Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tt00083)

Hi Eldon,

You made some interesting comments and have raised some ideas
which are indeed worth focusing on.

Books in general are simply a collection of the authors thoughts,
and depending on the power of the author to communicate they can
themselves (the books) be a world of there own.  You mentioned
this while you were discussing the Secret Doctrine as a hall mark
of occult work.

Certainly the Secret Doctrine has value in what is printed and
with careful study any student will find those valuable parts
where the writer states such things as: "The Ancient Wisdom
Says..." I am sure we could take such parts and present them more
clearly but then is this not exactly what Besant/Leadbeater etc.
tried to do and in many cases made fundamental mistakes? A
worthwhile exercise for the student however but one that must be
examined not only from an intellectual point of view but
also from an intuitional as you so rightly point out.

However the Secret Doctrine was written by a group of authors who
are far more clever than most anyone reading the Secret Doctrine
at first realises.  Read through the Secret Doctrine, and we find
that while the intellect is busy focused on the points being
elucidated by the author, if one opens awareness a little more
they will see that there is another interpretation that is going
on in a different part of our consciousness...  In fact if we are
aware of it we are able to perceive quite a different story
evolving.  It is this that in my opinion is where the real value
of the Secrect Doctrine lies.

This is, in my opinion a common way that much of the real
learning goes on.  Much of what is truth is incomprehensible by
the mind and is easier imparted as a set of symbols which have
much more meaning to the subsconsious or higher mind.  Most, if
not all the lower mystery schools taught in this manner.  Of
course none of it is any good to us in an incarnation unless we
of have expanded our own awareness to be able to perceive
intuition and work in parts of our consciousness beyond simply
the mind.  (Perhaps not explained too well).  Thus it is vital
that we have also taken to heart what HPB urged her students,
that is the need to KNOW ONESELF.  That in itself is many life
times work for most of us.

So we have some excellent books to use has Hall Marks left to us
by Blavatsky.  Such works as:

1. The Secret Doctrine
2. Key to Theosophy
3. Voice of the Silence
4. The Occult Path

Which in themselves are a complete a set of instructions every
student would do themselves well to understand.  (2 - 4 anyway).

So yes Eldon, books can be of value but we can go from life to
life re-reading the same books (or thereabouts) but are we any
better off? Especially when in a different level of consciousness
we already KNOW it all.  Far better we spend our time bridging
the gap between the "lower" and "higher" consciousness.  One done
once, it is much easier the next time....


All that said I also admit that we are not all of the same
temperament so the above works are not going to appeal to
everyone.

Blavatsky and her teachers brought us modern theosophy or
neo-Platonism as some would call it.  They did there best to keep
the spark alive and to see it burn on for another 100 years, or
perhaps longer as best it could, in the hope that it would make a
difference.  Blavatsky had already decided that the Theosophical
Society was not going to do what she had hoped but at least it
was a movement that could take some of the ideas on to
individuals who had a dim spark which was easily re-kindled upon
reading her works.  She started a different group, as I am sure
you all are aware of which she hoped would be made up of more
dedicate members who would see the work continue.  [Yes, I agree
other works can have the same effect on different people also].

Almost a soon as Blavatsky died, and with it the contact between
humanity and her Adepts the Theosophical Society started to
disintegrate.  Oh yes the numbers of the members increased for a
few years but that soon changed also.  The society for the next
30 or 40 years went through several upheavals and changes.
Teachings which were commonly taught for a number of years were
later hidden away with some embarrassment as it became obvious
they were completely incorrect and we saw, largely because of
these different teaching and interpretations much division and
splitting of the original Theosophical Society.  [ I will not go
into details here as most people would probably get quite bored
but it is something I have been quite interested in and studied.
]

This has lead to all sorts of confusing teaching for the last 100
years and we now find our libraries full of these Neo-Blavatsky
teachings which make some pretty strange claims and
interpretations of what she actually did teach, which is sad in
itself as all her teachings are there for anyone to study.
Perhaps it would be clearer if such authors made it clear that
the books they wrote were simply the outcome of their current
study and their impressions as they understood them when writting
the books it would help.  After all we grow and learn but how
often does an auther take a book off the shelves or out of
publication because they have grown ad learn that not all it
contained was correct.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not anti Theosophical Society or of
the works of many of its students as I may have given the
impression of.  The Theosophical Society has changed much in the
last 40 odd years and has some spark yet left in it that I do
find worthwhile.  I am an active member in my branch in New
Zealand.  However I do wonder where we are going today as I look
around and get quite disheartened by what I see.  I also spent
around 7 years heavily involved in study programs and activities
to popularise the teachings of the Society but I now find myself
looking back and re-evaluating what we did.  How many of those
people that attended those course are still members or even
interested? Hard to say as 90% of members simply pass through the
society, hopefully taking something away with them.  What worries
me know is how much of what we taught was actually not even true?

What is true however is that there are now many groups teaching
different versions of the Wisdom Tradition.  It is also coming to
us from all over the place and today perhaps many people are
getting hints of it, although unknowingly in many of the modern
movies and television programs that we are presented with.  I
often find myself wondering how the adepts have chosen to
influence humanity over the last 23 years and to me one of the
obvious is through inspiring many of the movies and other shows
we all see today.

I am someone who has always had a keen interest in Science
Fiction and Science Fantasy.  Thus you look at movies like Star
Wars and the concept of THE FORCE (or perhaps FOHAT?).  Look at
all the movies about Angles and about the afterlife such as the
movie GHOST.  Perhaps they are not direct teaching for the
student but the mass consciousness is certainly changing to more
of an acceptance about these ideas.

The Adepts (I dislike the term Masters) as I understand them very
rarely do any work in the physical world and work in the higher
consciousness.  They are therefore much more likely to use there
influence to inspire the works of the right sort of people.  Why
is it that the best ideas come while we sleep or in intuitive
flashes?

While we look on the works of Blavatsky as being something
special we need to be careful we do not become close minded.
Certainly the Theosophical Society has initiated a complete new
era in occult litrature there are also many works which predate
Blavatsky which are worth studying.  After all, all the Secret
Doctrine tries to do is to re-present to us what is already out
there (or was out there).  HPB did say that more works would
become available and be rediscovered over the next several
hundred years.

If you have read this far then I hope you have found something
useful out of it.  In the end only our own actions make a
difference.  We need to act now if we want to make a difference.

Cheers