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CORRECTED version of Caldwell's IV-part quotes (with comments)

Apr 08, 1998 11:55 AM
by Brenda S Tucker


Could you please delete the first message and use this one that has a
distinct part and reference marked?

Daniel, I am only writing to you in the hopes that YOU might be inclined to
be more friendly than Govert Schuller. He changed his mind and so continues
to admonish me with others.

Part I - Quoted text from the From The Mahatma Letters, Letter No. 48 (in
1st, 2nd & 3rd editions)

>"Vainly do your modern seers and their prophetesses,
>creep into every cleft and crevice without outlet
>or continuity they chance to see; and still more
>vainly, when once within do they lift up their voices
>and loudly cry: "Eureka! We have gotten a Revelation
>from the Lord!" -- for verily have they nothing of
>the kind. They have disturbed but bats, less blind
>than their intruders; who, feeling them flying about,
>mistake them as often for angels -- as they
>too, have wings! . . ."

HPB believes it takes sacred purity to manifest the ascended masters.

>". . . You know, S[tainton] Moses, and you know [Edward]
>Maitland and Mrs. [Anna] K[ingsford] personally. And, you
>have heard of and read about a good many [other] Seers, in the
>past and present centuries, such as Swedenborg, Boehme,
>and others. Not one among the number but thoroughly
>honest, sincere, and as intelligent, as well
>educated; aye, even learned. Each of them in addition
>to these qualities, has or had . . . a
>"Guardian" and a Revelator -- under whatever "mystery"
>and "mystic name" -- whose mission it is -- or has
>been to spin out to his spiritual ward -- a new system
>embracing all the details of the world of Spirit. Tell me,
>my friend, do you know of two that agree?

The systems find agreement when they are interpreted through symbols,
because this allows man freedom.

And why,
>since truth is one, and that putting entirely the
>question of discrepancies in details aside -- we do
>not find them agreeing even upon the most vital
>problems -- those that have either "to be, or
>not to be" -- and of which there can be no two
>solutions? . . ."

The most vital problem would be "to be - in union with another, yes, but
be. To jointly "be" with AMs (Ascended Masters) - HPB's sixth race, I hope.

HERE IS WHERE PART II, 1889, KEY TO THEOSOPHY begins.

>" . . . Behold, only fourteen years ago, before the Theosophical
>Society was founded, all the talk was of "Spirits." They
>were everywhere, in everyone's mouth; and no one by any
>chance even dreamt of talking about living "Adepts," "Mahatmas,"
>or "Masters." One hardly heard even the name of the Rosicrucians,
>while the existence of such a thing as "Occultism" was
>suspected even but by very few. Now all that is changed.
>We Theosophists were, unfortunately, the first to talk of
>these things, to make the fact of the existence in the East of "Adepts"
>and "Masters" and Occult knowledge known; and now the name
>has become common property. It is on us, now, that the Karma,
>the consequences of the resulting desecration of holy names
>and things, has fallen. All that you now find about such matters
>in current literature -- and there is not a little of it --
>all is to be traced back to the impulse given in this direction
>by the Theosophical Society and its Founders. Our enemies
>profit to this day by our mistake. The most recent book

>directed against our teachings is alleged to have been written
>by an Adept of twenty years' standing. Now, it is a palpable
>lie. We know the amanuensis and his inspirers (as he is himself too
ignorant to have written anything of the sort). These
>"inspirers" are living persons, revengeful and unscrupulous in
>proportion to their intellectual powers; and these bogus
>Adepts are not one, but several. . . ."

If an adept had been "made" twenty years ago, then where the hope for the
outcome of seven rounds of existence? The sacred names HPB has brought
forth can be called by everyone, but when the answer comes and a purifying
activity is directed by the "great ones," who will listen? The names are
not desecrated if we understand the position that the "great ones" are put
in by their contact with mortals, and if we make every effort to produce
for them the "sacred fire" that they so need to become active.

>". . . Great are the desecrations to which the
>names of two of the Masters have been subjected. There
>is hardly a medium who has not claimed to have seen them.
>Every bogus swindling Society, for commercial purposes,
>now claims to be guided and directed by "Masters," often
>supposed to be far higher than ours! Many and heavy are
>the sins of those who advanced these claims, prompted
>either by desire for lucre, vanity, or irresponsible
>mediumship. Many persons have been plundered of their
>money by such societies, which offer to sell
>the secrets of power, knowledge, and spiritual truth
>for worthless gold. Worst of all, the sacred names of
>Occultism and the holy keepers thereof have been dragged
>in this filthy mire, polluted by being associated
>with sordid motives and immoral practices, while
>thousands of men have been held back from the path
>of truth and light through the discredit and evil report
>which such shams, swindles, and frauds have brought
>upon the whole subject. . . ."

There is no denying that many have tried to "get in on the act," but this
is human nature, and I believe that even "mere acting" can have a
beneficial result, because wherever Their Name is, a power is sure to
follow. While the power of the adept may or may not be able to find an
outlet in the "human being" it is sure to be savored at a future time when
the message of theosophy becomes clearer. HPB is not asking you to
refrain from calling the name, but to refrain from believing the name is in full
activity until you see certain undeniable evidence according to standards
which she has given.

BEGINS PART III, also KEY TO THEOSOPHY:

>". . . While two-thirds of civilized society ridicule the
>mere notion that there is anything in Theosophy, Occultism,
>Spiritualism, or in the Kabala, 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 Kabala, 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 Kabala and the Jewish Zohar, which each
>interprets in his own way according to the dead-letter of
>the Rabbinical methods.

Isn't it wonderful that this Jewish method is a preservation of the human
and under the direction of the Elohim (congregate humans to me)? I love the
Jewish tradition because it is so solemnly and mystically human. The adepts
may or may not be present, but here the human continues as if directed by a
"great creator" at each step of the human sojourn. (I suspect the Jewish to
be the continually resident 7th, a family race now, but does anyone
remember how the seventh race is present in a "seed" form at the beginning,
or the first sub-race?)

Others regard Swedenborg or Boehme
>as the ultimate expression 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. . . . . .

How great the day when the tests are developed! Black magic would be the
result of dependence on our human nature, if it were the sole practice, as
unfortunately the human becomes interpreted in my mind to be "wrong, full
of error, and bad" compared to the light of Christ. Lucky for us that the
Elohim would be in FULL recognition of their "life" as a sixth race
humanity, bringing forth the adepts into manifestation as a kingdom beyond
mankind (or so I've interpreted from I AM Temple dictation.)

A
>portion of the true [esoteric] sciences is better
>than a mass of undigested and misunderstood learning.
>An ounce of gold is worth a ton of dust. . . ."

What's so bad about men differing? We can just use symbols and allow
everyone to interpret and by this practice their minds develop in their
higher mental sense. Adepts are one, as HPB asserts and if we were so
endowed with this unity and sense of purpose, we, too, would be blessed
beings. Coming forth into manifestation is easier than going out, I would
presume.

PART IV BEGINS HERE: Selected extracts from the article first published
in Lucifer, July, 1890.]

>There has probably never been a period within our
>recollection more given to the production of "great
>missions" and missionaries than the present. . . .
>
>With the spread of the spiritualistic cult, the Messiah
>craze has vastly increased, and men and women alike have
>been involved in its whirlpools. Given, a strong desire
>to reform somehow the religious or social aspect of the
>world, a personal hatred of certain of its aspects, and
>a belief in visions and messages, and the result was sure;
>the "Messiah" arose with a universal panacea for the ills

>of mankind.

And for good reason. IF the masters choose to work within "unpurified
forms," their work becomes limited in its effect, because the "ills of
mankind" will be treated more sporadically, I suppose.

If he (very often she) did not make the
>claim, it was made for him. Carried away by the magnetic
>force, the eloquence, the courage, the single idea of
>the apostle pro tem, numbers, for very varied reasons,
>accepted him or her as the revelator of the hour and of
>all time. . . .
>
>No one denies that there are aspects of Spiritualism
>which have been useful in some ways. With this, however,
>we have nothing to do. We are pointing now to the way
>in which it has accentuated a common illusion.
>
>. . . To distinguish the white rays of truth from influx
>from the astral sphere, requires a training which ordinary
>sensitives, whether avowed spiritualists or not, do not
>possess. Ignorance emboldens, and the weak will always
>worship the bold.

Don't you believe this training is available to those who would take the
time to PURIFY?

>Some of these apostles denounce alike Spiritualism
>and Theosophy; some accept the latter, but weave it anew
>into a version of their own; and some have apparently
>arisen, independently of any other cult, through the force
>of their own or somebody else's conviction.

I am only putting out these relatively "new" ideas because it is so
difficult to come to terms with being human for another three and a half
rounds. It is so easy to look for the transition from human to adept as
occuring now, but somehow it is also so suggestible that this is happening.
I prefer that it is not, but that we humans can accomplish this in the
future. There is much time to pass and much to learn before an entire human
transition takes place. As much as we would prefer that it happen now,
isn't it sensible to look at the races as affording us a preliminary view
in the manner that each kingdom could transform life on earth, and each
subordinate kingdom "could watch."

>No one can doubt the poetical nature of the inspiration
>of Thomas Lake Harris. He had an intellectual head and
>a heart for poetry. Had he kept clear of great claims,
>he would have ranked at least as a man of literary ability,
>and a reformer with whom other reformers would wish to
>shake hands.. . . But the assumption of personal
>privilege and authority over others, and "affinity" theories,
>have stranded him on a barren shore.

I don't know this poet. He could be certain of a "superiority" present in
his life, but mistakenly identifying with it. Wouldn't races (as channels)
help us to identify TRULY with our being - as bad as it is?

>There is an avowed re-incarnation of Buddha in the United
>States, and an avowed re-incarnation of Christ. Both
>have followers; both have been interviewed and said
>their best. They and others like unto them have had signs,
>illuminations, knowledge not common to men, and events
>pointing in a marked way to this their final destiny.
>There has even been a whisper here and there of
>supernatural births. But they lacked the clear-seeing
>eye which could reduce these facts to their right

>order, and interpret them aright. . . .And the result
>is sorry to behold, for each seems to be putting the
>crown upon his own head.

I love that crown near my life, even if it is a "brother being somehow
present alongside of me," I cannot help the thought of keeping it here in
my vicinity.

>If Theosophy had done nothing else, it would have
>made a demand on human gratitude in placing the truth and
>falsehood of these psychic experiences, unfoldments,
>or delusions as the case might be, plainly before the
>people, and explaining their rationale.

Isn't it possible for theosophists to come forward and assert races as
channels? When people experience such things and honestly assert their
impression of the events, isn't it responsible of us to provide them with
simple answers to help explain their dilemmas. When a being is present
right "through" the very heart of your life, discernment is hampered. Who
is it? Myself or another? Well, theosophists could just explain, the sixth
race is begining, so that what you are experiencing is a great being. Don't
be alarmed, your being is still present and together the two can continue
as a new existence.

It showed a
>plane of manhood, and proved it unassailably to a
>number of persons, which transcends any powers or
>capacities of the inspirational psychic who may
>imagine himself or herself to be a messenger to
>the world at large.

Our "human" capacities are still on a par with the least of us. Criminals
and beleaguered alike when shown to us become a part of us. But our hearts
can tell us more than our eyes. If we can see on this plane or octave of
adeptship, we can dream and still the "eyes" we use in association with the
human. We can make our senses responsive only to great beings. Simply
"seeing" this plane (and the human plane through other eyes) and POWER,
doesn't make one a messenger, but perhaps a sixth race entrant!!

It placed personal purity
>on a level which barred out nine-tenths
>of these claimants from all thought of their
>presumed inheritance, and showed that such a
>condition of purity, far transcending any popular
>ideal of such virtue, was the absolute and
>all-essential basis of spiritual insight and
>attainment.

Here is the first test: Is the individual "attempting" to accomplish
purification as it is presented in so many places!?!

It swept the ground from under the feet
>of those poor men and women who had been listening
>to the so-called messages from the angels, that
>they were the chosen of heaven, and were to accomplish
>world-wide missions. The Joan of Arcs, the Christs,
>the Buddhas, the Michaels, were fain to see truths
>they had not dreamed of, and gifts they had never
>possessed, exercised in silence and with potent
>force by men whose names were unknown even to
>history, and recognised only by hidden disciples,
>or their peers.

While fifth race adepts are too far in the "upward distance" to make claim
to, sixth race adepts are present in their visual and audible capacity and
if we claim their activities are going forth from us, then this is far
better than claiming that their activities are indeed our own human ones,
especially if others can see that the first TEST has indeed been attempted.

Something higher was
>placed before the sight of these eager reformers
>than fame: it was truth. Something higher than the
>most purified union between even one man and one
>woman in the most spiritual of sympathies, was
>shown; it was the immortal union of the soul
>of man with God.
When we study the existence of THE PRESENCE (I AM terminology), we do not
know how it was created, if it is the soul, if it is God, but here in the
Presence, we reside in an octave (close to the higher mental) where we can
interact with adept and cosmic energies, and whether it is a temporary
purified union or permanent, it is valuable and dearly and joyfully met.

>Wherever Theosophy spreads, there it is impossible
>for the deluded to mislead, or the deluded to follow.
>It opens a new path, a forgotten philosophy which has lived through the
>ages, a knowledge of the psychic nature of man,
>which reveals alike the true status of the Catholic
>saint, and the spiritualistic medium the Church condemns.
>It gathers reformers together, throws light on their way,
>and teaches them how to work towards a desirable end
>with most effect, but forbids any to assume a crown or
>sceptre, and no less delivers from a futile crown of
>thorns.

Please don't toss away the crown and sceptre, but place it in the hands and
on the heads of those supreme beings who "love" us and "wish to join with
us." Our own wearing of thorns is acceptable, but through their love, they
provide us with forgiveness and the removal of anything so hurtful. They
provide us with every good thing and remove all wrong from our presence by
their being there. They are very powerful. Whether fortunate or
unfortunate, we each choose the degree and level of our human activity. If
people feel more comfortable showing themselves from time to time, well
there's no law against it presently.

Mesmerisms and astral influences fall back,
>and the sky grows clear enough for higher light.
>It hushes the "Lo here! and lo there!" and
>declares the Christ, like the kingdom of
>heaven, to be within. It guards and applies every
>aspiration and capacity to serve humanity in any man,
>and shows him how.

When these two energies act as one, there is a violet flame. Astral
influences are "decreed away." All humans enter the new race at one point,
or drop out, I suppose.

It overthrows the giddy pedestal,
>and safely cares for the human being on solid
>ground. Hence, in this way, and in all other
>ways, it is the truest deliverer and saviour of our time.

We become the AM's (Ascended Master's) protection as they become ours.
There are still many people who will deny any truth to the 7 races. We can
coexist peacefully, only hoping to show them "successful ways" coming
forth from our lives lived thus, and at all times protecting the masters from any
wrongdoing. I, the human, commit all wrong.

>To enumerate the various "Messiahs" and their
>beliefs and works would fill volumes. It is needless.
>When claims conflict, all, on the face of it,
>cannot be true. Some have taught less error
>than others. It is almost the only distinction.

>And some have had fine powers imperilled and
>paralyzed by leadings they did not understand.

I don't mind the false being assigned to all the various Messiahs. This way
of life is permissible. What are the challenges which lie before this type
of man? Understanding is only one of them.

>Of one thing, rationally-minded people, apart
>from Theosophists, may be sure. And that is,
>service for humanity is its all-sufficient reward;
>and that empty jars are the most resonant of sound.
>To know a very little of the philosophy of life,
>of man's power to redeem wrongs and to teach others,
>to perceive how to thread the tangled
>maze of existence on this globe, and to accomplish
>aught of lasting and spiritual benefit, is to
>annihilate all desire or thought of posing as
>a heaven-sent saviour of the people.

It is miraculous the way they work through us. For instance, I have heard
in dictations that "it is our heart (our human heart) which is making
accomplishment." Do they come and suggest ways for us and then disappear as
if we are capable and that we have "gotten the hang of the activity?" And
do we make accomplishment, almost under the guise that it is them?

For a very
>little self-knowledge is a leveller indeed,
>and more democratic than the most ultra-radical
>can desire. The best practical reformers of the
>outside abuses we have known, such as slavery,
>deprivation of the rights of woman, legal
>tyrannies, oppressions of the poor,
>have never dreamed of posing as Messiahs.
>Honor, worthless as it is, followed them unsought,
>for a tree is known by its fruits, and to this
>day "their works do follow them."

They know themselves as human, by their contact with the miserable, too well.

>. . . With the advent of Theosophy, the Messiah-craze
>surely has had its day, and sees its doom. For if it
>teaches, or has taught, one thing more plainly than
>another, it is that the "first shall be last, and
>the last first." And in the face of genuine spiritual
>growth, and true illumination, the Theosophist grows
>in power to most truly befriend and help
>his fellows, while he becomes the most humble,
>the most silent, the most guarded of men.

The service ideal appeals to us, but I don't want to even attempt it
without the assistance of the great ones. If they are here, then we CAN
recognize them and call to them and try to honor them.

>Saviours to their race, in a sense, have lived and
>will live. Rarely has one been known. Rare has been
>the occasion when thus to be known has been either
>expedient or possible. Therefore, fools alone will
>rush in "where angels fear to tread."

It hasn't been possible except occasionally to have the sixth race present.
Even now it is only present in a sixth subrace of the fifth root race.


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