Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00746)

Daniel Caldwell:

We could also consider your questions turned our way. (I'm writing this partly
for us to think about, and partly for fun.)

(1) How are we to know that The Secret Doctrine, the Voice of the Silence,
the Mahatma Letters, or any other so-called "source literature" are anything
other than the records of the personal experiences and thoughts of individuals?

(2) If we say that The Secret Doctrine is inspired by the Masters, what do we
mean by inspired?

(3) Is the inspiration from the Mahatmas, and if we say so, HOW DO WE KNOW?

(4) More pertinent to the modern situation is: Who are the people claiming to
know just which books are are are not the word of the Mahatmas?

(5) How do we know that the Masters have not spoken in other books that those
by Blavatsky?

(6) And what do we mean when we speak of "Masters"?

(7) Furthermore, how much do we know about other religious philosophies?
About Neo-Platonism, Buddhism, the Vedas, Tibetan Buddhism, etc?

(8) Also how many other sacred scriptures have we read?

(9) Also if we have had a personal experience with a Master, are we aweare
that there are other sincere religious seekers who have had personal
encounters with Masters. How do we know, how can we be sure that our experiences
are vaild and those in other groups are false?

(10) Do we seek Truth and Reality or do we seek comfortable beliefs?

(11) And how much do we know about mysticism, peak experiences, etc.?

-- Eldon