Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl01327)

In message <960428011612_384697164@emout10.mail.aol.com>,
Richtay@aol.com writes
>HPB did not require Theosophists to
>accept HER PERSONAL DEFINITION of Theosophy, but she did require this of her
>inner students.

HPB is dead.  The members of her inner group of students are dead.
>
>Those who wish to pursue truth -- in whatever way -- and seek brotherhood
>have every right to be called Theosophists.  But those wh fancy themselves
>Theosophical occultists, tulkus, gurus, whatnot, and yet throw out much of
>what the Masters offered us as BEGINNING practice in the Mysteries, are very
>much deluded.

WHAT? How do you know my friends and colleaues on this list so well,
many of whom, like myself, have spent up to 40 years or more *applying*
the standard of "no religion higher than truth."?  You may find as much
delusion in the mirror as you find here.  In the meantime, although some
of us may also have something to learn, *please* try to cultivate good
manners and politeness to the other subscribers on the list.

I offer you, as you have offered us from time to time, a quote.  This is
far older than the writings of 19th century masters or their pupils, but
is, IMO, just as much a part of the ancient wisdom:

"Then the Eternal answered Job from the heart of the tempest, saying:
Who is this obscuring my designs with empty-headed words?  Brace
yourself like a fighter;  now it is my turn to ask questions and yours
to inform me.  Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell
me, since you are so well-informed?  Who decided the dimensions of it,
do you know?  Or who stretched the measuring-line across it?  Who
supports its pillars at their bases?  Who laid its cornerstone when all
the stars of the morning were singing with joy, and the Children of God
in chorus were chanting praise?  Who pent up the sea behind closed doors
when it leapt tumultuous out of the womb, when I wrapped it in a cloud
of mist and made black clouds its swaddling bands;  when I marked the
bounds it was not to cross and made it fast with a bolted gate?  Come
thus far, I said, and no further: here your proud waves shall break.
Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning, or sent the dawn
to its post, telling it to grasp the earth by its edges and shake the
wicked out of it, when it changes the earth to sealing clay and dyes it
as a person dyes clothes;  stealing the light from the wicked and
breaking the arm raised to strike?  Have you journeyed all the way to
the sources of the sea, or walked where the Abyss is deepest?  Have you
been shown the gates of death or met the janitors of shadowland?  Have
you any inkling of the extent of the earth?  Tell me all about it if you
have?  Which is the way to the home of the light, and where does
darkness live?"

(This is a modern adaptation of Job 38, verses 1ff).  Jerry: note the
reference to the Abyss!

Alan
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