Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00154)

"Dr. A.M.Bain" <guru@nellie2.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Define intuition
>Define emotion
>Define compassion

Maybe I should not have assumed as much standardization of ideas among
Theosophists who are not members of the Theosophical Society (Adyar), as I
have, since my experience with non-TS members is very limited.  Still, there
has to be something that all Theosophists have in common, or the term is
meaningless.

I believe there are 7 planes of spirit-matter that are relevant to human
beings.  From the top down, they are:

7) divine
6) monadic
5) spiritual
4) intuitional
3) mental
2) emotional
1) physical

The higher that something is in terms of these planes, the greater value and
significance it has, and the more real it is.  The thought of a building is
more real than a physical building, for example.

The will is on the spiritual plane.  Will can only directly act through the
intuition, so that it is will's lieutenant, so to speak.  Alice Bailey wrote
a book about how intuition and intellect relate to each other, describing
intuition as the fulfillment of intellect.

I see no moral value to emotions, such as anger, fear, jealousy, attraction,
depression, etc., since they are merely sources of information.  Compassion
would be inferior to thought if it were an emotion.  Only attitudes can be
virtues.

I could be much more thorough than this, but I would rather see what kind of
common ground there is with these basic ideas, first.


>Clearly you are on a different planet from most of us on the list, so if
>there is to be any kind of *sensible* discussion, then we must begin by
>defining our terms.  If you are using the above words as I have
>understood them for some 50 years, then you are either talking crap or
>you are a very sick person.

Is it some kind of grudge you have against the Theosophical Society that
makes you so snotty, rude, insulting, and intolerant towards one of its
members, or is this your way of trying to "establish a nucleus of the
universal brotherhood of humanity?"  I have done nothing to deserve it.
Maybe being involved in the Seattle Lodge of the TS has spoiled me, since,
in the 3 years that I have been active in it, no one has ever been so
disrepectful towards me.  They have encouraged me to say what I have to say,
regardless of whether or not they agree with me, and have not insulted me
for doing so.