Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00307)

Kym, you write:

>Dear Daniel,
>
>Thank you for your educational and informative reply to my query on
>reincarnation and "Isis Unveiled."  I am a member of the Theosophical
>Society (Wheaton, IL), so it will be easy for me to obtain the books you
>recommended.  When you find the time could you post the quotes you spoke of
>(or tell me where I can find them) and the titles of the articles by Ms.
>Blavatsky?
>
>Also, what is the Blavatsky Foundation?
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Kym

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The quotes on how to study Theosophy are taken from THE MAHATMA
LETTERS, 3rd ed.,:

"...for a clearer comprehension of the extremely abstruse and at
first incomprehensible theories of our occult doctrine, never allow
the serenity of your mind to be disturbed during your hours of
literary labor, nor before you set to work.  It is upon the serene
and placid surface of the unruffled mind that the visions gathered
from the invisible find a representation in the visible world.
Otherwise you would vainly seek those visions, those flashes
of sudden light which have already helped to solve so many of the
minor problems and which alone can bring the truth before the
eye of the soul.  It is with jealous care that we have to guard
our mind-plane from all the adverse influences which daily arise
in our passage through earth-life."  Letter No. 11, p. 64.

"...it was never the intention of the Occultists really to conceal
what they had been writing from the earnest determined students,
but rather to lock up their information for safety-sake, in a secure
safe-box, the key to which is---intuition.  The degree of diligence
and zeal with which the hidden meaning is sought by the
student, is generally the test---how far he is entitled to the
possession of the so buried treasure."  Letter No.  48, p. 275

"Knowledge for the mind, like food for the body, is intended to
feed and help to growth, but it requires to be well digested and
the more thoroughly and slowly the process is carried out the
better both for body and mind."  Letter No. 43, p. 258

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Some of the articles written by HPB in which she talks about Isis Unveiled,
reincarnation, etc. are as follows:

*"Seeming Discrepancies,"  The Theosophist, June, 1882 (Collected Writings,
        Vol. IV)
*"Isis Unveiled and The Theosophist on Reincarnation," The Theos., August,
        1882, (Col. Writ., Vol. IV)
*"C.C.M. and Isis Unveiled,"  The Theos., Sept., 1882, (Col. Writ., Vol. IV)
*"Theories About Reincarnation and Spirits," The Path, Nov, 1886, (Col. Writ.,
        Vol. VII)


Again, look at the index to the Mahatma Letters under the entry "Isis Unveiled";
you'll find in some of those references what M. and KH say about Isis and
reincarnation.

I am glad that you are committed to reading Isis.  It is a neglected book
even by
students of HPB's writings.

Christmas Humphreys once wrote:  "Isis Unveiled....[has] been criticized,
not least
by the author herself, as containing a large number of errors and
inconsistencies.
True, the writer's English was still imperfect, and she had no experience in
writing, but if the student, bearing this in mind, takes the trouble TO READ IT
CAREFULLY, he will find that in this pioneer work is to be found a vast
quantity of remarkable information."  Caps added.

Sometimes I think modern students have too many Theosophical books to choose
from!  Therefore there is this tendency to skim through books or to read a Theo-
sophical book like one does Newsweek or the daily newspaper.

One needs to read slowly, trying to get beneath or beyond the words to the ideas
conveyed by the words.  In reading Isis, I would suggest you read a page or two
at a sitting and then go back over those same pages, first asking what are the
major ideas or points outlined. Then asking more detailed questions.  Looking
up terms, etc.  (For general terms, names ,etc. I constantly use the Micropaedia
of the Brittannica.)  Try to tune in to the vibrations lying concealed
within the
outer form of the book.

Another way to pursue the reading of Isis involves studying the major ideas
or core teachings being presented.  For example, HPB spents page after page
in Isis on the "constitution" of a human being: body, soul and spirit.
Other terms
for these three are also used in Isis.  Psyche, ruach, soma, astral monad,
Augoeides, the animal soul, etc.

Using the index to Isis can also be quite useful.  The Wheaton TPH  ed. of
Isis has a
very extensive, useful index.  I especially like the supplementary index
to the Theosophy Co.'s edition of Isis.  One could take the following major
terms from this latter index and read the corresponding pages:  Adepts,
Astral Light, Buddha, Cycles, Ego, Elementals and Elementaries, Emanation,
Evolution, God, Immortality, Law, Magic, Magnetism, Man, Matter, Mediums,
Metempsychosis, Monad, Nirvana, Pre-existence, Reincarnation, Secret
Doctrine, Self, Seven, Soul, Spirit, Spirits, Spirtualism, Trinity, Will.

*****************************************************************************

The Blavatsky Foundation is a California non-profit corporation founded
in 1968 by the late Walter A. Carrithers, Jr.  The major purpose of the
Foundation is to disseminate information on the life, writings and teachings
of H.P. Blavatsky and to  encourage individuals, whether members of existing
Theosophical groups or not, to read and study HPB's works.  The Foundation
has a list of recommended titles which we will send you if you are interested.
The list includes the best editions of HPB's writings and the "cream of the
crop" titles that would help one to better understand HPB's life, work and
teachings.  The books selected in the bibliography have been published
by the various Theosophical publishers as well as by non-Theosophical
publishing houses.

Hoping the above is of some use.

Daniel