Lucifer7, November 2006
Content
Short Quotes
Editorial
Online
New on Katinka Hesselink Net
Hardened Sinners and Hardened Saints
Some points of discussion in Fohat
'those that ask shall have' article in The Theosophist by Radha Burnier
Short Quotes
Prasnopanishad
The state of the Real Self is within reach of those alone who are full
of austerity, virtue, and truthfulness. Those, indeed, find that
entirely pure condition, in whom there is not the remotest trace of fashionable
lies or deliberate falsehoods, nor any hypocrisy whatever.
N. Sri Ram, Thoughts For Aspirants, Second Series
He who desires to find the truth must first confront himself as he is, and be prepared to step out of that mould which is the creation of his past.
Paul Brunton, The Secret Path, Chapter IV
Progress depends on practice.
George William Russell
There
is, in truth, an inner alliance between the soul who would fain give
and the soul who is in need. Nature has well provided that not one
golden ray of all our thoughts is sped ineffective through the dark; not
one drop of the magical elixirs love distills is wasted.
Let
us consider how this may be. There is a habit we nearly all have
indulged in: We weave little stories in our minds, expending love and
pity upon the imaginary beings we have created, and I have been led to
think that many of these are not imaginary, that somewhere in the world
beings are living just in that way, and we
merely
reform and live over again in our life the story of another life.
Sometimes these faraway intimates assume so vivid a shape; they come so
near with their appeal for sympathy that the pictures are
unforgettable; and the more I ponder over them the more it seems to me
that they often convey the actual need of some soul whose cry for
comfort has gone out into the vast, perhaps to meet with an answer,
perhaps to hear only silence.
Editorial
While some of my theosophical colleagues have been
arguing amongst themselves, I've noticed that online Blavatsky is often
linked to Nazi ideology. I wrote a short piece on that: Was Blavatsky a Nazi? The link between Ariosophy and Theosophy
Online
Hardened Sinners and Hardened Saints
H. N. Stokes, From the Vol. VI, #14, 2/21/1917 0. E. Library Critic
"Ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgement, mercy and faith: these ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the other undone."
Matt. xxii, 23
"Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men. Regard most earnestly
your own heart."
Light on the Path
It is a fact well known to those having to do with criminal statistics
that the foundation of a criminal career is usually laid in youth, when
the passions are hot and the powers of resistance are but little developed
and when one has not acquired wisdom enough to see that conformity to the
rules of society is the only safe way. In the period of what is known as
sowing wild oats many of us come dangerously near to it. Sooner or later
most of us reach a definite parting of the ways. At this point there are
two sign-posts. One of these says "This Way to Becoming a Hardened Sinner,"
while the other bears the legend "This Road to Becoming a Hardened Saint."
And this reminds me of the two sign-boards which Alice saw in the land
behind the looking-glass - "This Way to Tweedledum's House," and "This Way
to the House of Tweedledee."
Now, don't slam down the paper and say that I claim that there is no choice
between these roads. It would not be worth my while to prove that virtue
is better than vice, for nobody denies it, at least on this side of the Atlantic.
But we may overlook certain points of vital importance if we think that
in the long run there is a huge difference between these paths. The fact
is that apart from certain temporary advantages to the individual and to
society, very good in their way, to be sure, both ways lead to pretty much
the same place.
By a hardened sinner I mean one to whom anti-social actions have become
easier than social ones, one who has acquired vicious habits. By a
hardened saint I mean one to whom moral actions, or abstinence from immoral
actions, have become a habit and to whom it is easier to be "good" than "bad."
Now a good habit is not to be laughed at simply because it is a habit,
but from the ethical standpoint there is no more merit in doing what you
can't comfortably help doing than there is in a good digestion. A good character,
which is usually nothing more than a collection of virtuous habits backed
by a conscience which makes one dreadfully uncomfortable if one goes wrong,
is an excellent basis to build on, just as rock makes a better foundation
than sand. But it is as easy to become the slave of good habits as of bad
ones. Thrift, regular hours and a vegetarian diet are good habits which
may be carried to an excess. You have heard of the two Englishmen who were
wrecked on a small island and who would not speak because they had not been
formally introduced. The very existence of society as it now is assumes
and depends on certain behavior, but conformity to these rules takes no
account of certain very important matters. The hardened saint overlooks
the fact that in refraining from anti-social actions, he is but backing
up the present state of affairs; he is taking no account of progress.
Nobody, however, should fail to see that the present state of society
is a transient one, that there are evolutionary forces at work which are
quite beyond our control and which are constantly putting new problems and
new conditions to the front. ...The man of tomorrow, or a hundred years hence
will be very different from the man of today; the saint of a hundred years
hence will be a very different sort of Saint from the saint of today. In
an earlier stage of affairs many things which we regard as vices were accounted
virtues, and they were really so because they tended to give stability to
society as it was then. I have often called attention to the fact that what
we call virtue and vice are very largely conformity or non-conformity to
certain standards of temporary and passing value. Polygamy and indiscriminate
sex relations for instance were once virtuous, when life had many risks and
keeping the race alive had to be considered above all things. Even today,
when the population is being slaughtered much faster than the normal birth
rate replenishes it [1917 - Ed.], we hear certain customs palliated which
are usually accounted immoral. At a time when every man was ready to seize
his neighbor's property, laws protecting property rights were regarded as
even more important than life - men were hung for theft. Today our views
are rapidly changing; it is ceasing to be moral to place the right of acquisition
above everything else, and to whatever extreme we may go, it is quite obvious
that the society of the future will hold very different views as to the right
of the individual to acquire or hold property by means which act detrimentally
on his fellows. Set your hardened saint of today down in the midst of society
a thousand years hence and the probability is that he would be looked on
as we look on the hardened sinner of today. Or put the hardened sinner of
today back among the cave men and he would have passed as a first class saint.
The hardened saint is he who takes no account of progress, who assumes
that the utmost that is required of him is conformity to the rule, law and
custom of today, and who fails to keep himself in that flexible condition
which admits of growth. While he may be a pillar of society as it is, he
is often but a clog on its becoming what it should be. He is the conformist
who, like the Pharisee of old, pays tithe of mint, anise and cummin, and
omits the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. And as
such, while he is not the enemy of the society of today he is the enemy of
the society of the future; he is as pernicious to posterity as the hardened
sinner is to his contemporaries.
And further, the hardened saint is one who can look neither forward
nor backward. He is often not only ready to persecute, yes, even to
imprison
or crucify the man of the future, but he accords the same treatment to
the
man of the past, the criminal who is out of tune with the present, but
who
is living according to the schedule of a previous age. He is the man
who
regards the sinner and the sin as something wholly abhorrent and worthy
only
of brutal suppression instead of rational
cure.
Intolerance, that is the vice of the hardened saint, the inability to
see the root of good in things evil, the soul of manhood in the criminal,
the truth which lies in the opinions of others with whom he may disagree.
He is unable to look intelligently into the hearts of men and see the motives
which influence them, and to compare them with his own.
... There can be no doubt that the sign "This Road to Becoming a Hardened
Saint: drives many to the opposite path. There is something as unlovely
about the narrowness of the hardened saint as about the frankness of the
hardened sinner, a sort of hypocrisy, a smell of pretensions not lived up
to, which frightens the youth into the opposite course. Youth loves tolerance,
it desires to be understood. But the virtuous yet intolerant parent or teacher,
the man who preaches down, who claims that "he never did such things when
he was young" - usually an out and out lie - tends to drive the youth upon
the other road; I do not blame him. The hardened saint is a constant warning
to others. One may have this or that theory as to Christ, but can any one
overlook the splendid example of his associating with sinners, or the sentiment
conveyed in the words "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone?"
How to keep from becoming a hardened saint? It is not an easy matter,
especially if your position in life is such as to shield you from temptation
to make virtue profitable, to guard you from want. It is easy enough to think
that you are doing enough when you walk straight, when you have no compelling
motives to do otherwise. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Not
because there is any sin in being rich, but because heaven is a place for
the ideal saint, not for one of the hard boiled variety. The thing for you
to do is to get out somewhere where you will be tempted. Better slip up now
and then than to lose your flexibility. Many a man accounted too bad to associate
with has preserved his flexibility to a greater extent than those who have
always walked straight - there is more hope for him. How to scrape off the
crust of hardened saintship which is beginning to accumulate on yourself?
There are many ways, but all involve a broadening of your interests and your
sympathies, especially of your sympathies. It may be well enough to have
an academic interest in the other half of the world, the part in which you
do not move socially or in a business way. But really, it is quite "insufficient."
You must learn to know these men and women; you must learn to take a personal
interest in them as you would in a member of your family or a friend who
is "socially your equal." To read about them, to hear lectures, to sit in
committees, to take part in charitable entertainments, these are well enough,
but they carry you but a short way. ...Christ did it; he was never tired
of talking of associating with sinners and commending those who would do
it. He knew what he was talking about; you do not have to take my word for
it. And your reward will be, not in having performed an unpleasant duty,
for it is not that, but in having your viewpoint broadened, in being placed
on the firing line in the great battle on which the future of the race depends.
... If you find it difficult, first ask yourself whether the fault lies
in the fact that you have been hardened by your environment, that you yourself
are lacking in the flexibility which is the basis of all spiritual progress.
The difficulty should be a warning to you not to yield to a process that
is slowly converting you into a hardened saint.
Some points of discussion in Fohat
Fall 2006 issue
I'm
glad to finally review Fohat in a positive light after the defense of
my own person I felt obligated to make last month. This isn't to say I
agree with everything in this issue, but that points made are (this
time) well argued and give me the opportunity to clarify my own
position a bit. Also I have to be grateful that my name isn't mentioned
once.
There are three subjects in this issue that warrant
something of a recounter. First a letter by Radha Burnier is discussed
on opening the Adyar archives. Second an article on occultism and truth
makes some very good points. Third, and from a historical perspective
most interesting, a report on a meeting in Germany in the 1960's on
changing books written by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. This
last article is also interesting as in it I see the first sign of a
recognition that members or even leaders of the Theosophical Society
Adyar are not clones of one another, but may actually represent
different viewpoints on what theosophy is and how one should act. I'm
glad to see that fact shine through in Edmonton, Canada.
The opening of the Adyar Archives
The issue
of the opening of the Adyar Archives is one that I have also tried to
raise consciousness for (Fohat Fall 2006, p. 67, 68). The editors of
Fohat went one step further and actually wrote Radha Burnier
personally. They also got a short reply. The reply doesn't deal with
the openness of the archives at all. Instead Radha Burnier goes into
the question of leadership and how it is her responsibility, not
theirs. She stresses that there is brotherhood in the Theosophical Society
everywhere, something I have also experienced in my more limited
travels (including sisterhood). Both are valid points, though not really to the point of
discussion. Fohat is equally off the point by quoting Ernest Hargrave
from 'The Judge Case', Part 1 on what Besant did at one point. All of
this is ancient history by now, and really doesn't mean anything about
today. So about those archives. From a theosophical historian that will
remain nameless I hear that perhaps not as much is 'hidden' in the
Adyar archives as those wishing for its opening might hope. Yes, its
library system is very much outdated - there are no digital catalogues.
On the other hand, it is quite usual for archives of note to only be
accessible through a librarian. This is only right, as one would not
want valuable documents to disappear. So perhaps the issue of opening
the Adyar archives is really just about making sure you befriend a
librarian.
Truth in occultism
There
is an ongoing discussion in the field of theosophical history on the
question of Blavatsky's veracity. Fohat addresses this from the
theological perspective in the article on truth in occultism (Fohat Fall 2006, p.54-58).
It points out that Blavatsky was a chela and therefore as theosophists
we should expect her to speak the truth wherever she could. Mahatma
Letter XLVII, p. 272 is quoted:
The Old Woman [Blavatsky] is accused of untruthfulness, inaccuracy in her statements. "Ask no questions and you will receive no lies." She is forbidden to say what she knows. You may cut her to pieces and she will not tell. Nay - she is ordered in cases of need to mislead people; and, were she more of a natural born liar - she might be happier and won her day long since this time.
This
is good stuff. It brings the issue right back to the source. We also
have G.R.S. Mead's testimony of Blavatsky's inherent truthfulness and
trustful nature. So as theosophists we can conclude that whatever lies
she told were for a good cause.
Great.
Now what? As a something of
an
amateur historian this doesn't get me anywhere, I'm sorry to say.
Historians have to judge every source by its inherent merits.
Theological arguments on the value of truth (which is what the rest of
that article amounts to) don't mean much. That is, we can be reasonably
sure that Blavatsky tried to live by those standards, but since we also
have pretty good indication that on some occasions she was forbidden to
say the truth - what have we got? Again as a theosophist I would tend
to just trust her and leave it at that. That would work pretty well if
I could turn to Blavatsky right now for spiritual instruction. Trust
your teacher. But I can't, because obviously she's gone. So what I'm
left with is the uncertainty of not knowing which parts of her
writings were the truth as she knew and understood it - and which were
'necessary lies'. Blavatsky often mentions the esoteric habit of using
blinds, when the truth can't be told in a way that the profane will be
able to understand it and misuse it. Unfortunately there is no list of
blinds available,
no list of subjects that the Mahatmas and Blavatsky were not
allowed to speak the truth about. Even if we assume - as I would
tend to do - that most
of her writing are simply the truth as she knew it, on the historically
tricky subjects one just can't assume that.
One of the
points where
Paul Johnson may very well have a point is that her vow of silence
wasn't
just about doctrine, but also about protecting her teachers. That vow
of silence just
leaves too many questions open. Historians have to look at the motives
behind every statement and will assume that any source is partial.
The question a scientist always has to ask is: what don't we know?
Given Blavatsky's vow of silence, we can be pretty sure there is a lot
we don't know. One thing a historian can't do is to use theological
arguments to prove practical historical points. The rift between theory
and practice is usually, in any religion, pretty large. The question
is: in what way is that rift large in this case. I don't know -
apparently some people associated with Fohat do feel they know.
In 1966, Adyar
Leaders Openly Discuss Tampering with Their Own Literature
This
leads me nicely into the next article I want to discuss 'In 1966, Adyar
Leaders Openly Discuss Tampering with Their Own Literature' (p. 64-66,
71). The opening paragraph puts the discussion in the context of the
recent controversy around 'The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky', volume 1 (2003), in
which letters were included that theosophists generally believe to be
forgeries. I think that to assume a connection between the two is misleading. The main part of the article is
concerned with the minutes of a meeting in 1966. The meeting
discussed whether the more extravagant claims (that is what it amounts to)
in the books by Leadbeater and Besant could and should be deleted in
future reprints. It is interesting to see that this meeting included
two theosophists that are now prominent: Radha Burnier (current president of the Theosophical Society Adyar) and Joy
Mills, who are indeed almost the same age and now in their 80's. The
article shows quite clearly that there were (as there are) two opinions
on the Theosophical Society Adyar: one is that it is alright to change
the words of books, if the essence remains. The other is that this is
quite unethical. As discussed in this meeting that point isn't made
yet. The meeting mainly discussed that certain parts might be deleted,
because they are outdated. Carlos Cardos Aveline rightly notes that at
the time it wasn't seriously discussed to change the words in
Blavatsky's writings, though I'm sorry to say that there is by now in
fact a Quest edition of the Voice of the Silence of which the language
has been 'updated'.
My
gut reaction in this debate is that
it is quite simply unethical to change the words used by an author and
then publish it under his or her name. On the other hand, I am also
aware of the relative advantage readers in foreign languages have:
translations get updated quite regularly. A new translation of the
Voice of the Silence into Dutch, for instance, is done every 30
years or so. This is true
for Bible translations as well. So there is a slippery slope. For me
Blavatsky's English is quite legible, whereas Besant's English
has become tedious. This is paradoxical, because Besant was a
native speaker of that language, whereas to Blavatsky English was at best a
second language (probably third, her French was likely better). The
more literary a person is, the more likely one is to be able to read
the books as they were and also to appreciate reading the original. For
less literary people, language may well be a hindrance. So the question
becomes: which readers does one cater to. Quest books, like Quest
magazine, has chosen to cater to the relatively less literate. This is
contrary to
theosophical tradition as generally speaking theosophists have come
from the educated classes. Theosophists are readers. Theosophists love
books, in general. I know of few exceptions to this rule - nor did I
meet exceptions to this rule when I was in Wheaton this summer.
The
article on that 1966 meeting is very interesting from a historical
perspective. For present day readers I want to add a few points on
present day publications. I pulled out the books I could find by
Leadbeater and Besant in my own collection. I found four. Though this
is a small selection, I think a preliminary conclusion is possible.
First Annie Besant's Esoteric Christianity. I own a Quest edition and
an Adyar edition. In the Quest edition there are slightly less words on
a page than in the Adyar edition. The Quest edition is called
'abridged'. The Adyar edition is called a reprint, so I should assume
nothing was changed or taken out. It has 285 pages. The Quest edition
has 277, including index. The text ends at page 263. So all in all at
least 7 pages have been deleted in the Quest edition, which may amount
to some 20 passages having been edited out. I have an Adyar
edition of Annie Besant's 'A Study in Consciousness'. This edition is
called a second edition (of 1999). It does not mention that it is
edited or abridged, so this is probably merely a case of retypesetting.
Then I own an Adyar edition of 'The Chakras' by C.W. Leadbeater.
It's called a Twelfth Reprint (1987), but also includes a note by the
publisher which deserves to be quoted in full as pertaining to this
discussion:
In preparing this edition for
publication, a few explanatory footnotes have been added and a few
sentences have been omitted which were relevant only at the time of the
original publication. Except for minor editorial corrections, the book
appears in the same form as when it was first published in 1927.
Unfortunately that note has not been dated.
From
this one can conclude, I think, that generally Adyar has stayed closer
to the original writings then Wheaton. Still both have felt the
necessity of making 'minor editorial corrections'. In fairness though,
Quest Publications is also (mainly) responsible for the Blavatsky
Collected Writings where the claim is that no editorial changes (except
in spelling and footnotes) have been made. Aside from the previously
mentioned version of The Voice of the Silence that has been edited,
Wheaton also published a facsimile reprint of the 1889 version of The
Voice of the Silence in 1991. So a geographical division of the
Theosophical Society into an Indian group that is more 'authentic' and
a US-group that is more popular, is also a simplification. To go
from this idea to the next one, that the Wheaton division is
less authentic and that this is the cause of the inclusion of those
controversial letters in 'The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky', is a stretch.
It is pretty obvious that the reason those letters were included is
that John Algeo is a trained scientist of note, who could therefore not
be expected to sensor his book. He chose to err rather on the side of
inclusiveness. As I've said before I quite understand that choice,
though it would have been better if the controversial nature of the
source had been noted in the explanations.
'Those that ask shall have'
On the Watchtower, Radha Burnier, The Theosophist October 2006 - reviewed and summarized
A
recurring theme in theosophical and new age thinking is the question of
'positive thinking'. I've recently put an article online that answers
that question positively: Why Think Positively?
by Donald Martin. Radha Burnier discusses a similar question, or rather
the more absolutist interpretation of that question, as it can be
embedded in theosophical thought: those that ask shall have,
which is a quote from Light on the Path. Radha starts by going into
various problems with this: if we ask for the wrong things, we may get
them, but we may not like the byproducts. For instance, we may get
wealth in this or a future life, if we really want it, but we will also
get the accompanying 'problems, tensions, and anxieties that go with
possessions'. She quotes the saying that 'When the gods want to punish
somebody, they listen to his prayers'.
Light on the
Path continues with: 'But though the ordinary man asks perpetually, his
voice is not heard, for he asks with his mind only.' Those who make it
their life-purpose to spread the art of 'positive thinking' would
phrase this slightly differently. They would say that most people have
conflicting thoughts, so the results are conflicting as well. Radha
puts it like this (p. 4) 'Real asking is characterized by
whole-heartedness. Mind and heart and soul must all long for what is
asked for. As the mind is only one aspect of a person, and at any time
confusion may be caused by conflicting desires, all internal
contradictions must end, and then the asking is integrated and its
force is greater. Even if money is the one thing a person asks for
wholeheartedly, he will get it and suffer from it; but he will learn
that to ask and have, one must really turn all of one's energy to the
task.'
From this Radha goes on to consider the question
whether what we think we want is real at all. This brings us straight
to the problems of Indian (and Buddhist) philosophy and metaphysics,
though Blavatsky also wrote about the issue of Maya (illusion). I found this Blavatsky quote on Maya:
When,
therefore, people express a desire to "see a MAHATMA,"
they really do not seem to understand what it is they ask for. How can
they, by their physical eyes, hope to see that which transcends that
sight? Is it the body--a mere shell or mask-they crave or hunt after? And
supposing they see the body of a MAHATMA, how can
they know that behind that mask is concealed an exalted entity? By what
standard are they to judge whether the Maya before them reflects
the image of a true MAHATMA or not? And who will say
that the physical is not a Maya? Higher things can be perceived
only by a sense pertaining to those higher things. And whoever therefore
wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his intellectual
sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its perception will
be clear and all mists created by Maya must be dispelled. [Blavatsky, Mahatmas and Chelas; More by Blavatsky on Maya]
Radha Burnier continues with
We
must learn through the practice of reflection (vichara), not coming to
quick conclusions, or getting unconsciously attracted to certain ideas
or theories. Reflection, thoughtfulness, quiet observation are all
necessary to find out whether what appears real to our minds is in fact
real, or whether it is only an aspect of the illusion existing in the
form-worlds - at the physical, astral, and mental levels, where there
are many illusions. 'Under every flower a serpent coiled', The Voice of the Silence
says. If we are aware and able to remain undeceived by these
lower-world illusions, there may be subtler illusions on higher planes.
So awareness and alertness must be sustained'. This reflection has to
be turned to ourselves, to our thoughts, our illusions about ourselves
and our world and to our desires. 'The sheaths that enclose the true
Self must be uncovered before we know what is within, not only in
ourselves but everywhere.
The conclusion is that only when
there is self-knowledge can we really expect to get what we want and be
reasonably happy with it. Donald Martin in his article
Why Think Positively?
comes to a similar conclusion though from the opposite direction. He
concludes that the very practice of trying to think positively will
make us more productive and therefore closer to whatever goals we have
set ourselves. This has apparently been confirmed by research. I do
wonder though: is it the act of thinking positively, or is it the
accompanying self-knowledge that really leads to more success? Radha's
article shows how self-knowledge is a necessary quality in order for us
to be able to think so clearly and one heartedly to have the results we
want.
Previous
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