Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01484)

Chuck:

>Now let's see, just what are the Masters supposed to be doing?
>If they are supposed to be somehow managing the affairs of
>humanity they would seem to be making a rather bad mess of it.

I don't think that "managing" is a good term for what they
do. It would be more like "moderating" the affairs, like softening
the harsh karma of the awful things that people collectively do.
Are you familiar with the theosophical idea of the "guardian wall"?

Their main activity, I think, is not in playing babysitter
to general humanity. It's more like spiritual research
scientists, in learning, advancing the boundaries of human
knowledge, and in passing on their living understanding.

What they know is not something that can be simply written
down. To preserve their knowledge requires a passing down
of knowledge from one generation of adepts to the next,
each generation training and teaching the succeeding one.

>If they are behind the affairs of the various Theosophical
>Societies, then they have really blown it.

But they indicated right from the start that it would be
a doubtful project, with only KH and M showing an interest
in it. I don't think that *they* blew it. I think that *we*
blew it, "we" meaning the typical T.S. members, proving
ourselves unable to live the life and carry on the
teachings as a living tradition in our own right.

>Judging from the way things have been going, could it be that
>evolution, humanity and the universe in general might be better
>off without them?

No, I think that they do good, and have their own special
role to play in the drama of life. Their role is not,
again, as bosses, telling us what to do, but rather as
wise ones, keepers of the deepest secrets of nature,
spiritual pioneers in areas of life that we cannot conceive of.

>Looking at the results of their labors it seems we have a
>pack of absolute incompetents running things.

I don't think that their efforts are as easy to discern
as those of a politician in the public eye. What they do
may not show any effects upon life as we know it. A
scientist, studying a difficult mathematical proof, may
make no visible changes on the external world. We might
see a man sitting at a desk, with pen and paper, deep in
thought. It may only be years, or even lifetimes later,
that the fruits of his work find visible expression in
the world. With the Masters, this analogy can be carried
even farther, as it becomes even more difficult to relate
to their studies and practices.

-- Eldon