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Dominique Johnson is a junior at DePaul University pursuing a Religious Studies major. Dominique is on the Executive Board of DePaul Interfaith.
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…if your discretion and silence are likely to hurt or endanger others, then I add:
Speak the truth at all costs, and say, with Annesly, “Consult duty, not events.” There are cases when one is forced to exclaim “Perish discretion, rather than allow it to interfere with duty.”—Key to Theosophy, p. 202.
I would’ve liked to talk about “What is Theosophy” & the Theosophical Society (TS), but I’d rather ponder upon certain questions in relation to theosophy, and forward them as a concern and as a student, rather than firing away all the principles of the Society I am a member of. I will write again about the necessity of the psychological understanding of the Mind§, but as one is reading, find out what is the writer implying by radical transformation, seeing each other as we truly are, and so on. So, the writer asks to keep in mind the following First Object each TS member is in sympathy with:
- To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color. [a cliché today, was a daring new concept in the 19th century, albeit, still not understood completely]
A friend told [wrote to] me: “…your ideas are repetitive.” I’ll answer. So, what is being studied is the Mind, the observer’s relationship to the World, which must not be perceived as separate from the observer. I find the psychological study absolutely necessary to go into, not in the sense of measurement, with equipment, and so-on, but to gather all one’s energy to inquire, to find out. A fellow might think that to do that is either nonsense, or for beginners, but they are mistaken. Say, I go to pray, repeat and chant utterances, but what does one know or understand about the nature of ‘Thought’ & ‘Will’ or the manifestation of will? One says, I am tired, or I have finally time to be alone, but praying, or meditating an hour, or more a-day, without the foundations, must inevitably lead to ineffectiveness, a [perpetuation] cycle of suffering even.
I think it’s necessary to find out, because many human-beings throughout the world, over centuries have been praying, and meditating to reach something beyond the dissatisfaction, to have some feeling, some gratification, but are we perpetuating our condition? Humans are inwardly the same as millenias ago, violent, aggressive, competitive, and some like these qualities, never asking is it possible to live differently. I believe, that the psychological understanding is laying the foundations, or seeds for further growth, i.e., not arriving at conclusions first, through the positive, but arriving at the very ground, which give rise to the conclusions, which is negation. The purpose is to see for oneself, and think independently; not interpreting eternal verities, & states of being in accordance with what some authority said in the past, but to be in the position, as the field/lab scientist: ready to present their data; or one who checks & corroborates their findings with colleagues. But it seems most of us, would rather like to go to the flower-shop, and throw the flower in the soil-pot, and be done with it.
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§ The use of the term Mind refers to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped under Thought, Will, and Feeling as far as the science of several traditions, and adepts have discovered. “Mind” viewed as a separate entity from the physical brain can confuse, if not defined. Mind is being taught as dual, either in its higher aspect attracted to the Intuitive, Divine Soul (or Ego), and in its lower descends (attracted) to, or listens to the animal soul, filled with selfish & sensual desires. It is what separates the profane man’s life from spiritual proficients unfolding their evolution, living, feeling and thinking universally.
Learning begins with that sense of drive, and energy, but often the aspirant sails first far into the winds of metaphysics and speculation, and attempts to arrive at conclusions, beliefs to fit their persona; while either furnishing the metals of science, the silvers of history, or the pearls of philosophy & theology, dash with their treasure-box claiming to possess the philosophers’ stone! So, thought can divide people, i.e., struggles with other beliefs, and conclusions, but this may be a form of violence, or is violence—sowing the seeds of enmity, brutality, competition [competitiveness]. We must convey heart-to-heart, beyond mental idols—the product of thought, which is not Truth.
“The Thought is not the Thing,” Jiddu Krishnamurti once said.
“The ever unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart – invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through “the still small voice” of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence.”—The Secret Doctrine l, p. 280.
The psychological understanding is needed first. We must approach the world beyond anthropocentric-ism, because humans are also harming the biosphere, the animals, the plants, everything! And, there can only be outer conflict, violence, disorder in the so-called external world if inwardly, we’re violent, and disordered. If we see it, the house of cards are beginning to fall, we can act immediately. Not action through political and social maneuvering, but action rooted in inner transformation. That inner (psychological) transformation is itself action, which is natural, like the blossoming of the lotus flower, and is therefore not imposing, not brutal—but action rooted in the fire/energy (vitality) of existence. We speak here ofWill, as the power of synthesis, involution & evolution, the very current (flow; electric fire) of Life, which is not stationary, but a Vital Force. I mean, there’s great deal of Energy & Intelligence involved in change, in what we’re doing.
Repetition to my dear friend, & readers is sincerely an encouragement. The transformation is manifesting Truth & Love in our relationships, and not just in theory. The writer has endeavored to repeat it, because it is not some fancy idea, some speculative theory, but a fact. Without getting pass the psychological understanding of the Mind, we will only perpetuate the human-condition, and it would be quite foolish to go into theology, theosophy, metaphysics, if we lack what’s necessary, having gone a downward slope towards a crass materialism—but perhaps, its time has run its course. Question everything you have, to find out a way of living differently! Aren’t mountains climbed?
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Divinity is always acquired. It is not an endowment. It does not exist of itself. If we could be made good, if we could be made to turn around and take a righteous course, life might seem very much easier to us. But there is no escaping the law; no one can get us “off” from the effects of our wrong-doing; no one can confer knowledge on another. Each one has to see and know for himself. Each one has to gain Divinity of himself, and in his own way. We think of this as a common world. But it is not so. There are no two people who look at life from the same viewpoint, who have the same likes and dislikes, whom the same things affect in exactly the same way. No two people are alike either in life or after the death of the body. Each makes his own state; each makes his own limitations; each acquires his own Divinity. Divinity lies latent in each one of us; all powers lie latent in every one, and no being anywhere can be greater than we may become.—ROBERT CROSBIE