Compass Newsletter Summer 2012 No.18

 

Theosophy’s Role Today
Traveling Light
Theosophical Society (Pasadena) Websites
Newsletters from Abroad

Theosophy’s Role Today

By Grace F. Knoche and Kirby Van Mater

 

Question — What is the difference between the theosophic purpose and that of the great
religions? Doesn’t every religious philosophy enjoin brotherhood? Don’t they record the
same noble ethics and urge the living of them?

GFK — They do indeed. What, then, does theosophy offer? In the first place, we have to
think of theosophy as reaching back many millions of years to that momentous epoch in
human history when our mind-heart was awakened. That epoch was recorded in Genesis
and in many other religious scriptures and myths. But by the nineteenth century these
ancient truths, taught again and again to mankind, had long been forgotten, or at least their
luster had been dimmed through priestcraft and the ravages of time.

When the “sons of mind” — manasaputras, Lucifer, Prometheus, or whatever name we give these lightbringers — found the karmic moment to quicken the fires of our mental,
emotional, and heart nature, this opened up a marvelous opportunity for the human race. At that period certain primal truths were given to early mankind, and it is these truths that every people has reexpressed after its own manner. Sometimes the forms are so difficult to comprehend that they have been grossly misrepresented. H. P. Blavatsky opened wide the gates of our understanding and re-illumined these sacred truths in such a stimulating way that every religious philosophy and traditional presentation could be recognized as another expression of the same wondrous wisdom.

Theosophy’s aims are not new. The idea of brotherhood as a living, workable philosophy has surfaced time and again. All illuminati of the spirit emphasize it as their chief objective. The lives of the great teachers are an exemplification of this ideal. Way back in time Prince
Siddhartha broke through the bigotry of the Brahmans and talked openly of these truths with the people. To him there was no greater rule than to love and to understand the brethren, and to him the whole of humanity was the brethren.

Every effort of a world teacher is toward fostering the ideal way of living that would loosen and eventually destroy the fetters binding human souls. In the Renaissance several labored to show that the microcosm, the little world of man, is a smaller part and a reflection of the macrocosm. Elaborate schemes were worked out by Qabbalists, Hermetists, and Rosicrucians, their objective being to reveal a universal order of harmony throughout. These outstanding geniuses in various countries of Europe were relatively few in number but they knew and communicated with one another in secret — a quiet network uniting enlightened minds in England, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It was a network spiritually inspired, but unfortunately its influence did not filter through to the world at large. It did not sweep into the life of the common people because, toward the end of the sixteenth century in particular, a powerful counter effort, the Counter-Reformation, was launched in order to bring back into the fold all who had dared to stray from orthodoxy.

No effort toward onehood, however, is ever lost. That network was not new then; it has
always existed. In fact, the theosophical effort today is an indivisible part of that ancient
association of the dedicated. There are many efforts today that are outwardly unconnected
with the theosophical movement but which are impulsed by the same altruistic purpose. Yet in and through the webwork of light exist influences of an opposing character which seek to cast a shadow on the purity of the endeavor. We should be able to discern the gold beneath the dross.

Question — Aren’t practical efforts to help the millions of suffering and needy people
around the world of primary importance?

GFK — Theosophists are the friends of all movements that work toward the amelioration of the human condition, and therefore are supportive of every enlightened effort. However, we must be realistic. Much as we would like to, it is impossible for us to send people into
different countries to do this type of saving work. Some theosophists are involved in one or
another benevolent activity, but as a Society, as H. P. Blavatsky well said, ours is a more
difficult — even a more important — task: to work to uproot the causes of the difficulties
(H. P. Blavatsky to the American Conventions: 1888-1891, p. 8). It is to the causes of human misery and illness and poverty that we would address ourselves most earnestly. It is on just this point where we have to question and reexamine ourselves, because quite unconsciously one could hide behind that faccade and become selfish and even hardhearted, feeling “our work is not among the people, but simply in the realm of ideas.”

Our work is among ideas, but our work, to remain alive, has to be a continuous dedication
of ourselves to seeing that only positive and constructive energies go into the thought world, into the sharing of these ideas. If this is truly an all-absorbing quality of the nature, we will find ourselves actually helping to relieve those very conditions in an inner way and,
possibly without our knowledge, inspire others to work in an outward way.

Kirby Van Mater — How can we help people in thought? We speak of universal
brotherhood and the brotherhood of mankind. We are truly a human brotherhood, not only in the physical world in which we live and the spiritual world which we share, but also in the thought world and in the emotional world. In all these worlds we are more interlinked than we have any idea of. Every thought we have we share with others. When I first joined the Theosophical Society many years ago, someone said to me that theosophists lead the
thought life of the world. As I had just been studying the thoughts and ideas of the great
thinkers, I wondered to myself, how can this be? Certainly we are not as influential as they.
But I have found out since then that great ideas can be entertained by anyone, and in this
world where so many are working toward divisiveness, the noble concepts of brotherhood
and the oneness of all things are sadly needed.

After more than a hundred years of endeavor theosophists can say truly that their ideas have spread around the world. The few individuals who started the Theosophical Society have become countless thousands, and the primal endeavor of the Society has taken many forms and names, showing that ideas do rule the world. By holding these thoughts and in the contemplation of them we do indeed influence the leading modern thinkers.

GFK — This makes me think of HPB’s second letter to the American Conventions, where
she quotes these lines from her teachers:

Let not the fruit of good Karma be your motive; for your Karma, good or bad, being one and the common property of all mankind, nothing good or bad can happen to you that is not shared by many others. Hence your motive, being selfish, can only generate a double effect, good and bad, and will either nullify your good action, or turn it to another man’s profit . . . There is no happiness for one who is ever thinking of Self and forgetting all other Selves. — p. 22

And then the Master has this telling sentence: “The Universe groans under the weight of
such action (Karma), and none other than self-sacrificial Karma relieves it.”

We have a tremendously potent key here. If in truth the universe groans under the burden of selfish acts and thoughts, we are responsible insofar as we have individually contributed to that weight. Every one of us is human, every one of us has mixed motives to a degree, but we have a grand ideal of constantly endeavoring to make our lives truly altruistic. This is a goal that cannot be attained in a single lifetime, but it is a goal that we must never give up. It must be the predominating and overruling influence in our lives and, if we can aspire toward this, then we can have confidence that at least a larger expression of unselfishness than of its opposite will flow forth from us.

Selfishness is hostile to the growth of the soul. It is inimical to the growth of mankind,
because it is a turning in upon oneself. Conversely, not thinking ourselves to be of first
importance releases the light from within, and the light which flows into our souls does not
stay within our own radius. It bursts the barriers of our personalities and sends a radiance
into the lives of many, many others. Every altruistic thought and aspiration sends its
influence into the thought atmosphere of our world, and every individual — whether known to us or not — who is in sympathetic vibration with that quality of aspiration responds in kind, and his life is ennobled and his surroundings irradiated. In like manner the opposite is true, and for this also we are responsible.

Many today have a deep pessimism concerning our world; they see so many expressions of
unbrotherliness, cruelty, and dishonesty being almost accepted as the norm. In fact,
pessimism has eroded much of the confidence of our civilization. Part of our task is to
replace that pessimistic outlook with its opposite — not a Pollyanna type of optimism, but
with a confidence in the capacity of the human soul to open itself to the influx of its innate
strength and light and purity.

(From Sunrise magazine, June/July 1998. Copyright © 1998 by Theosophical University
Press.)

We ask for enlightenment and receive from life exactly what we have asked for: that is, if
our wishing is personal, perhaps the higher self will bring some pressure to bear so that we
may crack open the shell of personality and step out into a grander life. Almost always the
qualities we need to unfold our highest hopes are to be found in what life brings us from day to day — only we seldom see them in this light because we are not given the things we long for: we are presented with the opportunities to earn them. We are thus literally surrounded by the answers to our deepest longings! — John P. Van Mater

Traveling Light

By Clifton Meek

 

Howe Crampton Small was a visionless soul
The things he possessed were his God and his goal,
The only real values were those he could buy
But they never brought peace and he never knew why.
The one apiration with which he was blessed
Was the noble ambition to feather his nest
Regardless of method or how money came —
If someone was hurt it was part of the game.
His fidgety days just abounded with woes
And his long troubled nights were bereft of repose;
He never relaxed on the bank of a stream
With a rod in his hand just to ponder and dream
And let his thoughts soar into infinite space
And marvel at Nature’s benefiecent Grace —
The heavenly host with its vast starry train
Caused no perturbation in his little brain
……..
He found no repose in a calm inner life
And his days were all filled with contention and strife
Piling up baggage he never could use
When he’d shake all the dirt from his spiritual shoes.
His book shelves were sagging with wisdom and light
But to his way of thinking they didn’t read right;
He fondled the covers of leather and gold
But the stuff that was in them was corny and old.
Why should he listen to men who were dead?
He had his own system for getting ahead.
The stale and trite wisdom of some bearded sage
Just would work in this wonderful age.
To “Do unto others” — that part was just fine
But he just didn’t fancy the rest of the line.
He took inventory of all of his pelf —
Everything that he owned — excepting HIMSELF;
He found hidden assets in every loophole
Excepting the ones that reposed in his soul.
When his nest was a feathered for comfort and ease
He was in the last stages of Grabber’s Disease
A peculiear affliction as old as the hills
That’s never been cured with prescriptions and pills;
Its effects are observed in the fingers and hand —
A convulsion of muscles wherever they land.
…….
Howe Crampton Small passed away in the night,
Due to strict regulations he’s traveling light;
The things that he worshiped and cherished the most
Were all left behind when he gave up the ghost.
The world was his oyster he’d frequently tell
But he missed all the pearls — all he got was the shell.

Theosophical Society (Pasadena) Websites

 

www.theosociety.org
www.americansection.us
www.theosophydownunder.org
www.theosophie.de
www.theosofie.net
http://hem.fyristorg.com/teosofi/

Newsletters from Abroad

 

We have received copies of interesting Newsletters from abroad from our colleagues in
Holland, South Africa, Australia and America. Copies of these can requested through the
contact details below.

Contact

 

Pat & Sandy Powell
National Secretaries
P.O.Box 48
Penrhyndeudraeth
LL49 0AQ

Tel: 01766-770093
Email: ts-uk@talktalk.net

Theosophy is the thread which passes through and strings together all the ancient
philosophies and religious systems; and, what is more, it reconciles and explains
them. — H. P. Blavatsky