Text of Resolutions passed by the General Council of the Theosophical Society
Freedom of Thought As the Theosophical Society has spread far and wide over the world, and as members of all religions have become members of it without surrendering the special dogmas, teachings and beliefs of their re- spective faiths, it is thought desirable to emphasize the fact that there is no doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, that is in any way binding on any member of the Society, none which any member is not free to accept or reject. Approval of its three Objects is the sole condition of membership. No teacher, or writer, from H. P. Blavatsky onwards, has any authority to impose his or her teachings or opinions on members. Every member has an equal right to follow any school of thought, but has no right to force the choice on any other. Neither a candidate for any office nor any voter can be rendered ineligible to stand or to vote, because of any opinion held, or because of membership in any school of thought. Opinions or beliefs neither bestow privileges nor inflict penalties. The Members of the General Council earnestly request every member of the Theosophical Society to maintain, defend and act upon these fundamental principles of the Society, and also fearlessly to exercise the right of liberty of thought and of expression thereof, within the limits of courtesy and consideration for others. Freedom of the Society The Theosophical Society, while cooperating with all other bodies whose aims and activities make such cooperation possible, is and must remain an organization entirely independent of them, not committed to any objects save its own, and intent on developing its own work on the broadest and most inclusive lines, so as to move towards its own goal as indicated in and by the pursuit of those objects and that Divine Wisdom which in the abstract is implicit in the title ‘The Theosophical Society’. Since Universal Brotherhood and the Wisdom are undefined and unlimited, and since there is complete freedom for each and every member of the Society in thought and action, the Society seeks ever to maintain its own distinctive and unique character by remaining free of affiliation or identification with any other organization.
VVVOL. 141 NO... 10 JULYYY 2020
CONTENTS
The Teacher 5 Tim Boyd The Craft of Being Open-Minded 11 Jan Nicolaas Kind Meditation and Religious Traditions 19 Cecil Messer Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic 24 Tim Wyatt Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect 29 Shikhar Agnihotri Fragments of the Ageless Wisdom (From The Light of Asia) 33 Question 6: Why? 35 Rami Shapiro Theosophical Work around the World (ATA online classes) 41 International Directory 42
Editor: Mr Tim Boyd
NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to:
3 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Founded 17 November 1875 President: Mr Tim Boyd Vice-President: Dr Deepa Padhi Secretary: Ms Marja Artamaa Treasurer: Ms Nancy Secrest Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA Vice-President: [email protected] Secretary: [email protected] Treasurer: [email protected] Adyar Library and Research Centre: [email protected] Theosophical Publishing House: [email protected] // www.adyarbooks.com Editorial Office: [email protected], Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org
The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow but as a duty they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not punish it. They see every religion as an expression of the Divine Wisdom and prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism. Peace is their watchword, as Truth is their aim. Theosophy is the body of truths which forms the basis of all religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence. It restores to the world the Science of the Spirit, teaching man to know the Spirit as himself and the mind and body as his servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of intuition. Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and theosophists endeavour to live them. Everyone willing to study, to be tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a member, and it rests with the member to become a true theosophist.
4 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Teacher The Teacher
TIM BOYD
I WOULD like to give some considera- to attempt great works of compassion, tion to a central idea which is, for many, only to find that away from his presence, also a central experience in the theo- the profound understanding that they sophical life. In the process of our thought was theirs somehow slips away. spiritual unfoldment the Teacher plays From time to time I used to be in the an unparalleled role. He/she is that per- presence of quantum physicist and theo- son we encounter during the course of sophist Amit Goswami. Quantum physics our spiritual growth, who seems to have is a difficult field to grasp, even for quan- the ability to spur our understanding and tum physicists themselves. But some- hasten our development. how I would find that when I was sitting Everyone has had a relationship with around him, listening to him talk, his ideas someone who has served in the role of a all seemed so clear, only to walk away Teacher. It is a common experience in the and wonder what it was I thought I had university, at school, in our home, or in grasped at that moment. The process our spiritual life, to encounter someone is very much like placing a bar of iron, in whose presence we find difficult things a cold piece of metal, in front of a fire. becoming clear, and who, when they speak Iron has the capacity to respond to heat, we find ourselves elevated. In those mo- so the metal heats up when it is in that ments when we are in their presence we presence. When it is removed, it cools feel as though we understand. once again. On a number of occasions I have had If we examine ourselves, we find that the opportunity to be around His Holiness there are aspects of our makeup that are the Dalai Lama. When he speaks, wheth- composed in various ways. So there are er it is a small group or an audience of some aspects that respond very easily to ten or twenty thousand people, there is a high thought, to profound and pure emo- presence that he generates in which the tion. In the presence of elevated thought sense of the possibility of compassion, and emotion they become quickened, just which is his universal message, seems to like the metal becomes quickened in the be something very real. I have known presence of fire. Because of the uneven people who have attended a talk by His nature of our development, we find that Holiness, then left their job and gone out there are elements of our being that
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 5 The Teacher respond more readily and others that do body responds to this damage by repair- not. It is much like standing in front of a ing, renewing, and adding to that muscle fire and the metal on our belt and buttons tissue. Because a demand is made upon becomes hot, but our clothing, hair, and it to perform at its highest levels, it res- skin do not. ponds by growing in size and strength. So the advice we are given by the Great The same advice is given with our Teachers is that we need to repeatedly mental and emotional natures. The pro- expose ourselves to elevated thought and cess calls for utilizing them at the highest emotion, so that we can become accus- levels to which we are presently capable. tomed to vibrating at a higher frequency Initially the process may be demanding or responding regularly to an elevated and uncomfortable, but they respond by energy. Later we can translate this into a drawing in more matter of a similar type presence to which we can then connect that can vibrate at this heightened level, ourselves. They say things like, “Think and by expelling the matter that is unable on these things — What is it that is good? to vibrate in that way. So we become What is it that is true? What is the nature more and more pure, awake, aware. of beauty?” In the theosophical teachings we are How are these things expressed in a very much aware of a hierarchy of Tea- life? Think on these things: Bring our chers. Most of us have some idea about mental capacity into this higher level of the Mahatmas, or Masters of the Wisdom, vibration — force it to vibrate in that and the hierarchy that exists among them. manner. Because it is out of our reach, But They do not really function in this initially it is a matter of effort. The poet world. They are not the people that we says that our “reach should exceed our walk, chat, and interact with in our nor- grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?” That mal way. What they tend to do, it seems, toward which we reach, toward which we is that They work through their own close aspire, necessarily exceeds what we are students, their “chelas”, through whom capable of immediately grasping. That is the Mahatma’s influence can be radiated. the description of the practice. Repeatedly Sometimes we are in contact with those we call upon the mind to respond, the chelas, mostly unknowingly. heart to be quiet, and to be acted upon. So we engage in a process of trying In that process, it becomes a custom. to become sensitive to the Mahatmas’ For those of us who have been in- influence in the world and around us. volved in athletics we are familiar with We have become accustomed to some the process of training for building mus- very dull sensations. The noises which cle. When the muscles are used stre- surround us are the things that we hear nuously, when they are pushed to their most clearly. The sounds of the birds, the limits, some damage is done resulting wind, the honking horns of cars and two- in micro-tears to the muscle fibres. The wheelers are what attract our attention.
6 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Teacher Yet always there are subtler sounds, but a difficult process for us, who have it takes a certain attunement for us to trained ourselves so differently. Not just become aware of these. So we are en- in this lifetime, but in many lifetimes, we couraged to point our attention in certain habitually turn our attention outward, directions, particularly during times of focusing on the fight, and not on the in- meditation. Various forms of advice and ner directions. hints are given as to how we can hear There is a Sufi story about a garbage and see at increasingly subtle levels. collector who found himself in the middle The beautiful poem that closes J. of the perfume bazaar in Istanbul. En- Krishnamurti’s little book, At the Feet of gulfed in an atmosphere of pure fra- the Master, talks about hearing and see- grances he suddenly collapsed, and no ing in this way: “Waiting the Word of the one could bring him back to conscious- Master,/ Watching the Hidden Light;/ ness. A wise man who was passing by Listening to catch his orders/ In the very found something that was rotting and midst of the fight.” Waiting is the process filthy, and put it underneath the collapsed of suspending our outer and internal ac- man’s nose. When the man smelled it, he tivities in order to wait on the word of immediately awakened and the wise man the Master. Although we call it the “word”, was able to escort him out of the perfume it is not assured that it will be “heard” as bazaar. The story, of course, is about us a verbal expression; we do not know and our attraction to lower levels of vi- when it will come or how it will come. bration. The tendency is so engrained that “Watching the Hidden Light”: How do in the absence of the coarseness to which we watch a light that is hidden? Just the we have accustomed ourselves we be- process of trying to consider this requires come insensitive — in the story the man that we move beyond our normal sense swoons into unconsciousness. of seeing and hearing. So we wait, watch, listen. The second Listening to catch his orders in the part of that short poem says: “Seeing his very midst of the fight: in the midst of slightest signal/ Across the heads of the the round of daily activity, which in this throng;/ Hearing his faintest whisper/ poem the author equates to a fight, like Above Earth’s loudest song.” This is a warring kingdoms doing battle. Few of training in which we engage that we us have been in the battles of war. So for generally think of as a meditative prac- most it requires some imagination to en- tice, but it has to carry across into the visage the surging movement, the con- moment-to-moment, day-to-day life at stant need to judge, act, strike, move, and our desk or home. the continual din of warring adversaries In meditation we often focus on the in combat. But in the midst of it all, a breath, and the breath leads us to an quiet space in consciousness is retained, awareness of pulsations within the body. attuned to hear orders from on high. It is We start to become aware of subtle sounds
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 7 The Teacher that surround us: the sound of the breath fruitless and hopeless and walks away coming in and out of the body, the sounds for good. of the pulsing heart, internal electrical On the side of the road he encounters sounds. These are always present, yet we a dog so badly injured that his flesh was seldom hear them. These are the kinds starting to be eaten away by maggots. of advice given on connecting and enga- When Asanga sees the dog he wants to ging with the Teacher. heal it, but also does not want to hurt the There is a story about one of the great maggots feeding on the dog, seeing them North-Indian Buddhist Masters, Asanga, as other living beings who also value their who lived in the 4th century CE. He went lives, so he tries to take them away one into a meditation retreat in a cave for by one. He finds that trying to do it with twelve years, with a formula he thought a stick harms them. Then he tries to do it would not fail, to establish some sort of with his fingers and that also harms them. connection with the Buddha Maitreya. He Ultimately, one by one he lifts the meditated for three years and nothing maggots away with his tongue. But in happened. At that point he was ready to that moment, what he had thought to be give up. He left his cave and as he was an injured dog suddenly appears as the walking he saw a crow coming out of its Buddha Maitreya, and the response given nesting place in the side of a mountain. to Asanga was: “All this time you sat and He noticed that where the crow was flying meditated, but there were still things in and out, the stone around the nest had blocking your vision. Your personal kar- been worn away slightly by its feathers. mic obstructions prevented this connec- So he thought to himself: If this bird can tion. It was only in this moment of wear away a stone with just the repeated extreme compassion, when you were not touch of his feathers, I can return to my thinking about your personal agenda of meditation with confidence. meeting Maitreya Buddha, in your So he meditated for three more years extreme compassion to this animal, you and still had no experience of any con- are finally able to see and experience nection with the Lord Maitreya, so he left what had eluded you for twelve years.” the cave again. This time he sees water Each one of us is at a different stage dripping, and where the water drips he of unfoldment and is continuously in the notices the stone has been worn away by presence of the highest consciousness, the softest of all elements in Nature, and yet mostly unaware; but we try! There he determines he would go back to medi- are certain efforts we engage in, not with tate. A similar experience happened after the goal in mind of meeting and seeing nine years. So now twelve years had these Masters, but with the goal in mind passed since the start of the retreat, but of doing a work that draws us closer to still no vision of the Master. At this point them. Determining that work and commit- Asanga determines that his practice is ting to it is how we spend a lifetime. If
8 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Teacher we approach it properly, there are break- the depths of our being to the presence through moments, just as occurred and influence of the Teacher. We remove with Asanga. the barriers that block us from what this Geoffrey Hodson wrote a beautiful Teacher has to give. small book, Thus Have I Heard. In it he In Buddhism there is a teaching related includes a prayer, or really a meditation, to these opening lines of Hodson’s prayer. quoted from another source. He calls it It addresses the question of: “How do we an unfailing method to connect ourselves behave when we are in the presence of with the Master in the heart. He does not the Teacher? What are the qualities of focus our attention on meeting a physical our being that we bring to this special individual, but to connect ourselves with moment?” They present this teaching the Master in the center of our being. The using the example of a vessel, a pot. And prayer begins: “Oh, gracious Lord, I they say that there are three things that enter your radiance and approach your can be impediments to our connection presence bearing with me the service with the Teacher. done in your name and for you.” The first example is a pot turned up- It is customary that when we go to visit side down. Even in the presence of one someone special we bring a gift — we of- who has pure nectar to share, this pot fer something. When we go to visit the cannot be filled. Pour and pour as they Highest, we have to determine what is might, our hearts and minds are closed the highest gift that we can bring. In this and no wisdom is retained. J. Krishna- meditation our gift is “the service that I murti, in At the Feet of the Master, says: have done in your name and for you”. “Unless there is perfect trust, there can- And it goes on: “I seek to become a more not be the perfect flow of love and power.” efficient server.” The second example is the leaky pot. The point of our meeting, the point of It receives water, but it retains nothing. the offering is that I may become a more Our habits of inattention and distrac- efficient server — more efficient in mag- tion regularly cultivated in our daily nifying what we have to give to the mundane activities, do not suddenly leave Highest. Then: “And I open my heart and us when we are in the presence of some- mind to the power of your love, of your thing sublime. joy, and of your peace.” The third example is a pot that is dirty In the opening of the prayer a direction inside. One may pour the purest nectar is given for three specific internal actions into such a vessel, but it gets mixed with that set the stage for our meeting the the dirt. What is pure becomes impure in Master: that we identify and present a a consciousness steeped in wrong ideas, precious offering; that we clarify and state negative emotions, incorrect avenues of our intention to become more efficient thought, the harmfulness that we direct in service to the Master; and we lay open toward others, the gossip that we carry
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 9 The Teacher with us. And, of course, we are the ones presence of love in the world. It ends: who suffer, because the teaching is wasted. “Lead me, oh gracious Lord, through In this teaching the idea is not to be thy inimitable love, to union with you closed, to plug the leaks by being atten- and the heart of eternity.” And the final tive. In Krishnamurti’s example of “wait- words of the meditation are: “In your love ing” and “watching”, we are attentive; we I rest forevermore.” attend to that which is before us. In that Whenever we have some level of ex- state we have the capacity to actually perience of the nature of the “Love, em- receive and respond. bracing all in Oneness” (as expressed in So: “Oh, gracious Lord, I enter thy ra- Annie Besant’s Universal Prayer), the diance and approach thy presence, bear- response is necessarily “to rest”; it brings ing with me the service done in your rest; it stops the world. So we rest in that name and for you./ I seek to become a love. This is the focus of the meditation, more efficient server.” And I open my- that in the experience of this sublime rest, self, the vessel is open, intact, purified, we come to realize a measure of the na- and turned toward you, that you may fill ture of the fragrance within the cave of it with “the power of your love, your joy, the heart. And we repeat it, then we ap- and your peace”. proach it again, but always when the The meditation goes on to focus in- experience dawns upon us, we rest. dividually on joy, peace, and particu- This is just some advice shared by larly love. “In thy presence thy love those whose experience gives it value. The enfolds me.” And then the prayer speaks work, as always, is ours, but the gui- about the quality of the love, and that, dance, clues, and hints along the way are having received, I must necessarily be a full of power. ²
Nothing can happen to the pilgrims on the Path but that which is best for them. Once they deliberately put themselves into the hand of the Teacher, they see that everything happens at the proper time — the time at which the greatest advantage is reaped, alike for the pilgrims and for the world. . . . The storm-tossed bark on a raging sea is more peaceful than the life of the pilgrim to the shrine of Spirit. A peaceful life would mean stagnation and death in the case of one who has not acquired the right to peace by completely destroying the enemy — personality... The Doctrine of the Heart Compiled by Annie Besant TPH Adyar, 1988 reprint, pp. 51-2
10 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Craft of Being Open-Minded The Craft of Being Open-Minded
JAN NICOLAAS KIND
Generally speaking, openness refers to the willingness to hear and consider different ideas and to try new things. Open individuals usually accept others’ values and beliefs; an open mind doesn’t quickly reject oppositional opinions as wrong. People are sufficiently open-minded if they are receptive to strong arguments against their committed beliefs. Jeremy E. Sherman, Social Science Researcher
THEOSOPHISTS, no matter what tra- a summary of what happened historically dition or stream they may belong to, are in those first three decades after 1875. supposed to be freethinkers. Accord- Instead, I will just mention some names. ing to most dictionaries, a freethinker Think of the ”cases” involving T. Subba is a person who rejects accepted opi- Row, A. O. Hume, William Q. Judge nions, especially those concerning versus Henry S. Olcott and Annie Besant, religious beliefs: C. W. Leadbeater, B. P. Wadia, and, sur- prisingly, also A. P. Sinnett. Freedom of thought is embedded into the In his posthumously published The DNA of Theosophy. As theosophists, we Early Days of Theosophy in Europe, possibly pride ourselves on having open Sinnett writes rather disappointedly about minds and the ability to think for ourselves. his memories of those early days, bring- In some cases that is more aspirational than ing up what, in his mind, were many ques- actual. We have as many closed-minded tion marks. Sinnett must have thought people as any other organization — and, that he had a unique status in the TS, due according to some, even more.1 to his association with the Mahatma I always felt I had to overcome some Letters, which led him to believe that he inner hurdles as I tried to grasp the real was in receipt of teachings from sources meaning of the serious conflicts that oc- beyond HPB. The London Lodge, which curred in the early years among the he ran, truly was an elite club, where “freethinking” pioneers of the Theo- members wore opulent evening dresses sophical Society. I do not mean to write to meetings.
Mr Jan Nicolaas Kind is a Dutch national residing in Brazil and USA. He has been a member of the Adyar Theosophical Society since 1994 and is editor-in-chief of the e-Magazine Theosophy Forward. Published in Theosophy Forward, 17 Nov. 2019.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 11 The Craft of Being Open-Minded Having perhaps never matched his nowledging the importance of the un- ability to practise the precious and in- dertaking. All forms of craftsmanship clusive teachings entrusted to him by the demand a gradual attunement of head, Masters to his intellectual understanding heart, and hand. The craft of open- of them, Sinnett’s class-consciousness as mindedness is no exception. Implicit in a refined and respected Englishman de- the idea of apprenticeship is the promis- fined him and confined him. By contrast, ing hint that there are journeyman masters think of Col Olcott, who left his com- and that we, too, can move in that direction. fortable life and status as a New York The craft of being open-minded calls City lawyer to embrace wholeheartedly, for acceptance and, most importantly, with true brotherhood and self-sacrifice, tolerance. Acceptance is obviously some- the hardships of South Asia. thing that is connected with knowing how What was, or still is, the “real” mean- certain developments took place and led ing of those early quarrels, misunder- to existing realities, which, by the way, standings, and at times bitter, contentious does not mean one has to stop being dis- confrontations? In an organization where criminative. Tolerance is possibly the the “forming” of a Nucleus of Universal most difficult one of the two, especially Brotherhood is so clearly laid out in its when there is a strong difference in points first Object, one would not expect these of view. Hearing an opinion, which di- clashes to happen, but they certainly did. rectly opposes our own and learning to Up until today people are still influenced deal with that in a mature manner is a by them. Are they just personality con- painful exercise, demanding persever- frontations? ance and psychological discipline. Perhaps the significance of conflicts, In Katherine Beechey’s gem, Daily or if you wish, the lesson that is to be Meditations, the September/Tolerance learnt, is that they should teach us to open chapter, 4th entry, has this delightful up, to really listen, search for solutions, quotation from an Elder Brother: and improve our flexibility, thus stepping Take care not to seek to impose your out of our comfort zone. In order to step standard of life, your convictions, upon away from that “safe corridor”, the very others. Help them to gain their own first requirement would be to go for an standards, to reach their own convictions, unconditional open-mindedness — a feat be these what they may, provided they easier said than done. stimulate to nobler living. Considering how difficult true open- mindedness is to achieve, perhaps it Our opinions, and we all have them, would be beneficial to think of it as a craft are stored in a rather superficial compart- of which we are apprentices. This invites ment of our thinking. The things we think us to participate in a step-by-step process are based on what we are fond of or of learning and unlearning, while ack- detest, our preferences, tastes, quick judg-
12 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Craft of Being Open-Minded ments and even prejudices. If we are Though it can be daunting, it is re- really eager to learn, it is necessary to go warding at the same time. To be sincere deeper, making a beginning in question- with oneself, doing away with both Mr ing our own beliefs, which we all too orMrs Know-it-all — who live in each often simply take for granted. Convic- one of us — will allow truth to come our tions are time bound. They need to be way. Not being tangled up in accumu- double-checked regularly and, if needed, lative knowledge, which is so very tricky, overhauled. In our search for Truth, doors will open to intuitive perception and which we can only undertake with an non-conditioned observation. Bounteous open mind, all convictions are transitory. will be the results. If we allow ourselves to profoundly go While trying to take on those hurdles through this process, we become aware. when reading or hearing about the per- J. Krishnamurti, when asked to explain sonalities that clashed in the first years what in his view awareness is, said the of the modern theosophical movement, following: I am inclined to think that these had to do much with what I would refer to as Just simple awareness! Awareness of your the growing pains. All involved were judgments, your prejudices, your likes and relaively young in 1875 when the TS was dislikes.When you see something, that founded in New York. For example, seeing is the outcome of your comparison, H. P. Blavatsky was 44, Henry Olcott 43, condemnation, judgment, evaluation, is it William Judge just 24, A. P. Sinnett 35, not? When you read something, you are while Annie Besant, in 1875 not involved judging, you are criticizing, you are con- with the TS yet, was 28. demning or approving. To be aware is to Young women and men, full of what see, in the very moment, this whole pro- they felt they needed to share with the cess of judging, evaluating, the conclu- world, in the German language the sions, the conformity, the acceptances, word begeistert , much better than in the denials.2 English (impassioned) 3, describes their To be open-minded is really tough at state of mind. As it often goes with times. Most of us are (theosophically) passionate initiatives, mistakes were brought up with a set of views and values bound to be made. To approach the and, throughout our lives, tend to sur- Society’s history and the various divisive round ourselves with people who share events that took place, especially after the same values and beliefs. Therefore, HPB’s passing in 1891, demand a fully it can be difficult when we are faced with opened mind, a mind that will not take ideas that challenge our own and, though any sides, but just observes and is freed we may wish to be open-minded, we may from any conditioned thinking. If we struggle with the successful practice of indeed are willing to set out on such a it from time to time. journey, it will soon become apparent
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 13 The Craft of Being Open-Minded that a learning process is most certainly that she herself was a strict Presbyterian. about to surface, one that will deepen our A sad and depressed Olcott met his old understanding and reduce our prejudices. associate Laura Holloway, but his conver- It is interesting to note that, as des- sation, which was later published, reveals cribed above, Mr Sinnett for example, a a new man who had in life’s struggle at last key figure in what would ultimately re- achieved inner greatness. sult in the compiling of The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett by the end of Laura Holloway writes: his life, was simply not able to be open- “I am sure he was wholly sincere in minded when he looked back at the early attributing his depression of spirits to his years of the movement. His elitism caused sorrow for this dear sister, but my sym- him to be harsh, skeptical and even rather pathy for him was too genuine to admit of unfriendly towards his contemporaries. self-deception; I realized that loneliness Others, Henry Olcott as well as Annie and homesickness were prime factors in Besant, in the autumn of their lives, were his case; as also were physical infirmities; much better able to open up their minds, and, as were memories of other faces now looking at themselves critically, admit- absent. Quite sure was I of this when he ting their mistakes and even revising was speaking of Madame Blavatsky, whom former opinions. he repeatedly characterized as his ‘dear old In connection with what became known colleague’ who had gone on ahead of him. as the infamous ”Judge Case”, Henry Olcott stunningly admits that he had done “Of her he spoke as one of whom he was wrong. In Sven Eek’s Damodar and the bereft — not only of her presence, but of Pioneers of the Theosophical Society, her prestige. He sorely missed both and was there is a description of what happened. growing to be more and more conscious It is a long excerpt, but certainly worthy that a great force had been taken out of his to examine it in full: life, and the motive power removed from the work he was prosecuting without her; When in 1906 Colonel Olcott visited conscious, too, that his influence was America for the last time, he wrote his old departing, if not departed. friend, MrsHolloway-Langford, ask-ing her to see him. The latter had been out of “‘My sense of loss — the magnitude of it’, touch with the Theosophical Society for he said, ‘I realize more and more, as I note twenty years, when she left her Theo- the trend of events in the Theosophical sophical colleagues in London in 1886 and Society since her death. I am President- returned to America. She had been a Founder, but other and younger workers personal friend of Olcott’s sister, Belle are in control of its affairs: This is right, Mitchell, who had passed away. Belle had and as it should be, but HPB’s mighty been an “oasis” in Olcott’s domestic life, mentality is not here to guide and make always loving him in spite of the fact steadfast, and her personality is missed
14 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Craft of Being Open-Minded
more and more. I, too, will soon be gone, of the deeper truths of life, he built up and then all the older influences that the Society in America from small and surrounded the Society will be removed.’ discouraging beginnings. No difficulties daunted him, and no apparent failures “Suddenly it occurred to me to speak of quenched his fiery devotion. . . . that other able and faithful comrade who had worked with HPB and himself from He was beside HPB through those early the first inception of the Society, and I did days, saw the exercise of her wonderful not resist the impulse to say to him: ‘And powers, and shared in the founding of the have you no word now for that devoted co- Theosophical Society. And throughout the worker of hers and yours, toward whom, remainder of her life on Earth, the friend- after her death, you were hostile? He is ship remained unbroken, and during the indelibly associated in my mind with you later years she regarded him as her one both. Do you not mourn him at all, that hope in America, declaring that, if the dear old friend of the long ago?’ American members rejected him, she would break off all relations with them, “‘You speak of Judge’, he slowly replied. and know them no more. . . . “‘Yes, of him.’ Spiritual and intuitional, he was also ex- “‘Yes, yes,’ he interrupted, ‘I know how traordinarily capable as an organizer and you feel about him and always have felt.’ a leader. Then came the revelation of what Then, taking my hand in his, he gave my was hidden under the reserved demeanor face a searching glance, before he ... an unquenchable energy, a profound answered, in a manner subdued and most devotion, an indomitable will. And these impressive: were held together by a single aim — the spreading of the truths of Theosophy, the “‘We learn much and outgrow much, and building of an organization which should I have lived much and learned more, scatter the seeds over the land.5 particularly as regards Judge.’ . . . So, with an open mind, putting all “‘I know now, and it will comfort you to possible hindrances to form a just view hear it; that I wronged Judge, not willfully aside, we might even conclude that all or in malice; nevertheless, I have done this, that occurred in those early years, the and I regret it.’”4 clashing of personalities, the upheavals, no matter how painful some of them Annie Besant in 1928 writes on Judge were, were incidents from which we can the following: learn. Such charitable acceptance of facts Judge [was] a much-loved friend and pupil will help us to tread further on our of HPB’s, and the channel of life to the individual Paths. In full accordance with American Branch of the TS. A highly the open-mindedness, as Theosophists evolved man, with a profound realization and Freethinkers, we are fortunate to
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 15 The Craft of Being Open-Minded have the Theosophical Society General ing, pain and misery. This has been going Council’s “Freedom of Thought” reso- on for at least 2,000 years. lution. For the purpose of this article, In Theosophy, what HPB reintroduced hereunder a most relevant passage: to us in The Secret Doctrine — with the Stanzas as a basic starting point — forces No teacher, or writer, from H. P. Blavatsky us to be open-minded from the very start. onwards, has any authority to impose his All our previous known convictions will or her teachings or opinions on members. have to be tested and, if needed, put Every member has an equal right to follow aside, if not forgotten. Our thinking has any school of thought, but has no right to to be fully receptive for new conceptions, force the choice on any other. Neither a ideas and panoramas. This makes Theo- candidate for any office nor any voter can sophy, as a world view, unique. It is in be rendered ineligible to stand or to vote, this way that I am convinced that the because of any opinion held, or because Theosophical Move-ment has a future of membership in any school of thought. and a specific task, and that this attempt One can conclude that in Theosophy, the by the Masters to share with us their so-called theological methodology, as is wisdom will not fail as long as we do not common in religions, is a non-starter. make the same mistakes as religions have Theosophical theologians are not recog- done up to this day. nized. Open-mindedness and theology are There cannot be any sort of conserva- not compatible. tism or limit to our open-minded theo- Any known religion on our planet sophical thinking. The various streams, consists of a collection of beliefs. Each now 145 years after the foundation, have religion teaches or proclaims her own all earned their place under the sun. The truths about the world — humanity and gratifying fact is that the various orga- God (or gods). These beliefs make clear nizations all, and this really means each how the followers of a certain religion one of them, in their own manner, repre- can find their salvation. There are scrip- sent a facet of the theosophical diamond. tures and instructions on what to do and In this respect I would reject terms what not to do through theology, the such as “true Theosophy” or “pure Theo- believers are instructed how to interpret sophy” as if there is untrue, or impure, those. All is directed towards a common or pseudo Theosophy. Theosophy simply kind of truth, while obedience and, above IS, or IS NOT Theosophy. As seekers, and all, unconditional surrender to the guide- not as proclaimers, we can enter that lines are unquestionable. impressive figurative theosophical library In particular, the three monotheistic and choose which way to go. religions — Christianity, Judaism, and There are groups of students who Islam, have, via very unfortunate misin- solely concentrate on the core teachings terpretations caused, and are still caus- as brought forward by H. P. Blavatsky,
16 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Craft of Being Open-Minded
William Judge, Robert Crosbie, and proach and don’t quite get the value in other first-generation theosophical other approaches. My intention was to authors. Students in the Adyar environ- highlight the close similarities between ment are, next to the voluminous literary Theosophy and Krishnamurti in relation- output by Annie Besant, open to also ship to the search for and living in Truth. second or third generation authors, like Both approaches, like many other ap- N. Sri Ram, I. K. Taimni, Joy Mills, and proaches, can help us to come to an un- John Algeo, while there is also room for derstanding from within, which is, after the clairvoyant approaches as postulated all, the aim of our studies.6 by C. W. Leadbeater or Geoffrey Hodson. Theosophists from the three main- Students from both the Adyar and streams in the Movement, gather annually Point Loma traditions agree that the works on the platform of International Theo- of G. de Purucker have been very helpful sophy Conferences (ITC), an initiative in understanding the teachings that were I have firmly supported. It is to be hoped transmitted by HPB. The oeuvre and that on that admirable platform, in order significance of J. Krishnamurti remain a not to become some indolent study club, much-discussed topic even today. It is theosophists will continue to be ready to evident that K., during his lifetime as come out of their comfort zone, eager to well as in the years after his death in 1986, explore new territories beyond their own. as an educationist, author, philosopher, If this is done ITC will remain vibrant, and speaker, has positively influenced but if there is a restriction placed on free millions of people around the world and thought, and only accepted or known inspired many within the Adyar tradition. topics are going to be investigated, the A well-known theosophist, who re- danger lurks that all is merely a repetition sided at Krotona, once told me that by of what has been said before. Then the digging into K’s work, wherein often the opportunity for learning will have come emphasis is on self-transformation and to a tragic standstill. open-mindedness, she was better able to To be truly open-minded is a craft, go deeper into the traditional or core tea- and like with any other discipline, if we chings as we know them through The want to do it well, we need to prepare Secret Doctrine and The Mahatma Let- ourselves to patiently and consciously ters. The Dutch theosophist Ali Ritsema find our way. A mark of fulfilling it will in her article “Living in Truth –— Where certainly be when we come to realize that HPB and Krishnamurti meet”, wrote: we all might come from different wells, We often get stuck in our preferred ap- but swim in the same river. ²
Endnotes 1. Tim Wyatt, A Freethinkers‘ Way to the Galaxy .
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 17 ² The Craft of Being Open-Minded
2. The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, vol. IX, Amsterdam, May 26, 1955. 3. Begeistert in German would be best translated into English as ”impassioned”, although it is hard to find the exact equivalent. 4. TPH Adyar, India, p. 657-8. 5. The Theosophist, October 1922, p. 351. 6.
One night a man was crying, Allah! Allah! His lips grew sweet with the praising, until a cynic said, "So! I have heard you calling out, but have you ever gotten any response?" The man had no answer to that. He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.
He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls, in a thick, green foliage. "Why did you stop praising?" "Because I've never heard anything back." "This longing you express is the return message."
The grief you cry out from draws you toward union. YYYour pure sadness that wants help is the secret cup. Listen to the moan of a dog for its master... That whining is the connection. There are love dogs no one knows the names of. Give your life to be one of them.
Jalal Al-Din Rumi “Love Dogs”
18 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Meditation and Religious Traditions Meditation and RRReligious Traditions
CECIL MESSER
AT the core of every monotheistic ally but not exclusively masculine) as a religion is the theme of unity with the being separate from them — an outer Divine. The word “religion” comes from form looking down on the world from the Latin root religare — to bind again above. This God is relative and has at- — signifying the bond between humans tributes. He resides in a heavenly man- and God. It also comes from the Latin sion. He has feelings and expresses love religio — reverence for the sacred. This as well as wrath. Some fabricate a God common ground manifests itself in in their own image thus ironically creat- accordance with different cultures and ing a personal "golden calf". traditions. In Islam, this union is repre- There is another view of God that is sented by Allah, the name of the one true absolute and beyond description, yet is God. In Christianity, union with the within our being. In the Qur’an, Allah is ineffable — God is through the person- depicted as transcendent and immanent, age of Jesus, the Christ. In Judaism, this too ineffable to be comprehended, yet di- union is through Adonoy, the one God. vinely present in everything. This prin- To practice these religions, one must pre- ciple of unity is beautifully captured pare oneself to receive the blessings of by Rumi, the Sufi poet and professor divine union and to recognize therefrom of Islamic law (adapted from The Way that we are all one family. So far, so good; of the Sufi by Idries Shah): these views are coherent and do not lead He went to the door of the Beloved to the mischief of extremism. and knocked. What is meant by the word “God”? A voice asked: “Who is there?” To the vast majority of followers of each He answered: “It is I.” of these religions, God is the Supreme The voice said: “There is no room here Being, the creator of the universe. Many for me and thee.” anthropomorphize a personal God (usu- The door was closed.
Mr Cecil Messer, a retiree of the NASA Space Program Science and Engineering Team, presented spiritual teachings from many traditions for twelve years while residing at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, Ojai, CA. He is currently a dharma practitioner, living in the mountains of North Carolina.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 19 Meditation and Religious Traditions
After a year of solitude and want, a question, and meditation is listening He returned to the door of the Beloved for the answer.” Additional practices and knocked. include reading, reflecting, and meditat- A voice from within asked: “Who is there?” ing on God’s holy words. It is thought The man said: “It is Thou.” that God’s Word was transmitted by him The door was opened for him. to inspired prophets — suitable vessels — who subsequently inscribed their vi- This same principle of unity is also sions for posterity. succinctly portrayed by the apostle John These original autographs have long in the New Testament. Christians take to been lost; only replicas now exist. These heart these profound teachings: artifacts have been copied and translated for ages by many different humans and The one who does not love are therefore subject to human inac- Does not know God, curacies and interpretations. No doubt For God is Love. God’s Word is perfect and without error; (1 John 4:8) but it does not follow that the writings God is Love; purported to preserve them are free from Whoever lives in Love error. Just because a book is very old Lives in God, does not mean it is necessarily true. Nor And God in them. can the interpretations made by men (1 John 4:16) whose understanding may be imperfect Again, Jews also view God as a prin- be wholly relied on. For these reasons ciple of unity as evidenced by their most we should be very careful in choosing ancient and traditionally important prayer, secondhand concepts to lock onto. the Shema. From the Torah: One way to test our derivative views is to examine them side by side with the Hear O’ Israel, core principles of unity. Without enjoin- The Lord is our God. ing the hermeneutic interpretations of the The Lord is One. Bible, Qur’an, or Torah, there are other (Deut. 6:4) ways to recognize our limitations in dis- The predominant established spiritual cerning valid concepts. Modes of thought practices of these traditions typically and behavior can be classified in two involve prayers directed towards their ways, those on the side of love and those deity and usually take the form of wor- on the side of hate. All creeds and as- ship, petition, or thanksgiving. Com- sociated actions not on the side of love munication with him is either directly are suspect. When we go astray from through prayer or through an interme- core concepts and begin to emphasize diary such as an imam, a priest, or rabbi. extremes of interpretation, radical beha- It is said that “praying is like asking God viors such as violence, war, and genocide
20 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Meditation and Religious Traditions erupt. Let us, in all humility, set aside ficial manner and practiced without questionable doctrines and trust those love, it may be perverted and become a that resonate with our deepest conscience source of evil. and noblest feelings. Christian representative teachings are Ironically, it is common practice in given in the “Sermon on the Mount” and many religious cultures to view spiritual in the New Testament parables. There the matters from a secular perspective. This words of Christ advocate forgiveness and approach diverts primary attention from admonish judging others. They include the inner core teachings to the outer meeting violence with nonviolence. He phenomenal aspects of the stories de- renounces the old law of “an eye for an picted in their scriptures. Getting stuck eye, and a tooth for a tooth” and pro- in various conceptual features leads to claims the radical imperatives of “Resist division into competing denominations not evil!” and “Love your enemies!” If and sects. These actions inevitably de- being a Christian is defined as one who generate into religiosity and the focus believes in Christ and therefore tries to becomes sidetracked into a preoccupa- follow his teachings, then how many tion with glamorous secondary topics nations or organizations or individuals such as: the “virgin birth”, the Ark of are truly Christian? Perhaps many of us the Covenant, the Shroud of Turin, believe, but few act. Sadly, some self- “judgment day”, and its concomitant christened Christians are like connois- “eternal damnation”. seurs who are so fascinated by the gilded Pertinent to our present inquiry are frame holding a Rembrandt masterpiece those religious practices that emphasize that they never see the beauty in the art. and follow the wisdom of the teachings According to Judaism, Moses re- of their religion and lead to a profound ceived the Ten Commandments directly renewal of mind and heart; one is born from the Lord on Mount Sinai. The again. The Islamic scholar Rumi said that Talmud teaches that the Lord himself those Muslims who follow only the outer used his finger to inscribe a set of laws form of Islamic prayer such as frequently on two lapis lazuli tablets amidst much kneeling and touching their forehead thunder, lightning, smoke, and fire. Per- to the ground are like chickens pecking haps the purpose of this phenomena was grain. But the chicken is smarter because to emphasize these spiritual imperatives at least it gets something in return. He in a covenant with his people. Moses sub- said that the outer form of worship is sequently transcribed these rules of con- of no value without inner understand- duct in the Torah’s Book of Exodus. ing. Like the other monotheistic religions, One of these injunctions, the Sixth Islam is noble at heart, inspiring a spiri- Commandment, is commonly translated tual and ethical way of life. However, as: “Thou shall not kill.” An alternate if its scriptures are interpreted in a super- acceptable translation is: “Thou shall not
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 21 Meditation and Religious Traditions murder.” This is a more palatable version tation. In preparing for the opening of because it mitigates the unpleasantness mind and heart, most devoted practition- of dealing with ethical issues such as: ers probably agree with Father Thomas executing heretics for contrary views; Merton, the highly revered Trappist dropping napalm on children in foreign monk, that: “You will never find interior lands for our security; killing animals for solitude unless you make some conscious food; or eradicating species in the name effort to deliver yourself from . . . [this] of progress. Regardless of which interpre- world.” To approach the spiritual Source, tation one adheres to, surely the moral law he advocates a kind of contemplation written in our heart by the finger of the that is beyond the discursive medita- Divine enjoins us to do no harm to others. tion that focuses on abstract truths about Mainstream followers of the monothe- the Divine. istic religions — mosque Muslims, church He points to a more direct transcen- Christians, and Orthodox Jews — express dental meditation that is like an awaken- their faith in observable forms, rituals, ing, an intuitive realization or experience and doctrines. These ways are in sharp of union with God. In his New Seeds of contrast to those of their more interiorly Contemplation, he contrasts those two oriented brothers and sisters — Sufis, types of meditation with the assertion: Christian contemplatives, and Kabbalists. “Nothing could be more alien to contem- These adherents employ deeper spiritual plation than the cogito ergo sum of practices to enhance the process of open- Descartes: ‘I think, therefore I am.’ This ing their consciousness to the Divine. is the declaration of an alienated being, Though perhaps outside of formal wed- in exile from his own spiritual depths.” lock, all religious traditions seem to have Father Merton expresses his passion- each birthed an inner or esoteric contem- ate view of meditation: plative component. It is this offspring Contemplation is the highest expression that arguably provides the sustaining of man’s intellectual and spiritual life . . . life force of each religion. is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of On the surface, popular forms of life ... is gratitude for life . . . is a vivid these religious traditions do not appear realization of the fact that life and being to emphasize a close connection to medi- in us proceed from an invisible, tran- tation practice. Nevertheless, all religious scendent, and infinitely abundant Source. traditions are concerned with opening [Contemplation is] awareness of the reality our hearts and minds to something extra- of that Source. In contemplation . . . we ordinary and sacred, a transcendent know beyond all knowing or unknowing. reality, beyond our personal selves. Representative of inner forms of The Christian monk Father Thomas practice are the Christian contemplatives Keating advocates a variety of Christian and their profound connection to medi- prayers for coming into the presence of
22 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Meditation and Religious Traditions God. From his Classical Practice of “Centering Prayer” is a method of Lectio Divina, three practices are given: internal prayer intended to open our “Lectio Divina”, “Centering Prayer”, and hearts and minds to God’s presence and “Contemplative Prayer”. The method of action within. It prepares us to receive “Lectio Divina” in its classical monastic the Holy Spirit’s gift of “Contemplative form is intended to lead one to this com- Prayer”, which in turn enables us to munion. He advocates visualizing four directly experience his presence. Basil parts along the circumference of a circle Pennington, a leading proponent of this joined to each other and to the center, method, delineates guidelines for its forming an interrelated pattern. The practice: sit comfortably with your eyes center “. . . is the Spirit of God speaking closed; relax and quiet yourself; feel love to us through the text and in our hearts”. and faith towards God. Choose a sacred The elements of the process are: word; let that word be gently present as the symbol of your intention to be in the 1. Reading or listening to the Scripture Lord’s presence and open to his divine passage (Lectio), action within you. Whenever you become 2. Reflecting on the words and being atten- aware of thoughts, feelings, or percep- tive to your heart’s response (Meditatio), tions, simply return to your sacred word. 3. Responding spontaneously with prayer At the end of the prayer period, remain (Oratio), in silence for a few minutes. 4. Resting in God’s presence (Contemplatio). The condition of being no longer According to Fr Keating, this monas- engaged with thoughts is the state of tic form of “Lectio Divina” is oriented unknowing referred to in the 14th century towards contemplative prayer rather anonymous book The Cloud of Unknow- than to the more popular scholastic form ing. As a categorical precondition, Fr characterized by discursive meditation. Merton points to one of the paradoxes of The scholastic form conceives the pro- the mystical life: cess as hierarchical, in stages, moving . . . that a man cannot enter into the deepest from one thought to the next. Spontaneity center of himself and pass through that may become problematic if we get hung center into God, unless he is able to pass up in conceptual thinking, thus thwarting entirely out of himself and empty himself, the movement to become fully engulfed and give himself to other people in the in the divine presence. purity of a selfless love. ²
One neither sorrows nor rejoices over worldly dharmas. One is able to relinquish one’s own benefit, while always acting diligently for the benefit of others. Being deeply grateful for others’ kindnesses, one repays them doubly... Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds, pp 260-61
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 23 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic
TIM WYATT
COVID-19 has not only concentrated Many people have been forced to deal our minds like nothing else we can recall, with the isolation they face. For others, it has fundamentally and permanently the lock-down has meant more time for changed human consciousness. Its effects self-reflection. have been unprecedented and its after- The world has gone quiet. Many peo- math will be equally pronounced — and ple have heard birdsong for the first time profound. It will bring economic hard- in decades. Blue skies were left unscarred ship to hundreds of millions. We have by the vapour and smoke trails of jets already run out of clichés to describe the and industries. Air pollution levels dropped devastation and dislocation this pandem- dramatically in even the worst affected ic has caused to every strand of human cities. Even the seismic noise of the plan- existence. Apart from possibly Antarctica, et quietened. No doubt Earth Mother not a single continent on Earth has breathed a sigh of relief that her boister- remained untouched. It has brought ous and hyperactive children temporari- revolutionary changes to the way we ly curbed their usually frenzied activities. live, work, shop and interact. It has been Covid-19 has done what wars and con- a fascinating but macabre exercise in flicts always do. Apart from bringing out mass psychology. the best and worst in people, it has also Despite its power to destroy lives and presented both opportunities and threats. livelihoods, this tiny crown-shaped virus Battles and crises are teachers and syn- has also evoked levels of cooperation and thesizing agents as well as purgative and compassion which are increasingly rare regenerative forces. They always leave in the modern world. Along with its grim their mark and continue to reverberate. death toll it has also yielded other posi- No one is unaware of the momentous tive traits as people show greater de- outward effects of this crisis physically, grees of tolerance, self-reliance and, that emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But most old-fashioned of virtues, altruism. what are the deep esoteric causes of this
Mr Tim Wyatt is a national speaker of the TS in England and former member of their Executive Committee.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 23 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic modern death wave being unleashed right thought-forms continue for millennia. now? Clearly, there will be cyclic reasons The virus has shown us just how inter- for this. It is almost exactly a century since connected we are physically and the ex- the Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed tent to which life on Earth is interlinked. millions in the wake of World War I. But it is also important to explore the Even more crucially, like every other mental dimension to this. event, there will be inescapable karmic In the contemporary Western world roots to this disease. This would appear of aggressive individualism, we labour to be a classic illustration of collective under the fatal illusion that we have her- karma in action. The principal purpose metically sealed minds, each one compart- of karma is to compensate and restore mentalized and separated from each other. balance and harmony. It would be all too We are convinced that every mind has easy to crudely interpret this as a punish- its own unique thoughts, that each posses- ment visited on humanity for its apparent ses its own customized perspective on life wickedness. Perhaps it is more of a warn- and that each operates in splendid isola- ing. Or even a lesson. Even though it is tion. This is a total travesty of the truth, impossible for us to dismantle and identify although it remains the prevailing view. the precise karmic causes, we can and Human minds are inextricably entan- should learn from an event of such magni- gled. Not only that, the consciousness of tude and significance. And that lesson is human minds intermingles intricately with interconnectedness and interdependence. that of the other kingdoms of Nature. The Covid-19 has produced its own vast timeless truths enshrined in the Ageless collective thought-form which will linger Wisdom tradition insist that everything is long after the virus itself has been eradi- conscious on its own level as well as inti- cated. We are all affected by this thought- mately interconnected. Therefore, what form and, not only that, we have all been we perceive as separation is an illusion. the architects and builders of it, too. As There was global consciousness long much as we may regard ourselves as indi- before the internet because global con- viduals, humanity has a collective mass sciousness is super-physical. It did not mind. Each of us constantly contributes take a digital revolution to create it. So, to this mental reservoir, but much of our what precisely causes this intimate and input is unconscious. universal interconnectedness? The Ageless Wisdom tradition states It consists of this spiritual substance very clearly that “thoughts are things”. known as the astral or âkâºa, the Sanskrit What happens in our minds shapes the word for ether, or invisible transmission world. Although not as dense and tan- medium. The ether, along with its alter gible as a car or a table, their existence is ego, the astral light, explains our intercon- real and these thoughts persist depending nectedness, and parapsychological psy- on the power we attach to them. Some chic (psi) phenomena such as telepathy
24 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic and clairvoyance as well as out of the At the risk of ridicule and reputational body experiences. Nothing is exempt degradation, a few brave individuals have from it because it is the template for attempted to find evidence for this wider, everything that was, is, and ever will be. interconnected consciousness which unites It is the transmission agent for every us all. Human consciousness is not only individual’s karma in any one life as well intimately entwined with itself but the as dreams, memories, and clairvoyance consciousness of other departments of along with body, mind, and emotional Nature, seen and unseen. fields. It explains why we have numinous This includes not only the animal, feelings for those close to us even at a plant, and mineral kingdoms but the three great distance. associated elemental kingdoms of nature Universal interconnectedness and ubi- spirits, which build these kingdoms, as quitous consciousness are two of the key well as the devic realms. Perhaps we are pillars of the Ageless Wisdom tradition. entering a phase where recognition of and Few people — least of all scientists — cooperation with these invisible empires understand this or indeed the nature of will be possible once again. the human mind itself. Science confines My own thinking has been heavily mind exclusively to the electrochemical influenced by Entangled Minds, the title activity of the brain, but has insurmount- of a seminal book by Dr Dean Radin, who able difficulties in defining what con- is chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic sciousness actually is. This is where the Sciences (IONS). “Noetic”, taken from esoteric teachings prove so valuable, the Greek words noesis/noetikos, means asserting that brain and mind are not direct knowing, inner wisdom, implicit synonymous. understanding — in short, intuition. The view of materialistic science is IONS was founded in 1973 by among that form produces consciousness. Theo- others the astronaut Edgar Mitchell. As sophy asserts the precise opposite — that Mitchell gazed out of the capsule window consciousness is responsible for form. when travelling back to Earth on Apollo The esoteric teachings are in no doubt 14 after his moonwalk in 1971, he had that the mind does not need a brain in a profound spiritual experience. As he order to function. It exists beyond the stared out into the vast cosmos, he expe- physical hardware. It is something we tap rienced the intimate interconnectedness into rather than contain within us. of everything he saw — the stars, the Not all scientists subscribe to the moon, the vastness of the universe, and tunnel-visioned view that reality exists the Earth itself. solely on the physical plane. Nor do Immediately Mitchell realized he had they all believe in a purposeless, ran- to reconcile his scientific training with the dom universe caused by chance cos- wisdom of the ages and create a new mic collisions and “natural selection”. framework to explain the unexplainable
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 25 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic and transcend what he saw as an outdated of data from hundreds of diverse events materialist view of the world. He called around the world from meditation fes- this synthesis, of science and spirituality, tivals, sports events, terrorist outrages, noetic sciences. eclipses, miscellaneous tragedies, and the IONS describes its mission as follows: death of celebrities. Many show eviden- “Our future demands that we explore our ces of them affecting a wider collective inner space with the same rigor and inge- consciousness. nuity as we explore our outer world.” The devices were affected by both One of its most interesting ongoing exper- small local and huge international events. iments is the Global Consciousness Pro- However, major world events such as the ject launched in 1998, although its origins bombing of the Twin Towers in New date back further. It is an international, York on 11 September 2001 produced multidisciplinary collaboration of scien- major fluctuations. tists and engineers. The project involves According to Dr Radin: “The universe the use of random number generators looks less like a big machine than a big placed in locations around the world. thought.” Radin has spent decades study- There are now around seventy of these ing psi and related phenomena including devices known as “eggs” in operation. a form of precognition known as “pre- Based on “quantum tunnelling” these pro- sentiment”. This is “a vague sense or duce completely unpredictable sequences feeling of something about to occur but of zeroes and ones. without any conscious awareness of a However, when big events affect mil- particular event.” lions of people it appears to have a direct In 2004 Dr Radin conducted a series effect on these number generators. IONS of tests in which participants were claims the odds of this happening by measured for electrical activity on their chance are a trillion to one. It believes skin known as epidermal activity (EDA). these experiments suggest there is evi- The participants were shown a series of dence for an emerging noosphere or uni- randomly selected photographs. Interest- fying field of consciousness — exactly ingly, these double-blind experiments the same as that described in the Ageless revealed that EDA was higher before Wisdom teachings. emotional photographs than calm ones, A protype project was running in suggesting the participants were some- 1997 when Princess Diana died in a car how aware of the images before even crash in Paris. The random number gen- seeing them. erators then in use showed marked pat- Cleve Backster (1924–2013), a one- terns of coherence and nonrandomness time specialist in drug- and hypnotism- before, during, and after the event. This based interrogation techniques for the led to the formation of the greater project. Central Intelligence Agency, developed The project has amassed huge amounts a keen interest in the use of polygraph or
26 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic lie detector machines. When he experi- enraged sceptics in the scientific esta- mented with these devices on plants, he blishment who criticised his experiments made the astonishing discovery that not for their lack of repeatability. They have only do plants feel pain, they also have never liked this “spooky action at a dis- extrasensory perception (ESP). tance”, as Albert Einstein described quan- In the 1960s, when he attached elec- tum physics. trodes from the instrument to plants’ The pioneering biologist Dr Rupert leaves, he discovered there was a change Sheldrake (born 1942) has actively dis- in “electrical resistance” when the plant puted science’s purely materialistic ex- was harmed — and more critically — planations of ourselves, the world, and when the plant was threatened with harm. the wider cosmos. He has provided clear When Backster merely imagined burn- evidence of animal to human communi- ing a leaf, the plant showed an immediate cation at a distance. His work, too, is writ- stress response. Many further experi- ten off as pseudoscience by the sceptics iments convinced him that plants demon- but has attracted wider attention from strated telepathic awareness and were the more open-minded. able to perceive human thoughts, emo- In his ground-breaking 1981 book tions, and intentions. He called this “prima- A New Science of Life he proposed the ry perception”; and conducted similar radical new theory of morphic resonance successful polygraph trials on yoghurt operating through morphogenetic, or mor- bacteria, eggs, and human sperm. phic fields. This theory proposes that all His experiments with brine shrimp self-organizing systems, from human were especially revealing. He set up a societies to crystals, inherit a collective series of experiments in which the shrimp memory which shapes both their form were killed by immersion in hot water and behaviour. All human beings both while three plants nearby were monitored tap into this collective memory and con- by polygraph. To avoid the possibility of tribute to it. experimenters unconsciously affecting Individual memory depends on mor- the results, Backster devised a system in phic resonance rather than physical mem- which the shrimp were dumped at ran- ory. Sheldrake’s view is that the brain is dom times unknown to those in the lab. more like a TV receiver than a video Control experiments were also conducted recorder. He wrote: “memories stored in which no shrimp were killed. in our brains” was “only a theory” and When the results were analysed, there “despite decades of research, the pheno- was a “significant correlation” between menon of memory remains mysterious”. the shrimps’ deaths and the galvanic res- Morphic fields organize the bodies of ponses of the plants. animals and plants and coordinate mental Predictably, Backster’s groundbreak- activities in their brains. Crucially, it ing, if not somewhat controversial, work means that minds are extended out of
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 27 Entangled Minds and the Viral Pandemic bodies in both space and time. This idea In order to rule out the dog responding has huge implications both for memory to car sounds or routines, Sheldrake per- and biological inheritance. formed twelve further tests in which her So far-reaching and anti-materialist owner travelled home by taxi or unfamil- was Sheldrake’s book that the senior iar vehicle at randomly selected times. editor of Nature magazine, John Maddox, Gardeners and pet owners especially suggested it was fit to be burned. It was are aware of how their emotions and not. It was widely read. But he has been thoughts affect the plants and animals regularly savaged by individual main- they nurture. Many wild and domesti- stream scientists. However, this has not cated animals are highly sensitive to deterred him from trying to construct a human vibrations. There are some people non-materialistic explanation for every- who instantly repel dogs and cats — usu- day phenomena. And throughout a long ally those who do not like them. Others career Sheldrake has tested his theories can form an instant bond with animals about morphic fields in a number of they have just encountered. intriguing ways. As someone who is fascinated by cats In a pioneering research project in and who has shared much of his life with 1999 he set out to prove that there is a these wonderfully quirky and unpredict- telepathic link between people and their able creatures, I have some rudimentary pets, especially dogs and cats. He sugges- knowledge of feline behaviour and psy- ted that morphic fields were the reason chology. My present companion is a for this. He examined more than a thou- four-year-old black cat called Electra, sand cases of cats and dogs anticipating named after the Greek goddess of the sea their owners’ return and demonstrated clouds. Not only is she probably the most that the animals knew — even when nor- sensitive cat I have ever encountered, we mal time patterns were broken — often share an almost telepathic rapport. When- waiting by a door or window. ever she is sitting on my lap and an angry He filmed numerous tests in which thought or negative emotion happens a dog named Jaytee was continuously to flash through my mind, she instantly observed when her owner was away. leaps off my knee and retreats to the During these tests the dog spent far more other sofa. time at the window when her owner was She is very aware of the power of the returning home than when she was not. mind. And we should be, too. ²
A mind that listens with complete attention will never look for a rrresult because it is constantly unfolding; like a river, it is always in movement...... there is no perpetuation of a self, of a “me”, which is seeking to achieve an end. J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life
28 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect
SHIKHAR AGNIHOTRI
SINCE the title of this article has be- in its grip and forced us humans to make come synonymous with a lot of negative certain lifestyle changes. Even while emotions, I would like to start it with a writing this article, the number of patients totally different approach of hope, grati- is increasing every second in most parts tude, and trust in a divine plan, by quot- of the world. ing the famous philosopher-poet Jalal Although in the past there may have Ad-Din Rumi: been similar situations, none of those people are alive to share their experience This being human is a guest house. firsthand, and, in that sense, this situation Every morning a new arrival. is unprecedented because the way things A joy, a depression, a meanness, are going, it appears as if no one has been some momentary awareness comes prepared to handle this kind of phenome- as an unexpected visitor. . . . non, not even the so-called super powers of the world, or even the richest of the Be grateful for whoever comes, rich. This is because this situation has because each has been sent affected everyone without any distinction as a guide from beyond. of caste, creed, religion, gender, nation- Just like any other year, 2020 started ality, or social status. In a way it can be on a high with many expectations. But called the great equalizer. Yes, there are soon after, everyone found themselves some who are affected more than others, in a situation which no person would have in the sense that their livelihood is affec- imagined to be in. From December 2019 ted tremendously, especially those bre- to May 2020, the world has changed a thren who live from hand to mouth. lot and is still changing. Covid-19, grad- On the one hand, there are stories ually, but steadily, took the whole world of how the virus-infected patients are
Mr Shikhar Agnihotri is an International Lecturer of the Theosophical Society (TS), Adyar, and a National Lecturer of the Indian Section of the TS. He resides at and works for the TS Adyar International Headquarters as their Executive Assistant to the General Manager.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 29 Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect left alone and not cared for by their own As we can see all around, due to this family members (due to fear of getting virus, the daily life activities have changed infected themselves), showing us the real a lot for most people. People are becom- face of selfishness. This behaviour is ing restless due to the fact that they are justified by many as self-preservation, not able to go back to their normal life. It which has become the basis of our so- is understandable in those cases where a called loving relations, and not the self- person has to go out to work to earn the less, sacrificing love. daily bread. But those who by their karma On the other hand, the stories of are so placed that they do not have to doctors, health care workers who are worry about livelihood, even they are working tirelessly among the patients, having pangs of anxiety and depression volunteers risking their own life, catering to such an extent that they need psycho- to the needs of those who have no resour- logists to treat them. Why? Is it because ces, still gives the hope that humankind that during all this time they were taught is not yet beyond redemption. It is times that the purpose of life is to get ahead of like these that bring out the real character others to be called successful? of an individual and provide an opportu- Now they see how erroneous that idea nity to either accelerate or retard growth. was and are having difficulty assimilating The current situation is still very un- it,even though they were ahead of others. certain but we can have a holistic view But this virus has brought everyone to of the situation and make some observa- the same level, there is no longer the sense tions of the pre- and post-Covid-19 eras. of competition and there is no one else Out of this event a new normal is evolving but oneself to be with. There is no longer because everything is just an event as per excitement or pride in possessing the Nature’s laws. “Good” or “bad” are only world’s most desired objects because the labels given by the human mind depend- priorities have changed now. It is this fact ing upon the profit or loss from the event. that is making the psyche uncomfortable A large population of the world, includ- when a person has to come face-to-face ing the leaders of various countries, blame with oneself, realizing that all that he it on a particular country. Although im- worked for means nothing when it comes partial investigation is required, if we let to life and death, and the concept of being ourselves be blinded by any emotional exclusive or special has disappeared. opinion, we will not be able to find a It is quite interesting to note that in holistic solution, because any cause or Patanjali’s Yoga-Sutras there is mention effect cannot stand in isolation. There of pratyâhâra as one of the eight limbs is always a chain of causes and effects, of Yoga. It implies that a student with- one leading to another. So, our approach draws the attention of all his senses from should be to avoid blaming anyone and the outside world (understanding the im- look at the situation objectively. permanence of the physical world) and
30 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect tries to go within, just like a tortoise with- the mind changes its ways for a while, draws all its limbs inside. and when things become normal again, It seems that Nature has put everyone the mind goes back to its old ways, for- in the world in a similar situation where getting the consequences of past actions. one must go within and ask the questions: Therefore it takes “long term suffer- “What is really needed to live happily?” ing” to leave its mark on our psyche, to “Is this the right way, where objects are change our habits once and for all. This loved and people are used?” “Is this the is exactly the kind of situation that has right way, where ambition and material been provided by Nature now: where the wealth is given more importance than lockdown that initially seemed to be for loving relationships?” “Is it the right way a few days is going to stay for a while, that in the name of (unnecessary) deve- and even when it is lifted gradually there lopment we go on exploiting and destroy- is going to be a different world out there. ing Nature?” And if we think it is the right I assume by now that most of us must way, then we should as well be ready for have received thousands of messages with more such disasters in the future because respect to medical, psychological, econo- there is the Law that is ever working and mical, and spiritual changes that we should guiding the events of this world, and that adopt. So, leaving the finer details to our is the law of cause and effect. wise readers, I wish to share the two basic All these questions are to be asked and changes in our psyche that are required: followed up to bring about a change in our 1) Change of motive: We must move approach towards Life as a whole, to lead from selfishness to selflessness. Because to a more sustainable growth. We should it is greed/apathy/shortsightedness born also not be under the fallacy that nothing out of selfishness that is the cause of im- will happen to us because this virus has balance in Nature, and she knows exactly also demonstrated the interdependence how to bring it back to normalcy. The and interconnectedness of all beings. species that become a threat to the ex- This again proves there is one Life, one istence of others are wiped out from the Consciousness, of which there are differ- face of the Earth. It has happened in the ent expressions. The causes initiated by past, it is happening at present, and if one part inevitably affect the whole. humans do not mend their ways, it will However, here comes the challenge happen again in the future. in the form of a very peculiar habit of If one is the head of a country/state/ the human mind. When there are good organization, one needs to make policies times, the mind totally relaxes and which are environment-friendly, develop carelessly indulges in the kind of lifestyle a holistic view of management, and encour- which is injurious to oneself in the long age the discoveries in science that make term and also to the whole fibre of Life. the whole environment more sustainable But when suffering knocks on the door, and generous for all, rather than being
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 31 Corona: An Opportunity to Introspect exploitative and profitable for a few. fearing it: Another understanding that As an individual, one can contribute we can derive from this event is our ap- to this enormous task by becoming more proach to death. Never before has anyone sensitive to everyone and everything been surrounded so intimately by death. round, by placing the larger good ahead It is not that people were not dying before, of the individual good, and by replacing but the numbers were so much lower and selfishness with all-encompassing Love. out of sight that our mind was clever In short, the motive of our actions has enough to reject the idea of death ever to be transformed because it is the motive happening to oneself. that is the real cause which influences the But with the present situation the real- effect. From “Of what use can this world ity of death is showing itself wherever we be to me?” our approach must change to place our attention. Though a very alarm- “Of what use can I be to this world?” This ing picture is depicted, it is, at the same world includes everything: from oneself, time, a very opportune moment for all family, community, country, and the planet. seek-rs of truth, to experience this whole Maybe that is why Confucius said: process of death and the fear involved To put the world in order, we must first in it. Try to go deeper and check whether put the nation in order; to put the nation in this fear has any foundation or is merely order, we must first put the family in order; based on some deep-rooted superstitions to put the family in order, we must first in the subconscious, ignorance, or illu- cultivate our personal life; we must first sion of losing one’ s possessions. set our hearts right. Death is just another event in life. It is Setting our hearts right, or the transfor- the approach towards life that is more mation in the motive, is exactly the need important. Lord Buddha never tried to of the hour. But this approach will not be prevent the physical death of the boy possible unless one realizes that the basic Chattaat at the hands of the dacoits fibre of every form is One. One Life is who were going to kill him on the way. ensouling different forms that are acting Instead, he taught him three stanzas on based upon the laws governing matter the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and and spirit. So, no matter how much chaos Sangha, and made him take the five pre- or struggle or uncertainty is visible all cepts. Singing those stanzas made his around, there is a method in that madness, mind so full of joy that even while dying and there is a reason and an indelible link he was joyful. in all events and the forms that are affec- The cycle of birth and death will go on ted by those events. Nothing can touch a and on, but wisdom lies in what is our state person that one has not earned. Nothing of consciousness while dying. Death will can be taken away that one has earned. come when it has to come, but let us try not to die of fear before the arrival of physical 2) Understanding death instead of death, but try meeting it as a friend. ²
32 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 FFFragments of the Ageless Wisdom
Fragments of the Ageless Wisdom
Ye that will tread the Middle Road, whose course Bright Reason traces and soft Quiet smoothes; Ye who will take the high Nirvana-way List the Four Noble Truths. The First Truth is of Sorrow. Be not mocked! Life which ye prize is long-drawn agony: Only its pains abide; its pleasures are As birds which light and fly.... Sweet is fond Love, but funeral-flames must kiss The breasts which pillow and the lips which cling; Gallant is warlike Might, but vultures pick The joints of chief and King. ... The Second Truth is Sorrow’s Cause. What grief Springs of itself and springs not of Desire? Senses and things perceived mingle and light Passion’s quick spark of fire: ... So grow the strifes and lusts which make Earth’s war, So grieve poor cheated hearts and flow salt tears; So wax the passions, envies, angers, hates; So years chase blood-stained years with wild red feet. ... And drugged with poisonous drink the soul departs, And fierce with thirst to drink Karma returns; Sense-struck again the sodden self begins, And new deceits it earns. The Third is Sorrow’s Ceasing. This is peace — To conquer love of self and lust of life, To tear deep-rooted passion from the breast, To still the inward strife; ... Then Sorrow ends, for Life and Death have ceased; How should lamps flicker when their oil is spent? The old sad count is clear, the new is clean; Thus hath a man content.
Vol. 141.10, June 2020 33 The Theosophist FFFragments of the Ageless Wisdom
The Fourth Truth is The Way. It openeth wide, Plain for all feet to tread, easy and near, The Noble Eightfold Path; it goeth straight To peace and refuge. Hear! ... So is the Eightfold Path which brings to peace; By lower or by upper heights it goes. The firm soul hastes, the feeble tarries. All Will reach the sunlit snows. The First good Level is Right Doctrine. Walk In fear of Dharma, shunning all offence; In heed of Karma, which doth make man’s fate; In lordship over sense. The Second is Right Purpose.Have good-will To all that lives, letting unkindness die And greed and wrath; so that your lives be made Like soft airs passing by. The Third is Right Discourse. Govern the lips As they were palace-doors, the King within; Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words Which from that presence win. The Fourth is Right Behavior. Let each act Assoil a fault or help a merit grow: Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads Let love through good deeds show. Four higher roadways be. Only those feet May tread them which have done with earthly things; Right Purity, Right Thought, Right Loneliness, Right Rapture. Spread no wings For sunward flight, thou soul with unplumed vans! Sweet is the lower air and safe, and known The homely levels: only strong ones leave The nest each makes his own. ... Enter the Path! There spring the healing streams Quenching all thirst! there bloom th’ immortal flowers Carpeting all the way with joy! there throng Swiftest and sweetest hours! Sir Edwin Arnold The Light of Asia
34 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Question 6: Why? Question 6: Why???***
RAMI SHAPIRO
I ALMOST dropped the question “Why?” geously in service to universal justice and from the questions asked in this series of compassion. essays, and the only reason it is included Asking “How shall I live?” offers us is that it is asked of me over and over again. a compass that allows us to continually The reason I thought to drop it is not be- adjust our walk so that we are always cause it is not a legitimate question, but moving toward justice and compassion. because it is a distracting one. But what does asking “Why?” do for us? Asking “Who am I?” leads us to the I am not sure it does anything at all. Or realization that we are so much more than at least, nothing essential. In fact, asking the smaller self can imagine, and as we “Why?” might distract us from all that we come to see ourselves as the many faces have learned thus far. of the singular Self, we are freed from A rabbi once told me: the fear and anxiety the smaller self suf- “Why?” is the greatest question a believer fers, and the ignorance, arrogance, and can ask, because when we ask “Why?” we violence that often comes from that fear have to step beyond ourselves and into and anxiety. God. God is the only answer to the ques- Asking “Where did I come from?” tion “Why?”. It is not the best answer or awakens us to the interdependence of all the wisest answer, but the only answer. the living, in the singular process of the If it is not about God, it is about nothing. Life that is all life. And as we awaken to our shared origins we realize our shared This very powerful statement resonates responsibility for person and planet. with me, but not the way the rabbi in- Asking “Where am I going?” shows tended. For him God is other, trans- us that we arise in and return to our truest cendent. God is the Creator who stands Self, that there is nothing to fear regard- outside creation to judge it and determine ing death, and because we are free to its fate. God is the Chooser who chose die fearlessly we are free to live coura- the Jews and set aside the Land of Israel
Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an eminent author, teacher, and speaker on the subjects of liberal Judaism and contemporary spirituality. * This is the sixth and final essay offered since Oct. 2018 that is adapted from the author’s book, Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 35 Question 6: Why? as their eternal inheritance. For him God (how I got in I still cannot fathom) my spir- is the One to whom we must seek solace itual life was defined by a multitude of and guidance. But, not for me. practices, some Jewish, some not. I no I was raised with this God. I was taught longer believed in the tribal marketing of that God chose the Jews above all the Chosen People and Promised Land. I no other peoples, and gave us the opportu- longer took refuge in Torah alone, and nity to fulfill the 613 commandments found wisdom in the Gospels, the Gitâ, our rabbis culled from the Torah. I the Tao Te Ching, and other texts as well. was promised that if we Jews lived And even as my knowledge of Judaism these commandments rains would fall deepened, so did my knowledge of the in the proper season, the Earth would other wisdom traditions: religious, liter- yield her bounty, and justice would ary, and scientific. replace cruelty. Nothing has changed. I am no less And yet I was also taught that our a religious hybrid today than I was people, seemingly through no fault of forty years ago. In fact I am more so. their own, were exiled from their Land, While I continue to identify as Jew cul- and doomed to wander the Earth hounded turally, and while I still find the language by Gentiles who saw them only as pawns of Judaism to be my religious mother to be used in the service to power, or tongue, I am multilingual and spiritually pawns to be abused as a stand-in for open. I am, as my teacher and rebbe power. And I was taught that God allowed Zalman Schachter-Shalomi once said six million of us — most of whom were about himself, a Jewish practitioner of pious people who kept the command- universal truth. And that truth is the ments — to die torturous deaths at the Perennial Wisdom. hands of the Nazis. I am sharing all this with you because And I stopped believing. It was not I want to make it clear that I, no less than simply the issue of evil (theodicy) that the Chief Rabbis of Israel, the Ayattolahs drove me to disbelief. It was alternative of Iran, the Pope in Rome, or the Dalai beliefs. I began meditating at age 16 and Lama in Dharamsala, am a believer. within less than a year I knew for certain I believe that God is the source and that Reality was other than what my substance of all reality. I believe that you rabbis had taught. I knew beyond doubt and I and all beings, sentient and other- that all life was an expression of the wise, are expressions of this non-dual rea- singular Life I called and continue to lity. I believe that we arise in this reality call God. By the time I was in college and call that birth, and return to it and I was a student of Hillel, Jesus, Buddha, call that death. I believe that because we Lao Tzu, Mohammad, Rumi, Ramakrishna, are all one interconnected and interdepen- and others. dent whole, the only rational way to live By the time I entered rabbinical school with one another is to live for the mutual
36 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Question 6: Why? well-being of one another. And I believe somewhere other than Life, and therefore that things are the way they are because live in a manner that is in the world but not at the moment they are anything at all as of the world. But I do not believe any of it. they could not be anything but what I do believe that rocks are poor meaning- they are. Which brings me back to the makers, and that horses are not that much question: “Why?” better. I also believe that the laws of Many people find my understanding Nature are inherently amoral. And if sad, fatalistic, and, even nihilistic. I dis- I believed that human beings were not agree with all three assessments. When natural I would then say with the nihilists I realize that this moment is the moment that life is meaningless and amoral. But it is because of the trillions upon trillions life is us. Humanity is no less a part of of moments that came before it stretching Nature than rocks, but unlike rocks we back some 13.8 billion years, I am over- humans make meaning and create moral- whelmed with wonder. Do not mistake ity. Humanity is the way life is meaning- me for saying that the universe intended ful and moral. this moment for me, or intended me for I am not saying that the Big Bang had this moment — that would be egoism on humans in mind when it exploded, or that steroids. I am saying that in this moment evolution is designed to produce meaning- and this place, I am an expression of 13.8 making and moral beings, only that once billion years of happening. I am not 62 it does, Nature is intrinsically meaningful years old, but 13.8 billion years old! and moral. True there is no one meaning When I say that this moment cannot or moral system inherent in the world, be other than what it is, I am not denying but that is not the point. The point is that free will, choice, or randomness, but we humans are the way Nature invents simply saying that all the free will, choice, meaning, the same way we are the way and randomness that was, has produced Nature invents iPads. The only way we this moment just as it is, and I had nothing can speak of life as being meaningless is to do with it. In this moment I am adding if we remove humans from Nature, and a bit of free will, choice, and randomness that is something I just cannot do. to the moment that will be next, and if I Given all of this, then, how do I an- am not humbled by this, I’m less alive swer the question “Why?” Because. than a stone. In modern Hebrew we have a phrase, As for the charge of nihilism, I find it Lama? Kakha: “Why? Because”. Not alluring but in the end, false. A nihilist is “because I said so”, or “because God wills one who believes that life is intrinsically it”, or “because it is your karma or fate meaningless, and lacking in inherent moral or destiny”, just kakha, “because”. Kakha values. I could make this assertion only can also be translated as “just so”: Things if I believed that I am other than Life, came are just the way they are because they from somewhere else than Life, am going cannot be other than the way they are.
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 37 Question 6: Why? This is what the Book of Job is trying to Because given what is at this moment, tell us. Job suffers because suffering what happens must happen. is part of the divine play. You do not Because. deserve it and you cannot escape it, you Because you are not free to change can only accept it and move on. what is, only what is next. Such an answer does not leave much Because. room for further conversation, and that Because this is not the best of all pos- is the point. Discussing “Why?” is an sible worlds, it is the only possible world. endless conversation that tends to get Lama? Kakha. more and more removed from the world. Once you understand who you are, Post Script where you came from, where you are The purpose of these six essays is going, and how you should live, the to spark and deepen a conversation. The question “Why?” is somewhat irrelevant. conversation does not have to end now To avoid getting trapped in “Why?” that the essays are completed. Nothing without ignoring those who continue to I have said is meant to shut down discus- ask “Why?” I am ending this series of sion, or foreclose debate. While I have essays with a simple litany of “because” shared my understanding of the Perennial that comes from no one other than myself. Wisdom, there are other interpretations I am not asking you to stop asking “Why?” one can seek out. And, more importantly, but only that you put the question aside there is your own opinion, your own an- until you have answered/realized the swers to these five existential questions. answers to the other four questions. And Your answers may change over time. when you do, I suspect you will find ask- What matters is not that we all settle on ing the fifth question totally unnecessary. one set of answers, but that the conver- Because. sation continues. For me, conversation Because if this moment could be other — honest, thoughtful, rational, and pas- than it is, it would be. sionate conversation — is the key to Because. human maturation, and the survival not Because if you could be other than only of our species but the Earth that you are this moment, you would be. birthed us. Keep thinking. Keep question- Because. ing. Keep talking. ²
Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake? Leonardo da Vinci
38 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Theosophical Work around the World
In a span of weeks, ATA students have worked on an array of activities, ranging from self-portraits, conversations, sculpting and story-telling to no-fire cooking
Vol. 141.10, July 2020 The Theosophist 39 Theosophical Work around the World
ATA’s virtual classes are as colourful and inspired as the in-person sessions: screenshots of UKG students showcasing their “Hungry Caterpillar”, the “Thirsty Crow” getting a makeover, an LKG student displaying his leaf-lacing activity and a round-up of creations from other classes
40 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 Theosophical Work around the World Theosophical Work around the World
ATA — Online Learning and the turnout has been an impressive The Adyar Theosophical Academy array, such as paper planes and yachts. Sto- (ATA) celebrated its first birthday on 24 ries are amplified by puppetry and props. June 2020 on a virtual platform to remem- Grade children’s interactions are al- ber a year spent in creativity surrounded most as lively as a real classroom, holding by Nature, where children and teachers an element of surprise and excitement, be celebrated life, the arts, and the delight it stories, songs, or fun brain-gym activi- of being together. ATA’s first year was ties such as playing games to tap into both cut short due to Coronavirus. But taking sides of their grey matter. In just a week’s a cue from the children and their intui- time, they learned to faithfully fill in their tive adapting capabilities, ATA took the journals where they draw, write about what plunge into online learning. The goal and they did and how they felt. Numbers and vision remain: a learner-centric approach sounds of letters are learnt through asso- that integrates transformative learning. ciation of stories and objects. Children Keeping in mind these challenging times laugh while wrestling with tongue-twisters and the difficulties it poses to children and and learning consonant blends, filling their parents, ATA has prioritized socio- them with a sense of positivity and well- emotional support in their virtual in- being. Grade 2 concludes their session teractions. The objective is to ensure that with a round of music appreciation, and schooling continues in a way conducive to through painting and drawing. learning life skills from home. So school- Grade 3 has embarked on an explo- ing was restarted on June 11 on a virtual ration of Africa. They are currently en- platform with a heartwarming reception, gaged in mapping the continent’s food, even from the youngest students, who culture and history through folk tales, quickly took to meeting and greeting songs, and its rich dance heritage. Stu- their friends via their computers. dents are also engaged in science pep- Rhymes, stories, and elaborate discus- pered with stories, rhymes, intriguing sions on the characters are being transla- questions, and crafting; stories sparking ted into art activities engaging students off animated discussions and activi- on the story and widening their understand- ties that spin off help them ponder over ing of characters and themes. Simple ex- themes of empathy and courage. periments with home-based ingredients By cultivating journaling with support feed their curiosity. The kindergarteners from stories, songs, games, and activi- cannot get enough of their teachers and ties that engage their senses, ATA hopes their session is invariably extended. Their to provide a space for children to emote assignments are playful, such as crafting, and share in these trying times. ²
July 2020 The Theosophist 41 mail.com @g [email protected] .of [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] sociedadteosoficachile [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] tsfr Email address [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] gentina Ar eosófica African Theosophist eosófica Chilena est eozófia eozofija eosofi eosofía en The W Revista T Gangleri T Selección T The South African Theosophist The Light Bearer Magazine Newsletter Ilisos Theosofi T Le Lotus Bleu The Theosophical Light The Indian Theosophist Sophia T Adyar Le Lotus Bleu Theosofie Adyar T Esoterica Theosophy in Australia … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … A hlkreis ü s (1405) Auckland é ve, 09, A W ADOR estlands, , Kamachha, V 02/ R W T .Lothbury SAL t., 106 71-Athens ironkatu 7 C 2, Fin 00170, , BC V , EL ve, cnr A venue, No. 03-04 ves. 12–14, S.E. San Jos ancouver venue Centre, Singapore 387 603 A V A A oukourestiou S treatley aranasi 221 010 Theosophical Society V Park, Johannesburg PO Box 91523 North Estacion Central, Santiago Desa Purwodadi, Kecamatan 67163 Pasuruan, Jawa Timur Nairobi, Kenya V CEP 70200-630 Brasilia (DF) Bagmari Road, Kolkata 700 054 Helsinki Mejia, Poligono, E-7 Mejicanos, San Salvador Sims San Juan Puerto Rico Apartado 23 00926 eosofinen Seura, PO Box 720, Accra, Ghana Colonia Universitaria Norte, Calle Julio Casilla 11 Sucursal Paseo Estacion, Calle 38, PO Box 1257 Ingolfsstraeti 22, 121 Reykjavik H-1085 Budapest, Horánszky u. 27. fsz. 10 Carrera 6, # 56-40, Bogotá (Chapinero Alto) 97 Mountsandel Road, Coleraine, UK BT52 1T 31 S # 12-1475 Deep Cove Rd. 25 Pje. Florencio Balcarce 71, Buenos Aire Dsn. Parelegi no. 21, R Address Siget 11, 10000 Zagreb, Republic of Croatia Place des Gueux 8, B1000 Brussels PO Box 14525. 00800, 540 Sims B/4-3, Iswarchandra Nibas, 68/1, Pasaje Jauregui No. 2255, La Paz SGAS Quadra 603, N. 20, The Hauptstr. 39, 93138 Lappersdorf 4 Square Rapp, 75007 Paris Apartado de Correos 6365, La Habana 10600 T Calle Santa Agueda 1652 Les Chalet Col Oberbaumgarten 25, 4204 Haibach im M 50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA Level 2, 162 Goulburn St., Surry Hills, NSW 2010 … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … I N T E R A O L D C Y I N T E R A O L D C Y I N T E R A O L D C Y I N T E R A O L D C Y I N T E R A O L D C Y
rez é , etc. an Osta . Fernández P V uononvirta V Aguayo V ictor Sonia Montecinos Rojas Darko Majstorovic Jón Ellert Benediktsson Pradeep H. Gohil V Mr Mr John Osmond Boakye Mrs Beatriz Elisena Mrs Ligia Montiel Mr Mr Mr Janos Szabari Mr Antonio Martinez Mrs Marie Harkness Mr Desmond Chapman Mrs Maryse DeCoste Dr Alexandros Bousoulengas Mr Sergio Carvalho de Moraes,Jr Mr Widyatmoko Mr Carlos General Secretary Mr Narendra M. Shah Mr Chong Sanne Mr B. L. Bhattacharya Mrs Sabine Mrs Mr Mrs Manuela Kaulich Mrs Jeannine (Nano) Leguay Mr Esteban Langlois Mr Janne Mrs Magaly Polanco Mr Albert Schichl Mrs Jenny Baker Mrs Linda Oliveira … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Martinez Pozas … … … … … … … est p W Central Central * India America, Africa, Costa Rica † Iceland Chile * Hungary † Colombia † Ireland * Africa, South Canada * Greece Indonesia Cuba Section Africa, East and Asia, East and Bangladesh † Belgium Bolivia Croatia Germany Brazil France Argentina Southeast † Finland Dominican Rep. † Austria * England Australia ate 891 928 1 1929 1956 1997 1921 1920 1907 1937 1919 1909 1924 1 1912 1905 D 1947 1920 1990 2013 1911 1965 2007 1902 1920 1899 1907 1987 1912 1888 1895
42 The Theosophist Vol. 141.10, July 2020 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] imbr enie eosofia [email protected] [email protected] pr eosófico isdom Africa. Email: idlös V eosoficheskoe Obozr eozofska Misel (The Theosophical Review) Sophia T The Lotus Heraldo T Or Circles T Svitoch T The Quest The Karachi Theosophist Rivista Italiana di T Osiris The Sri Lanka Theosophist Theosofia Sophia Búsqueda TheoSophia The Philippine Theosophist 70200-630 – Brazil. Email: Australia Email: … … … … … … … … . … … … … … … … … … … … , , CEP Lodge attached to Adyar p 1018 indsor E 2194, South treets, W , 14 abacalera T Amsterdam Stockholm . 06030 region venue, Ascona, CH-6612 Adeta A o, 10 B, 1150-202 Lisboa VM eyseer Services Company ã ve. Orlando, Florida, treet, Concord, 2137, Sydney 76, v T fica de Portugal, A , ê ó Abidjan 23 ., BP alldoreix(Spain) , 85-87 ork , Manila , LL61 6NX UK eos Est , Moscow V icenza ficer .T Y é T V Presidential Agency . Florentino and Iba S † . 3924, Miss Trân-Thi-Kim-Diêu, 67 Rue des Pommiers, F-45000 Orleans, France. Email: all d’or A.R.T .O. Box 2431, Doha V P 08197 - San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-1766 Mytischi 36100 Casilla de Correos 1553, Montevideo Piso 12, Apto. 122 – Caracas Anglesey Rua Jos B. P . ia Collina 19, 6612 iale Quintino Sella, 83/E, v Republica de Portugal 152, Breña, Lima 5 opougon, 23 Rue Princesse olsraat 154, 1074 32803-1838, USA Quezon City Apartado 36-1766 Correo General. PO Box 9114, Ramat-Gan, Israel 5219002 1606 New Crewing Of 28 Great King Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6QH Kajuhova UI 9, 3000 Celje Karla Plan 5 B, 11460 V Office 3, 7-A Zhylianska St., Kiev 01033 159-52, Novomytischinsky prospekt, PO Box 270, Wheaton, IL 60187-0270 Av S.O., Jamshed Memorial Hall, M. A. Jinnah Road, Ignacio Mariscal 126, Col. V Sociedade 146 Anderson Rd, Dehiwala, opp. Radio Pakistan, Karachi 74200 Javier Barrios Amorín 1085, Romualda a Socarrás, Edif. de Oro Mexicana, Mexico, D.F T Bryn Adda, Brynsiencyn, Llanfairpwll, Y Carandayty 572, 1621, Asunción 18, Belvedere Street, Epsom, Auckland 1051 A Corner P Ulriksborgveien 10, 1533 Moss … … … . … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Chairperson: om Davis, 9 Ronean, 38 Princess T ocieties: Mrs Isis M. B. Resende, SGAS 603 conj. E s/n. Brasilia-DF Mr Mr Gerard Brennan, 42 Melbourne S anigasekera Regional Association orra Buron * esident: orales T W T Pr orstermans esident: V Pr A. L. Chairman: Angels
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