Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00905)

Thanks Daniel for answering my series of questions.

I see that you have your own set of answers. That's okay, too. (You don't
need my permission to believe whatever you want to believe!).

I, too, appreciate the Old and New Testaments. But I don't limit myself to
those two collections of texts.

And by the way, who collected the various books of the New Testament
together and said: "Only these books are to be considered as "holy"
and "inspired"? And if I remember correctly the Book Of Revelations
was debated for several cen- turies as to whether it was part of the
canon or not.  Have you ever sat down and pondered deeply on these
questions of the writing of the various Biblical books and how the
canon of the Old Testament and New Testament was determined?

My whole series of questions was asked in the hope that you might put aside
(temporarily) your present belief system and take a new and hard look at some
of your assumptions and their truth or falsity. Only you can do that.
If you want to beleive in some sort of literal, orthodox Christianity, that's
fine, but I and I suspect most if not all of the members on Theos-l have
discovered a wider or different perspective than that of orthodox Christianity.

Here is what H.P. Blavatsky wrote in one article on the Bible:

"...the Bible is *not* the `Word of God," but contains at best the words
of fallible men and *imperfect* teachers. Yet read *esoterically*, it
does contain, if not the *whole* truth, still, `nothing but the truth,' under
whatever allegorical garb.
"No more than any other scripture of the great world-religions can the Bible
be excluded from that class of allegorical andsy
mbolical writings which have
been, from the pre-historic ages, the receptacle of secret teachings of the
Mysteries of Initiation, under a more or less veiled form...
"...the more one studies ancient religious texts, the more one finds that
the ground-work of the New Testament is the same as the ground-work of the
Vedas, of the Egyptian theogony, and the Mazdean allegories."
(From HPB's article entitled "The Esoteric Character of the Gospels."

And my favorite quote from HPB on the Christ is:

"`...the coming of Christ,' means the presence of *Christos* in a regenerated
world, and not at all the actual coming in body of `Christ' Jesus; this
Christ is to be sought neither in the wilderness nor `in the inner chambers'
nor in the sanctuary of any temple or church built by man; for Christ---the
true esoteric *Saviour---is no man*, but the *Divine Principle* in every human
being. He who strives to resurrect the Spirit *crucified in him by his own
terrestrial passions*, and buried deep in the `sepulchre' of his sinful flesh;
he who has the strength to roll back the *stone of matter* from the
door of his own *inner* sanctuary, he *has the risen Christ in him*."

(Also from "The Esoteric Character of the Gospels")

I may be wrong but I prefer "Esoteric Christianity" to "Orthodox Christianity".

Again, I suggest that you read (and also study) the following works which
I previously recommended on the esoteric side of Chrisitianity:

*Theosophy and Christianity* by H.T. Edge.
*The Gnosis or Ancient Wisdom in the Christian Scriptures* by William Kingsland
*The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible* by Geoffrey Hodson (the new 2 vol. ed.)
and
*In Search of the Primordial Tradition and the Cosmic Christ* by Father John
Rossner. This book by Dr. Rossner is a remarkable work and all students of
Theosophy would, no doubt, find it full of food for thought.

Unless you challenger your own assumptions and educate yourself in the
literature of the world religions, etc. I find it hard to take you
very seriously although, no doubt, you are a sincere individual.
Maybe I need to challenge my own assumptions and educate myself and I
have been trying to do both for the last 25 years or so. We can all
expand our horizons and deepen our understanding butI don't know
exactly what you intend to accomplish on theos-l unless you are
willing to educate youself on Theosophy and related subjects. If you
are on theos-l to preach to the lost and to try to convert the
heathen Theosophists to your orthodox Christianity, you may not
accomplish much.

Daniel Caldwell

PS: And here are more quotes from the Bhagavad-Gita:

Krishna says: "I am the source of the forth-going of the whole universe and
likewise the place of its dissolving....I know the beings that are past,
that are present, that are to come...but no one knoweth Me....By Me all this
world is pervaded in my unmanifested aspect; all beings have root in Me, I
am not rooted in them...I am the Self, seated in the heart of all beings; I
am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings...And whatsoever
is the seed of all beings, that am I...nor is there aught, moving or unmoving,
that may exist bereft of Me.....Whatsoever is glorious, good, beautiful, and
mighty, understand thou that to go forth from a fragment of My splendor....
Having pervaded this whole universe with one fragment of Myself, I remain...."

Remember that a rose by any other name is still a rose!