUNDAMENTALS in THEOSOPHY
Aug 08, 2006 07:03 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
Some FUNDAMENTALS in THEOSOPHY
ANCIENT WISDOM knew - and continues to know - deep and vast knowledge about
ourselves, our purpose in life, nature, the universe, the highest god-like
principles, and man's long pre-history on this earth.
Theosophy is the portion of that ancient knowledge brought to us by H. P.
Blavatsky toward the end of the 19th century, as taught to her by her
Teachers, the never-dying Masters of Wisdom..
I had sent for your consideration:
3 FUNDAMENTALS
1 SPACE is everywhere, and cannot be measured. It is the UNIVERSE.
2. LAW is everywhere. It is always honest, true, fair, universal
and impersonal. It has many aspects and all are framed so as to support life
everywhere.
3. The EVOLUTION of all creatures and beings (including Mankind)
starts from the same single Spiritual Basis. It makes them all "brothers" in
fact, though their forms and beliefs may differ. Each follows his or her own
self-made path. In the end there is a Goal: it has been called SUPREME
PERFECTION -- also, ALL KNOWINGNESS (or WISDOM).
Even the material of all forms ( atoms, molecules, cells, etc. ) are
immortals and come from the same one SOURCE: SPIRIT.
4 MAJOR IDEAS:
HERMES taught: "A stone becomes a plant. A plant becomes an animal, An
animal becomes a Man ( a THINKER), and, a Thinker becomes a
GOD. Never is anything made less or lowered again." [The word "God" used
here means a Thinker who can understand everything in the Universe - a
Prophet or a Wise Man - is a "Son of 'God.'" Basically we are all sons and
daughters of God -- the ONE UNIVERSAL SPIRIT -- ATMAN.
All progress is forward and upward and eventually we learn and know
everything.
1. REINCARNATION is the process by which all beings advance. The
forms constantly change. The Spirit that is within and behind the forms we
wear, and creates them, it NEVER DIES. We do NOT "die."
2. SLEEP IS DEATH. Death is sleep. The CONSCIOUSNESS of each
individual always survives. THE FEAR OF "DEATH" IS ABOLISHED.
3. The LAW OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT is through BROTHERHOOD. It is
mutual help and is always cooperative. It views Humanity and all beings as
a single family. Wisdom is the ability to understand law operating
everywhere in a moral and altruistic fashion
4. MAN'S (a Thinker's) DUTY is to help all others.
Added all together, these are 7 of the principal points of Theosophical and
universal science, and in all true philosophies.
Try to see if they are true. Ask all the questions you want.
If you wish to study Theosophical propositions in greater detail, I suggest
you start with a simple text book like
The KEY TO THEOSOPHY (by H P B) (an Introduction to Theosophical
doctrines and the ethics of Theosophy to be applied - 300 pages), or
Mr. Judge's The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY, ( a summary of The SECRET
DOCTRINE -- which is a book that covers the history of Cosmic evolution and
that of our Earth and humanity - as a host of spiritual beings all working
and living together for millions of years - 180 pages).
These are available for downloading from http://www.blavatsky.net and
http://www.ult-la.org .
---------------------------------
Some of its principles are: [see S D I pp. 4 to 22]
........Everything in the universe originates from one boundless, eternal,
unknowable source. After a period of manifested existence the universe
returns to that source and has in addition. all the experience gained.
........The universe itself is an organic whole, alive, intelligent,
conscious, and divine.
........The laws of nature are the result of intelligent forces.
........The law of karma holds throughout the universe. It operates at all
levels, ensuring justice, harmony, and balance.
........We reincarnate into successive lives. Once we have reached the human
level we do not regress back into animal forms.
........The law of karma acts over our successive lives to ensure justice.
(We don't get away with it.) We are the cause of every joy and pain in our
own life.
........A law of cycles provides fundamental structure at all levels. Two
examples are our pattern of reincarnation, and the continuing "lives" of the
universe as it appears, then returns to its source.
........Analogy and correspondence provide fundamental structure for the
universe. This is a broad statement of the Hermetic axiom - "As above, so
below".
........Evolution applies on a grand scale to all of life.
........Soul (intelligence) is involved in this world of matter. It
experiences and learns. Soul then works its way back in a long pilgrimage to
its primal source. This again follows a cyclic pattern.
........This evolution achieves experience, self-awareness, and ever
increasing perfection. Evolution occurs on the physical, mental, and
spiritual planes.
........"Survival of the fittest" along with gradual accumulation of small
beneficial changes does not explain the "origin of the species". The origin
of the species is due to intelligent design.
........Humanity has experienced significant evolution in long periods on
the continents (not islands) of Atlantis and Lemuria.
........There is a seven fold constitution of man ranging from the physical
plane to the purely spiritual plane.
........Thoughts are tangible objects on higher planes. Every thought and
action has its effect on us and on our surroundings and has a karmic
consequence.
........The three higher planes of this constitution form the "higher self"
and that is what reincarnates from life to life and accumulates the
experience, the lessons, the virtues. The lower planes form the "lower self"
and are the vehicle used by the higher self while it is living in this
active testing ground of incarnate
life.
........At the moment of death we have a review of our life just past – as
we cast off this physical frame. After a short period, that varies
greatly between individuals, we cast off other lower aspects of our
constitution and the reincarnating self begins a long period of merciful,
earned, rest before the next birth.
........Often during this life, our spiritual nature is obscured in our
self-centered daily lives as we cater to our immediate needs and desires.
But the spiritual self is always there to guide us if we seek it with strong
earnest desire.
........We can strive to reach our Higher Self [ATMA] by:
........Listening to the still small voice of our conscience.
........Noting the dreams from the Higher Self.
........Developing our intuition.
........Meditating.
........Studying principles of the Wisdom Religion.
........Aligning ourselves with Nature.
........Engaging in action for the greater good of all beings.
........Carefully reading the events of our daily life.
........Brotherhood is a fact in nature. We are ONE at the highest spiritual
component of our nature. We are sparks from one flame. We are the fingers on
one hand. We are ONE at other levels as well.
We should:
........Understand we are not separate from humanity or the world.
........Emphasize brotherhood, altruism, and compassion in our daily lives.
........Strive to know our higher self.
........As a guiding rule - act for and as the Self of All.
........The religions of the world are branches on the tree whose trunk is
the one ancient - once universal - wisdom religion. The religions are the
tributaries of one great river. (But they borrow from each other to make the
actual details much more complex.)
........Mythology often transmits some of this knowledge in symbolic form.
........Periodically, great teachers come amongst us to help us in this
evolutionary path. They may create another branch on the tree.
........Humanity's potential is infinite and every being has a contribution
to make toward a grander world. We are all in it together. We are one.
Is HPB or THEOSOPHY vague? Here are some ideas she placed on record. HPB
said:
Come to the S.D. without any hope of getting the final Truth of existence
from it, or with any idea other than seeing how far it may lead TOWARDS the
Truth.
See in study a means of exercising and developing the mind never touched by
other studies.
Observe the following rules:
1. No matter what one may study in the S.D. let the mind hold fast, as the
basis of its ideation to the following ideas
(a) The FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF ALL EXISTENCE.
This unity is a thing altogether different from the common notion of unity
-- as when we say that a nation or an army is united; or that this planet is
united to that by lines of magnetic force or the like. The teaching is not
that. It is that existence is ONE THING, not any collection of things linked
together.
Fundamentally there is ONE BEING.
This Being has two aspects, positive and negative.
The positive is Spirit, or CONSCIOUSNESS.
The negative is SUBSTANCE, the subject of consciousness.
This Being is the Absolute in its primary manifestation.
Being absolute there is nothing outside it. It is All-Being. It is
indivisible, else it would not be absolute. If a portion could be separated,
that remaining could not be absolute, because there would at once arise the
question of COMPARISON between it and the separated part. Comparison is
incompatible with any idea of absoluteness. Therefore it is clear that this
fundamental One Existence, or Absolute Being must be the Reality in every
form there is.
I said that though this was clear to me I did not think that many in the
Lodges would grasp it.
"Theosophy," she said, "is for those who can think, or for those who can
drive themselves to think, not mental sluggards." H.P.B. has grown very mild
of late.
The Atom, the Man, the God (she says) are each separately, as well as all
collectively, Absolute Being in their last analysis, that is their REAL
INDIVIDUALITY. It is this idea which must be held always in the background
of the mind to form the basis for every conception that arises from study of
the S.D. The moment one lets it go (and it is most easy to do so when
engaged in any of the many intricate aspects of the Esoteric Philosophy) the
idea of SEPARATION supervenes, and the study loses its value.
The second idea to hold fast to is that THERE IS NO DEAD MATTER. Every last
atom is alive. It cannot be otherwise since every atom is itself
fundamentally Absolute Being. Therefore there is no such thing as "spaces"
of Ether, or Akasha, or call it what you like, in which angels and
elementals disport themselves like trout in water. That's the common idea.
The true idea shows every atom of substance no matter of what plane to be in
itself a LIFE.
The third basic idea to be held is that Man is the MICROCOSM. As he is so,
then all the Hierarchies of the Heavens exist within him. But in truth there
is neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm but ONE EXISTENCE. Great and small are
such only as viewed by a limited consciousness.
(d) Fourth and last basic idea to be held is that expressed in the Great
Hermetic Axiom. It really sums up and synthesizes all the others:
As is the Inner, so is the Outer;
as is the Great so is the Small;
as it is above, so it is below;
there is but One Life and Law;
and he that worketh it is ONE.
Nothing is Inner, nothing is Outer;
nothing is Great, nothing is Small;
nothing is High, nothing is Low, in the Divine Economy.
No matter what one takes as study in the S.D. one must correlate it with
those basic ideas.
I suggested that this is a kind of mental exercise which must be excessively
fatiguing. H.P.B. smiled and nodded. One must not be a fool (she said) and
drive oneself into the madhouse by attempting too much at first. The brain
is the instrument of waking consciousness, and every conscious mental
picture formed means change and destruction of the atoms of the brain.
Ordinary intellectual activity moves on well beaten paths in the brain, and
does not compel sudden adjustments and destructions in its substance. But
this new kind of mental effort calls for something very different -- the
carving out of new "brain paths," the ranking in different order of the
little brain lives. If forced injudiciously it may do serious physical harm
to the brain.
[from notes made at an interview with HPB by Cmdr. Bowen]
CAN THEOSOPHY EVOLVE ?
I would agree with: "It is possible that Theosophy, as a teaching,
adapts itself to the socio-cultural reality of the age to which it is
presented."
The description in MAHATMA LETTERS of the process of occult education and
chelaship trials seems very real to me -- as I can sense that a careful
student would observe similar or analogous events occurring within his
purview as he lives.
As I have observed, we need to learn to distinguish virtue from vice, and
without any relenting, apply virtue to our lives, especially in private as
carefully as we do in public. Is there any better way to live that makes
living worthwhile ?
IMMORTAL PILGRIMS
Add to this, we need to embrace and apply the knowledge that we are
"immortal Pilgrims," [ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS ], and we only incarnate in
material forms for the benefit of the many "monads" who have less experience
than we do. [see S D II 167 ]
Our fight is to live spiritual lives in an environment that is quite
"hellish" -- where vice masquerades at every moment -- and we are pulled
(by our "garments" of passions and isolation, -- all irresponsible desires)
to believe that this one life is the "only" life -- a quite pointless and
illogical position it is, when we consider there is so much to learn and to
do in our world that is good and useful. How to do this deliberately and
with sound planning?
MEDITATION
Meditation ought to be along lines that help us to determine for sure what
we truly are (IMMORTALS) incarnated to serve the unlearned children (monads)
of our fancies and desires -- and change them into honest and valuable
THINKERS -- and teach them and our lower nature where we can go if we wish
to. What is the difference between spirit and matter? Between purpose and
Law, and immoderate, pointless folly and stupefying 'entertainment' and
'excitement.' ?
RELIGIOUS HEREDITY
The passage of teaching, say from Krishna to Buddha, to Lao Tse and
Confucius, to Zoroaster and Shankaracharya, to the Jain Tirthankaras, to
Jesus, to Pythagoras and Apollonius, and latest, to HPB -- shows (to me)
the changes in language but there is no change in basic teachings -- or do
you see any? Both ISIS UNVEILED and the SECRET DOCTRINE give us all the
necessary historical clues if we will only read and note them. Is that too
difficult?
So to answer an accusation of "FUNDAMENTALISM:" I would say
It depends on what you think THEOSOPHY is.
To me it {THEOSOPHY} is a statement of LAWS and FACTS.
They don't evolve, but concepts about them change.
Also the phrasing and examples used alter -- but not the FUNDAMENTALS. Are
we afraid of TRUTH? If so, Why? What part of us welcomes it? What seeks
to avoid it? How does that happen? [ Consider the ineradicable fundaments
of ARITHMETIC that pervade and underlie all scientific records and
observations. ]
We as human mind beings, are said to be immortals and to have reincarnated
thousands of times, and yet, in our brain-minds that are changed every
incarnation, we have no active tangible, locatable memory of those events --
other than our characters and abilities (or their lack) to show for all that
work and time we have incarnating. Are we actually spiritual "teachers
surrounded by hordes of pupils (little-lives, monads) and why are we
ignorant of the actual condition, its urgency, and our responsibilities?
Who or what is holding us back?
And of course that may not be acceptable as evidence. And my ideas may be
too vague and impractical? If so, what shall I do with them? Had I best
stay quiet?
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THEOSOPHY is called "A Statement Of Facts In Nature."
THEOSOPHY has only one answer for any question. It does not deal
in the confusion of opinions.
THEOSOPHY as a statement of : The Laws of Nature and Life doesn't
change.
Events that affect Karma (either individual or collective) make for
changes and those changes produce effects -- and, those can be tracked and
expressed by using that great universal LAW -- which inevitably and
minutely, tracks them all, just as it has always been doing.
For this reason we find in the SECRET DOCTRINE that there are two
broad aspects:
1 DOCTRINES, LAWS AND AXIOMS (facts)
2 HISTORY
When do we reach perfection. At the end of the 7th round ?
DTB It may take place earlier depending on effort and acquired "merit"
See S D I 161-2
"Those who knew that a Round was preceded and followed by a long Pralaya, a
pause of rest which created an impassable gulf between two Rounds until the
time came for a renewed cycle of life, could not understand the "fallacy" of
talking about "fifth and sixth Rounders" in our Fourth Round. Gautama
Buddha, it was held, was a Sixth-Rounder, Plato and some other great
philosophers and minds, "Fifth-Rounders."
How could it be? One Master taught and affirmed that there were such
"Fifth-Rounders" even now on Earth; and though understood to say that
mankind was yet "in the Fourth Round," in another place he seemed to say
that we were in the Fifth. To this an "apocalyptic answer" was returned by
another Teacher:-"A few drops of rain do not make a Monsoon, though they
presage it." . . .
"No, we are not in the Fifth Round, but Fifth Round men have been coming in
for the last few thousand years." This was worse than the riddle of the
Sphinx! Students of Occultism subjected their brains to the wildest work of
speculation. For a considerable time they tried to outvie OEdipus and
reconcile the two statements. And as the Masters kept as silent as the stony
Sphinx herself, they were accused of inconsistency, "contradiction," and
"discrepancies."... the Orientalists have made a jumble of the Hindu
exoteric philosophy, and the Theosophists were now doing the same with
regard to esoteric teachings.
To this day it is evident that the latter have utterly failed to understand
the meaning of the term "Fifth and Sixth Rounders." But it is simply this:
every "Round" brings about a new development and even an entire change in
the mental, psychic, spiritual and physical constitution of man, all these
principles evoluting on an ever ascending scale. Thence it follows that
those persons who, like Confucius and Plato, belonged psychically, mentally
and spiritually to the higher planes of evolution, were in our Fourth Round
as the average man will be in the Fifth Round, whose mankind is destined to
find itself, on this scale of Evolution, immensely higher than is our
present humanity.
Similarly Gautama Buddha-Wisdom incarnate-was still higher and greater than
all the men we have mentioned, who are called Fifth Rounders, while Buddha
and Sankaracharya are termed Sixth Rounders, allegorically. Thence again the
concealed wisdom of the remark, pronounced at the time "evasive"-that a few
drops of rain do not make the Monsoon, though they presage it."
In the S D it is hinted that the DHYANI BUDDHAS represent the highest level
of spiritual advancement mentioned. [ See S D I 48, 108, 114, 213, 267,
471-2, 571-4, II 34, ]
It is possible that the "Initiator," named "GREAT SACRIFICE" may be such an
one.
S D I 207-8.
------------------------------------------
DTB
"PERSONALITY" to me implies the conjoined 4 lower "principles"
[physical body, astral body, prana, kama] This is animated by the lower
aspect of Manas called "Kama-Manas" or, the "lower Mind / Manas."
"INDIVIDUALITY" is made up of the Higher aspect of Manas, plus Buddhi and
Atma. ATMA-BUDDHI is the ETERNAL MONAD, and Manas is the link to the
PERSONALITY in every incarnation.
"Important:" There is no change of "planet" until all the karma connected
with our Earth is exhausted. No aimless, or desire-propelled "wanderings."
Manas, acting as a "bridge" between the ONE CONSCIOUSNESS (of the MONAD) is
necessarily dual, one part (the Higher) being Buddhi-Manas, and the other
(the Lower) being Kama-Manas. It is Kama-Manas that is active in all of us
in the waking condition of life, and in it we make our free, voluntary
choices. The exercise of this independence causes us to rise or descend the
ladder of being. The Intuitive quality and faculty of our Buddhi-Manas is
always our friend and guide to making superior moral and virtuous decisions.
Its importance is amplified by active, (not passive) meditation. In such a
case, it is always ACTIVE, and, is a lawful, a will-desire aimed at
achieving the optimum impersonal and universally acceptable decision for any
situation.
[ That is how I understand it. ]
If the body is destroyed, or dies, all the skandhas are held in the ASTRAL
BODY for a time proportionate to the "karma" of that person / monad. [There
are a number of these, I can send some quotes illustrating these if
desired.]
Then, as in the case of natural death, after the higher and meritorious
aspects of memory inherent in the life just lived are sifted and moved to
Devachan with the Monad, the astral corpse of the personality having no
further support is allowed to disintegrate on the astral plane.
The only cases where a "Personality / with the same ASTRAL Body " may
reincarnate
is when a child or young person who has not generated any causes that would
require a Devachan dies or is killed. But this is rare. Some are on
record.
When the whole human "dies" -- i.e.: the body can no longer support
organized life, the whole INDIVIDUALITY and PERSONALITY together go through
the normal after-death procedure. The PERSONALITY is disintegrated, and on
the reincarnation of the INDIVIDUALITY (under Karma) a fresh PERSONALITY is
assembled from the needed "skandhas" for its use (under its Karma) by Nature
and the instrumentality
of the parents.
This has occurred thousands of times for each of us in the course of our
evolution. Now, thanks to THEOSOPHY we are being given a vision of the
inner workings of these great interlocking and always cooperative universal
Laws.
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Best wishes,
Dallas
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