Theos-Talk Archives (November 1998 Message tl00080)

Here is an msg of interest and importance to many. It appeared in theos-talk.
..mkr
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At 08:47 AM 11/15/1998 -0800, Rodolfo Don wrote:
You hit the nail on the head!
Why do you think we have the beautiful motto:  "There is no religion higher
than Truth" around the seal of the Theosophical Society?
Because, rather than any interpretation of any scripture, or belief, only
Truth matters.
I'm going to bring up an example:  We have some discussions about a former
leader of the TS (Leadbeater, or Judge, or HPB, it doesn't matter who it
is) some of us are are defending him/her, others are accusing the person of
wrong doings.  Of course, if we know how oppinionated we all can be, we
won't reach to a compromise.  We won't agree on anything!
But if we treat our beliefs the right way: as beliefs, and we regard Truth
as higher than anything else, as it really is (after all Truth is what IS,
not what we think it is).  It doesn't matter what we believe, if we both
regard Truth as the highest.  If we condition our beliefs to Truth.
Am I clear?  Please let me know, because this is of the most importance.

Rudy

Thanks, Rudy. You seem to understand what I am trying to say.

It looks like an open mind is very critical in all our search for Truth.
Beliefs, can prevent our seeing things as they are. Even when Truth is in
front of our "eyes" our beliefs may prevent us from seeing it.

In this context, I had the chance to read the recollections of some
comtemporaries of HPB. She did not fit the mold of what was respectable and
acceptable to the standards of the day -- perhaps standards today - within
and without the TSs. For example, there was this description of her smoking
200 cigarettes a day and wearing a lose fitting dress with right pocket
full of cheap tobacco and left pocket full of cigarette papers (she make
her own cigarettes). Why did the Adepts use someone who did not fit the
traditionally held model of "holy" person? Does is not say something? Look
at APSinnet and AOHume. The Adepts took the trouble to correspond with them
extensively. (We have not had a single letter from any of them since 1900
to anyone we know of.) APS & AOH are not the types given to start the
workday and/or end the workday with a meditation session either at home or
at the office. Probably they started and ended the day with a drink! They
are meat eaters, smokers and apparently consumed liquor. These are
considered unacceptable even today for "spiritual" persons. One point that
was made in ML was that they(APS&AOH) did not have any beliefs - None. And
how it is very easy to overcome the purely physical problems such as meat
eating and liquor as compared to powerful beliefs. Also look at Olcott. He
was a meat eater and a smoker. Prior to being exposed to theosophy, he was
a man of the world -- man of bars and women. Perhaps he was one of the few
who had many contacts with many Adepts. And all these are not scholars by
any means -- either academically or otherwise. We can also add to the list.

All of them are  men/women of action and got results. So it appears, the
Brothers, being highly practical, sought people who can get real results
and not stand as models that public will accept.

So to me it looks like the vitality of theosophy does not depend on the
books or the teachings that have come down. The vitality and the effect
seem to totally depend on (a) are we searching for Truth without any
beliefs whatsoever and (b) are we action-oriented rather than arm chair
speculators.

Just my 0.02. Many may disagree.

....mkr