Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00838)

Chuck & Ramadoss:

Following are various comments on this important topic of
what do we do to make Theosophy real in the world.

----

Chuck:

>Being as allergic to "serious" as I am, I have little problem with getting
>that way, :-) but otherwise I agree with your comments.

But it's not something that anyone *tries* to get, it's just something
that someone *does*, if there's the inner potential and readiness, and
one seizes the moment. The fact that we're drawn to the spiritual, to
things that take us beyond the mundane, everyday life, shows the
necessary inner urge. It's just a matter of it coming to the surface
and becoming an active force in our lives.

And it's not "serious" in a stuffy way. It's serious in the same
sense that we might eat a "serious" lunch if we were extremely
hungry. Or how someone in love would be serious about the beloved.
(In this case "serious" means utterly fascinated, captivated, dazzled
by magic, entirely the opposite of the feeling of a stern grade school
teacher yelling at the shouting students to shut up and sit down.)

>Now, if only there were a way to talk about this stuff without coming off so
>damnably self-righteous, it might very well make a fascinating program.

It only sounds self-righteous if we tell others a particular way to
do things. This would be like someone writing a "How to Meet Girls!"
book for lovesick teenage boys. It may have an occasional helpful idea,
but it would be mostly baloney.

We can talk about things that are alive in our lives, things that really
work for us and in the things that we do in the world. But even those
things change over time. What is useful for us in 1996 may be discarded
in 2006, a decade later. It's like a touching piece of music that sweeps
us off our feet when we hear it. When we've heard the melody too many
times, it finally starts losing its original power to affect us, and we
replace it with other, newer music.

>Maybe there are people out there who can do it and we should try very
>hard to find them.

That's exactly the wrong attitude! As I see it, the important thing
is not for us to *find* someone to come and be gurus and chelas for
the T.S. and teach us and others. The important thing is for us to
realize that the responsibility is ours; we need to stop paying lip
service to the spiritual, either hiding in books or chasing phantoms
of the psychic, but rather *work on our own awakening* and *practice
unselfishness.*

I realize that this sounds like preaching, but it's hard to write
about the subject and not sound that way. Being more subtle, more
indirect, perhaps like Richard Ihle would write, I'd just be hinting
at our individual need to *flower inwardly*. I'm using plain
language with you, because I realize that you know what I'm talking
about, and won't let the style of writing get in the way.

----

Ramadoss:

>One approach which appeals to me is that each one of us who wants
>to can share how they are applying Theosophy in practice.

This would be useful for all of us to read. It won't matter what
any of us believes, we still can appreciate how the spiritual is
lived out in so many different ways! Graphic examples are good
because they can encourage us to try something more in our lives.

The type of examples that you seem to ask for would be like asking
the members of a church to tell how they were good Christians in
their everyday life. These are things that everyone could appreciate.
They are, though, entirely different in nature than examples of
treading the Path of Sainthood. (Before anyone starts denouncing
and cursing all religions, I should say, this is an analogy! I'm
not saying we're a church! <grinning, hands covering head, I
duck under a nearby table, expecting flying missiles>)

>While what works for me and appeals to me may not be so to anyone
>else, there could be rare instances where some application may be
>of interest to someone else.

I don't think it would be so rare. We have a lot more in common
that you may think. There aren't that many different kinds of
people in so many different conditions.

The fashioning of our personal, day-to-day lives is unique and
individual. That is different than what we read of regarding the
Path. There are tried-and-proven methods of teaching and training,
found to work by generation after generation of occult training.
These are written about, in bits and pieces, in the early
theosophical literature. These are useful for us to consider as
other examples of how to study, train, and approach the higher
life.

>Of course no one has to defend why of any application of Theosophy.
>Otherwise, we will get into endless arguments leading to nowhere and
>subscribers may be intimidated into coming out and discussion what
>they are doing.

People can write about what they are doing, what they are
experiencing, and how they think of it. Sometimes it may be
useful for us to discuss what is going on, other times we may
need to remain diplomatically silent, lest we hurt someone's
feelings. I'd find it wrong to trounce on someone's ideas,
especially if they are tied in with reverence, feelings of the
sacred, and the person's spiritual life.

As long as people can feel free of personal attacks and biting
criticism, they may venture forth with some of their experiences.
Sometimes those experiences are not noticeable as special from
an external standpoint. You may have given someone a cup of tea,
and that is the only external thing that happened. But some
deep, inner, mystical thing may have happened in your life,
that goes far beyond the physical event. And that would be hard
to write about.

Other times those experiences are noticeable in a sense, but
often overlooked as boring, maybe a painful burden, as bad
karma, but not recognized as the gems that they are. Like
Donna's years of caring for an aging and somewhat helpless
parent. There is a very deep side of the spiritual in these
sort of activities.

It's very easy to be powered by a short-lived emotional or
devotional burst of energy, and do something dramatic,
powerful, explosive, something that is outside of our
ordinary day-to-day lives.

It's entirely different to feel a deeper, calmer, more
enduring call to compassion, a dedication that draws us
in life day after day, month after month, year after year,
without ever letting up. This type of energy, so to say,
is at a much lower frequency or longer wavelength, it's
more universal, and it's closer to the divine. In the first
case, we sacrifice ourselves for a moment of time; in the
second, the sacrifice transcends time, and simply *endures*.

-- Eldon