Theos-Talk Archives (December 2008 Message tt00262)

I'm inclined to think Blavatsky was referring to our century not past centuries. The only anagram I can get from 1889 is 1988 - wonder if anyone else has an intuitive reaction to this warning.
Cass
But it is not materialism which will gain the upper hand. Every fanatic whose ideas isolate him from the universal axiom, âThere is no religion higher than Truthâ will see himself by that very fact rejected, like an unworthy stone from the Archway called Humanity. Tossed by the waves, driven by the winds, reeling in that element which is so terrible because unknown, he will soon find himself engulfed ... 
Yes, it must be so and it cannot be otherwise, when the artificial and chilly flame of modern materialism is extinguished for lack of fuel. Those who cannot become used to the idea of a spiritual Ego, a living soul and an eternal Spirit within their material shell (which owes its illusory existence to thoseprinciples); those for whom the great hope of an existence beyond the grave is a vexation, merely the symbol of an unknown quantity, or else the subject of a beliefsui generis, the result of theological and mediumistic hallucination â these will do well to prepare for the worst disappointment the future could possibly have in store for them. From the depths of the dark, muddy waters of materiality which, on every side, hide from them the horizons of the great Beyond, a mystic force is rising during these last years of the century. At most it is but the first gentle rustling, but it is a superhuman rustling ââsupernaturalâ only for the
 superstitious and the ignorant. The spirit of truth is passing now over the face of the dark waters, and in parting them, is compelling them to disgorge their spiritual treasures. This spirit is a force that can neither be hindered nor stopped. Those who recognize it and feel that this is the supreme moment of their salvation will be uplifted by it and carried beyond the illusions of the great astral serpent. The joy they will experience will be so poignant and intense, that if they were not mentally isolated from their bodies of flesh, the beatitude would pierce them like sharp steel. It is not pleasure that they will experience, but a bliss which is a foretaste of the knowledge of the gods, the knowledge of good and evil, and of the fruits of the tree of life. 
But although the man of today may be a fanatic, a skeptic, or a mystic, he must become thoroughly convinced that it is useless for him to struggle against the two moral forces today unleashed and in supreme contest. He is at the mercy of these two adversaries, and no intermediary force is capable of protecting him. It is but a question of choice, whether to let himself be carried along without a struggle on the wave of mystical evolution, or to writhe against the reaction of moral and psychic evolution, and so find himself engulfed in the MaelstrÃm of the new tide. At the present time, the whole world, with its centres of high intelligence and human culture, its focal points of political, artistic, literary, and commercial life, is in turmoil; everything is shaking and crumbling in its movement towards reform. It is useless to remain blind, it is useless to hope that anyone can remain neutral between the two contending forces; one has to choose either
 the one or the other, or be crushed between them. The man who imagines he has chosen freedom, but remains submerged in that boiling caldron, foaming with foul matter called social life, most terribly betrays his own divine Self, a betrayal which will blind that Self in the course of a long series of future incarnations. All of you who hesitate on the path of Theosophy and the occult sciences, who are trembling on the golden threshold of truth â the only one within your grasp, for all the others have failed you, one after another â squarely face the great Reality which is offered you. It is to mystics only that these words are addressed, for them alone have they any importance; for those who have already made their choice they are vain and useless. But you, Occultists, Kabbalists and Theosophists, you well know that a Word, old as the world, though new to you, has been sounded at the beginning at the beginning of this cycle, and the potentiality of
 which, unperceived by others, lies hidden in the sum of the digits of the years 1 8 8 9; you well know that a note has just been struck which has never been heard by mankind of this era; and that a New Idea is revealed, ripened by the forces of evolution. This Idea differs from everything that has been produced in the nineteen century; it is identical, however, with the thought that has been the dominant tone and the keynote of every century, especially the last â absolute freedom of thought for humanity. 
Why try to strangle and suppress what cannot be destroyed? Why struggle when there is no other choice than allowing yourselves to be raised on the crest of the spiritual wave to the very heavens, beyond the stars and the universes, or to be engulfed in the yawning abyss of an ocean of matter? Vain are your efforts to sound the unfathomable, to reach the ultimate of this wonderful matter so glorified in our century; for its roots grow in the spirit and in the Absolute; they do not exist, though they are eternally. This constant contact with flesh, blood and bones, the illusion of differentiated matter, does nothing but blind you; and the more you penetrate into the region of the impalpable atoms of chemistry, the more you will be convinced that they exist only in your imagination. Do you truly expect to find therein every Truth and every reality of existence? For Death is at everyoneÂs door, waiting to close it behind a beloved soul that escapes from its
 prison, upon the soul which alone has made the body a reality; how can eternal love associate itself with the molecules of matter which change and disappear? 
But you are perhaps indifferent to all such things; how then can affection and the souls of those you love concern you at all, since you do not believe in the very existence of such souls? It must be so. You have made your choice; you have entered upon that path which crosses nothing but the barren deserts of matter. You are self-condemned to vegetate therein through a long series of existences. Henceforth, you will have to be contented with deliriums and fevers in place of spiritual perceptions, with passion instead of love, with the husk instead of the fruit. 
But you, friends and readers, you who aspire to something more than the life of the squirrel everlastingly turning the same wheel; you who are not content with the seething of the caldron whose turmoil results in nothing; you who do not mistake the deaf echoes, as old as the world, for the divine voice of truth; prepare yourselves for a future of which but few in your midst have dared to dream, unless they have already entered upon the path. For you have chosen a path that, although thorny at the start, soon widens out and leads you to the divine truth. You are free to doubt while still at the beginning of the way, you are free to decline to accept on hearsay what is taught respecting the source and the cause of that truth, but you are always able to hear what its voice is telling you, and you can always study the effects of the creative force coming from the depths of the unknown. The arid soil upon which the present generation of men is moving, at the
 close of this age of spiritual dearth and of purely material surfeit, has need of a divine omen above its horizon, a rainbow, as symbol of hope. For all the past centuries our nineteenth has been the most criminal. It is criminal in its frightful selfishness, in its skepticism which grimaces at the very idea of anything beyond the material; in its idiotic indifference to all that does not pertain to the personal self, more than any of the previous centuries of ignorant barbarism and intellectual darkness. Our century must be saved from itself before its last hour strikes. For all those who see the sterility and folly of an existence blinded by materialism and ferociously indifferent to the fate of their neighbour, this is the moment to act; now is the time for them to devote all their energies, all their courage and all their efforts to a great intellectual reform. This reform can only be accomplished by Theosophy, and, let us add, by Occultism or the
 wisdom of the Orient. The paths that lead to it are many; but the wisdom is one. Artistic souls envision it, those who suffer dream of it, the pure in heart know it. Those who work for others cannot remain blind to its reality, though they may not always recognize it by its name. Only light and empty minds, egotistical and vain drones, confused by their own buzzing, will remain ignorant of the supreme ideal. They will continue to exist until life becomes a grievous burden to them. 
It must be distinctly remembered, however; these pages are not written for the masses. They are neither an appeal for reforms, nor an effort to win over to our views the fortunate in life; they are addressed solely to those who are constitutionally able to comprehend them, to those who suffer, to those who hunger and thirst after some Reality in this world of Chinese Shadows. As for those, why should they not show themselves courageous enough to abandon their world of frivolous occupations, their pleasures above all and even their personal interests, except when those interests form part of their duties to their families and others? No one is so busy or so poor that he cannot create a noble ideal and follow it. Why then hesitate in clearing a path towards this ideal, through all obstacles, over every stumbling block, every petty hindrance of social life, in order to march straight forward until the goal is reached? Those who would make this effort would
 soon find that the âstrait gateâ and the âthorny pathâ lead to the broad valleys of limitless horizon, to that state where there is no more death, because one feels oneself rebecoming a god! It is true that the first conditions required to reach it are an absolute disinterestedness, a boundless devotion to the welfare of others, and a complete indifference to the world and its opinions. In order to make the first step on that ideal path, the motive must be absolutely pure; not an unworthy thought must attract the eyes from the end in view, not a doubt or hesitation shackle the feet. There do exist men and women thoroughly qualified for this, whose only aim is to dwell under the Aegis of their Divine Nature. Let them, at least, take courage to live the life and not conceal it from the eyes of others! No one elseÂs opinion should be considered superior to the voice of oneÂs own conscience. Let that conscience, therefore, developed to its highest
 degree, guide us in all the ordinary acts of life. As to the conduct of our inner life, let us concentrate our entire attention on the ideal we have set ourselves, and look beyond, without paying the slightest attention to the mud upon our feet. 
Those who are capable of making this effort are the true Theosophists; all others are but members, more or less indifferent, and very often useless. 

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________________________________
From: Morten Nymann Olesen <global-theosophy@stofanet.dk>
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 18 December, 2008 5:05:10 AM
Subject: Re: Theos-World 2012 ?


My views are:

The "darkness" mentioned by Blavatsky is about when Jesus (Joshua Pandira) was born and when he taught. Today the Christian Church is, as far as I view it, still in darkness, and a number of those who call themselves filled with wisdom are also in darkness, because they find the Bible to be infallible.

M. Sufilight

----- Original Message ----- 
From: christinaleestemake r 
To: theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com 
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:29 PM
Subject: Re: Theos-World 2012 ?

So what after 33 years? If 1-33 is darkness, is not the whole 
darkness?
Christina

/ 
--- In theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com, "Morten Nymann Olesen" <global-
theosophy@.. .> wrote:
>
> Dear friends
> 
> My views are:
> 
> Blavatsky and Master said that Jesus was born in Lod (Lydda) year 
120 BC.
> 
> W. C. Leadbeater and Annie Besant said 105 BC. And Alice A. Bailey 
wrote a book titled "From Bethlehem to Calvary" saying in this book, 
that "the historical accuracy of His story remains as yet unsolved" 
and "for when He was born at Bethlehem, it was not simply the birth 
of another divine Teacher and Messenger" .
> 
> 
> Now who is telling the truth?
> 
> - - -
> 
> H. P. Blavatsky on the New Testament and Jesus:
> "This theory of the seven keys, the Church, according to the Abbà 
Roca, has simplified "without disfiguring it," reducing the keys to 
three; while, on the contrary, it has fabricated three false keys 
which do not open anything. The legend of which I speak is founded, 
as I have demonstrated over and over again in my writings and my 
notes, on the existence of a personage called Jehoshua (from which 
Jesus has been made) born at LÃd or Lydda about 120 years before the 
modern era. And if this fact is denied-to which I can hardly object-
one must resign oneself to regard the hero of the drama of Calvary as 
a myth pure and simple. As a matter of fact, in spite of all the 
desperate research made during long centuries, if we set aside the 
testimony of the "Evangelists, " i.e., unknown men whose identity has 
never been established, and that of the Fathers of the Church, 
interested fanatics, neither history, nor profane tradition, neither 
official documents, nor the contemporaries of the soi-disant drama, 
are able to provide one single serious proof of the historical and 
real existence, not only of the Man-God but even of him called Jesus 
of Nazareth, from the year 1 to the year 33. All is darkness and 
silence." 
> (H. P. Blavatsly's Collected Writings, vol. 9, p. 225-6). 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> M. Sufilight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: christinaleestemake r 
> To: theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com 
> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 5:31 PM
> Subject: Re: Theos-World 2012 ?
> 
> 
> Right, no one can be sure, for we have not been in the time Jezus 
was 
> born.It was written that he was there long before the counting 
> started in the year 1 from our calender
> 
> Christina
> 
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com, Cass Silva <silva_cass@ > wrote:
> >
> > Not sure what you are getting at Christina
> > Cass
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ____________ _________ _________ __
> > From: christinaleestemake r <christinaleestemak er@>
> > To: theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, 17 December, 2008 10:03:26 PM
> > Subject: Theos-World 2012 ?
> > 
> > 
> > I read somewhere Leon wrote to Cass the change in 2012 but we 
must 
> > not forget that our beginning of yearcounting happened 7 years 
> after 
> > Jezus birthday.
> > Christina
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Start your day with Yahoo!7 and win a Sony Bravia TV. Enter 
> now http://au.docs. yahoo.com/ homepageset/ ?
p1=other&p2= au&p3=tagline
> > 
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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      Start your day with Yahoo!7 and win a Sony Bravia TV. Enter now http://au.docs.yahoo.com/homepageset/?p1=other&p2=au&p3=tagline

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