Theos-Talk Archives (September 1996 Message tl00363)

New Era Words and Concepts (Theosophy and A. Bailey)

Human languages shift and change with each generation. Words come and go
and their accepted meaning and connotations change for a variety of
reasons. This last century has seen significant changes in the
connotations and actual definitions of some significant words. Many
words which originally had good and civil connotations and meanings have
come, through distortion and inadequate public presentation since
the1950's, to have negative and wrong connotations -- making many
esoteric writings (i.e., those by H.P.B., A.A.B., etc.) to become the
target for much misinterpretation. Some of the words used in these
writings which are today often misinterpreted include: esoteric, occult,
cult, master, Aryan, the cross called the swastika, initiate, astral,
hierarchy, channeling, magic, disciple and new age.

The word occult has been the most distorted. This word is conceptually
related to the root words ocular and ocultarie which have to do with
seeing. Occult philosophy relates to the process of striving to see
truth as it is without any of the psychological clouds which often
obscure one's vision. The right path of occultism is one of symbolically
clearing away the fog so that one may see clearly in order to serve God
(the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as best as one is able.

The word cult is actually related to the word culture (the crown of
civilization) and is used correctly in such phrases as the cult of
truth, the cult of goodness, the cult of service and the cult of
freedom. The word lucifer originally referred to the principle of wisdom
as the "morning star" or the planet Venus symbolically speaking and has
to do with Angels who came to earth - not to those of evil intent. This
original mythology of the word has been lost in the conventional
religious dogma but is used rightly in many theosophical writings. The
word Aryan can be used to refer to either the western races in general
and or to all of humanity for this current cycle of evolution. The
swastika is used throughout India and many parts of Asia and stands for
human evolution through experience in the material world. The use of
this cross is quite ancient and was greatly distorted, along with the
word Aryan, by the nazis. The word astral refers to the emotional world
and the astral plane is the realm of emotional experience.

The word esoteric relates to those processes which are more spiritual or
more abstract than is regularly seen in the world. A master is one who
has mastered himself in the Love of God or Christ and when a student
speaks of his master he is referring to a person who's example he seeks
to follow and to whom he is related by shared spiritual interests and
devotion to service -- not to one who has any authoritative control over
his life. In this spirit of freedom The Son of God known as Christ is
the master of the masters. A disciple is one who seeks to be disciplined
(non-fanatically it should be noted) so as to follow the spiritual path
that all who have mastered themselves in God's Love have also followed.
The hierarchy is the realm of relationships between disciples, masters
and God and could be referred to as the kingdom of heaven. One's place
in the hierarchy is determined by one's love, humility, compassion and
interests as to service in God's Plan. The hierarchy could also be
thought of as the next kingdom in nature toward which we all are
evolving.

The word channeling has been greatly distorted today. Channeling in
relation to true spiritual work simply means being a conduit through
which the Love of God can flow. True channeling is completely different
from the lower mediumship which is unfortunately all too common today.
No real disciple or master ever channels via mediumship or unconscious
body possession nor do they make any claims as to self-importance and
exclusiveness nor charge any money to see channeling. There can be cases
of overshadowing and conscious cooperation through telepathy with
members of the kingdom of heaven but never are any self-promoting claims
put forth as to this and all that would be noticed by those watching
would be that the writer or speaker seems to be radiating greater love
and wisdom. An initiate is a disciple who has accepted the Love of God
and who has freed his motivation from materialistic interests. Magic is
the means of attaining such freedom and the three greatest formulas of
white magic which have been given to humanity are as follows: 1 - Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul; 2 - Love your
neighbor as you love yourself; and 3 - Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you. It is the general practice of this white magic which
will make the dawning of the new age a great and good opportunity for
humanity -- and this is the emphasis of the true theosophical writings
and other valid writings on these matters.

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(Note:  most of the writings of HPB, Alice Bailey, H&N Roerich, and the
Teachings of the Temple are legitimately done and are of the right
"overshadowing and conscious cooperation through telepathy" method).

Love,
Patrick

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