Theos-Talk Archives (November 1999 Message tl00200)

At 08:41 PM 11/16/1999 EST, you wrote:
>Ok,I think I get it.  Theosophy is a system of belief and study requiring
years, decades, millenia to fully understand.<

Theosophy does not require any belief. Certain doctrines are presented and
these are left to the individual to examine and explore and based on
personal experience and observation everyone is left to accept or reject or
modify any of them. This is my understanding.

>Those who do finally get it
are content to take the prize and spiritually masturbate with it in a closet
somewhere.  They have no obligation, nor feel any, to share the truths with
the rest of humanity.<

What ever that is presented, like all inspired works, discuss and describe
some reality which is impossible to put in words how ever one may like it.

>They will, however, discuss truths with "initiates"
who will without question, based on a gut feeling,  spend years learning the
esoterica.  A prerequisit however is that the pupil not have any of that
nasty western mentality of expecting reason, proof, evidence or the like.
No, don't raise any questions about the foundations of the beliefs, or
where-after spending millenia in study-you may be led, just dive in.  Ya
gotta have faith brother.<

No faith is required. No one expected to accepts any of the doctrines or
ideas presented from HPB onwards. The glue that keeps all those interested
in theosophy together is the First Object - Universal Brotherhood. How one
is expected to get first hand understanding is left to one's choice. The
basic approach that personally appeals to me is the one laid out by
Krishnamurti in his "Pathless Land" speech.

>I was led to theosophy because its central theme is that there is one
universal truth.  Any claim of truth(or segments thereof) puts the onus on
the advocates to do the provings.  Doesn't seem unreasonable to me to be
looking for some substance, not just vocabulary.<

No spiritual leader has ever claimed that any truth or any segments thereof
can be communicated verbally or in writing. It is something that one has to
discover and experience. If not, long time ago, a text book on truth would
have been written and all of us would have understood it.

>If all this rubs anyone the wrong way, just ignore my questions and I'll
eventually go away.  I'm sticking around though til I'm sure that I've
exhausted all I can reasonably do to find out what gems of truth may reside
here.  Randy<

The fundamental strength of this maillist and its subscribers is that it is
un-moderated and not controlled by any organization either directly or
indirectly (though attempts seems to have been made in the past). (It is
owned by John E Mead and you rarely see him at all and he lets it on
autopilot and you and me and everyone are the pilots!!!)  So everyone is
welcome no matter what their views are and whether anyone else agrees or
disagrees with one's views and opinions.)

Personally I have seen many useful information on varied topics in the last
three years than in my acquaintance with organizational theosophy in the
last thirty years.

Hang in there and hopefully you will find some gems from time to time.

mkr

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