Theos-Talk Archives (October 2006 Message tt00172)

Friends,


Gregory Tillett writes: 

"I suppose a secret society, strictly speaking, is one the existence of
which is not publicly mentioned by its members (who may actually seek to
conceal its existence), which meets in secret, has secret teachings and
membership of which (as a result) can only be by invitation. The ER
clearly falls into this category.
The (Adyar) ES doesn’t, since there are TS websites describing it and its
meetings (although not the content of the meetings).
Freemasonry is hardly a secret society – apart from anything else its
buildings (like the one down the road from my house) are clearly labelled.
It is often described as a “society with secrets” and that is probably
true for the TS ES."  So far,  Tillett. 


This is the same idea that I had submitted here. Of course, this is a rather 
'technical' approach,  and other approaches are often used popularly.

As to the emotional sense of self-importance of people deluded by pseudo 'secret societies' and their ritualisms and 'degrees',  I have to agree again, and it shows how fake some of these organizations are. 

With regard to the ES  'tradition' created by HPB in the 19th century,  I guess there is one real ES, or Inner School, which is broadly speaking 2500-3000 years old, if not older, and dates from Greece, in the West, India and China;  but, of course, it is connected to the Himalayas and there is no reason to investigate further on its 'location' since it is not 'geographically limited' to this or that country. 

An authentic esoteric school working at the physical plane is an  instrument of this really Inner School, of which a number of 'students' (lay disciples) may have never heard about Masters or HPB in their physical brains.   

The "inner" or meditative reading of Plato (Socrates), Plotinus, Porphyry, Seneca, Cicero, Julian, Musonius Rufus, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cardinal de Cusa and many others will reveal a growing number of teachings related to this One School.  Of course there are eastern  thinkers and works, like "Dhammapada", "Bhagavad Gita", "Upanishads", "Tao Te King", "Wen-tzu", "Tripitaka", and so on. 

This School has conscious disciples/students ; but it also has semi-conscious ones, and a number of  unconscious learner/disciples (who are called by HPB  'unconscious occultists', the French writer H. Balzac being an example). 

Sometimes, being conscious of as link with Adepts does more harm than good to the lower self and and to the lower quaternary of the learner. 
Hence left-side brain-consciousness of it  often does not occur. 

People do not get into the 'occult waters' of this school by adoring portraits, or by going to rituals and fancying themselves disciples. 

They do that by their actual and active intentions -- and by their actions -- with regard to serving Humanity and understanding the Kosmos. 

At least, this is what I have been able to guess, so far. 


Best regards,   Carlos. 













De:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Para:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Cópia:

Data:Thu, 12 Oct 2006 06:30:01 +1000 (EST)

Assunto:Theos-World What are secret societies?

> There is considerable debate in academic discussions about esotericism as
> to what is a secret society and what is an esoteric society!
> A spectrum can be developed from: existence open/ teachings open (eg the
> TS) to existence open/ teachings secret (eg the Adyar ES, Co-Masonry) to
> existence secret/teachings secret (eg ER).
> I suppose a secret society, strictly speaking, is one the existence of
> which is not publicly mentioned by its members (who may actually seek to
> conceal its existence), which meets in secret, has secret teachings and
> membership of which (as a result) can only be by invitation. The ER
> clearly falls into this category.
> The (Adyar) ES doesn’t, since there are TS websites describing it and its
> meetings (although not the content of the meetings).
> Freemasonry is hardly a secret society – apart from anything else its
> buildings (like the one down the road from my house) are clearly labelled.
> It is often described as a “society with secrets” and that is probably
> true for the TS ES.
> The Temple of the Rosy Cross fell into this category: its establishment
> was announced in “The Vahan” but its secrets (including its rituals) were
> not public.
> The Leadbeater-derived World Mother movement clearly is a secret society:
> its existence has not been made public, nor have its teachings.
> An academic debate could be initiated (for those with otherwise empty
> lives!) about whether a secret society ceases to be secret when someone
> publishes the fact of its existence or its teachings.
> However, I’ve never been particularly excited by such typologies, and am
> happy to include groups that have secrets and groups that were secret in
> my history. That the secrets the society has may be of no great interest
> (as in the Adyar ES) or are accessible from other sources (like
> Co-Masonry) presumably does not take away the excitement and status felt
> by the members. Tracking down the secrets of most secret societies is
> about 90% of the fun! Having found them, I am usually greatly disappointed
> at their mundane and dreary quality.
> 
> Dr Gregory Tillett
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> E-mail classificado pelo Identificador de Spam Inteligente Terra.
> Para alterar a categoria classificada, visite
> http://mail.terra.com.br/protected_email/imail/imail.cgi?+_u=carlosaveline&_l=1,1160604809.688412.28875.alcuta.terra.com.br,5740,Des15,Des15
> 
> Esta mensagem foi verificada pelo E-mail Protegido Terra.
> Scan engine: McAfee VirusScan / Atualizado em 11/10/2006 / Versão: 4.4.00/4871
> Proteja o seu e-mail Terra: http://mail.terra.com.br/


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]