Theos-Talk Archives (March 2009 Message tt00055)

Dear Nigel, 

You ask some very pertinent and probing questions which I will 
attempt to respond to. Keep in mind I am no authority, just a student 
attempting to live according to the ideals I hold and find very well 
represented in the body of teaching we call Theosophy. These ideals, 
which could also be called principles, or fundamentals of occultism, 
I find endlessly useful in trying to sort out the miasma of phenomena 
on the material plane. 

*******-
You write, "Whenever one pole of manifestation is activated,
its opposite is also activated."

Is this entirely accurate? Undoubtedly, for there to be hot
there must be cold. But is this cold only in potential
until an experiencer manifests/experiences it?
A:
In the absolute sense this principle applies, although on the 
material plane, where we humans make our observations, it may not be 
apparent in any given case. The pairs if opposites actually represent 
two sides, or "ends" of the same thing, or entity. So perhaps, clumsy 
as it sounds in words, we consider temperature, cold being one 
extreme and heat being the other. When the aspect of one is 
activated, the other must also be activated, usually in a cyclic 
manner. So, for example, we have hot weather, and then we have cold 
weather. One follows the other, and both are inextricably related to 
each other by virtue of being a part of the same phenomenon, which we 
call temperature. The issue of potential/realized is an interesting 
one. Perhaps we could see it in terms of the relative nature of time. 
Everything exists all the time, but manifestation takes a cyclic 
pattern, some aspects of which seem to be mutually exclusive. It is 
either day or night, for instance, but cannot be both. This is a 
function of our perception being limited to the illusion of the 
linear quality of time as we know it. 

*******
As you write, "When an organization makes progress toward
manifesting some aspect of the Unity of all Life, the forces of
separation and disintegration become very noisy and boistrous."

This is so often the case, but why and how?
Do the forces of separation and disintegration have to be
manifested?
Is it a requirement?
A:
Maybe not so much a requirement as just Natural Law. Life is made of 
motion, and the motion is cyclic. We (humanity) perceive this cyclic 
motion as moving back and forth in terms of the pairs of opposites 
that constitute our world. It's all a matter of consciousness. This 
is the most we can perceive at this stage of our evolution. In the 
case of Unity/Separation, as in all other cases really, on some 
level, we humans have a choice as to how we experience the 
phenomenon. Do we choose to support the Unity or do we choose to 
support the Separation? Our individual and collective choices make a 
lot of difference in the organization, for instance, and can even 
determine its success or failure. 

*******
If so, who or what requires it?
Or is it within the nature of the process for this to occur?
And if it is, is it not for us to participate in?
And if so, how?
A:
Who requires that the sun comes up over the horizon every morning? We 
theosophists prefer not to personalize the forces of Nature, although 
it is comforting sometimes to imagine the Sun God Apollo driving his 
gleaming golden chariot across the sky every day. It gives us 
something to aspire to, to be the bringer of the Light that is our 
Life. Indeed, our conscious participation in the processes of our 
lives appears to me to be the purpose for being here on earth. Are we 
a part of the problem or a part of the solution, day by day, minute 
by minute, thought word and deed by thought word and deed? 

*******
To elaborate, you write, "When the student, for instance, makes
a vow to himself to follow his highest aspirations, his lower self
will be tested to whatever degree he can endure."

This is an oft repeated idea in our theosophical circles, albeit
open to different interpretations.
What is/are your interpretation/s as to the instigation and
process of this testing?
"Who" or what does the testing, and if it is ourselves, which part of
ourselves?
If it is karma, do you think this is an internally directed process
or conducted by an external authority?

Or, as before questioned, is it the nature of the process itself?
And if so, is it not for us in which to participate and perhaps even
instigate?
A:
Yes it is the nature of the process itself, but that process is a 
part of us as we are a part of it. The Unity Principle again. Useful 
here to remember is the seven-fold nature of existence. We humans 
live and experience life in our four fold bodies, but our eternal 
self, the trinity, exists always and is what we can call our Higher 
Self, our conscience, our Soul, our Highest Ideals, that part of our 
consciousness that has evolved to the point where it knows that it 
knows what is right and what is wrong and can make choices 
accordingly.  Karma is the vast impersonal law of balance, 
continually adjusting, through our efforts, to insure harmony 
throughout the universe. It's like gravity, what goes up must come 
down. Humanity has a big responsibility in these matters. Again, 
there is nothing external to anything else. Every "thing" there is is 
connected with every other thing. What we think, what we say, what we 
do, quite literally affects every particle of life everywhere. As we 
say, "There are no little things." 
*******

I look very forward to your thoughts on these considerations,
particularly with respect to your statement, "Why not then stay
within the Light...."
A:
A useful aspiration, it occurs to me, particularly in a cycle such as 
this one, when the stakes are so very high, at least for us 
earthlings.

Really I wonder at myself daring to offer my thoughts to someone like 
you, such a scholar and deep thinker as you are. Perhaps you would 
respond and offer what you think/know about these issues? I would 
feel grateful.

All the best,
Adelasie