Rules
Sep 03, 1997 12:42 PM
by Jerry Schueler
Titus, I really enjoyed your comments, and have
put in a few of my own.
>Assuming a teacher has traveled the long road to spiritual experience, I
>wonder from a strictly pedagogic point of view, how he or she can make a
case
>for impulse control and delayed gratification without just saying, "You
>haven't experienced what I'm promising. For now just go through the
motions.
>If you do go through the motions with patience, you will see what I mean
and
>will thenceforth do it because you want to. Along the way, you will get a
few
>signs of encouragement, as well as many opportunities to bail out for
easier
>pleasures."
Actually, I suspect that he would say exactly this.
>The alternative for a seeker following spiritual disciplines is possibly
>getting burnt so many thousands of times by wrong choice that he or she
tires
>of the Maya game and is desperately willing to try anything else. But I'm
not
>so sure about the necessity of that. Addicts will cling to their drugs or
>alcohol even when they are in absolute misery - to the point of death.
Sorry, you lose me on this one. Why, prey tell, would a seeker get
burned so many times?? A dabbler, perhaps. But a seeker, only once
I should thing (a really slow learner, many twice). "Addicts" are not
seekers. Any self-respecting guru will turn down an "addict" as a
chela. But you are right in the sense that getting "burned" (or bored)
over and over is a real goad to tread the Path. But it is usually only
after getting burned many times that one becomes a seeker and
even tries any "spriitual disciplines." I believe that only after the flame
or hunger for Gnosis is lit within one, can the Path be tread with
any results.
>Enter the usefulness of rules ...
>
>Ann Ree Colton called rules checkreins upon scatteredness and
>impulsiveness.
The only real rule necessary for a seeker is to "do as thou wilt" so
long as you understand that "thou" refers to the individuality and not
the personality. Rules, in general,will bind one rather than free one.
HPB says that golden chains (which are what rules are) will
bind as surely as iron chains.
Jerry S.
Member, TI
[Back to Top]
Theosophy World:
Dedicated to the Theosophical Philosophy and its Practical Application
