Theos-Talk Archives (November 1995 Message tl00139)

Liesel:
<I've been taught by my theosophical teachers to try to be aware of
<these influences & to make up my own mind as much as possible. One
<of Harry's favorite sayings was "don't just believe... ask why".
<I go so far as to often shut off the sound of TV advertising ...<snip>
< I found out long time ago that as long as I wasn't my own boss
<as long as I didn't know how to steer my own boat
<I was being tossed hither & yon by
<any old wave that happened along. Steering also includes consciously
<rolling with the punches. My whole training & teaching/learning these
<past 30 years has been to make me more aware of what's going on
<around me in order to become more efficient at working with it.
<For this reason I just don't believe in channeling which is being
<done widely today <snip> ... nor do I believe in hypnotism ... also
<widely practised today. I think that's why Theosophists are such
<individualists. The best of us don't follow the crowd aren't
<influenced by anyone except if we think it's right for us. Don't tell
<me to regress & go get influenced by some other entities that I've by
<now managed to cast off. Don't tell me to go toss on the waves
<while someone else is steering . No thanks.

Whoa slow down Liesel. I don't think John was
advocating that we should all start channeling. I also do NOT
channel. BTW back when I was a Christian Scientist our
family had a remote control to turn the sound off the tv during
commercials and CS teaches the evils of hypnotism too. I
applaud you for doing this because we are all open to
suggestion and blocking out unwanted thoughts is a good
preventative step to take. Hypnotism does rob us of our
conscious control I know this from talking to hypnotists.
I wouldn't presume to tell you or anyone else to "go get
influenced by some other entities." What John is saying
that I do agree with is that channeling is a lot more
common than we would like to think and that by grouping
all channeling into a collective package with an "evil"
label is really counterproductive to our best interests in
the long run its fine for the short term though. Conscious
control simply must at some point be given up in order
to allow our inner divinity to shine through us. We do
not want Elvis or Jesus or Aunt Mavis to come through
though. I think that all theosophists will agree with that.
My whole point with this subject of channeling is to
avoid a black-white attitude that all kama-manas is
wrong and all buddhi-manas is right and that we have
the presumption of being able to judge the difference.
I think Eldon is close to agreeing with me on this. He
is saying that kama-manas should be temporarily
avoided by new students and I have no problem with
that at all. Once buddhi-manas is developed then we
can tell when kama-manas is functioning usually but
not always and to think that is very naive and dangerous.
Also the idea that we can practice buddhi-manas while
driving our car down the highway for example is a very
dangerous idea. Ramakrishna for instance would
enter samadhi for such long periods that his disciples
had to force feed his body to keep it alive until his
consciousness returned to its normal human state.
Our normal human consciousness in the waking state
is when consciousness focuses through manas. Any
other focus requires a shift or altered state either upward
into spirit or downward into matter. The practice of
strengthening concious control like you describe is
part of a long established tradition in all occult schools
and is mandatory. However it must be given up or put
aside in order to let in the light of our inner divinity. This
is often symbolized as an act of sacrifice. We first set up
the King ego and then we slay him through sacrifice to a
higher good. This sacrifice is not easy and few dare to
undergo it at all. The Buddhist teaching that the ego is a
fiction or maya can help us to do this.

Jerry S.