Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00562)

ENQUIRER.     Agreed. But who is to decide whether social efforts
are wise or unwise?

THEOSOPHIST.     No one person and no society can lay down a
hard-and-fast rule in this respect. Much must necessarily be left
to the individual judgment. One general test may, however, he
given. Will the proposed action tend to promote that true
brotherhood which it is the aim of Theosophy to bring about? No
real Theosophist will have much difficulty in applying such a
test; once he is satisfied of this, his duty will lie in the
direction of forming public opinion. And this can be attained
only by inculcating those higher and nobler conceptions of public
and private duties which lie at the root of all spiritual and
material improvement. In every conceivable case he himself must
be a centre of spiritual action, and from him and his own daily
individual life must radiate those higher spiritual forces which
alone can regenerate his fellow-men.

ENQUIRER.     But why should he do this? Are not he and all, as
you teach, conditioned by their Karma, and must not Karma
necessarily work itself out on certain lines?

THEOSOPHIST.     It is this very law of Karma which gives
strength to all that I have said. The individual cannot separate
himself from the race, nor the race from the individual. The law
of Karma applies equally to all, although all are not equally
developed. In helping on the development of others, the
Theosophist believes that he is not only helping them to fulfill
their Karma, but that he is also, in the strictest sense,
fulfilling his own. It is the development of humanity, of which
both he and they are integral parts, that he has always in view,
and he knows that any failure on his part to respond to the
highest within him retards not only himself but all, in their
progressive march. By his actions, he can make it either more
difficult or more easy for humanity to attain the next higher
plane of being.

ENQUIRER.     How does this bear on the fourth of the principles
you mentioned, viz., Re-incarnation ?

THEOSOPHIST.     The connection is most intimate. If our present
lives depend upon the development of certain principles which are
a growth from the germs left by a previous existence, the law
holds good as regards the future. Once grasp the idea that
universal causation is not merely present, but past. present and
future, and every action on our present plane falls naturally and
easily into its true place, and is seen in its true relation to
ourselves and to others. If every mean and selfish action sends
us backward and not forward, while every noble thought and every
unselfish deed are stepping-stones to the higher and more
glorious planes of being. If this life were all, then in many
respects it would indeed be poor and mean; but regarded as a
preparation for the next sphere of existence, it may be used as
the golden gate through which we may pass, not selfishly and
alone, but in company with our fellows, to the palaces which lie
beyond.

     The Key to Theosophy, 233-237     H.P. BLAVATSKY


     Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
 charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
      Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
 is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
      Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
      Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things.
     ST. PAUL


Keith:  This is a long quotation, but I think worth it as bears on the
finger-pointing at Nazi's, liberals, conservatives and other theosophists.
When one practices the virtues (as Jesus, and some in the death camps did and
others) it cannot help, but have an effect on the Romans, Philistines, Nazi
guards etc.  The hardest part is overcoming the Nazi within (I am talking to
you Nytenyatu, Arafat, Shein Fein and all the crappy rest which are in my
heart also),

It may take seven lifetimes to achieve the human solidarity we all crave and
are willing to sacrifice for in such twisted ways as the kamikazes
(terroritsts) we see all around us from all religion and ideologies.

Namaste
Keith Price