Theos-Talk Archives (August 1995 Message tl00104)

Hi everyone,

Keith, I misled you when you assume the Ponderosa is a ranch.
Actually, it is 7 acres of zoo in the center of a Nebraska
cornfield. I like to joke that to find my place, you go to the
first cornfield, and turn left... My wife and I enjoy our little
plot of pasture, which we share with a heard of diary goats and
some horses, dogs, cats, etc... Actually, I have lived in both
worlds, urban and rural, and I prefer the rural, now that I am
able to meet people like you on the net, and pursue my
intellectual interests from the comfort of home. Yet, I also
miss some of the social opportunities of the city. I do have the
unique (?) opportunity of meeting a lot of individuals face to
face at a very intimate level in the course of my job, which
makes up for the traffic jams, smog, and noise.

I agree with you that God is not light. Light is a creation of
God, and light has many uses. To say the tool is the worker is
rediculous, and I really haven't read that into any of the notes
I've seen on this list. Have you read the writings of Martin
Bueber? In "I and Thou" he creates a real useful distinction
between "things" and "people." You "use" "things," you "relate"
to "people." He brings home the message that you are out of right
relationship to other people when you use them. He then develops
the idea that you cannot be in right relation with God until you
are in right relation with the people in your life. While I
doubt anyone would call Bueber a Theosophist, I find his ideas
very refreshing and useful as I look at my own actions toward
those around me. Bueber supports the existence of a Jehovah
type, anthropromoorhic God. I find that concept much too
limiiting, and demeaning of God.

Lewis raises the issue of the slow evolution of consciousness.
In my work, I see many individuals who display the emotion of
guilt without conscious knowledge of the source of the guilt.
These individuals find peace when they are guided into their
subconscious, wheere they always know the cause of the feeling.
This leads me to ask, is it a matter of the slow evolution of
consciousness, or is it more the slow a wakening of
consciousness? I see patients who report past lives, past
relationships, etc, who suffer emotional distress until they work
through the emotional energy and content of those past life
experiences. I am not prepared to say that the history they
provide is "true," but the emotions they dump during the healing
process certainly are real, and most importantly, they resolve
their emotional distress. Watching this process leads me to fave
the idea, using Jung's terminology, that there is a collective
unconscious, and that we may all tap into that memory base. Each
monad has to work through the entire thing in order to acheive
re-union with the creative force of the universe (God, if you
like.) This happens through an awakening, not an evolution.

Biological evolution is only a part of the greater picture,
providing for the maintenance of enviornmental balance (and a
diversity of experiences for all monads) on this planet during
the period that the monads of our round are transforming through
the process of conscious awakening. I believe we complicate
matters in our minds, when we try to simplify things by assuming
that biological evolution, the evolution of consciusness, and the
evolution of the monad are in any way related. This view
releases me from any sense of presumptiveness that I, as a human,
may be superior to other humans, let alone other species. I, as
a monad, am simply another monad working my way through the
processs of awakening. I am not convinced that there is one
path, in fact, I suspect there are many. I suspect that our rate
of advancement on our particular path is not a matter of
"winning, but how you play the game." This is, in some ways, a
restatement of the Prime Directive from Star Trek. At the same
time, all monads are the creation (children) of God (or what ever
you choose to call the ultimate source of our thinking, our
being) and as such, are sacred, holy, important beyond
expression. That puts the Brotherhood of Man in a proper
perspective to my mind. It behooves me to love my neighbor, even
though I may hate his actions, as I am just as good and just as
bad as he is, in a moral sense, and in the eyes of the creator of
all us humble monads...

I'd like to hear more on the subject of the monad from others on
the net. Some of the writings of HPB and Leadbeater on the
subject are far over my head. I hope I have dr awn the right
conclusions from what I have read on the subject. Please
comment, if you wish.

I am not familiar with the book by Keyes to which you refer.

Several weeks ago, I raised the issue, is it possible to prove
that it is impossible to prove the truth of reincarnation. I am
working my way through the book, "Godel, Escher, and Bach." by
Hofstadter. It appears that part of this work is devoted to
mathematical discussion of the solution of mathematical proofs of
this type of enigma, the formally undecidable propositions.. I
am not at all comfortable with the logic yet, nor with the
conclusions, but would invite anyone who is familiar with this
book to comment. Anyone who has thought about the issue, might
like to look this book up and try to work through it as well.
Aside from the mathematical precision in the book, it is really a
fun book.

I appreciate all of you that contribute to our ongoing
discussions.

Love and Light, Fred