Theos-Talk Archives (September 1993 Message tl00060)

The value of Theosophy does not stand or fall based upon its popularity
among the youth of any particular generation. Its truth does not
require the external validation of large numbers of people professing
a belief in it. The world is not "saved" by a conversion of a majority
of people to become followers of it rather than something else.

Theosophy is a limited, exoteric expression of something that is
timeless, something far removed from the ephemeral changes on the
physical plane.

The outer changes in the world are not a new evolution, but a
periodic expression of various types of experience. What we see
in the world is not a new high water mark of evolution for
humanity, just a temporary manifestation of one of many different types
of possible experience. The highest that humanity has reached is
represented in the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Mahatmans, not in
faxes, telephones, temporary periods of peace, pockets of material
prosperity (alongside the physical misery in some third-world nations).

Participating in the outer, ephemeral, rapidly changing world is to
"go with the flow", to participate in human lifewave, to ride its
ups and downs. Everytime that something gets better, though, it's not a
permanent, entirely-new evolution for humanity. There are as many
downs as ups, and to cling to anything that is seen physically is to
grasp a maya, to choose the unreal over the truly real.

Self-directed evolution involved something more than just being swept
along by the currents of human society, even during a short upswing,
when things are looking up. (The upswing will not last long; I'd
speculate we've got but a few centuries to go; we're in the Kali Yuga,
a 432,000 year "dark age".)

I think that the discussions that we've been having are very relevant
to getting to the bottom of things. We have several personal views of
the world, different cosmologies and worldviews. I prefer the one found
in the theosophical source teachings, as I understand them, but am
tolerant of other views.

We can co-exist with other views. One of us can say "this is how I see
it" and another "I see it differently, like this instead..." Our group
will thrive on its diversity of views and discussion. It would not be
good to ever say "don't talk about that anymore, I'm not interested in
it, stick to something I find relevant".

The problem with the Adyar Society is a rigidity of thought, the
inability to tolerate different points of view. The two predominant
views I see in it are the Besant/Leadbeater view, and a view that I
might call the Gnostic/Jungian/New Age view. If you fall outside one
of these views, you may find things difficult unless you keep your
mouth shut and appear to agree. The entire Canadian Section was
expelled, on what can only be considered a pretext, for this very
reason.

The idea of a New Age, a Messianic Cycle, the Age of Aquarius, a new
type of experience for humanity, is fine. But it represents one
phase of a cycle that has as many dark ages as enlightened periods.
Being born when your culture supports peace and beauty and harmony can
be enjoyable, and I'd certainly not hope for the day when it will end
again and things go bad again. But its time will come.

We've read in the group of a profession in belief in several different
models of the world and of how things work in life. I hope to see more
of this in the future, and an encouraging and fostering of people to
express their ideas and beliefs. The thought life of the group will be
dead, I feel, when we reach the point that a few of us pick a single
model, say "this is *the* truth", and impose a censorship upon
dissenting ideas.

                                 Eldon Tucker
                                 eldon@netcom.com