Theos-Talk Archives (February 2007 Message tt00303)

Hi mkr,
What has been interesting for me in my experience with my own 
spiritual journey is that often the enlightenments that I have 
experienced have been sometimes for the personality disappointments 
or I suppose you could say rude awakenings to things I once held to 
be `sacred' but turned out to be illusions.

Waking up from the stupor that was the Jehovah's Witnesses was at the 
time a very difficult and painful process because part of the 
personality wants to hang onto what is familiar and comfortable, so 
the process is kind of like working through a sickness that needs to 
be purged from the system.

Even though all sorts of `comforts' the personality may be used to 
are being taken away, something within tells you that the process is 
a necessary one.  

M Scott Peck in his book "The Road Less Traveled" says :

"Being about spiritual growth, this book is inevitably about the 
other side of the same coin: the impediment to spiritual growth. 
Ultimately there is only one impediment, and that is laziness.

 If we overcome laziness, all the other impediments will be overcome. 
If we do not overcome laziness, none of the others will be hurdled. 
So this is a book about laziness. In examining discipline , we were 
considering the laziness of attempting to avoid legitimate suffering, 
or taking the easy way out. 

In examining love we were also examining the fact that nonlove is the 
unwillingness to extend ones self. Laziness is loves opposite. 
Spiritual growth is effortful…….."

This type of statement may not be very popular in our culture that 
wants instant and effortless results and quick fixes, however the 
above statement rings very truly to my own experience and intuition.

One question that keeps coming up in my own mind is, is truth 
important?

Am I simply looking for comforting ideas that don't challenge me and 
take me out of my comfort zone or am I really seeking to see things 
as clearly and as honestly as I can?

Often we seek comfort, security and acceptance over what may be an 
uncomfortable and perhaps even at the time a devastating truth.
 
Asato ma sat gamaya (From illusion lead me to the Truth)
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya (From darkness lead me to Light) 
Mrityur ma amritam gamaya (From death lead me to Immortality. 

It strikes that the sincere invocation of bringing truth to bear upon 
illusion will no doubt bring with it many painful and difficult 
realisations and experiences but it also liberates us and brings us 
into a new awarenesses.

Cheers

Perry




--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "M K Ramadoss" <mkr777@...> wrote:
>
> Well said.
> 
> It is a fact that many many were introduced to theosophy by the 
writings of
> CWL and I am sure there are many on this list as well. Ultimately, 
it is the
> transformation and understanding one gets out of theosophical 
writings out
> there is what matters . For simple students like me life is too 
short and it
> is after all our how our personal lives have been affected by our 
exposure
> to theosophy is the bottom line.
> 
> mkr
> 
> On 2/22/07, MarieMAJ41@... <MarieMAJ41@...> wrote:
> >
> >   Thank you Nigel. I want to tell you that I agree almost 
completely with
> > your assessment and reasoning. However, I cannot know whether or 
not he lied
> > deliberately, or misinterpreted his visions into the astral 
world. It is
> > entirely conceivable that being a fairly naive and impressionable 
person, as
> > I perceive people who become clergy to be, Leadbeater had an 
entirely
> > different world-view than most of us. I say all this with tongue 
in cheek
> > however, because most of what Leadbeater has written about life 
on Mars and
> > such is simply "poppy-cock". And the past lives, LOL. But some of 
his books
> > are even inspiring?
> >
> > I do think that Leadbeater was a pedophile. But he may not have 
known it.
> > The Adyar Society is a little like Leadbeater [and his cohort 
Annie Besant]
> > in fact. Ambitious people are at the head of it, and only 
ambitious people
> > will ever be in charge They will do what they must to stay in 
power and lead
> > the sheeple. But that is not to say that those same people have 
not done
> > good for the spreading of theosophy. I think they count on the 
fact that
> > many, if not most, people who join the Society will never find 
out about the
> > various controversies and the different splinter groups that have 
arisen.
> > When I joined the Adyar Society, it was because it was there, I 
had not way
> > of knowing that there were choices, and I was never informed 
about any
> > choices. So I became a Life-Member. So, am I through my 
membership condoning
> > the Leadbeater and Besant debacle? I don't know. And at this 
point, since
> > Blavatsky, Judge, Olcott, Leadbeater and Besant have gone to 
their reward, I
> > don't care. I will just have to make do with the literature and 
my own
> > intuitions.
> >
> > Marie
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nhcareyta@... <nhcareyta%40yahoo.com.au>
> > To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com <theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 7:40 PM
> > Subject: Theos-World Re: CW Leadbeater website
> >
> > Dear Marie
> > Thank you for alerting us to this website. It is a worthwhile
> > contribution to an interesting debate.
> >
> > On this site, Pedro takes what appears to be at first glance a
> > reasoned approach to some of the issues surrounding Bishop
> > Leadbeater. For the uninformed or faithful some of the ideas he
> > presents sound entirely reasonable and supportable by any fair 
minded
> > person.
> > However for me, Pedro's work is an extraordinary minimisation of 
some
> > real issues.
> >
> > As has been mentioned so many times in this forum, Bishop 
Leadbeater
> > produced utterly contradictory accounts of occult teachings from
> > Madame Blavatsky and her occult teachers, despite claiming to be 
in
> > direct contact with those very same teachers. He also lied and
> > deceived people on numerous occasions as is well documented and
> > validated.
> >
> > Unfortunately and yet again it needs to be stated that this is in 
no
> > way suggesting that Madame Blavatsky and her teachers are in
> > possession of absolute truth and that their students are, in 
effect,
> > blind devotees as Pedro and others seem concerned about. This is 
an
> > age old diversionary tactic, used consciously or unconsciously, of
> > subtly suggesting something where often no such thing exists.
> >
> > Furthermore and once again, it is not suggesting that Bishop
> > Leadbeater was all bad and contributed nothing of any value. He 
was a
> > dedicated and hard worker for his version of theosophy, his 
Society
> > and his church.
> >
> > However, Pedro either doesn't understand or doesn't want to
> > understand the gravity of Bishop Leadbeater's many intellectual
> > indiscretions and manifest incidents of breach of trust.
> > It seems that matters of honour, integrity and truth are 
unimportant
> > with respect to spiritual teachers and teachings despite the good
> > Bishop's ardent professions to the contrary in most of his works.
> >
> > Kind regards
> > Nigel
> >
> > --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com <theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > MarieMAJ41@ wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello Friends, I received this from another forum from Pedro
> > Oliveira, but thought u all might enjoy this.
> > >
> > > Please find below the URL for a website dedicated to C. W.
> > Leadbeater.
> > >
> > > http://www.cwlworld.info/index.html
> > >
> > >
> > > With warm and fraternal regards to all,
> > >
> > > Marie and Pedro Oliveira
> > >
> > __________________________________________________________
> > __
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> > >
> >
> > __________________________________________________________
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> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 
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