Theos-Talk Archives (December 1997 Message tl00051)

I have been reading an interesting book By Warren Keaton aka Ben Halvei
which combines effectively (for me) astrology and kabbalah.  The insight
gained is that karma and the fates are not external mechanisms (so
impersonal to HPB and her school) but have interpenetrating physical,
mental, emotional,human and divine elements.

Most tend to live out the group karma of the time, place, class, race, and
country etc. of their origin.  A few can change the way they deal with fate,
karma, destiny  by changing their perspective and approach to it.  Thus one
can be born blind and sink to helplessness or dependency or one can rise
like Helen Keller by using these very problems.  This has been often stated,
but obviously it is very hard to do as the facticity (as Sartre called it) -
the facts of our life have a stubborness that knows almost no bounds.

Hellen Keller was interested in Emmanuel Swedenborg and responded to his
esoteric type Christianity.  This was not a cause, so much as evidence of
her triumph over her fate of being disabled.

I have recently, sychronicstically (and what isn't) been working around
severely retarded young people (through no goodness on my on BTW).  They are
uninhibited in their humanity.  They aren't socialized to not grab for
attention and affection or react sometimes violently and very loudly to
frustration.  They seem to be able to change so little.  Yet so many attend
to them patiently and they seem to have an otherworldly peace at some times
and an otherworldly pain, because they can't seem to reflect on, rationalize
it the way we do.

Here is one can see the limits of the "theosophical" and other mental
approaches to "enlightenment".  They seemed to be already enlightened, but
imprisoned in the flesh without benefit of the hypocrisy of emotional
control.  They are strangely fightening, almost like demons one would expect
to plauge one after death in the Bardos of the hungry demons.  At other time
they seem to in the rapt ecstasy of angels.

Humanity is crucified on the tree of physical life, but can glimspe the
higher worlds through meditation and practice usually of stilling the mind
and senses that are really so valuable in everyday life (common sense can
suggest nothing else!).  To function in both world or a little in all the
worlds as suggested by astrology, kabbalah and theosophy with is globes and
planes is what the adept really does, isn't it?

Namaste
Keith Price