Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00386)

At 02:57 AM 6/05/96 -0400, you wrote:
>At 09:51 PM 5/5/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>Hi Eldon.
>>I'm not anti the doctrine but the following extract from the Notebooks of=
>> Paul Brunton rang with me when I first read it: Notebook Seven (Healing of=
>> the Self/The Negatives)  ... In the heart's deepest place, where the burden=
>> of ego is dropped and the mystery of soul is penetrated, a man finds the=
>> consciousness there not different in any way from what all other men may=
>> find. The mutuality of the human race is thus revealed as existing only on=
>> a plane where its humaness is transcended. This is why all attempts to=
>> express it in political and economic terms, no less than the theosophic=
>> attempts to form a universal brotherhood, being premature, must also be=
>> artificial. This is why they failed...
>>The next one  (from Notebook 11) I also found incisive.
>>...The term "universal brotherhood" is idealistic but vague, pleasant=
>> sounding =96 but windy. An attempt to form a society whose main object was=
>> to become the nucleus of a universal brotherhood was made by the=
>> Theosophists, and by less known cults. Moreover, they added constant talk=
>> about "the  service of humanity" to their other prattle. Not only did all=
>> such groups end in failure to actualize their ideal and in inability to=
>> influence the remainder of mankind, but most ended in bitter disputes,=
>> harsh quarrels, and internal fission. There are several different factors=
>> behind such failures. The two which concern us here are first, lack of any=
>> practical workable method  to implement the ideal, and second, belief in=
>> the delusion that a group can do better what only an individual can do for=
>> himself. This is where philosophy shows its superiority. In reference to=
>> the first of these two factors, it teaches us exactly what we can do with=
>> our bodies, our feelings, our thoughts, and our intuitions to bridge the=
>> wide gap between ideals and their actualization. In reference to the second=
>> factor, it proves that to practise individualism, self-reliance, is=
>> essential to real progress.....
>>Kind Regards
>>Darrin
>>Blavatsky Lodge, Sydney Australia
>>
>>Hi Darrin: I think Paul Brunton's work is far superior to most in the field
>and infinitely superior to all post-Blavatskian Theosophical Writers That's
>a marvelous quote.
>
>alexis d.
>>
Hi Alexis. I agree. I first stumbled on the Noteboooks in 1991. I felt like I'd come home. In the thousands of entries contained therein, (and I've not read them all) I've yet to read one that did not strike a chord. During 1992 I went through all 16 Notebooks and extracted every reference I could find to theosophical history, teachers, people, places, schools etc. The exercise resulted in some 90 A4 typed pages. I was using a typewriter at the time so I don't have a text file to send to any interested parties.
Here's another entry that relates to the two above: Notebook 10 (The Orient: Its Legacy to the West) Chapter One (Meetings of East and West) Subdivision - Western Assimilation of Eastern Thought.
... The western peoples will never be converted wholesale to Hinduism or Buddhism as religions, nor will their intelligentsia take wholesale to Vedanta or Theosophy as philosophies. These forms are too alien and too exotic to affect the general mass. Historically, they have only succeeded in affecting scattered individuals. The West's spiritual revival must and can come only out of its own creative and native mind....

and  also from volume Ten

..Regarding Blavatsky's teachings, it is not essential nowadays to know all that she taught. Nevertheless a book like her Key to Theosophy provides an excellent preparation for the study of philosophy. But present-day students do not need to study her writings first, as the point of view in the present teaching is different from that taken in her published work. In her esoteric instruction, her students were told "to reduce everything to terms of consiousness." This, of course, is pure mentalism.
Nice chatting with you
Darrin