Steve-
Who specifically are the 'masters' and are they ethical?
The 'masters' that I've found in written texts mostly go back to the
Bible. I'm speaking of miracle workers such as Jesus, Moses and
Elijah, Peter and Paul. Some of these are reported as having raised
the dead or ascending itno heaven themselves. Metaphysical masters.
But were these masters completely ethical? The miracles of Moses
were mostly of a destructive nature, bringing ten plagues on the
Egyptians, and perhaps ten more on his own Israelites. Further, he
and his immediate succussor Joshua were propagators of genocide,
exterminating six nationalities from the face of the earth. And the
very angels of heaven which backed him, according to biblical
testimony, were also quite violent and genocidal.
Likewise Elijah, who reportedly ascended directly into heaven,
bypassing physical death, also slew people with supernatural fire
from the sky. Despite resurrecting a dead boy, according to the
scriptures.
Peter and Paul of the New Testament are also biblically recorded as
each having resurrected the dead, and yet enforced harsh cultural
legalisms on women in their day.
What precisely is a 'master' and are 'masters' ethical?
-
It may even be asserted that the gods of ancient mythology may
actually have been immortal beings that once walked the earth prior
to recorded history as we have it today. But did these
ancient 'gods' also practice good ethics? Or were some of them
bloody and violent as well?
-
Now I suppose that there are different types of mastery available
within the human potential, each with their own jurisdictional
spheres. One is a master of accounting, another a master at sales,
another a master of corporate management, another a master of
artistry, literature or dance. Still others are masters of ethics
but not wisdom, psychic mastery but not physical athleticism.
Whatever it may be.
So again I ask: what precisely is a 'master'? And a master of what?
Vince
--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Steven Levey <sallev1@...> wrote:
Vince
When you mention "wholistic" regarding the fact the TS
includes other works besides HPBs, you raise an interesting point.
I was originally involved with the TS years ago, and I felt
as if I had found a mother-lode of metaphysical occult literature.
and this is true. Over the years, however, I found my own tastes
changing from an open texture rather undisciplined sense of study to
a "way" of my own, and I began to eliminate texts which, to me,
where too indirect regarding the Path of individual work. I wanted
to know what I needed to actually do to know Wisdom, which wisdom
was really neccesary for my own "awakening", and most importantly-
what are the Masters of Wisdom. I found that some texts were
concerned with the fundemental teachings of the ancient wisdom,
without concern for the author, just the learning of the student. I
found that many were not and made claims of visions and knowledge,
which seemed to me, to jump ahead of what I could verify as real.
So, I kept finding myself going back to the fundemental teachings
regarding the neccesary changes I had to make in me, with which I
would know
what is real and what is not. My biggest problem was always me
and my lack of patience. I needed to rid myself of the so-called
normal time sense of people in our time, which prompts us to quickly
and prematurely aquire powers before we understand what power is. I
kept finding that some few texts want the student to find out what a
human being is, the knowledge of which I thought I had, being
preumptious and shallow. Which really means, that for a shallow
nature to aquire power would be dangerous.
Therefore, I kept finding myself being attracted back to
HPB's writings, along with Patanjali, the Dalai Lama, and other
insightful Buddhist thinkers like Santideva, who deal in ethical
growth along side, but actually preceding, the metaphysical study,
for the sake of psychological balance. Their motive is service as
the key to finding out who you are and your capacities, while an
unbalanced study may still allow for selfishness, and misuse of
knowledge.
Well, thats the Path of study for me, but it came about
through an open study of pretty much everything.
Steve
Vincent <vblaz2004@...> wrote:
Steve-
Actually, my primary intent for recently getting involved with the
Theosophical Society of Wheaton has mostly to do with having a
place
wherein I may freely believe what I already do, and learn new
things
of a metaphysical content as well.
When I was formerly involved with Christian fundamentalist
churches,
I found myself judged and restricted whenever attempting to bring
up
metaphysical concepts in open discussion format. I was told that I
was not being 'doctrinal', and that my metaphysical experiences
were 'demonic', insofar as they were not strictly aligned with
Christian doctrine.
However, my initial impression of the Theosophical Society is that
it is accepting of a variety of religious traditions, and not
solely
specific to HPB's writings. It is more wholistic. Please correct
me if I am wrong on this.
Vince
--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Steven Levey wrote:
>
> Ah Vince, that's a mighty deep rational you have for what you
do.
Hopefully you will get from us exactly what you aught.
>
> Steve
>
> Vincent wrote:
> Steve-
>
> I appreciate your insight and your suggestion, and I see the
value
> to it. It's just that at this specific time in my life, my focus
> must be a little bit different. In other words, I've already
poured
> many thousands of hours into various metaphysical texts over the
> last twenty years, and have therefore arrived at a very complex
and
> advanced metaphysical belief system as a result. At this time, I
am
> undertaking the attempt to write a volume as large as HPB's, and
> therefore cannot dedicate fully researching a brand new text.
>
> I suggest that there exist the roles of teachers whose specific
task
> is to dispense information to others, if they do not have the
> immediate time and energy to gather it for themselves. I'm not
> saying that direct readings of HPB lack value in any way. That's
> just not where I'm at right now.
>
> Currently, I engage in trance conditioning through natural
> physiological disciplines, without the use of chemical
modifiers.
> This means that I interact directly with spirit entities, seeing
> them and hearing them when I enter into trance. And this is the
> level from whence my writings will manifest inspiration. I am
just
> curious to see what degree of alignment exists between HPB's
> writings and my own belief system at this time, so I'd like to
learn
> more through those gifted teachers and students of HPB.
>
> Vince
>
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Steven Levey wrote:
> >
> > Vince
> >
> > I am aware of how daunting the very thickness of these
> texts can appear, but I really think that you are doing yourself
a
> great disservice, by not doing the study yourself, and expecting
> others to, sort of, hand it to you in some palatable form
intended
> just for you. This is a great deal like going to church or
temple
> and expecting the paid servent on the pulpit to do the same
thing.
> > Now please, don't take this wrong, but an important aspect
> of the philosophy of becoming a discriminating human being and
> student, is, so that what you find for yourself will be
something
> you can trust in. "We are all Gods", says the ancient wisdom,
> or "You too can do what I have done" as Jesus says. In other
words,
> we have what we need within us, we just have to flesh it out.
That
> is the purpose of theosophical thought, not the memorization of
> thick texts. But the study of them, and application of what we
see
> as true, brings rewards immediately, as the mind wakes up to its
own
> powers of wisdom and discrimination.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > Vincent wrote:
> > Steve-
> >
> > I'm just trying to understand what I can about Theosophy,
insofar
> as
> > it is new to me. HPB's writings are so extensive in such large
> > volumes that I'm honestly a little bit daunted as to where to
> begin,
> > so I'm likely going to be relying on secondary abridgments for
> > awhile. In other words, someone's probably going to have to
teach
> > it to me in the form of abridged quotes, before I get into
> extensive
> > reading of the core volumes.
> >
> > Christians claim that the Bible contains 'absolute truth',
both
> > inerrant and infallible. But this then leaves those portions
of
> > universal truth concerning which we lack a firm and total
grasp.
> > Namely 'occult' truth, or anything which has not been declared
to
> > be 'absolute truth' by the Christian community. Hence
universal
> > truth may potentially be subdivided into categories
of 'absolute
> > truth' and 'occult truth'. Of course, I don't believe that any
of
> > us really has a firm grasp on 'absolute truth' in the first
place,
> > insofar as our minds are mortal, and we commonly have errors
> > somewhere in every belief that we hold, whether small or
great.
> > Hence so many different biblical interpretations among
Christians.
> >
> > --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Steven Levey wrote:
> > >
> > > Vince-
> > >
> > > Your intution about the reason for the term "Secret" in The
> > Secret Doctrine is somewhat correct, but, it is also a bit to
> quick
> > a judgement. I'm afraid you are going to have to study the
thing,
> to
> > get a really good idea about the use of her terms. However, in
> doing
> > so, I found it wise to read HPB in a thorough way to begin to
> > undestand her motivation. By this I mean, read The Key to
> Theosophy,
> > and study The Voice of the Silence, as well, or something like
> that.
> > Or, pick up one of her collected writtings of shorter
articles,
or
> > the Panarion. Mostly all of these are available at the Public
> > Library, but definately on-line or in Theosophy Lodges of
> different
> > types.
> > >
> > > Good Searching-Steve
> > >
> > > Vincent Blazina wrote:
> > > Perry:
> > >
> > > Thanks for the welcome. The Jehovah's Witnesses that you
refer
> > also seem to have some narrow biblical interpretations, much
like
> > Christian fundamentalists. I'm curious about what some of the
> > similarities and differences are between the Bible and the
Secret
> > Doctrine. Why is the Secret Doctrine considered to be secret?
Does
> > this simply mean that it is occult (meaning hidden) in nature?
My
> > own biblical interpretations go very deep for me, and are
anything
> > but dry, although I view Christian fundamentalists as often
> shallow
> > in their own biblical interpretations much of the time.
> > >
> > > Vince
> > >
> > > plcoles1
> > > wrote:
> > > Hello Vince,
> > > Welcome to theos-talk!
> > > My background was in the Jehovah's Witnesses and so as a
result
> > had what amounted to at
> > > least 5 1/2 hours a week of meetings to attend, and NO
> questioning
> > what you were being
> > > told.
> > >
> > > The thing I've found with studying theosophy for someone who
has
> > studied the Bible is
> > > that theosophy and in particular the Secret Doctrine opens
up
> many
> > interesting and
> > > profound interpretations of passages in the Bible.
> > >
> > > An interesting article written by H.P Blavatsky is `The
Esoteric
> > character of the Gospels'
> > > http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-sio/sio-eso2.htm
> > > It's a good place to start as the Secret Doctrine can be a
> little
> > bit daunting to begin with.
> > >
> > > After only hearing what was to me very empty and dry
> > interpretations of the Bible,
> > > theosophy can help you to begin to get some kind of
> understanding
> > as to the deeper
> > > meaning in the bible as well as what other great thinkers,
sages
> > and philosophers from
> > > various traditions have taught on these subjects which may
help
> > you have some context
> > > and reference point for your own experiences.
> > > Very Best Wishes on your Spiritual journey and once again
> Welcome
> > to the theos-talk!
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Perry
> > >
> > > --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "vblaz20042004" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi there, I'm Vince and I am new to the group. I have
recently
> > been
> > > > attending the Theosophical Society of Wheaton, Illinois
for
> the
> > past
> > > > month, and have been enjoying the various teachings and
> > discussions
> > > > at that facility.
> > > >
> > > > My life has been rich with metaphysical experiences, but
the
> > > > Christian Fundamentalist churches that I had previously
> attended
> > for
> > > > twenty years got very judgmental towards me when I might
> venture
> > to
> > > > reference them. I also began finding many inconsistencies
with
> > the
> > > > way that many Christians were representing the Bible, and
my
> > > > questions about Christianity were often deemed dangerous
to
> > people's
> > > > religious faith.
> > > >
> > > > I am looking for a place in the Theosophical Society
wherein
I
> > may
> > > > potentially freely discuss metaphysical issues as they
> directly
> > > > pertain to my life, with people who are more open to such
> > > > discussions. I am very well read with the Bible, although
my
> > > > interpretations of it are more metaphysical versus
orthodox.
> > > >
> > > > I look forward to constuctive discussion with the people
here,
> > and
> > > > would like to learn more about the Theosophical Society
and
> it's
> > > > perspectives, insofar as many of them are brand new to me.
> > > >
> > > > Thank you,
> > > >
> > > > Vince
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
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> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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