Theos-Talk Archives (January 2009 Message tt00622)

Dear friends

My views are:


On how to relate to slanders spread about the Society...


H. P. Blavatsky wrote in The Key to Theosophy, p. 250:

" 
WHAT A THEOSOPHIST OUGHT NOT TO DO. 

ENQUIRER. Have you any prohibitory laws or clauses for Theosophists in your Society?


THEOSOPHIST. Many, but, alas! none of them are enforced. They express the ideal of our organization, - but the practical application of such things we are compelled to leave to the discretion of the Fellows themselves. Unfortunately, the state of men's minds in the present century is such that, unless we allow these clauses to remain, so to speak, obsolete, no man or woman would dare to risk joining the Theosophical Society. This is precisely why I feel forced to lay such a stress on the difference between true Theosophy and its hard-struggling and well-intentioned, but still unworthy vehicle, the Theosophical Society. 



ENQUIRER. May I be told what are these perilous reefs in the open sea of Theosophy? 



THEOSOPHIST. Well may you call them reefs, as more than one otherwise sincere and well-meaning F.T.S. has had his Theosophical canoe shattered into splinters on them! And yet to avoid certain things seems the easiest thing in the world to do. For instance, here is a series of such negatives, screening positive Theosophical duties: - 

No Theosophist should be silent when he hears evil reports or slanders spread about the Society, or innocent persons, whether they be his colleagues or outsiders. 



ENQUIRER. But suppose what one hears is the truth, or may be true without one knowing it? 



THEOSOPHIST. Then you must demand good proofs of the assertion, and hear both sides impartially before you permit the accusation to go uncontradicted. You have no right to believe in evil,


until you get undeniable proof of the correctness of the statement. 



ENQUIRER. And what should you do then? 



THEOSOPHIST. Pity and forbearance, charity and long-suffering, ought to be always there to prompt us to excuse our sinning brethren, and to pass the gentlest sentence possible upon those who err. A Theosophist ought never to forget what is due to the shortcomings and infirmities of human nature. 



ENQUIRER. Ought he to forgive entirely in such cases? 



THEOSOPHIST. In every case, especially he who is sinned against. 



ENQUIRER. But if by so doing, he risks to injure, or allow others to be injured? What ought he to do then? 



THEOSOPHIST. His duty; that which his conscience and higher nature suggests to him; but only after mature deliberation. Justice consists in doing no injury to any living being; but justice commands us also never to allow injury to be done to the many, or even to one innocent person, by allowing the guilty one to go unchecked. 



ENQUIRER. What are the other negative clauses? 



THEOSOPHIST. No Theosophist ought to be contented with an idle or frivolous life, doing no real good to himself and still less to others. He should work for the benefit of the few who need his help if he is unable to toil for Humanity, and thus work for the advancement of the Theosophical cause. "

http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/aKEY.htm



M. Sufilight



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