Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00173)

Hi all of you,

Yes, yes.
This old ORTHODOX doctrine of keeping religion and politics apart will have
to vanish if this
planet and its people should survive it self. Well, I claim that.

Let us just have it one more time, so that none forget it.
The famous quote from (theosophically speaking) the Initiate Martin Luther
King Jr.:

"A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of
war: 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of
burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans
and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples
normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields
physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled
with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death.

"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead
the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death
wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of
peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep
us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have
fashioned it into a brotherhood."

Excerpted from "Beyond Vietnam", an address delivered on 4 April 1967 to the
Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York
City. (full text)


***
And other good quotes from King, just to make things clear:

***

"Now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on earth, our
loyalties must become ecumenical rather that sectional. Our loyalties must
transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we
must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation
can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in
this world. Now the judgement of God is upon us, and we must either learn to
live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools."

Excerpted from "A Christmas Sermon on Peace", delivered on 24 December 1967
at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.


"As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline,
using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in
your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and
desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an
endless reign of meaningless chaos."

Excerpted from "The Most Durable Power", a sermon delivered on 6 November
1956 in Montgomery, Ala. (Reprinted in Christian Century 74 [5 June 1957]:
10-11.)




"I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this
is at the very center of Jesus' thinking, is this: that hate for hate only
intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and
you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that
goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a
little sense, and that's the strong person. The strong person is the person
who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the
tragedy of hate, that it doesn't cut it off. It only intensifies the
existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion
enough and morality enough to cut it off, and inject within the very
structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love."

Excerpted from "Loving Your Enemies", a sermon delivered on 17 November 1957
at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. (full text)



Any comments on that from anyone, who still thinks that politics is not
important to Theosophy ?


from
M. Sufilight with Krishna and Arjuna at his side...seeking to stop the
war(s)...>:-)











----- Original Message -----
From: "Bart Lidofsky" <bartl@sprynet.com>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 5:09 AM
Subject: Re: Theos-World Australia's karma


> leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
> > What has all this political B.S. got to do with theosophy? I thought
> > HPB said that politics, along with other "personal" and "opinionated"
> > subjects, are "side issue" that should be left out of theosophical
> > study or discussion. And, this is a forum specifically set up for
> > theosophical discussion, isn't it?
>
> She said that the Theosophical Society should not get involved in
> politics, but this does NOT extend to individual Theosophists, who are
> expected to be active in areas designed to help the world. And politics
> itself is a branch of philosophy, which makes discussion of it quite
> valid as part of the 2nd Object.
>
> And, in spite of the ideas of far too many Theosophists, if people
> would do evil, the wrong solution is to let them do their evil and hope
> they'll go away. Inaction creates karma as much as action does.
>
> There currently is a major, insidious political philosophy which works
> against Theosophical ideals while claiming to work towards them. It
> promotes disunity and selfishness under the guise of unity and
> selflessness. It is an anti-Theosophy, and just because it has political
> influence does not mean that it is not the duty of Theosophists to work
> against it.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>