Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00493)

Paul:

>This morning I found something ...

>What was the righteousness of the Pharisees and
>what was their sin? ... he thanked God he was not like other people.
>Here we find then self-righteousness ... who is to judge

The problem here is that we're comparing ourselves to other people.
When someone thinks "I'm glad that I have a roof over my head and
not homeless on the street without food" that person is basing
their happiness on being somehow better off than others. That
is ego-centric and lacking in compassion. We find the same feeling
in someone waiting a long time in a line in traffic and passing
angry judgement upon the few selfish drivers that cut in at the
head of the line. "I waited in line and am better" they think
"than those #%*#! line cutters!"

There *are* differences in intelligence ability spirituality and
other qualities. Each person has something unique to offer the world
but there are geniune differences. We can't simply follow liberal
politics I think and ignore differences in the name of increased
self esteem. The goal as I see it is to accentuate the positive
not to deny such a thing as the authentic differences between people.
It is not elitist to share what we have with others nor to seek
out those more advanced than us for spiritual instruction.

>Do we as children of God as seekers after God have firsthand
>knowledge? or do we accept only that others have told us? Do
>we condemn any? Do we know or is it only self-righteousness
>that speaks?

We share what we have and believe to be genuine keep silent
about what we have that is not ready for sharing and enjoy
and benefit from what others share with us. We can differ with
what others say without condemning others.

When you depict a duality between speaking from firsthand
experience and speaking in self-righteousness you're not
accounting for the many ways that we can know things the
many ways of having experience and the sharing of the
spiritual without any experience of self-righteousness.

The presence or absence of self-righteousness comes from
the individual's perception of the situation. If the individual
is acting from an experience of me-and-thou and "I'm glad I'm
better than you" then you're right there's self-righteousness.
But an individual could say and do the exact same things and
be operating from an entirely different perception one of
"this situation" or of "the greater good for all" and you may
not be able to externally tell the difference. It's important
not to pass judgement on others.

>Pharisaic self-righteousness henceforth to be referred to as
>PRS is a nearly universal element in disputes among
>Theosophists Baha'is Eckists and ex-Eckists and various
>other disputants I've observed on the Internet.

PRS ... Here in Los Angeles we refer to the Philosophical
Research Society of the former Manly Hall by those letters.

While it's quite possible that we all have an ugly side and
we're not entirely free of judging others the important
thing is to recognize it in ourselves when we're doing it
and work on the subject most open to our influence: ourselves.
We can leave others to set themselves right except when in
extreme circumstances we have to intervene in their karma.

I'd suggest that we do the very same thing that we condemn
when we write off the typical T.S. member as self-righteous
fools and feel glad that we so much better than they are!
Rather than condemning this fault in people we can I'd
suggest better spend our time in bringing people to accept
the differences in others -- both differences that make them
inferior and those that make them superior to them -- and
simply *not care* how others stand relative to themselves.

A far better motivation than competition than trying to
compare to others and come out ahead is to what *to produce*
to exceed our previous "personal best" in doing creative
things to benefit the world.

>The bottom line message is always "thank God I'm not like you/them"
>although it takes myriad forms:

Some people may think that way. Others may think "who cares that
this teenager dies her hair green and that person works 60 hours
a week trying to make lots of money!" Other people are simply
different. We do our best to make a colorful contribution to the
world and seek out others that enrich our lives and empower us
to be bigger and better than we previously were!

>1. Thank God I'm a believer in the Sylvia Cranston version of
>Blavatsky and thus on the side of the White Lodge and not like
>those who give credence to alternative views of Blavatsky
>inspired by the Brothers of the Shadow.

When we look for dark things we tend to see them. When we
look for things of light and beauty we behold them and our
world is brightened. We can gaze upon another person with
both good and evil qualities and just see those qualities
that match our expectations. Thus our perceptions color our
world and bring good or evil to us. And this is quite apart
from the actual nature of the people that we gaze upon. While
we all have a mix of good and evil there are people in which
one or the other predominates and we can call them basically
good or basically evil. In various wars the people that ran
the death camps and that committed war crimes may be basically
evil though they are as capable of a change for the good as
we are of a change for evil. At this moment of time though we
can look at someone and say "this is a holy man" or "this person
comes close to my idea of the personification of evil".

>6. Thank God I'm a progressive Theosophist who welcomes new
>ways of thinking about Blavatsky not like those fanatics who
>attribute any new idea to occult "opposing forces".

Yes it can happen in any of us regardless of viewpoint. We
should look at what we say about other people and reflect upon
our attitudes to seek out and deal with the harmful influence
of self-righteousness. When we attribute negative motives to
others condemn them and 'everyone like them' we're falling
under the spell of this form of self-centeredness.

> ... what Edgar and Jesus seem to be saying is "you cannot
>advance a single step on the real spiritual path until you get
>past Pharisaic self-righteousness."

The sense of self-righteousness is but one aspect of the sense of
personal self the negative influence of seeing ones self as different
and more important than the rest of life. This is a form of perception
that meditation and spiritual training seeks to eliminate to overcome
as we go from "I and thou" consciousness to "us" or "this activity"
awareness from the nirmanakaya to the sambhogakaya mode of perception.

>I will try to a00 recognize that PSR is the commodity being delivered

First we identify that it is happening.

>b ignore it if possible and respond to any or all other elements
>of the communication

Then we fail to respond in kind letting it pass us like water off
a duck's back.

>cat times give a comment as to the intensity of PSR displayed but

Then redirect its energy like in akido using it to accompish our
purpose.

>d not reciprocate by giving an even larger dose of PSR in return.

Where we intend to turn it into constructive criticism by the self-righteous
people. We lead them to careful reflection on the traits in others that they
find unacceptable. This is so that they will look for ways to help others
rather
than for ways to reject them.

-- Eldon