Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00477)

At 02:37 AM 7/05/96 -0400, you wrote:
>At 10:49 PM 5/6/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>>>
>>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
>>
>>
>>Darrin: 
>
>I've got a number of Paul Brunton's works but not the Notebooks. I will look
>for them and see if I can find them in print somewhere. If I don't locate
>them would you be willing to xerox them and mail them to me? I'd be happy to
>cover your costs. I certainly have noproblems with, and in fact agree with
>both of your quotations. They represent things I've been saying and teaching
>for over 20 years now. But I'm sure you must know that you're going to get
>in trouble!
>Nice chatting with you again. I have a house guest who arrived three weeks
>ago from Syndey (He started out in Guernsey)
>
>alexis d.
>
Hi alexis
They are definetely still all in print and should be easily found stateside. (avail in HC and PB). You could point a web browser at http://www.lightlink.com/larson/ and check them out directly at the Larson site on the Web or order Volume 1 of the Notebooks (a representative survey of the entire series) from your favourite metaphysical/alternative bookstore. (ISBN: 0943914124)
Xeroxing them would be unsuitable. (There are 16 volumes at 300-400 pages each!)... so my costs would be ‘out of this world’ and I'd go mad before completeing the task. Ha! What follows is a cut back version of an article I penned for a newsletter that I typeset for the bookshop I work for. It gives an overview of the series. Sydney's a great city, it's a second home for me now. You should come check it out sometime - maybe the 2000 convention...
Darrin

The Notebooks of Paul Brunton are one of those rare individual contributions that sets the standard for a whole generation in its field. Its clarity, comprehensiveness, beauty, unpretentious authority, and thoroughly modern no-nonsense perspective have established a new high water mark for books promoting independent, individualized spiritual self-discovery and development.
The ‘Notebooks’ series consists of sixteen independent but inter-related volumes. Topics are arranged according to twenty-eight major categories, each of which explores a unique dimension of human character or spiritual potential. Within these the editors have arranged Brunton’s writings, which are like aphorisms, in compliance with the guidelines set down by the author himself prior to his death in 1981.
The whole series is quite simply unmatched for its combination in simple English, of:
* profound depth
* straightforward simplicity
* wealth of practical detail
* uplifting inspirational power
* uncannily consistent common sense.
During the 1930’s and 40’s Paul Brunton’s reputation as a knowledegable and influential exponent of East-West culture and philosophic thought grew rapidly. In particular, titles like A Search in Secret India, The Quest of the Overself, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga, and The Wisdom of the Overself,  bought an awareness to thousands of Westerners of the beneficient practices of Yoga and meditation. His last book, prior to the post-humously published notebooks, was The Spiritual Crisis of Man. (1952)

In 1963, after several years of travelling and living in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Brunton withdrew to the serenity of the Swiss Alps. It was here that he deepened and intensified his own spiritual practices while writing and ‘researching’ quietly. More than 10,000 pages of ‘notes’ or ‘ideas’ pertinent to the Spiritual quest as he called them, were written between 1963  and 1981.That body of work eventually became the notebooks.
Throughout these writings there is a wisdom nourished, rather than challenged, by facts; a serenity comprehending, rather than oblivious to, events; a spiritual maturity fulfilled in, rather than at odds with, efficient practicality. Nowhere else will you find such a profound synthesis of East-West philosophic mysticism stripped of all the usual obscurity and extravagances.
To give the Notebooks a brief overview is all that is possible here. It is this writer’s hope that enough of the power and value of these writings has been conveyed to spark interest in even a small portion of Adyar Booknews readers.
If that be the case, any interested party could do no better than perusing Volume 1, titled Perspectives (pictured below) which is a representative survey of topics in all 28 categories of the series. It contains the maxims considered by the compliers to be most important.
Finally, and mindful that the label ‘guru-worship’ may vitiate from this short piece, I feel compelled to add that hearts and minds of PB’s stature are rare in any century.  Challenge yourself, drink from the eloquent pen of this sage.
Darrin