Theos-Talk Archives (December 2006 Message tt00900)

Friends,

In the first semester of 2004, I started to act against the
publication of false letters attacking HPB as if they were part of
HPB's writings.

Of course, I knew there was a deep and vast 'ethical deficit' in the
Adyar Theosophical movement. Yet I still tended to take Ethics for
granted. I acted as if it should be enough to show some mistake, for
the mistake to be duly corrected. I was wrong.

In the last two and a half years -- 2004 - 2006 -- I had to learn
that even among sincere students of HPB/Masters teachings, one
should not take ethical behaviour for granted.

Ethics is a more complex science than Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Leon
Tolstoy thought. It has an intimate relation to the esoteric
science. A naive goodness is not enough to develop an ethical
behaviour. One needs discernment (viveka), and detachment 
(vairagya),  too.

Of course, one could ask:

"Why then did not HPB and the Masters start by Ethics in the 1870s
and 1880s?"

Well, they did. Those who will read "Light on the Path", "The Key
to Theosophy", or "The Voice of the Silence" will see that ethics is
essential to the philosophy of Theosophy.

The ultimate practical goal of studying "The Secret Doctrine" is
that, by contemplating universal truths, one will start to
actually "live up to" and not only "think about" the perception of
unity among all beings in the universe. Thus the student will
gradually attain, say, "that morality which results from seeing
the unity of all life".

Karma law is clearly a lesson of Ethics, as it tells us that we can
only harvest according to what we sow.

In spite of that, students of esoteric philosophy still have a lot
to research, to learn and to discuss about practical ethics.

It is possible, one can hope, that in the next few years and
decades the movement will do a great favour to itself by perceiving
the utterly decisive importance of practical ethics, both individual
and colective.


Regards, Carlos.