Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00076)

Jerry S:

>Alan, I agree with you on this one. During meditation,
>and also during sleep, meeting an Angel is a distinct
>possibility, although most go unrecognized because we
>are unprepared for such an encounter. How they
>evolve is rather like worrying about how many can sit
>on the head of a pin.

Knowing their place in the theosophical scheme of evolution
through the Kingdoms is useful when studying the rounds and
races. Dealing with them, I'd agree, as individual beings,
we treat them as living things, and try to not allow our
burden of preconceptions get in the way of our direct interaction.
Specific knowledge about them can at times be useful, much as
the knowledge of botany and zoology help the explorer of some
amazon jungle, but how far does our actual knowledge go?

>Also, I agree with Eldon that
>today's terminology does not match that used by HPB,
>but then most of the old phraseologies that she used,
>both Hindu and Buddhist, are terribly outdated today
>and I suspect that few theosophists today can tell
>the difference between an Agniswatta and a Kumara, let
>alone the subtle distinctions between the lunar
>pitris and solar pitris, without resource to the
>literature. That being the case, how would today's
>theosophist act when confronting one (although this
>whole line is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, a slightly
>serious undercurrent exists here).

At the very beginning of the theosophical literaure, in
Sinnett's early days, the terminology was in a state of
flux. Terms like 'ring' were toyed with, then discarded.
Until we develope a specialized terminology of our own --
which may never happen -- we're are the mercy of misunderstood
terms! Someone may take a Buddhist term, for instance, and
assume that we mean the same thing by it that Buddhists do,
and this is not always the case.

In any area of specialization, there is a specific lingo,
a specific jargon that arises. The student of electronics,
for instance, learns a specialized terminology. It's not
any different with Theosophy. Advanced though in any area
leads to more words, an enhanced terminology, and a growing
body of terms. Sanskrit is rich in metaphysical terminology
because that area of thought and experience is heavily
emphasized in the East; in the West there are far fewer such
terms.

We only start to have a problem with our literature, when it
starts to be come a dead language, where there are fewer and
fewer people that understand what it says. After it stops
being a living, spoken language, the subtle distinctions in
tought between one term in the next are lost -- and the precious
wine has leaked out of the old, dusty, borrowed wine bottle!

-- Eldon