Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00730)

Tom Robertson writes:
>On Sat, 28 Dec 96, John Straughn <JTarn@envirolink.org> wrote:
>
>>When Eve bit into the fruit, she was basically
>>saying to herself, "*I* want to know.  If *I* don't find out for *myself*
>>what this is, I don't think I will ever be complete."  This was her first
>>selfish act.  Selfishness was wrong.
>
>I like Annie Besant's view of selfishness as being an inevitable step in
>evolution, without which individuality would have been impossible.  I
>recall reading, though, perhaps in "Masters and the Path," that free will
>was an "experiment," implying that it was not inevitable.

I don't see how AB could have come to that conclusion, for in order to have
selfishness, one must be self-conscious.  We were individuals long before we
ever became self-conscious entities.  The closest I may be able to come to
agreeing with her is to say that selfishness *was* an inevitable side-effect
to self-consciousness.  I have yet to read "Masters of the Path".  Perhaps I
should.
---
The Triaist