Happy Birthday Harvey

Congrats on making it to 65. It sounds like you are the rest of us -- the price of the candles is getting to be more than the price of the cake!

Happy Birthday, Lanoo!

Thank you, Nick & Jon. Yes, time catches up with us all. But at least with this birthday I should get a nice present from the British Government. My first monthly state pension payment.

Last week I woke up with a very sore foot (could be gout, an old man's complaint) and I am hobbling about like an old man of 65!

No doubt Noone would comfort me with the thought that the gout and my foot don't really exist.

Gout? Isn't that a rich man's disease? Nice work!

I tested negative for gout, so not so rich. But the test isn't conclusive, so who knows? I carry on as normal, and if I have a recurrence then I will need to watch my diet. No more port and cigars!

Harvey,

You and A. P. Sinnett have something in common!

"The brandy atmosphere in the house is dreadful." KH

Actually, I drink very little alcohol; I've never smoked a cigar in my life, and no cigarettes for the last 50 years. Perhaps I've indulged in too many Indian take-aways, though.

Harvey,

At least you have something else in common with A. P. Sinnett -- Theosophy.

Congrats on making progress with the alcohol and tobacco. I also have never smoked. I had my last beer eight years ago, and I don't miss it at all.

It's been thirteen and a half years since I gave up alcohol, but prior I had enough for all three of us. Been over twenty since I gave up the smokes..

Hi all,

Some people say that enlightenment is just a state of mind, we just have to get ourselves into the right frame of mind, and we will achieve enlightenmnet. I disagree. I think there are several things that must be accomplished before enlightenment, and giving up intoxicants is one of them. (I wonder if people agree with me.)

Mebbe I'll take a page out of noone's book and say you are already all that you are. But as though the sun is always shining, clouds obscure our vision. And intoxicants are some of the darkest clouds around.

Our physical bodies interpenetrate with our subtle bodies. If our consciousness is fixed firmly in the physical, then we won't have much success developing the spiritual. Indulging the physical senses, whether it be alcohol, nicotine, narcotics, excessive food, or sex without love, keeps our vibrations low. If we want to be more in tune with the spiritual, we need to raise our vibrations.

So, Nick, I don't think we have to give up on these things (HPB seemed to be hooked on smoking) but it will make it easier if we do.

Harvey,

I agree. But on the other hand, any dependence on such things will create discomfort for us after we pass away. And when the time comes for us to enter nirvana, I believe we will have to give up all such things entirely (the idea being that we should try to start now and spread it out over a longer time, instead of suddenly trying to go cold turkey just before entering nirvana, failing, and then delaying our entry into nirvana).

This also begs the question: Are there any earthly Initiations of Chelas that require abstinance of these things?

The question of HPB's constant use of tobacco is an important one. But it is said that she was a special case, arranged and allowed by the Mahatmas for a special reason, and that we 'ordinary humans' do not fall into this group of special cases. (We can only wonder if her 'addiction' to tobacco followed her into the afterlife, and this is a very real question. Did she suffer any discomfort in the afterlife due to not having a physical body to use to satisfy any residual cravings for tobacco?) But then there are also people who disagree with this 'special cases' theory entirely. Clearly, we don't have the final answer on this.

HPB was a gifted medium, but she wasn't a perfect channel for the Masters. We shouldn't try to judge others, but perhaps she would have been a better channel without the tobacco.