Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tl00209)

Recently, I have stated that it is my opinion that the reason the TS
was formed was to speed the evolution of humanity as a whole, and to
create an atmosphere where seed groups could be created that might
become Adepts in the next millenium or two. As many have drawn incorrect
conclusions from my statement, I figured that I should make myself
clearer.

	First of all, some terminology: I am not using the term "Master" as the
level of reverentialness in many TS groups has altered the meaning from
master of an area of knowledge/skill to one who must be obeyed. Also, I
use the term "Mahatma(s)" to refer to the specific group of Adepts with
whom Blavatsky et al communicated. But they themselves said that they
were not the only group of Adepts around (this is often forgotten; I
think one of the problems with the St. Germaine controversy is that, if
St. Germaine was an Adept, he was probably a member of a different group
than the Mahatmas. Therefore the pro and anti's may BOTH be right).
Finally, I'm going to be a little simplistic on my definition of
"monad"; for the purpose of this, it will be defined as a consciousness
that is self-aware, which is why you can have monads within monads, and,
of course, the one Monad (which will be distinguished by the
capitalization of the "M").

	Now, how does one become an Adept? The TS concentrates on the concept
of "chelas"; if the Adepts think you have the right potential, they will
take you in as a student, and, if you can reach the right level of
whatever is necessary, you can join them. But that leaves an interesting
question: how did the groups start in the first place? And what makes
them Adepts? Here are my theories; please don't send the men in white
coats and butterfly nets.

	First of all, the process of evolution is slow and painstaking. Every
time you're born in a new body, you have to re-learn a whole bunch of
stuff over again. But if you don't die, there are some things you may
never learn. One way around this is if a group could form a group monad.
Members can enter or leave the group, but the group monad lives on, and
can continue to evolve, provided that the individual members allow it to
do so. The members are still individuals, however. They are not always
attached to the group monad; if they were, then the evolution of the
group monad would be blocked.

	There are, demonstrably, groups with at least the beginnings of such a
group monad around today. A well-known example would be encounter
groups, formed for the psychological health of the members. While the
individuals have problems, the idea is that, by shedding their mental
shields with each other, they can combine their strengths to help each
other out.

	Now, to digress, for a moment, let's take a look at one of the major
problems of our current time: super-bacteria. Before the discovery of
anti-biotics, bacterial infection was a serious matter. People could and
often did catch gangrene and/or die from what would be considered today
to be simple infections. Eventually, three types of antibiotics were
discovered, and it was figured that it would be decades before bacteria
could develop a resistance to one type, and centuries before they could
develop a resistance to two or more types. But this assumed that
bacteria followed basic laws of genetics. 

	Unfortunately, they do not. Bacteria have the ability to exchange genes
with each other. Therefore, their physical evolution proceeds at a much
more rapid pace than it would otherwise. If a bacterium is resistant to
an antibiotic, then not only it and its descendents are resistant, but
many of the other bacteria with which it comes in contact also gain that
resistance. If a single bacterium picks up resistance to all three kinds
of antibiotics, then it becomes just as dangerous as bacteria were in
the 19th century and earlier.

	Going back to the subject at hand, if you consider the bacteria to be
groups formed for spiritual advancement, if you have fixed groups, with
little or no exchange of knowledge, then their ability to generate an
Adept group is like the original estimates on how long it would take to
develop a species of superbacteria. What is needed to allow Adepts to
form more rapidly is for something akin to the bacteria: groups forming,
failing, members going out, forming and reforming groups, until
something clicks, and you have a group whose members can drop their
defenses with each other completely, and form a group monad. If the
group is sufficiently careful in letting new members in, this monad can
evolve, and, given enough time, eventually become Adepts.

	At the time of the formation of the Theosophical Society, this kind of
free-association was not possible. Religions were highly structured and
stifling; scientific mechanistic atheism led nowhere, and Spiritualism,
while it attracted the right kind of people, also attracted enough of
the wrong kind of people to turn it into a dead end. Here comes
Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, which encouraged people to go
out and find their own spiritual way, and gave a few hints here and
there as to how to go about it. Theosophists encouraged others to break
the strictures of their religions, and to seek the truth for themselves,
whether or not they were members of the Society. Other groups came
about, inspired by the TS. People started looking at their own religions
differently. And new religions were formed.

	One example is the so-called neo-pagan movement in the United States.
Originating from Gerald Gardner, who borrowed heavily from Theosophy,
Co-Masonry and Thelema (the latter two being strongly influenced by
Theosophy) with his Wiccan religion, people became encouraged to form
their own religions. While Wicca settled into a traditional religious
form, the other groups were much more volatile. Someone would start a
group, others would join. They would send their members out to gain
occult knowledge, and the members would share it with the group.
Eventually, there would be strife within the group, and it would break
up, but the individual members would go out to new groups, not unlike
the genetic material in bacteria.

	And, rarely, a group clicked. They work together, forming a natural
hierarchy based on competency; by dropping their mutual shields, there
is no quarrel about who is in charge, because they KNOW who does what
the best. New members are very carefully brought in, as it is very easy
to disturb the delicate balance that exists. Old members seldom leave,
so the size of the group remains stable (the group dies out more often
than becoming oversized; when it becomes oversized, you end up with a
mystery religion, which no longer evolves). And the monad of the group
can evolve. It enables the members of the group to be able to, when
connected to the group monad, reach that level of evolution, as well. As
the group monad evolves, the members of the group have more and more
difficulty in dealing with people outside the group, as they have to put
up the shields which they can so comfortably lose when within the group.
Members therefore don't like to talk about their group much, as
attention to their group from the outside interferes with their ability
to remain coherent.

	You don't here a lot from these groups, as a result, except from
members who had to leave, or recruits who didn't make it. They may be
entirely rumor, but there is enough information from independent sources
to make that possibility unlikely. And these are the groups I am talking
about when I mention groups that might become Adepts in the next
millenium or two (the time frame is very shaky; it might be as little as
a few decades, and might be as much as 10 millenia).

	So, in my opinion, the TS members are not the next Adepts; they are
holding the door open so that the new Adepts can get through. But, in
doing so, they increase the speed of the evolution of humanity as a
whole, and, therefore, their own evolution as well.

	Bart Lidofsky