Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00558)

>Dear Jim Meier
That isn't my message you're commenting about but rather Bee Brown's. I've
not read much in my life written by GdeP but I did answer Bee's message in
the same vein as you did only not quite that detailed. I guess with the way
I interspersed my message it wasn't very clear as to who was writing what.
If you're looking for a quick way to arrive at something spiritual I don't
think you can find it in Theosophy. Dunno what is attractive enough to offer
a beginner that would work at the same speed as an LSD trip or some such.
The thing is our way is slower & more innocuous. I still think a good
beginning is Shirley Nicholson's manual "A Program for Leading the Spiritual
Life". It has a program outlined which a beginner can follow right away &
it describes briefly & with a list of cogent books how a spiritual life
can be initiated & achieved.
Liesel

Hi Liesel --
>
>In response to your post of 12/29: since you asked for comments I have a few:
>
>When Purucker goes from generalized statements regarding hynotism to "auto-
>or self-hypnosis" he begins using the word to define something quite
>different from the findings of Franz Mesmer to put hypnosis in an occult
>context. He equates hynpotism to a state wherein "the nerves... are put to
>sleep hypnotized which means sending to sleep..." [your quote]. That in
>itself is an interesting point if outside the clinical definition of
>hypnosis as regards the meaning of *sleep*. In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras --
>the original "how to" manual for meditation -- "sleep" is defined as the
>"non-perception of the senses" I.10. This is one of the five "states of
>mind" but it is *not* meditation. What Purucker describes as "sleep" -- the
>forcing of the mind into an altered state by one-pointed concentration upon
>a physical point -- is sometimes referenced in the literature as "sitting
>for development" and it is a serious and potentially dangerous mistake for
>the practitioner of meditation. The goal of meditation in the earlier
>stages is to integrate our physical consciousness with the higher Self not
>to isolate the brain in a mechanistic sensory deprivation. As modern
>psychology has demonstrated the brain has defense mechanisms against such
>abuse and deprivation is most definitely *not* a means of transcending the
>lesser ego.
>
>So how then to control the senses and eliminate the "filter" that they
>impose to true meditation? That is the subject of the second book in
>Patanjali's Sutras. It is still a focus of concentration and
>self-discipline but in a different direction if that makes sense.
>
>On your last point that you speaking of sensory deprivation "have done
>this yourself when [you] first began to meditate and know of many people
>who use something external to concentrate upon in meditation. From the
>above [Purucker's comments] it would suggest that it is not the thing to
>do.": concentration is the necessary first step to meditation and many
>people find it useful to begin with a ritual as I do for example.
>However it is important to keep perspective; concentration is a means not
>a goal. Everyone who begins meditation starts off more of less "clueless"
>and it is normal to begin by trying to suppress thoughts rather than
>transcending them. Experience counts for a lot but a good
>teacher/friend/book at the beginning can save a lot of time.
>
>*****
>
>And that is the main point I wanted to make and the one that prompted me to
>respond to your post. At some point a sincere beginning student of
>Theosophy will ask "All of this sounds *so right* but what's next? Having
>read the books what should I do now?"
>
>I wish the TS would make it easier to find the answer to that question. The
>introductory letter set is very nice but it doesn't address the practice of
>meditation very well. And IMO holding out the ES as a carrot if you pay
>your dues for two years doesn't seem adequate to keep a neophite's interest
>-- especially now when entire isles in shopping mall bookstores are given
>over to "New Age" books cults and ideas some of them fantastic and bizarre
>even to Theosophists! And let's be honest -- most of society thinks we're a
>pretty strange bunch ourselves.
>
>My suggestion to the TS would be to put a greater emphasis from the
>beginning on practical mind control and the *instant* benefits that gives to
>the student of Theosophy and his immediate environment.
>
>Jim
>