Theos-Talk Archives (January 2009 Message tt00509)

ON SELF-IMPROVEMENT 

ENQUIRER. Is moral elevation, then, the principal thing insisted upon 
in your Society? 

 

THEOSOPHIST. Undoubtedly! He who would be a true Theosophist must 
bring himself to live as one. 

 

ENQUIRER. If so, then, as I remarked before, the behaviour of some 
members strangely belies this fundamental rule. 

 

THEOSOPHIST. Indeed it does. But this cannot be helped among us, any 
more than amongst those who call themselves Christians and act like 
fiends. This is no fault of our statutes and rules, but that of human 
nature. Even in some exoteric public branches, the members pledge 
themselves on their "Higher Self" to live the life prescribed by 
Theosophy. They have to bring their Divine Self to guide their every 
thought and action, every day and at every moment of their lives. A 
true Theosophist ought "to deal justly and walk humbly." 

 

ENQUIRER. What do you mean by this? 


53


THEOSOPHIST. Simply this: the one self has to forget itself for the 
many selves. Let me answer you in the words of a true Philaletheian, 
an F. T. S., who has beautifully expressed it in the Theosophist: 
"What every man needs first is to find himself, and then take an 
honest inventory of his subjective possessions, and, bad or bankrupt 
as it may be, it is not beyond redemption if we set about it in 
earnest." But how many do? All are willing to work for their own 
development and progress; very few for those of others. To quote the 
same writer again: "Men have been deceived and deluded long enough; 
they must break their idols, put away their shams, and go to work for 
themselves ? nay, there is one little word too much or too many, for 
he who works for himself had better not work at all; rather let him 
work himself for others, for all. For every flower of love and 
charity he plants in his neighbour's garden, a loathsome weed will 
disappear from his own, and so this garden of the gods ? Humanity ? 
shall blossom as a rose. In all Bibles, all religions, this is 
plainly set forth ? but designing men have at first misinterpreted 
and finally emasculated, materialised, besotted them. It does not 
require a new revelation. Let every man be a revelation unto himself. 
Let once man's immortal spirit take possession of the temple of his 
body, drive out the money-changers and every unclean thing, and his 
own divine humanity will redeem him, for when he is thus at one with 
himself he will know the 'builder of the Temple.'" 

 

ENQUIRER. This is pure Altruism, I confess. 

 

THEOSOPHIST. It is. And if only one Fellow of the T. S. out of ten 
would practise it ours would be a body of elect indeed. But there


54


are those among the outsiders who will always refuse to see the 
essential difference between Theosophy and the Theosophical Society, 
the idea and its imperfect embodiment. Such would visit every sin and 
shortcoming of the vehicle, the human body, on the pure spirit which 
sheds thereon its divine light. Is this just to either? They throw 
stones at an association that tries to work up to, and for the 
propagation of, its ideal with most tremendous odds against it. Some 
vilify the Theosophical Society only because it presumes to attempt 
to do that in which other systems ? Church and State Christianity pre-
eminently ? have failed most egregiously; others because they would 
fain preserve the existing state of things: Pharisees and Sadducees 
in the seat of Moses, and publicans and sinners revelling in high 
places, as under the Roman Empire during its decadence. Fair-minded 
people, at any rate, ought to remember that the man who does all he 
can, does as much as he who has achieved the most, in this world of 
relative possibilities. This is a simple truism, an axiom supported 
for believers in the Gospels by the parable of the talents given by 
their Master: the servant who doubled his two talents was rewarded as 
much as that other fellow-servant who had received five. To every man 
it is given "according to his several ability." 

 

ENQUIRER. Yet it is rather difficult to draw the line of demarcation 
between the abstract and the concrete in this case, as we have only 
the latter to form our judgment by. 

 

THEOSOPHIST. Then why make an exception for the T. S.? Justice, like 
charity, ought to begin at home. Will you revile and scoff at the 
"Sermon on the Mount" because your social, political


55


and even religious laws have, so far, not only failed to carry out 
its precepts in their spirit, but even in their dead letter? Abolish 
the oath in Courts, Parliament, Army and everywhere, and do as the 
Quakers do, if you will call yourselves Christians. Abolish the 
Courts themselves, for if you would follow the Commandments of 
Christ, you have to give away your coat to him who deprives you of 
your cloak, and turn your left cheek to the bully who smites you on 
the right. "Resist not evil, love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you," for "whosoever shall break one 
of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so, he shall 
be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven," and "whosoever shall 
say 'Thou fool' shall be in danger of hell fire." And why should you 
judge, if you would not be judged in your turn? Insist that between 
Theosophy and the Theosophical Society there is no difference, and 
forthwith you lay the system of Christianity and its very essence 
open to the same charges, only in a more serious form. 

 

ENQUIRER. Why more serious? 

 

THEOSOPHIST. Because, while the leaders of the Theosophical movement, 
recognising fully their shortcomings, try all they can do to amend 
their ways and uproot the evil existing in the Society; and while 
their rules and bye-laws are framed in the spirit of Theosophy, the 
Legislators and the Churches of nations and countries which call 
themselves Christian do the reverse. Our members, even the worst 
among them, are no worse than the average Christian. Moreover, if the 
Western Theosophists experience so much difficulty in leading the 
true Theosophical


56


life, it is because they are all the children of their generation. 
Every one of them was a Christian, bred and brought up in the 
sophistry of his Church, his social customs, and even his paradoxical 
laws. He was this before he became a Theosophist, or rather, a member 
of the Society of that name, as it cannot be too often repeated that 
between the abstract ideal and its vehicle there is a most important 
difference. 




























 --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Morten Nymann Olesen" <global-
theosophy@...> wrote:
>
> Dear friends
> 
> 
> My views are:
> 
> Let me be more precise about the below quote and emphasise the 
following passage
> and compare this with the present day democracies in the western 
part of the world.
> 
> Theosophy and politics:
> "Some vilify the Theosophical Society only because it presumes to 
attempt to do that in which other systems - Church and State 
Christianity pre-eminently - have failed most egregiously"
> .......
> "Will you revile and scoff at the "Sermon on the Mount" because 
your social, political and even religious laws have, so far, not only 
failed to carry out its precepts in their spirit, but even in their 
dead letter? Abolish the oath in Courts, Parliament, Army and 
everywhere, and do as the Quakers do, if you will call yourselves 
Christians. 
> .......
> "Abolish the Courts themselves, for if you would follow the 
Commandments of Christ, you have to give away your coat to him who 
deprives you of your cloak, and turn your left cheek to the bully who 
smites you on the right."
> http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/aKEY.htm (H. P. Blavatsky)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> M. Sufilight
> 
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Morten Nymann Olesen 
>   To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 7:23 PM
>   Subject: Re: Theos-World Can we see Obama as Hitler in Mass 
Psychosis.
> 
> 
>   Dear friends and all
> 
>   My views are:
> 
>   May I add the following?
> 
>   H. P. Blavatsky wrote in The Key to Theosophy, p. 53-55:
> 
>   "ENQUIRER. This is pure Altruism, I confess. 
> 
>   THEOSOPHIST. It is. And if only one Fellow of the T. S. out of 
ten would practise it ours would be a body of elect indeed. But there
> 
>   54
> 
>   are those among the outsiders who will always refuse to see the 
essential difference between Theosophy and the Theosophical Society, 
the idea and its imperfect embodiment. Such would visit every sin and 
shortcoming of the vehicle, the human body, on the pure spirit which 
sheds thereon its divine light. Is this just to either? They throw 
stones at an association that tries to work up to, and for the 
propagation of, its ideal with most tremendous odds against it. Some 
vilify the Theosophical Society only because it presumes to attempt 
to do that in which other systems - Church and State Christianity pre-
eminently - have failed most egregiously; others because they would 
fain preserve the existing state of things: Pharisees and Sadducees 
in the seat of Moses, and publicans and sinners revelling in high 
places, as under the Roman Empire during its decadence. Fair-minded 
people, at any rate, ought to remember that the man who does all he 
can, does as much as he who has achieved the most, in this world of 
relative possibilities. This is a simple truism, an axiom supported 
for believers in the Gospels by the parable of the talents given by 
their Master: the servant who doubled his two talents was rewarded as 
much as that other fellow-servant who had received five. To every man 
it is given "according to his several ability." 
> 
>   ENQUIRER. Yet it is rather difficult to draw the line of 
demarcation between the abstract and the concrete in this case, as we 
have only the latter to form our judgment by. 
> 
>   THEOSOPHIST. Then why make an exception for the T. S.? Justice, 
like charity, ought to begin at home. Will you revile and scoff at 
the "Sermon on the Mount" because your social, political
> 
>   55
> 
>   and even religious laws have, so far, not only failed to carry 
out its precepts in their spirit, but even in their dead letter? 
Abolish the oath in Courts, Parliament, Army and everywhere, and do 
as the Quakers do, if you will call yourselves Christians. Abolish 
the Courts themselves, for if you would follow the Commandments of 
Christ, you have to give away your coat to him who deprives you of 
your cloak, and turn your left cheek to the bully who smites you on 
the right. "Resist not evil, love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you," for "whosoever shall break one 
of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so, he shall 
be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven," and "whosoever shall 
say 'Thou fool' shall be in danger of hell fire." And why should you 
judge, if you would not be judged in your turn? Insist that between 
Theosophy and the Theosophical Society there is no difference, and 
forthwith you lay the system of Christianity and its very essence 
open to the same charges, only in a more serious form. "
> 
>   http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/aKEY.htm
> 
>   What are your views about the above?
>   Are you disagreeing?
> 
>   M. Sufilight
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: adelasie 
>   To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 4:16 PM
>   Subject: Re: Theos-World Can we see Obama as Hitler in Mass 
Psychosis.
> 
>   Christina,
> 
>   If I understand that your post is serious and that you really 
wish 
>   the list to consider your statements, I must say that your post 
is 
>   evidence of the same blindness and fear that HPB and all great 
>   teachers fought throughout the ages. Humanity has a choice: we 
can 
>   choose to reject progress along the path to enlightennent, to 
turn 
>   away from the Light and plunge ourselves again into future eons 
of 
>   man's inhumanity to man, and to all nature, or we can embrace the 
>   change that is coming and proceed with love and faith, hope and 
>   courage. Theosophy teaches the student to learn to think for 
himself, 
>   and, while you have the right to your opinion, it is important 
that 
>   all other students realize that intellectual manipulation of 
paranoia 
>   and fear-mongering, such as your post consists of, does not 
>   necessarily reflect truth. What it points to the most is the old 
>   saying, "We prefer the familiar darkness to the unfamiliar 
Light." 
> 
>   Theosophhy teaches the that all life is one. There is no them and 
us, 
>   no perpetrator and victim. We are all responsible for the 
conditions 
>   in which we live and for the leaders we have. We are not mindless 
>   automata, being led by some diabolical mastermind. Not unless we 
>   choose to be. This theory you propound is a good example of 
exactly 
>   the kind of thinking it professes to expose. The evidence is 
>   everywhere. Humanity has come to a crossroads and it is time to 
>   choose a new direction. This is why theosophy emerged when it 
did, 
>   why so many Great Souls have been working tirelessly to bring the 
>   realization to all humanity that it is time to be done with greed 
and 
>   selfishness, fear and dispair. 
> 
>   Take courage and take control of your own mind, of your own life. 
>   Look within your own heart if you want to know the truth. It is 
>   always there. Leave fear and anguish behind and step boldly 
forward 
>   into the Light that awaits us all, if we will only embrace it. 
> 
>   Adelaise
> 
>   On 20 Jan 2009 at 12:41, christinaleestemaker wrote:
> 
>   > 
>   > the use of NLP have all to do with it too.
>   > Christina
>   > 
>   > --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "adelasie" <adelasie@> wrote:
>   > >
>   > > Christina,
>   > >
>   > > What does all this have to do with theosophy?
>   > >
>   > > Adelasie
>   > >
>   > > On 19 Jan 2009 at 20:53, christinaleestemaker wrote:
>   > >
>   > > >
>   > > > Obama's speeches are a mass of mind-control techniques and 
Neuro-
>   > > > Linguistic-Programming, or NLP, and they are carefully
>   > constructed to
>   > > > implant beliefs and perceptions into the mind of the 
viewer. Click
>   > > > here for a description of his psycho-babble, headed An
>   > Examination of
>   > > > Obama's Use of Hidden Hypnosis Techniques in His Speeches.
>   >
> 
>   [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> 
> 
>    
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>