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Theosophists Beyond Organizations

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Nicholas

Posted: Sep 1 2008, 03:27 AM

Unregistered

For example, Father Damien, about whom HPB wrote:

QUOTE

Father Damien is a true Theosophist in daily life and practice--the latter the greatest ideal of every genuine follower of the Wisdom-religion.

Here is Wiki on this saintly man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien

QUOTE

Self-sacrifice for practical good to save many, or several people, Theosophy holds as far higher than self-abnegation for a sectarian idea, such as that of "saving the heathen from damnation," for instance. In our opinion, Father Damien, the young man of thirty who offered his whole life in sacrifice for the benefit and alleviation of the sufferings of the lepers at Molokai, and who went to live for eighteen years alone with them, to finally catch the loathsome disease and die, has not died in vain. He has given relief and relative happiness to thousands of miserable wretches. He has brought to them consolation, mental and physical. He threw a streak of light into the black and dreary night of an existence, the hopelessness of which is unparalleled in the records of human suffering. He was a true Theosophist, and his memory will live for ever in our annals.� [HPB in The Key to Theosophy]

On Oct. 11, 2009 the Pope will make Father Damien a Saint.

Nicholas	Posted: Sep 1 2008, 05:06 PM
Unregistered	Another Theosophist brought forth the ancient Kriya Yoga practices for the benefit of all. Lahiri Mahasay's body died in 1895. http://www.sanskritclassics.com/completeworks.htm

Nicholas	Posted: Oct 20 2008, 06:53 PM
Unregistered	Samdhong Rinpoche, a life member of the Adyar TS and a great man. Here is an excellent book of his: http://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=169

Nicholas

Posted: Oct 29 2008, 05:18 PM

Unregistered

QUOTE

The age of true philosophy is no more. In consequence of very extended natural discoveries, trade and commerce have increased; while abstract investigations, have necessarily declined: so that modern enquiries, never rise above sense; and every thing is despised, which does not in some respect or other, contribute to the accumulation of wealth; the gratification of childish admiration; or the refinements of corporeal delight.

Thomas Taylor, the Platonist (1758�1835).

Here is a sample of his translations:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/index.htm

Nicholas	Posted: Apr 21 2009, 12:25 AM
Unregistered	Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803). Here is his work Man: His True Nature and Ministry, translated from the French by Edward B. Penny. http://www.moup.org/Files/MAN_HIS_TRUE_NAT...ND_MINISTRY.pdf

Nicholas

Posted: Jun 16 2009, 08:12 PM

Unregistered

From the beginning of Man, his True Nature:

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The human understanding, by applying itself so exclusively to outward things, of which it cannot even yet give a satisfactory account, knows less of the nature of Man's own being even than of the visible objects around him; yet, the moment man ceases to look at the true character of his intimate essence, he becomes quite blind to the eternal Divine Source from which he descends: for, if Man, brought back to his primitive elements, is the only true witness and positive sign by which this supreme Universal Source may be known, that source must necessarily be effaced, when the only mirror that can represent it to our minds, disappears.

Then, when praiseworthy writers and well-meaning defenders of truth try to prove that there is a God, and deduce from His existence all its necessary consequences, as they no longer find this human soul sufficiently in harmony to serve as a witness, they go back to Nature, and to speculation taken from the external order. Hence, many excellent spirits in modern times have made use of all the resources of logic, and put every external science under contribution in their endeavours firmly to establish the existence of Divinity; and yet, notwithstanding these numerous testimonies, never was atheism more in fashion...

The only initiation which I preach and seek with all the ardour of my soul is that by which we may enter into the heart of God, and make God's heart enter into us, there to form an indissoluble marriage, which will make us the friend, brother, and spouse of our Divine Redeemer [�the violent take it by force:' Matt. xi. 12.]. There is no other mystery, to arrive at this holy initiation, than to go more and more into the depths of our being, and not let go till we can bring forth the living, vivifying root, because then all the fruit we ought to bear, according to our kind, will be produced within us and without us naturally; as we see is the case with earthly trees, because they are adherent to their own roots, and incessantly draw in their sap.

mensagitat	Posted: Jun 17 2009, 04:16 AM
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 346 Member No.: 541 Joined: 18-May 08	... It's alright Ma, it's life and life only. -------------------- Per mare, per terras

DavidC	Posted: Sep 13 2009, 11:20 AM
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 214 Member No.: 518 Joined: 16-April 08	One thing I found out when reading neo-Theosophy, some of which may be good and some of which is not reasonable enough, is that 'perennial Philosophy' is a term for what Theosophy is. It is what ancient/Classical Greek theosophy was, and it is a synonym for 'the eternal law' (the meaning of 'Sanatana Dharma,' i.e. 'Hinduism') and other things. This is an interesting thread. I just wanted to recommend that besides looking for interesting philosophers/etc. one could look for ones that have the ideas of perennial Philosophy. That would be a specific person that may have invented the term in about the 1600s or also maybe some 1800s or later Theosophists using the term... I do not accept that science & religion are separate from Philosophy and wonder if there are/were some other Theosophists who do so... and they may have used that term.

Nick the Pilot	Posted: Sep 14 2009, 12:28 PM
Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 3,136 Member No.: 1 Joined: 15-October 05	David, I think you and I are on the same "wavelength" regarding this topic. Theosophy is the Ancient Wisdom. I think that it is unchanging as well as ancient. I think "chunks" of it are periodically re-released every several centuries or so, so it seems like new information each time. But I think it is just old ideas in new dress. -------------------- Madame Blavatsky�s aim was to rescue the archaic truths in organized religions which always become distorted and perverted as the centuries go by.

Nicholas

Posted: Dec 14 2009, 06:33 AM

Unregistered

George W Russell (AE) (1867�1935) the Irish poet, artist, psychic and theosophist; writes on study - inner and outer:

QUOTE

Shadow and Substance

Many are the voices that entreat and warn those who would live the life of the Magi. It is well they should speak. They are voices of the wise. But after having listened and pondered, oh, that someone would arise and shout into our souls how much more fatal it is to refrain. For we miss to hear the fairy tale of time, the aeonian chant radiant with light and color which the spirit prolongs. The warnings are not for those who stay at home, but for those who adventure abroad. They constitute an invitation to enter the mysteries. We study and think these things were well in the happy prime and will be again the years to come. But not yesterday only or tomorrow�today, today burns in the heart the fire which made mighty the heroes of old. And in what future will be born the powers which are not quick in the present? It will never be a matter of greater ease to enter the path, though we may well have the stimulus of greater despair. For this and that there are times and seasons, but for the highest it is always the hour. The eternal beauty does not pale because its shadow trails over slime and corruption. It is always present beneath the faded mould whereon our lives are spent. Still the old mysterious glimmer from mountain and cave allures, and the golden gleams divide and descend on us from the haunts of the Gods.

The dark age is our darkness and not the darkness of life. It is not well for us who in the beginning came forth with the wonder-light about us, that it should have turned in us to darkness, the song of life be dumb. We close our eyes from the many-coloured mirage of day, and are alone soundless and sightless in the unillumined cell of the brain. But there are thoughts that shine, impulses born of fire. Still there are moments when the prison world reels away a distant shadow, and the inner chamber of clay fills full with fiery visions. We choose from the traditions of the past some symbol of our greatness, and seem again the Titans or Morning Stars of the prime. In this self-conception lies the secret of life, the way of escape and return. We have imagined ourselves into forgetfulness, into darkness, into feebleness. From this strange and pitiful dream of life, oh, that we may awaken and know ourselves once again.

But the student too often turns to books, to the words sent back to him, forgetful that the best of scriptures do no more than stand as symbols. We hear too much of study, as if the wisdom of life and ethics could be learned like ritual, and of their application to this and that ephemeral pursuit. But from the Golden One, the child of the divine, comes a voice to its shadow. It is stranger to our world, aloof from our ambitions, with a destiny not here to be fulfilled. It says: "You are of dust while I am robed in opalescent airs. You dwell in houses of clay, I in a temple not made by hands. I will not go with thee, but thou must come with me." And not alone is the form of the divine aloof but the spirit behind the form. It is called the Goal truly, but it has no ending. It is the Comforter, but it waves away our joys and hopes like the angel with the flaming sword. Though it is the Resting-place, it stirs to all heroic strife, to outgoing, to conquest. It is the Friend indeed, but it will not yield to our desires. Is it this strange, unfathomable self we think to know, and awaken to, by what is written, or by study of it as so many planes of consciousness. But in vain we store the upper chambers of the mind with such quaint furniture of thought. No archangel makes his abode therein. They abide only in the shining. How different from academic psychology of the past, with its dry enumeration of faculties, reason, cognition and so forth, is the burning thing we know. We revolted from that, but we must take care lest we teach in another way a catalogue of things equally unliving to us. The plain truth is, that after having learned what is taught about the hierarchies and various spheres, many of us are still in this world exactly where we were before. If we speak our laboriously-acquired information we are listened to in amazement. It sounds so learned, so intellectual, there must need be applause. But by-and-by someone comes with quiet voice, who without pretence speaks of the "soul" and uses familiar words, and the listeners drink deep, and pay the applause of silence and long remembrance and sustained after-endeavor. Our failure lies in this, we would use the powers of soul and we have not yet become the soul. None but the wise one himself could bend the bow of Ulysses. We cannot communicate more of the true than we ourselves know. It is better to have a little knowledge and know that little than to have only hearsay of myriads of Gods. So I say, lay down your books for a while and try the magic of thought. "What a man thinks, that he is; that is the old secret." I utter, I know, but a partial voice of the soul with many needs. But I say, forget for a while that you are student, forget your name and time. Think of yourself within as the titan, the Demi-god, the flaming hero with the form of beauty, the heart of love. And of those divine spheres forget the nomenclature; think rather of them as the places of a great childhood you now return to, these homes no longer ours. In some moment of more complete imagination the thought-born may go forth and look on the olden Beauty. So it was in the mysteries long ago and may well be today. The poor dead shadow was laid to sleep in forgotten darkness, as the fiery power, mounting from heart to head, went forth in radiance. Not then did it rest, nor ought we. The dim worlds dropped behind it, the lights of earth disappeared as it neared the heights of the Immortals. There was One seated on a throne, One dark and bright with ethereal glory. I arose in greeting. The radiant figure laid its head against the breast which grew suddenly golden, and father and son vanished in that which has no place nor name.

�January 15, 1896

bupanishad2012	Posted: Dec 14 2009, 05:58 PM
Existentialist Group: Members Posts: 270 Member No.: 103 Joined: 5-December 06	Can anyone direct me to the works (on the Net) of Alvin Boyd Kuhn, the great Theosophical writer and philosopher? The "Hymns of Orpheus" by Thomas Taylor are a wonderful compliation, and I am glad I was directed to them here. Theosophy is truly an "Ocean" of information for those who study its depths! -------------------- Andrew, Autodidact

bupanishad2012	Posted: Dec 14 2009, 06:19 PM
Existentialist Group: Members Posts: 270 Member No.: 103 Joined: 5-December 06	I found it, thanks to my old friend, Juan Schoch's, work on the Net: http://meuser.awardspace.com/kuhnmassey.html -------------------- Andrew, Autodidact

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