From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Fri Feb 2 08:30:49 1996 Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 08:30:49 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: TI OBJECTS & Current Membership List Mime-Version: 1.0 THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL comprises those who subscribe to the the three objects of the TS, but in a more up to date form based on suggestions by members of the internet community, and expressed thus: 1. To form a nucleus within the universal human family, without discrimination with regard to sex (including sexual orientation), creed, class, or color. 2. To encourage and engage in the study of comparative religion, theosophy, philosophy, and the scientific method, according to individual ability and inclination. 3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature and unrealized human potential and abilities, at the same time respecting _all_ life. THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL is simply a Theosophical Network, whereby it is sufficient to declare one's sympathy and/or allegiance to the three objects, and to be registered as having done so. No belief system is required _nor assumed to be held_ by any member. There are no fees, no subscriptions, although voluntary donations and/or contributions _could_ be made to specific projects or even individuals for particular and specified purposes. As THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL does not have and does not need rules, whether anyone participates in or supports any such activity is an entirely personal matter. We do hope to be of service, and to share what we have with others in amity with all theosophical organizations. ------------------------ List of current members: Contact and affiliation information is provided for some members who have expressed a wish to be identified further as a means of promoting our work, and who will be pleased to provide details of "what's on offer" either from the member personally, or within the local area, where specified. Members outside the U.S.A. are also identified by country. John ASHBY (UK) Alan BAIN, D.D. (UK): Member, TSE (Unattached). Former member, American Academy of Religion, Society of Biblical Literature (retired). E-mail: guru@nellie2.demon.co.uk Gregg BARTLE: TSA E-mail:gbartle@uclink.berkely.edu Mrs. Geraldine BESKIN (UK): One House Lodge, Onehouse, Stowmarket, Suffolk. Bee BROWN (NZ): Theosophical Society in New Zealand (Wanganui) E-mail: bbrown@whanganui.ac.nz Charles W. COSIMANO E-mail: Drpsionic@aol.com John R. CROCKER E-mail: jrcecon@selway.umt.edu Liesel F. DEUTSCH E-mail: liesel@dreamscape.com Alexis A. DOLGORUKII E-mail: [Address in theos-l postings] born july 16th 1935 16-A Henry Street, San Francisco, California 94114-1215 Artist, Sculptor, Writer, Singer, raises wolves as a hobby (real ones not astral), founder of "The Cubic Circle - Center for Experimental Shamanism" R.A. GILBERT (UK): Member, TSE (Bristol). Bookseller, Occult, Masonic and Theological. E-mail: Robert@nellie2.demon.co.uk Paul GILLINGWATER: Life member of HPB Lodge, Auckland, New Zealand Currently residing in Vienna, Austria E-mail: paul@actrix.co.at Sy GINSBURG: Theosophical Society in Miami, TSA. E-mail: 72724.413@compuserve.com Michael GRENIER: Member-at-large, TSA E-mail: mike@planet8.eag.unisysgsg.com Jerry HEJKA-EKINS E-mail: jhe:toto.csustan.edu K. Paul JOHNSON E-mail: pjohnson@leo.vsla.edu Lewis LUCAS E-mail: llewis@mercury.gc.peachnut.edu John E. MEAD E-mail: jem@vnet.net Anne PICKER E-mail: picker@utkvx.utcc.utk.edu Kim POULSEN (DK): Member of Teosofisk Forening (Theosophical Union), formerly TS Danish Section. Arcane School. [Denmark]. E-mail: poulsen@dk-online.dk; poulsen@mail.teledanmark.dk Keith PRICE E-mail: 74024.3352@compuserve.com Jerry SCHUELER E-mail: 76400.1474@compuserve.com Murray STENTIFORD (NZ): Theosophical Society in New Zealand (Auckland) E-mail: murray@sss.co.nz A. Tabitha SYNGE-PERRIN (UK) Richard P. TAYLOR E-mail: richtay@aol.com Gerda J. THOMPSON (USA) Eldon B. TUCKER E-mail: eldon@theosophy.com Peter WALSTRA (NL): Member, Theosophical Society in the Netherlands (Adyar). World Theosophical Youth Federation. Agni Yoga Society. Database administrator ntional theosophical library/ E-mail: pwalstra@pi.net Abbreviations: TSA: Theosophical Society in America (Adyar). ULT: United Lodge of Theosophists. TSP: Theosophical Society, Pasadena TSE: Theosophical Society in England Total signed up membership to date: 27 --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Fri Feb 2 07:47:16 1996 Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 07:47:16 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: SECRET DOCTRINE UPLOAD - STANZA2 Mime-Version: 1.0 STANZA II. - The Idea of Differentiation COMMENTARY. 1. - WHERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN (a)? - IN THE UNKNOWN DARKNESS IN THEIR AH-HI (_Chohanic, Dhyani-Buddhic_) PARNISHPANNA, THE PRODUCERS OF FORM (_rupa_) FROM NO-FORM (_arupa_), THE ROOT OF THE WORLD - THE DEVAMATRI - {"Mother of the Gods," Aditi, or Cosmic Space. In the Zohar, she is called Sephira the Mother of the Sephiroth, and Shekinah in her primordial form, _in abscondito_.} - AND SVABHAVAT, RESTED IN THE BLISS OF NON-BEING (b). (a) The "Builders," the "Sons of Manvantaric Dawn," are the real creators of the Universe; and in this doctrine, which deals only with our Planetary System, they, as the architects of the latter, are also called the "Watchers" of the Seven Spheres, which exoterically are the Seven planets, and esoterically the seven earths or spheres (planets) of our chain also. The opening sentence of Stanza I., when mentioning "Seven Eternities," is made to apply both to the _Maha-Kalpa_ or "the (great) Age of Brahma," as well as to the Solar _pralaya_ and subsequent resurrection of our Planetary System on a higher plane. There are many kinds of _pralaya_ (dissolution of a thing visible), as will be shown elsewhere. (b) Paranishpanna, remember, is the _summum bonum_, the Absolute, hence the same as Paranirvana. Besides being the final state it is that condition of subjectivity which has no relation to anything but the one absolute truth (Para-marthasatya) on its plane. It is that state which leads one to appreciate correctly the full meaning of Non-Being, which, as explained, is _absolute_ Being. Sooner or later, all that now _seemingly_ exists, will be in reality and actually in the state of Paranishpanna. But there is a great difference between _conscious_ and _unconscious_ "being." The condition of Paranishpanna, without Paramartha, the Self-analysing consciousness (Svasamvedana), is no bliss, but simply extinction (for Seven Eternities). Thus, an iron ball placed under the scorching rays of the sun will get heated through, but will not feel or appreciate the warmth, while a man will. It is only "with a mind clear and undarkened by personali- ty, and an assimilation of the merit of manifold existences devoted to being in its collectivity (the whole living and sentient Universe)," that one gets rid of personal existence, merging into, becoming one with, the Absolute, - {Hence _Non- being_ is "ABSOLUTE Being," in esoteric philosophy. In the tenets of the latter even Adi-Budha (first or primeval wisdom) is, while manifested, in one sense an illusion, Maya, since all the gods, including Brahma, have to die at the end of the "Age of Brahma"; the abstraction called Parabrahm alone - whether we call it Ensoph, or Herbert Spencer's Unknowable-being "the One Absolute" Reality. The One secondless Existence is ADWAITA, "Without a Second," and all the rest is _Maya_, teaches the Adwaita philosophy.} - and continuing in full possession of Paramartha. STANZA II. - Continued. 2. - WHERE WAS SILENCE? WHERE WERE THE EARS TO SENSE IT? NO! THERE WAS NEITHER SILENCE, NOR SOUND (a). NAUGHT SAVE CEASELESS, ETERNAL BREATH _(Motion)_ WHICH KNOWS ITSELF NOT (b). (a) The idea that things can cease to exist and still BE, is a fundamental one in Eastern psychology. Under this apparent contradiction in terms, there rests a fact of Nature to realise which in the mind, rather than to argue about words, is the important thing. A familiar instance of a similar paradox is afforded by chemical combination. The question whether Hydrogen and Oxygen cease to exist, when they combine to form water, is still a moot one, some arguing that since they are found again when the water is decomposed they must be there all the while; others contending that as they actually turn into something totally different they must cease to exist as themselves for the time being; but neither side is able to form the faintest conception of the real condition of a thing, which has become something else and yet has not ceased to be itself. Existence as water may be said to be, for Oxygen and Hydrogen, a state of Non- being which is "more real being" than their existence as gases; and it may faintly symbolise the condition of the Universe when it goes to sleep, or ceases to be, during the "Nights of Brahma" - to awaken or reappear again, when the dawn of the new Manvantara recalls it to what we call existence. (b) The "Breath" of the One Existence is used in its application only to the spiritual aspect of Cosmogony by Archaic esotericism; otherwise, it is replaced by its equivalent in the material plane - Motion. The One Eternal Element, or element-containing Vehicle, is _Space_, dimensionless in every sense; co-existent with which are - endless _duration_, primordi- al (hence indestructible) _matter_, and _motion_ - absolute "perpetual motion" which is the "breath" of the "One" Element. This breath, as seen, can never cease, not even during the Pralayic eternities. _(See "Chaos, Theos, Kosmos,"_ in Part II.) But the "Breath of the One Existence" does not, all the same, apply to the _One Causeless Cause_ or the "All Be-ness" (in contradistinction to All-being, which is Brahma, or the Uni- verse). Brahma (or Hari) the four-faced god who, after lifting the Earth out of the waters, "accomplished the Creation," is held to be only the instrumental, and not, as clearly implied, the ideal Cause. No Orientalist, so far, seems to have thoroughly comprehended the real sense of the verses in the Purana, that treat of "creation." Therein Brahma is the cause of the potencies that are to be generated subsequently for the work of "creation." When a translator says, "And from him proceed the potencies to be created, after they had become the real cause": "and from IT proceed the potencies that _will create_ as they _become_ the real cause" (on the material plane) would perhaps be more correct? Save that one (causeless) ideal cause there is no other to which the universe can be referred. "Worthiest of ascetics! through its potency - i.e., through the potency of that cause - every created thing comes by its inherent or proper nature." If, in the Vedanta and Nyaya, _nimitta_ is the efficient cause, as contrasted with _upadana,_ the material cause, (and in the Sankhya, _pradhana_ implies the functions of both); in the Esoteric philosophy, which reconciles all these systems, and the nearest exponent of which is the Vedanta as expounded by the Advaita Vedantists, none but the _upadana_ can be speculated upon; that which is in the minds of the Vaishnavas (the Vasishta-dvaita) as the ideal in contradistinction to the real - or Parabrahm and Isvara - can find no room in published speculations, since that ideal even is a misnomer, when applied to that of which no human reason, even that of an adept, can conceive. To know itself or oneself, necessitates consciousness and perception (both limited faculties in relation to any subject except Parabrahm), to be cognized. Hence the "Eternal Breath which knows itself not." Infinity cannot comprehend Finiteness. The Boundless can have no relation to the bounded and the conditioned. In the occult teachings, the Unknown and the Unknowable MOVER, or the Self-Existing, is the absolute divine Essence. And thus being _Absolute_ Consciousness, and _Absolute_ Motion - to the limited senses of those who describe this indescribable - it is unconsciousness and immoveableness. Concrete consciousness cannot be predicated of abstract Con- sciousness, any more than the quality wet can be predicated of water - wetness being its own attribute and the cause of the wet quality in other things. Consciousness implies limitations and qualifications; something to be conscious of, and someone to be conscious of it. But Absolute Consciousness contains the cognizer, the thing cognized and the cognition, all three in itself and all three _one_. No man is conscious of more than that portion of his knowledge that happens to have been recalled to his mind at any particular time, yet such is the poverty of language that we have no term to distinguish the knowledge not actively thought of, from knowledge we are unable to recall to memory. To forget is synonymous with not to remember. How much greater must be the difficulty of finding terms to describe, and to distinguish between, abstract metaphysical facts or differenc- es. It must not be forgotten, also, that we give names to things according to the appearances they assume for ourselves. We call absolute consciousness "unconsciousness," because it seems to us that it must necessarily be so, just as we call the Absolute, "Darkness," because to our finite understanding it appears quite impenetrable, yet we recognize fully that our perception of such things does not do them justice. We involuntarily distinguish in our minds, for instance, between unconscious absolute conscious- ness, and unconsciousness, by secretly endowing the former with some indefinite quality that corresponds, on a higher plane than our thoughts can reach, with what we know as consciousness in ourselves. But this is not any kind of consciousness that we can manage to distinguish from what appears to us as unconsciousness. STANZA II. - Continued. 3. THE HOUR HAD NOT YET STRUCK; THE RAY HAD NOT YET FLASHED INTO THE GERM (a); THE MATRI-PADMA _(mother lotus)_ HAD NOT YET SWOLLEN (b). - {An unpoetical term, yet still very graphic. (See [foot]note to Stanza III.)} (a) The ray of the "Ever Darkness" becomes, as it is emitted, a ray of effulgent light or life, and flashes into the "Germ" - the point in the Mundane Egg, represented by matter in its abstract sense. But the term "Point" must not be understood as applying to any particular point in Space, for a germ exists in the centre of every atom, and these collectively form "the Germ;" or rather, as no atom can be made visible to our physical eye, the collectivity of these (if the term can be applied to something which is boundless and infinite) forms the noumenon of eternal and indestructible matter. (b) One of the symbolical figures for the Dual creative power in Nature (matter and force on the material plane) is _Padma_, the water-lily of India. The Lotus is the product of heat (fire) and water (vapour or Ether); fire standing in every philosophical and religious system as a representation of the Spirit of Deity, - {Even in Christianity. (See Part II., "Primor- dial Substance and Divine Thought.")} - the active, male, generative principle; and Ether, or the Soul of matter, the light of the fire, for the passive female principle from which everything in this Universe emanated. Hence, Ether or Water is the Mother, and Fire is the Father. Sir W. Jones (and before him archaic botany) showed that the seeds of the Lotus contain - even before they germinate - perfectly formed leaves, the miniature shape of what one day, as perfect plants, they will become: nature thus giving us a specimen of the preformation of its production - the seed of all phanerogamous plants bearing proper flowers containing an embryo plantlet ready formed. - {Gross, "The Heathen Religion," p. 195.} - (See Part II., "The Lotus Flower as an Universal Symbol.") This explains the sentence "The Mother had not yet swollen" - the form being usually sacrificed to the inner or root idea in Archaic symbology. The Lotus, or Padma, is, moreover, a very ancient and favourite simile for the Kosmos itself, and also for man. The popular reasons given are, firstly, the fact just mentioned, that the Lotus-seed contains within itself a perfect miniature of the future plant, which typifies the fact that the spiritual prototypes of all things exist in the immaterial world before those things become materialised on Earth. Secondly, the fact that the Lotus plant grows up through the water, having its root in the Ilus, or mud, and spreading its flower in the air above. The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral world, and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is emblematical of spiritual being. STANZA II. - Continued. 4. HER HEART HAD NOT YET OPENED FOR THE ONE RAY TO ENTER, THENCE TO FALL AS THREE INTO FOUR IN THE LAP OF MAYA (a). (a) The Primordial Substance had not yet passed out of its precosmic latency into differentiated objectivity, or even become the (to man, so far,) invisible Protyle of Science. But, as the hour strikes and it becomes receptive of the Fohatic impress of the Divine Thought (the Logos, or the male aspect of the Anima Mundi, Alaya) - its heart opens. It differentiates, and the THREE (Father, Mother, Son) are transformed into four. Herein lies the origin of the double mystery of the Trinity and the immaculate Conception, The first and Fundamental dogma of Occultism is Universal Unity (or Homogeneity) under three aspects. This led to a possible conception of Deity, which as an absolute unity must remain forever incomprehensible to finite intellects. "If thou wouldest believe in the Power which acts within the root of a plant, or imagine the root concealed under the soil, thou hast to think of its stalk or trunk and of its leaves and flowers. Thou canst not imagine that Power independently of these objects. Life can be known only by the Tree of Life." - (Precepts for Yoga). The idea of _Absolute_ Unity would be broken entirely in our conception, had we not something concrete before our eyes to contain that Unity. And the deity being absolute, must be omnipresent, hence not an atom but contains IT within itself. The roots, the trunk and its many branches are three distinct objects, yet they are one tree. Say the Kabalists: "The Deity is one, because It is infinite. It is triple, because it is ever manifesting." This manifestation is triple in its aspects, for it requires, as Aristotle has it, three principles for every natural body to become objective: privation, form, and matter. - {A Vedantin of the Visishtadwaita philosophy would say that, though the only independent Reality, Parabrahmam is inseparable from his trinity. That He is three, "Parabrahmam, Chit, and Achit," the last two being dependent realities unable to exist separately; or, to make it clearer, Parabrahmam is the SUBSTANCE - changeless, eternal, and incognizable - and Chit (Atma), and Achit (Anatma) are its qualities, as form and colour are the qualities of any object. The two are the garment, or body, or rather attribute (Sarira) of Parabrahmam. But an Occultist would find much to say against this claim, and so would the Adwaitee Vedantin.} Privation meant in the mind of the great philosopher that which the Occultists call the prototypes impressed in the Astral Light - the lowest plane and world of Anima Mundi. The union of these three principles depends upon a fourth - the LIFE which radiates from the summits of the Unreachable, to become an universally diffused Essence on the manifested planes of Existence. And this QUATERNARY (Father, Mother, Son, as a UNITY, and a quaternary, as a living manifestation) has been the means of leading to the very archaic Idea of Immaculate Conception, now finally crystal- lized into a dogma of the Christian Church, which carnalized this metaphysical idea beyond any common sense. For one has but to read the Kabala and study its numerical methods of interpretation to find the origin of that dogma. It is purely astronomical, mathematical, and pre-eminently metaphysical: the Male element in Nature (personified by the male deities and Logoi - Viraj, or Brahma; Horus, or Osiris, etc., etc.) is born through, not from, an immaculate source, personified by the "Mother"; because that Male having a Mother cannot have a "Father" - the abstract Deity being sexless, and not even a Being but Be-ness, or Life itself. Let us render this in the mathematical language of the author of "The Source of Measures." Speaking of the "Measure of a Man" and his numerical (Kabalistic) value, he writes that in Genesis, ch. iv., v. i, "It is called the `Man even Jehovah' Measure, and this is obtained in this way, viz.: 113 x 5 = 565, and the value 565 can be placed under the form of expression 56.5 x 10 = 565. Here the Man-number 113 becomes a factor of 56.5 x 10, and the (Kabalistic) reading of this last numbered expression is Jod, He, Vau, He, or Jehovah. - The expansion of 565 into 56.5 x 10 is purposed to show the emanation of the male (Jod) from the female (Eva) principle; or, so to speak, the birth of a male element from an immaculate source, in other words, an immaculate conception." Thus is repeated on Earth the mystery enacted, according to the Seers, on the divine plane. The "Son" of the immaculate Celestial Virgin (or the undifferentiated cosmic protyle, Matter in its infinitude) is born again on Earth as the Son of the terrestrial Eve - our mother Earth, and becomes Humanity as a total - past, present, and future - for Jehovah or Jod-he-vau-he is androgyne, or both male and female. Above, the Son is the whole KOSMOS; below, he is MANKIND. The triad or triangle becomes Tetraktis, the Sacred Pythagorean number, the perfect Square, and a 6-faced cube on Earth. The Macroprosopus (the Great Face) is now Microprosopus (the lesser face); or, as the Kabalists have it, the "Ancient of Days," descending on Adam Kadmon whom he uses as his vehicle to manifest through, gets transformed into Tetragrammaton. It is now in the "Lap of Maya," the Great Illusion, and between itself and the Reality has the Astral Light, the great Deceiver of man's limited senses, unless Knowledge through Paramarthasatya comes to the rescue. STANZA II. - Continued. 5. THE SEVEN _(Sons)_ WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE WEB OF LIGHT. DARKNESS ALONG WAS FATHER-MOTHER, SVABHAVAT, AND SVABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS (a). (a) The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies itself chiefly, if not entirely, with our Solar System, and especially with our planetary chain. The "Seven Sons," therefore, are the creators of the latter. This teaching will be explained more fully hereafter. (See Part II., "Theogony of the Creative Gods.") Svabhavat, the "Plastic Essence" that fills the Universe, is the root of all things. Svabhavat is, so to say, the Buddhistic concrete aspect of the abstraction called in Hindu philosophy _Mulaprakriti_. It is the body of the Soul, and that which Ether would be to Akasa, the latter being the informing principle of the former. Chinese mystics have made of it the synonym of "being." In the _Ekasloka-Shastra_ of _Nagarjuna_ (the _Lung-shu_ of China) called by the Chinese the _Yih-shu-lu-kia- lun_, it is said that the original word of Yeu is "Being" or "Subhava," "the Substance giving substance to itself," also explained by him as meaning "without action and with action," "the nature which has no nature of its own." _Subhava_, from which _Svabhavat_, is composed of two words: Su "fair," "hand- some," "good;" Sva, "self;" and bhava, "being" or "states of being." STANZA II. - Continued. 6. THESE TWO ARE THE GERM, AND THE GERM IS - ONE. THE UNIVERSE WAS STILL CONCEALED IN THE DIVINE THOUGHT AND THE DIVINE BOSOM. The "_Divine Thought_" does not imply the idea of a Divine thinker. The Universe, not only past, present, and future - which is a human and finite idea expressed by finite thought - but in its totality, the _Sat_ (an untranslatable term), the absolute being, with the Past and Future crystallized in an eternal Present, is that Thought itself reflected in a secondary or manifest cause. Brahma (neuter) as the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus is an absolute mystery to the human mind. Brahma, the male-female, its aspect and anthropomorphic reflection, is conceivable to the perceptions of blind faith, though rejected by human intellect when it attains its majority. (See Part II., "Primordial Substance and Divine Thought.") Hence the statement that during the prologue, so to say, of the drama of Creation, or the beginning of cosmic evolution, the Universe or the "Son" lies still concealed "in the Divine Thought," which had not yet penetrated "into the Divine Bosom." This idea, note well, is at the root, and forms the origin of all the allegories about the "Sons of God" born of immaculate virgins. ____________________ Uploaded by Alan Bain --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Fri Feb 2 08:35:55 1996 Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 08:35:55 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL Mime-Version: 1.0 THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL comprises those who subscribe to the the three objects of the TS, but in a more up to date form based on suggestions by members of the internet community, and expressed thus: 1. To form a nucleus within the universal human family, without discrimination with regard to sex (including sexual orientation), creed, class, or color. 2. To encourage and engage in the study of comparative religion, theosophy, philosophy, and the scientific method, according to individual ability and inclination. 3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature and unrealized human potential and abilities, at the same time respecting _all_ life. THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL is simply a Theosophical Network, whereby it is sufficient to declare one's sympathy and/or allegiance to the three objects, and to be registered as having done so. No belief system is required _nor assumed to be held_ by any member. There are no fees, no subscriptions, although voluntary donations and/or contributions _could_ be made to specific projects or even individuals for particular and specified purposes. As THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL does not have and does not need rules, whether anyone participates in or supports any such activity is an entirely personal matter. We do hope to be of service, and to share what we have with others in amity with all theosophical organizations. ------------------------ Total confirmed membership to date: 26 members in five countries. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Fri Feb 2 10:03:42 1996 Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 10:03:42 +0000 Message-Id: <8pBrJAA+FeExEwZg@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: ti Subject: SECRET DOCTRINE STUDY Mime-Version: 1.0 Text supplied by Eldon B. Tucker, Uploaded by Alan Bain "THE SECRET DOCTRINE" AND ITS STUDY Being extracts from the notes of personal teachings given by H.P. Blavatsky to private pupils during the years 1888 to 1891, included in a large manuscript volume left to me by my father, who was one of the pupils. --P.G. BOWEN H.P.B. was specially interesting upon the matter of "The Secret Doctrine" during the past week. I had better try to sort it all out and get it safely down on paper while it is fresh in my mind. As she said herself, it may be useful to someone thirty or forty years hence. The Secret Doctrine is only quite a small fragment of Esoteric Doctrine known to the higher members of the Occult Brotherhoods. It contains, she says, just as much as can be received by the world during this coming century. "The World" (she explained) means Man living in the Personal Nature. This "world" will find in the two volumes of the S.D. all its utmost comprehension can grasp, but no more. But this is not to say that the Disciple who is not living in "the world" cannot find any more in the book than the "world" finds. Every form, no matter how crude, contains the image of its "creator" concealed within it. So likewise does an author's work, no matter how obscure, contain the concealed image of the author's knowledge . . . From this saying, I take it that the S.D. must contain all that H.P.B. knows herself, and a great deal more than that, seeing that much of it comes from men whose knowledge is immensely wider than hers. Furthermore, she implies unmistakably that another may well find knowledge in it which she does not possess herself. It is a stimulating thought to consider that it is possible that I myself may find in H.P.B.'s words knowledge of which she herself is unconscious. She dwelt on this idea a good deal. X said afterwards: "H.P.B. must be losing her grip," meaning, I suppose, confidence, in her own knowledge. But . . . NOTE.--These extracts from Robert Bowen's notes on H.P.B.'s Secret Doctrine, taken from The Theosophical Forum, Aug. 1932, were reprinted in THEOSOPHY, Vol. 54. and . . ., myself, also, see her meaning better, I think. She is telling us without a doubt not to anchor ourselves to her as the final authority, nor to anyone else, but to depend altogether upon our own widening perceptions. (Later note on above: I was right. I put it to her direct and she nodded and smiled. It was worth something to get her approving smile!) At last we have managed to get H.P.B. to put us right on the matter of the study of the S.D. Let me get it down while it is all fresh in mind. Reading the S.D. page by page as one reads any other book (she says) will only end us in confusion. The first thing to do, even if it takes years, is to get some grasp of the "Three Fundamental Principles" given in the Proem. Follow that up by study of the Recapitulation--the numbered items in the Summing Up to Volume 1, Part 1. Then take the Preliminary Notes (Vol. II) and the Conclusion (Vol. II) . . . H.P.B. seems pretty definite about the importance of the teaching (in the Conclusion) relating to the times of coming of the Races and Sub- Races. She put it more plainly than usual that there is really no such thing as a future "coming" of races. "There is neither COMING nor PASSING, but eternal BECOMING," she says. The Fourth Root-race is still alive. So are the Third and Second and First--that is, their manifestations on our present plane of substance are present. I know that she means, I think, but it is beyond me to get it down in words. So likewise the Sixth Sub-Race is here, and the Sixth Root-Race, and the Seventh, and even people of the coming Rounds. After all, that's understandable. Disciples and Brothers and Adepts can't be people of the everyday Fifth Sub-Race, for the race is a state of evolution. But she leaves no question but that, as far as humanity at large goes, we are hundreds of years (in time and space) from even the Sixth Sub- Race. I thought H.P.B. showed a peculiar anxiety in her insistence on this point. She hinted at "dangers and delusions" coming through ideas that the New Race had dawned definitely on the World. According to her the duration of a Sub-Race for humanity at large coincides with that of the Sidereal Year (the circle of the earth's axis--about 25,000 years). That puts the new race a long way off. We have had a remarkable session on the study of the S.D. during the past three weeks. I must sort out my notes and get the result safely down before I lose them. She talked a good deal about the "Fundamental Principles." She says: "If one imagines that one is going to get a satisfactory picture of the constitution of the Universe from the S.D. one will get only confusion from its study. It is not meant to give any such final verdict on existence, but to lead towards the truth." She repeated this latter expression many times. It is worse than useless going to those whom we imagine to be advanced students (she said) and asking them to give us an "interpretation" of the S.D. They cannot do it. If they try, all they give are cut and dried exoteric renderings which do not remotely resemble the Truth. To accept such interpretation means anchoring ourselves to fixed ideas, whereas Truth lies beyond any ideas we can formulate or express. Exoteric interpretations are all very well, and she does not condemn them so long as they are taken as pointers for beginners, and are not accepted by them as anything more. Many persons who are in, or will in the future be in, the T.S. are of course potentially incapable of any advance beyond the range of a common exoteric conception. But there are, and will be others, and for them she sets out the following and true way of approach to the S.D. Come to the S.D. (she says) without any hope of getting the final Truth of existence from it, or with any idea other than seeing how far it may lead towards the Truth. See in study a means of exercising and developing the mind never touched by other studies. Observe the following rules. No matter what one may study in the S.D. Let the mind hold fast, as the basis of its ideation, to the following ideas: (a) The fundamental unity of all existence. This unity is a thing altogether different from the common notion of unity--as when we say that a nation or an army is united; or that this planet is united to that by lines of magnetic force or the like. The teaching is not that. It is that existence is one thing, not any collection of things linked together. Fundamentally, there is ONE BEING. This Being has two aspects, positive and negative. The positive is Spirit, or consciousness. The negative is substance, the subject of consciousness. This Being is the Absolute in its primary manifestation. Being absolute there is nothing outside it. It is ALL BEING. It is indivisible, else it would not be absolute. If a portion could be separated, that remaining could not be absolute, because there would at once arise the question of comparison between it and the separated part. Comparison is incompatible with any idea of absoluteness. Therefore it is clear that this fundamental One Existence, or Absolute Being, must be the Reality in every form there is . . . (I said that though this was clear to me I did not think that many in the Lodges would grasp it. "Theosophy," she said, "is for those who can think, or for those who can drive themselves to think, not mental sluggards." H.P.B. has grown very mild of late. "Dumbskulls" used to be her name for the average student.) The Atom, the Man, the God (she says) are each separately, as well as all collectively, Absolute Being in their last analysis, that is their real individuality. It is this idea which must be held always in the background of the mind to form the basis for every conception that arises from study of the S.D. The moment one lets it go (and it is most easy to do so when engaged in any of the many intricate aspects of the Esoteric Philosophy) the idea of separation supervenes, and the study loses its value. (b) The second idea to hold fast to is that there is no dead matter. Every last atom is alive. It cannot be otherwise, since every atom is itself fundamentally Absolute Being. Therefore there is no such thing as "spaces of ether," or Akasha, or call it what you like, in which angels and elementals disport themselves like trout in water. That's the common idea. The true idea shows every atom of substance, no matter of what plane, to be in itself a life. (c) The third basic idea to be held is that Man is the microcosm. As he is so, then all the Hierarchies of the Heavens exist within him. But in truth there is neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm but ONE EXISTENCE. Great and small are such only as viewed by a limited consciousness. (d) Fourth and last basic idea to be held is that expressed in the Great Hermetic Axiom. It really sums up and synthesizes all the others: "As is the inner, so is the outer; as is the great, so is the small; as it is above, so it is below; there is but One Life and Law: and he that worketh it is ONE. Nothing is inner, nothing is outer; nothing is great, nothing is small; nothing is high, nothing is low, in the Divine Economy." No matter what one takes as study in the S.D. one must correlate it with those basic ideas. I suggested that this is a kind of mental exercise which must be excessively fatiguing. H.P.B. smiled and nodded. One must not be a fool (she said) and drive oneself into the madhouse by attempting too much at first. The brain is the instrument of waking consciousness, and every conscious mental picture formed means change and destruction of the atoms of the brain. Ordinary intellectual activity moves on well-beaten paths in the brain, and does not compel sudden adjustments and destructions in its substance. But this new kind of mental effort calls for something very different--the carving out of new "brain paths," the ranking in different order of the little brain lives. If forced injudiciously it may do serious physical harm to the brain. This mode of thinking (she says) is what the Indians call Jnana Yoga. As one progresses in Jnana Yoga one finds conceptions arising which, though one is conscious of them, one cannot express nor yet formulate into any sort of mental picture. As time goes on these conceptions will form into mental pictures. This is a time to be on guard and refuse to be deluded with the idea that the new-found and wonderful picture must represent reality. It does not. As one works on, one finds the once admired picture growing dull and unsatisfying and finally fading out or being thrown away. This is another danger point, because for the moment one is left in a void without any conception to support one, and one may be tempted to revive the cast-off picture for want of a better to cling to. The true student will, however, work on unconcerned, and presently further formless gleams come, which again in time give rise to a larger and more beautiful picture than the last. But the learner will now know that no picture will ever represent the truth. This last splendid picture will grow dull and fade like the others. And so the process goes on, until at last the mind and its pictures are transcended and the learner enters and dwells in the world of no-form, but of which all forms are narrowed reflections. The true student of The Secret Doctrine is a Jnana Yogi, and this Path of Yoga is the True Path for the Western student. It is to provide him with sign-posts on that Path that The Secret Doctrine has been written. Later note: I have read over this rendering of her teaching to H.P.B., asking if I have got her aright. She called me a silly dumbskull to imagine anything can ever be put in words aright. But she smiled and nodded as well, and said I had really got it better than anyone else ever did, and better than she could do it herself. I wonder why I am getting all this. It should be passed to the world, but I am too old ever to do it. I feel such a child to H.P.B. yet I am twenty years older than her in actual years. he has changed much since I met her two years ago. It is marvelous how she holds up in the face of dire illness. If one knew nothing and believed nothing, H.P.B. would convince one that she is something away and beyond body and brain. I feel, especially during these last meetings since she has become so helpless bodily, that we are getting teachings from another and higher sphere. We seem to feel and know what she says rather than hear it with our bodily ears. X said much the same thing last night. 19th April, 1891 ROBERT BOWEN (Comdr.) R.N. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Jan 29 19:11:48 1996 Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 19:11:48 +0000 Message-Id: <373RSFA0vRDxEwQQ@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: TI Subject: SD UPLOAD Mime-Version: 1.0 STANZA II. - The Idea of Differentiation COMMENTARY. 1. - WHERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN (a)? - IN THE UNKNOWN DARKNESS IN THEIR AH-HI (_Chohanic, Dhyani-Buddhic_) PARNISHPANNA, THE PRODUCERS OF FORM (_rupa_) FROM NO-FORM (_arupa_), THE ROOT OF THE WORLD - THE DEVAMATRI - {"Mother of the Gods," Aditi, or Cosmic Space. In the Zohar, she is called Sephira the Mother of the Sephiroth, and Shekinah in her primordial form, _in abscondito_.} - AND SVABHAVAT, RESTED IN THE BLISS OF NON-BEING (b). (a) The "Builders," the "Sons of Manvantaric Dawn," are the real creators of the Universe; and in this doctrine, which deals only with our Planetary System, they, as the architects of the latter, are also called the "Watchers" of the Seven Spheres, which exoterically are the Seven planets, and esoterically the seven earths or spheres (planets) of our chain also. The opening sentence of Stanza I., when mentioning "Seven Eternities," is made to apply both to the _Maha-Kalpa_ or "the (great) Age of Brahma," as well as to the Solar _pralaya_ and subsequent resurrection of our Planetary System on a higher plane. There are many kinds of _pralaya_ (dissolution of a thing visible), as will be shown elsewhere. (b) Paranishpanna, remember, is the _summum bonum_, the Absolute, hence the same as Paranirvana. Besides being the final state it is that condition of subjectivity which has no relation to anything but the one absolute truth (Para-marthasatya) on its plane. It is that state which leads one to appreciate correctly the full meaning of Non-Being, which, as explained, is _absolute_ Being. Sooner or later, all that now _seemingly_ exists, will be in reality and actually in the state of Paranishpanna. But there is a great difference between _conscious_ and _unconscious_ "being." The condition of Paranishpanna, without Paramartha, the Self-analysing consciousness (Svasamvedana), is no bliss, but simply extinction (for Seven Eternities). Thus, an iron ball placed under the scorching rays of the sun will get heated through, but will not feel or appreciate the warmth, while a man will. It is only "with a mind clear and undarkened by personali- ty, and an assimilation of the merit of manifold existences devoted to being in its collectivity (the whole living and sentient Universe)," that one gets rid of personal existence, merging into, becoming one with, the Absolute, - {Hence _Non- being_ is "ABSOLUTE Being," in esoteric philosophy. In the tenets of the latter even Adi-Budha (first or primeval wisdom) is, while manifested, in one sense an illusion, Maya, since all the gods, including Brahma, have to die at the end of the "Age of Brahma"; the abstraction called Parabrahm alone - whether we call it Ensoph, or Herbert Spencer's Unknowable-being "the One Absolute" Reality. The One secondless Existence is ADWAITA, "Without a Second," and all the rest is _Maya_, teaches the Adwaita philosophy.} - and continuing in full possession of Paramartha. STANZA II. - Continued. 2. - WHERE WAS SILENCE? WHERE WERE THE EARS TO SENSE IT? NO! THERE WAS NEITHER SILENCE, NOR SOUND (a). NAUGHT SAVE CEASELESS, ETERNAL BREATH _(Motion)_ WHICH KNOWS ITSELF NOT (b). (a) The idea that things can cease to exist and still BE, is a fundamental one in Eastern psychology. Under this apparent contradiction in terms, there rests a fact of Nature to realise which in the mind, rather than to argue about words, is the important thing. A familiar instance of a similar paradox is afforded by chemical combination. The question whether Hydrogen and Oxygen cease to exist, when they combine to form water, is still a moot one, some arguing that since they are found again when the water is decomposed they must be there all the while; others contending that as they actually turn into something totally different they must cease to exist as themselves for the time being; but neither side is able to form the faintest conception of the real condition of a thing, which has become something else and yet has not ceased to be itself. Existence as water may be said to be, for Oxygen and Hydrogen, a state of Non- being which is "more real being" than their existence as gases; and it may faintly symbolise the condition of the Universe when it goes to sleep, or ceases to be, during the "Nights of Brahma" - to awaken or reappear again, when the dawn of the new Manvantara recalls it to what we call existence. (b) The "Breath" of the One Existence is used in its application only to the spiritual aspect of Cosmogony by Archaic esotericism; otherwise, it is replaced by its equivalent in the material plane - Motion. The One Eternal Element, or element-containing Vehicle, is _Space_, dimensionless in every sense; co-existent with which are - endless _duration_, primordi- al (hence indestructible) _matter_, and _motion_ - absolute "perpetual motion" which is the "breath" of the "One" Element. This breath, as seen, can never cease, not even during the Pralayic eternities. _(See "Chaos, Theos, Kosmos,"_ in Part II.) But the "Breath of the One Existence" does not, all the same, apply to the _One Causeless Cause_ or the "All Be-ness" (in contradistinction to All-being, which is Brahma, or the Uni- verse). Brahma (or Hari) the four-faced god who, after lifting the Earth out of the waters, "accomplished the Creation," is held to be only the instrumental, and not, as clearly implied, the ideal Cause. No Orientalist, so far, seems to have thoroughly comprehended the real sense of the verses in the Purana, that treat of "creation." Therein Brahma is the cause of the potencies that are to be generated subsequently for the work of "creation." When a translator says, "And from him proceed the potencies to be created, after they had become the real cause": "and from IT proceed the potencies that _will create_ as they _become_ the real cause" (on the material plane) would perhaps be more correct? Save that one (causeless) ideal cause there is no other to which the universe can be referred. "Worthiest of ascetics! through its potency - i.e., through the potency of that cause - every created thing comes by its inherent or proper nature." If, in the Vedanta and Nyaya, _nimitta_ is the efficient cause, as contrasted with _upadana,_ the material cause, (and in the Sankhya, _pradhana_ implies the functions of both); in the Esoteric philosophy, which reconciles all these systems, and the nearest exponent of which is the Vedanta as expounded by the Advaita Vedantists, none but the _upadana_ can be speculated upon; that which is in the minds of the Vaishnavas (the Vasishta-dvaita) as the ideal in contradistinction to the real - or Parabrahm and Isvara - can find no room in published speculations, since that ideal even is a misnomer, when applied to that of which no human reason, even that of an adept, can conceive. To know itself or oneself, necessitates consciousness and perception (both limited faculties in relation to any subject except Parabrahm), to be cognized. Hence the "Eternal Breath which knows itself not." Infinity cannot comprehend Finiteness. The Boundless can have no relation to the bounded and the conditioned. In the occult teachings, the Unknown and the Unknowable MOVER, or the Self-Existing, is the absolute divine Essence. And thus being _Absolute_ Consciousness, and _Absolute_ Motion - to the limited senses of those who describe this indescribable - it is unconsciousness and immoveableness. Concrete consciousness cannot be predicated of abstract Con- sciousness, any more than the quality wet can be predicated of water - wetness being its own attribute and the cause of the wet quality in other things. Consciousness implies limitations and qualifications; something to be conscious of, and someone to be conscious of it. But Absolute Consciousness contains the cognizer, the thing cognized and the cognition, all three in itself and all three _one_. No man is conscious of more than that portion of his knowledge that happens to have been recalled to his mind at any particular time, yet such is the poverty of language that we have no term to distinguish the knowledge not actively thought of, from knowledge we are unable to recall to memory. To forget is synonymous with not to remember. How much greater must be the difficulty of finding terms to describe, and to distinguish between, abstract metaphysical facts or differenc- es. It must not be forgotten, also, that we give names to things according to the appearances they assume for ourselves. We call absolute consciousness "unconsciousness," because it seems to us that it must necessarily be so, just as we call the Absolute, "Darkness," because to our finite understanding it appears quite impenetrable, yet we recognize fully that our perception of such things does not do them justice. We involuntarily distinguish in our minds, for instance, between unconscious absolute conscious- ness, and unconsciousness, by secretly endowing the former with some indefinite quality that corresponds, on a higher plane than our thoughts can reach, with what we know as consciousness in ourselves. But this is not any kind of consciousness that we can manage to distinguish from what appears to us as unconsciousness. STANZA II. - Continued. 3. THE HOUR HAD NOT YET STRUCK; THE RAY HAD NOT YET FLASHED INTO THE GERM (a); THE MATRI-PADMA _(mother lotus)_ HAD NOT YET SWOLLEN (b). - {An unpoetical term, yet still very graphic. (See [foot]note to Stanza III.)} (a) The ray of the "Ever Darkness" becomes, as it is emitted, a ray of effulgent light or life, and flashes into the "Germ" - the point in the Mundane Egg, represented by matter in its abstract sense. But the term "Point" must not be understood as applying to any particular point in Space, for a germ exists in the centre of every atom, and these collectively form "the Germ;" or rather, as no atom can be made visible to our physical eye, the collectivity of these (if the term can be applied to something which is boundless and infinite) forms the noumenon of eternal and indestructible matter. (b) One of the symbolical figures for the Dual creative power in Nature (matter and force on the material plane) is _Padma_, the water-lily of India. The Lotus is the product of heat (fire) and water (vapour or Ether); fire standing in every philosophical and religious system as a representation of the Spirit of Deity, - {Even in Christianity. (See Part II., "Primor- dial Substance and Divine Thought.")} - the active, male, generative principle; and Ether, or the Soul of matter, the light of the fire, for the passive female principle from which everything in this Universe emanated. Hence, Ether or Water is the Mother, and Fire is the Father. Sir W. Jones (and before him archaic botany) showed that the seeds of the Lotus contain - even before they germinate - perfectly formed leaves, the miniature shape of what one day, as perfect plants, they will become: nature thus giving us a specimen of the preformation of its production - the seed of all phanerogamous plants bearing proper flowers containing an embryo plantlet ready formed. - {Gross, "The Heathen Religion," p. 195.} - (See Part II., "The Lotus Flower as an Universal Symbol.") This explains the sentence "The Mother had not yet swollen" - the form being usually sacrificed to the inner or root idea in Archaic symbology. The Lotus, or Padma, is, moreover, a very ancient and favourite simile for the Kosmos itself, and also for man. The popular reasons given are, firstly, the fact just mentioned, that the Lotus-seed contains within itself a perfect miniature of the future plant, which typifies the fact that the spiritual prototypes of all things exist in the immaterial world before those things become materialised on Earth. Secondly, the fact that the Lotus plant grows up through the water, having its root in the Ilus, or mud, and spreading its flower in the air above. The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral world, and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is emblematical of spiritual being. STANZA II. - Continued. 4. HER HEART HAD NOT YET OPENED FOR THE ONE RAY TO ENTER, THENCE TO FALL AS THREE INTO FOUR IN THE LAP OF MAYA (a). (a) The Primordial Substance had not yet passed out of its precosmic latency into differentiated objectivity, or even become the (to man, so far,) invisible Protyle of Science. But, as the hour strikes and it becomes receptive of the Fohatic impress of the Divine Thought (the Logos, or the male aspect of the Anima Mundi, Alaya) - its heart opens. It differentiates, and the THREE (Father, Mother, Son) are transformed into four. Herein lies the origin of the double mystery of the Trinity and the immaculate Conception, The first and Fundamental dogma of Occultism is Universal Unity (or Homogeneity) under three aspects. This led to a possible conception of Deity, which as an absolute unity must remain forever incomprehensible to finite intellects. "If thou wouldest believe in the Power which acts within the root of a plant, or imagine the root concealed under the soil, thou hast to think of its stalk or trunk and of its leaves and flowers. Thou canst not imagine that Power independently of these objects. Life can be known only by the Tree of Life." - (Precepts for Yoga). The idea of _Absolute_ Unity would be broken entirely in our conception, had we not something concrete before our eyes to contain that Unity. And the deity being absolute, must be omnipresent, hence not an atom but contains IT within itself. The roots, the trunk and its many branches are three distinct objects, yet they are one tree. Say the Kabalists: "The Deity is one, because It is infinite. It is triple, because it is ever manifesting." This manifestation is triple in its aspects, for it requires, as Aristotle has it, three principles for every natural body to become objective: privation, form, and matter. - {A Vedantin of the Visishtadwaita philosophy would say that, though the only independent Reality, Parabrahmam is inseparable from his trinity. That He is three, "Parabrahmam, Chit, and Achit," the last two being dependent realities unable to exist separately; or, to make it clearer, Parabrahmam is the SUBSTANCE - changeless, eternal, and incognizable - and Chit (Atma), and Achit (Anatma) are its qualities, as form and colour are the qualities of any object. The two are the garment, or body, or rather attribute (Sarira) of Parabrahmam. But an Occultist would find much to say against this claim, and so would the Adwaitee Vedantin.} Privation meant in the mind of the great philosopher that which the Occultists call the prototypes impressed in the Astral Light - the lowest plane and world of Anima Mundi. The union of these three principles depends upon a fourth - the LIFE which radiates from the summits of the Unreachable, to become an universally diffused Essence on the manifested planes of Existence. And this QUATERNARY (Father, Mother, Son, as a UNITY, and a quaternary, as a living manifestation) has been the means of leading to the very archaic Idea of Immaculate Conception, now finally crystal- lized into a dogma of the Christian Church, which carnalized this metaphysical idea beyond any common sense. For one has but to read the Kabala and study its numerical methods of interpretation to find the origin of that dogma. It is purely astronomical, mathematical, and pre-eminently metaphysical: the Male element in Nature (personified by the male deities and Logoi - Viraj, or Brahma; Horus, or Osiris, etc., etc.) is born through, not from, an immaculate source, personified by the "Mother"; because that Male having a Mother cannot have a "Father" - the abstract Deity being sexless, and not even a Being but Be-ness, or Life itself. Let us render this in the mathematical language of the author of "The Source of Measures." Speaking of the "Measure of a Man" and his numerical (Kabalistic) value, he writes that in Genesis, ch. iv., v. i, "It is called the `Man even Jehovah' Measure, and this is obtained in this way, viz.: 113 x 5 = 565, and the value 565 can be placed under the form of expression 56.5 x 10 = 565. Here the Man-number 113 becomes a factor of 56.5 x 10, and the (Kabalistic) reading of this last numbered expression is Jod, He, Vau, He, or Jehovah. - The expansion of 565 into 56.5 x 10 is purposed to show the emanation of the male (Jod) from the female (Eva) principle; or, so to speak, the birth of a male element from an immaculate source, in other words, an immaculate conception." Thus is repeated on Earth the mystery enacted, according to the Seers, on the divine plane. The "Son" of the immaculate Celestial Virgin (or the undifferentiated cosmic protyle, Matter in its infinitude) is born again on Earth as the Son of the terrestrial Eve - our mother Earth, and becomes Humanity as a total - past, present, and future - for Jehovah or Jod-he-vau-he is androgyne, or both male and female. Above, the Son is the whole KOSMOS; below, he is MANKIND. The triad or triangle becomes Tetraktis, the Sacred Pythagorean number, the perfect Square, and a 6-faced cube on Earth. The Macroprosopus (the Great Face) is now Microprosopus (the lesser face); or, as the Kabalists have it, the "Ancient of Days," descending on Adam Kadmon whom he uses as his vehicle to manifest through, gets transformed into Tetragrammaton. It is now in the "Lap of Maya," the Great Illusion, and between itself and the Reality has the Astral Light, the great Deceiver of man's limited senses, unless Knowledge through Paramarthasatya comes to the rescue. STANZA II. - Continued. 5. THE SEVEN _(Sons)_ WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE WEB OF LIGHT. DARKNESS ALONG WAS FATHER-MOTHER, SVABHAVAT, AND SVABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS (a). (a) The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies itself chiefly, if not entirely, with our Solar System, and especially with our planetary chain. The "Seven Sons," therefore, are the creators of the latter. This teaching will be explained more fully hereafter. (See Part II., "Theogony of the Creative Gods.") Svabhavat, the "Plastic Essence" that fills the Universe, is the root of all things. Svabhavat is, so to say, the Buddhistic concrete aspect of the abstraction called in Hindu philosophy _Mulaprakriti_. It is the body of the Soul, and that which Ether would be to Akasa, the latter being the informing principle of the former. Chinese mystics have made of it the synonym of "being." In the _Ekasloka-Shastra_ of _Nagarjuna_ (the _Lung-shu_ of China) called by the Chinese the _Yih-shu-lu-kia- lun_, it is said that the original word of Yeu is "Being" or "Subhava," "the Substance giving substance to itself," also explained by him as meaning "without action and with action," "the nature which has no nature of its own." _Subhava_, from which _Svabhavat_, is composed of two words: Su "fair," "hand- some," "good;" Sva, "self;" and bhava, "being" or "states of being." STANZA II. - Continued. 6. THESE TWO ARE THE GERM, AND THE GERM IS - ONE. THE UNIVERSE WAS STILL CONCEALED IN THE DIVINE THOUGHT AND THE DIVINE BOSOM. The "_Divine Thought_" does not imply the idea of a Divine thinker. The Universe, not only past, present, and future - which is a human and finite idea expressed by finite thought - but in its totality, the _Sat_ (an untranslatable term), the absolute being, with the Past and Future crystallized in an eternal Present, is that Thought itself reflected in a secondary or manifest cause. Brahma (neuter) as the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus is an absolute mystery to the human mind. Brahma, the male-female, its aspect and anthropomorphic reflection, is conceivable to the perceptions of blind faith, though rejected by human intellect when it attains its majority. (See Part II., "Primordial Substance and Divine Thought.") Hence the statement that during the prologue, so to say, of the drama of Creation, or the beginning of cosmic evolution, the Universe or the "Son" lies still concealed "in the Divine Thought," which had not yet penetrated "into the Divine Bosom." This idea, note well, is at the root, and forms the origin of all the allegories about the "Sons of God" born of immaculate virgins. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From astrea@actrix.co.at Sat Feb 3 12:46:53 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 13:46:53 +0100 Message-Id: <199602031246.AA21047@Relay1.Austria.EU.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: Joanne Greig Subject: Re: TI OBJECTS & Current Membership List I would like to join as well: Joanne Greig (e-mail address above) Member of Wellington Branch of the Theosophical Society, NZ Thanks At 04:35 02/02/96 -0500, you wrote: > >THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL comprises those who subscribe to the the >three objects of the TS, but in a more up to date form based on >suggestions by members of the internet community, and expressed >thus: From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sat Feb 3 17:14:51 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 17:14:51 +0000 Message-Id: <5jfSUDALg5ExEwJ6@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: ti Subject: ATROLOGY ARTICLE Mime-Version: 1.0 The following article first appeared in the January/February 1996 issue of ~The Theosophical Journal~ of the T.S. in England, and is reproduced by permission of the author. _____________________________________________ FROM PISCES TO AQUARIUS Can The Theosophical Society Move On? The Age of Pisces has been about the development of the individual. This has thrown up great charismatic leaders, initiates embodying an idea, attracting dedicated followers (and their energies) to implement it against all opposition. These latter have often suffered deprivation, degradation, torture and death rather than surrender their beliefs. As the 6th ray energies became concretised, devotion often swung over into fanaticism. Then with the backing of their devotees many great leaders went on to instigate reigns of terror to instil and maintain the rightness of their own creed. At this stage they were totally blinkered to any other possibility and completely engulfed by the separatism of thinking theirs was the ONLY way. As no-one has a corner on the Truth, this intense sureness brought about schism, division and war. This led inevitably to the oppression of the individual who then developed by struggling to be free. All this has peaked in the last century of the age emphasized by its numerologically associative energies. The dominating numbers of this century have been 1 (rank individualism: 'I did it MY WAY') and 9 (idealism, fanaticism, Mars, god of war). The 19th century was the culmination of a cycle and towards its close the seeds of a new cycle were sown. The 20th has been the beginning of a new cycle, a time of terrible clashes between old and new. The above qualities have manifested at all levels - personal, national, global. Examples abound, both historically and in current news bulletins. It is the same process: what starts out as the impetus of a new opportunity topples over into separative selfish usage of the energies which themselves are neutral. The end result is corrupt self-seeking institutions maintaining their status by force, totally unable to fulfil current needs. But as the one constant is Change we don't have to put up with that forever. So those of us who insisted on incarnating at the end of an age have the following to look forward to. At the moment the terrible throes of transition are our lot as Piscean entities battle for their existence or are unearthed after long suppression. These clash with incoming Aquarian energies creating dissatisfaction and disruption and imbalance. Fanatical idealism will increase throughout the 1990s with many examples of people who start out saving life and end up taking it. But in the longer term as the 7th ray energies manifest more strongly and finally sweep away the remnants of the 6th, there are new expressions for us to be drawn towards. The Age of Aquarius is about groups; self-regulating power-sharing groups which are able to bring about a SYNTHESIS of everyone's input, ideas, skills and to develop everyone's potential via support and mutual tolerance. It is the opposite of 'The End justifies the means' for in fact the means ALTER the end. It will no longer be a case of one person's vision being implemented by others, but a joint vision arising from co-operation with others. This leads an endeavour to exciting and unexpected results and much more in keeping with the participant's expression. What is built belongs to and consists of all its parts and therefore.is greater than its divisions. There will be less need to depend for our inspiration on an AUTHORITY. Teachings will be our guides, our point of enlightened recognition of that which lies within us all. The 7th ray includes all other rays: it is diffuse, diverse, yet binds and orders the differences into unity.It is like a spray which nourishes the whole garden and everything in it transforming disparity into functional pattern. Aquarius is not about beliefs - those emotional anchors and separators. It's about knowing, which can be experienced at many levels. Science will prove the ageless wisdom. There will be much mental activity because Aquarius is an air sign BUT the symbol is the Water Carrier and these are the waters of the intuition, so direct gnosis will occur. From the year 2000 this will be implemented by drawing on the numerological qualities of the number 2 which will be dominant. This is the number of the intuition, the quality which recognizes and identifies with the other. At this point we shall feel the effect of the zero which indicates the gateway to the subjective side of being, and as there will be several zeros this will be emphasized. THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Beginning when it did, it was entirely appropriate that The Theosophical Society's first impulse was set off by a collection of charismatic figures devoted to the task and my admiration for them is very deep, H. P. Blavatsky especially. Reading her life makes me feel very inconsequential. But as I look round the TS at meetings and other gatherings I 'see' (in several senses) so many people with their own contributions and I think, "What a wonderful diversity". The breakthrough I made in my studies at the 1995 Summer School was led by the teachings but actually achieved by talking to and listening to about 15 people, till WHAM! through my resistances I shot into an entirely new dimension of understanding, doors opening up in all directions.I find this in my study groups too, that I move forward on the wave of the composite perception from which I receive and to which I contribute. Everyone there is essential to the process. So can we take up on this infinite potential? Can we get away from hierarchies and positions of power? Can we for instance circulate the position of chair in our gatherings so that everyone learns this skill and adds their own unique flavour to proceedings? Can we wherever possible meet in circles instead of teacher-class formations ? Can we surrender our position of superiority towards newcomers and welcome them just as they are with whatever they bring to us ? Can we give up our arrogant opinions about the 'right' interpretations of the teachings and accept them gladly as a superb tool for expansion? Can we reverently lay to rest old ways and struggle on into new? Or if we don't want to, can we let those who do, forge ahead with our blessing? How I pray that the new shoots I see here and there can be nourished by the old and encouraged to grow into something worthy of our great beginnings. Ruby Tovet The contributor joined The Theosophical Society in England in 1983 and is an unattached member living in London. Uploaded by Alan Bain. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sat Feb 3 17:47:58 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 17:47:58 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Re: TI OBJECTS & Current Membership List In-Reply-To: <199602031246.AA21047@Relay1.Austria.EU.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <199602031246.AA21047@Relay1.Austria.EU.net>, Joanne Greig writes >I would like to join as well: > >Joanne Greig (e-mail address above) >Member of Wellington Branch of the Theosophical Society, NZ > >Thanks Consider yourself joined - and Welcome! Alan. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sat Feb 3 17:46:03 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 17:46:03 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Duplicate Upload Mime-Version: 1.0 The commentary on Stanza II of the SD seems to have been uploaded twice - unintentional, and most likely due to server hiccups. Aplogies to all whose online time was unwittingly extended. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sat Feb 3 17:46:03 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 17:46:03 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Duplicate Upload Mime-Version: 1.0 The commentary on Stanza II of the SD seems to have been uploaded twice - unintentional, and most likely due to server hiccups. Aplogies to all whose online time was unwittingly extended. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sat Feb 3 23:26:27 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 23:26:27 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: SECRET DOCTRINE STANZA 3 Mime-Version: 1.0 From a text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ____________________________________ STANZA III. - THE AWAKENING OF KOSMOS COMMENTARY. 1. THE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH INFINITUDE (a). THE MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM WITHIN WITHOUT LIKE THE BUD OF THE LOTUS (b). (a) The seemingly paradoxical use of the sentence "Seventh Eternity," thus dividing the indivisible, is sanctified in esoteric philosophy. The latter divides boundless duration into unconditionally eternal and universal Time and a conditioned one (_Khandakala_). One is the abstraction or noumenon of infinite time (Kala); the other its phenomenon appearing periodically, as the effect of _Mahat_ (the Universal Intelligence limited by Manvantaric duration). With some schools, Mahat is "the first- born" of Pradhana (undifferentiated substance, or the periodical aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root of Nature), which (Pradhana) is called Maya, the Illusion. In this respect, I believe, esoteric teaching differs from the Vedantin doctrines of both the Adwaita and the Visishtadwaita schools. For it says that, while Mulaprakriti, the noumenon, is self-existing and without any origin - is, in short, parentless, Anupadaka (as one with Brahmam) - Prakriti, its phenomenon, is periodical and no better than a phantasm of the former, so Mahat, with the Occultists, the firstborn of Gnana (or _gnosis_) knowledge, wisdom or the Logos - is a phantasm reflected from the Absolute NIRGUNA (Parabrahm, the one reality, "devoid of attributes and qualities"; see Upanishads); while with some Vedantins Mahat is a manifestation of Prakriti, or Matter. (b) Therefore, the "last vibration of the Seventh Eternity" was "foreordained" - by no God in particular, but occurred in virtue of the eternal and changeless LAW which causes the great periods of Activity and Rest, called so graphically, and at the same time so poetically, the "Days and Nights of Brahma." The expansion "from within without" of the Mother, called elsewhere the "Waters of Space," "Universal Matrix," etc., does not allude to an expansion from a small centre or focus, but, without reference to size or limitation or area, means the development of limitless subjectivity into as limitless objectivity. "The ever (to us) invisible and immaterial Substance present in eternity, threw its periodical shadow from its own plane into the lap of Maya." It implies that this expansion, not being an increase in size - for infinite extension admits of no enlarge- ment - was a change of condition. It "expanded like the bud of the Lotus"; for the Lotus plant exists not only as a miniature embryo in its seed (a physical characteristic), but its prototype is present in an ideal form in the Astral Light from "Dawn" to "Night" during the Manvantaric period, like everything else, as a matter of fact, in this objective Universe; from man down to mite, from giant trees down to the tiniest blades of grass. All this, teaches the hidden Science, is but the temporary reflection, the shadow of the eternal ideal prototype in Divine Thought; the word "Eternal," note well again, standing here only in the sense of "Aeon," as lasting throughout the seemingly interminable, but still limited cycle of activity, called by us Manvantara. For what is the real esoteric meaning of Manvantara, or rather a Manu-Antara? It means, esoterically, "between two Manus," of whom there are fourteen in every "Day of Brahma," such a "Day" consisting of 1,000 aggregates of four ages, or 1,000 "Great Ages," Mahayugas. Let us now analyse the word or name Manu. Orientalists and their Dictionaries tell us that the term "Manu" is from the root _Man_, "to think"; hence "the thinking man." But, esoterically, every Manu, as an anthropomorphized patron of his special cycle (or Round), is but the personified idea of the "Thought Divine" (as the Hermetic "Pymander"); each of the Manus, therefore, being the special god, the creator and fashioner of all that appears during his own respective cycle of being or Manvantara. Fohat runs the Manus' (or Dhyan-Chohans') errands, and causes the ideal prototypes to expand from within without - viz., to cross gradually, on a descending scale, all the planes from the noumenon to the lowest phenomenon, to bloom finally on the last into full objectivity - the acme of illusion, or the grossest matter. STANZA III. - continued. 2. THE VIBRATION SWEEPS ALONG, TOUCHING WITH ITS SWIFT WING (_simultaneously_) THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, AND THE GERM THAT DWELLETH IN DARKNESS: THE DARKNESS THAT BREATHES _(moves)_ OVER THE SLUMBERING WATERS OF LIFE (a). (a) The Pythagorean Monad is also said to dwell in solitude and darkness like the "germ." The idea of the "breath" of Darkness moving over "the slumbering Waters of life," which is primordial matter with the latent Spirit in it, recalls the first chapter of Genesis. Its original is the Brahminical Narayana (the mover on the Waters), who is the personification of the eternal Breath of the unconscious All (or Parabrahm) of the Eastern Occultists. The Waters of Life, or Chaos - the female principle in symbolism - are the vacuum (to our mental sight) in which lie the latent Spirit and Matter. This it was that made Democritus assert, after his instructor Leucippus, that the primordial principles of all were atoms and a vacuum, in the sense of space, but not of empty space, as "Nature abhors a vacuum" according to the Peripatetics, and every ancient philosopher. In all Cosmogonies "Water" plays the same important part. It is the base and source of material existence. Scientists, mistaking the word for the thing, understood by water the definite chemical combination of oxygen and hydrogen, thus giving a specific meaning to a term used by Occultists in a generic sense, and which is used in Cosmogony with a metaphysical and mystical meaning. Ice is not water, neither is steam, although all three have precisely the same chemical composition. STANZA III. - Continued. 2. "DARKNESS" RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY RAY INTO THE WATERS, INTO THE MOTHER DEEP. THE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH THE VIRGIN-EGG; THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO THRILL, AND DROP THE NON-ETERNAL (_periodical_) GERM, WHICH CONDENSES INTO THE WORLD EGG (a). (a) The solitary ray dropping into the mother deep may be taken as meaning Divine Thought or Intelligence, impregnating chaos. This, however, occurs on the plane of metaphysical abstraction, or rather the plane whereon that which we call a metaphysical abstraction is a reality. The Virgin-egg being in one sense abstract Egg-ness, or the power of becoming developed through fecundation, is eternal and for ever the same. And just as the fecundation of an egg takes place before it is dropped; so the non-eternal periodical germ which becomes later in symbolism the mundane egg, contains in itself, when it emerges from the said symbol, "the promise and potency" of all the Universe. Though the idea _per se_ is, of course, an abstraction, a symbolical mode of expression, it is a symbol truly, as it suggests the idea of infinity as an endless circle. It brings before the mind's eye the picture of Kosmos emerging from and in boundless space, a Universe as shoreless in magnitude if not as endless in its objective manifestation. The simile of an egg also expresses the fact taught in Occultism that the primordial form of everything manifested, from atom to globe, from man to angel, is spheroidal, the sphere having been with all nations the emblem of eternity and infinity - a serpent swallowing its tail. To realize the meaning, however, the sphere must be thought of as seen from its centre. The field of vision or of thought is like a sphere whose radii proceed from one's self in every direction, and extend out into space, opening up boundless vistas all around. It is the symbolical circle of Pascal and the Kabalists, "whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere," a conception which enters into the compound idea of this emblem. The "Mundane Egg" is, perhaps, one of the most universally adopted symbols, highly suggestive as it is, equally in the spiritual, physiological, and cosmological sense. Therefore, it is found in every world-theogony, where it is largely associated with the serpent symbol; the latter being everywhere, in philosophy as in religious symbolism, an emblem of eternity, infinitude, regeneration, and rejuvenation, as well as of wisdom. (See Part II. "Tree and Serpent and Crocodile Worship.") The mystery of apparent self-generation and evolution through its own creative power repeating in miniature the process of Cosmic evolution in the egg, both being due to heat and moisture under the efflux of the unseen creative spirit, justified fully the selection of this graphic symbol. The "Virgin Egg" is the microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype - the "Virgin Mother" - Chaos or the Primeval Deep. The male Creator (under whatever name) springs forth from the Virgin female, the immaculate root fructified by the Ray. Who, if versed in astronomy and natural sciences, can fail to see its suggestive- ness? Cosmos as receptive Nature is an Egg fructified - yet left immaculate; once regarded as boundless, it could have no other representation than a spheroid. The Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), "four ready, three secret." It may be found stated in Vishnu Purana, where elements are translated "Envelopes" and a _secret_ one is added: "Aham-kara" (see Wilson's Vishnu Purana, Book I., p. 40). The original text has no "Aham-kara;" it mentions seven Elements without specifying the last three (see Part II. on "The Mundane Egg"). STANZA III. - Continued. 4. _(Then)_ THE THREE _(triangle)_ FALL INTO THE FOUR _(quaternary)_. THE RADIANT ESSENCE BECOMES SEVEN INSIDE, SEVEN OUTSIDE (a). THE LUMINOUS EGG _(Hiranyagarbha)_, WHICH IN ITSELF IS THREE _(the triple hypostases of Brahma, or Vishnu, the three "Avasthas")_, CURDLES AND SPREADS IN MILK-WHITE CURDS THROUGHOUT THE DEPTHS OF MOTHER, THE ROOT THAT GROWS IN THE OCEAN OF LIFE (b). The use of geometrical figures and the frequent allusions to figures in all ancient scriptures (see Puranas, Egyptian papyri, the "Book of the Dead" and even the Bible) must be explained. In the "Book of Dzyan," as in the Kabala, there are two kinds of numerals to be studied - the figures, often simple blinds, and the Sacred Numbers, the values of which are all known to the Occultists through Initiation. The former is but a conventional glyph, the latter is the basic symbol of all. That is to say, that one is purely physical, the other purely metaphysical, the two standing in relation to each other as matter stands to spirit - the extreme poles of the ONE Substance. As Balzac, the unconscious Occultist of French literature, says somewhere, the Number is to Mind the same as it is to matter: "an incomprehensible agent;" (perhaps so to the profane, never to the Initiated mind). Number is, as the great writer thought, an Entity, and, at the same time, a Breath emanating from what he called God and what we call the ALL; the breath which alone could organize the physical Kosmos, "where naught obtains its form but through the Deity, which is an effect of Number." It is instructive to quote Balzac's words upon this subject: - "The smallest as the most immense creations, are they not to be distinguished from each other by their quantities, their qualities, their dimensions, their forces and attributes, all begotten by the NUMBER? The infinitude of the Numbers is a fact proven to our mind, but of which no proof can be physically given. The mathematician will tell us that the infinitude of the numbers exists but is not to be demonstrated. God is a Number endowed with motion, which is felt but not demonstrated. _As Unity, it begins the Numbers, with which it has nothing in common._ - The existence of the Number depends on Unity, which, without a single Number, begets them all. - What! unable either to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements the mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity? - And what would you feel, were I to plunge you into the abysses of MOTION, the Force which organizes the Number? What would you think, were I to add that _Motion_ and _Number_ - {Number, truly; but never MOTION. It is _Motion_ which begets the Logos, the Word, in occultism.} - are begotten by the WORD, the Supreme Reason of the Seers and Prophets, who, in days of old, sensed the mighty Breath of God, a witness to which is the Apocalypse?" (b) "The radiant essence curdled and spread throughout the depths" of Space. From an astronomical point of view this is easy of explanation: it is the "milky way," the world-stuff, or primordial matter in its first form. It is more difficult, however, to explain it in a few words or even lines, from the standpoint of Occult Science and Symbolism, as it is the most complicated of glyphs. Herein are enshrined more than a dozen symbols. To begin with, the whole pantheon of mysterious objects, - {The "Fourteen precious things." The narrative or allegory is found in the Satapatha Brahmana and others. The Japanese Secret Science of the Buddhist Mystics, the _Yamabooshi_, has "seven precious things." We will speak of them, hereafter.} - every one of them having some definite Occult meaning, extracted from the allegorical "churning of the ocean" by the Hindu gods. Besides _Amrita_, the water of life or immortality, "_Surabhi_" the "cow of plenty," called "the fountain of milk and curds," was extracted from this "Sea of Milk." Hence the universal adoration of the cow and bull, one the productive, the other the generative power in Nature: symbols connected with both the Solar and the Cosmic deities. The specific properties, for occult purposes, of the "fourteen precious things," being explained only at the fourth Initiation, cannot be given here; but the following may be remarked. In the "Satapatha Brahmana" it is stated that the churning of the "Ocean of Milk" took place in the Satya Yug, the first age which immediately followed the "Deluge." As, however, neither the Rig-Veda nor Manu - both preceding Vaivasvata's "deluge," that of the bulk of the Fourth Race - mention this deluge, it is evident that it is not the "great" deluge, nor that which carried away Atlantis, nor even the deluge of Noah, which is meant here. This "churning" relates to a period before the earth's formation, and is in direct connection with that other universal legend, the various and contradictory versions of which culminated in the Christian dogma of the "War in Heaven," and the fall of the Angels (see Book II., also Revelations chap. xii.). The Brahmanas, reproached by the Orientalists with their versions on the same subjects, often clashing with each other, _are pre-eminently occult works,_ hence used purposely as blinds. They were allowed to survive for public use and property only because they were and are absolutely unintelligible to the masses. Otherwise they would have disappeared from circulation as long ago as the days of Akbar. STANZA III. - Continued. 5. THE ROOT REMAINS, THE LIGHT REMAINS, THE CURDS REMAIN, AND STILL OEAOHOO (a) is one (b). (a) OEAOHOO is rendered "_Father-Mother of the Gods_" in the Commentaries, or the SIX IN ONE, _or the septenary root from which all proceeds._ All depends upon the accent given to these seven vowels, which may be pronounced as _one,_ three, or even seven syllables by adding an "e" after the letter "o." This mystic name is given out, because without a thorough mastery of the triple pronunciation it remains for ever ineffectual. (b) This refers to the Non-Separateness of all that lives and has its being, whether in active or passive state. In one sense, Oeaohoo is the "Rootless Root of All"; hence, one with Parabrahmam; in another sense it is a name for the manifested ONE LIFE, the Eternal living Unity. The "Root" means, as already explained, pure knowledge _(Sattva)_, - {The original for Understanding is _Sattva_, which Sankara (acharya) renders anta_h_kara_n_a. "Refined," he says, "by sacrifices and other sanctifying operations." In the _Katha,_ at p. 148, Sattva is said by Sankara to mean _buddhi_ - a common use of the word. ("The Bhagavatgita with The Sanatsugatiya and The Anugiti," translated by Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A.; edited by Max Muller.) Whatever meaning various schools may give the term, _Sattva_ is the name given among Occult students of the Aryasanga School to the dual Monad or Atma-Buddhi, and Atma-buddhi on this plane corresponds to Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti on the higher plane.} - eternal _(Nitya)_ unconditioned reality or SAT _(Satya)_, whether we call it Parabrahmam or Mulaprakriti, for these are the two aspects of the ONE. The "Light" is the same Omnipresent Spiritual Ray, which has entered and now fecundated the Divine Egg, and calls cosmic matter to begin its long series of differentiations. The curds are the first differentiation, and probably refer also to that cosmic matter which is supposed to be the origin of the "Milky Way" - the matter we know. This "matter," which, according to the revelation received from the primeval Dhyani-Buddhas, is, during the periodical sleep of the Universe, of the ultimate tenuity conceivable to the eye of the perfect Bodhisatva - this matter, radical and cool, becomes, at the first reawakening of cosmic motion, scattered through Space; appearing, when seen from the Earth, in clusters and lumps, like curds in thin milk. These are the seeds of the future worlds, the "Star-stuff." STANZA III. - Continued. 6. THE ROOT OF LIFE WAS IN EVERY DROP OF THE OCEAN OF IMMORTALITY _(Amrita)_ - {Amrita is "immortality."} - AND THE OCEAN WAS RADIANT LIGHT, WHICH WAS FIRE AND HEAT AND MOTION. DARKNESS VANISHED AND WAS NO MORE. - {See Commentary No. i to this Stanza.} - IT DISAPPEARED IN ITS OWN ESSENCE, THE BODY OF FIRE AND WATER, OF FATHER AND MOTHER (a). (a) The essence of darkness being absolute light, Darkness is taken as the appropriate allegorical representation of the condition of the Universe during Pralaya, or the term of absolute rest, or non-being, as it appears to our finite minds. The "fire," "heat," and "motion" here spoken of, are, of course, not the fire, heat, and motion of physical science, but the underly- ing abstractions, the noumena, or the soul, of the essence of these material manifestations - the "things in themselves," which, as modern science confesses, entirely elude the instru- ments of the laboratory, and which even the mind cannot grasp, although it can equally little avoid the conclusion that these underlying essences of things must exist. Fire and Water, or Father - {See "Kwan-Shai-Yin." The real name from the text cannot be given.} - and Mother, may be taken here to mean the divine Ray and Chaos. "Chaos, from this union with Spirit obtaining sense, shone with pleasure, and thus was produced the Protogonos (the first-born light)," says a fragment of Hermas. Damascius calls it Dis in "Theogony" - "The disposer of all things." (See Cory's "_Ancient Fragments_," p. 314.) According to the Rosicrucian tenets, as handled and explained by the profane for once correctly, if only partially, so "Light and Darkness are identical in themselves, being only divisible in the human mind;" and according to Robert Fludd, "Darkness adopted illumination in order to make itself visible" (_On Rosenkranz_). According to the tenets of Eastern Occultism, DARKNESS is the one true actuality, the basis and the root of light, without which the latter could never manifest itself, nor even exist. Light is matter, and DARKNESS pure Spirit. Darkness, in its radical, metaphysical basis, is subjective and absolute light; while the latter in all its seeming effulgence and glory, is merely a mass of shadows, as it can never be eternal, and is simply an illusion, or Maya. Even in the mind-baffling and science-harassing Genesis, light is created out of darkness "and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (ch. i. v. 2.) - and not vice versa. "In him (in darkness) was life; and the life _was the light of men-" (John i. 4). A day may come when the eyes of men will be opened; and then they may comprehend better than they do now, that verse in the Gospel of John that says "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not." They will see then that the word "darkness" does not apply to man's spiritual eyesight, but indeed to "Darkness," the absolute, that comprehendeth not (cannot cognize) transient light, however transcendent to human eyes. _Demon est Deus inversus_. The devil is now called Darkness by the Church, whereas, in the Bible he is called the "Son of God" (see Job), the bright star of the early morning, Lucifer (see Isaiah). There is a whole philosophy of dogmatic craft in the reason why the first Archangel, who sprang from the depths of Chaos, was called Lux (Lucifer), the "Luminous Son of the Morning," or manvantaric Dawn. He was transformed by the Church into Lucifer or Satan, because he is higher and older than Jehovah, and had to be sacrificed to the new dogma. (See Book II.) STANZA III. - Continued. 7. BEHOLD, OH LANOO! - {Lanoo is a student, a chela who studies practical Esotericism.} - THE RADIANT CHILD OF THE TWO, THE UNPARALLELED REFULGENT GLORY, BRIGHT SPACE, SON OF DARK SPACE, WHO EMERGES FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE GREAT DARK WATERS. IT IS OEAOHOO, THE YOUNGER, THE * * * _(whom thou knowest now as Kwan-Shai-Yin. - Comment)_ (a). HE SHINES FORTH AS THE SUN. HE IS THE BLAZING DIVINE DRAGON OF WISDOM. THE EKA IS CHATUR _(four)_, AND CHATUR TAKES TO ITSELF THREE, AND THE UNION PRODUCES THE SAPTA _(seven)_ IN WHOM ARE THE SEVEN WHICH BECOME THE TRIDASA - {"Tri-dasa," or three times ten (30), alludes to the Vedic deities, in round numbers, or more accurately 33 - a sacred number. They are the 12 Adityas, the 8 Vasus, the 11 Rudras, and 2 Aswins - the twin sons of the Sun and the Sky. This is the root-number of the Hindu Pantheon, which enumerates 33 crores or over three hundred millions of gods and goddesses.} - _(the thrice ten)_ THE HOSTS AND THE MULTITUDES (b). BEHOLD HIM LIFTING THE VEIL, AND UNFURLING IT FROM EAST TO WEST. HE SHUTS OUT THE ABOVE AND LEAVES THE BELOW TO BE SEEN AS THE GREAT ILLUSION. HE MARKS THE PLACES FOR THE SHINING ONES _(stars)_ AND TURNS THE UPPER _(space)_ INTO A SHORELESS SEA OF FIRE, AND THE ONE MANIFESTED _(element)_ INTO THE GREAT WATERS (c). "Bright Space, son of dark Space," corresponds to the Ray dropped at the first thrill of the new "Dawn" into the great Cosmic depths, from which it re-emerges differentiated as Oeaohoo the younger, (the "new LIFE"), to become, to the end of the life- cycle, the germ of all things. He is "the Incorporeal man who contains in himself the divine Idea," - the generator of Light and Life, to use an expression of Philo Judaeus. He is called the "Blazing Dragon of Wisdom," because, firstly, he is that which the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of the Thought Divine; and secondly, because in Esoteric philosophy this first manifestation, being the synthesis or the aggregate of Universal Wisdom, Oeaohoo, "the Son of the Son," contains in himself the Seven Creative Hosts (The Sephiroth), and is thus the essence of manifested Wisdom. "He who bathes in the light of Oeaohoo will never be deceived by the veil of Maya." Kwan-Shai-Yin is identical with, and an equivalent of the Sanskrit _Avalokiteshwara,_ and as such he is an androgynous deity, like the Tetragrammaton and all the Logoi of antiquity. - {Hence all the higher gods of antiquity are all "Sons of the Mother" before they become those of the "Father." The Logoi, like Jupiter or Zeus, Son of Kronos-Saturn, "Infinite Time" (or Kala), in their origin were represented as male-female. Zeus is said to be the "beautiful Virgin," and Venus is made bearded. Apollo is originally bisexual, so is Brahma-Vach in Manu and the Puranas. Osiris is interchangeable with Isis, and Horus is of both sexes. Finally St. John's vision in Revelation, that of the Logos, who is now connected with Jesus - is hermaphrodite, for he is described as having female breasts. So is the Tetragrammaton = Jehovah. But there are two Avalokiteshwaras in Esotericism; the first and the second _Logos_.} It is only by some sects in China that he is anthropomorphized and represented with female attributes, - {No religious symbol can escape profanation and even derision in our days of politics and Science. In Southern India the writer has seen a converted native making pujah with offerings before a statue of Jesus clad in woman's clothes and with a ring in his nose. When asking the meaning of the masquer- ade we were answered that it was Jesu-Maria blended in one, and that it was done by the permission of the Padri, as the zealous convert had no money to purchase two statues or "idols" as they, very properly, were called by a witness - another but a non_converted Hindu. Blasphemous this will appear to a dogmatic Christian, but the Theosophist and the Occultist must award the palm of logic to the converted Hindu. The esoteric Christos in the _gnosis_ is, of course, sexless, but in exoteric _theology_ he is male and female.} - when, under his female aspect, he becomes Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the "Divine Voice." - {The Gnostic Sophia, "Wisdom" who is "the Mother" of the Ogdoad (Aditi, in a certain sense, with her eight sons), is the Holy Ghost and the Creator of all, as in the ancient systems. The "father" is a far later invention. The earliest manifested Logos was female everywhere - the mother of the seven planetary powers.} - The latter is the patron deity of Thibet and of the island of Puto in China, where both deities have a number of monasteries. - {See "Chinese Buddhism," by the Rev. J. C. Edkins, who always gives correct facts, although his conclusions are very frequently erroneous.} - (See Part II. Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan- yin.) (b) The "Dragon of Wisdom" is the One, the "Eka" (Sanskrit) or Saka. It is curious that Jehovah's name in Hebrew should also be One, Echod. "His name is Echod": say the Rabbins. The philologists ought to decide which of the two is derived from the other - linguistically and symbolically: surely, not the Sanskrit? The "One" and the Dragon are expressions used by the ancients in connection with their respective Logoi. Jehovah - esoterically (as Elohim) - is also the Serpent or Dragon that tempted Eve, and the "Dragon" is an old glyph for "Astral Light" (Primordial Principle), "which is the Wisdom of Chaos." Archaic philosophy, recognizing neither Good nor Evil as a fundamental or independent power, but starting from the Absolute ALL (Universal Perfection eternally), traced both through the course of natural evolution to pure Light condensing gradually into form, hence becoming Matter or Evil. It was left with the early and ignorant Christian fathers to degrade the philosophical and highly scientific idea of this emblem (the Dragon) into the absurd superstition called the "Devil." They took it from the later Zoroastrians, who saw devils or the Evil in the Hindu Devas, and the word Evil thus became by a double transmutation D'Evil in every tongue (Diabolos, Diable, Diavolo, Teufel). But the Pagans have always shown a philosophical discrimination in their symbols. The primitive symbol of the serpent symbolised divine Wisdom and Perfection, and had always stood for psychical Regeneration and Immortality. Hence - Hermes, calling the serpent the most spiritual of all beings; Moses, initiated in the wisdom of Hermes, following suit in Genesis; the Gnostic's Serpent with the seven vowels over its head, being the emblem of the seven hierarchies of the Septenary or Planetary Creators. Hence, also, the Hindu serpent Sesha or Ananta, "the Infinite," a name of Vishnu, whose first Vahan or vehicle on the primordial waters is this serpent. - {Like the _logoi_ and the Hierarchies of Powers, however, the "Serpent" have to be distinguished one from the other. Sesha or Ananta, "the couch of Vishnu," is an allegorical abstraction, symbolizing infinite Time in Space, which contains the germ and throws off periodically the efflorescence of this germ, the _manifested_ Universe; whereas, the gnostic _Ophis_ contained the same triple symbolism in its seven vowels as the One, Three and Seven-syllabled _Oeaohoo_ of the Archaic doctrine; i.e., the One Unmanifested Logos, the Second manifested, the triangle concreting into the Quaternary or Tetragrammaton, and the rays of the latter on the material plane.} - Yet they all made a difference between the good and the bad Serpent (the Astral Light of the Kabalists) - between the former, the embodiment of divine Wisdom in the region of the Spiritual, and the latter, Evil, on the plane of matter.- {The Astral Light, or the Ether, of the ancient pagans (for the name of Astral Light is quite modern) is Spirit-Matter. Beginning with the pure spiritual plane, it becomes grosser as it descends until it becomes the _Maya_ or the tempting and deceitful serpent on our plane.} - Jesus accepted the serpent as a synonym of Wisdom, and this formed part of his teaching: "Be ye wise as serpents," he says. "In the beginning, before Mother became Father-Mother, the fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes alone" _(Book of Sarparajni_). The Aitareya Brahmana calls the Earth Sarparajni, "the Serpent Queen," and "the Mother of all that moves." Before our globe became egg-shaped (and the Universe also) "a long trail of Cosmic dust (or fire mist) moved and writhed like a serpent in Space." The "Spirit of God moving on Chaos" was symbolized by every nation in the shape of a fiery serpent breathing fire and light upon the primordial waters, until it had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume the annular shape of a serpent with its tail in its mouth - which symbolises not only Eternity and Infinitude, but also the globular shape of all the bodies formed within the Universe from that fiery mist. The Universe, as well as the Earth and Man, cast off periodically, serpent-like, their old skins, to assume new ones after a time of rest. The serpent is, surely, a not less graceful or a more unpoetical image than the caterpillar and chrysalis from which springs the butterfly, the Greek emblem of Psyche, the human soul. The "Dragon" was also the symbol of the Logos with the Egyptians, as with the Gnostics. In the "Book of Hermes," Pymander, the oldest and the most spiritual of the Logoi of the Western Continent, appears to Hermes in the shape of a Fiery Dragon of "Light, Fire, and Flame." Pymander, the "Thought Divine" personified, says: "The Light is me, I am the Nous (the mind or Manu), I am thy God, and I am far older than the human principle which escapes from the shadow ("_Darkness_," or the concealed Deity). I am the germ of thought, the resplendent _Word,_ the _Son_ of God. All that thus sees and hears in thee is the _Verbum_ of the Master, it is the Thought _(Mahat)_ which is God, the Father. - (By "God, the Father," the seventh principle in Man and Kosmos are here unmistakably meant, this principle being inseparable in its Esse and Nature from the seventh Cosmic principle. In one sense it is the Logos of the Greeks and the Avalokiteswara of the esoteric Buddhists.} - The celestial Ocean, the Aether - is the _Breath_ of the Father, the life-giving principle, the _Mother,_ the Holy Spirit, - for these are not separated, and their union is LIFE." Here we find the unmistakable echo of the Archaic Secret Doctrine, as now expounded. Only the latter does not place at the head and Evolution of Life "the Father," who comes third and is the "Son of the Mother," but the "Eternal and Ceaseless Breath of the ALL." The -Mahat- (Understanding, Universal Mind, Thought, etc.), before it manifests itself as Brahma or Siva, appears as Vishnu, says _Sankhya Sara_ (p. 16); hence _Mahat_has several aspects, just as the _logos_ has. _Mahat_ is called the Lord, in the _Primary_ Creation, and is, in this sense, Universal Cognition or _Thought Divine_; but, "That Mahat which was first produced is (afterwards) called _Ego-ism,_ when it is born as "I," that is said to be the _second_ Creation" (_Anugita_ ch. xxvi.). And the translator (an able and learned Brahmin, not a European Orientalist) explains in a footnote (6), "i.e., when Mahat develops into the feeling of Self-Consciousness - I - then it assumes the name of Egoism," which, translated into our esoteric phraseology, means when _Mahat_ is transformed into the human _Manas_ (or even that of the finite gods), and becomes _Aham_-ship. Why it is called the _Mahat_ of the _Second_ creation (or the _ninth_, that of the _Kumara_ in _Vishnu Purana_) will be explained in Book II. The "Sea of Fire" is then the Super-Astral (i.e., noumenal) Light, the first radiation from the _Root,_ the Mulaprakriti, the undifferentiated Cosmic Substance, which becomes _Astral_ Matter. It is also called the "Fiery Serpent," as above described. If the student bears in mind that there is but One Universal Element, which is infinite, unborn, and undying, and that all the rest - as in the world of phenomena - are but so many various differentiated aspects and transformations (correlations, they are now called) of that One, from Cosmical down to microcosmical effects, from super-human down to human and sub-human beings, the totality, in short, of objective existence - then the first and chief difficulty will disappear and Occult Cosmology may be mastered, - {In the Egyptian as in the Indian theogony there was a _concealed_ deity, the ONE, and the creative, androgynous god. Thus _Shoo_ is the god of creation and Osiris is, in his original primary form, the "god whose name is unknown." (See Mariette's Abydos II., p. 63, and Vol. III., pp. 413, 414, No. 1122.)} - All the Kabalists and Occultists, Eastern and Western, recognise (a) the identity of "Father-mother" with primordial _Aether_ or _Akasa,_ (Astral Light) - {See next note.} -; and (b) its homogeneity before the evolution of the "Son," cosmically _Fohat_, for it is Cosmic Electricity. "Fohat hardens and scatters the seven brothers" (Book III. Dzyan); which means that the primordial Electric Entity - for the Eastern Occultists insist that Electricity is an Entity - electrifies into life, and separates primordial stuff or pregenetic matter into atoms, themselves the source of all life and consciousness. "There exists an universal _agent unique_ of all forms and of life, that is called Od,- {Od is the pure life-giving Light, or magnetic fluid; Ob the messenger of death used by the sorcerers, the nefarious evil fluid; Aour is the synthesis of the two, Astral Light proper. Can the Philologists tell why Od - a term used by Reichenbach to denominate the vital fluid - is also a Tibetan word meaning light, brightness, radiancy? It equally means "Sky" in an occult sense. Whence the root of the word? But _Akasa_ is not quite _Ether_, but far higher than that, as will be shown.} - Ob, and Aour, active and passive, positive and negative, like day and night: it is the first light in Creation" (Eliphas Levi's Kabala): - the first Light of the primordial Elohim - the Adam, "male and female" - or (scientifically) ELECTRICITY AND LIFE. (c) The ancients represented it by a serpent, for "Fohat hisses as he glides hither and thither" (in zigzags). The Kabala figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth, whose symbol is the serpent which played such a prominent part in the Mysteries. Its universal value is nine, for it is the ninth letter of the alphabet and the ninth door of the fifty portals or gateways that lead to the concealed mysteries of being. It is the magical agent _par excellence_, and designates in Hermetic philosophy "Life infused into primordial matter," the essence that composes all things, and the spirit that determines their form. But there are two secret Hermetical operations, one spiritual, the other material-correlative, and for ever united. "Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtile from the solid - that which ascends from earth to heaven and descends again from heaven to earth. It (the subtile light), is the strong force of every force, for it conquers every subtile thing and penetrates into every solid. Thus was the world formed" _(Hermes)._ It was not Zeno alone, the founder of the Stoics, who taught that the Universe evolves, when its primary substance is transformed from the state of fire into that of air, then into water, etc. Heracleitus of Ephesus maintained that the one principle that underlies all phenomena in Nature is fire. The intelligence that moves the Universe is fire, and fires is intelligence. And while Anaximenes said the same of air, and Thales of Miletus (600 years B.C.) of water, the Esoteric Doctrine reconciles all those philosophers by showing that though each was right the system of none was complete. STANZA III. - Continued. 8. WHERE WAS THE GERM, AND WHERE WAS NOW DARKNESS? WHERE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE FLAME THAT BURNS IN THY LAMP, OH LANOO? THE GERM IS THAT, AND THAT IS LIGHT; THE WHITE BRILLIANT SON OF THE DARK HIDDEN FATHER (a). (a) The answer to the first question, suggested by the second, which is the reply of the teacher to the pupil, contains in a single phrase one of the most essential truths of occult philosophy. It indicates the existence of things imperceptible to our physical senses which are of far greater importance, more real and more permanent, than those that appeal to these senses themselves. Before the Lanoo can hope to understand the transcen- dentally metaphysical problem contained in the first question he must be able to answer the second, while the very answer he gives to the second will furnish him with the clue to the correct reply to the first. In the Sanscrit Commentary on this Stanza, the terms used for the concealed and the unrevealed Principle are many. In the earliest MSS. of Indian literature this Unrevealed, Abstract Deity has no name. It is called generally "_That_" (_Tad_ in Sanskrit), and means all that is, was, and will be, or that can be so received by the human mind. Among such appellations, given, of course, only in esoteric philosophy, as the "Unfathomable Darkness," the "Whirlwind," etc. - it is also called the "It of the Kalahansa, the Kala-ham-sa," and even the "Kali Hamsa," (Black swan). Here the _m_ and the _n_ are convertible, and both sound like the nasal French _an_ or _am_, or, again, _en_ or _em_ (_Ennui, Embarras_, etc.) As in the Hebrew Bible, many a mysterious sacred name in Sanscrit conveys to the profane ear no more than some ordinary, and often vulgar word, because it is concealed anagrammatically or otherwise. This word of Hansa or esoterically "hamsa" is just such a case. Hamsa is equal to a-ham-ha, three words meaning "I am he" (in English), while divided in still another way it will read "So-ham," "he (is) I" - Soham being equal to Sah, "he," and aham, "I," or "I am he." In this alone is contained the universal mystery, the doctrine of the identity of man's essence with god-essence, for him who understands the language of wisdom. Hence the glyph of, and the allegory about, Kalahansa (or hamsa), and the name given to Brahma neuter (later on, to the male Brahma) of "Hansa-Vahana," he who uses the Hansa as his vehicle." The same word may be read "Kalaham-sa" or "I am I" in the eternity of Time, answering to the Biblical, or rather Zoroastrian "I am that I am." The same doctrine is found in the Kabala, as witness the following extract from an unpublished MSS. by Mr. S. Liddell McGregor Mathers, the learned Kabalist: "The three pronouns, Hoa, Atah, Ani; He, Thou, I; are used to symbolize the ideas of Macroprosopos and Microprosopos in the Hebrew Qabalah. Hoa, "He," is applied to the hidden and concealed Macroprosopos; Atah, "Thou," to Microprosopos; and Ani, "I," to the latter when He is represented as speaking. (See_ Lesser Holy Assembly,_ 204 et seq.) It is to be noted that each of these names consists of three letters, of which the letter Aleph, A, forms the conclusion of the first word Hoa, and the commencement of Atah and Ani, as if it were the connecting link between them. But is the symbol of the Unity and consequently of the unvarying Idea of the Divine operating through all these. But behind the Aleph in the name Hoa are the letters [representing] the symbols of the numbers Six and Five, the Male and the Female, the Hexagram and the Pentagram. And the numbers of these three words, Hoa Atah Ani, are 12, 406, and 61, which are resumed in the key numbers of 3, 10, and 7, by the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which is a form of the exegetical rule of Temura." It is useless to attempt to explain the mystery in full. Materialists and the men of modern Science will never understand it, since, in order to obtain clear perception of it, one has first of all to admit the postulate of a universally diffused, omnipresent, eternal Deity in Nature; secondly, to have fathomed the mystery of electricity in its true essence; and thirdly, to credit man with being the septenary symbol, on the terrestrial plane, of the ONE GREAT UNIT (the Logos), which is Itself the Seven-vowelled sign, the Breath crystallized into the WORD. - {This is again similar to the doctrine of Fichte and German Pantheists. The former reveres Jesus as the great teacher who inculcated the unity of the spirit of man with the God-Spirit (the Adwaita doctrine) or universal Principle. It is difficult to find a single speculation in Western metaphysics which has not been anticipated by Archaic Eastern philosophy. From Kant to Herbert Spencer, it is all a more or less distorted echo of the Dwaita, Adwaita, and Vedantic doctrines generally.} - He who believes in all this, has also to believe in the multiple combination of the seven planets of Occultism and of the Kabala, with the twelve zodiacal signs; to attribute, as we do, to each planet and to each constellation an influence which, in the words of Ely Star (a French Occultist), "is proper to it, beneficent or maleficent, and this, after the planetary Spirit which rules it, who, in his turn, is capable of influencing men and things which are found in harmony with him and with which he has any affinity." For these reasons, and since few believe in the foregoing, all that can now be given is that in both cases the symbol of Hansa (whether "I," "He," Goose or Swan) is an important symbol, representing, for instance, Divine Wisdom, Wisdom in darkness beyond the reach of men. For all exoteric purposes, Hansa, as every Hindu knows, is a fabulous bird, which, when given milk mixed with water for its food (in the allegory) separated the two, drinking the milk and leaving the water; thus showing inherent wisdom - milk standing symbolically for spirit, and water for matter. That this allegory is very ancient and dates from the very earliest archaic period, is shown by the mention (in Bhagavata Purana) of a certain caste named "Hamsa " or "Hansa," which was the "one caste" _par excellence_; when far back in the mists of a forgotten past there was among the Hindus only "One Veda, One Deity, One Caste." There is also a range in the Himalayas, described in the old books as being situated north of Mount Meru, called "Hamsa," and connected with episodes pertaining to the history of religious mysteries and initiations. As to the name of Kala-Hansa being the supposed vehicle of Brahma-Prajapati, in the exoteric texts and translations of the Orientalists, it is quite a mistake. Brahma, the neuter, is called by them Kala-Hansa and Brahma, the male, Hansa-Vahana, because forsooth "his vehicle or Vahan is a swan or goose" (vide "the Hindu Classical Dictio- nary.") This is a purely exoteric gloss. Esoterically and logically, if Brahma, the infinite, is all that is described by the Orientalists, namely, agreeably with the Vedantic texts, an abstract deity in no way characterised by the description of any human attributes, and it is still maintained that he or it is called Kala-Hansa - then how can it ever become the Vahan of Brahma, the manifested finite god? It is quite the reverse. The "Swan or goose" (Hansa) is the symbol of that male or temporary deity, as he, the emanation of the primordial Ray, is made to serve as a Vahan or vehicle for that divine Ray, which otherwise could not manifest itself in the Universe, being, antiphrastically, itself an emanation of "Darkness" - for our human intellect, at any rate. It is Brahma, then, who is Kala- Hansa, and the Ray, the Hansa-Vahana. As to the strange symbol chosen, it is equally suggestive; the true mystic significance being the idea of a universal matrix, figured by the primordial waters of the "deep," or the opening for the reception, and subsequently for the issue, of that one ray (the Logos), which contains in itself the other seven procreative rays or powers (the logoi or builders). Hence the choice by the Rosecroix of the aquatic fowl - whether swan or pelican, - {Whether the genus of the bird be _cygnus, anser,_ or _pelecanus,_ it is no matter, as it is an aquatic bird floating or moving on the waters like the Spirit, and then issuing from those waters to give birth to other beings. The true significance of the symbol of the Eighteenth Degree of the Rose- Croix is precisely this, though poetised later on into the motherly feeling of the Pelican rending its bosom to feed its seven little ones with its blood.} - with seven young ones for a symbol, modified and adapted to the religion of every country. En-Soph is called the "Fiery Soul of the Pelican" in the Book of Numbers - (The reason why Moses forbids eating the pelican and swan, classing the two among the unclean fowls, and permits eating "bald locusts, beetles, and the grasshopper after his kind" (Leviticus xi. and Deuteronomy xiv.) is a purely physiolog- ical one, and has to do with mystic symbology only in so far as the word "unclean," like every other word, ought not to be read and understood literally, as it is esoteric like all the rest, and may as well mean "holy" as not. It is a blind, very sugges- tive in connection with certain superstitions - e.g., that of the Russian people who will not use the pigeon for food; not because it is "unclean," but because the "Holy Ghost" is credited with having appeared under the form of a Dove.} - (See Part II. "The Hidden Deity and its Symbols and Glyphs.") Appearing with every Manvantara as Narayan, or Swayambhuva (the Self-Existent), and penetrating into the Mundane Egg, it emerges from it at the end of the divine incubation as Brahma or Prajapati, a progenitor of the future Universe into which he expands. He is Purusha (spirit), but he is also Prakriti (matter). Therefore it is only after separating himself into two halves - Brahma-vach (the female) and Brahma-Viraj (the male), that the Prajapati becomes the male Brahma. STANZA III. - Continued. 9. LIGHT IS COLD FLAME, AND FLAME IS FIRE, AND THE FIRE PRODUCES HEAT, WHICH YIELDS WATER, THE WATER OF LIFE IN THE GREAT MOTHER _(Chaos)_ (a). (a) It must be remembered that the words "Light," "Fire," and "Flame" used in the Stanzas have been adopted by the translators thereof from the vocabulary of the old "Fire philosophers," - {Not the Mediaeval Alchemists, but the Magi and Fire-Worshippers, from whom the Rosicrucians or the Philosophers _per ignem_, the successors of the theurgists borrowed all their ideas concerning Fire, as a mystic and divine element.} - in order to render better the meaning of the archaic terms and symbols employed in the original. Otherwise they would have remained entirely unintelligible to a European reader. But to a student of the Occult the terms used will be sufficiently clear. All these - " Light," "Flame," "Hot," "Cold," "Fire," "Heat," "Water," and the "water of life" are all, on our plane, the progeny; or as a modern physicist would say, the correlations of ELECTRICITY. Mighty word, and a still mightier symbol! Sacred generator of a no less sacred progeny; of fire - the creator, the preserver and the destroyer; of light - the essence of our divine ancestors; of flame - the Soul of things. Electricity, the ONE Life at the upper rung of Being, and Astral Fluid, the Athanor of the Alchemists, at its lowest; GOD and DEVIL, GOOD and EVIL. - Now, why is Light called in the Stanzas "cold flame"? Because in the order of Cosmic evolution (as taught by the Occultist), the energy that actuates matter after its first formation into atoms is generated on our plane by Cosmic heat; and because Kosmos, in the sense of dissociated matter, was not, before that period. The first primordial matter, eternal and coeval with Space, "which has neither a beginning nor an end," is "neither hot nor cold, but is of its own special nature," says the Commentary (Book II). Heat and cold are relative qualities and pertain to the realms of the manifested worlds, which all proceed from the manifested _Hyle_, which, in its absolutely latent aspect, is referred to as the "cold Virgin," and when awakened to life, as the "Mother." The ancient Western Cosmogonic myths state that at first there was but cold mist which was the Father, and the prolific slime (the Mother, Ilus or Hyle), from which crept forth the Mundane snake-matter, _(Isis_, vol. i., p. 146). Primordial matter, then, before it emerges from the plane of the never-manifesting, and awakens to the thrill of action under the impulse of Fohat, is but "a cool Radiance, colourless, formless, tasteless, and devoid of every quality and aspect." Even such are her first-born, the "four sons," who "are One, and become Seven," - the entities, by whose qualifications and names the ancient Eastern Occultists called the four of the seven primal "centres of Forces," or atoms, that develop later into the great Cosmic "Elements," now divided into the seventy or so sub- elements, known to science. The four primal natures of the first Dhyan Chohans, are the so-called (for want of better terms) "Akasic," "Ethereal," "Watery," and "Fiery," answering, in the terminology of practical occultism, to scientific definitions of gases, which, to convey a clear idea to both Occultists and laymen, must be defined as Parahydrogenic, - {"beyond," outside.} - Paraoxygenic, Oxyhydrogenic, and Ozonic, or perhaps Nitr- ozonic; the latter forces or gases (in Occultism, supersensuous, yet atomic substances) being the most effective and active when energising on the plane of more grossly differentiated matter. - {Each of these and many more are probably the missing links of chemistry. They are known by other names in Alchemy and to the Occultists who practise in phenomenal powers. It is by combining and recombining in a certain way (or dissociating) the "Elements" by means of astral fire that the greatest phenomena are pro- duced.} - These are both electro-positive and electro-negative. STANZA III. - Continued. 10. FATHER-MOTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED TO SPIRIT _(Purusha)_, THE LIGHT OF THE ONE DARKNESS, AND THE LOWER ONE TO MATTER _(Prakriti)_ ITS _(the Spirit's)_ SHADOWY END; AND THIS WEB IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES MADE IN ONE, WHICH IS SWABHAVAT (a). (a) In the Mandukya (Mundaka) Upanishad it is written, "As a spider throws out and retracts its web, as herbs spring up in the ground - so is the Universe derived from the undecaying one" (I. i. 7). Brahma, as "the germ of unknown Darkness," is the material from which all evolves and develops "as the web from the spider, as foam from the water," etc. This is only graphic and true, if Brahma the "Creator" is, as a term, derived from the root _brih_, to increase or expand. Brahma "expands" and becomes the Universe woven out of his own substance. The same idea has been beautifully expressed by Goethe, who says: "Thus at the roaring loom of Time I ply, And weave for God the garment thou see'st Him by." STANZA III. - Continued. 11. IT _(the Web)_ EXPANDS WHEN THE BREATH OF FIRE _(the Father)_ IS UPON IT; IT CONTRACTS WHEN THE BREATH OF THE MOTHER _(the root of Matter)_ TOUCHES IT. THEN THE SONS _(the Elements with their respective Powers, or Intelligences)_ DISSOCIATE AND SCATTER, TO RETURN INTO THEIR MOTHER'S BOSOM AT THE END OF THE "GREAT DAY" AND REBECOME ONE WITH HER (a). WHEN IT _(the Web)_ IS COOLING, IT BECOMES RADIANT, ITS SONS EXPAND AND CONTRACT THROUGH THEIR OWN SELVES AND HEARTS; THEY EMBRACE INFINITUDE. (b) The expanding of the Universe under the breath of FIRE is very suggestive in the light of the "Fire mist" period of which modern science speaks so much, and knows in reality so little. Great heat breaks up the compound elements and resolves the heavenly bodies into their primeval one element, explains the commentary. "Once disintegrated into its primal constituent by getting within the attraction and reach of a focus, or centre of heat (energy), of which many are carried about to and fro in space, a body, whether alive or dead, will be vapourised and held in "the bosom of the Mother" until Fohat, gathering a few of the clusters of Cosmic matter (nebulae) will, by giving it an impulse, set it in motion anew, develop the required heat, and then leave it to follow its own new growth." The expanding and contracting of the Web - i.e., the world stuff or atoms - expresses here the pulsatory movement; for it is the regular contraction and expansion of the infinite and shoreless Ocean of that which we may call the noumenon of matter emanated by Swabhavat, which causes the universal vibration of atoms. But it is also suggestive of something else. It shows that the ancients were acquainted with that which is now the puzzle of many scientists and especially of astronomers: the cause of the first ignition of matter or the world-stuff, the paradox of the heat produced by the refrigerative contraction and other such Cosmic riddles. For it points unmistakably to a knowledge by the ancients of such phenomena. "There is heat internal and heat external in every atom," say the manuscript Commentaries, to which the writer has had access; "the breath of the Father (or Spirit) and the breath (or heat) of the Mother (matter);" and they give explanations which show that the modern theory of the extinction of the solar fires by loss of heat through radiation, is erroneous. The assumption is false even on the Scientists' own admission. For as Professor Newcomb points out (Popular Astrono- my, pp. 506-508), "by losing heat, a gaseous body contracts, and the heat generated by the contraction exceeds that which it had to lose in order to produce the contraction." This paradox, that a body gets hotter as the shrinking produced by its getting colder is greater, led to long disputes. The surplus of heat, it was argued, was lost by radiation, and to assume that the temperature is not lowered _pari passu_ with a decrease of volume under a constant pressure, is to set at nought the law of Charles (Nebular Theory, Winchell). Contraction develops heat, it is true; but contraction (from cooling) is incapable of developing the whole amount of heat at any time existing in the mass, or even of maintaining a body at a constant temperature, etc. Professor Winchell tries to reconcile the paradox - only a seeming one in fact, as Homer Lanes proved, - by suggesting "something besides heat." "May it not be," he asks, "simply a repulsion among the molecules, which varies according to some law of the distance?" But even this will be found irreconcilable, unless this "something besides heat" is ticketed "Causeless Heat," the "Breath of Fire," the all-creative Force plus ABSOLUTE INTELLIGENCE, which physical science is not likely to accept. However it may be, the reading of this Stanza shows it, notwithstanding its archaic phraseology, to be more scientific than even modern science. STANZA III. - Continued. 12. THEN SVABHAVAT SENDS FOHAT TO HARDEN THE ATOMS. EACH _(of these)_ IS A PART OF THE WEB _(Universe)_. REFLECTING THE "SELF-EXISTENT LORD" _(Primeval Light)_ LIKE A MIRROR, EACH BECOMES IN TURN A WORLD - {This is said in the sense that the flame from a fire is endless, and that the lights of the whole Universe could be lit at one simple rush-light without diminish- ing its flame.} "Fohat hardens the atoms"; i.e., by infusing energy into them: he scatters the atoms or primordial matter. "He scatters himself while scattering matter into atoms" (MSS. Commentaries.) It is through Fohat that the ideas of the Universal Mind are impressed upon matter. Some faint idea of the nature of Fohat may be gathered from the appellation "Cosmic Electricity" sometimes applied to it; but to the commonly known properties of electrici- ty must, in this case, be added others, including intelligence. It is of interest to note that modern science has come to the conclusion, that all cerebration and brain-activity are attended by electrical phenomena. _(For further details as to "Fohat" See Stanza V. and Comments.")_ --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sun Feb 4 18:53:51 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 18:53:51 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Re: Remove us from your mailing lists In-Reply-To: <960204113439_135497649@emout09.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <960204113439_135497649@emout09.mail.aol.com>, CAJI@aol.com writes > >Please remove the following addresses from all of your blind mailing lists >immediately. > >caji@pobox.com >caji@aol.com > >Thank you, >caji I don't know what a "blind" mailing address is! If you post to any of the theosophy lists @vnet.net, then you make your e-mail address known to my system as a matter of course. In other words, if you publish it, then all subscribers know it. TI does not have any facility for automating mail shots - perhaps there is some confusion here? I am copying this message to John Mead, who administers the theosophy lists, in the hope that he can shed some light on your problem, which I do not understand. AB --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From alexei@slip.net Mon Feb 5 01:18:19 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:18:19 -0800 Message-Id: <199602050118.RAA26906@slip-1.slip.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: alexis dolgorukii Subject: Re: Remove us from your mailing lists At 02:34 PM 2/4/96 -0500, you wrote: >In message <960204113439_135497649@emout09.mail.aol.com>, CAJI@aol.com >writes >> >>Please remove the following addresses from all of your blind mailing lists >>immediately. >> >>caji@pobox.com >>caji@aol.com >> >>Thank you, >>caji > >I don't know what a "blind" mailing address is! If you post to any of >the theosophy lists @vnet.net, then you make your e-mail address known >to my system as a matter of course. In other words, if you publish it, >then all subscribers know it. TI does not have any facility for >automating mail shots - perhaps there is some confusion here? > >I am copying this message to John Mead, who administers the theosophy >lists, in the hope that he can shed some light on your problem, which I >do not understand. > >AB >--------- >THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: >Ancient Wisdom for a New Age > >I can easily understand why someone would want to use a pseudonym on an alt.sex board but on aTheosophical Board? What's to be secretive about? It's hardly subversive, it's hardly socially unacceptable, so why would anyone need a "blind listing"? alexis dolgorukii, member T.I. aetheling, gad-fly From ramadoss@eden.com Mon Feb 5 02:52:11 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 20:52:11 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: <199602050252.UAA05467@natashya.eden.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: MK Ramadoss Subject: Re: Remove us from your mailing lists At 09:18 PM 2/4/96 -0500, you wrote: >At 02:34 PM 2/4/96 -0500, you wrote: >>In message <960204113439_135497649@emout09.mail.aol.com>, CAJI@aol.com >>writes >>> >>>Please remove the following addresses from all of your blind mailing lists >>>immediately. >>> >>>caji@pobox.com >>>caji@aol.com >>> >>>Thank you, >>>caji >> >>I don't know what a "blind" mailing address is! If you post to any of >>the theosophy lists @vnet.net, then you make your e-mail address known >>to my system as a matter of course. In other words, if you publish it, >>then all subscribers know it. TI does not have any facility for >>automating mail shots - perhaps there is some confusion here? >> >>I am copying this message to John Mead, who administers the theosophy >>lists, in the hope that he can shed some light on your problem, which I >>do not understand. >> >>AB >>--------- >>THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: >>Ancient Wisdom for a New Age >> >>I can easily understand why someone would want to use a pseudonym on an >alt.sex board but on aTheosophical Board? What's to be secretive about? It's >hardly subversive, it's hardly socially unacceptable, so why would anyone >need a "blind listing"? > >alexis dolgorukii, member T.I. >aetheling, gad-fly > > I got a listing of subscribers from theos-buds and this person is not in it. I also got a msg from him stating that he is not getting any msgs from theos-buds. so the problem is fixed. ..doss From am455@lafn.org Sun Feb 4 20:00:42 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 12:00:42 -0800 Message-Id: <199602042000.AA23194@lafn.org> From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: Aphorisms on Karma APHORISMS ON KARMA The following, among others not yet used, were given to me by Teachers, among them being H.P. Blavatsky. Some were written, others communicated in other ways. To me they were declared to be from manuscripts not now accessible to the general public. Each one was submitted for my judgment and reason; and just as they, aside from any authority, approved themselves to my reason after serious consideration of them, so I hope they will gain the approval of those my fellow workers to whom I now publish them. William Q. Judge 1. There is no Karma unless there is a being to make it or feel its effects. 2. Karma is the adjustment of effects flowing from causes, during which the being upon whom and through whom that adjustment is effected experiences pain or pleasure. 3. Karma is an undeviating and unerring tendency in the Universe to restore equilibrium, and it operates incessantly. 4. The apparent stoppage of this restoration to equilibrium is due to the necessary adjustment of disturbance at some other spot, place, or focus which is visible only to the Yogi, to the Sage, or the perfect Seer: there is therefore no stoppage, but only a hiding from view. 5. Karma operates on all things and beings from the minutest conceivable atom up to Brahma. Proceeding in the three worlds of men, gods, and the elemental beings, no spot in the manifested universe is exempt from its sway. 6. Karma is not subject to time, and therefore he who knows what is the ultimate division of time in this Universe knows Karma. 7. For all other men Karma is in its essential nature unknown and unknowable. 8. But its action may be known by calculation from cause to effect; and this calculation is possible because the effect is wrapped up in and is not succedent to the cause. 9. The Karma of this earth is the combination of the acts and thoughts of all beings of every grade which were concerned in the preceding Manvantara or evolutionary stream from which ours flows. 10. And as those beings include Lords of Power and Holy Men, as well as weak and wicked ones, the period of the earth's duration is greater than that of any entity or race upon it. 11. Because the Karma of this earth and its races began in a past too far back for human minds to reach, an inquiry into its beginning is useless and profitless. 12. Karmic causes already set in motion must be allowed to sweep on until exhausted, but this permits no man to refuse to help his fellows and every sentient being. 13. The effects may be counteracted or mitigated by the thoughts and acts of oneself or of another, and then the resulting effects represent the combination and interaction of the whole number of causes involved in producing the effects. 14. In the life of worlds, races, nations, and individuals, Karma cannot act unless there is an appropriate instrument provided for its action. 15. And until such appropriate instrument is found, that Karma related to it remains unexpended. 16. While a man is experiencing Karma in the instrument provided, his other unexpended Karma is not exhausted through other beings or means, but is held reserved for future operation; and lapse of time during which no operation of that Karma is felt causes no deterioration in its force or change in its nature. 17. The appropriateness of an instrument for the operation of Karma consists in the exact connection and relation of the Karma with the body, mind, intellectual and psychical nature acquired for use by the Ego in any life. 18. Every instrument used by any Ego in any life is appropriate to the Karma operating through it. 19. Changes may occur in the instrument during one life so as to make it appropriate for a new class of Karma, and this may take place in two ways: (a) through intensity of thought and the power of a vow, and (b) through natural alterations due to complete exhaustion of old causes. 20. As body and mind and soul have each a power of independent action, any one of these may exhaust, independently of the others, some Karmic causes more remote from or nearer to the time of their inception than those operating through other channels. 21. Karma is both merciful and just. Mercy and Justice are only opposite poles of a single whole; and Mercy without Justice is not possible in the operations of Karma. That which man calls Mercy and Justice is defective, errant, and impure. 22. Karma may be of three sorts: (a) presently operative in this life through the appropriate instruments; (b) that which is being made or stored up to be exhausted in the future; (c) Karma held over from past life or lives and not operating yet because inhibited by inappropriateness of the instrument in use by the Ego, or by the force of Karma now operating. 23. Three fields of operation are used in each being by Karma: (a) the body and the circumstances; (b) the mind and intellect. (c) the psychic and astral planes. 24. Held-over Karma or present Karma may each, or both at once, operate in all of the three fields of Karmic operation at once, or in either of those fields a different class of Karma from that using the others may operate at the same time. 25. Birth into any sort of body and to obtain the fruits of any sort of Karma is due to the preponderance of the line of Karmic tendency. 26. The sway of Karmic tendency will influence the incarnation of an Ego, or any family of Egos, for three lives at least, when measures of repression, elimination, or counteraction are not adopted. 27. Measures taken by an Ego to repress tendency, eliminate defects, and to counteract by setting up different causes, will alter the sway of Karmic tendency and shorten its influence in accordance with the strength or weakness of the efforts expended in carrying out the measures adopted. 28. No man but a sage or true seer can judge another's Karma. Hence while each receives his deserts, appearances may deceive, and birth into poverty or heavy trial may not be punishment for bad Karma, for Egos continually incarnate into poor surroundings where they experience difficulties and trials which are for the discipline of the Ego and result in strength, fortitude, and sympathy. 29. Race-Karma influences each unit in the race through the law of Distribution. National Karma operates on the members of the nation by the same law more concentrated. Family Karma governs only with a nation where families have been kept pure and distinct; for in any nation where there is a mixture of family -- as obtains in each Kaliyuga period -- family Karma is in general distributed over a nation. But even at such periods some families remain coherent for long periods, and then the members feel the sway of family Karma. The word 'family' may include several smaller families. 30. Karma operates to produce cataclysms of nature by concatenation through the mental and astral planes of being. A cataclysm may be traced to an immediate physical cause such as internal fire and atmospheric disturbance, but these have been brought on by the disturbance created through the dynamic power of human thought. 31. Egos who have no Karmic connection with a portion of the globe where a cataclysm is coming on are kept without the latter's operation in two ways: (a) by repulsion acting on their inner nature, and (b) by being called and warned by those who watch the progress of the world. The Path, March 1893 W.Q. Judge -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it. HP Blavatsky From am455@lafn.org Sun Feb 4 20:02:39 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 12:02:39 -0800 Message-Id: <199602042002.AA23677@lafn.org> From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: How Should We Treat Others? HOW SHOULD WE TREAT OTHERS? The subject relates to our conduct toward and treatment of our fellows, including in that term all people with whom we have any dealings. No particular mode of treatment is given by Theosophy. It simply lays down the law that governs us in all our acts, and declares the consequences of those acts. It is for us to follow the line of action which shall result first in harmony now and forever, and second, in the reduction of the general sum of hate and opposition in thought or act which now darkens the world. The great law which Theosophy first speaks of is the law of karma, and this is the one which must be held in view in considering the question. Karma is called by some the "law of ethical causation," but it is also the law of action and reaction; and in all departments of nature the reaction is equal to the action, and sometimes the reaction from the unseen but permanent world seems to be much greater than the physical act or word would appear to warrant on the physical plane. This is because the hidden force on the unseen plane was just as strong and powerful as the reaction is seen by us to be. The ordinary view takes in but half of the facts in any such case and judges wholly by superficial observation. If we look at the subject only from the point of view of the person who knows not of Theosophy and of the nature of man, nor of the forces Theosophy knows to be operating all the time, then the reply to the question will be just the same as the everyday man makes. That is, that he has certain rights he must and will and ought to protect; that he has property he will and may keep and use any way he pleases; and if a man injure him he ought to and will resent it; that if he is insulted by word or deed he will at once fly not only to administer punishment on the offender, but also try to reform, to admonish, and very often to give that offender up to the arm of the law; that if he knows of a criminal he will denounce him to the police and see that he has meted out to him the punishment provided by the law of man. Thus in everything he will proceed as is the custom and as is thought to be the right way by those who live under the Mosaic retaliatory law. But if we are to inquire into the subject as Theosophists, and as Theosophists who know certain laws and who insist on the absolute sway of karma, and as people who know what the real constitution of man is, then the whole matter takes on, or ought to take on, a wholly different aspect. The untheosophical view is based on separation, the Theosophical upon unity absolute and actual. Of course if Theosophists talk of unity but as a dream or a mere metaphysical thing, then they will cease to be Theosophists, and be mere professors, as the Christian world is today, of a code not followed. If we are separate one from the other the world is right and resistance is a duty, and the failure to condemn those who offend is a distinct breach of propriety, of law, and of duty. But if we are all united as a physical and psychical fact, then the act of condemning, the fact of resistance, the insistance upon rights on all occasions -- all of which means the entire lack of charity and mercy -- will bring consequences as certain as the rising of the sun tomorrow. What are those consequences, and why are they? They are simply this, that the real man, the entity, the thinker, will react back on you just exactly in proportion to the way you act to him, and this reaction will be in another life, if not now, and even if now felt will still return in the next life. The fact that the person whom you condemn, or oppose, or judge seems now in this life to deserve it for his acts in this life, does not alter the other fact that his nature will react against you when the time comes. The reaction is a law not subject to nor altered by any sentiment on your part. He may have, truly, offended you and even hurt you, and done that which in the eye of man is blameworthy, but all this does not have anything to do with the dynamic fact that if you arouse his enmity by your condemnation or judgment there will be a reaction on you, and consequently on the whole of society in any century when the reaction takes place. This is the law and the fact as given by the Adepts, as told by all sages, as re-ported by those who have seen the inner side of nature, as taught by our philosophy and easily provable by anyone who will take the trouble to examine carefully. Logic and small facts of one day or one life, or arguments on lines laid down by men of the world who do not know the real power and place of thought nor the real nature of man cannot sweep this away. After all argument and all logic it will remain. The logic used against it is always lacking in certain premises based on facts, and while seeming to be good logic, because the missing facts are unknown to the logician, it is false logic. Hence an appeal to logic that ignores facts which we know are certain is of no use in this inquiry. And the ordinary argument always uses a number of assumptions which are destroyed by the actual inner facts about thought, about karma, about the reaction by the inner man. The Master "K.H.," once writing to Mr. Sinnett in the Occult World, and speaking for his whole order and not for himself only, distinctly wrote that the man who goes to denounce a criminal or an offender works not with nature and harmony but against both, and that such act tends to destruction instead of construction. Whether the act be large or small, whether it be the denunciation of a criminal, or only your own insistence on rules or laws or rights, does not alter the matter or take it out of the rule laid down by that Adept. For the only difference between the acts mentioned is a difference of degree alone; the act is the same in kind as the violent denunciation of a criminal. Either this Adept was right or wrong. If wrong, why do we follow the philosophy laid down by him and his messenger, and concurred in by all the sages and teachers of the past? If right, why this swimming in an adverse current, as he said himself, why this attempt to show that we can set aside karma and act as we please without consequences following us to the end of time? I know not. I prefer to follow the Adept, and especially so when I see that what he says is in line with facts in nature and is a certain conclusion from the system of philosophy I have found in Theosophy. I have never found an insistence on my so-called rights at all necessary. They preserve themselves, and it must be true if the law of karma is the truth that no man offends against me unless I in the past have offended against him. In respect to man, karma has no existence without two or more persons being considered. You act, another person is affected, karma follows. It follows on the thought of each and not on the act, for the other person is moved to thought by your act. Here are two sorts of karma, yours and his, and both are intermixed. There is the karma or effect on you of your own thought and act, the result on you of the other person's thought; and there is the karma on or with the other person consisting of the direct result of your act and his thoughts engendered by your act and thought. This is all permanent. As affecting you there may be various effects. If you have condemned, for instance, we may mention some: (a) the increased tendency in yourself to indulge in condemnation, which will remain and increase from life to life; (b) this will at last in you change into violence and all that anger and condemnation may naturally lead to; (c) an opposition to you is set up in the other person, which will remain forever until one day both suffer for it, and this may be in a tendency in the other person in any subsequent life to do you harm and hurt you in the million ways possible in life, and often also unconsciously. Thus it may all widen out and affect the whole body of society. Hence no matter how justifiable it may seem to you to condemn or denounce or punish another, you set up cause for sorrow in the whole race that must work out some day. And you must feel it. The opposite conduct, that is, entire charity, constant forgiveness, wipes out the opposition from others, expends the old enmity and at the same time makes no new similar causes. Any other sort of thought or conduct is sure to increase the sum of hate in the world, to make cause for sorrow, to continually keep up the crime and misery in the world. Each man can for himself decide which of the two ways is the right one to adopt. Self-love and what people call self-respect may shrink from following the Adept's view I give above, but the Theosophist who wishes to follow the law and reduce the general sum of hate will know how to act and to think, for he will follow the words of the Master of H.P.B. who said: "Do not be ever thinking of yourself and forgetting that there are others; for you have no karma of your own, but the karma of each one is the karma of all." And these words were sent by H.P.B. to the American Section and called by her words of wisdom, as they seem also to me to be, for they accord with law. They hurt the personality of the nineteenth century, but the personality is for a day, and soon it will be changed if Theosophists try to follow the law of charity as enforced by the inexorable law of karma. We should all constantly remember that if we believe in the Masters we should at least try to imitate them in the charity they show for our weakness and faults. In no other way can we hope to reach their high estate, for by beginning thus we set up a tendency which will one day perhaps bring us near to their development; by not beginning we put off the day forever. Path, February, 1896 W.Q. JUDGE -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it. HP Blavatsky From am455@lafn.org Sun Feb 4 23:56:27 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 15:56:27 -0800 Message-Id: <199602042356.AA00614@lafn.org> From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: Other sources of WQJ In my laziness I forgot to give the published sources of the two articles of WQJ I just posted (no scanner here) from Theoslodge Online WWW site at theosophy.org "Aphorisms on Karma" is in pamphlet # 6, titled ~Karma~, from Theosophy Company, 245 West 33rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Also in Vol. 1 of their book ~William Q. Judge: Theosophical Articles~ pp. 120-24. Also in the book ~Echoes of the Orient~ Vol. 1, pp 313-16, available through Theosophical University Press, PO Box C, Pasadena, CA 91109-7107. "How Should We Treat Others?" is in ~Echoes~ 1, pp 479-82 and in ~WQJ Articles~ 2, pp 357-61. Also in the Theosophy Co. pam #23 titled ~Theosophical Study and Practice~. -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it. HP Blavatsky From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sun Feb 4 23:40:57 1996 Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 23:40:57 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: SD STANZA 4 COMMENTARY Mime-Version: 1.0 From Text supplied by Eldon B. Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain _______________________________________ STANZA IV. - The Septenary Hierarchies COMMENTARY. 1. LISTEN, YE SONS OF THE EARTH, TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS - THE SONS OF THE FIRE (a). LEARN THERE IS NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST; FOR ALL IS ONE NUMBER, ISSUED FROM NO NUMBER (b). (a) These terms, the "Sons of the Fire," the "Sons of the Fire-Mist," and the like, require explanation. They are connected with a great primordial and universal mystery, and it is not easy to make it clear. There is a passage in the _Bhagavatgita_ (ch. viii.) wherein Krishna, speaking symbolically and _esoterically_, says: "I will state the times (conditions) - at which devotees departing (from this life) do so never to return (be reborn), or to return (to incarnate again). The Fire, the Flame, the day, the bright (lucky) fortnight, the six months of the Northern solstice, departing (dying) in these, those who know the Brahman (Yogis) go to the Brahman. Smoke, night, the dark (unlucky) fortnight, the six months of the Southern solstice, (dying) in these, the devotee goes to the lunar light (or mansion, the astral light also) and returns (is reborn). These two paths, bright and dark, are said to be eternal in this world (or great kalpa, `Age'). By the one a man goes never to come back, by the other he returns." Now these names, "Fire," "Flame," "Day," the "bright fortnight," etc., as "Smoke," "Night," and so on, leading only to the end of the lunar path are incomprehensible without a knowledge of Esotericism. These are _all names of various deities_ which preside over the Cosmo-psychic Powers. We often speak of the Hierarchy of "Flames" (see Book II.), of the "Sons of Fire," etc. Sankaracharya the greatest of the Esoteric masters of India, says that _fire_ means a deity which presides over Time (kala). The able translator of Bhagavatgita, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A., of Bombay, confesses he has "no clear notion of the meaning of these verses" (p. 81, footnote). It seems quite clear, on the contrary, to him who knows the occult doctrine. With these verses the mystic sense of the solar and lunar symbols are connected: the Pitris are _lunar_ deities and our ancestors, because they _created the physical man_. The Agnishwatha, the Kumara (the seven mystic sages), are solar deities, though the former are Pitris also; and these are the "fashioners of the _Inner_ Man." (see Book II.) They are: - "The Sons of Fire" - because they are the first Beings (in the Secret Doctrine they are called "Minds"), evolved from Primordial Fire. "The Lord is a consuming Fire" (Deuteronomy iv. 24); "The Lord (Christos) shall be revealed with his mighty angels in flaming fire" (2 Thessal. i. 7, 8). The Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles like "cloven tongues of fire," (Acts ii. v. 3); Vishnu will return on _Kalki_, the White Horse, as the last Avatar amid fire and flames; and _Sosiosh_ will be brought down equally on a White Horse in a "tornado of fire." "And I saw heaven open and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him - is called the Word of God," (Rev. xix. 13) amid flaming Fire. Fire is Aether in its purest form, and hence is not regarded as matter, but it is the unity of Aether - the second manifested deity - in its universality. But there are two "Fires" and a distinction is made between them in the Occult teachings. The first, or the purely _Formless_ and _invisible_ Fire concealed in the _Central Spiritual Sun_, is spoken of as "triple" (metaphysically); while the Fire of the manifested Kosmos is Septenary, throughout both the Universe and our Solar System. "The fire or knowledge burns up all action on the plane of illusion," says the commentary. "Therefore, those who have acquired it and are emancipated, are called `Fires.'" Speaking of the _seven_ senses symbolised as _Hotris,_ priests, the Brahmana says in _Anugita_: "Thus these _seven_ (senses, smell and taste, and colour, and sound, etc., etc.) are the causes of emancipation;" and the commentator adds: "It is from these seven from which the Self is to be emancipated. `I' (am here devoid of qualities) must mean the Self, not the Brahmana who speaks." ("_Sacred Books of the East_," ed. by Max Muller, Vol. VIII., 278.) (b) The expression "All is One Number, issued from No Number" relates again to that universal and philosophical tenet just explained in Stanza III. (Comm. 4). That which is absolute is of course No Number; but in its later significance it has an application in Space as in Time. It means that not only every increment of time is part of a larger increment, up to the most indefinitely prolonged duration conceivable by the human intellect, but also that no manifested thing can be thought of except as part of a larger whole: the total aggregate being the One manifested Universe that issues from the unmanifested or Absolute - called Non-Being or "No-Number," to distinguish it from BEING or "the One Number." STANZA IV. - Continued. (2) LEARN WHAT WE, WHO DESCEND FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SEVEN, WE, WHO ARE BORN FROM THE PRIMORDIAL FLAME, HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR FATHERS (a). (a) This is explained in Book II., and this name, "Primordi- al Flame," corroborates what is said in the first paragraph of the preceding commentary on Stanza IV. The distinction between the "Primordial" and the subsequent seven Builders is this: The former are the Ray and direct emanation of the first "Sacred Four," the _Tetraktis_, that is, the eternally Self-Existent One (Eternal _in Essence_ note well, not in manifestation, and distinct from the universal ONE). Latent, during Pralaya, and active, during Manvantara, the "Primordial" proceed from "Father-Mother" (Spirit-Hyle, or _Ilus_; whereas the other manifested Quaternary and the Seven proceed from the Mother alone. It is the latter who is the immaculate Virgin-Mother, who is overshadowed, not impregnated, by the Universal MYSTERY - when she emerges from her state of Laya or undifferentiated condition. In reality, they are, of course, all one; but their aspects on the various planes of being are different. (See Part II., "Theogony of the Creative Gods.") The first "Primordial" are the highest Beings on the Scale of Existence. They are the Archangels of Christianity, those who refuse - as Michael did in the latter system, and as did the eldest "Mind-born sons" of Brahma (Veddhas) - to create or rather to multiply. STANZA IV. - Continued. 3. FROM THE EFFULGENCY OF LIGHT - THE RAY OF THE EVER- DARKNESS - SPRUNG IN SPACE THE RE-AWAKENED ENERGIES _(Dhyan Chohans)_: THE ONE FROM THE EGG, THE SIX AND THE FIVE (a); THEN THE THREE, THE ONE, THE FOUR, THE ONE, THE FIVE - THE TWICE SEVEN, THE SUM TOTAL (b). AND THESE ARE: THE ESSENCES, THE FLAMES, THE ELEMENTS, THE BUILDERS, THE NUMBERS, THE ARUPA _(formless)_, THE RUPA _(with bodies)_, AND THE FORCE OR DIVINE MAN - THE SUM TOTAL. AND FROM THE DIVINE MAN EMANATED THE FORMS, THE SPARKS, THE SACRED ANIMALS, AND THE MESSENGERS OF THE SACRED FATHERS _(the Pitris)_ WITHIN THE HOLY FOUR. - {The 4, represent- ed in the Occult numerals by the Tetraktis, the Sacred or Perfect Square, is a Sacred Number with the mystics of every nation and race. It has one and the same significance in Brahmanism, Buddhism, the Kabala and in the Egyptian, Chaldean and other numerical systems.} (a) This relates to the sacred Science of the Numerals: so sacred, indeed, and so important in the study of Occultism that the subject can hardly be skimmed, even in such a large work as the present. It is on the Hierarchies and correct numbers of these Beings invisible (to us) except upon very rare occasions, that the mystery of the whole Universe is built. The _Kumaras_, for instance, are called the "Four" though in reality seven in number, because Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanat-Kumara are the chief Vaidhatra (their patronymic name), as they spring from the "four-fold mystery." To make the whole clearer we have to turn for our illustrations to tenets more familiar to some of our readers, namely, the Brahminical. According to Manu, Hiranyagarbha is Brahma _the first male_ formed by the undiscernible Causeless CAUSE in a "Golden Egg resplendent as the Sun," as states the Hindu Classical Dictio- nary. "Hiranyagarbha" - means the golden, or rather the "Efful- gent Womb" or Egg. The meaning tallies awkwardly with the epithet of "male." Surely the esoteric meaning of the sentence is clear enough. In the Rig Veda it is said: - "THAT, the one Lord of all beings - the one animating principle of gods and man," arose, in the beginning, in the Golden Womb, Hiranyagarbha - which is the Mundane Egg or sphere of our Universe. That Being is surely androgynous, and the allegory of Brahma separating into two and recreating in one of his halves (the female Vach) himself as Viraj, is a proof of it. "The One from the Egg, the Six and the Five," give the number 1065, the value of the first-born (later on the male and female Brahma-Prajapati), who answers to the numbers 7, and 14, and 21 respectively. The Prajapati are, like the Sephiroth, only seven, including the synthetic Sephira of the triad from which they spring. Thus from Hiranyagarbha or Prajapati, the _triune_ (primeval Vedic Trimurti, Agni, Vayu, and Surya), emanate the other seven, or again ten, if we separate the first three which exist in one, and one in three, all, moreover, being comprehended within that one "supreme" Parama, called Guhya or "secret," and Sarvatma, the "Super-Soul." "The seven Lords of Being lie concealed in Sarvatma like thoughts in one brain." So are the Sephiroth. It is either seven when counting from the upper Triad headed by Kether, or ten - exoterically. In the Mahabharata the Prajapati are 21 in number, or ten, six, and five (1065), thrice seven. - (In the Kabala the same numbers are a value of Jehovah, viz., 1065, since the numerical values of the three letters which compose his name - Jod, Vau and twice He - are respectively 10, 6 and 5; or again thrice seven, 21. "Ten is the Mother of the Soul, for Life and Light are therein united," says Hermes. "For number one is born of the Spirit and the number ten from matter (chaos, feminine); the unity has made the ten, the ten the unity" _(Book of the Keys_). "By the means of the Temura, the anagrammatical method of the Kabala, and the knowledge of 1065 (21), a universal science may be obtained regarding Kosmos and its mysteries" (Rabbi Yogel). The Rabbis regard the numbers 10, 6, and 5 as the most sacred of all.} (b) "The Three, the One, the Four, the One, the Five" (in their totality - twice seven) represent 31415 - the numerical hierarchy of the Dhyan-Chohans of various orders, and of the inner or circumscribed world. - {The reader may be told that an American Kabalist has now discovered the same number for the Elohim. It came to the Jews from Chaldaea. See "Hebrew Metrology" in the Masonic Review, July, 1885, McMillan Lodge, No. 141.} - When placed on the boundary of the great circle of "Pass not" (see Stanza V.), called also the Dhyanipasa, the "rope of the Angels," the "rope" that hedges off the phenomenal from the noumenal Kosmos, (not falling within the range of our present objective consciousness); this number, when not enlarged by permutation and expansion, is ever 31415 anagrammatically and Kabalistically, being both the number of the circle and the mystic Svastica, the twice seven once more; for whatever way the two sets of figures are counted, when added separately, one figure after another, whether crossways, from right or from left, they will always yield fourteen. Mathematically they represent the well-known calculation, namely, that the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of a circle is as 1 to 3.1415, or the value of the _pi_, as this ratio is called - the symbol being always used in mathematical formulae to express it. This set of figures must have the same meaning, since the 1 : 314,159, and then again 1 : 3 : 1,415,927 are worked out in the secret calculations to express the various cycles and ages of the "first born," or 311,040,000,000,000 with fractions, and yield the same 13,415 by a process we are not concerned with at present. And it may be shown that Mr. Ralston Skinner, author of _The Source of Measures_, reads the Hebrew word Alhim in the same number values, by omitting, as said, the ciphers and by permutation - 13,514: since Aleph (a) is 1: Lamed (l) is 3 (or 30); Heh (h) is 5; Yod (i) 1 for 10; and Mem (m) is 4 (40), and anagrammatically - 31,415 as explained by him. Thus, while in the metaphysical world, the circle with the one central Point in it has no number, and is called Anupadaka (parentless and numberless) - viz., it can fall under no calculation, - in the manifested world the mundane Egg or Circle is circumscribed within the groups called the Line, the Triangle, the Pentacle, the second Line and the Cube (or 13514); and when the Point having generated a Line, thus becomes a diameter which stands for the androgynous Logos, then the figures become 31415, or a triangle, a line, a cube, the second line, and a pentacle. "When the Son separates from the Mother he becomes the Father," the diameter standing for Nature, or the feminine principle. Therefore it is said: "In the world of being, the one Point fructifies the Line - the Virgin Matrix of Kosmos (the egg-shaped zero) - and the immaculate Mother gives birth to the form that combines all forms." Prajapati is called the first procreating male, and "his Mother's husband." - {We find the same expression in Egypt. Mout signifies, for one thing, "Mother," and shows the character assigned to her in the triad of that country. She was no less the mother than the wife of Ammon, one of the principle titles of the god being "the husband of his mother." The goddess Mout, or Mut, is addressed as "our lady," the "queen of Heaven" and of "the Earth," thus "sharing these titles with the other mother goddesses, Isis, Hathor, etc." (Maspero).} - This gives the key-note to all the later divine sons from immaculate mothers. It is greatly corroborated by the significant fact that Anna (the name of the Mother of the Virgin Mary) now represented by the Roman Catholic church as having given birth to her daughter in an immaculate way ("Mary conceived without sin"), is derived from the Chaldean Ana, heaven, or Astral Light, Anima Mundi; whence Anaitia, Devi-durga, the wife of Siva, is also called Annapurna, and Kanya, the Virgin; "Uma-Kanya" being her esoteric name, and meaning the "Virgin of light," Astral Light in one of its multitudinous aspects. (c) The Devas, Pitris, Rishis; the Suras and the Asuras; the Daityas and Adityas; the Danavas ana Gandharvas, etc., etc., have all their synonyms in our Secret Doctrine, as well as in the Kabala and the Hebrew Angelology; but it is useless to give their ancient names, as it would only create confusion. Many of these may be also found now, even in the Christian hierarchy of divine and celestial powers. All those Thrones and Dominions, Virtues and Principalities, Cherubs, Seraphs and demons, the various denizens of the Sidereal World, are the modern copies of archaic prototypes. The very symbolism in their names, when transliterat- ed and arranged in Greek and Latin, are sufficient to show it, as will be proved in several cases further on. The "Sacred Animals" are found in the Bible as well as in the Kabala, and they have their meaning (a very profound one, too) on the page of the origins of Life. In the Sepher Jezirah it is stated that "God engraved in the Holy Four the throne of his glory, the Ophanim (Wheels or the World-Spheres), the Seraphim, - (This is the literal translation from the IXth and Xth Sections: "Ten numbers without what? One: the spirit of the living God - who liveth in eternities! Voice and Spirit and Word, and this is the Holy Spirit. Two: Spirit out of Spirit. He designed and hewed therewith twenty-two letters of foundation, three Mothers and seven double and Twelve single, and one spirit out of them. Three: Water out of spirit; he designed and hewed with them the barren and the void, mud and earth. He designed them as a flowerbed, hewed them as a wall, covered them as a paving. Four: Fire out of water. He designed and hewed therewith the throne of glory and the wheels, and the seraphim and the holy animals and the ministering angels, and of the three He founded his dwelling, as it is said, He makes his angels spirits and his servants fiery flames!" Which words "founded his dwelling" show clearly that in the Kabala, as in India, the Deity was considered as the Universe, and was not, in his origin, the extra-cosmic God he is now.} - the Sacred Animals, and the ministering angels, and from these three (the Air, Water, and Fire or Ether) he formed his habitation." Thus was the world made "through three Seraphim - Sepher, Saphar, and Sipur," or "through Number, Numbers, and Numbered." With the astronomical key these "Sacred Animals" become the signs of the Zodiac. STANZA IV. - Continued. 4. THIS WAS THE ARMY OF THE VOICE - THE DIVINE SEPTENARY. THE SPARKS OF THE SEVEN ARE SUBJECT TO, AND THE SERVANTS OF, THE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, SIXTH, AND THE SEVENTH OF THE SEVEN (a). THESE _("sparks")_ ARE CALLED SPHERES, TRIANGLES, CUBES, LINES, AND MODELLERS; FOR THUS STANDS THE ETERNAL NIDANA - THE OI-HA-HOU _(the permutation of Oeaohoo)_ (b). - {The literal signification of the word is, among the Eastern Occultists of the North, a circular wind, whirlwind; but in this instance, it is a term to denote the ceaseless and eternal Cosmic Motion; or rather the Force that moves it, which Force is tacitly accepted as the Deity but never named. It is the eternal _Karana_, the ever-acting Cause.} - (a) This Sloka gives again a brief analysis of the Hierar- chies of the Dhyan Chohans, called Devas (gods) in India, or the conscious intelligent powers in Nature. To this Hierarchy correspond the actual types into which humanity may be divided; for humanity, as a whole, is in reality a materialized though as yet imperfect expression thereof. The "army of the Voice" is a term closely connected with the mystery of Sound and Speech, as an effect and corollary of the cause - Divine Thought. As beautifully expressed by P. Christian, the learned author of "The History of Magic" and of "L'Homme Rouge des Tuileries," the word spoken by, as well as the name of, every individual largely determine his future fate. Why? Because - - "When our Soul (mind) creates or evokes a thought, the representative sign of that thought is self-engraved upon the astral fluid, which is the receptacle and, so to say, the mirror of all the manifestations of being. "The sign expresses the thing: the thing is the (hidden or occult) virtue of the sign. "To pronounce a word is to evoke a thought, and make it present: the magnetic potency of the human speech is the commencement of every manifestation in the Occult World. To utter a Name is not only to define a Being (an Entity), but to place it under and condemn it through the emission of the Word (Verbum), to the influence of one or more Occult potencies. Things are, for every one of us, that which it (the Word) makes them while naming them. The Word (Verbum) or the speech of every man is, quite unconsciously to himself, a BLESSING or a CURSE; this is why our present ignorance about the properties or attributes of the IDEA as well as about the attributes and properties of MATTER, is often fatal to us. "Yes, names (and words) are either BENEFICENT or MALEFICENT; they are, in a certain sense, either venomous or health-giving, according to the hidden influences attached by Supreme Wisdom to their elements, that is to say, to the LETTERS which compose them, and the NUMBERS correlative to these letters." This is strictly true as an esoteric teaching accepted by all the Eastern Schools of Occultism. In the Sanskrit, as also in the Hebrew and all other alphabets, every letter has its occult meaning and its rationale; it is a cause and an effect of a preceding cause and a combination of these very often produces the most magical effect. The vowels, especially, contain the most occult and formidable potencies. The Mantras (esoterically, magical rather than religious) are chanted by the Brahmins and so are the Vedas and other Scriptures. The "Army of the Voice," is the prototype of the "Host of the Logos," or the "WORD" of the Sepher Jezirah, called in the Secret Doctrine "the One Number issued from No-Number" - the One Eternal Principle. The esoteric theogony begins with the One, manifested, therefore not eternal in its presence and being, if eternal in its essence; the number of the numbers and numbered - the latter proceeding from the Voice, the feminine Vach, Satarupa "of the hundred forms," or Nature. It is from this number 10, or creative nature, the Mother (the occult cypher, or "nought," ever procreating and multiplying in union with the Unit "1," one, or the Spirit of Life), that the whole Universe proceeded. In the _Anugita_ a conversation is given (ch. vi., 15) between a Brahmana and his wife, on the origin of Speech and its occult properties. - {_Anugita_ forms part of the Asvamedha Parvan of the "Mahabharata." The translator of the Bhagavatgita, edited by Max Muller, regards it as a continuation of the Bhagavatgita. Its original is one of the oldest Upanishads.} The wife asks how Speech came into existence, and which was prior to the other, Speech or Mind. The Brahmana tells her that the Apana _(inspirational breath)_ becoming lord, changes that intelligence, which does not understand Speech or Words, into the state of Apana, and thus opens the mind. Thereupon he tells her a story, a dialogue between Speech and Mind. "Both went to the Self of Being (i.e., to the individual Higher Self, as Nilakantha thinks, to Prajapati, according to the commentator Arjuna Misra), and asked him to destroy their doubts and decide which of them preceded and was superior to the other. To this the lord said: `Mind is superior.' But Speech answered the Self of Being, by saying: `I verily yield (you) your desires,' meaning that by speech he acquired what he desired. Thereupon again, the Self told her that there are two minds, the `movable' and the `immovable.' `The immovable is with me,' he said, `the movable is in your dominion' (i.e. of Speech) on the plane of matter. To that you are superior. But inasmuch, O beautiful one, as you came personally to speak to me (in the way you did, i.e. proudly), therefore, O, Sarasvati! you shall never speak after (hard) exhalation." "The goddess Speech" (Sarasvati, a later form or aspect of Vach, the goddess also of secret learning or Esoteric Wisdom), "verily, dwelt always between the Prana and the Apana. But O noble one! going with the Apana wind (vital air), though impelled, without the Prana (expirational breath), she ran up to Prajapati (Brahma), saying, `Be pleased, O venerable sir!' Then the Prana appeared again, nourishing Speech. And, therefore, Speech never speaks after (hard or inspirational) exhalation. It is always noisy or noiseless. Of these two, the noiseless is the superior to the noisy (Speech). - The (speech) which is produced in the body by means of the Prana, and which then goes (is trans- formed) into Apana, and then becoming assimilated with the Udana (physical organs of Speech) - then finally dwells in the Samana (`at the navel in the form of sound, as the material cause of all words,' says Arjuna Misra). So Speech formerly spoke. Hence the mind is distinguished by reason of its being immovable, and the Goddess (Speech) by reason of her being movable." This allegory is at the root of the Occult law, which prescribes silence upon the knowledge of certain secret and invisible things perceptible only to the spiritual mind (the 6th sense), and which cannot be expressed by "noisy" or uttered speech. This chapter of _Anugita_ explains, says Arjuna Misra, Pranayama, or regulation of the breath in Yoga practices. This mode, however, without the previous acquisition of, or at least full understanding of the two higher senses, of which there are seven, as will be shown, pertains rather to the lower Yoga. The _Hatha_ so called was and still is discountenanced by the Arhats. It is injurious to the health and alone can never develop into Raj Yoga. This story is quoted to show how inseparably connected are, in the metaphysics of old, intelligent beings, or rather "Intelligences," with every sense or function whether physical or mental. The Occult claim that there are seven senses in man, as in nature, as there are seven states of consciousness, is corroborated in the same work, chapter vii., on Pratyahara (the restraint and regulation of the senses, Pranayama being that of the "vital winds" or breath). The Brahmana speaks in it "of the institution of the seven sacrificial Priests (Hotris)." He says: "The nose and the eyes, and the tongue, and the skin and the ear as the fifth (or smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing), mind and understanding are the seven sacrificial priests separately stationed"; and which "dwelling in a minute space (still) do not perceive each other" on this sensuous plane, none of them except mind. For mind says: "The nose smells not without me, the eye does not take in colour, etc., etc. I am the eternal chief among all elements (i.e., senses). Without me, the senses never shine, like an empty dwelling, or like fires the flames of which are extinct. Without me, all beings, like fuel half dried and half moist, fail to apprehend qualities or objects even with the senses exerting themselves." - {This shows the modern metaphysicians, added to all past and present Hegels, Berkeleys, Schopenhauers, Hartmanns, Herbert Spencers, and even the modern Hylo-Idealists to boot, no better than the pale copyists of hoary antiquity.} This, of course, with regard only to _mind on the sensuous plane._ Spiritual mind (the upper portion or aspect of the _impersonal_ MANAS) takes no cognisance of the senses in physical man. How well the ancients were acquainted with the correlation of forces and all the recently discovered phenomena of mental and physical faculties and functions, with many more mysteries also - may be found in reading chapters vii. and viii. of this (in philosophy and mystic learning) priceless work. See the quarrel of the senses about their respective superiority and their taking the Brahman, the lord of all creatures, for their arbiter. "You are all greatest and not greatest," or superior to objects, as A. Misra says, none being independent of the other. "You are all possessed of one another's qualities. All are greatest in their own spheres and all support one another. There is one unmoving (life-wind or breath, the `_Yoga inhalation_,' so called, which is the breath of the _One_ or Higher SELF). That is the (or my) own Self, accumulated in numerous (forms)." This Breath, Voice, Self or "Wind" _(pneuma?)_ is the Synthesis of the Seven Senses, _noumenally_ all minor deities and esoterically - the _septenary_ and the "Army of the VOICE." (b) Next we see Cosmic matter scattering and forming itself into elements; grouped into the mystic four within the fifth element - Ether, the lining of Akasa, the Anima Mundi or Mother of Kosmos. "Dots, Lines, Triangles, Cubes, Circles" and finally "Spheres" - why or how? Because, says the Commentary, such is the first law of Nature, and because Nature geometrizes universally in all her manifestations. There is an inherent law - not only in the primordial, but also in the manifested matter of our phenomenal plane - by which Nature correlates her geometrical forms, and later, also, her compound elements; and in which there is no place for accident or chance. It is a fundamental law in Occultism, that there is no rest or cessation of motion in Nature. - {It is the knowledge of this law that permits and helps the Arhat to perform his _Siddhis_, or various phenomena, such as disintegration of matter, the transport of objects from one place to another.} - That which seems rest is only the change of one form into another; the change of substance going hand in hand with that of form - as we are taught in Occult physics, which thus seem to have anticipated the discovery of the "Conservation of matter" by a considerable time. Says the ancient Commentary - {These are ancient Commentaries attached with modern Glossaries to the Stanzas, as the Commentaries in their symbolical language are usually as difficult to understand as the Stanzas them- selves.} - to Stanza IV.: - _"The Mother is the fiery Fish of Life. She scatters her spawn and the Breath (Motion) heats and quickens it. The grains (of spawn) are soon attracted to each other and form the curds in the Ocean (of Space). The larger lumps coalesce and receive new spawn - in fiery dots, triangles and cubes, which ripen, and at the appointed time some of the lumps detach themselves and assume spheroidal form, a process which they effect only when not interfered with by the others. After which, law No. * * * comes into operation. Motion (the Breath) becomes the whirlwind and sets them into rotation." - {In a polemical scientific work, "The Modern Genesis," the author, the Rev. W. B. Slaughter, criticising the position assumed by the astronomers, asks: "It is to be regretted that the advocates of this (nebular) theory have not entered more largely into the discussion of it (the beginning of rotation). No one condescends to give us the rationale of it. How does the process of cooling and contracting the mass impart to it a rotatory motion?" The question is amply treated in the Addendum. It is not materialistic science that can ever solve it. "Motion is eternal in the unmanifested, and periodical in the manifest," says an Occult teaching. It is "when heat caused by the descent of FLAME into primordial matter causes its particles to move, which motion becomes Whirlwind." A drop of liquid assumes a spheroidal form owing to its atoms moving around themselves in their ultimate, unresolvable, and noumenal essence; unresolvable for physical science, at any rate.}_ STANZA IV. - Continued. 5. - WHICH IS: - "DARKNESS," THE BOUNDLESS OR THE NO-NUMBER, ADI-NIDANA SVABHAVAT: THE [diag: circle] _(for x, unknown quantity)_: I.THE ADI-SANAT, THE NUMBER, FOR HE IS ONE (a). II.THE VOICE OF THE WORD, SVABHAVAT, THE NUMBERS, FOR HE IS ONE AND NINE. - {Which makes ten, or the perfect number applied to the "Creator," the name given to the totality of the Creators blended by the Monotheists into One, as the "Elohim," Adam Kadmon or Sephira - the Crown- are the androgyne synthesis of the 10 Sephiroth, who stand for the symbol of the manifested Universe in the popularised Kabala. The esoteric Kabalists, however, following the Eastern Occultists, divide the upper Sephirothal triangle from the rest (or Sephira, Chochmah and Binah), which leaves seven Sephiroth. As for Svabhavat, the Orientalists explain the term as meaning the Universal plastic matter diffused through Space, with, perhaps, half an eye to the Ether of Science. But the Occultists identify it with "FATHER-MOTHER" on the mystic plane. (Vide supra.)} III.THE "FORMLESS SQUARE." _(Arupa.)_ (b). AND THESE THREE ENCLOSED WITHIN THE [diag: circle] _(bound- less circle)_, ARE THE SACRED FOUR, AND THE TEN ARE THE ARUPA _(subjective, formless)_ UNIVERSE (c); THEN COME THE "SONS," THE SEVEN FIGHTERS, THE ONE, THE EIGHT LEFT OUT, AND HIS BREATH WHICH IS THE LIGHT-MAKER _(Bhaskara)_ (d). (a) "Adi-Sanat," translated literally is the First or "primeval" ancient, which name identifies the Kabalistic "Ancient of Days" and the "Holy Aged" (Sephira and Adam Kadmon) with Brahma the Creator, called also _Sanat_ among his other names and titles. Svabhavat is the mystic Essence, the plastic root of physical Nature - "Numbers" when manifested; the Number, in its Unity of Substance, on the highest plane. The name is of Buddhist use and a synonym for the four-fold Anima Mundi, the Kabalistic "Archetypal World," from whence proceed the "Creative, Formative, and the Material Worlds"; the Scintillae or Sparks, - the various other worlds contained in the last three. The Worlds are all subject to Rulers or Regents - Rishis and Pitris with the Hindus, Angels with the Jews and Christians, Gods, with the Ancients in general. (b) [diag: circle]: This means that the "Boundless Circle" (Zero) becomes a figure or number, only when one of the nine figures precedes it, and thus manifests its value and potency, the Word or Logos in union with VOICE and Spirit - {"In union with the Spirit and the Voice," referring to the Abstract Thought and concrete Voice, or the manifestation thereof, the effect of the Cause. Adam Kadmon or Tetragrammaton is the Logos in the Kabala; therefore this triad answers in the latter to the highest triangle of Kether, Chochmah and Binah, the last a female potency and at the same time the male Jehovah, as partaking of the nature of Chochmah, or the male Wisdom.} - (the expression and source of Consciousness) standing for the nine figures and thus forming, with the Cypher, the Decade which contains in itself all the Universe. The triad forms within the circle the Tetraktis or Sacred Four, the Square within the Circle being the most potent of all the magical figures. (c) The "One Rejected" is the Sun of our system. The exoteric version may be found in the oldest Sanskrit Scriptures. In the Rig Veda, Aditi, "The Boundless" or infinite Space, translated by Mr. Max Muller, "the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye (!!); the endless expanse beyond the Earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky," is the equivalent of "Mother-Space" coeval with "Darkness." She is very properly called "The Mother of the Gods," DEVA-MATRI, as it is from her Cosmic matrix that all the heavenly bodies of our system were born - Sun and Planets. Thus she is described, allegorically, in this wise: "Eight Sons were born from the body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven, but cast away the eighth, Marttanda," our sun. The seven sons called the Aditya are, cosmically or astronomical- ly, the seven planets; and the Sun being excluded from their number shows plainly that the Hindus may have known, and in fact knew of a seventh planet, without calling it Uranus. - {The Secret Doctrine teaches that the Sun is a central Star and not a planet. Yet the Ancients knew of and worshipped seven great gods, excluding the Sun and Earth. Which was that "Mystery God" they set apart? Of course not Uranus, discovered only by Herschel in 1781. But could it not be known by another name? Says the author of "Maconnerie Occulte": "Occult Sciences having discovered through astronomical calculations that the number of the planets must be seven, the ancients were led to introduce the Sun into the scale of the celestial harmonies, and make him occupy the vacant place. Thus, every time they perceived an influence that pertained to none of the six planets known, they attributed it to the Sun. The error only seems important, but was not so in practical results, if the ancient astrologers replaced Uranus by the Sun, which is a central Star relatively motionless, turning only on its axis and regulating time and measure; and which cannot be turned aside from its true functions. - The nomenclature of the days of the week is thus faulty. "The Sun-Day ought to be Uranus-day (Urani dies, Urandi)," adds the learned writer, Ragon.} - But esoteri- cally and theologically, so to say, the Adityas are, in their primitive most ancient meanings, the eight, and the twelve great gods of the Hindu Pantheon. "The Seven allow the mortals to see their dwellings, but show themselves only to the Arhats," says an old proverb, "their dwellings" standing here for planets. The ancient Commentary gives an allegory and explains it: - _"Eight houses were built by Mother. Eight houses for her Eight Divine sons; four large and four small ones. Eight brilliant suns, according to their age and merits. Bal-ilu (Marrtanda) was not satisfied, though his house was the largest. He began (to work) as the huge elephants do. He breathed (drew in) into his stomach the vital airs of his brothers. He sought to devour them. The larger four were far away; far, on the margin of their kingdom. - {Planetary System.} - They were not robbed (affected), and laughed. Do your worst, Sir, you cannot reach us, they said. But the smaller wept. They complained to the Mother. She exiled Bal-i-lu to the centre of her Kingdom, from whence he could not move. (Since then) he (only) watches and threatens. He pursues them, turning slowly around himself, they turning swiftly from him, and he following from afar the direction in which his brothers move on the path that encircles their houses. - {"The Sun rotates on his axis always in the same direction in which the planets revolve in their respective orbits," astronomy teaches us.} - From that day he feeds on the sweat of the Mother's body. He fills himself with her breath and refuse. Therefore, she rejected him."_ Thus the "rejected Son" being our Sun, evidently, as shown above, the "Sun-Sons" refer not only to our planets but to the heavenly bodies in general. Himself only a reflection of the Central Spiritual Sun, _Surya_ is the prototype of all those bodies that evolved after him. In the Vedas he is called _Loka- Chakshuh_, "the Eye of the World" (our planetary world), and he is one of the three chief deities. He is called indifferently the Son of _Dyaus_ and of _Aditi_, because no distinction is made with reference to, or scope allowed for, the esoteric meaning. Thus he is depicted as drawn by seven horses, and by one horse with seven heads; the former referring to his seven planets, the latter to their one common origin from the One Cosmic Element. This "One Element" is called figuratively "FIRE." The Vedas (Aitareya-Brahmana of Haug also; p. i.) teach "that the fire verily is all the deities." (Narada in Anugita). The meaning of the allegory is plain, for we have both the Dzyan Commentary and modern science to explain it, though the two differ in more than one particular. The Occult Doctrine rejects the hypothesis born out of the Nebular Theory, that the (seven) great planets have evolved from the Sun's central mass, not of this our visible Sun, at any rate. The first condensation of Cosmic matter of course took place about a central nucleus, its parent Sun; but our sun, it is taught, merely detached itself earlier than all the others, as the rotating mass contracted, and is their elder, bigger brother therefore, not their father. The eight Adityas, "the gods," are all formed from the eternal substance (Cometary matter - {This Essence of Cometary matter, Occult Science teaches, is totally different from any of the chemical or physical characteristics with which modern science is acquainted. It is homogeneous in its primitive form beyond the Solar Systems, and differentiates entirely once it crosses the boundaries of our Earth's region, vitiated by the atmospheres of the planets and the already compound matter of the interplanetary stuff, heterogeneous only in our manifested world.} - the Mother) or the "World-Stuff" which is both the fifth and the sixth COSMIC Principle, the Upadhi or basis of the Universal Soul, just as in man, the Microcosm, Manas - {Manas - the Mind-Principle, or the human Soul.} - is the Upadhi of Buddhi.- {Buddhi - the divine Soul.} (d) There is a whole poem on the pregenetic battles fought by the growing planets before the final formation of Kosmos, thus accounting for the seemingly disturbed position of the systems of several planets, the plane of the satellites of some (of Neptune and Uranus, for instance, of which the ancients knew nothing, it is said) being tilted over, thus giving them an appearance of retrograde motion. These planets are called the warriors, the Architects, and are accepted by the Roman Church as the leaders of the heavenly Hosts, thus showing the same traditions. Having evolved from Cosmic Space, and before the final formation of the primaries and the annulation of the planetary nebula, the Sun, we are taught, drew into the depths of its mass all the Cosmic vitality he could, threatening to engulf his weaker "brothers" before the law of attraction and repulsion was finally adjusted; after which he began feeding on "The Mother's refuse and sweat"; in other words, on those portions of Ether (the "breath of the Universal Soul") of the existence and constitution of which science is as yet absolutely ignorant. A theory of this kind having been propounded by Sir William Grove (see "_Correlation of the Physical Forces_", 1843, p. 81; and "_Address to the British Association_, 1866"), who theorized that the systems "are gradually changing by atmospheric additions or subtractions, or by accretions and diminutions arising from nebular substances" - and again that "the Sun may condense gaseous matter as it travels in Space and so heat may be produced" - the archaic teaching seems scientific enough, even in this age. - {Very similar ideas in Mr. W. Mattieu Williams' "The Fuel of the Sun;" in Dr. C. William Siemens' "On the Conservation of Solar Energy" (Nature, XXV., p. 440-444, March 9, 1882); and also in Dr. P. Martin Duncan's "Address of the President of the Geological Society," London, May, 1877.} - Mr. W. Mattieu Williams suggested that the diffused matter or Ether which is the recipient of the heat radiations of the Universe is thereby drawn into the depths of the solar mass. Expelling thence the previously condensed and thermally exhausted Ether, it becomes compressed and gives up its heat, to be in turn itself driven out in a rarified and cooled state, to absorb a fresh supply of heat, which he supposes to be in this way taken up by the Ether, and again concentrated and redistributed by the Suns of the Universe. - {See "Comparative Geology," by Alexander Winchell, LL.D., p. 56.} This is about as close an approximation to the Occult teachings as Science ever imagined; for Occultism explains it by "the dead breath" given back by Marttanda and his feeding on the "sweat and refuse" of "Mother Space." What could affect Neptune, - {When we speak of Neptune it is not as an Occultist but as a European. The true Eastern Occultist will maintain that, whereas there are many yet undiscovered planets in our system, Neptune does not belong to it, his apparent connection with our sun and the influence of the latter upon Neptune notwithstanding. This connection is _mayavic_, imaginary, they say.} - Saturn and Jupiter, but little, would have killed such comparatively small "Houses" as Mercury, Venus and Mars. As Uranus was not known before the end of the eighteenth century, the name of the fourth planet mentioned in the allegory must remain to us, so far, a mystery. The "Breath" of all the "seven" is said to be Bhaskara (light-making), because they (the planets) were all comets and suns in their origin. They evolve into Manvantaric life from primaeval Chaos (now the noumenon of irresolvable nebulae) by aggregation and accumulation of the primary differentiations of the eternal matter, according to the beautiful expression in the Commentary, "Thus the Sons of Light clothed themselves in the fabric of Darkness." They are called allegorically "the Heavenly Snails," on account of their (to us) formless INTELLIGENCES inhabiting unseen their starry and planetary homes, and, so to speak, carrying them as the snails do along with themselves in their revolution. The doctrine of a common origin for all the heavenly bodies and planets, was, as we see, inculcated by the Archaic astronomers, before Kepler, Newton, Leibnitz, Kant, Herschel and Laplace. Heat (the Breath), attraction and repulsion - the three great factors of Motion - are the conditions under which all the members of all this primitive family are born, developed, and die, to be reborn after a "Night of Brahma," during which eternal matter relapses periodically into its primary undifferentiated state. The most attenuated gases can give no idea of its nature to the modern physicist. Centres of Forces at first, the invisible sparks of primordial atoms differentiate into molecules, and become Suns - passing gradually into objectivity - gaseous, radiant, cosmic, the one "Whirlwind" (or motion) finally giving the impulse to the form, and the initial motion, regulated and sustained by the never-resting Breaths - the Dhyan Chohans. STANZA IV. - Continued. 6. - THEN THE SECOND SEVEN, WHO ARE THE LIPIKA, PRODUCED BY THE THREE (_Word, Voice, and Spirit_). THE REJECTED SON IS ONE, THE "SON-SONS" ARE COUNTLESS. The _Lipi-ka_, from the word _lipi_, "writing," means literally the "Scribes." - {These are the four "Immortals" which are mentioned in _Atharva Veda_ as the "Watchers" or Guardians of the four quarters of the sky (see ch. lxxvi., 1-4, et seq.).} - Mystically, these Divine Beings are connected with Karma, the Law of Retribution, for they are the Recorders or Annalists who impress on the (to us) invisible tablets of the Astral Light, "the great picture-gallery of eternity" - a faithful record of every act, and even thought, of man, of all that was, is, or ever will be, in the phenomenal Universe. As said in "_Isis_", this divine and unseen canvas is the BOOK OF LIFE. As it is the Lipika who project into objectivity from the passive Universal Mind the ideal plan of the universe, upon which the "Builders" reconstruct the Kosmos after every Pralaya, it is they who stand parallel to the Seven Angels of the Presence, whom the Christians recognise in the Seven "Planetary Spirits" or the "Spirits of the Stars;" for thus it is they who are the direct amanuenses of the Eternal Ideation - or, as called by Plato, the "Divine Thought." The Eternal Record is no fantastic dream, for we meet with the same records in the world of gross matter. "A shadow never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace which might be made visible by resorting to proper processes," says Dr. Draper. " - The portraits of our friends or landscapeviews may be hidden on the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is concealed on a silver or a glassy surface, until, by our necromancy, we make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out, and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done." - {"Conflict between Religion and Science." - Draper, pp. 132 and 133.} - Drs. Jevons and Babbage believe that every thought, displacing the particles of the brain and setting them in motion, scatters them throughout the Universe, and they think that "each particle of existing matter must be a register of all that has happened." (Principles of Science, Vol. II. p. 455.) Thus the ancient doctrine has begun to acquire rights of citizenship in the speculations of the scientific world. The forty "Assessors" who stand in the region of _Amenti_ as the accusers of the Soul before _Osiris_, belong to the same class of deities as the Lipika, and might stand paralleled, were not the Egyptian gods so little understood in their esoteric meaning. The Hindu _Chitra-Gupta_ who reads out the account of every Soul's life from his register, called Agra-Sandhani; the "Assessors" who read theirs from the heart of the defunct, which becomes an open book before (whether) Yama, Minos, Osiris, or Karma - are all so many copies of, and variants from the Lipika, and their Astral Records. Nevertheless, the Lipi-ka are not deities connected with Death, but with Life Eternal. Connected as the Lipika are with the destiny of every man and the birth of every child, whose life is already traced in the Astral Light - not fatalistically, but only because the future, like the PAST, is ever alive in the PRESENT - they may also be said to exercise an influence on the Science of Horoscopy. We must admit the truth of the latter whether we will or not. For, as observed by one of the modern adepts of Astrology, "Now that photography has revealed to us the chemical influence of the Sidereal system, by fixing on the sensitized plate of the apparatus milliards of stars and planets that had hitherto baffled the efforts of the most powerful telescopes to discover them, it becomes easier to understand how our solar system can, at the birth of a child, influence his brain - virgin of any impression - in a definite manner and according to the presence on the zenith of such or another zodiacal constellation." - {Les Mysteres de l'Horoscope, p. XI.} --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From liesel@dreamscape.com Mon Feb 5 00:18:12 1996 Date: Sun, 04 Feb 1996 19:18:12 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: How Should We Treat Others? Message-Id: <199602050018.TAA18085@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thank you, Nicholas, for that very detailed explanation. Is the whole thing a quote from Judge, or only a part of it? I couldn't quite make that out. In any case, I think it's very much to the point. Liesel Member TI, Member, HR, 5thRR > HOW SHOULD WE TREAT OTHERS? > > The subject relates to our conduct toward and treatment of > our fellows, including in that term all people with whom we have > any dealings. No particular mode of treatment is given by > Theosophy. It simply lays down the law that governs us in all our > acts, and declares the consequences of those acts. It is for us > to follow the line of action which shall result first in harmony > now and forever, and second, in the reduction of the general sum > of hate and opposition in thought or act which now darkens the > world. > > The great law which Theosophy first speaks of is the law of > karma, and this is the one which must be held in view in > considering the question. Karma is called by some the "law of > ethical causation," but it is also the law of action and > reaction; and in all departments of nature the reaction is equal > to the action, and sometimes the reaction from the unseen but > permanent world seems to be much greater than the physical act or > word would appear to warrant on the physical plane. This is > because the hidden force on the unseen plane was just as strong > and powerful as the reaction is seen by us to be. The ordinary > view takes in but half of the facts in any such case and judges > wholly by superficial observation. > > If we look at the subject only from the point of view of the > person who knows not of Theosophy and of the nature of man, nor > of the forces Theosophy knows to be operating all the time, then > the reply to the question will be just the same as the everyday > man makes. That is, that he has certain rights he must and will > and ought to protect; that he has property he will and may keep > and use any way he pleases; and if a man injure him he ought to > and will resent it; that if he is insulted by word or deed he > will at once fly not only to administer punishment on the > offender, but also try to reform, to admonish, and very often to > give that offender up to the arm of the law; that if he knows of > a criminal he will denounce him to the police and see that he has > meted out to him the punishment provided by the law of man. Thus > in everything he will proceed as is the custom and as is thought > to be the right way by those who live under the Mosaic > retaliatory law. > > But if we are to inquire into the subject as Theosophists, > and as Theosophists who know certain laws and who insist on the > absolute sway of karma, and as people who know what the real > constitution of man is, then the whole matter takes on, or ought > to take on, a wholly different aspect. > > The untheosophical view is based on separation, the > Theosophical upon unity absolute and actual. Of course if > Theosophists talk of unity but as a dream or a mere metaphysical > thing, then they will cease to be Theosophists, and be mere > professors, as the Christian world is today, of a code not > followed. If we are separate one from the other the world is > right and resistance is a duty, and the failure to condemn those > who offend is a distinct breach of propriety, of law, and of duty. > But if we are all united as a physical and psychical fact, then > the act of condemning, the fact of resistance, the insistance > upon rights on all occasions -- all of which means the entire > lack of charity and mercy -- will bring consequences as certain > as the rising of the sun tomorrow. > > What are those consequences, and why are they? > > They are simply this, that the real man, the entity, the > thinker, will react back on you just exactly in proportion to the > way you act to him, and this reaction will be in another life, if > not now, and even if now felt will still return in the next life. > > The fact that the person whom you condemn, or oppose, or > judge seems now in this life to deserve it for his acts in this > life, does not alter the other fact that his nature will react > against you when the time comes. The reaction is a law not > subject to nor altered by any sentiment on your part. He may have, > truly, offended you and even hurt you, and done that which in the > eye of man is blameworthy, but all this does not have anything to > do with the dynamic fact that if you arouse his enmity by your > condemnation or judgment there will be a reaction on you, and > consequently on the whole of society in any century when the > reaction takes place. This is the law and the fact as given by > the Adepts, as told by all sages, as re-ported by those who have > seen the inner side of nature, as taught by our philosophy and > easily provable by anyone who will take the trouble to examine > carefully. Logic and small facts of one day or one life, or > arguments on lines laid down by men of the world who do not know > the real power and place of thought nor the real nature of man > cannot sweep this away. After all argument and all logic it will > remain. The logic used against it is always lacking in certain > premises based on facts, and while seeming to be good logic, > because the missing facts are unknown to the logician, it is > false logic. Hence an appeal to logic that ignores facts which we > know are certain is of no use in this inquiry. And the ordinary > argument always uses a number of assumptions which are destroyed > by the actual inner facts about thought, about karma, about the > reaction by the inner man. > > The Master "K.H.," once writing to Mr. Sinnett in the Occult > World, and speaking for his whole order and not for himself only, > distinctly wrote that the man who goes to denounce a criminal or > an offender works not with nature and harmony but against both, > and that such act tends to destruction instead of construction. > Whether the act be large or small, whether it be the denunciation > of a criminal, or only your own insistence on rules or laws or > rights, does not alter the matter or take it out of the rule laid > down by that Adept. For the only difference between the acts > mentioned is a difference of degree alone; the act is the same in > kind as the violent denunciation of a criminal. Either this Adept > was right or wrong. If wrong, why do we follow the philosophy > laid down by him and his messenger, and concurred in by all the > sages and teachers of the past? If right, why this swimming in an > adverse current, as he said himself, why this attempt to show > that we can set aside karma and act as we please without > consequences following us to the end of time? I know not. I > prefer to follow the Adept, and especially so when I see that > what he says is in line with facts in nature and is a certain > conclusion from the system of philosophy I have found in > Theosophy. > > I have never found an insistence on my so-called rights at > all necessary. They preserve themselves, and it must be true if > the law of karma is the truth that no man offends against me > unless I in the past have offended against him. > > In respect to man, karma has no existence without two or > more persons being considered. You act, another person is > affected, karma follows. It follows on the thought of each and > not on the act, for the other person is moved to thought by your > act. Here are two sorts of karma, yours and his, and both are > intermixed. There is the karma or effect on you of your own > thought and act, the result on you of the other person's thought; > and there is the karma on or with the other person consisting of > the direct result of your act and his thoughts engendered by your > act and thought. This is all permanent. As affecting you there > may be various effects. If you have condemned, for instance, we > may mention some: (a) the increased tendency in yourself to > indulge in condemnation, which will remain and increase from life > to life; (b) this will at last in you change into violence and > all that anger and condemnation may naturally lead to; (c) an > opposition to you is set up in the other person, which will > remain forever until one day both suffer for it, and this may be > in a tendency in the other person in any subsequent life to do > you harm and hurt you in the million ways possible in life, and > often also unconsciously. Thus it may all widen out and affect > the whole body of society. Hence no matter how justifiable it may > seem to you to condemn or denounce or punish another, you set up > cause for sorrow in the whole race that must work out some day. > And you must feel it. > > The opposite conduct, that is, entire charity, constant > forgiveness, wipes out the opposition from others, expends the > old enmity and at the same time makes no new similar causes. Any > other sort of thought or conduct is sure to increase the sum of > hate in the world, to make cause for sorrow, to continually keep > up the crime and misery in the world. Each man can for himself > decide which of the two ways is the right one to adopt. > > Self-love and what people call self-respect may shrink from > following the Adept's view I give above, but the Theosophist who > wishes to follow the law and reduce the general sum of hate will > know how to act and to think, for he will follow the words of the > Master of H.P.B. who said: "Do not be ever thinking of yourself > and forgetting that there are others; for you have no karma of > your own, but the karma of each one is the karma of all." And > these words were sent by H.P.B. to the American Section and > called by her words of wisdom, as they seem also to me to be, for > they accord with law. They hurt the personality of the nineteenth > century, but the personality is for a day, and soon it will be > changed if Theosophists try to follow the law of charity as > enforced by the inexorable law of karma. We should all constantly > remember that if we believe in the Masters we should at least try > to imitate them in the charity they show for our weakness and > faults. In no other way can we hope to reach their high estate, > for by beginning thus we set up a tendency which will one day > perhaps bring us near to their development; by not beginning we > put off the day forever. > > Path, February, 1896 W.Q. JUDGE > > > > >-- >Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles > Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it. > HP Blavatsky > > From ramadoss@eden.com Mon Feb 5 06:01:21 1996 Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 00:01:21 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: <199602050601.AAA15941@natashya.eden.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=====================_823507488==_" From: MK Ramadoss Subject: Rishi Agastya --=====================_823507488==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" --=====================_823507488==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" RISHI AGASTYA - EXTRACTED FROM THE FOLLOWING BOOK ---------------------------------------------------- Our Elder Brethren The Great Ones In The World's Service Edited by Annie Besant President of the Theosophical Society 1907-1933 The Theosophical Publishing House Adyar, Madras, India 1934 ---------------------------------------------------- FOREWORD This little book is an attempt to convey in words a faint reflection of the beauty and the splendor of the Great Servants of the World, whose wondrous story is written by its effect on the hearts of men and women, who look up to Them in deathless devotion. Conquerors have founded kingdoms by force of arms, and have imposed their yoke on millions. But what kingdom can compare with the kingdoms of These that are not of this world, that are ageless and timeless and spaceless, shining-out by love, by compassion, by infinite pity, and shall last when history is forgotten. Poor as is the offering, we venture to lay it at Their Feet. Annie Besant ---------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS The Hierarchy, or the Rishis, Sages and Saints. The Masters, or the World's Rulers, Teachers and Guides. Shri Shankaracharya. The Lord Buddha. The Great Sage of Hinduism. Tehuti. Zarathustra. Orpheus, the Supreme Singer. Shri Krishna. The Bodhisattva or the Christ. The Lord Vaivasvata Manu. The Rishi Agastya. Pythagoras, a Future World-Teacher. Confucius. The Lord Mohammad. The Lord Chaitanya. The Noble Army of Martyrs. Giordano Bruno. Guru Nanak. Ashoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India. ---------------------------------------------------- THE RISHI AGASTYA By H. V. Among the Great Ones of India, none seems to hold a higher place than this Maha-Rishi, who is said to be "Seventh of the Seven," that is, of the Seven Sages or Saptarishi. From allusions to Him, in the Ramayana and elsewhere, He would seem to have been leading a secluded existence in His Ashrama for long ages past; and to-day has His home in the Nilgiris, where He may be approached by the few who know, though the idly curious find themselves somehow thwarted in all attempts to intrude on His privacy. Apart from myths, His historical achievements are mostly connected with the Aryanising of the South of India, by leading down and establishing colonies of Brahmanas from the North, many centuries B.C. These Brahmanas lived under the protection of Dravidian Kings, the Rishi Agastya Himself being named the Royal Priest of the Pandyas. In this capacity, he compiled the first Tamil Grammar, being said in some accounts to have invented the language, or to have learnt it from the Lord Shiva. Probably He first gave literary form to the rude Dravidian dialect, and much enlarged its scope. He founded and presided over the first Tamil Academy, at Madura, probably named after the northern Mathura. This Madura was destroyed by a flood, but a second Academy grew up and flourished, also under His presidency, though several centuries later, not far from modern Madura. Hence it seems clear that Tamil Culture was shaped by this Great Rishi, whether acting directly through a continuous physical incarnation, or influencing the course of events more subtly through His disciples, is immaterial -- Indian chroniclers draw no such distinctions, and find nothing incredible in a "life" stretching over thousands of years, for they recognise the man apart from his vehicles. After all, the cycle of incarnation completes itself in the three lower worlds, and the facility of communication between the three has always been well-known fact in India, though only a recent re-discovery of the West. Some of the legends connected with the name of the Rishi Agastya are interesting, though obscure in meaning; they consistently show Him as one of the great Builder-Rulers, protecting the land from disasters, giving it wealth, banishing its foes, teaching the arts of cultivation and or civilization. What the Lord Manu does for the whole Aryan Root-Race and the lands it occupies the Rishi Agastya does for India, the Mother- Country of the Aryans, and the treasure-house of their Ancient Wisdom. It seems likely that the Seven Rishis of Aryavarta are analogous, on a smaller cycle, to the Seven Builders, Rectors or Cosmocratores the "mind-born sons of Brahma," worshipped in the ancient Mysteries as the Kabiri. This Building and Ruling Department comes to the fore especially during periods when the configuration of the Earth is being changed, and lands are being prepared for new races. The name of the Pandya King, advised by the Rishi Agastya, means "He who survived the flood"; and several legends show how the Rishi was actively concerned in the shaping of India after the great cataclysm which sank the greater part of Lanka, leaving only Ceylon, while raising the Himalayas and the northern plains. One such legend tells that He was asked to use His power to stop the Vindhya Mountains from growing "in competition with the Sun"; accordingly He laid His commands on them to stop, until "He had returned from South and drunk up the Sea". This latter feat too He is said to have accomplished, in answer to the prayers of the Gods and Brahmanas, who complained that they were being devoured by certain Daityas (or Asuras), whom Indra with his thunderbolt had driven into the sea. The Rishi Agastya then came forth from His Ashrama, and "drank up the Sea," so that the defeated Daityas had to flee, for further refuge, to the remote recesses of the Earth, the nether region called Patala. So thoroughly was the work done that the reclaimed land was too dry, and so we next hear of Gods and men complaining to Vishnu that the Rishi Agastya could not restore the Ocean, having "digested" it. Vishnu went to Brahma for a solution for this difficulty, and the latter declared that, in due time, the Sea would be replenished, in the days of King Bhagiratha, a prophesy said to have been fulfilled when the waters of Ganga burst forth. In this legend, it would seem as if He was regarded as the ensouling Intelligence of India, the land forming His body, so being able to "digest" the water, which would quickly percolate through the sandy soil of newly reclaimed land collecting in hidden reservoirs until sufficient to burst forth as springs, feeding the great river, and ultimately the sea. Another legend referring to this dry period of the central plains tells that the Rishi Agastya took on Himself a vow for twelve years to obtain food for the people by cultivation of seeds. But Indra refused His rain, and the Munis came to acquaint the Rishi with this as threatening failure to this sacrifice. The great Rishi then so powerfully increased the rigor of His resolution, vowing to perform so many kinds of TAPAS, or austerities, that Indra Himself with Brihaspati came to appease Him and not only rain, but all forms of wealth, poured into the place of sacrifice. Other legends obviously refer to conflicts with the dark Atlantean sorcerers, whose degenerate practices stained the Dravidian Civilization of S. India, which the Aryans had to uplift. One such tale tells of a Danava King called Ilvala, who used to decoy Brahmanas to his house, and there set before them the roasted flesh of a ram, into which his own brother Vatapi had entered. The meat having been devoured, Ilvala would call on Vatapi to come forth from the Brahmana bodies, which he would do, rending them to pieces. But the Rishi Agastya, having accepted and eaten of the ram, so quickly "digested" the meal that Vatapi did not respond to the call of his brother sorcerer, who, in consequence, had to part with his wealth to the Rishi Agastya and his friends. This evidently refers to some sacramental rite of initiation into the Dark Mysteries, the secrets of which some Aryans were foolish enough to covet, to their own undoing. The Rishi Agastya alone was strong enough to wrest the occult secret -- the Word of Power -- from the Dark Hierophant, and make a right use of what had hitherto been abused, so winning wealth from the store-house of Nature which is a good servant, though a bad master. According to this legend, the wealth of Ilvala was wanted for the Rishi Agastya's wife, Lopamudra, whom He is said to have created for Himself, guiding her birth as a Princess, whom He sought in marriage. His marriage had been enjoined on Him by His "Ancestors". The meaning of this seems to be that, before this Divine Being descended into the lower worlds, at the behest of His "Ancestors," or predecessors in His great office, He had created for Himself, out of mental and astral matter, what should serve Him as a soul, or middle principle, and this, as the Greek Psyche, is typified as a woman, bride of the Higher Self or Spiritual Spark. Truly she is created out of the "best parts of animals," for this vehicle is the result of the evolutionary process, aspiring upwards through the Kingdoms of Nature till she achieves union with the Divine Bridegroom, who, however, has shaped and moulded her from the first. Again, it is said that Lopamudra was given her choice of 1,000 sons, or of 100 sons each equal to ten, or of 10 sons each equal to one hundred, or of 1 son equal to a thousand, which last she chose. Does not this clearly indicate no physical progeny, but the number of earthly incarnations which this Spirit and Soul unitedly would take, and to agree with the abnormal length of days claimed for the Rishi Agastya? These are, perhaps, mere impertinences of speculation, and they are put forth only to stimulate thought, not so much on the legends in their quaint antiquity of metaphor, as on the wondrous reality that lies behind the Living Person, Who is to- day as well accredited among Hindus, and with as good reason, as the King-Emperor on his throne. To Him may fitly be applied the term "Rock of Ages," and naught can go seriously wrong with the land over which His shadow broods. ----------------------- end ---------------------- --=====================_823507488==_-- From 72662.1335@compuserve.com Tue Feb 6 00:45:04 1996 Date: 05 Feb 96 19:45:04 EST From: Don DeGracia <72662.1335@compuserve.com> Subject: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <960206004504_72662.1335_IHD64-1@CompuServe.COM> I am postng this mainly for members of the TS with Web pages. The U.S. Congress has just passed a Bill - the Communications Decency Act (part of the Telecommuncations Reform Bill) - which makes it illegal to swear, discuss sex, or show pictures of the nude human body on the internet. This means that the content of books such as "Catcher In the Rye" are now illegal on the internet, for example. This very letter is now illegal by Federal Law because I am going to say a swear word: shit. See, this letter is now illegal and I could be put in jail for up to 2 years, or pay a fine of $100,000 simply because I said the word "shit" in this message. Clearly, this action by the U.S. Congress completely violates our First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech. For Theosophists in the USA, to whom freedom of thought is a central belief, you should be highly concerned about this action by Congress. The following message is for a World-wide protest of the U.S. Congress' actions to be held on the WWW. If you have a Web page, please read the following and consider participating. If you want more information about the Communications Decency Act, read the following and consult the sources within it. Thank you for your time with this matter. Don DeGracia > Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:58:59 -0500 (EST) > From: "Shabbir J. Safdar" > Subject: ALERT: 48 Hours of Protest: turn your WWW pages black (2/4/96) JOIN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER INTERNET USERS IN * 48 HOURS OF PROTEST * AFTER PRESIDENT CLINTON SIGNS THE BILL THAT WILL CENSOR THE INTERNET Update: -Latest News: Congress passed the net censorship language on 2/1/96. -What You Can Do Now: Help demonstrate the extent of the impact of the Internet Censorship legislation. Join Hundreds of thousands of Internet Users in an International protest for 48 hours after Clinton Signs the bill. CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT Feb 3, 1996 (expires Feb 29, 1996) PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT This alert and coalition coordinated by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org) ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS The Latest News What You Can Do Now Chronology of the CDA For More Information List Of Participating Organizations ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS Last week Congress approved sweeping restrictions on online speech and conduct, imposing fines of $250,000 and jail sentences of 2 years for anyone who makes "indecent" material available in a public forum online. This legislation threatens the very existence of the Internet as a viable means of free expression, education, and political discourse. Despite loud objections from civil liberties groups and the public, the measure is part of a massive telecommunications bill that President Clinton has already pledged to sign. Although you should feel free to continue to express your objections directly to the President, there are other ways to express our outrage for this legislation. The President is expected to sign this bill into law during the week of Feb 5-9, 1996. For 48 hours after Clinton signs the Telecommunications Reform bill into law, join hundreds of thousands of Internet users everywhere to show the far reaching impact this bill will have on all Internet users. TURN YOUR WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES BLACK with white lettering to demonstrate that the Internet will not accept this kind of second class treatment from the United States Government. ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW 1. For 48 hours after Clinton signs the net censorship language in the Telecomm bill into law, TURN YOUR WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES BLACK with white lettering. To know when the bill is signed, check these sources: Newsgroups: alt.society.civil-disob Email:vtw-announce@vtw.org (watch for mail on this list) WWW:http://www.vtw.org/ Finger:vtw@panix.com You can also just watch CNN; they'll announce the signing of the bill. To turn your pages black with white lettering, simply add the following tag to your World Wide Web pages: Put this right after your tags, and before any tags. To explain to people who may be confused by the color change, temporarily add the following link to your page: My World Wide Web Pages are black for 48 hours to protest second-class treatment from the US Government for free speech. Read about it at this WWW page. The Center for Democracy and Technology has also agreed to mirror a similar page at URL:http://www.cdt.org/speech.html If your pages get lots of hits from services that cache their pages like America Online, you may wish to start turning your pages black early. Please try and wait though until Clinton signs the bill, for maximum effect. Also, urge your Internet Provider and any Internet WWW pages you frequent to turn their pages black. Send us interesting sites that comply to vtw@vtw.org. $ Mail vtw@vtw.org Subject: ZTV.COM is turning their pages black! I'm the head of the ZTV Website and I've decided to turn our pages black. Thought you'd like to know. ^D Mail sent! 2. Don't forget to send Clinton a message, contact him at: Email:president@whitehouse.gov Telephone:202-456-1111 Fax:202-456-2461 Sample communique: You're about to sign a bill into law that imposes a terrible set of speech restrictions on the Internet that belong in the broadcast medium, not the interactive one. I'm turning my World Wide Web pages BLACK for 48 hours after you sign the bill as a symbol of protest to show how many people will be affected by this bill. It is unlikely that he will veto the bill. 3. Make a commitment become involved! There will be several court cases coming up to challenge the Internet censorship legislation, as well as an election that will put every single member of the House, and 1/3rd of the Senate (most of whom voted for this legislation) onto the ballot. Don't let them get away with this. Make this a campaign issue, and keep an eye out for legal defense funds for those challenging these laws in court. ________________________________________________________________________ CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT Feb 1, '96 The House and Senate pass the Telecomm Bill (S652/HR1555) 414-16 and 91-5. Jan 31, '96 The House and Senate prepare to signoff on the conference report for the Telecomm bill and rush a vote to the floor. Dec 7, '95 The House half of the Telecomm conference committee votes the "indecency" standard for online speech into the Telecomm Deregulation bill. Sep 26, '95 Sen. Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop Managers Amendment and the CDA from the Telecommunications Deregulation bill Aug 4, '95 House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652. Aug 4, '95 House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains new criminal penalties for speech online) to Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555). Aug 4, '95 House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555). Jun 30, '95 Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA. Jun 21, '95 Several prominent House members publicly announce their opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Jun 14, '95 The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill (S 714) is not passed, but is supported by 16 Senators who understand the Internet. May 24, '95 The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it, thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA). The Communications Decency Act is not attached to it. Apr 7, '95 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation (such as the CDA) is necessary. Mar 23, '95 S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA). Language provides some provider protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy and free speech. Feb 21, '95 HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees Feb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD) Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee Feb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA). ________________________________________________________________________ FOR MORE INFORMATION Web Sites (roughly in alphabetical order) URL:http://www.vtw.org/ URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html URL:http://www.cpsr.org/ URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ URL:http://epic.org/ Email: cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information) cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA) ________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the Communications Decency Act. Because the list is so long, we've been forced to omit many fine organizations. See the VTW Free Speech Web Page at URL:http://www.vtw.org/speech/ for the whole list. Public Interest Organizations Businesses Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) | ECHO (www.echonyc.com) | Hotwired (www.hotwired.com) Center For Democracy And Technology (CDT) | Mindvox (www.phantom.com) Center for Public Representation (CPR) | Panix (www.panix.com) Computer Professionals for | The WELL (www.well.com) Social Responsibility (CPSR) | Wired (www.wired.com) Cyber-Rights Campaign +------------------------- Electronic Fronter Foundation (EFF), and independent regional Electronic Frontier organizations Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Feminists for Free Expression Hands! Off The Net Internet Users Consortium (IUC) Joint Artists' and Music The Libertarian Party (LP) Promotions Political Action National Campaign for Freedom of Expression Committee (JAMPAC) National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) National Gay and Lesbian National Writers Union (NWU) Task Force (NGLTF) People for the American Way (PFAW) Republican Liberty Caucus ________________________________________________________________________ End Alert ======================================================================== From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 5 21:55:45 1996 Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 21:55:45 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Re: Remove us from your mailing lists In-Reply-To: <199602050252.UAA05467@natashya.eden.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <199602050252.UAA05467@natashya.eden.com>, MK Ramadoss writes >I got a listing of subscribers from theos-buds and this person is not in it. >I also got a msg from him stating that he is not getting any msgs from >theos-buds. so the problem is fixed. > >..doss Indeed it is! --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 5 21:54:57 1996 Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 21:54:57 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Re: Remove us from your mailing lists In-Reply-To: <199602050118.RAA26906@slip-1.slip.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <199602050118.RAA26906@slip-1.slip.net>, alexis dolgorukii writes >>I can easily understand why someone would want to use a pseudonym on an >alt.sex board but on aTheosophical Board? What's to be secretive about? It's >hardly subversive, it's hardly socially unacceptable, so why would anyone >need a "blind listing"? > >alexis dolgorukii, member T.I. >aetheling, gad-fly Damned if I know - anyhow, the offending address has GONE from my address book ... --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 6 01:53:49 1996 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 01:53:49 +0000 Message-Id: <1DX9Y5AtSrFxEwi5@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: ti Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill In-Reply-To: <960206004504_72662.1335_IHD64-1@CompuServe.COM> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <960206004504_72662.1335_IHD64-1@CompuServe.COM>, Don DeGracia <72662.1335@compuserve.com> writes >I am postng this mainly for members of the TS with Web pages. The U.S. Congress >has just passed a Bill - the Communications Decency Act (part of the >Telecommuncations Reform Bill) - which makes it illegal to swear, discuss sex, >or show pictures of the nude human body on the internet. This means that the >content of books such as "Catcher In the Rye" are now illegal on the internet, >for example. This very letter is now illegal by Federal Law because I am going >to say a swear word: shit. See, this letter is now illegal and I could be put >in jail for up to 2 years, or pay a fine of $100,000 simply because I said the >word "shit" in this message. For what it is worth, I e-mailed the Pres. of the US of A to enquire by what authority his government could interfere with access to information on the Internet in England. I also pointed out that the net being what it is, anything made unlawful on the Internet in America would simply export itself to another country, thus rendering the exercise somehwat futile, and hardly cost-effective, etc., etc. I doubt he will take any notice, though. Tell you one thing - he can't prosecute *me* for saying "shit" - even if he can send you to jail for reading it! Alan Bain. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se Tue Feb 6 21:29:10 1996 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 96 22:29:10 +0100 Received: from LUSTUDAT/SpoolDir by LuStuDat.student.lu.se (Mercury 1.21); 6 Feb 96 22:20:51 +0100 Received: from SpoolDir by LUSTUDAT (Mercury 1.13); Tue, 6 Feb 96 22:20:37 +0100 Received: from SGE95FMO by LuStuDat.student.lu.se (Mercury 1.13); Tue, 6 Feb 96 22:20:28 +0100 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <12AAEC665F3@LuStuDat.student.lu.se> >Comment to the "Protest Unconstitutional Bill": The "Protest Unconstitutional Bill" was sent to theos-buds pleading members of the TS to "sign" the protest referring to the notion that freedom of thought is a central belief among American Theosophists. But let's pause to think for a moment what it all means before we jump to conclusions. Almost any Good American would stand up for the rights of the First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech.This is very understandable. Far too many can testify to the pains of restrictions on this freedom, forced by a state upon the individual man. But among all cries for The Individual Rights, often the aspect of Individual Responsibility is forgotten. Did not HPB rage against the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an unresponsible manner, and did she not say that the Masters had said there would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against destructive thinking? The Internet of today held so sacred by so many people can ideed be an earthly "blessing" in many ways, but it does contain A LOT of what a theosophist would call "destructive articles". The problem is the same as always. People just don't take their moral responsibility toward their fellow men and themselves. This is exactly why we cannot have an anarchist society, because people don't live their "free" lives in a responsible manner. Many factors intervene in this discussion; for example the fact that most people raging against, say, pornography, consume pornograhy in secret. A vast number of men do, and to a much lesser degree, women also. Remember that Clinton's reason for signing the Communications Decency Act has little to do with morality, much more with power and influence. Signing the Act will probably increase his popularity with the strong, expanding Christian Movement within the USA. This way a lot of people will be happy. Unfortunately the Act may also become an instrument to opress women, minorities, and other people already suffering from what from a secular viewpoint is an unjust world. If we stop to think about the matter we can see that there are many pros and cons of a Decency Act. If it is installed we should all see to that it is not abused (urealistic thought?) This forum is perhaps not intended for political discussions, but since the topic has been included with the regular theosophical articles, the need was felt to comment upon the matter. This is all worth thinking about before we all cry "Hail to Internet". Fredrik Montelius, ULT Malmoe, Sweden I am postng this mainly for members of the TS with Web pages. The U.S. Congress >has just passed a Bill - the Communications Decency Act (part of the >Telecommuncations Reform Bill) - which makes it illegal to swear, discuss sex, >or show pictures of the nude human body on the internet. This means that the >content of books such as "Catcher In the Rye" are now illegal on the internet, >for example. This very letter is now illegal by Federal Law because I am going >to say a swear word: shit. See, this letter is now illegal and I could be put >in jail for up to 2 years, or pay a fine of $100,000 simply because I said the >word "shit" in this message. > >Clearly, this action by the U.S. Congress completely violates our First >Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech. > >For Theosophists in the USA, to whom freedom of thought is a central belief, you >should be highly concerned about this action by Congress. > >The following message is for a World-wide protest of the U.S. Congress' actions >to be held on the WWW. If you have a Web page, please read the following and >consider participating. > >If you want more information about the Communications Decency Act, read the >following and consult the sources within it. > >Thank you for your time with this matter. > >Don DeGracia > >Sender: root@panix3.panix.com >Received: from panix3.panix.com (panix3.panix.com [198.7.0.4]) by >dub-img-6.compuserve.com (8.6.10/5.950515) > id VAA00772; Sun, 4 Feb 1996 21:09:55 -0500 >Received: (from root@localhost) by panix3.panix.com (8.7/8.7/PanixU1.3) id >RAA26025 for vtw-announce-private; Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:59:33 -0500 (EST) >Received: (from majordom@localhost) by panix3.panix.com (8.7/8.7/PanixU1.3) id >RAA26017 for vtw-announce-outgoing@vtw.org; Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:59:25 -0500 (EST) >Received: (from shabbir@localhost) by panix3.panix.com (8.7/8.7/PanixU1.3) id >RAA25931; Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:58:59 -0500 (EST) >Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:58:59 -0500 (EST) >From: "Shabbir J. Safdar" >Message-Id: <199602042258.RAA25931@panix3.panix.com> >To: vtw-announce@VTW.ORG >Subject: ALERT: 48 Hours of Protest: turn your WWW pages black (2/4/96) >Sender: owner-vtw-announce@VTW.ORG >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: vtw-announce@VTW.ORG > >======================================================================== > > JOIN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER INTERNET USERS IN > > * 48 HOURS OF PROTEST * > > AFTER PRESIDENT CLINTON SIGNS THE BILL THAT WILL CENSOR THE INTERNET > > Update: -Latest News: Congress passed the net censorship language > on 2/1/96. > > -What You Can Do Now: Help demonstrate the extent of the > impact of the Internet Censorship legislation. Join > Hundreds of thousands of Internet Users in an > International protest for 48 hours after Clinton > Signs the bill. > > CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT > Feb 3, 1996 (expires Feb 29, 1996) > > PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT > > This alert and coalition coordinated by the > Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org) > >________________________________________________________________________ >CONTENTS > The Latest News > What You Can Do Now > Chronology of the CDA > For More Information > List Of Participating Organizations > >________________________________________________________________________ >THE LATEST NEWS > >Last week Congress approved sweeping restrictions on online speech and >conduct, imposing fines of $250,000 and jail sentences of 2 years for >anyone who makes "indecent" material available in a public forum online. > >This legislation threatens the very existence of the Internet as a viable >means of free expression, education, and political discourse. > >Despite loud objections from civil liberties groups and the public, >the measure is part of a massive telecommunications bill that President >Clinton has already pledged to sign. Although you should feel free to >continue to express your objections directly to the President, there are >other ways to express our outrage for this legislation. The President >is expected to sign this bill into law during the week of Feb 5-9, 1996. > >For 48 hours after Clinton signs the Telecommunications Reform bill into law, >join hundreds of thousands of Internet users everywhere to show the far >reaching impact this bill will have on all Internet users. TURN YOUR >WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES BLACK with white lettering to demonstrate that the >Internet will not accept this kind of second class treatment from the >United States Government. > >________________________________________________________________________ >WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW > >1. For 48 hours after Clinton signs the net censorship language in the > Telecomm bill into law, TURN YOUR WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES BLACK with > white lettering. To know when the bill is signed, check these > sources: > > Newsgroups: alt.society.civil-disob > Email:vtw-announce@vtw.org (watch for mail on this list) > WWW:http://www.vtw.org/ > Finger:vtw@panix.com > > You can also just watch CNN; they'll announce the signing of the bill. > > To turn your pages black with white lettering, simply add the following > tag to your World Wide Web pages: > > > > > Put this right after your tags, and before any tags. > To explain to people who may be confused by the color change, temporarily > add the following link to your page: > > My World Wide Web Pages are > black for 48 hours to protest second-class treatment from the > US Government for free speech. Read about it at this WWW > page. > > The Center for Democracy and Technology has also agreed to mirror a > similar page at URL:http://www.cdt.org/speech.html > > If your pages get lots of hits from services that cache their pages like > America Online, you may wish to start turning your pages black early. > Please try and wait though until Clinton signs the bill, for maximum > effect. > > Also, urge your Internet Provider and any Internet WWW pages you > frequent to turn their pages black. Send us interesting sites that > comply to vtw@vtw.org. > > $ Mail vtw@vtw.org > Subject: ZTV.COM is turning their pages black! > > I'm the head of the ZTV Website and I've decided to turn our > pages black. Thought you'd like to know. > > ^D > Mail sent! > >2. Don't forget to send Clinton a message, contact him at: > > Email:president@whitehouse.gov > Telephone:202-456-1111 > Fax:202-456-2461 > > > Sample communique: > > > You're about to sign a bill into law that imposes a terrible > set of speech restrictions on the Internet that belong in the > broadcast medium, not the interactive one. > > I'm turning my World Wide Web pages BLACK for 48 hours after you > sign the bill as a symbol of protest to show how many people will > be affected by this bill. > > It is unlikely that he will veto the bill. > >3. Make a commitment become involved! There will be several court cases > coming up to challenge the Internet censorship legislation, as well as > an election that will put every single member of the House, and 1/3rd > of the Senate (most of whom voted for this legislation) onto the ballot. > > Don't let them get away with this. Make this a campaign issue, and > keep an eye out for legal defense funds for those challenging these > laws in court. > >________________________________________________________________________ >CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT > >Feb 1, '96 The House and Senate pass the Telecomm Bill (S652/HR1555) > 414-16 and 91-5. >Jan 31, '96 The House and Senate prepare to signoff on the conference > report for the Telecomm bill and rush a vote to the floor. >Dec 7, '95 The House half of the Telecomm conference committee > votes the "indecency" standard for online speech into > the Telecomm Deregulation bill. >Sep 26, '95 Sen. Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop > Managers Amendment and the CDA from the Telecommunications > Deregulation bill >Aug 4, '95 House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652. >Aug 4, '95 House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains > new criminal penalties for speech online) to > Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555). >Aug 4, '95 House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications > Reform bill (HR1555). >Jun 30, '95 Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family > Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA. >Jun 21, '95 Several prominent House members publicly announce their > opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), > Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR). >Jun 14, '95 The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm > reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill > (S 714) is not passed, but is supported by 16 Senators > who understand the Internet. >May 24, '95 The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee > in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it, > thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA). The Communications > Decency Act is not attached to it. >Apr 7, '95 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to > the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of > Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation > (such as the CDA) is necessary. >Mar 23, '95 S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform > bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA). Language provides some provider > protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy > and free speech. >Feb 21, '95 HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees >Feb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD) >Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee >Feb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA). > >________________________________________________________________________ >FOR MORE INFORMATION > >Web Sites (roughly in alphabetical order) > URL:http://www.vtw.org/ > URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html > URL:http://www.cpsr.org/ > URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ > URL:http://epic.org/ > >Email: > cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information) > cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA) > >________________________________________________________________________ >LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES > >In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have >joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the >Communications Decency Act. Because the list is so long, we've been >forced to omit many fine organizations. See the VTW Free Speech Web Page >at URL:http://www.vtw.org/speech/ for the whole list. > > >Public Interest Organizations Businesses > >Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) | ECHO (www.echonyc.com) > | Hotwired (www.hotwired.com) >Center For Democracy And Technology (CDT) | Mindvox (www.phantom.com) >Center for Public Representation (CPR) | Panix (www.panix.com) >Computer Professionals for | The WELL (www.well.com) > Social Responsibility (CPSR) | Wired (www.wired.com) >Cyber-Rights Campaign +------------------------- >Electronic Fronter Foundation (EFF), > and independent regional Electronic > Frontier organizations >Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) > Feminists for Free Expression Hands! Off The Net >Internet Users Consortium (IUC) Joint Artists' and Music >The Libertarian Party (LP) Promotions Political Action >National Campaign for Freedom of Expression Committee (JAMPAC) >National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) National Gay and Lesbian >National Writers Union (NWU) Task Force (NGLTF) >People for the American Way (PFAW) Republican Liberty Caucus > >________________________________________________________________________ > End Alert >======================================================================== > > From mike@planet8.eag.unisysgsg.com Tue Feb 6 21:38:42 1996 Date: Tue, 06 Feb 1996 15:38:42 -0600 Message-Id: <3117CA62.1542@planet8.eag.unisysgsg.com> From: "Michael W. Grenier" Organization: Loral Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill References: <12AAEC665F3@LuStuDat.student.lu.se> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fredrik Montelius wrote: .. > Unfortunately the Act may also become an instrument to > opress women, minorities, and other people already suffering from what from > a secular viewpoint is an unjust world. OK, I'm thick-headed. How can this Act be used as an "instrument to opress women, minorities, etc." -Mike Grenier From gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu Tue Feb 6 22:31:41 1996 Date: Tue, 06 Feb 1996 22:31:41 GMT From: gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu (Gregg Bartle) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <3117cf5f.20216574@uclink.berkeley.edu> References: <12AAEC665F3@LuStuDat.student.lu.se> In-Reply-To: <12AAEC665F3@LuStuDat.student.lu.se> On Tue, 6 Feb 1996 16:26:30 -0500, sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) wrote: >>Comment to the "Protest Unconstitutional Bill": The "Protest >Unconstitutional Bill" was sent to theos-buds pleading members of the TS to >"sign" the protest referring to the notion that freedom of thought is a >central belief among American Theosophists. But let's pause to think for a >moment what it all means before we jump to conclusions. snip out a lot..................... This response is much as I thought would come from *some* parts of the theosophical community, and beyond saying that I disagree, I will not comment on its content (except to say that the author should study paragraphing). However, the author makes a statement that I find profoundly distressing - Quote: >.....................................Did not HPB rage against >the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my >expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would >include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were >responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an >unresponsible manner, > and did she not say that the Masters had said there ^^^^^^^ >would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely >new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >destructive thinking? End Quote. As I have stated before, I did not join a theosophical organization out of "belief" in any doctrine proposed by HPB or her teacher, in fact, I openly admit that I do not hold such beliefs, but rather, I joined from respect for the principles and character of the founders as reflected in current organization. This quote, coming from an individual who identifies himself as a member of ULT - self-proclaimed guardians of the veracity and authenticity of the original thought of HPB - causes me to question whether the founders deserve my respect. I sincerely call upon any knowledgable theosophist to either authenticate or show to be false this assertion that HPB at any time, for any reason, entertained the idea that "thought police" to keep us fro "destructive" thinking was a reasonable proposition. This is deeply serious to me. I cannot respect any organization that honors a person who could promote such an idea. I hope this is just a misunderstanding. On the other hand, if it can be shown that HPB did hold and promote such an idea then I will feel compelled to resign from my affiliation from any TS organization I may belong to. ******************************** * gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu * * gbartle@bdt.com * * 102670,1224@compuserve.com * ******************************** From Richtay@aol.com Wed Feb 7 04:06:49 1996 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 23:06:49 -0500 From: Richtay@aol.com Message-Id: <960206230649_314841220@mail02.mail.aol.com> Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Fred from ULT Sweden wrote, > Almost any Good American would stand up for the rights of the First Amendment Right to > Freedom of Speech. This is very understandable. Far too many can testify to > the pains of restrictions on this freedom, forced by a state upon the > individual man. But among all cries for The Individual Rights, often the > aspect of Individual Responsibility is forgotten. Did not HPB rage against > the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my > expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would > include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were > responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an > unresponsible manner, and did she not say that the Masters had said there > would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely > new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against > destructive thinking? Boy this is a challenging post, and from a fellow ULT associate to boot! I am honestly confused by contradicting moral imperatives. (1) The Masters teach, and I firmly believe, that to interfere with an individual's free will is black magic and produces awful results every time for all concerned. (2) The Masters also teach us to defend people from unjust attacks, to repudiate hypocrisy, to lead clean, pure, giving, honest, compassionate lives. How are we to lead pure lives defending people from harm and injustice, and yet allow maximum liberty and freedom for each incarnate Monad to grow and experience and learn as it sees fit? What to do when these vehicles of body and prana and lower mind just don't behave the way we want them to? This is a central legal dilemma in America and in any free nation (Sweden is among the freest and most permissive, from what I know). But beyond the merely legal dilemma, what is the moral imperative here? Thank you, Fred, for making me and all of us stop and think about these important issues. Rich Taylor, U.L.T. San Francisco From warcup@dircon.co.uk Tue Feb 6 20:41:35 1996 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 20:41:35 GMT From: Adam Warcup Message-Id: <199602062041.AA05063@dircon.co.uk> Subject: Re: SD UPLOAD Alan, I would like a copy of the full SD text when you have finished the upload process. What is the best way for me to do this? I have missed a number of the earlier portions. Rgds, Adam PS How is the text being entered? From what source document? From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 6 21:02:48 1996 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 21:02:48 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: KEY to THEOSOPHY (2) Mime-Version: 1.0 The Key to Theosophy (KEY02.TXT) [Text provided by Eldon Tucker, converted to ASCII by Alan Bain} Theosophy and The Theosophical Society The Meaning of the Name Q. Theosophy and its doctrines are often referred to as a new-fangled religion. Is it a religion? A. It is not. Theosophy is Divine Knowledge or Science. Q. What is the real meaning of the term? A. "Divine Wisdom," (Theosophia) or Wisdom of the gods, as (theogonia), genealogy of the gods. The word theos means a god in Greek, one of the divine beings, certainly not "God" in the sense attached in our day to the term. Therefore, it is not "Wisdom of God," as translated by some, but _Divine Wisdom_ such as that possessed by the gods. The term is many thousand years old. Q. What is the origin of the name? A. It comes to us from the Alexandrian philosophers, called lovers of truth, Philaletheians, from (phil) "loving," and (aletheia) "truth." The name Theosophy dates from the third century of our era, and began with Ammonius Saccas and his disciples, also called Analogeticists, who started the Eclectic Theosophical system. - {See Wilder, Professor Alexander, F.T.S., _The Eclectic Philosophy._} - As explained by Professor Wilder, they were called so because of their practice of interpreting all sacred legends and narratives, myths and mysteries, by a rule or principle of analogy and correspondence: so that events which were related as having occurred in the external world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of the human soul. They were also denominated Neo-Platonists. Though Theosophy, or the Eclectic Theosophical system, is generally attributed to the third century, yet, if Diogenes Laertius is to be credited, its origin is much earlier, as he attributed the system to an Egyptian priest, Pot-Amon, who lived in the early days of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The same author tells us that the name is Coptic, and signifies one consecrated to Amon, the God of Wisdom. Theosophy is the equivalent of Brahma-Vidya, divine knowledge. Q. What was the object of this system? A. First of all to inculcate certain great moral truths upon its disciples, and all those who were "lovers of the truth." Hence the motto adopted by the Theosophical Society: "There is no religion higher than truth." Eclectic Theosophy was divided under three heads: 1. Belief in one absolute, incomprehensible and supreme Deity, or infinite essence, which is the root of all nature, and of all that is, visible and invisible. 2. Belief in man's eternal immortal nature, because, being a radiation of the Universal Soul, it is of an identical essence with it. 3. _Theurgy,_ or "divine work," or _producing a work of gods;_ from _theoi,_ "gods," and _ergein,_ "to work." The term is very old, but, as it belongs to the vocabulary of the MYSTERIES, was not in popular use. It was a mystic belief - practically proven by initiated adepts and priests - that, by making oneself as pure as the incorporeal beings - i.e., by returning to one's pristine purity of nature - man could move the gods to impart to him Divine mysteries, and even cause them to become occasionally visible, either subjectively or objectively. It was the transcendental aspect of what is now called Spiritualism; but having been abused and misconceived by the populace, it had come to be regarded by some as necromancy, and was generally forbidden. A travestied practice of the theurgy of Iamblichus lingers still in the ceremonial magic of some modern Cabalists. Modern Theosophy avoids and rejects both these kinds of magic and "necromancy" as being very dangerous. Real _divine_ theurgy requires an almost superhuman purity and holiness of life; otherwise it degenerates into mediumship or black magic. The immediate disciples of Ammonius Saccas, who was called _Theodidaktos,_ "god-taught" - such as Plotinus and his follower Porphyry - rejected theurgy at first, but were finally reconciled to it through Iamblichus, who wrote a work to that effect entitled _De Mysteriis,_ under the name of his own master, a famous Egyptian priest called Abammon. Ammonius Saccas was the son of Christian parents, and, having been repelled by dogmatic Spiritualistic Christianity from his childhood, became a Neo-Platonist, and like J. Boehme and other great seers and mystics, is said to have had divine wisdom revealed to him in dreams and visions. Hence his name of _Theodidaktos._ He resolved to reconcile every system of religion, and by demonstrating their identical origin to establish one universal creed based on ethics. His life was so blameless and pure, his learning so profound and vast, that several Church Fathers were his secret disciples. Clemens Alexandrinus speaks very highly of him. Plotinus, the "St. John" of Ammonius, was also a man universally respected and esteemed, and of the most profound learning and integrity. When thirty-nine years of age he accompanied the Roman Emperor Gordian and his army to the East, to be instructed by the sages of Bactria and India. He had a School of Philosophy in Rome. Porphyry, his disciple, whose real name was Malek (a Hellenized Jew), collected all the writings of his master. Porphyry was himself a great author, and gave an allegorical interpretation to some parts of Homer's writings. The system of meditation the Philaletheians resorted to was ecstasy, a system akin to Indian Yoga practice. What is known of the Eclectic School is due to Origen, Longinus, and Plotinus, the immediate disciples of Ammonius. The chief aim of the Founders of the Eclectic Theosophical School was one of the three objects of its modern successor, the Theosophical Society, namely, to reconcile all religions, sects, and nations under a common system of ethics, based on eternal verities. Q. What have you to show that this is not an impossible dream; and that all the world's religions _are_ based on the one and the same truth? A. Their comparative study and analysis. The "Wisdom-Religion" was one in antiquity; and the sameness of primitive religious philosophy is proven to us by the identical doctrines taught to the Initiates during the MYSTERIES, an institution once universally diffused. All the old worships indicate the existence of a single Theosophy anterior to them. The key that is to open one must open all; otherwise it cannot be the right key. - {Wilder, Professor Alexander, F.T.S., _The Eclectic Philosophy._} --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From alexei@slip.net Wed Feb 7 09:02:51 1996 Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 01:02:51 -0800 From: alexis dolgorukii Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602070902.BAA25383@slip-1.slip.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:13 PM 2/6/96 -0500, you wrote: >Fred from ULT Sweden wrote, > >> Almost any Good American would stand up for the rights of the First >Amendment Right to >> Freedom of Speech. This is very understandable. Far too many can testify >to >> the pains of restrictions on this freedom, forced by a state upon the >> individual man. But among all cries for The Individual Rights, often the >> aspect of Individual Responsibility is forgotten. Did not HPB rage against >> the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my >> expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would > >> include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were >> responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an >> unresponsible manner, and did she not say that the Masters had said there >> would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely > >> new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against >> destructive thinking? > >Boy this is a challenging post, and from a fellow ULT associate to boot! > >I am honestly confused by contradicting moral imperatives. > >(1) The Masters teach, and I firmly believe, that to interfere with an >individual's free will is black magic and produces awful results every time >for all concerned. > >(2) The Masters also teach us to defend people from unjust attacks, to >repudiate hypocrisy, to lead clean, pure, giving, honest, compassionate >lives. > >How are we to lead pure lives defending people from harm and injustice, and >yet allow maximum liberty and freedom for each incarnate Monad to grow and >experience and learn as it sees fit? What to do when these vehicles of body >and prana and lower mind just don't behave the way we want them to? > >This is a central legal dilemma in America and in any free nation (Sweden is >among the freest and most permissive, from what I know). But beyond the >merely legal dilemma, what is the moral imperative here? > >Thank you, Fred, for making me and all of us stop and think about these >important issues. > >Rich Taylor, U.L.T. San Francisco > Rich: I think theosphists have tolearn to differentiate H.P.B.'s "rages" fro things that are important to the study of theosophy. She possessed via her grandmother an utterly volcanic temper, and when she was really angry she tended to attribute things and sayings to the Masters that would assuage her fury. The Masters tended to be amused by this and let her "get away withit" because they loved her and so were willing to put up with her obvious flaws. This is readily seen in their writings (I am not referring to those left us by Bishop Leadbeater but to those which date to H.P.B. lifetime. I am absoltuely certain, in fact I'd stake my life on it that the adeptii-illuminatii-Masters would be truly agast at the idea of a "thought police" they stand for illimitable human liberty and as a result of that liberty illimitable human evolution. alexis dolgorukii, member T.I> aetheling, gad-fly resident of San Francisco> From john.d.tullis@ac.com Wed Feb 7 11:35:56 1996 Date: 7 Feb 96 10:19:57 From: "john.d.tullis" Subject: Re: Some thoughs on karmic effects, Free Will, and resistance to Evil Message-Id: <9602071633.AA1510@CServe-Hub4.inhouse.compuserve.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain >I am honestly confused by contradicting moral imperatives. > >(1) The Masters teach, and I firmly believe, that to interfere with an >individual's free will is black magic and produces awful results every time >for all concerned. > >(2) The Masters also teach us to defend people from unjust attacks, to >repudiate hypocrisy, to lead clean, pure, giving, honest, compassionate >lives. > >How are we to lead pure lives defending people from harm and injustice, and >yet allow maximum liberty and freedom for each incarnate Monad to grow and >experience and learn as it sees fit? What to do when these vehicles of body >and prana and lower mind just don't behave the way we want them to? > >This is a central legal dilemma in America and in any free nation (Sweden is >among the freest and most permissive, from what I know). But beyond the >merely legal dilemma, what is the moral imperative here? > >Rich Taylor, U.L.T. San Francisco > I think there are several points here. 1) The statement is, interfering with another individuals "free will" is bad. I have also read that action refered to as black magic in early theosophical literature. I think most of the difficulties here with this concept are semantic. That is - what do we mean by FREE will, free WILL, FREE WILL, MAGIC, and by BLACK magic? Depending on the answers you come up with, you get different perspectives. For example, in the "magickal" perspective (with the k), there is a difference between someone's will and their Will, or True Will. The former (little w will) refers to the will of your ego. The Will (big w) refers to your True Will, which is the Will of the Higher Self (sometimes called your Holy Guardian Angel in the magickal tradition). In some theosophical models, the Higher Self is the Soul, and the monad is the Spirit. Now, the analysis gets interesting. If you interfere with someone's True Will, you incur karmic effects, probably negative karmic effects. But if you interfere with their will, you also incur karmic effects - but this may be "good" karma. (Unless you are trying to eliminate all karmic acquisition, then you might see this as bad also). However, lack of action is itself action - and so you incur karmic effects by your lack of action. And, maybe the other individual's True Will (from their Higher Self) is to set up a situation so that you will ACT - and your action(s) are to enhance your growth as an individual. It may be that someone's True Will is in opposition to their will - in fact, this is common when a person's ego resists the path of growth that is set out for them by their higher self. So maybe their True Will is to enable a situation that will induce you to act in a way that is in oppostion to their will, thus enabling the personal growth of both of you. But how can you tell? Therefore, the answer is to pursue growth through various practices to synchronize your ego with your Higher Self, so that you can listen to your Higher Self and thus learn to do your True Will. This leads into the 2nd point. 2) Resistance to Evil is the Path of the Warrior. In the modern New Age thought, most new agers view the Warrior with disdain. Yet this is the path of resistance to Evil. (I think that most new agers are moral relativists to the core and kind of don't believe in Evil with a capital E). If you are to resist Evil, you have to be able to listen to your Higher Self to do the True Will of you Higher Self. That way, you avoid the trap of having your little ego making egotistical decisions about what is evil, and what you are going to do about it. A major portion of grief comes about because people's egos, with their little wills, decide what is evil and what is not, and make violent choices about what to do about it. Thus we have the list of horrors of the historical record. Organized religions play a big role here, but any organized "-ism" can get in the same trap - Communism, Facism, even Capitalism (although capitalism tends to avoid genocide, as that eliminates potential consumers & workers). So the answer is simple. Learn to listen to your Higher Self, do the True Will of your Higher Self, and you can resist Evil and avoid big time negative karmic effects (usually). Of course, the simple solution is usually hard. It is hard to listen to the Higher Self, hard to work on putting the ego in the submissive, obedient role; hard to get the ego to do what it may not want to do. Regards, john.d.tullis@ac.com From gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu Wed Feb 7 16:36:03 1996 Date: Wed, 07 Feb 1996 16:36:03 GMT From: gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu (Gregg Bartle) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <3118d0e5.417210@uclink.berkeley.edu> References: <199602070902.BAA25383@slip-1.slip.net> In-Reply-To: <199602070902.BAA25383@slip-1.slip.net> On Wed, 7 Feb 1996 04:05:23 -0500, alexis dolgorukii wrote: > >I think theosphists have tolearn to differentiate H.P.B.'s "rages" fro >things that are important to the study of theosophy ........... >The Masters tended to be amused by this and let her "get away withit" >because they loved her and so were willing to put up with her obvious flaws. ....... >the adeptii-illuminatii-Masters would be truly agast at the idea of a "thought >police" they stand for illimitable human liberty and as a result of that >liberty illimitable human evolution. Sorry, Alexis, but I'm still disturbed. For me, there is a major disconnect between being amused and being aghast. I'm not aghast at things that amuse me, and I'm not amused by things that make me aghast, but then I'm not an adept. I hope to find out that this attribution of fascist thinking to HPB, and via her to the Masters, is simply false. Explanations on the lines of -'well, it might be so, but she probably didn't really mean it, and the Masters had a good chuckle' - don't wash any dirty linen with me, in fact they upset me more. Peace to all beings - Gregg Bartle, member Theosophy International From sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se Wed Feb 7 20:06:50 1996 Date: Wed, 7 Feb 96 21:06:50 +0100 From: sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-Id: <7F9F67295@LuStuDat.student.lu.se> Reply to Rich Taylor, ULT San Fransisco from Fredrik Montelius, Sweden. Thank you for your comment on my e-letter. You certainly have a point in what you are saying, Mr. Taylor. I will think about what you wrote.. F. Montelius >Fred from ULT Sweden wrote, > >> Almost any Good American would stand up for the rights of the First >Amendment Right to >> Freedom of Speech. This is very understandable. Far too many can testify >to >> the pains of restrictions on this freedom, forced by a state upon the >> individual man. But among all cries for The Individual Rights, often the >> aspect of Individual Responsibility is forgotten. Did not HPB rage against >> the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my >> expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would > >> include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were >> responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an >> unresponsible manner, and did she not say that the Masters had said there >> would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely > >> new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against >> destructive thinking? > >Boy this is a challenging post, and from a fellow ULT associate to boot! > >I am honestly confused by contradicting moral imperatives. > >(1) The Masters teach, and I firmly believe, that to interfere with an >individual's free will is black magic and produces awful results every time >for all concerned. > >(2) The Masters also teach us to defend people from unjust attacks, to >repudiate hypocrisy, to lead clean, pure, giving, honest, compassionate >lives. > >How are we to lead pure lives defending people from harm and injustice, and >yet allow maximum liberty and freedom for each incarnate Monad to grow and >experience and learn as it sees fit? What to do when these vehicles of body >and prana and lower mind just don't behave the way we want them to? > >This is a central legal dilemma in America and in any free nation (Sweden is >among the freest and most permissive, from what I know). But beyond the >merely legal dilemma, what is the moral imperative here? > >Thank you, Fred, for making me and all of us stop and think about these >important issues. > >Rich Taylor, U.L.T. San Francisco > From MURRAY@sss.co.nz Wed Feb 7 22:16:18 1996 Date: Thu, 08 Feb 1996 10:16:18 +1200 From: "Murray Stentiford, Scientific Software and Systems Ltd" Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <01I0YTP9QUYA923SCB@SSS.CO.NZ> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Responding to Gregg Bartle >>Alexis D. >>the adeptii-illuminatii-Masters would be truly agast at the idea of a "thought >>police" they stand for illimitable human liberty and as a result of that >>liberty illimitable human evolution. > >Gregg B. >Sorry, Alexis, but I'm still disturbed. For me, there is a major >disconnect between being amused and being aghast. I'm not aghast at >things that amuse me, and I'm not amused by things that make me >aghast, but then I'm not an adept. > >I hope to find out that this attribution of fascist thinking to HPB, >and via her to the Masters, is simply false. Explanations on the lines >of -'well, it might be so, but she probably didn't really mean it, and >the Masters had a good chuckle' - don't wash any dirty linen with me, >in fact they upset me more. What doesn't wash much with me, is the idea that HPB had the idea of thought police in a fascist sense in her mind. "1984" hadn't been written then. I can see a need for the *positive* aspect of policing, ie protection, in the area of mental and emotional energy, especially as minds get stronger and occult knowledge becomes more widespread. Legislated controls on advertising are a gesture in this direction. The fact that human police forces don't always carry out their protective role with wisdom and completeness is not much reason to suspect HPB of subscribing to their failings. Peace Murray Stentiford Member, Theosophy International, TS in New Zealand From sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se Wed Feb 7 22:12:48 1996 Date: Wed, 7 Feb 96 23:12:48 +0100 From: sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-Id: Response to Mr. Gregg Bartle from Fredrik Montelius, Sweden: Please do not despair on the basis of this or that one single fellow (?) Theosophist. Your personal perception of the Theosophical body of work is as valid, nay, MORE valid (to you) than any one other's. Our various paths will necessarily vary. If you let my opinion, or anyone else's, influence your life in a negative way, it is better (I believe) to minimize their impact upon your mind, and let your own viewpoint (and intuition) be your guiding star(s). This I truly believe. I also wish to apologize for any pain my e-letter may have caused you. Fredrik Montelius, Sweden. >On Tue, 6 Feb 1996 16:26:30 -0500, sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se >(Fredrik Montelius) wrote: > >>>Comment to the "Protest Unconstitutional Bill": The "Protest >>Unconstitutional Bill" was sent to theos-buds pleading members of the TS to >>"sign" the protest referring to the notion that freedom of thought is a >>central belief among American Theosophists. But let's pause to think for a >>moment what it all means before we jump to conclusions. > >snip out a lot..................... > >This response is much as I thought would come from *some* parts of the >theosophical community, and beyond saying that I disagree, I will not >comment on its content (except to say that the author should study >paragraphing). > >However, the author makes a statement that I find profoundly >distressing - > >Quote: > >>.....................................Did not HPB rage against >>the media and did she not just hate all the "mental pollution" (my >>expression) distributed by newspapers (and I am more than certain she would >>include any other media operating today) saying that journalists were >>responsible for spreading mental diseases by writing articles in an >>unresponsible manner, >> and did she not say that the Masters had said there > ^^^^^^^ > >>would some day in an unspecified future be neccesary to appoint an entirely >>new police force, a "thought police" unit, to defend people against > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>destructive thinking? > >End Quote. > >As I have stated before, I did not join a theosophical organization >out of "belief" in any doctrine proposed by HPB or her teacher, in >fact, I openly admit that I do not hold such beliefs, but rather, I >joined from respect for the principles and character of the founders >as reflected in current organization. This quote, coming from an >individual who identifies himself as a member of ULT - self-proclaimed >guardians of the veracity and authenticity of the original thought of >HPB - causes me to question whether the founders deserve my respect. > >I sincerely call upon any knowledgable theosophist to either >authenticate or show to be false this assertion that HPB at any time, >for any reason, entertained the idea that "thought police" to keep us >fro "destructive" thinking was a reasonable proposition. > >This is deeply serious to me. I cannot respect any organization that >honors a person who could promote such an idea. I hope this is just a >misunderstanding. On the other hand, if it can be shown that HPB did >hold and promote such an idea then I will feel compelled to resign >from my affiliation from any TS organization I may belong to. > > ******************************** > * gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu * > * gbartle@bdt.com * > * 102670,1224@compuserve.com * > ******************************** > From sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se Wed Feb 7 23:07:17 1996 Date: Thu, 8 Feb 96 00:07:17 +0100 From: sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) Subject: Re: 3 Protest Unconstitutional Bill Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-Id: >Responding to Gregg Bartle > >>>Alexis D. >>>the adeptii-illuminatii-Masters would be truly agast at the idea of a "thought >>>police" they stand for illimitable human liberty and as a result of that >>>liberty illimitable human evolution. >What doesn't wash much with me, is the idea that HPB had the idea of thought >police in a fascist sense in her mind. > >"1984" hadn't been written then. > >I can see a need for the *positive* aspect of policing, ie protection, in >the area of mental and emotional energy, especially as minds get >stronger and occult knowledge becomes more widespread. > >Legislated controls on advertising are a gesture in this direction. > >The fact that human police forces don't always carry out their protective >role with wisdom and completeness is not much reason to suspect HPB of >subscribing to their failings. > >Peace > >Murray Stentiford >Member, Theosophy International, TS in New Zealand > Comment intended mainly for Mr Murray Stentiford and Mr Gregg Bartle; from Fredrik Montelius, Sweden: A word of thanks to Mr Stentiford regarding my comment on the Masters. After, to my best capacity, consulting the writings, I understand that I have failed to distinguish between my stating the Masters feeling the need to appoint a *thought police* and, as I SHOULD have written, a PROPHECY such a thing will once see the light of day. Personally, I am not wholly against the idea for the reasons stated by Mr Stentiford, but my PERSONAL view in this matter has NOTHING to do with the Theosophical teachings and should therefore not be mixed with the views of the Masters. The error is, naturally, all mine. Fredrik Montelius, Sweden. > From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Wed Feb 7 23:04:50 1996 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA24173 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 7 Feb 1996 19:38:31 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id af02127; 7 Feb 96 23:30 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa29040; 7 Feb 96 23:29 GMT Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 23:04:50 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Do not depair! In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 In message , Fredrik Montelius writes >Response to Mr. Gregg Bartle from Fredrik Montelius, Sweden: >Please do not despair on the basis >of this or that one single >fellow (?) Theosophist. >Your personal perception of the Theosophical body of work > is as valid, nay, MORE valid >(to you) than any one other's. >Our various paths will necessarily vary. I have sent e-mail to Gregg Bartle saying much the same thing. There are possibly as many variations of theosophical work as there are theosophists! Alan Bain --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Wed Feb 7 16:37:22 1996 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA14131 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 7 Feb 1996 11:54:23 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id as15147; 7 Feb 96 16:47 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa18184; 7 Feb 96 16:39 GMT Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 16:37:22 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: Key to Theosophy (KEY03.TXT) Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY03.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker, Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain. _____________________________________________________________ The Policy of the Theosophical Society Q. In the days of Ammonius there were several ancient great religions, and numerous were the sects in Egypt and Palestine alone. How could he reconcile them? A. By doing that which we again try to do now. The Neo-Platonists were a large body, and belonged to various religious philosophies; so do our Theosophists. It was under Philadelphus that Judaism established itself in Alexandria, and forthwith the Hellenic teachers became the dangerous rivals of the College of Rabbis of Babylon. As the author of _The Eclectic Philosophy_ very pertinently remarks: "The Buddhist, Vedantic, and Magian systems were expounded along with the philosophies of Greece at that period. It was not wonderful that thoughtful men supposed that the strife of words ought to cease, and considered it possible to extract one harmonious system from these various teachings - Panaetius, Athenagoras, and Clement were thoroughly instructed in Platonic philosophy, and comprehended its essential unity with the Oriental systems." In those days, the Jew Aristobulus affirmed that the ethics of Aristotle represented the _esoteric_ teachings of the Law of Moses; Philo Judaeus endeavored to reconcile the _Pentateuch_ with the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy; and Josephus proved that the Essenes of Carmel were simply the copyists and followers of the Egyptian Therapeutae (the healers). So it is in our day. We can show the line of descent of every Christian religion, as of every, even the smallest, sect. The latter are the minor twigs or shoots grown on the larger branches; but shoots and branches spring from the same trunk - the WISDOM-RELIGION. To prove this was the aim of Ammonius, who endeavored to induce Gentiles and Christians, Jews and Idolaters, to lay aside their contention and strife, remembering only that they were all in possession of the same truth under various vestments, and were all the children of a common mother. This is the aim of Theosophy likewise. Says Mosheim of Ammonius: "Conceiving that not only the philosophers of Greece, but also all those of the different barbarian nations, were perfectly in unison with each other with regard to every essential point, he made it his business so to expound the thousand tenets of all these various sects as to show they had all originated from one and the same source, and tended all to one and the same end." If the writer on Ammonius in the _Edinburgh Encyclopedia_ knows what he is talking about, then he describes the modern Theosophists, their beliefs, and their work, for he says, speaking of the _Theodidaktos:_ "He adopted the doctrines which were received in Egypt (the esoteric were those of India) concerning the Universe and the Deity, considered as constituting one great whole; concerning the eternity of the world - and established a system of moral discipline which allowed the people in general to live according to the laws of their country and the dictates of nature, but required the wise to exalt their mind by contemplation." Q. What is your authority for saying this of the ancient Theosophists of Alexandria? A. An almost countless number of well-known writers. Mosheim, one of them, says that: "Ammonius taught that the religion of the multitude went hand-in-hand with philosophy, and with her had shared the fate of being by degrees corrupted and obscured with mere human conceits, superstitions, and lies; that it ought, therefore, to be brought back to its original purity by purging it of this dross and expounding it upon philosophical principles; and the whole Christ had in view was to reinstate and restore to its primitive integrity the wisdom of the ancients; to reduce within bounds the universally-prevailing dominion of superstition; and in part to correct, and in part to exterminate the various errors that had found their way into the different popular religions." This, again, is precisely what the modern Theosophists say. Only while the great Philaletheian was supported and helped in the policy he pursued by two Church Fathers, Clement and Athenagoras, by all the learned Rabbis of the Synagogue, the Academy and the Groves, and while he taught a common doctrine for all, we, his followers on the same line, receive no recognition, but, on the contrary, are abused and persecuted. People 1,500 years ago are thus shown to have been more tolerant than they are in this _enlightened_ century. Q .Was he encouraged and supported by the Church because, notwithstanding his heresies, Ammonius taught Christianity and was a Christian? A. Not at all. He was born a Christian, but never accepted Church Christianity. As said of him by the same writer: "He had but to propound his instructions according to the ancient pillars of Hermes, which Plato and Pythagoras knew before, and from them constituted their philosophy. Finding the same in the prologue of the Gospel according to St. John, he very properly supposed that the purpose of Jesus was to restore the great doctrine of wisdom in its primitive integrity. The narratives of the Bible and the stories of the gods he considered to be allegories illustrative of the truth, or else fables to be rejected. As says the _Edinburgh Encyclopedia:_ "Moreover, he acknowledged that Jesus Christ was an excellent _man_ and the "friend of God," but alleged that it was not his design entirely to abolish the worship of demons (gods), and that his only intention was to purify the ancient religion." --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Wed Feb 7 21:47:49 1996 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA22418 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 7 Feb 1996 19:16:07 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id av29509; 7 Feb 96 23:09 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa20941; 7 Feb 96 22:59 GMT Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 21:47:49 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: KEY04.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY04.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker, Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain. _____________________________________________________________ The Wisdom-Religion, Esoteric in All Ages Q. Since Ammonius never committed anything to writing, how can one feel sure that such were his teachings? A. Neither did Buddha, Pythagoras, Confucius, Orpheus, Socrates, or even Jesus, leave behind them any writings. Yet most of these are historical personages, and their teachings have all survived. The disciples of Ammonius (among whom Origen and Herennius) wrote treatises and explained his ethics. Certainly the latter are as historical, if not more so, than the Apostolic writings. Moreover, his pupils - Origen, Plotinus, and Longinus (counselor of the famous Queen Zenobia) - have all left voluminous records of the Philaletheian System - so far, at all events, as their public profession of faith was known, for the school was divided into exoteric and _esoteric_ teachings. Q. How have the latter tenets reached our day, since you hold that what is properly called the WISDOM-RELIGION was esoteric? A. The WISDOM-RELIGION was ever one, and being the last word of possible human knowledge, was, therefore, carefully preserved. It preceded by long ages the Alexandrian Theosophists, reached the modern, and will survive every other religion and philosophy. Q. Where and by whom was it so preserved? A. Among Initiates of every country; among profound seekers after truth - their disciples; and in those parts of the world where such topics have always been most valued and pursued: in India, Central Asia, and Persia. Q. Can you give me some proofs of its esotericism? A. The best proof you can have of the fact is that every ancient religious, or rather philosophical, cult consisted of an esoteric or secret teaching, and an exoteric (outward public) worship. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that the MYSTERIES of the ancients comprised with every nation the "greater" (secret) and "Lesser" (public) MYSTERIES - e.g., in the celebrated solemnities called the _Eleusinia,_ in Greece. From the Hierophants of Samothrace, Egypt, and the initiated Brahmins of the India of old, down to the later Hebrew Rabbis, all preserved, for fear of profanation, their real _bona fide_ beliefs secret. The Jewish Rabbis called their secular religious series the _Merkabah_ (the exterior body), "the vehicle," or, _the covering which contains the hidden soul_ - i.e., their highest secret knowledge. Not one of the ancient nations ever imparted through its priests its real philosophical secrets to the masses, but allotted to the latter only the husks. Northern Buddhism has its "greater" and its "lesser" vehicle, known as the _Mahayana,_ the esoteric, and the _Hinayana,_ the exoteric, Schools. Nor can you blame them for such secrecy; for surely you would not think of feeding your flock of sheep on learned dissertations on botany instead of on grass? Pythagoras called his _Gnosis_ "the knowledge of things that are," [Greek phrase in the oroginal here] and preserved that knowledge for his pledged disciples only: for those who could digest such mental food and feel satisfied; and he pledged them to silence and secrecy. Occult alphabets and secret ciphers are the development of the old Egyptian _hieratic_ writings, the secret of which was, in the days of old, in the possession only of the Hierogrammatists, or initiated Egyptian priests. Ammonius Saccas, as his biographers tell us, bound his pupils by oath not to divulge _his higher doctrines_ except to those who had already been instructed in preliminary knowledge, and who were also bound by a pledge. Finally, do we not find the same even in early Christianity, among the Gnostics, and even in the teachings of Christ? Did he not speak to the multitudes in parables which had a two-fold meaning, and explain his reasons only to his disciples? He says: "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables" - {Mark 4:11.} The Essenes of Judea and Carmel made similar distinctions, dividing their adherents into neophytes, brethren, and the _perfect,_ or those initiated. - {Wilder, Professor Alexander, F.T.S., _The Eclectic Philosophy._} Examples might be brought from every country to this effect. Q. Can you attain the "Secret Wisdom" simply by study? Encyclopedias define _Theosophy_ pretty much as Webster's Dictionary does, i.e., as "- supposed intercourse with God and superior spirits, and consequent attainment of superhuman knowledge by physical means and chemical processes." Is this so? A. I think not. Nor is there any lexicographer capable of explaining, whether to himself or others, how _superhuman_ knowledge can be attained by _physical_ or chemical processes. Had Webster said "by _metaphysical_ and alchemical processes," the definition would be approximately correct: as it is, it is absurd. Ancient Theosophists claimed, and so do the modern, that the infinite cannot be known by the finite - i.e., sensed by the finite Self - but that the divine essence could be com- municated to the higher Spiritual Self in a state of ecstasy. This condition can hardly be attained, like _hypnotism,_ by "physical and chemical means." Q. What is your explanation of it? A. Real ecstasy was defined by Plotinus as "the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness, becoming one and identified with the infinite." This is the highest condition, says Professor Wilder, but not one of permanent duration, and it is reached only by the very, _very_ few. It is, indeed, identical with that state which is known in India as _Samadhi._ The latter is practiced by the Yogis, who facilitate it physically by the greatest abstinence in food and drink, and mentally by an incessant endeavor to purify and elevate the mind. Meditation is silent and _unuttered_ prayer, or, as Plato expressed it, "- the ardent turning of the soul toward the divine; not to ask any particular good (as in the common meaning of prayer), but for good itself - for the universal Supreme Good -" - of which we are a part on earth, and out of the essence of which we have all emerged. Therefore, adds Plato, "Remain silent in the presence of the _divine ones,_ till they remove the clouds from thy eyes and enable thee to see by the light which issues from themselves, not what appears as good to thee, but what is intrinsically good." This is what the scholarly author of _The Eclectic Philosophy,_ Professor Alexander Wilder, F.T.S., describes as "spiritual photography": "The soul is the camera in which facts and events, future, past, and present, are alike fixed; and the mind becomes conscious of them. Beyond our everyday world of limits all is one day or state - the past and future comprised in the present. - Death is the last _ecstasis_ on earth. Then the soul is freed from the constraint of the body, and its nobler part is united to higher nature and becomes partaker in the wisdom and foreknowledge of the higher beings." Real Theosophy is, for the mystics, that state which Apollonius of Tyana was made to describe thus: "I can see the present and the future as in a clear mirror. The sage need not wait for the vapors of the earth and the corruption of the air to foresee events - The _theoi,_ or gods, see the future; common men the present, sages that which is about to take place." "The Theosophy of the Sages" he speaks of is well expressed in the assertion, "The Kingdom of God is within us." Q. Theosophy, then, is not, as held by some, a newly devised scheme? A. Only ignorant people can thus refer to it. It is as old as the world, in its teachings and ethics, if not in name, as it is also the broadest and most catholic system among all. Q. How comes it, then, that Theosophy has remained so unknown to the nations of the Western Hemisphere? Why should it have been a sealed book to races confessedly the most cultured and advanced? A. We believe there were nations as cultured in days of old and certainly more spiritually "advanced" than we are. But there are several reasons for this willing ignorance. One of them was given by St. Paul to the cultured Athenians - a loss, for long centuries, of real spiritual insight, and even interest, owing to their too great devotion to things of sense and their long slavery to the dead letter of dogma and ritualism. But the strongest reason for it lies in the fact that real Theosophy has ever been kept secret. Q. You have brought forward proofs that such secrecy has existed; but what was the real cause for it? A. The causes for it were: 1. The perversity of average human nature and its selfishness, always tending to the gratification of _personal_ desires to the detriment of neighbors arid next of kin. Such people could never be entrusted with _divine_ secrets. 2. Their unreliability to keep the sacred and divine knowledge from desecration. It is the latter that led to the perversion of the most sublime truths and symbols, and to the gradual transformation of things spiritual into anthropomorphic, concrete, and gross imagery - in other words, to the dwarfing of the god-idea and to idolatry. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Thu Feb 8 14:28:45 1996 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA01067 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Thu, 8 Feb 1996 10:34:17 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id ac26857; 8 Feb 96 15:16 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id ab25311; 8 Feb 96 15:10 GMT Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 14:28:45 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: No thought police. In-Reply-To: <3118d0e5.417210@uclink.berkeley.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <3118d0e5.417210@uclink.berkeley.edu>, Gregg Bartle writes >I hope to find out that this attribution of fascist thinking to HPB, >and via her to the Masters, is simply false. Explanations on the lines >of -'well, it might be so, but she probably didn't really mean it, and >the Masters had a good chuckle' - don't wash any dirty linen with me, >in fact they upset me more. > > > > Peace to all beings - > > Gregg Bartle, member Theosophy International The following suggests that HPB would not have given credence to the idea of "Thought Police." HPB on *thought* (SD Vol II). (Different editions will give different page numbers): "LUCIFER - the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought - is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the LOGOS in his highest, and the " Adversary" in his lowest aspect - both of which are reflected in our Ego." "In our day of dreary soul-killing materialism, the ancient priest Initiates have become, in the opinion of our learned generations, the synonyms of clever impostors, kindling the fires of superstition in order to obtain an easier sway over the minds of men. This is an unfounded calumny, generated by scepticism and uncharitable thoughts." Alan --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Thu Feb 8 12:51:22 1996 Received: from ginger.vnet.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA01411 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Thu, 8 Feb 1996 10:37:35 -0500 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net (relay-4.mail.demon.net [158.152.1.108]) by ginger.vnet.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id KAA22251 for ; Thu, 8 Feb 1996 10:28:02 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id ab26893; 8 Feb 96 15:16 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa25368; 8 Feb 96 15:10 GMT Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 12:51:22 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: TI Mime-Version: 1.0 There seem to be some new names appearing on the list(s), so .... :-): THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL comprises those who subscribe to the Three Objects of the TS, but in a more up-to-date form based on suggestions by members of the internet community, and expressed thus: 1. To form a nucleus within the universal human family, without discrimination with regard to sex (including sexual orientation), creed, class, or color. 2. To encourage and engage in the study of comparative religion, theosophy, philosophy, and the scientific method, according to individual ability and inclination. 3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature and unrealized human potential and abilities, at the same time respecting _all_ life. THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL is simply a Theosophical Network, whereby it is sufficient to declare one's sympathy and/or allegiance to the Three Objects, and to be registered as having done so. No belief system is required _nor assumed to be held_ by any member. There are no fees, no subscriptions, although voluntary donations and/or contributions _could_ be made to specific projects or even individuals for particular and specified purposes. As THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL does not have and does not need rules, whether anyone participates in or supports any such activity is an entirely personal matter. We do hope to be of service, and to share what we have with others in amity with all theosophical organizations. ------------------------ Total confirmed membership to date: 28 members in five countries. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From Drpsionic@aol.com Thu Feb 8 16:23:16 1996 Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 11:23:16 -0500 From: Drpsionic@aol.com Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <960208112315_316218944@emout04.mail.aol.com> Dear Murray, Perhaps things are different in New Zealand, but in the US we consider any attempt to control ideas to be very bad indeed, no matter what the idea. This creates certain tensions in our society, but as a people we tend to believe that you can never have too much freedom and people who think otherwise learn very quickly how little attention we pay to their laws. Chuck Member TI Heretic Troublemaker From gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu Thu Feb 8 16:48:53 1996 Date: Thu, 08 Feb 1996 16:48:53 GMT From: gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu (Gregg Bartle) Subject: Re: 3 Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <311a22ac.455218@uclink.berkeley.edu> References: In-Reply-To: On Wed, 7 Feb 1996 18:07:30 -0500, sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) wrote: >I understand that I have failed to distinguish >between my stating the Masters feeling the need to appoint a *thought >police* and, > as I SHOULD have written, a PROPHECY such a thing will once see the light >of day. >Personally, I am not wholly against the idea for the reasons stated by Mr >Stentiford, but my PERSONAL view in this matter >has NOTHING to do with the Theosophical teachings >and should therefore not be mixed with the views of the Masters. Thank you for this clarification. I should apologize myself for being a bit explosive. The issue at hand is one that should be reasonably debatable among reasonable people. Still, I admit to being almost an absolutist when it comes to civil liberties, so the implication that HPB *advocated* the policing idea naturally pressed all my hot buttons. At another time, perhaps, we may want to discuss the issue of a theosophical, or even just spiritual, approach to civil liberties. There are clearly some differences among us, and such a discussion may even help our thinking on some other issues that have concerned these lists in the past, i.e. democracy in the TS organizations. Well, this little teapot is declaring the tempest quelled, and I hope we remain friends. ---By the way--- I haven't gotten any mail from the theos-l list in over 2 days, even though I have been sending mail to there (including a reposting (sent twice) of my original message that started this thread). Normally, I would at least see my own messages come back. Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just me or is the theos-l list having trouble? Peace to all beings - Gregg Bartle, member Theosophy International From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Thu Feb 8 21:42:13 1996 Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA15547 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Thu, 8 Feb 1996 18:57:22 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id av00632; 8 Feb 96 23:19 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa14301; 8 Feb 96 23:14 GMT Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 21:42:13 +0000 Message-Id: From: ti Subject: KEY05.TXT (Key to Theosophy - HPB) Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY05.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker, Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain. _____________________________________________________________ Theosophy is Not Buddhism Q. You are often spoken of as "Esoteric Buddhists." Are you then all followers of Gautama Buddha? A. No more than musicians are all followers of Wagner. Some of us are Buddhists by religion; yet there are far more Hindus and Brahmins than Buddhists among us, and more Christian-born Europeans and Americans than _converted_ Buddhists. The mistake has arisen from a misunderstanding of the real meaning of the title of Mr. Sinnett's excellent work, _Esoteric Buddhism,_ which last word ought to have been spelt _with one, instead of two, d's,_ as then _Budhism_ would have meant what it was intended for, merely "Wisdom-_ism_" (Bodha, bodhi, "intelligence," "wisdom") instead of _Buddhism,_ Gautama's religious philosophy. Theosophy, as already said, is the WISDOM- RELIGION. Q. What is the difference between Buddhism, the religion founded by the Prince of Kapilavastu, and _Budhism,_ the "Wisdomism" which you say is synonymous with Theosophy? A. Just the same difference as there is between the secret teachings of Christ, which are called "the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven," and the later ritualism and dogmatic theology of the Churches and Sects. _Buddha_ means the "Enlightened" by _Bodha,_ or understanding, Wisdom. This has passed root and branch into the _esoteric_ teachings that Gautama imparted to his chosen _Arhats_ only. Q. But some Orientalists deny that Buddha ever taught any esoteric doctrine at all? A. They may as well deny that Nature has any hidden secrets for the men of science. Further on I will prove it by Buddha's conversation with his disciple Ananda. His esoteric teachings were simply the _Gupta-Vidya_ (secret knowledge) of the ancient Brahmins, the key to which their modern successors have, with few exceptions, completely lost. And this _Vidya_ has passed into what is now known as the _inner_ teachings of the _Mahayana_ school of Northern Buddhism. Those who deny it are simply ignorant pretenders to Orientalism. I advise you to read the Rev. Mr. Edkin's _Chinese Buddhism_ - especially the chapters on the Exoteric and _Esoteric_ schools and teachings - and then compare the testimony of the whole ancient world upon the subject. Q. But are not the ethics of Theosophy identical with those taught by Buddha? Certainly, because these ethics are the soul of the Wisdom-Religion, and were once the common property of the initiates of all nations. But Buddha was the first to embody these lofty ethics in his public teachings, and to make them the foundation and the very essence of his public system. It is herein that lies the immense difference between exoteric Buddhism and every other religion. For while in other religions ritualism and dogma hold the first and most important place, in Buddhism it is the ethics which have always been the most insisted upon. This accounts for the resemblance, amounting almost to identity, between the ethics of Theosophy and those of the religion of Buddha. Q. Are there any great points of difference? A. One great distinction between Theosophy and _exoteric_ Buddhism is that the latter, represented by the Southern Church, entirely denies (a) the existence of any Deity, and (b) any conscious _postmortem_ life, or even any self-conscious surviving individuality in man. Such at least is the teaching of the Siamese sect, now considered as the _purest_ form of exoteric Buddhism. And it is so, if we refer only to Buddha's public teachings; the reason for such reticence on his part I will give further on. But the schools of the Northern Buddhist Church, established in those countries to which his initiated Arhats retired after the Master's death, teach all that is now called Theosophical doctrines, because they form part of the knowledge of the initiates - thus proving how the truth has been sacrificed to the dead-letter by the too-zealous orthodoxy of Southern Buddhism. But how much grander and more noble, more philosophical and scientific, even in its dead-letter, is this teaching than that of any other Church or religion. Yet Theosophy is not Buddhism. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From alexei@slip.net Fri Feb 9 20:00:18 1996 Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 12:00:18 -0800 From: alexis dolgorukii Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602092000.MAA04108@slip-1.slip.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:37 AM 2/8/96 -0500, you wrote: >Dear Murray, >Perhaps things are different in New Zealand, but in the US we consider any >attempt to control ideas to be very bad indeed, no matter what the idea. > This creates certain tensions in our society, but as a people we tend to >believe that you can never have too much freedom and people who think >otherwise learn very quickly how little attention we pay to their laws. >Chuck >Member TI >Heretic >Troublemaker > >Note to all who are interested: President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Bill, which was badly needed. It is important to remember that the censorship of the Inter-net was a "rider" to that bill attached by Senator James Exxon. That's one of america's big problems, ill intended people put really nasty or self-serving "riders" on to bills providing vital services and, in effect, Blackmail the President into signing the Bill. The Budget Bill is a prime example of this. But it is true too, that at almost the moment of signing the bill, law suits challanging its constitutionality were filed. It is almost certain that the courts will rejct that portion of the bill as clearly contravening the "Free Speech" provisions of the american Constituion. Most American's see free speech as probably the most vital of our vaunted "Freedoms". I do too! alexis dolgorukii, member T.I.> From alexei@slip.net Fri Feb 9 23:51:00 1996 Received: from ginger.vnet.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA03968 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Fri, 9 Feb 1996 18:53:34 -0500 Received: from slip.net (slip-3.slip.net [204.160.88.17]) by ginger.vnet.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id SAA29966 for ; Fri, 9 Feb 1996 18:40:50 -0500 Received: from slip.net.slip.net by slip.net with smtp (Smail3.1.29.1 #1) id m0tl2bT-000JhlC; Fri, 9 Feb 96 15:51 PST Date: Fri, 9 Feb 96 15:51 PST Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: alexis dolgorukii Subject: Re: 3 Protest Unconstitutional Bill At 04:10 PM 2/9/96 -0500, you wrote: >On Wed, 7 Feb 1996 18:07:30 -0500, sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se >(Fredrik Montelius) wrote: > > >>I understand that I have failed to distinguish >>between my stating the Masters feeling the need to appoint a *thought >>police* and, >> as I SHOULD have written, a PROPHECY such a thing will once see the light >>of day. >>Personally, I am not wholly against the idea for the reasons stated by Mr >>Stentiford, but my PERSONAL view in this matter >>has NOTHING to do with the Theosophical teachings >>and should therefore not be mixed with the views of the Masters. > >Thank you for this clarification. I should apologize myself for being >a bit explosive. The issue at hand is one that should be reasonably >debatable among reasonable people. Still, I admit to being almost an >absolutist when it comes to civil liberties, so the implication that >HPB *advocated* the policing idea naturally pressed all my hot >buttons. > >At another time, perhaps, we may want to discuss the issue of a >theosophical, or even just spiritual, approach to civil liberties. >There are clearly some differences among us, and such a discussion may >even help our thinking on some other issues that have concerned these >lists in the past, i.e. democracy in the TS organizations. > >Well, this little teapot is declaring the tempest quelled, and I hope >we remain friends. > >---By the way--- I haven't gotten any mail from the theos-l list in >over 2 days, even though I have been sending mail to there (including >a reposting (sent twice) of my original message that started this >thread). Normally, I would at least see my own messages come back. >Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just me or is the theos-l >list having trouble? > > > Peace to all beings - > > Gregg Bartle, member Theosophy International > >Greg: That seems to happen to me too, bread is cast upon the waters and sinks completely out of sight. I leave messages and some of them are responded to and others might never have been sent for all I know. Do let me know if this gets to you. It is my opinion that both H.P.B., her "assocates' and theosophy in genergal are as entirely prod-liberty and freedom as you are. It is my strongest belief that the advancement of illimitable liberty was the primary motivation for and behind the founding of the theosophical movement. It only needs enough theosophists dedicated to those goals to make them attainable. In the time since H.P.B. died there has been a theolization for theospy and an absolutist approach has crept into people's attitudes toward H.P.B., her "associates", and the documentation she produced, such as the Secret Doctrine. Some folks have taken to treating theosophy the way Pat Robertson treat his religion. But theosophy was never intended to be a religion. You made a good decision when you made theosophy a part of your life, the hard part will be the effort necessary to make theosophy what you hoped it was. But, you are anything but alone as perusal of this list should demonstrate. Cordially alexis dolgorukii, member theosophy international aetheling, gad-fly From liesel@dreamscape.com Sat Feb 10 01:19:52 1996 Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1996 20:19:52 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: 3 Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602100121.UAA04245@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Gregg, My messages from theos-l have been coming through just fine. As for seeing red re civil liberties, I don't think anyone on this list would think ill of you you for that. I think we're for protecting civil liberties. I myself am very sensitive to them, having gotten out of Nazi Germany 3 months after Hitler got elected, & then watching, from afar, how that whole scenario developed. I can smell a breech of civil liberties from 10 miles away. Liesel, Member TI,HR, 5thRR .............................................................................. >On Wed, 7 Feb 1996 18:07:30 -0500, sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se >(Fredrik Montelius) wrote: > > >>I understand that I have failed to distinguish >>between my stating the Masters feeling the need to appoint a *thought >>police* and, >> as I SHOULD have written, a PROPHECY such a thing will once see the light >>of day. >>Personally, I am not wholly against the idea for the reasons stated by Mr >>Stentiford, but my PERSONAL view in this matter >>has NOTHING to do with the Theosophical teachings >>and should therefore not be mixed with the views of the Masters. > >Thank you for this clarification. I should apologize myself for being >a bit explosive. The issue at hand is one that should be reasonably >debatable among reasonable people. Still, I admit to being almost an >absolutist when it comes to civil liberties, so the implication that >HPB *advocated* the policing idea naturally pressed all my hot >buttons. > >At another time, perhaps, we may want to discuss the issue of a >theosophical, or even just spiritual, approach to civil liberties. >There are clearly some differences among us, and such a discussion may >even help our thinking on some other issues that have concerned these >lists in the past, i.e. democracy in the TS organizations. > >Well, this little teapot is declaring the tempest quelled, and I hope >we remain friends. > >---By the way--- I haven't gotten any mail from the theos-l list in >over 2 days, even though I have been sending mail to there (including >a reposting (sent twice) of my original message that started this >thread). Normally, I would at least see my own messages come back. >Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just me or is the theos-l >list having trouble? > > > Peace to all beings - > > Gregg Bartle, member Theosophy International > > From liesel@dreamscape.com Sat Feb 10 02:49:12 1996 Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1996 21:49:12 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602100251.VAA08296@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I need to add a problem to what Alexis said, because I too believe in the freedom of speech, & something occurred here locally, & I don't know how I would deal with it. 2 Grammar school boys got instructions from the Internet about how to make a primitive bomb. They had already tried it out, & were getting ready to bomb their school, when they got caught. I'd like to get some opinions of others on this net as to how they would handle this, not the boys so much, but the fact that someone can put on the internet instructions on how to make a bomb for kids to learn. How do you deal with this? Liesel Member TI, HR, 5thRR ............................................................................ >At 11:37 AM 2/8/96 -0500, you wrote: >>Dear Murray, >>Perhaps things are different in New Zealand, but in the US we consider any >>attempt to control ideas to be very bad indeed, no matter what the idea. >> This creates certain tensions in our society, but as a people we tend to >>believe that you can never have too much freedom and people who think >>otherwise learn very quickly how little attention we pay to their laws. >>Chuck >>Member TI >>Heretic >>Troublemaker >> >>Note to all who are interested: > >President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Bill, which was badly >needed. It is important to remember that the censorship of the Inter-net was >a "rider" to that bill attached by Senator James Exxon. That's one of >america's big problems, ill intended people put really nasty or self-serving >"riders" on to bills providing vital services and, in effect, Blackmail the >President into signing the Bill. The Budget Bill is a prime example of this. >But it is true too, that at almost the moment of signing the bill, law suits >challanging its constitutionality were filed. It is almost certain that the >courts will rejct that portion of the bill as clearly contravening the "Free >Speech" provisions of the american Constituion. Most American's see free >speech as probably the most vital of our vaunted "Freedoms". I do too! > >alexis dolgorukii, member T.I.> > > > From jrcecon@selway.umt.edu Sat Feb 10 03:38:01 1996 Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 20:38:01 -0700 (MST) From: JRC Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill In-Reply-To: <199602100251.VAA08296@future.dreamscape.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 9 Feb 1996, liesel f. deutsch wrote: > I need to add a problem to what Alexis said, because I too believe in the > freedom of speech, & something occurred here locally, & I don't know how I > would deal with it. 2 Grammar school boys got instructions from the Internet > about how to make a primitive bomb. They had already tried it out, & were > getting ready to bomb their school, when they got caught. I'd like to get > some opinions of others on this net as to how they would handle this, not > the boys so much, but the fact that someone can put on the internet > instructions on how to make a bomb for kids to learn. How do you deal with this? > Liesel > Member TI, HR, 5thRR Liesel ... This sounds like a nasty, and obviously terribly dangerous situation, but I would tend to distinguish between cause and means in questioning what to do about it ... I guess I think the Internet, in this case, had but the tiniest part to play: The sad fact is that for various reasons the American family is in really bad shape, and fractured children will come out of fractured homes. True enough, grammer school kids can get access to a number of things highly inappropriate for children on the Internet, but in the larger picture the Net is but a miniscule threat - the much deeper issue is the violence itself ... for every one kid that can find information about how to make a bomb from the Net, there are a thousand that already have guns in their hands; the root question (IMO) is, from where comes the intent to bomb a school? From where comes the desire to buy guns? I remember my own grammer school days, and even if someone had just handed me or my classmates bomb instructions, it just simply wouldn't have occured to us to actually blow up the school ... and even if we found a gun in the playground, without thinking we probably would have just given it to a teacher. I'm glad you mentioned this, however, as I'd love to see this turn into a discussion. In traditional Theosophical writings there is immensely complex discussions of esoteric truths ... but if the final goal is the moral elevation of humanity, the very core of the practical expression of this must finally reduce to *childraising* ... to the time of life when the core values and strengths of character are built into the human energy system. We currently have a social mileau in which by the time childen begin adult life so many are already so out of tune, aimed along a trajectory that will just increase this out of tuneness as time goes by - and being out of tune means the personality is broken off from the promptings of the spiritual levels of being, and the gap this causes ... the emptiness this inevitably creates ... causes people to begin living lives in more and more fractured and manic ways .... intentions become low, but without an inner standard are not even felt as being low; significant life choices are made for terrible reasons ... What, then, do you (anybody (-:)?) think Theosophy would have to say about the raising of children - the field is wide open, as in all the thousands of pages of "source" writings very few words are mentioned on the topic. -JRC From NBFM00A@prodigy.com Sat Feb 10 04:41:28 1996 Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1996 23:41:28 EST From: NBFM00A@prodigy.com (MR KENNETH H MALKIN) Subject: list maintainance Message-Id: <013.00799702.NBFM00A@prodigy.com> please delete nbfm00a@prodigy.com from further postings. thank you -M- From gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu Sat Feb 10 05:06:59 1996 From: gbartle@uclink.berkeley.edu (Gregg Bartle) Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 05:06:59 GMT Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <311c2479.1503242@uclink.berkeley.edu> References: In-Reply-To: On Fri, 9 Feb 1996 22:41:50 -0500, you wrote: JRC comments: >What, then, do you (anybody (-:)?) think Theosophy would have to >say about the raising of children - the field is wide open, as in all the >thousands of pages of "source" writings very few words are mentioned on >the topic. I don't have time right now to think through anything for myself on this, but one area that might be interesting (and appropriate for theos-buds) is the influence of Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf Movement. I know he really isn't one of 'our' guys, and I don't have very much info on his educational theories, but its still in our ballpark. Also, my little nephew Miles will be going to a small rural elementary school in a few years where there is a strong Waldorf and Montessori influence (-even though it's a public school - if you're small enough, and you're in Santa Cruz County, CA., the bureaucrats will sometimes look the other way while you try to be good to your kids). Anyway I'd be interested to hear anyones thoughts on this. Peace - Gregg From jrcecon@selway.umt.edu Sat Feb 10 05:39:50 1996 Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 22:39:50 -0700 (MST) From: JRC Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Thought this might be of interest .... its been circulated on several lists. -JRC >Yesterday, that great invertebrate in the White House signed into the law >the Telecom "Reform" Act of 1996, while Tipper Gore took digital >photographs of the proceedings to be included in a book called "24 Hours in >Cyberspace." > >I had also been asked to participate in the creation of this book by >writing something appropriate to the moment. Given the atrocity that this >legislation would seek to inflict on the Net, I decided it was as good a >time as any to dump some tea in the virtual harbor. > >After all, the Telecom "Reform" Act, passed in the Senate with only 5 >dissenting votes, makes it unlawful, and punishable by a $250,000 to say >"shit" online. Or, for that matter, to say any of the other 7 dirty words >prohibited in broadcast media. Or to discuss abortion openly. Or to talk >about any bodily function in any but the most clinical terms. > >It attempts to place more restrictive constraints on the conversation in >Cyberspace than presently exist in the Senate cafeteria, where I have dined >and heard colorful indecencies spoken by United States senators on every >occasion I did. > >This bill was enacted upon us by people who haven't the slightest idea who >we are or where our conversation is being conducted. It is, as my good >friend and Wired Editor Louis Rossetto put it, as though "the illiterate >could tell you what to read." > >Or, more to the point, let us now take our leave of them. They have >declared war on Cyberspace. Let us show them how cunning, baffling, and >powerful we can be in our own defense. _________________________________________________________________________ > >A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace > >Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I >come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask >you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have >no sovereignty where we gather. > >We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address >you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always >speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally >independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral >right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true >reason to fear. > >Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You >have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not >know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your >borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public >construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows >itself through our collective actions. > >You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you >create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our >ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order >than could be obtained by any of your impositions. > >You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this >claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't >exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will >identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social >Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our >world, not yours. Our world is different. > >Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, >arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a >world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live. > >We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice >accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. > >We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her >beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence >or conformity. > >Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and >context do not apply to us. They are based on matter, There is no matter >here. > >Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by >physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, >and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be >distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our >constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope >we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we >cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose. > >In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications >Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams >of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These >dreams must now be born anew in us. > >You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world >where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust >your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly >to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of >humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, >the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes >from the air upon which wings beat. > >In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, >you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at >the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small >time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in >bit-bearing media. > >Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate >themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own >speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be >another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, >whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed >infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires >your factories to accomplish. > >These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same >position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had >to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare >our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to >consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the >Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts. > >We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more >humane and fair than the world your governments have made before. > >Davos, Switzerland >February 8, 1996 > >**************************************************************** >John Perry Barlow, Cognitive Dissident >Co-Founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation From alexei@slip.net Sat Feb 10 08:11:00 1996 Received: from slip.net ([204.160.88.17]) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA16090 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sat, 10 Feb 1996 03:12:50 -0500 Received: from slip.net.slip.net by slip.net with smtp (Smail3.1.29.1 #1) id m0tlAOk-000JeYC; Sat, 10 Feb 96 00:11 PST Date: Sat, 10 Feb 96 00:11 PST Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: alexis dolgorukii Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill At 09:54 PM 2/9/96 -0500, you wrote: >I need to add a problem to what Alexis said, because I too believe in the >freedom of speech, & something occurred here locally, & I don't know how I >would deal with it. 2 Grammar school boys got instructions from the Internet >about how to make a primitive bomb. They had already tried it out, & were >getting ready to bomb their school, when they got caught. I'd like to get >some opinions of others on this net as to how they would handle this, not >the boys so much, but the fact that someone can put on the internet >instructions on how to make a bomb for kids to learn. How do you deal with this? >Liesel >Member TI, HR, 5thRR >............................................................................ > Liesel: I wish I knew an answer to your question, and so does the American Civil Liberty Union. How much freedom is too much freedom? Therre's a theory known as "The Slippery Slope" and those of us who are civil libertarians worrry about it alot. The theory asks at what point does control become oppressive. At what point to our constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression end? Sure it's terrible for young boys to find bomb making instructions on the internet, in fact, no one, young or not really needs bomb making instructions. But if we deny that level of free expression,where will it stop? The problem with the intenet is the immense difficulty in finding out who published suchinformation, and then, prooving that they published it with malice aforethought rather than as an infantile joke. It is usually the practice to try to deal with actions not words, those boys built a bomb, they knew it was wrong to do so, they knew people would be harmed were they to use the bomb. Let's deal with the boys and their bomb. The most important thing involved herein is public education of allpeople. We have got to get it across, somehow, that harming other people isn't anything anyone should want to do. What's the ethical difference between bomb Making and placing "Viruses" on the loose to damage or destroy other peoples computers? What's the difference between bomb making and drive-by shootings? It's the entire ethical fibre of this nation that's in bad condition and giving up our freedoms to "deal with" all this violence etc. is probably the worst possible way to do it. It's a terrific conundrum and one which theosophists should be concerned for unless I am terribly mistaken the provision of a far better world to live in is a major part of the original program of the society. I wish I could be more helpful. But in this case the kind of simplistic ansers the Republican Right are proffereing to cure the problem are far, far, worse tha the problem. alexis dolgorukii > >>At 11:37 AM 2/8/96 -0500, you wrote: >>>Dear Murray, >>>Perhaps things are different in New Zealand, but in the US we consider any >>>attempt to control ideas to be very bad indeed, no matter what the idea. >>> This creates certain tensions in our society, but as a people we tend to >>>believe that you can never have too much freedom and people who think >>>otherwise learn very quickly how little attention we pay to their laws. >>>Chuck >>>Member TI >>>Heretic >>>Troublemaker >>> >>>Note to all who are interested: >> >>President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Bill, which was badly >>needed. It is important to remember that the censorship of the Inter-net was >>a "rider" to that bill attached by Senator James Exxon. That's one of >>america's big problems, ill intended people put really nasty or self-serving >>"riders" on to bills providing vital services and, in effect, Blackmail the >>President into signing the Bill. The Budget Bill is a prime example of this. >>But it is true too, that at almost the moment of signing the bill, law suits >>challanging its constitutionality were filed. It is almost certain that the >>courts will rejct that portion of the bill as clearly contravening the "Free >>Speech" provisions of the american Constituion. Most American's see free >>speech as probably the most vital of our vaunted "Freedoms". I do too! >> >>alexis dolgorukii, member T.I.> From liesel@dreamscape.com Sat Feb 10 18:06:25 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 13:06:25 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602101808.NAA03156@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi, John, Thanks for that reply. I think you're absolutely right. We shouldn't blame the internet, but rather those raising the children. I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but it's sure a very valid argument against censoring. It's like Karma ... laying the blame where it belongs. I hope we do get into a good discussion about it on theos-l. I think most of us have children & we've never discussed anything ab0out them at all. You mention that the subject of raising kids is rarely discussed in TS lit. I know of 2 references: Jinarajadasa, in "The New Humanity of Intuition" wrote a chapter he called "God's Agents - the Children". To quote a little from the first part of his 36pp (given as a speech, it looks like, in 1929) "I must refer to the splendid work done for the physical nature of the child in some countries." "Pestalozzi, Froebel & Montessori.... have focused their attention on the child as a soul, as a psychic & spiritual being" Quoting Pestalozzi "no subject taught is worth a sou if it destroys courage & joy. "Teaching is not the essential principle in education; that principle is love. For love is the eternal emanation of the Divine in us; love is the central point of all education." I believe in that a lot. The things I remember best from all the stuff I was taught as a child are the ones that either my teachers loved to talk about or I loved to do, or both. I still have a great love for Goethe, because my 1st - 4th grade teacher in Germany (eons of years & eons of miles away) loved Goethe & taught us about him, & his mother, & his poetry, & took us to the Goethehaus. I had a year of European History, lovingly & intelligently taught in HS, & I remember quite a bit of it. The next year we had a very humdrum teacher for American History, & I don't remember a thing, except what I picked up as an adult lateron. " Froebel... originated.. Kindergarten...The Kindergarten child, spontaneous & free & happy, is surely what the child should be, rather than the child seated on a bench in rows,'like rows of butterflies transfixed with a pin.'" "Froebel studied... every aspect of life & nature ... so that he might grasp the unity of nature." "Montessori ... 'the child is not a lump of clay we are going to mould. .. The child has a shape of its own, an individuality of its own, & potential energies of its own..... The child ... is eager to awaken & to understand .. & to act..... Parents & teachers interfere ... They suppress him in their attempts to help him, & this is done with the most loving motive of aiding the child.'" For example "They impose upon the child their rhythm, & try to force the child to fit into it. Have you not seen a mother ... holding a child by the hand, & walking at her usual pace as the adult, and the little one making rapid steps to keep pace ?... That is what is happening all the time." Montessori's method "Help me to do it by myself" The other is a paragraph in Leadbeater's "Inner Life", which he calls "Our Attitude towards Children". To quote some of it "They have been entrusted to you, not that you may domineer over them & brutally ill-treat them, & use them for your own profit & advantage, but that you may love them & help them in order that they may be expressions of that divine life. How beyond all words your patience & compassion should be! How deeply you should feel the honour of being trusted to serve them this way! ..... As souls you are all about the same age & therefore your attitude must not be that of a selfish, cruel dictator, but of a helpful friend...."(towards) "a soul wearing a new coat... Remember always that true good means good for all, & that good is never gained at the cost of suffering to others..." Liesel Member TI, HR, 5thRR ........................................................................... >On Fri, 9 Feb 1996, liesel f. deutsch wrote: > >> I need to add a problem to what Alexis said, because I too believe in the >> freedom of speech, & something occurred here locally, & I don't know how I >> would deal with it. 2 Grammar school boys got instructions from the Internet >> about how to make a primitive bomb. They had already tried it out, & were >> getting ready to bomb their school, when they got caught. I'd like to get >> some opinions of others on this net as to how they would handle this, not >> the boys so much, but the fact that someone can put on the internet >> instructions on how to make a bomb for kids to learn. How do you deal with this? >> Liesel >> Member TI, HR, 5thRR > >Liesel ... > This sounds like a nasty, and obviously terribly dangerous >situation, but I would tend to distinguish between cause and means in >questioning what to do about it ... I guess I think the Internet, in this >case, had but the tiniest part to play: > The sad fact is that for various reasons the American family is >in really bad shape, and fractured children will come out of fractured >homes. True enough, grammer school kids can get access to a number of >things highly inappropriate for children on the Internet, but in the >larger picture the Net is but a miniscule threat - the much deeper issue >is the violence itself ... for every one kid that can find information >about how to make a bomb from the Net, there are a thousand that already >have guns in their hands; the root question (IMO) is, from where comes >the intent to bomb a school? From where comes the desire to buy guns? > I remember my own grammer school days, and even if someone had >just handed me or my classmates bomb instructions, it just simply >wouldn't have occured to us to actually blow up the school ... and even >if we found a gun in the playground, without thinking we probably would >have just given it to a teacher. > > I'm glad you mentioned this, however, as I'd love to see this >turn into a discussion. In traditional Theosophical writings there is >immensely complex discussions of esoteric truths ... but if the final >goal is the moral elevation of humanity, the very core of the practical >expression of this must finally reduce to *childraising* ... to the time >of life when the core values and strengths of character are built into >the human energy system. We currently have a social mileau in which by >the time childen begin adult life so many are already so out of tune, >aimed along a trajectory that will just increase this out of tuneness as >time goes by - and being out of tune means the personality is broken off >from the promptings of the spiritual levels of being, and the gap this >causes ... the emptiness this inevitably creates ... causes people to >begin living lives in more and more fractured and manic ways .... >intentions become low, but without an inner standard are not even felt as >being low; significant life choices are made for terrible reasons ... > What, then, do you (anybody (-:)?) think Theosophy would have to >say about the raising of children - the field is wide open, as in all the >thousands of pages of "source" writings very few words are mentioned on >the topic. > -JRC > > From liesel@dreamscape.com Sun Feb 11 02:49:44 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 21:49:44 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Message-Id: <199602110251.VAA00811@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Good for your nephew, Miles. It sound as if he'd actually be going to a school where he'd learn something. Our schools seem to try to improve too. I'm not too much in touch, because my grandkids live in Virginia. My mailing address is Syracuse NY, & the town of Syracuse has several "magnet" schools where they team teach & the kids od projects, & etc. I thought of something else theosophical. There is something called "The Round Table". It's like a club, or Cub Scouts for theosophical kids. Does anyone have any information about the Roundtable? Also, the Order of Service has a unit for parents. There's always a section for parents on theri magazine "For The Love of Life". TOS publishes several children's books. There's 1 on animal stories to which I contributed a story about a Parisian alley cat. There was also an attempt at a children's magazine, which folded after 2 editions. I contributed to that. Liesel Member TI, HR, 5thRR ........................................................................... ..... >On Fri, 9 Feb 1996 22:41:50 -0500, you wrote: >JRC comments: > >>What, then, do you (anybody (-:)?) think Theosophy would have to >>say about the raising of children - the field is wide open, as in all the >>thousands of pages of "source" writings very few words are mentioned on >>the topic. > >I don't have time right now to think through anything for myself on >this, but one area that might be interesting (and appropriate for >theos-buds) is the influence of Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf >Movement. > >I know he really isn't one of 'our' guys, and I don't have very much >info on his educational theories, but its still in our ballpark. Also, >my little nephew Miles will be going to a small rural elementary >school in a few years where there is a strong Waldorf and Montessori >influence (-even though it's a public school - if you're small enough, >and you're in Santa Cruz County, CA., the bureaucrats will sometimes >look the other way while you try to be good to your kids). > >Anyway I'd be interested to hear anyones thoughts on this. > > Peace - > Gregg > > From Richtay@aol.com Sat Feb 10 08:37:13 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 03:37:13 -0500 From: Richtay@aol.com Subject: Good-bye Message-Id: <960210033710_317939177@emout04.mail.aol.com> Unfortunately, on America Online with a Mac, I can neither see who sent the message, nor how long it is. I have to OPEN each and every piece of mail and read it, often through overly-long pastes, until I get down to the new material. And about half the time, I find a sentence or two, which is not even relevant to the subject heading. A small sample of today's banter: Alan: > If we all sent what others regard as our "yuks" privately there would > not be much to read on here ..... ......................................................... > "Truth", you said. > Liesel > Member TI. HR, 5thRR ......................................................... > Ya wanna make sump'n of it? > LFD ............................................................. > No, Alan, > Nicholas wants serious, intellectual discussions ... the Truth, you know, > the Truth! ................................................................. > They were laughing off a disagreement. What's wrong with that? > Liesel ............................................................. > Yeah, > Me too. > LFD ............................................................ > Housebroken, my foot. I don't want to break your house anyway. I'd just like > you to be 1/2 way civil. > LFD? ................................................................. > Yeah. He's living dangerously. He's fallen over one, & it jarred loose his > kundalini. > LFD ............................................................... > Jehne "pseudotheosophy"! > LFD .............................................................. Sadly, I'm tired of wading through this stuff, and I can see from the responses that most of the people who write the one-liners don't care for those of us who suffer for it. Luckily, I am not a helpless victim here--as with the stupidity on television, it can easily be turned off. So have a great discussion, yuks an all, maybe in private e-mail I will hear about some of the highlights. So with this, I have unsubscribed from Theos-L and related lists. Adieu. From jhe@toto.csustan.edu Sun Feb 11 01:44:14 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 17:44:14 -0800 From: Jerry Hejka-Ekins Subject: WQ Judge celebration Message-Id: <9602110144.AA00741@toto.csustan.edu> A Centennial Celebration in Honor of WILLIAM QUAN JUDGE On the weekend of April 12-14, 1996, we are planning a tribute to the tremendous contributions of W.Q. Judge to the Theosophical Movement by holding a retreat conference at Renner Ranch and the Jeffery Hotel in the historic gold mining town of Coulterville California. On Sunday, we will also be celebrating the dedication of a newly acquired 160 acre site in Coulterville, which will be the future home of Alexandria West Academy; a retreat and theosophical research facility. We would like to know if you are interested in attending or contributing to these festivities. We want to encourage you to offer something creative to the group in tribute to Mr. Judge. The specific contribution could vary from a reading or talk to a musical piece or a poem. All suggestions are welcome. Papers, poems or greetings may be offered in absentia. Please e-mail to the address above your interests, and include your snail mail address for further information. Best wishes, Jerry Hejka-Ekins April Hejka-Ekins Lee Renner From sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se Sun Feb 11 10:52:05 1996 Date: Sun, 11 Feb 96 11:52:05 +0100 From: sge95fmo@lustudat.student.lu.se (Fredrik Montelius) Subject: Re: Protest Unconstitutional Bill Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-Id: Liesel argues convincingly against cencoring the Internet, saying we mustn't blame the Internet if (for example) kids - I would include grown-up-kids; i.e. adults, since adults were once kids and act to a greater or lesser degree on basis of how their lives were shaped by interaction with their parents or other people in their vicinity when they were young and, according to theosophical teachings, in earlier lives, and adults often appear to act in a childish manner - misuse knowledge obtained from sources broadcast via the Internet, but blame those raising the kids instead. Naturally, this information can also be obtained from a bookstore or even at school, from schoolmates. (However; the more easily obtainable a piece of information is, the more likely it is it will be used, and also, misused.) It may be wise, though, refraining from blaming others, in the exact meaning of the word. Blame merely acts as a force, pardon the careless use of the word force, to increase suffering with our fellow beings and makes us blind to the good within others and ourselves. Instead, we should look towards our withins, to find out whether we ourselves raise our kids, and ourselves, in a desireable manner. If we honestly can say *yes*, we are a model of a parent. Saying this I want to emphasize that most of us are not model parents and should seek to purge our ends and means by which we try to help our neighbor beings to escalate on the ladder of human development. We should also perhaps more often than we do listen to what our children express in order to better be able to respond to their needs. This will most surely show us that our children are in some instances just as capable of raising us as we are of raising them, sometimes much better. Being theosophists, we realize that we and our children have lived many times before. This implies our children may be much more developed monads than we are ourselves, meaning they may well be more fit to be examples of showing how to lead a good life that promotes human development, beneficial to themselves and subsequently, to all. This is NOT to say we should act according to our personal desires, stepping on everybody else's toes. Any action TRULY beneficial to myself is beneficial to mankind, and vice versa. Fredrik Montelius, ULT, Sweden >Hi, John, >Thanks for that reply. I think you're absolutely right. We shouldn't blame >the internet, but rather those raising the children. I hadn't thought of it >in those terms, but it's sure a very valid argument against censoring. It's >like Karma ... laying the blame where it belongs. I hope we do get into a >good discussion about it on theos-l. I think most of us have children & >we've never discussed anything ab0out them at all. > >You mention that the subject of raising kids is rarely discussed in TS lit. >I know of 2 references: > >Jinarajadasa, in "The New Humanity of Intuition" wrote a chapter he called >"God's Agents - the Children". To quote a little from the first part of his >36pp (given as a speech, it looks like, in 1929) >"I must refer to the splendid work done for the physical nature of the child >in some countries." >"Pestalozzi, Froebel & Montessori.... have focused their attention on the >child as a soul, as a psychic & spiritual being" >Quoting Pestalozzi "no subject taught is worth a sou if it destroys courage >& joy. >"Teaching is not the essential principle in education; that principle is >love. For love is the eternal emanation of the Divine in us; love is the >central point of all education." I believe in that a lot. The things I >remember best from all the stuff I was taught as a child are the ones that >either my teachers loved to talk about or I loved to do, or both. I still >have a great love for Goethe, because my 1st - 4th grade teacher in Germany >(eons of years & eons of miles away) loved Goethe & taught us about him, & >his mother, & his poetry, & took us to the Goethehaus. I had a year of >European History, lovingly & intelligently taught in HS, & I remember quite >a bit of it. The next year we had a very humdrum teacher for American >History, & I don't remember a thing, except what I picked up as an adult >lateron. >" Froebel... originated.. Kindergarten...The Kindergarten child, spontaneous >& free & happy, is surely what the child should be, rather than the child >seated on a bench in rows,'like rows of butterflies transfixed with a pin.'" >"Froebel studied... every aspect of life & nature ... so that he might grasp >the unity of nature." >"Montessori ... 'the child is not a lump of clay we are going to mould. .. >The child has a shape of its own, an individuality of its own, & potential >energies of its own..... The child ... is eager to awaken & to understand >.. & to act..... Parents & teachers interfere ... They suppress him in >their attempts to help him, & this is done with the most loving motive of >aiding the child.'" For example "They impose upon the child their rhythm, & >try to force the child to fit into it. Have you not seen a mother ... >holding a child by the hand, & walking at her usual pace as the adult, and >the little one making rapid steps to keep pace ?... That is what is >happening all the time." >Montessori's method "Help me to do it by myself" > >The other is a paragraph in Leadbeater's "Inner Life", which he calls "Our >Attitude towards Children". >To quote some of it "They have been entrusted to you, not that you may >domineer over them & brutally ill-treat them, & use them for your own profit >& advantage, but that you may love them & help them in order that they may >be expressions of that divine life. How beyond all words your patience & >compassion should be! How deeply you should feel the honour of being trusted >to serve them this way! ..... As souls you are all about the same age & >therefore your attitude must not be that of a selfish, cruel dictator, but >of a helpful friend...."(towards) "a soul wearing a new coat... Remember >always that true good means good for all, & that good is never gained at the >cost of suffering to others..." >Liesel >Member TI, HR, 5thRR >........................................................................... > > > >>On Fri, 9 Feb 1996, liesel f. deutsch wrote: >> >>> I need to add a problem to what Alexis said, because I too believe in the >>> freedom of speech, & something occurred here locally, & I don't know how I >>> would deal with it. 2 Grammar school boys got instructions from the Internet >>> about how to make a primitive bomb. They had already tried it out, & were >>> getting ready to bomb their school, when they got caught. I'd like to get >>> some opinions of others on this net as to how they would handle this, not >>> the boys so much, but the fact that someone can put on the internet >>> instructions on how to make a bomb for kids to learn. How do you deal >with this? >>> Liesel >>> Member TI, HR, 5thRR >> >>Liesel ... >> This sounds like a nasty, and obviously terribly dangerous >>situation, but I would tend to distinguish between cause and means in >>questioning what to do about it ... I guess I think the Internet, in this >>case, had but the tiniest part to play: >> The sad fact is that for various reasons the American family is >>in really bad shape, and fractured children will come out of fractured >>homes. True enough, grammer school kids can get access to a number of >>things highly inappropriate for children on the Internet, but in the >>larger picture the Net is but a miniscule threat - the much deeper issue >>is the violence itself ... for every one kid that can find information >>about how to make a bomb from the Net, there are a thousand that already >>have guns in their hands; the root question (IMO) is, from where comes >>the intent to bomb a school? From where comes the desire to buy guns? >> I remember my own grammer school days, and even if someone had >>just handed me or my classmates bomb instructions, it just simply >>wouldn't have occured to us to actually blow up the school ... and even >>if we found a gun in the playground, without thinking we probably would >>have just given it to a teacher. >> >> I'm glad you mentioned this, however, as I'd love to see this >>turn into a discussion. In traditional Theosophical writings there is >>immensely complex discussions of esoteric truths ... but if the final >>goal is the moral elevation of humanity, the very core of the practical >>expression of this must finally reduce to *childraising* ... to the time >>of life when the core values and strengths of character are built into >>the human energy system. We currently have a social mileau in which by >>the time childen begin adult life so many are already so out of tune, >>aimed along a trajectory that will just increase this out of tuneness as >>time goes by - and being out of tune means the personality is broken off >>from the promptings of the spiritual levels of being, and the gap this >>causes ... the emptiness this inevitably creates ... causes people to >>begin living lives in more and more fractured and manic ways .... >>intentions become low, but without an inner standard are not even felt as >>being low; significant life choices are made for terrible reasons ... >> What, then, do you (anybody (-:)?) think Theosophy would have to >>say about the raising of children - the field is wide open, as in all the >>thousands of pages of "source" writings very few words are mentioned on >>the topic. >> -JRC >> >> > > From am455@lafn.org Sun Feb 11 19:54:33 1996 Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 11:54:33 -0800 From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: Dharma Books Message-Id: <199602111954.AA06900@lafn.org> Of the many books I've read in the past year or two, the following are some of the best. ~The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception~ by Deshung Rinpoche. This is a full (500 pages) commentary on the "Three Visions" root text of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism. Deshung Rinpoche taught in Seattle for many years. ~Life of Shabkar.~ Shabkar was a wandering Nyingma lama (1781-1851) who revered all Dharma practitioners, such as Je Tsongkhapa, a Gelukpa. This is his autobiography that stops at age 57 or so. ~Gems of Dharma~ by Je Gampopa. Gampopa was the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. This is very welcome new translation of his "lam-rim". Guenther's "Jewel Ornament" translation, especially his notes, was never helpful to me. ~Path of Heroes~ by Zhechen Gyaltsab. A two volume mind training text from the Nyingma order. Very beautiful; with Tarthang Tulku's comments at the beginning of each chapter. ~Path to Enlightenment~ by Geshe Thubten Loden. The best lam rim (stages of the path) text based on Je Tsongkhapa's ~Great Lam rim~ I have seen. Over 1000 pages. ~The Pythagorean Sourcebook.~ This was done in the late `80s and has several traditional biogs of Pythagoreas, plus many texts from his school. ~Sai Baba Gita~ by Al Drucker. This is Bhagavan's commentary on key themes in the Bhagavad Gita. The first edition with a different title is better, but it is out of print. Drucker took some liberties with the text, but something is better (in this case) than nothing. ~God Talks to Arjuna~ by Yogananda. This a two volume, lovely, new, much expanded edition of his never-in-book-form commentary on the Gita. Very good and "esoteric" too. -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it. HP Blavatsky From ???@??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000 Date: 13 Feb 96 15:56:55 From: "john.d.tullis" Subject: Re: READ THIS B4 ....etc BAH HUMBUG! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain Mr/Ms Ramadoss, I called the local FCC office in Chicago, and they stated: a) The FCC doesn't disseminate computer virus alerts. b) They haven't heard of any such new terrible Internet virus. c) They have heard before that they supposedly control such announcements, but they do not in fact do so. Therefore, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!! Regards, John From jem@vnet.net Mon Feb 19 19:47:34 1996 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 14:47:34 -0500 From: jem@vnet.net (John E. Mead) Subject: NY Human Service Alliance (A.R.E.) Message-Id: <199602191947.OAA01253@lys.vnet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Any effort to spread the word about the conference described below >regarding how group service work can be effective would be greatly >appreciated. > >Human Service Alliance > >SERVICE FROM THE HEART AND SOUL > >DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 > >TIME:10:00 A.M. TO 6:00 P.M. > >LOCATION:The Hotel Beverley, 125 E. 50th St. at Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City > >COST: a $10.00 donation is requested, but not required. > >PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE: Call and write A.R.E.-N.Y at 212-JOY-2415, 531 W. 211th Street #31A, New York, NY 10034-5920. > >This conference is SPONSORED BY The New York Chapter of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) > >CONFERENCE PRESENTERS are volunteers of Human Service Alliance, an all- volunteer, no-fee-for-service nonprofit service corporation located in Winston-Salem, NC USA. This is a professional quality presentation that will >leave participants inspired and challenged. > >This conference has been presented in London, England and at the Findhorn Foundation, Scotland as well as various locations in the USA. > >LOOKING FOR MEANING IN LIFE? A SENSE OF PURPOSE? Human Service Alliance (HSA) is a model for members of all-volunteer groups seeking purpose and meaning through selfless service. HSA provides, solely with volunteers, f >ull-time care for the terminally ill, health and wellness services, respite care for families with developmentally disabled children, and mediation services-all without charge. At this all-day seminar, HSA volunteers, wi >thout compensation and taking time from their jobs and families, will show how to put love into action through cooperative Group service Work. COME AND SEE how ordinary people, working together, can achieve extraordinar >y results! > >BREAKOUT DESCRIPTIONS... > >PRESENTATION OF TOUCHING THE SOUL > >In 1994 HSA was chosen by Mosher Productions of Massachusetts to be featured in the first years production of the television series, Visionaries, shown on many PBS stations. The producer, Bill Mosher, asked the question: > What is the magic that occurs when one person helps another? His search led him to consider over seven hundred individuals and organizations world wide and he chose HSA as one of the organizations to be featured in the >first year along with eleven other. The documentary reveals how a group of ordinary people can indeed work together and produce extraordinary results. > >SERVICE: THE NEW FRONTIER >Human Service Alliance (HSA) is an experiment in attempting to provide service by a group committed to serving as selflessly as possible. Over the past nine years, the commitment and effectiveness of this group in this "g >roup work" has increased substantially. One of the main reasons for this is the implementation at HSA of the concept which has become known as the "Totally Responsible Person". With roots in ancient wisdom, its practice a >t HSA is becoming a reality. Becoming responsible for every negative emotion, thought, and action allows each individual to modify his/her behavior so that one's ability to serve is maximized and provides a mechanism for > working effectively in a group of servers. These ideas are shared with all HSA volunteers through individual discussions and day-long presentations. Volunteers who learn how to recognize and eliminate victim behaviors fi >nd that their energy increases and that they become more effective and creative in serving at HSA. Indeed they begin to provide true service--that service which is the spontaneous outflow of a loving heart and an intellig >ent mind. The new frontier of service is not so much what we do as it is the commitment and attitude with which we approach it. > >INVOKING THE SOUL OF COMMUNITY >What are some of the greatest barriers that can occur between people when they try to work together? Why is it that so many groups find themselves "bogged down" by the needs and wants of the individuals who make up the gr >oup? One of the major deterrents to truly cooperative group work is the conscious or unconscious "personal agendas" that each of us brings to everything we do. This seminar addresses how we can learn to work cohesively, p >roductively, and purposefully with others in a group by leaving our personal agendas at the door. > >For further information about the conference contact Human Service Alliance at 3983 Old Greensboro Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, tel. 910-761-8745, fax 910-722-7882, email: HSA1@aol.com. > >OR > >For information and to register, call and write A.R.E.-N.Y at >212-JOY-2415, 531 W. 211th Street #31A, New York, NY 10034-5920. From liesel@dreamscape.com Tue Feb 20 00:16:38 1996 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 19:16:38 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: NY Human Service Alliance (A.R.E.) Message-Id: <199602200017.TAA29410@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi, John, I'll pass on news of that conference. It sounds really good. Wish I could go, but NYC is about 4,5 hours from Syracuse by car, & I'm not well enough to go that far anymore. I'd like to get affiliated with HSA. I could do something. But more to the point, I'd be interested in knowing whether they exist in Syracuse, because the one thing I'm not very well provided for is if I get terminally ill, & apparently they give a service. You put down an e-mail address. I will inquire. Liesel >>Any effort to spread the word about the conference described below >>regarding how group service work can be effective would be greatly >>appreciated. >> >>Human Service Alliance >> >>SERVICE FROM THE HEART AND SOUL >> >>DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 >> >>TIME:10:00 A.M. TO 6:00 P.M. >> >>LOCATION:The Hotel Beverley, 125 E. 50th St. at Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City >> >>COST: a $10.00 donation is requested, but not required. >> >>PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE: Call and write A.R.E.-N.Y at 212-JOY-2415, 531 W. 211th Street #31A, New York, NY 10034-5920. >> >>This conference is SPONSORED BY The New York Chapter of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) >> >>CONFERENCE PRESENTERS are volunteers of Human Service Alliance, an all- volunteer, no-fee-for-service nonprofit service corporation located in Winston-Salem, NC USA. This is a professional quality presentation that will >>leave participants inspired and challenged. >> >>This conference has been presented in London, England and at the Findhorn Foundation, Scotland as well as various locations in the USA. >> >>LOOKING FOR MEANING IN LIFE? A SENSE OF PURPOSE? Human Service Alliance (HSA) is a model for members of all-volunteer groups seeking purpose and meaning through selfless service. HSA provides, solely with volunteers, f >>ull-time care for the terminally ill, health and wellness services, respite care for families with developmentally disabled children, and mediation services-all without charge. At this all-day seminar, HSA volunteers, wi >>thout compensation and taking time from their jobs and families, will show how to put love into action through cooperative Group service Work. COME AND SEE how ordinary people, working together, can achieve extraordinar >>y results! >> >>BREAKOUT DESCRIPTIONS... >> >>PRESENTATION OF TOUCHING THE SOUL >> >>In 1994 HSA was chosen by Mosher Productions of Massachusetts to be featured in the first years production of the television series, Visionaries, shown on many PBS stations. The producer, Bill Mosher, asked the question: >> What is the magic that occurs when one person helps another? His search led him to consider over seven hundred individuals and organizations world wide and he chose HSA as one of the organizations to be featured in the >>first year along with eleven other. The documentary reveals how a group of ordinary people can indeed work together and produce extraordinary results. >> >>SERVICE: THE NEW FRONTIER >>Human Service Alliance (HSA) is an experiment in attempting to provide service by a group committed to serving as selflessly as possible. Over the past nine years, the commitment and effectiveness of this group in this "g >>roup work" has increased substantially. One of the main reasons for this is the implementation at HSA of the concept which has become known as the "Totally Responsible Person". With roots in ancient wisdom, its practice a >>t HSA is becoming a reality. Becoming responsible for every negative emotion, thought, and action allows each individual to modify his/her behavior so that one's ability to serve is maximized and provides a mechanism for >> working effectively in a group of servers. These ideas are shared with all HSA volunteers through individual discussions and day-long presentations. Volunteers who learn how to recognize and eliminate victim behaviors fi >>nd that their energy increases and that they become more effective and creative in serving at HSA. Indeed they begin to provide true service--that service which is the spontaneous outflow of a loving heart and an intellig >>ent mind. The new frontier of service is not so much what we do as it is the commitment and attitude with which we approach it. >> >>INVOKING THE SOUL OF COMMUNITY >>What are some of the greatest barriers that can occur between people when they try to work together? Why is it that so many groups find themselves "bogged down" by the needs and wants of the individuals who make up the gr >>oup? One of the major deterrents to truly cooperative group work is the conscious or unconscious "personal agendas" that each of us brings to everything we do. This seminar addresses how we can learn to work cohesively, p >>roductively, and purposefully with others in a group by leaving our personal agendas at the door. >> >>For further information about the conference contact Human Service Alliance at 3983 Old Greensboro Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, tel. 910-761-8745, fax 910-722-7882, email: HSA1@aol.com. >> >>OR >> >>For information and to register, call and write A.R.E.-N.Y at >>212-JOY-2415, 531 W. 211th Street #31A, New York, NY 10034-5920. From am455@lafn.org Mon Feb 19 20:09:03 1996 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 12:09:03 -0800 From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: Avatars & the Brotherhood Message-Id: <199602192009.AA05715@lafn.org> Pandit Bhavani Shankar (1859-1936) was a disciple of Koot Hoomi. KH wrote of him: "Bhavani Shankar...is stronger and fitter in many a way more than Damodar and even our mutual `female' friend... [HPB]. Bhavani Shankar has seen me in my own physical body and he can point out the way to others. He has been working unselfishly for his fellowmen through the T.S..." [~Mahatma Letters~, 274 & ~Letters from the Masters~, vol. 1, 29] The following quotes on the Occult Brotherhood and Avataras are from lectures he gave in Calcutta in 1914. These lectures are in book form under the title ~The Doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita~. This book may still be in print from Concord Grove Press in Santa Barbara, California. "The brotherhood of adepts or Jivanmuktas is as strictly a product of Nature as a tree. It has definite and indispensable purpose and function in the development of the human race, and this function is to keep open the upward path through which descend light and leading. If, on account of increase of materialism and Adharma [vice], this spiritual connection stops, then Bhagavan Himself [the Avatar] takes up the work of the Brotherhood and provides for the spiritual welfare of humanity..." "The mergence of the Jivanmukta into Ishwara [divine spirit in man] may be likened to what may happen in the case of the sun when a comet falls upon it; there is in the case of the sun as accession of heat and light; so also, whenever any particular individual reaches the highest state of spiritual culture, develops in himself all the virtues that alone entitle him to a union with Ishwara and finally unites his soul with Ishwara, there is, as it were, a sort of reaction emanating from Ishwara for the good of humanity; and in particular cases an impulse is generated in Ishwara to incarnate for the good of humanity. This is the highest consumation of human aspiration and endeavour. Even in the earlier stages of his spiritual life, an aspirant for the higher life becomes a participator of the grand silent work in the spiritual enlightenment of his race -- the current of the living moral and spiritual energy flowing from his heart being his humble contribution. As he progresses on the path his contribution increases till by inconceivably arduous tapas [meditation] and renunciation he succeeds in bringing down the great Ishwara Himself to do this work. This is one aspect of the doctrine about Avatara. The subject is a profound one and touches one of the most jealously guarded secrets of Brahma-Vidya [spiritual wisdom]. If the latter- day Theosophical teachers had even the faintest idea of the sanctity and solemnity of the subject, we would have been spared so much blasphemous talk of preparations for an Avatara and such flippant prattle about sacred things. We see the wisdom of the ancients in drawing the veil of secrecy on these high subjects; for, when sacred things are bandied about light-heartedly, spiritual degradation is the result." -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles First of all, love truth for its own sake, for otherwise no recognition of it will follow. HP Blavatsky From liesel@dreamscape.com Tue Feb 20 00:26:57 1996 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 19:26:57 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: Avatars & the Brotherhood Message-Id: <199602200028.TAA29867@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Nicholas, I thought this was a real good quote. until I came to the last sentence. That last sentence negates the whole quote. To me, anyone who doesn't have a sense of humor & can't joke about serious things isn't too spiritual. Sorry to contradict you, but ... Liesel ........................................................................... > > >Pandit Bhavani Shankar (1859-1936) was a disciple of Koot Hoomi. KH >wrote of him: "Bhavani Shankar...is stronger and fitter in many a >way more than Damodar and even our mutual `female' friend... [HPB]. >Bhavani Shankar has seen me in my own physical body and he can >point out the way to others. He has been working unselfishly for >his fellowmen through the T.S..." [~Mahatma Letters~, 274 & >~Letters from the Masters~, vol. 1, 29] > >The following quotes on the Occult Brotherhood and Avataras are from >lectures he gave in Calcutta in 1914. These lectures are in book form >under the title ~The Doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita~. This book may still >be in print from Concord Grove Press in Santa Barbara, California. > >"The brotherhood of adepts or Jivanmuktas is as strictly a product >of Nature as a tree. It has definite and indispensable purpose and >function in the development of the human race, and this function is >to keep open the upward path through which descend light and >leading. If, on account of increase of materialism and Adharma >[vice], this spiritual connection stops, then Bhagavan Himself [the >Avatar] takes up the work of the Brotherhood and provides for the >spiritual welfare of humanity..." > >"The mergence of the Jivanmukta into Ishwara [divine spirit in man] >may be likened to what may happen in the case of the sun when a >comet falls upon it; there is in the case of the sun as accession >of heat and light; so also, whenever any particular individual >reaches the highest state of spiritual culture, develops in himself >all the virtues that alone entitle him to a union with Ishwara and >finally unites his soul with Ishwara, there is, as it were, a sort >of reaction emanating from Ishwara for the good of humanity; and in >particular cases an impulse is generated in Ishwara to incarnate >for the good of humanity. This is the highest consumation of human >aspiration and endeavour. >Even in the earlier stages of his spiritual life, an aspirant for >the higher life becomes a participator of the grand silent work in >the spiritual enlightenment of his race -- the current of the >living moral and spiritual energy flowing from his heart being his >humble contribution. As he progresses on the path his contribution >increases till by inconceivably arduous tapas [meditation] and >renunciation he succeeds in bringing down the great Ishwara Himself >to do this work. This is one aspect of the doctrine about Avatara. >The subject is a profound one and touches one of the most jealously >guarded secrets of Brahma-Vidya [spiritual wisdom]. If the latter- >day Theosophical teachers had even the faintest idea of the >sanctity and solemnity of the subject, we would have been spared so >much blasphemous talk of preparations for an Avatara and such >flippant prattle about sacred things. We see the wisdom of the >ancients in drawing the veil of secrecy on these high subjects; >for, when sacred things are bandied about light-heartedly, >spiritual degradation is the result." > >-- >Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles > First of all, love truth for its own sake, for otherwise no recognition of > it will follow. HP Blavatsky > > From theos@netcom.com Tue Feb 20 16:00:29 1996 Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 08:00:29 -0800 (PST) From: theos Subject: Re: NY Human Service Alliance (A.R.E.) In-Reply-To: <199602191947.OAA01253@lys.vnet.net> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII John, I will post this message in the BBs in Olcott for everyone to see. Regards, Ruben - theos@netcom.com From 72662.1335@compuserve.com Fri Feb 23 03:43:06 1996 Date: 22 Feb 96 22:43:06 EST From: Don DeGracia <72662.1335@compuserve.com> Subject: Plan for Feb 29 PLEASE READ Message-Id: <960223034305_72662.1335_IHD128-1@CompuServe.COM> >------------------------------------------------------------------------> > >Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 12:44:59 +0000 >> > >Subject: The Plan - Do This on February 29 *IMPORTANT* >> > >Priority: urgent >> > >> > To whomever may read this, >> > >> > This is not a typical chain letter, in that by passing it on to as >> > many people as you can, you are taking part in what may yet become the >> > world's biggest practical joke. The U.S. Government has recently >> > passed an act which enforces censorship on the internet. A group of >> > internet users has now come together to kick back at this oppression, >> > and have a bit of fun at the same time. The aim of this exercise is >> > to re-establish the United States as "The land of the Free", not a >> > fascist state where freedom of speech and thought are curtailed. >> > Communist Russia fell as a result of such limits being placed upon >> > the minds of the general populus. On receiving this letter, please >> > pass it on to as many friends or E-mail lists as you can. We predict >> > that if everybody copies the letter to 5 other addresses, by February >> > 29th 1996, this letter should have reached in excess of 2 million >> > people. That's when the fun begins...... On February 29th, please send the >> > following message which includes a copy of the Bill of rights. By sending >> > the letter on the above date, you will contribute to either one huge >> > petition for freedom, or else lead to a crash of the whitehouse server. >> > Send all letters to: President@Whitehouse.gov >> > >> > Remember that solidarity is the key to success !!!!! >> > >> > Dear Mr. President, >> > >> > Do you remember this: >> > >> > THE BILL OF RIGHTS >> > >> > Amendment I >> > >> > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or >> > prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of >> > speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to >> > assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. >> > >> > Amendment II >> > >> > A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free >> > state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be >> > infringed. >> > >> > Amendment III >> > >> > No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without >> > the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be >> > prescribed by law. >> > >> > Amendment IV >> > >> > The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, >> > papers, and >> > effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be >> > violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, >> > supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the >> > place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. >> > >> > Amendment V >> > >> > No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise >> > infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, >> except >> > in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when >> > in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any >> > person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of >> > life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a >> > witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or >> > property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be >> > taken for public use, without just compensation. >> > >> > Amendment VI >> > >> > In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a >> > speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and >> > district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district >> > shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of >> > the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the >> > witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining >> > witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his >> > defense. >> > >> > Amendment VII >> > >> > In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed >> > twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no >> > fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of >> > the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. >> > >> > Amendment VIII >> > >> > Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor >> > cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. >> > >> > Amendment IX >> > >> > The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be >> > construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. >> > >> > Amendment X >> > >> > The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor >> > prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states >> > respectively, or to the people. >> > From am455@lafn.org Thu Feb 22 22:46:34 1996 Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 14:46:34 -0800 From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: Compassion Absolute Message-Id: <199602222246.AA28907@lafn.org> ~Mahaparinirvana Sutra~ On Boundless Love [Maitri] [Rendering based on Yamamoto's translation, pp. 378-80.] Good man! All the roots of goodness of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Tathagatas are grounded in love. Good man! When the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva exercises his loving heart, he gains countless roots of goodness. He gains all types of power, quality, meditation, or knowledge needed. Good man! All such are grounded in love. Good man! Because of this, love is true, not false. If anyone asks about the root of all branches of goodness, say that it is love. Because of this, it is true, not false. Good man! One who acts nobly is thinking truth. This true thinking is love. Love is Tathagata. Love is Mahayana. Mahayana is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the bodhi path. The bodhi path is Tathagata. Tathagata is love. Good man! Love is Maha Brahma. Maha Brahma is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love acts as parent to all beings. The parent is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the nature of the inconceivable world of all Buddhas. The nature of the inconceivable world of all Buddhas is love. Know that love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the Buddha Nature of all beings. Such a Buddha Nature is heavily veiled by illusion. That is why all beings are blind. The Buddha Nature is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the great firmament. The great firmament is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is space. Space is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is eternal. Eternal is Dharma. Dharma is the Sagha. Sagha is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is self. Self is Dharma. Dharma is Sagha. Sagha is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is amrita. Amrita is love. Love is Buddha Nature. Buddha Nature is Dharma. Dharma is Sagha. Sagha is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the peerless path of all Bodhisattvas. The path is love. Love is Tathagata. Good man! Love is the limitless universe of the Infinite Buddha, the World Honored One. The limitless universe is love. Know that love is the Tathagata. -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles First of all, love truth for its own sake, for otherwise no recognition of it will follow. HP Blavatsky From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sun Feb 25 23:43:34 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA26675 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sun, 25 Feb 1996 18:48:14 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ac26409; 25 Feb 96 23:47 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id ac07495; 25 Feb 96 23:46 GMT Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 23:43:34 +0000 Message-Id: <6U8CsPAmQPMxEwrT@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: Alan Subject: UPLOADS to theos-roots Mime-Version: 1.0 As stated in a posting to theos-l, the work of uploading "source" material to theos-roots has resumed. Following a disk crash, it became necessary to go to the archive in search of the material *already uploaded.* This is not always obvious to find unless perhaps a particular item is the *only* item uploaded on a particular date, as postings are archived by date, with only a short description of the contents for that date. This is due to the nature of the system, and not to any shortcomings on the part of John Mead or any of us who post messages to and from the lists. When I have time, I will post details of material available in ASCII format, together with the filenames I have used for it (such as the latest KEY06.TXT). For those who subscribe regularly, there is not much of a problem, as new material will download into their mailboxes as a matter of course, but newcomers may benefit from this information, and if need be, I can e-mail individual files to individual subscribers via their private e- mail address. I mus extend a very special "Thank You" to Kim Poulson of Denmark, who kindly e-mailed me *all* of the files I had previously uploaded, so that I am now able to take up where I left off. And someone once asked what *purpose* there was in setting up THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL! Huh! Alan --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sun Feb 25 23:43:34 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA26675 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sun, 25 Feb 1996 18:48:14 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ac26409; 25 Feb 96 23:47 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id ac07495; 25 Feb 96 23:46 GMT Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 23:43:34 +0000 Message-Id: <6U8CsPAmQPMxEwrT@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: Alan Subject: UPLOADS to theos-roots Mime-Version: 1.0 As stated in a posting to theos-l, the work of uploading "source" material to theos-roots has resumed. Following a disk crash, it became necessary to go to the archive in search of the material *already uploaded.* This is not always obvious to find unless perhaps a particular item is the *only* item uploaded on a particular date, as postings are archived by date, with only a short description of the contents for that date. This is due to the nature of the system, and not to any shortcomings on the part of John Mead or any of us who post messages to and from the lists. When I have time, I will post details of material available in ASCII format, together with the filenames I have used for it (such as the latest KEY06.TXT). For those who subscribe regularly, there is not much of a problem, as new material will download into their mailboxes as a matter of course, but newcomers may benefit from this information, and if need be, I can e-mail individual files to individual subscribers via their private e- mail address. I mus extend a very special "Thank You" to Kim Poulson of Denmark, who kindly e-mailed me *all* of the files I had previously uploaded, so that I am now able to take up where I left off. And someone once asked what *purpose* there was in setting up THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL! Huh! Alan --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Sun Feb 25 23:16:25 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA26968 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sun, 25 Feb 1996 18:52:06 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ag26808; 25 Feb 96 23:51 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa08083; 25 Feb 96 23:49 GMT Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 23:16:25 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: KEY06.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY06.TXT From a text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain Exoteric and Esoteric Theosophy What the Modern Theosophical Society is Not Q. Your doctrines, then, are not a revival of Buddhism, nor are they entirely copied from the Neo-Platonic Theosophy? A. They are not. But to these questions I cannot give you a better answer than by quoting from a paper read on "Theosophy" by Dr. J.D. Buck, F.T.S., No living Theosophist has better expressed and understood the real essence of Theosophy than our honored friend Dr. Buck: The Theosophical Society was organized for the purpose of promulgating the Theosophical doctrines, and for the promotion of the Theosophic life. The present Theosophical Society is not the first of its kind. I have a volume entitled: Theosophical Transactions of the Philadelphian Society, published in London in 1697; and another with the following title: Introduction to Theosophy, or the Science of the Mystery of Christ; that is, of Deity, Nature, and Creature, embracing the philosophy of all the working powers of life, magical and spiritual, ant forming a practical guide to the most sublime purity, sanctity, and evangelical perfection; also to the attainment of divine vision, and the holy angelic arts, potencies, and other prerogatives of the regeneration. (published in London in 1855.) The following is the dedication of this volume: To the students of Universities, Colleges, and schools of Christendom: To Professors of Metaphysical, Mechanical, and Natural Science in all its forms: To men and women of Education generally, of fundamental orthodox faith: To Deists, Arians, Unitarians, Swedenborgians, and other defective and ungrounded creeds, rationalists, and skeptics of every kind: To just-minded and enlightened Mohammedans, Jews, and oriental Patriarch-religionists: but especially to the gospel minister and missionary, whether to the barbaric or intellectual peoples, this introduction to Theosophy, or the science of the ground and mystery of all things, is most humbly and affectionately dedicated. In the following year (1856) another volume was issued, royal octavo, of 600 pages, diamond type, of Theosophical Miscellanies. Of the last-named work 500 copies only were issued, for gratuitous distribution to Libraries and Universities. These earlier movements, of which there were many, originated within the Church, with persons of great piety and earnestness, and of unblemished character; and all of these writings were in orthodox form, using the Christian expressions, and, like the writings of the eminent Churchman William Law, would only be distinguished by the ordinary reader for their great earnestness and piety. These were one and all but attempts to derive and explain the deeper meanings and original import of the Christian Scriptures, and to illustrate and unfold the Theosophic life. These works were soon forgotten, and are now generally unknown. They sought to reform the clergy and revive genuine piety, and were never welcomed. That one word, Heresy, was sufficient to bury them in the limbo of all such Utopias. At the time of the Reformation John Reuchlin made a similar attempt with the same result, though he was the intimate and trusted friend of Luther. Orthodoxy never desired to be informed and enlightened. These reformers were informed, as was Paul by Festus, that too much learning had made them mad, and that it would be dangerous to go farther. Passing by the verbiage, which was partly a matter of habit and education with these writers, and partly due to religious restraint through secular power, and coming to the core of the matter, these writings were Theosophical in the strictest sense, and pertain solely to man's knowledge of his own nature and the higher life of the soul. The present Theosophical Movement has sometimes been declared to be an attempt to convert Christendom to Buddhism, which means simply that the word Heresy has lost its terrors and relinquished its power. Individuals in every age have more or less clearly apprehended the Theosophical doctrines and wrought them into the fabric of their lives. These doctrines belong exclusively to no religion, and are confined to no society or time. They are the birthright of every human soul. Such a thing as orthodoxy must be wrought out by each individual according to his nature and his needs, and according to his varying experience. This may explain why those who have imagined Theosophy to be a new religion have hunted in vain for its creed and its ritual. Its creed is Loyalty to Truth, and its ritual "To honor every truth by use." How little this principle of Universal Brotherhood is understood by the masses of mankind, how seldom its transcendent importance is recognized, may be seen in the diversity of opinion and fictitious interpretations regarding the Theosophical Society. This Society was organized on this one principle, the essential Brotherhood of Man, as herein briefly outlined and imperfectly set forth. It has been assailed as Buddhist and anti-Christian, as though it could be both these together, when both Buddhism and Christianity, as set forth by their inspired founders, make brotherhood the one essential of doctrine and of life. Theosophy has been also regarded as something new under the sun, or, at best as old mysticism masquerading under a new name. While it is true that many Societies founded upon, and united to support, the principles of altruism, or essential brotherhood, have borne various names, it is also true that many have also been called Theosophic, and with principles and aims as the present society bearing that name. With these societies, one and all, the essential doctrine has been the same, and all else has been incidental, though this does not obviate the fact that many persons are attracted to the incidentals who overlook or ignore the essentials. No better or more explicit answer, by a man who is one of our most esteemed and earnest Theosophists, could be given to your questions. Q. Which system do you prefer or follow, in that case, besides Buddhist ethics? A. None, and all. We hold to no religion, as to no philosophy in particular: we cull the good we find in each. But here, again, it must be stated that, like all other ancient systems, Theosophy is divided into Exoteric and Esoteric Sections. Q. What is the difference? A. The members of the Theosophical Society at large are free to profess whatever religion or philosophy they like, or none if they so prefer, provided they are in sympathy with, and ready to carry out one or more of the three objects of the Association. The Society is a philanthropic and scientific body for the propagation of the idea of brotherhood on practical instead of theoretical lines. The Fellows may be Christians or Muslims, Jews or Parsees, Buddhists or Brahmins, Spiritualists or Materialists, it does not matter; but every member must be either a philanthropist, or a scholar, a searcher into Aryan and other old literature, or a psychic student. In short, he has to help, if he can, in the carrying out of at least one of the objects of the program. Otherwise he has no reason for becoming a "Fellow." Such are the majority of the exoteric Society, composed of "attached" and "unattached" members. These may, or may not, become Theosophists de facto. Members they are, by virtue of their having joined the Society; but the latter cannot make a Theosophist of one who has no sense for the divine fitness of things, or of him who understands Theosophy in his own, if the expression may be used, sectarian and egotistic way. "Handsome is, as handsome does" could be paraphrased in this case and be made to run: "Theosophist is, who Theosophy does." [Read before the last Theosophical Convention, at Chicago, America (April, 1889). An "attached member" is one who has joined some particular branch of the T.S. An "unattached," one who belongs to the Society at large, has his diploma from the Headquarters (Adyar, Madras), but is connected with no branch or lodge.] --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 00:50:19 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA01068 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sun, 25 Feb 1996 19:56:14 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id aa04783; 26 Feb 96 0:54 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa18407; 26 Feb 96 0:51 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 00:50:19 +0000 Message-Id: <8KX1fJALPQMxEw7m@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY07.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY07.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ------------------------------- Theosophists and Members of the T.S. Q. This applies to lay members, as I understand. And what of those who pursue the esoteric study of Theosophy; are they the real Theosophists? A. Not necessarily, until they have proven themselves to be such. They have entered the inner group and pledged themselves to carry out, as strictly as they can, the rules of the occult body. This is a difficult undertaking, as the foremost rule of all is the entire renunciation of one's personality, i.e., a pledged member has to become a thorough altruist, never to think of himself, and to forget his own vanity and pride in the thought of the good of his fellow-creatures, besides that of his fellow-brothers in the esoteric circle. He has to live, if the esoteric instructions shall profit him, a life of abstinence in everything, of self-denial and strict morality, doing his duty by all men. The few real Theosophists in the T.S. are among these members. This does not imply that outside of the T.S. and the inner circle, there are no Theosophists; for there are, and more than people know of; certainly far more than are found among the lay members of the T.S. Q. Then what is the good of joining the so-called Theosophical Society in that case? Where is the incentive? A. None, except the advantage of getting esoteric instructions, the genuine doctrines of the "Wisdom-Religion," and if the real program is carried out, deriving much help from mutual aid and sympathy. Union is strength and harmony, and well-regulated simultaneous efforts produce wonders. This has been the secret of all associations and communities since mankind existed. Q. But why could not a man of well-balanced mind and singleness of purpose, one, say, of indomitable energy and perseverance, become an Occultist and even an Adept if he works alone? A. He may; but there are ten thousand chances against one that he will fail. For one reason out of many others, no books on Occultism or Theurgy exist in our day which give out the secrets of alchemy or medieval Theosophy in plain language. All are symbolical or in parables; and as the key to these has been lost for ages in the West, how can a man learn the correct meaning of what he is reading and studying? Therein lies the greatest danger, one that leads to unconscious black magic or the most helpless mediumship. He who has not an Initiate for a master had better leave the dangerous study alone. Look around you and observe. While two-thirds of civilized society ridicule the mere notion that there is anything in Theosophy, Occultism, Spiritualism, or in the Cabala, the other third is composed of the most heterogeneous and opposite elements. Some believe in the mystical, and even in the supernatural (!), but each believes in his own way. Others will rush single-handed into the study of the Cabala, Psychism, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, or some form or another of Mysticism. Result: no two men think alike, no two are agreed upon any fundamental occult principles, though many are those who claim for themselves the ultima thule of knowledge, and would make outsiders believe that they are full-blown adepts. Not only is there no scientific and accurate knowledge of Occultism accessible in the West, not even of true astrology, the only branch of Occultism which, in its exoteric teachings, has definite laws and a definite system, but no one has any idea of what real Occultism means. Some limit ancient wisdom to the Cabala and the Jewish Zohar, which each interprets in his own way according to the dead-letter of the Rabbinical methods. Others regard Swedenborg or Boehme as the ultimate expressions of the highest wisdom; while others again see in mesmerism the great secret of ancient magic. One and all of those who put their theory into practice are rapidly drifting, through ignorance, into black magic. Happy are those who escape from it, as they have neither test nor criterion by which they can distinguish between the true and the false. Q. Are we to understand that the inner group of the T.S. claims to learn what it does from real initiates or masters of esoteric wisdom? A. Not directly. The personal presence of such masters is not required. Suffice it if they give instructions to some of those who have studied under their guidance for years, and devoted their whole lives to their service. Then, in turn, these can give out the knowledge so imparted to others, who had no such opportunity. A portion of the true sciences is better than a mass of undigested and misunderstood learning. An ounce of gold is worth a ton of dust. Q. But how is one to know whether the ounce is real gold or only a counterfeit? A. A tree is known by its fruit, a system by its results. When our opponents are able to prove to us that any solitary student of Occultism throughout the ages has become a saintly adept like Ammonius Saccas, or even a Plotinus, or a Theurgist like Iamblichus, or achieved feats such as are claimed to have been done by St. Germain, without any master to guide him, and all this without being a medium, a self-deluded psychic, or a charlatan, then shall we confess ourselves mistaken. But till then, Theosophists prefer to follow the proven natural law of the tradition of the Sacred Science. There are mystics who have made great discoveries in chemistry and physical sciences, almost bordering on alchemy and Occultism; others who, by the sole aid of their genius, have rediscovered portions, if not the whole, of the lost alphabets of the "Mystery language," and are, therefore, able to read correctly Hebrew scrolls; others still, who, being seers, have caught wonderful glimpses of the hidden secrets of Nature. But all these are specialists. One is a theoretical inventor, another a Hebrew, i.e., a Sectarian Cabalist, a third a Swedenborg of modern times, denying all and everything outside of his own particular science or religion. Not one of them can boast of having produced a universal or even a national benefit thereby, not even to himself. With the exception of a few healers, of that class which the Royal College of Physicians or Surgeons would call quacks, none have helped with their science Humanity, nor even a number of men of the same community. Where are the Chaldeans of old, those who wrought marvelous cures, "not by charms but by simples"? Where is an Apollonius of Tyana, who healed the sick and raised the dead under any climate and circumstances? We know some specialists of the former class in Europe, but none of the latter, except in Asia, where the secret of the Yogi, "to live in death," is still preserved. Q. Is the production of such healing adepts the aim of Theosophy? A. Its aims are several; but the most important of all are those which are likely to lead to the relief of human suffering under any or every form, moral as well as physical. And we believe the former to be far more important than the latter. Theosophy has to inculcate ethics; it has to purify the soul, if it would relieve the physical body, whose ailments, save cases of accidents, are all hereditary. It is not by studying Occultism for selfish ends, for the gratification of one's personal ambition, pride, or vanity, that one can ever reach the true goal: that of helping suffering mankind. Nor is it by studying one single branch of the esoteric philosophy that a man becomes an Occultist, but by studying, if not mastering, them all. Q. Is help, then, to reach this most important aim, given only to those who study the esoteric sciences? A. Not at all. Every lay member is entitled to general instruction if he only wants it; but few are willing to become what is called "working members," and most prefer to remain the drones of Theosophy. Let it be understood that private research is encouraged in the T.S., provided it does not infringe the limit which separates the exoteric from the esoteric, the blind from the conscious magic. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 00:49:56 1996 Received: from ginger.vnet.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA01234 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Sun, 25 Feb 1996 19:58:00 -0500 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk [158.152.1.77]) by ginger.vnet.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id TAA15457 for ; Sun, 25 Feb 1996 19:07:53 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id aa04974; 26 Feb 96 0:56 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa18708; 26 Feb 96 0:54 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 00:49:56 +0000 Message-Id: <+641jGA0OQMxEwZl@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY08.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY08.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ------------------------------- The Difference Between Theosophy and Occultism Q. You speak of Theosophy and Occultism; are they identical? A. By no means. A man may be a very good Theosophist indeed, whether in or outside of the Society, without being in any way an Occultist. But no one can be a true Occultist without being a real Theosophist; otherwise he is simply a black magician, whether conscious or unconscious. Q. What do you mean? A. I have said already that a true Theosophist must put in practice the loftiest moral ideal, must strive to realize his unity with the whole of humanity, and work ceaselessly for others. Now, if an Occultist does not do all this, he must act selfishly for his own personal benefit; and if he has acquired more practical power than other ordinary men, he becomes forthwith a far more dangerous enemy to the world and those around him than the average mortal. This is clear. Q. Then is an Occultist simply a man who possesses more power than other people? A. Far more, if he is a practical and really learned Occultist, and not one only in name. Occult sciences are not, as described in Encyclopedias, ... those imaginary sciences of the Middle Ages which related to the supposed action or influence of Occult qualities or supernatural powers, as alchemy, magic, necromancy, and astrology ... for they are real, actual, and very dangerous sciences. They teach the secret potency of things in Nature, developing and cultivating the hidden powers "latent in man," thus giving him tremendous advantages over more ignorant mortals. Hypnotism, now become so common and a subject of serious scientific inquiry, is a good instance in point. Hypnotic power has been discovered almost by accident, the way to it having been prepared by mesmerism; and now an able hypnotist can do almost anything with it, from forcing a man, unconsciously to himself, to play the fool, to making him commit a crime, often by proxy for the hypnotist, and for the benefit of the latter. Is not this a terrible power if left in the hands of unscrupulous persons? And please to remember that this is only one of the minor branches of Occultism. Q. But are not all these Occult sciences, magic, and sorcery, considered by the most cultured and learned people as relics of ancient ignorance and superstition? A. Let me remind you that this remark of yours cuts both ways. The "most cultured and learned" among you regard also Christianity and every other religion as a relic of ignorance and superstition. People begin to believe now, at any rate, in hypnotism, and some, even of the most cultured, in Theosophy and phenomena. But who among them, except preachers and blind fanatics, will confess to a belief in Biblical miracles? And this is where the point of difference comes in. There are very good and pure Theosophists who may believe in the supernatural, divine miracles included, but no Occultist will do so. For an Occultist practices scientific Theosophy, based on accurate knowledge of Nature's secret workings; but a Theosophist, practicing the powers called abnormal, minus the light of Occultism, will simply tend toward a dangerous form of mediumship, because, although holding to Theosophy and its highest conceivable code of ethics, he practices it in the dark, on sincere but blind faith. Anyone, Theosophist or Spiritualist, who attempts to cultivate one of the branches of Occult science, e.g., Hypnotism, Mesmerism, or even the secrets of producing physical phenomena, etc., without the knowledge of the philosophic rationale of those powers, is like a rudderless boat launched on a stormy ocean. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From jhe@toto.csustan.edu Mon Feb 26 21:12:51 1996 Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 13:12:51 -0800 From: Jerry Hejka-Ekins Subject: Book Offering Message-Id: <9602262112.AA22462@toto.csustan.edu> Book offering: As suggested by several of you, I have selected a few books that are representative of what I sell, and what might be of interest to theos-xxx readers. All books are hard cover and first editions except where otherwise specified. New books are labled "New." In most cases there is no more than one copy of each title of the used books, so they are available on a first come basis. Please contact me at the above header if you are interested in any of them. Postage: $2.00 domestic. Will advise for overseas orders: JHE 1. Bailey, Alice. ~Initiation Human and Solar.~ Lucis Pub. Co., 1959. 7th ptg. Her first book. Covers the basic teachings. Nice clean copy. $10.00 2. Donnelly, Ignatius. ~Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.~ Harper & Brothers, 1882. Green cloth with gold stamping. Front end paper missing. Some minor discoloration from water staining on the tips of some pages. Otherwise a clean well bound copy. Unedited reprints of this classic are not available anymore, and first editions like this one are very hard to come by. $30.00 3. Godwin, Joscelyn et al. ~The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor~ Weiser, 1995. The only documented account of this secret order. New. $25.00 4. Hough, Graham. ~The Mystery Religion of W.B. Yeats.~ Barnes and Noble, 1984. Clean with clean dust jacket. Comprehensive account of Yeats' involvement with the Occult. $15.00 5. Kanga, D.D. ~Where Theosophy and Science Meet~ 4 vols. with dust jackets. Adyar Library Association 1938-39. Clean set. $40.00 6. "Levi" (Levi H, Dowling). ~The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.~ L.N. Fowler, 1925. 9th ed. Black leather boards with cloth spine. Rounded corners. Cover slight chipped at the ends, otherwise an unusually nice and fancy copy. Book plate. This is a real classic, and is supposed to be an account of the lost years of Jesus taken from the akashic records. $20.00 7. Lutyens, Lady Emily. ~Candles in the Sun.~ J.B. Lippincott Co. 1957. Dust Jacket rubbed, otherwise clean and tight. This is Lady Emily's first hand account of her relationship with Krishnamurti and of those days in the TS. $12.00 8. Mead, G.R.S. ~The Hymn of the Rode of Glory.~ Vol. 10 of the Echoes from the Gnosis series. TPS, 1908. Green cloth, white imprint; faded. some light pencil markings, otherwise clean and tight binding. $10.00 9. Mead, G.R.S. ~The Chaldean Oracles.~ Vol. 9 of the Echoes from the Gnosis series. TPS, 1908. Green cloth, white imprint; faded. Clean and tight binding. $10.00 10. Nethercott, Arthur H. ~The First Five Lives of Annie Besant.~ U. of Chicago press, 1960. Clean and tight but with a 1 inch blemish on the dusk jacket where someone apparently removed a label that was stuck on with permanent glue. Besant's life up to 1893 with the Parliament of Religions. $15.00 11. [Robb, Richard]. ~Symposium of H.P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. Proceedings Sat. & Sun. July 21-22, 1984. Seventeen papers from four countries.~ New (soft cover). $6.00 12. Sloss, Radha Rajagopal. ~Lives in the Shadow.~ This is the original (hard to find in the U.S.) British Bloomsbury edition of the controversial account of Krishnamurti's twenty year affair with his partner's wife. New. $25.00 From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 21:41:07 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA18171 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Mon, 26 Feb 1996 21:12:29 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id aa29131; 27 Feb 96 1:07 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa07062; 27 Feb 96 1:05 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 21:41:07 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY10.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY10.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ------------------------------- Why is Theosophy Accepted? Q. I understand to a certain extent; but I see that your teachings are far more complicated and metaphysical than either Spiritualism or current religious thought. Can you tell me, then, what has caused this system of Theosophy which you support to arouse so much interest and so much animosity at the same time? A. There are several reasons for it, I believe; among other causes that may be mentioned is: 1. The great reaction from the crassly materialistic theories now prevalent among scientific teachers. 2. General dissatisfaction with the artificial theology of the various Christian Churches, and the number of daily increasing and conflicting sects. 3. An ever-growing perception of the fact that the creeds which are so obviously self, and mutually, contradictory cannot be true, and that claims which are unverified cannot be real. This natural distrust of conventional religions is only strengthened by their complete failure to preserve morals and to purify society and the masses. 4. A conviction on the part of many, and knowledge by a few, that there must be somewhere a philosophical and religious system which shall be scientific and not merely speculative. 5. A belief, perhaps, that such a system must be sought for in teachings far antedating any modern faith. Q. But how did this system come to be put forward just now? A. Just because the time was found to be ripe, which fact is shown by the determined effort of so many earnest students to reach the truth, at whatever cost and wherever it may be concealed. Seeing this, its custodians permitted that some portions at least of that truth should be proclaimed. Had the formation of the Theosophical Society been postponed a few years longer, one half of the civilized nations would have become by this time rank materialists, and the other half anthropomorphists and phenomenalists. Q. Are we to regard Theosophy in any way as a revelation? A. In no way whatever, not even in the sense of a new and direct disclosure from some higher, supernatural, or, at least, superhuman beings; but only in the sense of an "unveiling" of old, very old, truths to minds hitherto ignorant of them, ignorant even of the existence and preservation of any such archaic knowledge. It has become "fashionable," especially of late, to deride the notion that there ever was, in the mysteries of great and civilized peoples, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, or Romans, anything but priestly imposture. Even the Rosicrucians were no better than half lunatics, half knaves. Numerous books have been written on them; and tyros, who had hardly heard the name a few years before, sallied out as profound critics and Gnostics on the subject of alchemy, the fire-philosophers, and mysticism in general. Yet a long series of the Hierophants of Egypt, India, Chaldea, and Arabia are known, along with the greatest philosophers and sages of Greece and the West, to have included under the designation of wisdom and divine science all knowledge, for they considered the base and origin of every art and science as essentially divine. Plato regarded the mysteries as most sacred, and Clemens Alexandrinus, who had been himself initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, has declared "that the doctrines taught therein contained in them the end of all human knowledge." Were Plato and Clemens two knaves or two fools, we wonder, or, both? Q. You spoke of "Persecution." If truth is as represented by Theosophy, why has it met with such opposition, and with no general acceptance? A. For many and various reasons again, one of which is the hatred felt by men for "innovations," as they call them. Selfishness is essentially conservative, and hates being disturbed. It prefers an easy-going, unexacting lie to the greatest truth, if the latter requires the sacrifice of one's smallest comfort. The power of mental inertia is great in anything that does not promise immediate benefit and reward. Our age is pre-eminently unspiritual and matter of fact. Moreover, there is the unfamiliar character of Theosophic teachings; the highly abstruse nature of the doctrines, some of which contradict flatly many of the human vagaries cherished by sectarians, which have eaten into the very core of popular beliefs. If we add to this the personal efforts and great purity of life exacted of those who would become the disciples of the inner circle, and the very limited class to which an entirely unselfish code appeals, it will be easy to perceive the reason why Theosophy is doomed to such slow, uphill work. It is essentially the philosophy of those who suffer, and have lost all hope of being helped out of the mire of life by any other means. Moreover, the history of any system of belief or morals, newly introduced into a foreign soil, shows that its beginnings were impeded by every obstacle that obscurantism and selfishness could suggest. "The crown of the innovator is a crown of thorns" indeed! No pulling down of old, worm-eaten buildings can be accomplished without some danger. Q. All this refers rather to the ethics and philosophy of the T.S. Can you give me a general idea of the Society itself, its objects and statutes? A. This was never made secret. Ask, and you shall receive accurate answers. Q. But I heard that you were bound by pledges? A. Only in the Arcane or "Esoteric" Section. Q. And also, that some members after leaving did not regard themselves bound by them. Are they right? A. This shows that their idea of honor is an imperfect one. How can they be right? As well said in The Path, our theosophical organ at New York, treating of such a case: Suppose that a soldier is tried for infringement of oath and discipline, and is dismissed from the service. In his rage at the justice he has called down, and of whose penalties he was distinctly forewarned, the soldier turns to the enemy with false information, a spy and traitor, as a revenge upon his former Chief, and claims that his punishment has released him from his oath of loyalty to a cause. Is he justified, think you? Don't you think he deserves being called a dishonorable man, a coward? Q. I believe so; but some think otherwise. A. So much the worse for them. But we will talk on this subject later, if you please. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 20:23:07 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA22847 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Mon, 26 Feb 1996 22:10:28 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ai23111; 26 Feb 96 20:26 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa20735; 26 Feb 96 20:26 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 20:23:07 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY09.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY09.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain --------------------------------- The Difference Between Theosophy and Spiritualism Q. But do you not believe in Spiritualism? A. If by "Spiritualism" you mean the explanation which Spiritualists give of some abnormal phenomena, then decidedly we do not. They maintain that these manifestations are all produced by the "spirits" of departed mortals, generally their relatives, who return to earth, they say, to communicate with those they have loved or to whom they are attached. We deny this point blank. We assert that the spirits of the dead cannot return to earth, save in rare and exceptional cases, of which I may speak later; nor do they communicate with men except by entirely subjective means. That which does appear objectively, is only the phantom of the ex-physical man. But in psychic, and so to say, "Spiritual" Spiritualism, we do believe, most decidedly. Q. Do you reject the phenomena also? A. Assuredly not, save cases of conscious fraud. Q. How do you account for them, then? A. In many ways. The causes of such manifestations are by no means so simple as the Spiritualists would like to believe. Foremost of all, the deus ex machina of the so-called "materializations" is usually the astral body or "double" of the medium or of someone present. This astral body is also the producer or operating force in the manifestations of slate-writing, "Davenport"-like manifestations, and so on. Q. You say usually, then what is it that produces the rest? A. That depends on the nature of the manifestations. Sometimes the astral remains, the Kamalokic "shells" of the vanished personalities that were; at other times, Elementals. Spirit is a word of manifold and wide significance. I really do not know what Spiritualists mean by the term; but what we understand them to claim is that the physical phenomena are produced by the reincarnating Ego, the Spiritual and immortal "individuality." And this hypothesis we entirely reject. The Conscious Individuality of the disembodied cannot materialize, nor can it return from its own mental Devachanic sphere to the plane of terrestrial objectivity. Q. But many of the communications received from the "spirits" show not only intelligence, but a knowledge of facts not known to the medium, and sometimes even not consciously present to the mind of the investigator, or any of those who compose the audience. A. This does not necessarily prove that the intelligence and knowledge you speak of belong to spirits, or emanate from disembodied souls. Somnambulists have been known to compose music and poetry and to solve mathematical problems while in their trance state, without having ever learnt music or mathematics. Others, answered intelligently to questions put to them, and even, in several cases, spoke languages, such as Hebrew and Latin, of which they were entirely ignorant when awake, all this in a state of profound sleep. Will you, then, maintain that this was caused by "spirits"? Q. But how would you explain it? A. We assert that the divine spark in man being one and identical in its essence with the Universal Spirit, our "spiritual Self" is practically omniscient, but that it cannot manifest its knowledge owing to the impediments of matter. Now the more these impediments are removed, in other words, the more the physical body is paralysed, as to its own independent activity and consciousness, as in deep sleep or deep trance, or, again, in illness, the more fully can the inner Self manifest on this plane. This is our explanation of those truly wonderful phenomena of a higher order, in which undeniable intelligence and knowledge are exhibited. As to the lower order of manifestations, such as physical phenomena and the platitudes and common talk of the general "spirit," to explain even the most important of the teachings we hold upon the subject would take up more space and time than can be allotted to it at present. We have no desire to interfere with the belief of the Spiritualists any more than with any other belief. The responsibility must fall on the believers in "spirits." And at the present moment, while still convinced that the higher sort of manifestations occur through the disembodied souls, their leaders and the most learned and intelligent among the Spiritualists are the first to confess that not all the phenomena are produced by spirits. Gradually they will come to recognize the whole truth; but meanwhile we have no right nor desire to proselytize them to our views. The less so, as in the cases of purely psychic and spiritual manifestations we believe in the intercommunication of the spirit of the living man with that of disembodied personalities. We say that in such cases it is not the spirits of the dead who descend on earth, but the spirits of the living that ascend to the pure spiritual Souls. In truth there is neither ascending nor descending, but a change of state or condition for the medium. The body of the latter becoming paralyzed, or "entranced," the spiritual Ego is free from its trammels, and finds itself on the same plane of consciousness with the disembodied spirits. Hence, if there is any spiritual attraction between the two they can communicate, as often occurs in dreams. The difference between a mediumistic and a non-sensitive nature is this: the liberated spirit of a medium has the opportunity and facility of influencing the passive organs of its entranced physical body, to make them act, speak, and write at its will. The EGO can make it repeat, echo-like, and in the human language, the thoughts and ideas of the disembodied entity, as well as its own. But the non-receptive or non-sensitive organism of one who is very positive cannot be so influenced. Hence, although there is hardly a human being whose Ego does not hold free intercourse, during the sleep of his body, with those whom it loved and lost, yet, on account of the positiveness and non-receptivity of its physical envelope and brain, no recollection, or a very dim, dream-like remembrance, lingers in the memory of the person once awake. Q. This means that you reject the philosophy of Spiritualism in toto? A. If by "philosophy" you mean their crude theories, we do. But they have no philosophy, in truth. Their best, their most intellectual and earnest defenders say so. Their fundamental and only unimpeachable truth, namely, that phenomena occur through mediums controlled by invisible forces and intelligences, no one, except a blind materialist of the "Huxley big toe" school, will or can deny. With regard to their philosophy, however, let me read to you what the able editor of Light, than whom the Spiritualists will find no wiser nor more devoted champion, says of them and their philosophy. This is what "M.A. Oxon," one of the very few philosophical Spiritualists, writes, with respect to their lack of organization and blind bigotry: It is worthwhile to look steadily at this point, for it is of vital moment. We have an experience and a knowledge beside which all other knowledge is comparatively insignificant. The ordinary Spiritualist waxes wroth if anyone ventures to impugn his assured knowledge of the future and his absolute certainty of the life to come. Where other men have stretched forth feeble hands groping into the dark future, he walks boldly as one who has a chart and knows his way. Where other men have stopped short at a pious aspiration or have been content with a hereditary faith, it is his boast that he knows what they only believe, and that out of his rich stores he can supplement the fading faiths built only upon hope. He is magnificent in his dealings with man's most cherished expectations. He seems to say: You hope for that which I can demonstrate. You have accepted a traditional belief in what I can experimentally prove according to the strictest scientific method. The old beliefs are fading; come out from them and be separate. They contain as much falsehood as truth. Only by building on a sure foundation of demonstrated fact can your superstructure be stable. All round you old faiths are toppling. Avoid the crash and get you out. When one comes to deal with this magnificent person in a practical way, what is the result? Very curious and very disappointing. He is so sure of his ground that he takes no trouble to ascertain the interpretation which others put upon his facts. The wisdom of the ages has concerned itself with the explanation of what he rightly regards as proven; but he does not turn a passing glance on its researches. He does not even agree altogether with his brother Spiritualist. It is the story over again of the old Scotch body who, together with her husband, formed a "kirk." They had exclusive keys to Heaven, or, rather, she had, for she was "na certain aboot Jamie." So the infinitely divided and subdivided and re- subdivided sects of Spiritualists shake their heads, and are "na certain aboot" one another. Again, the collective experience of mankind is solid and unvarying on this point that union is strength, and disunion a source of weakness and failure. Shoulder to shoulder, drilled and disciplined, a rabble becomes an army, each man a match for a hundred of the untrained men that may be brought against it. Organization in every department of man's work means success, saving of time and labour, profit and development. Want of method, want of plan, haphazard work, fitful energy, undisciplined effort, these mean bungling failure. The voice of humanity attests the truth. Does the Spiritualist accept the verdict and act on the conclusion? Verily, no. He refuses to organize. He is a law unto himself, and a thorn in the side of his neighbors. Q. I was told that the Theosophical Society was originally founded to crush Spiritualism and belief in the survival of the individuality in man? A. You are misinformed. Our beliefs are all founded on that immortal individuality. But then, like so many others, you confuse personality with individuality. Your Western psychologists do not seem to have established any clear distinction between the two. Yet it is precisely that difference which gives the keynote to the understanding of Eastern philosophy, and which lies at the root of the divergence between the Theosophical and Spiritualistic teachings. And though it may draw upon us still more the hostility of some Spiritualists, yet I must state here that it is Theosophy which is the true and unalloyed Spiritualism, while the modern scheme of that name is, as now practiced by the masses, simply transcendental materialism. Q. Please explain your idea more clearly. A. What I mean is that though our teachings insist upon the identity of spirit and matter, and though we say that spirit is potential matter, and matter simply crystallized spirit (e.g., as ice is solidified steam), yet since the original and eternal condition of all is not spirit but meta-spirit, so to speak, we maintain that the term spirit can only be applied to the true individuality. Q. But what is the distinction between this "true individuality" and the "I" or "Ego" of which we are all conscious? A. Before I can answer you, we must argue upon what you mean by "I" or "Ego." We distinguish between the simple fact of self-consciousness, the simple feeling that "I am I," and the complex thought that "I am Mr. Smith" or "Mrs. Brown." Believing as we do in a series of births for the same Ego, or reincarnation, this distinction is the fundamental pivot of the whole idea. You see "Mr. Smith" really means a long series of daily experiences strung together by the thread of memory, and forming what Mr. Smith calls "himself." But none of these "experiences" are really the "I" or the Ego, nor do they give "Mr. Smith" the feeling that he is himself, for he forgets the greater part of his daily experiences, and they produce the feeling of Egoity in him only while they last. We Theosophists, therefore, distinguish between this bundle of "experiences," which we call the false (because so finite and evanescent) personality, and that element in man to which the feeling of "I am I" is due. It is this "I am I" which we call the true individuality; and we say that this "Ego" or individuality plays, like an actor, many parts on the stage of life. Let us call every new life on earth of the same Ego a night on the stage of a theater. One night the actor, or "Ego," appears as "Macbeth," the next as "Shylock," the third as "Romeo," the fourth as "Hamlet" or "King Lear," and so on, until he has run through the whole cycle of incarnations. The Ego begins his life-pilgrimage as a sprite, an "Ariel," or a "Puck"; he plays the part of a super, is a soldier, a servant, one of the chorus; rises then to "speaking parts," plays leading roles, interspersed with insignificant parts, till he finally retires from the stage as "Prospero," the magician. Q. I understand. You say, then, that this true Ego cannot return to earth after death. But surely the actor is at liberty, if he has preserved the sense of his individuality, to return if he likes to the scene of his former actions? A. We say not, simply because such a return to earth would be incompatible with any state of unalloyed bliss after death, as I am prepared to prove. We say that man suffers so much unmerited misery during his life, through the fault of others with whom he is associated, or because of his environment, that he is surely entitled to perfect rest and quiet, if not bliss, before taking up again the burden of life. However, we can discuss this in detail later. Editorial note [1996]: below are some footnotes from the original file, which I hope readers can relate to the text - I do not have a copy of the book, only the disk supplied by Eldon. AB. [An artificial or improbable device to resolve a difficulty.] Light, June 22, 1889 Visible and solid matter being simply its periodical manifestation. See below, "On Individuality and Personality," 124. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From astrea@actrix.co.at Tue Feb 27 19:21:15 1996 Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 20:21:15 +0100 From: Joanne Greig Subject: Re: Book Offering Message-Id: <2.2.32.19960227192115.008f6594@mail.austria.eu.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Great books! Why are you getting rid of them, if I may ask? ASTREA At 17:36 26/02/96 -0500, you wrote: > >Book offering: > > As suggested by several of you, I have selected a few books >that are representative of what I sell, and what might be of >interest to theos-xxx readers. All books are hard cover and >first editions except where otherwise specified. New books are >labled "New." In most cases there is no more than one copy of >each title of the used books, so they are available on a first >come basis. Please contact me at the above header if you are >interested in any of them. Postage: $2.00 domestic. Will advise >for overseas orders: From liesel@dreamscape.com Tue Feb 27 22:02:53 1996 Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 17:02:53 -0500 From: liesel@dreamscape.com (liesel f. deutsch) Subject: Re: Book Offering Message-Id: <199602272203.RAA22401@future.dreamscape.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Jerry, Please send some sort of sign of your book store's existence to a friend of mine who collects antique theosophical books. (Mrs.) Linda McLean 16056 NW Edward Ct. Beaverton Ore. 97006 Thanks Liesel > >Book offering: > > As suggested by several of you, I have selected a few books >that are representative of what I sell, and what might be of >interest to theos-xxx readers. All books are hard cover and >first editions except where otherwise specified. New books are >labled "New." In most cases there is no more than one copy of >each title of the used books, so they are available on a first >come basis. Please contact me at the above header if you are >interested in any of them. Postage: $2.00 domestic. Will advise >for overseas orders: > >JHE > >1. Bailey, Alice. ~Initiation Human and Solar.~ Lucis Pub. Co., >1959. 7th ptg. Her first book. Covers the basic teachings. Nice >clean copy. $10.00 > >2. Donnelly, Ignatius. ~Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.~ >Harper & Brothers, 1882. Green cloth with gold stamping. Front >end paper missing. Some minor discoloration from water staining >on the tips of some pages. Otherwise a clean well bound copy. >Unedited reprints of this classic are not available anymore, and >first editions like this one are very hard to come by. $30.00 > >3. Godwin, Joscelyn et al. ~The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor~ >Weiser, 1995. The only documented account of this secret order. >New. $25.00 > >4. Hough, Graham. ~The Mystery Religion of W.B. Yeats.~ Barnes >and Noble, 1984. Clean with clean dust jacket. Comprehensive >account of Yeats' involvement with the Occult. $15.00 > >5. Kanga, D.D. ~Where Theosophy and Science Meet~ 4 vols. with >dust jackets. Adyar Library Association 1938-39. Clean set. >$40.00 > >6. "Levi" (Levi H, Dowling). ~The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the >Christ.~ L.N. Fowler, 1925. 9th ed. Black leather boards with >cloth spine. Rounded corners. Cover slight chipped at the ends, >otherwise an unusually nice and fancy copy. Book plate. This is >a real classic, and is supposed to be an account of the lost >years of Jesus taken from the akashic records. $20.00 > >7. Lutyens, Lady Emily. ~Candles in the Sun.~ J.B. Lippincott Co. >1957. Dust Jacket rubbed, otherwise clean and tight. This is >Lady Emily's first hand account of her relationship with >Krishnamurti and of those days in the TS. $12.00 > >8. Mead, G.R.S. ~The Hymn of the Rode of Glory.~ Vol. 10 of the >Echoes from the Gnosis series. TPS, 1908. Green cloth, white >imprint; faded. some light pencil markings, otherwise clean and >tight binding. $10.00 > >9. Mead, G.R.S. ~The Chaldean Oracles.~ Vol. 9 of the Echoes from >the Gnosis series. TPS, 1908. Green cloth, white imprint; faded. >Clean and tight binding. $10.00 > >10. Nethercott, Arthur H. ~The First Five Lives of Annie Besant.~ >U. of Chicago press, 1960. Clean and tight but with a 1 inch >blemish on the dusk jacket where someone apparently removed a >label that was stuck on with permanent glue. Besant's life up to >1893 with the Parliament of Religions. $15.00 > >11. [Robb, Richard]. ~Symposium of H.P. Blavatsky's Secret >Doctrine. Proceedings Sat. & Sun. July 21-22, 1984. Seventeen >papers from four countries.~ New (soft cover). $6.00 > >12. Sloss, Radha Rajagopal. ~Lives in the Shadow.~ This is the >original (hard to find in the U.S.) British Bloomsbury edition of >the controversial account of Krishnamurti's twenty year affair >with his partner's wife. New. $25.00 > > > From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 21:42:00 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA16783 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 27 Feb 1996 00:50:41 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ai29098; 27 Feb 96 1:07 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa07053; 27 Feb 96 1:05 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 21:42:00 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY11.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY11.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ------------------------------------------ The Working System of the T.S. The Objects of the Society Q. What are the objects of the "Theosophical Society"? A. They are three, and have been so from the beginning. 1. To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, color, or creed. 2. To promote the study of Aryan and other Scriptures, of the World's religions and sciences, and to vindicate the importance of old Asiatic literature, namely, of the Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian philosophies. 3. To investigate the hidden mysteries of Nature under every aspect possible, and the psychic and spiritual powers latent in man especially. These are, broadly stated, the three chief objects of the Theosophical Society. Q. Can you give me some more detailed information upon these? A. We may divide each of the three objects into as many explanatory clauses as may be found necessary. Q. Then let us begin with the first. What means would you resort to, in order to promote such a feeling of brotherhood among races that are known to be of the most diversified religions, customs, beliefs, and modes of thought? A. Allow me to add that which you seem unwilling to express. Of course we know that with the exception of two remnants of races, the Parsees and the Jews, every nation is divided, not merely against all other nations, but even against itself. This is found most prominently among the so-called civilized Christian nations. Hence your wonder, and the reason why our first object appears to you a Utopia. Is it not so? Q. Well, yes; but what have you to say against it? A. Nothing against the fact; but much about the necessity of removing the causes which make Universal Brotherhood a Utopia at present. Q. What are, in your view, these causes? A. First and foremost, the natural selfishness of human nature. This selfishness, instead of being eradicated, is daily strengthened and stimulated into a ferocious and irresistible feeling by the present religious education, which tends not only to encourage, but positively to justify it. People's ideas about right and wrong have been entirely perverted by the literal acceptance of the Jewish Bible. All the unselfishness of the altruistic teachings of Jesus has become merely a theoretical subject for pulpit oratory; while the precepts of practical selfishness taught in the Mosaic Bible, against which Christ so vainly preached, have become ingrained into the innermost life of the Western nations. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" has come to be the first maxim of your law. Now, I state openly and fearlessly, that the perversity of this doctrine and of so many others Theosophy alone can eradicate. See the official rules of the T.S. in the Appendix, 345. Note that "T.S." is an abbreviation for "Theosophical Society." --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Mon Feb 26 21:42:48 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA20055 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 27 Feb 1996 01:32:38 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id aa29549; 27 Feb 96 1:10 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa07421; 27 Feb 96 1:08 GMT Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 21:42:48 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY12.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY12.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ------------------------------- The Common Origin of Man Q. How? A. Simply by demonstrating on logical, philosophical, metaphysical, and even scientific grounds that: (a) All men have spiritually and physically the same origin, which is the fundamental teaching of Theosophy. (b) As mankind is essentially of one and the same essence, and that essence is one, infinite, uncreate, and eternal, whether we call it God or Nature, nothing, therefore, can affect one nation or one man without affecting all other nations and all other men. This is as certain and as obvious as that a stone thrown into a pond will, sooner or later, set in motion every single drop of water therein. Q. But this is not the teaching of Christ, but rather a pantheistic notion. A. That is where your mistake lies. It is purely Christian, although not Judaic, and therefore, perhaps, your Biblical nations prefer to ignore it. Q. This is a wholesale and unjust accusation. Where are your proofs for such a statement? A. They are ready at hand. Christ is alleged to have said: "Love each other" and "Love your enemies;" for B if ye love them (only) which love you, what reward (or merit) have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even publicans so? These are Christ's words. But Genesis says "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." And, therefore, Christian but Biblical people prefer the law of Moses to Christ's law of love. They base upon the Old Testament, which panders to all their passions, their laws of conquest, annexation, and tyranny over races which they call inferior. What crimes have been committed on the strength of this infernal (if taken in its dead letter) passage in Genesis, history alone gives us an idea, however inadequate. At the close of the Middle Ages slavery, under the power of moral forces, had mainly disappeared from Europe; but two momentous events occurred which overbore the moral power working in European society and let loose a swarm of curses upon the earth such as mankind had scarcely ever known. One of these events was the first voyaging to a populated and barbarous coast where human beings were a familiar article of traffic; and the other the discovery of a new world, where mines of glittering wealth were open, provided labor could be imported to work them. For four hundred years men and women and children were torn from all whom they knew and loved, and were sold on the coast of Africa to foreign traders; they were chained below decks, the dead often with the living, during the horrible "middle passage," and, according to Bancroft, an impartial historian, two hundred and fifty thousand out of three and a quarter millions were thrown into the sea on that fatal passage, while the remainder were consigned to nameless misery in the mines, or under the lash in the cane and rice fields. The guilt of this great crime rests on the Christian Church. "In the name of the most Holy Trinity" the Spanish Government (Roman Catholic) concluded more than ten treaties authorizing the sale of five hundred thousand human beings; in 1562 Sir John Hawkins sailed on his diabolical errand of buying slaves in Africa and selling them in the West Indies in a ship which bore the sacred name of Jesus; while Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen, rewarded him for his success in this first adventure of Englishmen in that inhuman traffic by allowing him to wear as his crest "a demi-Moor in his proper color, bound with a cord, or, in other words, a manacled Negro slave." Q. I have heard you say that the identity of our physical origin is proved by science, that of our spiritual origin by the Wisdom-Religion. Yet we do not find Darwinists exhibiting great fraternal affection. A. Just so. This is what shows the deficiency of the materialistic systems, and proves that we Theosophists are in the right. The identity of our physical origin makes no appeal to our higher and deeper feelings. Matter, deprived of its soul and spirit, or its divine essence, cannot speak to the human heart. But the identity of the soul and spirit, of real, immortal man, as Theosophy teaches us, once proven and deep-rooted in our hearts, would lead us far on the road of real charity and brotherly goodwill. Q. But how does Theosophy explain the common origin of man? A. By teaching that the root of all nature, objective and subjective, and everything else in the universe, visible and invisible, is, was, and ever will be one absolute essence, from which all starts, and into which everything returns. This is Aryan philosophy, fully represented only by the Vedantins, and the Buddhist system. With this object in view, it is the duty of all Theosophists to promote in every practical way, and in all countries, the spread of non-sectarian education. Q. What do the written statutes of your Society advise its members to do besides this? On the physical plane, I mean? A. In order to awaken brotherly feeling among nations we have to assist in the international exchange of useful arts and products, by advice, information, and co-operation with all worthy individuals and associations (provided, however, add the statutes, "that no benefit or percentage shall be taken by the Society or the 'Fellows' for its or their corporate services"). For instance, to take a practical illustration. The organization of Society, depicted by Edward Bellamy, in his magnificent work Looking Backwards, admirably represents the Theosophical idea of what should be the first great step towards the full realization of universal brotherhood. The state of things he depicts falls short of perfection, because selfishness still exists and operates in the hearts of men. But in the main, selfishness and individualism have been overcome by the feeling of solidarity and mutual brotherhood; and the scheme of life there described reduces the causes tending to create and foster selfishness to a minimum. Q. Then as a Theosophist you will take part in an effort to realize such an ideal? A. Certainly; and we have proved it by action. Have not you heard of the Nationalist clubs and party which have sprung up in America since the publication of Bellamy's book? They are now coming prominently to the front, and will do so more and more as time goes on. Well, these clubs and this party were started in the first instance by Theosophists. One of the first, the Nationalist Club of Boston, Massachusetts, has Theosophists for President and Secretary, and the majority of its executive belong to the T.S. In the constitution of all their clubs, and of the party they are forming, the influence of Theosophy and of the Society is plain, for they all take as their basis, their first and fundamental principle, the Brotherhood of Humanity as taught by Theosophy. In their declaration of Principles they state: The principle of the Brotherhood of Humanity is one of the eternal truths that govern the world's progress on lines which distinguish human nature from brute nature. What can be more Theosophical than this? But it is not enough. What is also needed is to impress men with the idea that, if the root of mankind is one, then there must also be one truth which finds expression in all the various religions, except in the Jewish, as you do not find it expressed even in the Cabala. Q. This refers to the common origin of religions, and you may be right there. But how does it apply to practical brotherhood on the physical plane? A. First, because that which is true on the metaphysical plane must be also true on the physical. Secondly, because there is no more fertile source of hatred and strife than religious differences. When one party or another thinks himself the sole possessor of absolute truth, it becomes only natural that he should think his neighbor absolutely in the clutches of Error or the Devil. But once get a man to see that none of them has the whole truth, but that they are mutually complementary, that the complete truth can be found only in the combined views of all, after that which is false in each of them has been sifted out, then true brotherhood in religion will be established. The same applies in the physical world. Q. Please explain further. A. Take an instance. A plant consists of a root, a stem, and many shoots and leaves. As humanity, as a whole, is the stem which grows from the spiritual root, so is the stem the unity of the plant. Hurt the stem and it is obvious that every shoot and leaf will suffer. So it is with mankind. Q. Yes, but if you injure a leaf or a shoot, you do not injure the whole plant. A. And therefore you think that by injuring one man you do not injure humanity? But how do you know? Are you aware that even materialistic science teaches that any injury, however, slight, to a plant will affect the whole course of its future growth and development? Therefore, you are mistaken, and the analogy is perfect. If, however, you overlook the fact that a cut in the finger may often make the whole body suffer, and react on the whole nervous system, I must all the more remind you that there may well be other spiritual laws, operating on plants and animals as well as on mankind, although, as you do not recognize their action on plants and animals, you may deny their existence. Q. What laws do you mean? A. We call them Karmic laws; but you will not understand the full meaning of the term unless you study Occultism. However, my argument did not rest on the assumption of these laws, but really on the analogy of the plant. Expand the idea, carry it out to a universal application, and you will soon find that in true philosophy every physical action has its moral and everlasting effect. Hurt a man by doing him bodily harm; you may think that his pain and suffering cannot spread by any means to his neighbors, least of all to men of other nations. We affirm that it will, in good time. Therefore, we say, that unless every man is brought to understand and accept as an axiomatic truth that by having wronged one man we wrong not only ourselves but the whole of humanity in the long run, no brotherly feelings such as preached by all the great Reformers, pre-eminently by Buddha and Jesus, are possible on earth. Publicans, regarded as so many thieves and pickpockets in these days. Among the Jews the name and profession of a publican was the most odious thing in the world. They were not allowed to enter the Temple, and Matthew (Matt. 18:17.) speaks of a heathen and a publican as identical. Yet they were only Roman tax-gatherers occupying the same position as the British officials in India and other conquered countries. --------------------- Unallocated footnotes: [AB, 1996] Gen. 9:25. Conquests of the Cross, cited from The Agnostic Journal. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 27 21:44:47 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA01515 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 27 Feb 1996 18:33:15 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id bh16560; 27 Feb 96 21:59 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa22267; 27 Feb 96 21:48 GMT Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 21:44:47 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - LEGALITY.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 LEGALITY.TXT In view of recent discussions on theos-l, it seems useful to post this file out of sequence. It is being posted to both theos-l and theos-roots - apologies to anyone inconvenienced by the double download of an important text - A.B. From ~The Key to Theosophy~, first published 1889: The Legal Status of the Theosophical Society The following Official Report, on which was granted a Decree of Incorporation to the St. Louis Theosophical Society, is an important document, as putting on record the view taken of the Theosophical Society,after a careful examination of witnesses on oath,by an American Court of Law. 1. The petitioner is not a religious body. I report this negative finding for the reason that the word Theosophical contained in petitioners' name conveys a possible religious implication. The statutory phrase "society formed for religious purposes" applies, I suppose, only to an organization formed in part for worship, worship being an individual act involving adoration and perhaps emotional power, both being of necessity individual acts, or else to an organization formed for a propagation of a religious faith. Merely to teach a religion as one may teach algebra, is not, I think, a religious work, as the word religious is used in the Statute and the Constitution. A man may occupy a collegiate chair of Professor of Religions and as such teach the tenets of many religions. These different religions being variant and antagonistic, the Professor could not by any possibility worship under all. Nay, he might even be irreligious. Hence, merely teaching religions is not a religious work in the statutory sense. It will be noted that in article two of this society's constitution, the word religion is used in the plural. To teach religions is educational, not religious. "To promote the study of religions" is in part to promote the study of the history of man. I add the subordinate finding that the society has no religious creed and practices no worship. 2. The petitioner proposes to promote the study of literature and sciences. These objects are expressly within the terms of the Statute. 3. Cognate with the last objects is that of investigating "unexplained laws of nature and psychical powers latent in man." These two phrases, taken in their apparent meaning, are unobjectionable. But there is reason to believe that they form a meaning other than the apparent one. The court will take notice of the commonly accepted meaning of the word Theosophy. Though I am ignorant of Theosophy, I think it is supposed to include among other things manifestations and phenomena, physical and psychical, that are violations of the laws now known by physicists and metaphysicians, and perhaps not explained or claimed to be explained or understood even by Theosophists themselves. In this group may be included Spiritualism, mesmerism, clairvoyance, mind-healing, mind-reading and the like. I took testimony on this question, and found that while a belief in any one of these sorts of manifestations and phenomena is not required, while each member of the society is at liberty to hold his own opinion, yet such questions form topics of inquiry and discussion, and the members as a mass probably believers individually in phenomena that are abnormal and in powers that are superhuman as far as science now knows. It is undoubtedly the right of any citizen to hold whatever opinions he pleases on these subjects, and to endeavor at his pleasure to investigate the unexplained and to display the latent. But the question here is: Shall the Court grant a franchise in aid of such endeavor? Voodooism is a word applied to the practices of guileful men among the ignorant and superstitious who inflict impostures upon guileless men among the ignorant and superstitious. No Court would grant a franchise in furtherance of such practices. The Court then will stop to inquire into the practices and perhaps the reputation of the enterprise which seeks judicial aid. I am not meaning to make a comparison between voodooism and this group of phenomena which for convenience (though I know not whether accurately) I will call occultism. I only take voodooism as a strong case to show the Court ought to inquire. If we now inquire into occultism we shall find that it has been occasionally used, as is reported, for the purposes of imposture. But this goes for nothing against its essential character. Always and everywhere bad men will make a bad use of anything for selfish ends. The object of this society, whether attainable or not, is undeniably laudable, assuming that there are physical and psychical phenomena unexplained, and that Theosophy seeks to explain them. Assuming that there are human powers yet latent, it seeks to discover them. It may be that absurdities and impostures are in fact incident to the nascent stage of its development. As to an understanding like that of occultism, which asserts powers commonly thought superhuman, and phenomena commonly thought supernatural, it seemed to me that the Court, though not assuming to determine judicially the question of their verity, would, before granting to occultism a franchise, inquire whether at least it had gained the position of being reputable or whether its adherents were merely men of narrow intelligence, mean intellect, and omnivorous credulity. I accordingly took testimony on that point, and find that a number of gentlemen in different countries of Europe, and also in this country, eminent in science, are believers in occultism. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, a writer of large and varied learning, and of solid intellect, is asserted to have been an occultist, an assertion countenanced by at least two of his books. The late President Wayland, of Brown University, writing of abnormal mental operations as shown in clairvoyance, says: The subject seems to me well worthy of the most searching and candid examination. It is by no means deserving of ridicule, but demands the attention of the most philosophical inquiry. Sir William Hamilton, probably the most acute and, undeniably, the most learned of English metaphysicians that ever lived, said at least thirty years ago: However astonishing, it is now proved beyond all rational doubt that in certain abnormal states of the nervous organism perceptions are possible through other than the ordinary channels of the senses. By such testimony Theosophy is at least placed on the footing of respectability. Whether by further labor it can make partial truths complete truths, whether it can eliminate extravagances and purge itself of impurities, if there are any, are probably questions upon which the Court will not feel called upon to pass. I perceive no other feature of the petitioners' constitution that is obnoxious to legal objection, and accordingly I have the honor to report that I show no cause why the prayer of the petitioners should not be granted. AUGUST W. ALEXANDER, Amicus Curiae. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 27 21:20:31 1996 Received: from ginger.vnet.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA06561 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 27 Feb 1996 19:27:25 -0500 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk [158.152.1.77]) by ginger.vnet.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id SAA07370 for ; Tue, 27 Feb 1996 18:28:25 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id af24025; 27 Feb 96 22:50 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa08820; 27 Feb 96 22:48 GMT Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 21:20:31 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY14.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 KEY14.TXT [The Key to Theosophy] Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain ----------------------------------------- On the Sacredness of the Pledge Q. Have you any ethical system that you carry out in the Society? A. The ethics are there, ready and clear enough for whomsoever would follow them. They are the essence and cream of the world's ethics, gathered from the teachings of all the world's great reformers. Therefore, you will find represented therein Confucius and Zoroaster, Lao-tzu and the Bhagavad-Gita, the precepts of Gautama Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth, of Hillel and his school, as of Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and their schools. Q. Do the members of your Society carry out these precepts? I have heard of great dissensions and quarrels among them. A. Very naturally, since although the reform (in its present shape) may be called new, the men and women to be reformed are the same human, sinning natures as of old. As already said, the earnest working members are few; but many are the sincere and well-disposed persons, who try their best to live up to the Society's and their own ideals. Our duty is to encourage and assist individual fellows in self-improvement, intellectual, moral, and spiritual; not to blame or condemn those who fail. We have, strictly speaking, no right to refuse admission to anyone, especially in the Esoteric Section of the Society, wherein "he who enters is as one newly born." But if any member, his sacred pledges on his word of honor and immortal Self notwithstanding, chooses to continue, after that "new birth," with the new man, the vices or defects of his old life, and to indulge in them still in the Society, then, of course, he is more than likely to be asked to resign and withdraw; or, in case of his refusal, to be expelled. We have the strictest rules for such emergencies. Q. Can some of them be mentioned? A. They can. To begin with, no Fellow in the Society, whether exoteric or esoteric, has a right to force his personal opinions upon another Fellow. It is not lawful for any officer of the Parent Society to express in public, by word or act, any hostility to, or preference for, any one section, religious or philosophical, more than another. All have an equal right to have the essential features of their religious belief laid before the tribunal of an impartial world. And no officer of the Society, in his capacity as an officer, has the right to preach his own sectarian views and beliefs to members assembled, except when the meeting consists of his co-religionists. After due warning, violation of this rule shall be punished by suspension or expulsion. This is one of the offenses in the Society at large. As regards the inner section, now called the Esoteric, the following rules have been laid down and adopted, so far back as 1880. No Fellow shall put to his selfish use any knowledge communicated to him by any member of the first section (now a higher "degree"); violation of the rule being punished by expulsion. Now, however, before any such knowledge can be imparted, the applicant has to bind himself by a solemn oath not to use it for selfish purposes, nor to reveal anything said except by permission. Q. But is a man expelled, or resigning, from the section free to reveal anything he may have learned, or to break any clause of the pledge he has taken? A. Certainly not. His expulsion or resignation only relieves him from the obligation of obedience to the teacher, and from that of taking an active part in the work of the Society, but surely not from the sacred pledge of secrecy. Q. But is this reasonable and just? A. Most assuredly. To any man or woman with the slightest honorable feeling a pledge of secrecy taken even on one's word of honor, much more to one's Higher Self, the God within, is binding till death. And though he may leave the Section and the Society, no man or woman of honor will think of attacking or injuring a body to which he or she has been so pledged. Q. But is not this going rather far? A. Perhaps so, according to the low standard of the present time and morality. But if it does not bind as far as this, what use is a pledge at all? How can anyone expect to be taught secret knowledge, if he is to be at liberty to free himself from all the obligations he had taken, whenever he pleases? What security, confidence, or trust would ever exist among men, if pledges such as this were to have no really binding force at all? Believe me, the law of retribution (Karma) would very soon overtake one who so broke his pledge, and perhaps as soon as the contempt of every honorable man would, even on this physical plane. As well expressed in the New York Path just cited on this subject, A pledge once taken, is forever binding in both the moral and the occult worlds. If we break it once and are punished, that does not justify us in breaking it again, and so long as we do, so long will the mighty lever of the Law (of Karma) react upon us. Original Footnote: [A branch, or lodge, composed solely of co-religionists, or a branch in partibus [in parts inhabited by unbelievers], as they are now somewhat bombastically called. The Path, July 1889] --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 27 21:08:17 1996 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk) by vnet.net with SMTP id AA09887 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 27 Feb 1996 20:05:44 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id al22624; 27 Feb 96 22:41 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa06225; 27 Feb 96 22:39 GMT Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 21:08:17 +0000 Message-Id: From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - KEY13.TXT Mime-Version: 1.0 The Key to Theosophy KEY13.TXT Text supplied by Eldon Tucker Converted to ASCII to Alan Bain -------------------------------- Our Other Objects Q. Will you now explain the methods by which you propose to carry out the second object? A. To collect for the library at our headquarters of Adyar, Madras, and by the Fellows of their Branches for their local libraries, all the good works upon the world's religions that we can. To put into written form correct information upon the various ancient philosophies, traditions, and legends, and disseminate the same in such practicable ways as the translation and publication of original works of value, and extracts from and commentaries upon the same, or the oral instructions of persons learned in their respective departments. Q. And what about the third object, to develop in man his latent spiritual or psychic powers? A. This has to be achieved also by means of publications, in those places where no lectures and personal teachings are possible. Our duty is to keep alive in man his spiritual intuitions. To oppose and counteract, after due investigation and proof of its irrational nature, bigotry in every form, religious, scientific, or social, and cant above all, whether as religious sectarianism or as belief in miracles or anything supernatural. What we have to do is to seek to obtain knowledge of all the laws of nature, and to diffuse it. To encourage the study of those laws least understood by modern people, the so-called Occult Sciences, based on the true knowledge of nature, instead of, as at present, on superstitious beliefs based on blind faith and authority. Popular folklore and traditions, however fanciful at times, when sifted may lead to the discovery of long-lost, but important, secrets of nature. The Society, therefore, aims at pursuing this line of inquiry, in the hope of widening the field of scientific and philosophical observation. --------- THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Ancient Wisdom for a New Age From am455@lafn.org Wed Feb 28 01:29:24 1996 Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 17:29:24 -0800 From: am455@lafn.org (Nicholas Weeks) Subject: A Hallowed Soul Message-Id: <199602280129.AA17761@lafn.org> "The chief aim of the Founders of the Eclectic Theosophical School was one of the three objects of its modern successor, the Theosophical Society, namely, to reconcile all religions, sects and nations under a common system of ethics, based on eternal verities." [~The Key to Theosophy,~ pp. 3-4] Ammonius Saccas and his disciples started the Eclectic Theosophical system. Since Ammonius taught orally and wrote little or nothing, his worthy disciple and Initiate Plotinus (204-270), may be our best root source of some of the teachings of the Hermetic branch of the Occult Brotherhood. In ~Plotinus: The Enneads~ (tr. by Stephen MacKenna, Larson Publications, 1992, pp. 16-17) is praise for this true Theosophist. The tribute comes from the Oracle of Apollo quoted by Plotinus' biographer and disciple, Porphyry (232?-204?). ******************** "I raise an undying song, to the memory of a gentle friend, a hymn of praise woven to the honey-sweet tones of my lyre under the touch of the golden plectrum. The Muses too, I call to lift the voice with me in strains of many-toned exultation, in passion ranging over all the modes of song: even as of old they raised the famous chant to the glory of Aeacides in the immortal ardours of the Homeric line. Come then, Sacred Chorus, let us intone with one great sound the utmost of all song, I Phoebus, Bathychaites, singing in the midst. Celestial! Man at first, but now nearing the diviner ranks! The bonds of human necessity are loosed for you and, strong of heart, you beat your eager way from out the roaring tumult of the fleshly life to the shores of that wave-washed coast free from the thronging of the guilty, thence to take the grateful path of the sinless soul: where glows the splendour of God, where Right is throned in the stainless place, far from the wrong that mocks at law. Oft-times as you strove to rise above the bitter waves of this blood-drenched life, above the sickening whirl, toiling in the mid- most of the rushing flood and unimaginable turmoil, oft-times, from the Ever-Blessed, there was shown to you the Term still close at hand: Oft-times, when your mind thrust out awry and was like to be rapt down unsanctioned paths, the Immortals themselves prevented, guiding you on the straightgoing way to the celestial spheres, pouring down before you a dense shaft of light that your eyes might see from amid the mournful loom. Sleep never closed those eyes: high above the heavy murk of the mist you held them; tossed in the welter, you still had vision; still you saw sights many and fair not granted to all that labour in wisdom's quest. But now that you have cast the screen aside, quitted the tomb that held your lofty soul, you enter at once the heavenly consort: where fragrant breezes play, where all is unison and winning tendnerness and guileless joy, and the place is lavish of the nectar-streams the unfailing Gods bestow, with the blandishments of the Loves, and delicious airs, and tranquil sky: Where Minos and Rhadamanthus dwell, great brethren of the golden race of mighty Zeus; where dwell the just Aeacus, and Plato, consecrated power, and stately Pythagoras and all else that form the Choir of Immortal Love, that share their parentage with the most blessed spirits, there where the heart is ever lifted in joyous festival. O Blessed One, you have fought your many fights; now, crowned with unfading life, your days are with the Ever-Holy. Rejoicing Muses, let us stay our song and the subtle windings of our dance; thus much I could but tell, to my golden lyre, of Plotinus, the hallowed soul." *********************** -- Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles First of all, love truth for its own sake, for otherwise no recognition of it will follow. HP Blavatsky From ramadoss@eden.com Thu Feb 29 00:29:35 1996 Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 18:29:35 -0600 (CST) From: ramadoss@eden.com Subject: GRS Mead on HPB Message-Id: <2.2.16.19960228183039.204ffd78@mail.eden.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Alan: Thanks for the upload on theos-buds. I printed it out and read it this A.M. It was very inspiring and I enjoyed it very much. I hope others also be benefitted by the post. ..doss From TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 27 22:05:41 1996 Received: from ginger.vnet.net by vnet.net with SMTP id AA18673 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 28 Feb 1996 01:36:52 -0500 Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk [158.152.1.77]) by ginger.vnet.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id AAA14720 for ; Wed, 28 Feb 1996 00:34:57 -0500 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id ac22740; 27 Feb 96 22:41 GMT Received: from nellie2.demon.co.uk ([158.152.93.82]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa06224; 27 Feb 96 22:39 GMT Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 22:05:41 +0000 Message-Id: <5NI2tCA1A4MxEwb5@nellie2.demon.co.uk> From: Alan Subject: UPLOAD - G.R.S. Mead on H.P.B. Mime-Version: 1.0 HPB.TXT TITLE: Concerning H.P.B. AUTHOR: G.R.S.Mead First published in ~The Theosophical Review~ Vol. XXXIV, April 15th 1904 An ABRAXAS/THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL PROJECT Editorial Note: This ASCII text was republished as a correctly formatted booklet with a foreword by R.A.Gilbert in 1995 for the Theosophical Research Group, and hard copies are still available, printed to order. (Contact Robert@nellie2.demon.co.uk). ----------------------------- CONCERNING H.P.B. STRAY THOUGHTS ON THEOSOPHY I (Wisdom) love them that love me. - Prov. viii, 17. Where there is mystery, it is generally supposed there must also be evil. - Byron. LET us for a few minutes turn our thoughts together to the woman without whom, in every probability, there would have been no Theosophical movement to-day as we understand it. Let us consider briefly the crude and blundering question: "Do you believe in Blavatsky?" To me this question sounds strange, sounds even, if I may say so, vulgar. "Blavatsky?" No one who knew her, knew her thus tout court. For her enemies even, while she lived, she was Madame Blavatsky, or at least H.P.Blavatsky; while for her friends and lovers she was Helena Petrovna, or H.P.B., or the "Old Lady" - which last once gave occasion to a pretty witticism of a friend, who slyly remarked that it would have been awkward had Madame been Monsieur. When then such an uncompromising question as this is put to us, how are we to answer it in utter honesty, if, as is the case with most of us who have studied the subject, we refuse to adopt either the ignorant position of blind prejudice, which thinks it answers infallibly by screaming the parrot-cry of "trickster," or the, to me, still more ignorant view of blind credulity, that once on a time tried to parade our Theosophic streets proclaiming the Bandar-log mantra "H.P.B. says," as the universal panacea for every ill, and solvent of every problem - a species of aberration which, I rejoice to say, has long ceased from troubling us? To this question, the only answer that the vast majority of our present-day fellowship can give, is perhaps somewhat on these lines: We never knew Madame Blavatsky personally, and now, at this late date, in face of the absolutely contradictory assertions made concerning her by her friends and her foes, it is not to be expected that we can pronounce magisterially on a problem which has baffled even her most intimate friends, or solve an enigma which is as mysterious as the riddle of the ancient Sphinx. What we know is, that in spite of all that people have said against the extravagantly abused woman for upwards of a quarter of a century, the fundamentals of Theosophy stand firm, and this for the very simple reason that they are entirely independent of Madame Blavatsky. It is Theosophy in which we are interested, and this would remain an immovable rock of strength and comfort, an inexhaustible source of study, the most noble of all quests, and the most desirable of paths on which to set our feet, even if it were possible, which it is not, conclusively to prove that H.P.Blavatsky was the cleverest trickster and most consummate charlatan of the ages. For surely even the most prodigal of sons may recall dim - nay, even bright - memories of the glories of the mansions of his father's house; his report need not be necessarily false because he is in exile, feeding with the "swine," and grown like unto them. He may by chance have eaten of the "moly"; his memory of home may be coming back. Nay, in this case, it has come back, though seemingly in a chaotic rush, for in fact and truth - and this is what really counts in the whole matter - it has awakened the same memory in many a one of us, his fellow exiles, who bless him for the story - a true "myth" - which he has told. All this and more, even the most cautious of us can answer, and so set H.P.B.'s testimony concerning herself, the memories concealed within her books, which memories none but the knowing can know, against, on the one hand, the faults of their scholarship - for she was no scholar and never claimed to be one, a fact that makes her work the more extraordinary rather than helps to clarify the problem - and, on the other hand, against the twenty years old inimical Report of a member of a society which is now distinguished but was then in its infancy. Indeed the enigma of H.P.B. is ridiculously far from being so simple as the fervent believers in the infallibility of that very one sided account would have it to be. The enigma of H.P.B. is, even for those who knew her most intimately, insoluble, as anyone may see for himself by reading the straightforward objective account of her given by her life-long colleague in the work, H.S.Olcott, in his Old Diary Leaves. No one has in any way given so true a portrait of H.P.B. in her ordinary daily life as has our President-Founder; it is an account of utter honesty, hiding nothing, palliating nothing. but painting in bold strokes the picture of that to me most humanly loveable bundle of inexplicable contradictions; that puzzling mixture of wisdom and folly; that sphinx clad in motley; that successful pioneer of a truly spiritual movement (who was yet, to all appearances, the least fitted to inaugurate such an effort because of her almost mischievous delight not only in outraging the taboos of conventional thought, but also in setting at nought the canons of deportment which tradition has decreed as the outer and visible signs of a spiritual teacher); that frequent cause of despair even to her best friends, and yet, in spite of her utter incomprehensibility, the most winsome of creatures. As for myself, when I am confronted with the notorious S.P.R. Report - though I must confess that I rarely hear anything about it nowadays - I have a very simple answer to make; and it runs somewhat on these lines. You who believe in the S.P.R. investigator's account say that Mme. Blavatsky was a trickster, You did not know her personally; nor, as a matter of fact, did the Committee who adopted the investigator's account. Even the investigator himself had to get the data on which he based his theory from others, when he arrived at Madras. It is thus all at second-hand at the best; even the investigator saw nothing at first-hand. Like the investigator, and like you who believe in his theory, I too was not there; I, therefore, have no means of judging at first-hand. I can only put the very ample written testimony and the still ampler unwritten evidence of her friends who were present, in favour of H.P.B. against the accusations of two dismissed employees, adopted by the missionaries, and afterwards endorsed by the S.P.R. investigator, who at that time seems to have had no first-hand acquaintance with the simplest psychic phenomena, and to have felt himself compelled to exhaust every possible hypothesis of fraud, even the most absurd, before giving Mme. Blavatsky the benefit even of the slightest doubt. Since those days, however, such a change has come over the general opinion of the S.P.R. with regard to psychic matters, and Dr. Hodgson himself has so fundamentally altered his own position, owing to his now mature first-hand experience, that one need not be held to be departing entirely from an impartial judgment in thinking it more probable that Dr. Hodgson's inexperienced hypotheses with regard to Mme. Blavatsky are not to be preferred to the many years of testimony in her favour brought forward by her friends in all countries. Oh, but - some one will say under the influence of this notorious Report - they were all deluded, hypnotised. She was, on the showing of the evidence, helped by many skilful confederates all over the world; it was all a clever system of deception. This is indeed the main burden of the hypotheses put forward by this Report: on all occasions, confederates, trap-doors, etc., hypnotism. Anything, everything, but the admission that H.P.B. was, even at times, so common a thing as an ordinary spiritualistic medium! No, she must be proved lower even than that - an unmitigated fraud in every direction. Even an impartial outsider must feel inclined to exclaim: Surtout pas trop de zele, Messieurs les Inquisiteurs! We have throughout presented to us the picture of nothing but a cunning prestidigitatrice, with elaborate preparations and carefully planned surprises, carried out by astute confederates. It is true that this host of confederates has never been brought into court; they have disappeared into the invisible. Indeed they have, and that too not metaphorically; or rather, perhaps, they have never been anywhere else than in the invisible, for did not H.P.B. call them elementals? Be that as it may be, I, for my part, when investigating a subject, prefer first-hand evidence. I have, therefore, as opposed to the endorsers of and the believers in this Report, so to speak, never left her side; I worked with her in the greatest intimacy, was her private secretary. The picture which the Report paints of H.P.B. flatly contradicts all my own personal experience of her, and therefore I cannot but decline to accept it. I went to her after the publication of the Report, three years after, when the outcry was still loud and suspicion in the air; for the general public of that day, believing in the impossibility of all psychic phenomena, naturally condemned H.P.B. without any enquiry. I went with an accurate knowledge of the Report and of all its elaborate hypotheses in my head; it could not have been otherwise. But a very few months' first-hand acquaintance with H.P.B. convinced me that the very faults of her character were such that she could not have possibly carried on a carefully planned fraud, even had she wanted to do so, least of all an elaborate scheme of deception depending on the manipulation of mechanical devices and the help of crafty confederates. She was frequently most unwise in her utterances, and if angry would blurt out anything that might come into her head, no matter who was present. She did not seem to care what anyone might think, and would sometimes accuse herself of all kinds of things - faults and failings - but never, under any circumstances, even in her wildest moods, did she ever utter a syllable that in any way would confirm the speculations and accusations of Dr. Hodgson. I am myself convinced that had she been guilty of the things charged against her in this respect, she could not have failed, in one or other of her frequent outbursts or confidences, to have let some word or hint escape her of an incriminating nature. Two things in all the chaos of her cosmos stood firm in every mood - that her Teachers existed and that she had not cheated. But the irreconcilables will say: Oh, she was too cunning for you; besides, she glamoured you. The irreconcilables are of course privileged to say anything their fancy may dictate; it is far easier to be seemingly wise at a long distance and to imagine things as one would desire them to have been, than to have, like myself, to try to solve the actual problem that was daily before my own eyes, for three years and more, and the further and still more complex problem contained in a most voluminous literary output, every page of which one has read, and many of which one has had in one way or other to edit. That, however, has always been a personal proof to myself of H.P.B.'s bona fides, is a purely objective thing, incapable of being explained away by impatiently casting it into the waste-paper basket of psychological theoretics. To all intents and purposes, as far as any objective knowledge was concerned, I went to work with H.P.B. as an entirely untried factor. I might, for all she knew to the contrary, have been a secret emissary of the enemy, for she was to my knowledge spied on by many. In any case, supposing she had been a cheat, she must have known that it was a very dangerous experiment to admit an untried person to her most intimate environment. Not only, however, did she do this, but she overwhelmed me with the whole-heartedness of her confidence. She handed over to me the charge of all her keys, of her MSS., her writing desk and the nests of drawers in which she kept her most private papers; not only this, but she further, on the plea of being left in peace for her writing, absolutely refused to be bothered with her letters, and made me take over her voluminous correspondence, and that too without opening it first herself. She not only metaphorically, but sometimes actually, flung the offending missives at my head! I accordingly had frequently to open all her letters and not only to read them but to answer them as best I could; for this strange old lady cried out with loud outcry to be relieved of the burden of letter-writing, that she might write her articles and books, and would wax most wrathful and drive me out, whenever I pestered her to answer the most pressing correspondence or even to give me some idea of what to reply in her name. Now I am not saying it was right of a woman who day by day received a large batch of letters, some of them - many of them - containing the most private thoughts of men and women all over the world, admitting the reader to the intimacy of their inner life, [1] thus to entrust them to a young man comparatively ignorant of life and almost entirely unable to deal with them, otherwise than each morning, so to speak, to beard the lion in his den - for the Old Lady was leonine - and persist in parading the most important of this correspondence before the eyes of H.P.B., to her ever-increasing annoyance and a regular periodical outburst, when both correspondence and secretary were first committed to an infernal w.p.b., and finally some sort of a compromise arrived at. I grumbled then, but now I rejoice, for so I learned in a short time what might otherwise have taken me many long years to acquire; but it seemed to me, and still so seems, to have been somewhat rough on her correspondents, unless indeed in many cases the fool had to be answered according to his folly - and I was a useful fool for the answering side of the business. But, be this as it may be, it convinced me wholly and surely that whatever else H.P.B. may have been, she was not a cheat or trickster - she had nothing to hide; for a woman who, according to the main hypothesis of the S.P.R. Report, had confederates all over the world and lived the life of a scheming adventuress, would have been not only incredibly foolhardy, but positively mad to have let all her private correspondence pass into the hands of a third party, and that, too, without even previously opening it herself. All this and much else proved to me that H.P.B. was assuredly not a cheat and a trickster, certainly not while I knew her; and in every probability was not in the past when I did not know her. Of one thing, however, I am certain, that I know far more about H.P.B. her life and work, than those members of the S.P.R. who have persistently done their best to disgrace her before the world, and that their hypotheses are ludicrously insufficient to unriddle that sphinx of the nineteenth, century, H.P.Blavatsky who was, at the lowest computation, not only as interesting as a dozen Mrs. So and So's, on whom the S.P.R. have expended so much energy, but who, further, was the chief means of opening many windows into the greatness of things, no one of which will be shut again, for the life-work of the greatest of her detractors in the S.P.R. does but ever more and more support her own contentions. "Do you believe in H.P.B.?" Yes; I believe in H.P.B. As for H.P.Blavatsky, I have no more high opinion of her than had H.P.B. herself, for she straitly distinguished between the two; but I reject with scorn the ludicrous attempt to explain even H.P.Blavatsky by calling her a trickster and a common charlatan. I believe firmly in H.P.B.'s bona fides; but above all things I believe with all my soul in the great things she fought for, in the deep Mysteries of which she gave tidings. I should, however, like always to be allowed, if I can, to state them in my own way, and, if I am able, to support them in my own way, for I frequently dissent from H.P.B.'s methods and from her manner. She was filled with imperfections, even as we all are, but she - when she touched a height, it was a great height. There was something colossal, titanic, even cosmic, about H.P.B. at times; indeed I have sometimes had the apparently whimsical notion that she did not belong to this planet, did not fit into this evolution. But, indeed, who shall unriddle the enigma of H.P.B.? What did she not touch at times? Multiplex personality in contact with multiplex personalities - as complex perchance as man's whole nature, in miniature at least! I make the surface critic an unconditional present of the faulty apparatus of her controversial writings - though that is perhaps somewhat too generous a gift on all occasions. She was no scholar, had no training at school, or college, or university; was no scientist, had presumably never witnessed a laboratory experiment in her life; she was no mathematician, [2] no formal philosopher of the schools, could not, most probably, have told you the difference between the positions of Kant and Schopenhauer had you asked her - and yet she wrote on all these things, and frequently with the greatest acumen. Of all this I make a present to the critic; I class all this as mostly ephemeral, as what will to a large extent pass away, as what has in some measure already passed away, for science has grown much in later years and is now denying many things that she denied, and affirming many that she affirmed twenty years ago. But the giant's grip of the whole scheme of things, the titanic sweep of world-processes envisaged, the cyclopean piling of hypotheses on hypotheses till her hypothetical Ossas and Pelions reached to heaven, and to the heaven of heavens - the fresh atmosphere of life and reality with which she surrounded her great expositions - all this I claim for her enduring reputation. She was a titan among mortals; she pointed the way to me and to many others, and that is why we love her. Setting forth on the way she showed, we know she lied not as to the direction. Our titan was elemental, as indeed are all titans; but in laying foundations it is necessary to have giants, and giants when they move cannot but knock over the idols in the shrines of the dwarfs. Let me then speak of a subject of which I presumably know as much as even the most industrious adverse critic of H.P.B.'s work - her literary remains. I have carefully read all she has written; much of it I have edited, some of it I have read many, many times. I think I may say without any undue boasting that no one knows better than I do the books from which she quotes and the use she makes of quotations. She was, indeed, more or less mediaeval, or even, at times, Early-Christian, in her quotation work; let us grant this fully in every way - though perhaps we are a little inclined to go too far in this nowadays. But what I have been most interested in, in her writing, is precisely that which she does not quote from known sources, and this it is which forms for me the main factor in the enigma of H.P.B. I perpetually ask myself the question: Whence did she get her information - apparent translations of texts and commentaries, the originals of which are unknown to the Western world? Some ten years ago or more, the late Professor Max Muller, to whom all lovers of the Sacred books of the East owe so deep a debt of gratitude, published his most instructive set of Gifford Lectures. entitled Theosophy or Psychological Religion. These I reviewed in much detail, in a series of three articles in this Review. The aged Professor wrote to me a kindly note on the subject, taking exception to one or two points, and we exchanged several letters. He then expressed himself as surprised that I should waste, as he thought, what he was good enough to call my abilities on Theosophy, when the whole field of Oriental studies lay before me, in which he was kind enough to think I could do useful work. Above all, he was puzzled to understand why I treated seriously that charlatan, Mme. Blavatsky, who had done so much harm to the cause of genuine Oriental studies by her parodies of Buddhism and Vedanta, which she had mixed up with Western ideas. Her whole Theosophy was a rechauffe of misunderstood translations of Sanskrit and Pali texts. To this I replied that as I had no object to serve but the cause of Truth, if he could convince me that Mme. Blavatsky's Theosophy was merely a clever or ignorant manipulation of Sanskrit and Pali texts, I would do everything in my power to make the facts known to the Theosophic world; for I naturally did not wish to waste my life on a "swindle" - the epithet he once used of Esoteric Buddhism at an Oriental Congress. I therefore asked him to be so good as to point out what in his opinion were the original texts in Sanskrit or Pali, or any other language, on which were based either the "Stanzas of Dzyan" and their commentaries in The Secret Doctrine, or any of the three treatises contained in The Voice of the Silence. I had myself for years been searching for any trace of the originals or of fragments resembling them, and had so far found nothing. If we could get the originals, we asked nothing better; it was the material we wanted. To this Professor Max Muller replied in short note, pointing to two verses in The Voice of the Silence, which he said were quite Western in thought and therefore betrayed their ungenuineness. I answered that I was extremely sorry he had not pointed out the texts on which any sentence of the "Precepts" or any stanza of the "Book of Dzyan" was based; nevertheless, I should like to publish his criticism, reserving to myself the right of commenting on it. To this Professor Max Muller hastily rejoined that he begged I would not do so, but that I would return his letter at once, as he wished to write something more worthy of the Review. I, of course, returned his letter, but I have been waiting from that day to this for the promised proof that H.P.B. was, in these marvellous literary creations, nothing but a sorry centonist who out of tags of misunderstood translations patched together a fantastic motley for fools to wear. And I may add the offer is still open for any and every Orientalist who desires to make good the, to me, ludicrous contention of the late Nestor of Orientalism. I advisedly call these passages, enshrined in her works, marvellous literary creations, not from the point of view of an enthusiast who knows nothing of Oriental literature, or the great cosmogonical systems of the past, or the Theosophy of the World Faiths, but as the mature judgment of one who has been for some twenty years studying just such subjects. Nor can it be maintained with any show of confidence that the Stanzas and their Commentaries, and the Fragments from what is called the Book of the Golden Precepts, are adequately paralleled by the writings of spiritualistic mediumship; they are different from all these, belong to a different class of transmission. The Stanzas set forth a cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis which, in their sweep and detail, leave far behind any existing record of such things from the past; they cannot be explained as the clever piecing together of the disconnected archaic fragments still preserved in sacred books and classical authors; they have an individuality of their own, and yet they bear the hall-mark of an antiquity and the warrant of an economy which the Western world thinks to have long passed away. Further, they are set in an atmosphere of commentary apparently translated or paraphrased from Far Eastern tongues, producing a general impression of genuineness that is difficult for a scholar who has sufficiently overcome his initial prejudices to study them, to withstand. As for the Fragments which purport to be treatises of a mystic Buddhist school, they too bear on their faces every mark of genuineness, even in their heretical nature and in the self-confession of their sectarian character. It is far more difficult to believe they are forgeries, begotten of a Western brain, than to believe they are, if not literal translations, at least free versions from genuine documents, perhaps of the Aryasanga school sermons for pupils on the Path. Almost without exception I find that people who loudly condemn H.P.B., when asked "Have you read these things?" answer: "Oh, I really can't be bothered to read anything that woman wrote; she was an impostor"; or: "No, I have not read these things; and anyway I am not an Oriental scholar, but Professor Max Muller in The Nineteenth Century" etc., etc. All of which is rather in favour of H. P. B. than against her, for there must be something almost superhuman on the side of one who can arouse such blind prejudice in otherwise fair-minded folk. The enigma of H. P. B., which no Report or a thousand such Reports can solve, among many other riddles, presents us in limine with the question: Whence did H. P. B. become possessed of these things? What is the most simple hypothesis to account for it all ? If you say she was a spiritualistic medium - then you must extend this term enormously beyond its ordinary connotation, and translate it into a designation of great dignity, and carry it up into the heights of exalted genius; for nothing short of this, I am convinced, will satisfy the unprejudiced enquirer. I have tried every hypothesis and every permutation and combination of hypotheses of which I have heard or which I have devised, to account for these truly great things in H.P.B.'s literary activity, and I am bold to say that the only explanation that in any way has the slightest pretension to bear the strain of the evidence is that these things were dictated to, or impressed upon, her psychically by living teachers and friends, most of whom she had known physically. It is true that, as she herself stated, and as was stated through her, she at times got things tangled up badly, but she strove her best to do her best in most difficult circumstances. Indeed, one of the most interesting facts in the whole problem is that she was herself as much delighted with the beauty of these teachings and amazed at the vastness of the conceptions as anyone else. If she herself had invented them, she often would say, then she was a world-genius, a Master, instead of being, as she knew she was, the very imperfect servant who simply declared there were true Masters to serve. She might repudiate everything else, but this she never gainsaid. Doubtless she has distorted many things, has not heard correctly, has transmitted them imperfectly, for she was ever very ill and harassed, the object of never-ceasing attack, treachery, and ingratitude, in addition to being naturally of a very fiery and tempestuous nature. All of which things make it all the more surprising that so much was achieved and not that more was not accomplished. The powers that were used must thus have been very great, perhaps an earnest and foreshadowing of what may be accomplished in the West if found necessary, and an absolute departure from the conventional conditions of the contemplative life as a means of illumination. H.P.B. was a warrior not a priestess, a prophetess rather than seeress; she was, moreover, most things you would not expect, as an instrument for bringing back the memory of much that was most holy and wise in antiquity. She was indeed as it were the living symbol of the seeming foolishness of this world, whereby the wisdom was forthshadowed. In this birth, I am persuaded, I shall never look upon her like again; she alone has given me the feeling of being in contact with someone colossal, titanic, at times almost cosmic. I have sometimes wondered whether this strange being belonged to our humanity at all - and yet she was most human, most lovable. Had she ran away from some other planet, so to speak? Did she normally belong to their evolution? Quien sabe? To all of such questions none of us who knew her and loved her can give any sure answer; she remains our sphinx, our mystery, our dearly loved Old Lady. She was not a teacher in any ordinary sense, for she had ho idea of teaching in any orderly or systematic fashion; indeed she detested the very idea of being considered a spiritual or ethical teacher, cried out loudly against it, protested she was the least fitted of all to be called to such an office. No, she was better than that, better than any formal instructor, for she was as it were a natural fire at which to light up enthusiasm for the greater life of the world, a marvellous incentive to make one grip on to the problems of self-knowing, a wonderful inspirer of longings for return, a true singer of the songs of home; all this she was - at times, while at times she intensified confusion. It is some thirteen years since H.P.B. departed from her pain-racked body, and yet somehow or other with each year my affectionate remembrance of her does but increase, and I ever look back to her and her work for inspiration to revive the feeling of greatness and large-heartedness, and that fresh atmosphere of freedom from conventionality which meant springtime, and growth, and a bursting of bonds, and a flowing of sap, and the removing of mountains as the young shoots burst from their tiny mustard seeds and shook the earth heaps from their shoulders. It was the virile life in her, the breadth of view, the quick adaptability, the absence of prudery and pietism, the camaraderie, the camp-life as it were of those earlier days, that made the blood circulate in the veins, and the muscles tense for strenuous hardship and advance into regions ever more and more unknown. But why do I, who am no hero-worshipper, allow myself thus enthusiastically to write of my "occult mother-in-law," as she humorously called herself? I know not, except that these are Stray Thoughts on Theosophy, and my thoughts not infrequently stray to her who set my feet on the way, and that in writing about her I have revived some deeper feelings than I had intended to arouse, for my main object was to lead up to a suggestion concerning White Lotus Day, a suggestion which has already been adopted by the President-Founder at the last General Meeting of the Society. This paper, however, was written before I received the Report of that meeting, and when I had already written as follows: As the years roll round, on May the 8th, the day of her departure from her body, many gatherings of Theosophists celebrate H.P.B.'s memory, and we call it White Lotus Day, though why precisely I know not. Perhaps it might have been better to have followed the Platonists and have chosen her birthday for this keeping of her memory green, but be that as it may be, it was never intended by her friends to be a day of lamentation - and, indeed, I do not think that any so regard it, and sure it is that H.P.B. herself would have screamed out against any such absurdity. Equally would she, I think, have cried out, against any attempt at making such a gathering an occasion for pietism or hero-worship. Indeed, I know no one who detested, more than she did, any attempt to hero-worship herself - she positively physically shuddered at any expression of reverence to herself as a spiritual teacher; I have heard her cry out in genuine alarm at an attempt to kneel to her made by an enthusiastic admirer. But would H.P.B. desire to keep this day for herself, and thus to inaugurate the idea of starting a sort of calendar of Theosophical "saints," and of adding to May 8th many other dates of departures of distinguished colleagues? I think not; I have somehow never been able to persuade myself that H.P.B. could approve of White Lotus Day as it is. But since it does exist, I would suggest that its utility might be vastly increased by keeping it as the day on which we specially call to mind the memory of all our well-known colleagues who have left the body - not only of H.P.B., though of her first and foremost, but of T.Subba Row, of W.Q.Judge, though he did grievous wrong, of Piet Meuleman of Holland, of many others. Let us make it a time of keeping clean the memory of the links of the chain, a day of the history-making of those who are as yet comparatively the few, but who will ere long be the great majority of our Theosophical Fellowship. White Lotus Day if you will, but Commemoration Day as well. At the same time our President-Founder was settling it all at Adyar on these lines, and the suggestion is now a fact accomplished. But enough for the moment of these Stray Thoughts concerning H.P.B. [1] When some of her bitterest foes were attacking her - men and women who previously had poured forth their confidences into her unwilling ears- she exclaimed to me: "God! how they must respect me!" They knew she would not make use of their confessions against them. [2] Indeed, her favourite habit was to count on her fingers. On one occasion when she was engaged on a chapter of The Secret Doctrine, she called her niece into her room and addressed her somewhat as follows: "Here, my dear, you are a mathematical pundit; where does the comma go? I am certain of the figures but can't see where the confounded comma comes in." This was the value of the circular measure of two right angles, and anyone who has read the learned disquisition of the matter in The Secret Doctrine will be somewhat puzzled to account for the fact that the writer knew so little of mathematics as to confuse the decimal point with a comma! -------------------------- Editorial note (1996): I am told on good authority that in Continental European parlance of the time, the use of the word "comma" had the same meaning as "decimal point" would have had to an Englishman such as Mead, and we may be certain that H.P.B. was not an Englishman ..... A.B. :-)