David M. Grossman – USA
Inner Considerations
Theosophy teaches that we live in a Universe of law. What does this mean practically? It means things don’t just happen but that everything has a cause. When you engage in life and are successful there are reasons, When you get sick there is a reason; when you apply for a job and get it there is a reason or even a multiplicity of reasons.
heosophy by definition rejects the idea that some outside god is the cause of all the particulars of life; we are not marionettes with god pulling all the strings nor are our outcomes in life due to the roll of the dice. Most Christians do believe in “Free Will” although there are arguments about what that exactly means within the ranks.Theosophy does not teach the idea of blind fate as an unpredictable irrational outcome to things nor that evolution is the result of a series of original accidents as some darwinists would lead us to believe. (Free will is a root of human creativity).
We might say there are two aspects of causation as far as we are concerned. There are the choices and actions that we generate as individuals and then those things I am associated with because I am part of the group, I am one cell influenced by an organ or entity made of many units and am thus influenced or swayed, effected by the dynamics of the whole. There are different levels of this influence. For example when the sun is shining we all benefit from its life giving rays, the plants grow and we get certain nutrients thru the light. A mob has a whole other influence on an individual unless he or she can resist being swept up in the emotional, often irrational impulse.
The old adage, “Come ye out and be ye separate” is a reminder that each of us should ideally in every circumstance look within to the core principles of our being, engage not only our minds, but our hearts and conscience, our intuition and our reason and make our decisions based on our best estimate so to speak. When all is said and done the final words of Krishna to Arjuna reverberate in the mind: “Do what seemeth best unto thee Arjuna.” So although we may act in concert with others the choices we make are not essentially due to the choices of others but should rise out of our own perceptions and convictions.
Emerson
As Ralph Waldo Emerson so astutely points out in his essay Self Reliance:
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.
Galileo Galile
One example of someone who stood his ground in the face of opposing forces was Galileo Galilei.
When he published his “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” in (1632) where he compared the views concerning the accepted geocentric theory of the solar system vs the Heliocentric which he favored. He was arrested for this. He had been influenced by Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake, executed, by the Roman Inquisition for putting forth the same heliocentric idea as well as his denial of several Catholic doctrines in 1600 some decades earlier.
Copernicus of Poland
Going back even further it was Copernicus of Poland (1473-1543) who initially promoted the Heliocentric system in Europe and was a great influence on Bruno’s thinking. Galileo used his telescope to provide observational evidence supporting Nicolaus Copernicus's heliocentric model. In other words he made the theory his own. It was later in the late 17th to early 18th century that the heliocentric system was finally generally accepted and is the basis of modern astronomy.
Vincent van Gogh
Another example of someone, this time in the arts, who followed his own star of course was the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh who sold almost none of his paintings in his lifetime, while today some of his works are the most recognizable and famous paintings in the world.
Louis Daguerre
Then there is the wild story related by H.P. Blavatsky in Isis Unveiled concerning Louis Daguerre, considered one of the fathers of photography.
There was an anecdote current among Daguerre's friends between 1838 and 1840. At an evening party, Madame Daguerre, some two months previous to the introduction of the celebrated Daguerrean process to the Academie des Sciences, by Arago (January 1839), had an earnest consultation with one of the medical celebrities of the day about her husband's mental condition. After explaining to the physician the numerous symptoms of what she believed to be her husband's mental aberration, she added, with tears in her eyes, that the greatest proof to her of Daguerre's insanity was his firm conviction that he would succeed in nailing his own shadow to the wall, or fixing it on magical metallic plates. The physician listened to the intelligence very attentively and answered that he had himself observed in Daguerre lately the strongest symptoms of what, to his mind, was an undeniable proof of madness. He closed the conversation by firmly advising her to send her husband quietly and without delay to Bicetre, the well-known lunatic asylum. Two months later a profound interest was created in the world of art and science by the exhibition of a number of pictures taken by the new process. The shadows were fixed, after all, upon metallic plates, and the "lunatic" proclaimed the father of photography.
Isis Unveiled vol. II, pg. 619
There are also those rare benefactors of the human condition that emerge in society from time to time, men like Martin Luther King in America and Mohandas Gandhi in India that because the depths of their moral constitution, perceived both through their words and their actions awakened the conscience of the public and as a result positive changes in a society have occurred that support the innate equality and natural integrity of every human being. Although sadly to say both Gandhi and King wore the “Crown of Thorns,” both literally stopped in their tracks, that light which radiated out through their hearts and minds shines on and has a definite ongoing positive influence in our world today.
In order for each of us to hear the inner voice of conscience or of reason for that matter, we must learn to quiet the constant chatter going on, that of superficial judgement, or the pull of the senses, or what might be called memory associations. Another outside force that can lead us astray is just the prevailing ideas of the day, the culture, the group think that colors the mental/emotional waters that we generally swim in. We should in the final analysis live our lives by ethics and not rules!
Theosophy points out the underlying basis for morals and ethics is based upon the fact that each of us has a responsibility towards all that lives. There is a reciprocity of being based on the underlying unity of life in Spirit and matter alike. This responsibility is expressed through what we call active ideation or put in everyday terms the thoughts and feelings that emanate from each of us and that actually have a real effect on the world around us as well as within ourselves. Another name for this dance is Karma.
If we are able to take a look below the surface of our own minds we will see that we human beings are like sparklers throwing off thoughts and feelings to a great degree unconsciously. These actions have their effects, as earlier pointed out, on ourselves and the world around us. We often experience this with others as, he or she are very nervous, have negative vibes, has an angry disposition or are warm, sympathetic, enjoyable to be around, and thoughtful, or light and humorous. The list can go on and on. n other words we radiate our states of mind for better or worse.
We need to get a hold of ourselves and be self-directing as expressed so presciently in the Bhagavad Gita's chariot analogy,
Krishna as the charioteer holding the reins represents divine intellect (Buddhi) guiding the mind (Reins) to control the five senses (Horses) attached to the body (Chariot), steering Arjuna (the Soul) through life's battles toward enlightenment.
Patanjali’s Yoga aphorisms, that ancient treatise on training and refining the mind, if you will, called the practice of Raja Yoga, when applied to ourselves has the potential to literally change our lives by providing the means to see clearly, purify and center ourselves in our permanent or so called spiritual nature.
Patanjali tells us in Book I, aphorism 2 and 30 and 33 (W.Q. Judge rendition)
2. Concentration, or Yoga, is the hindering of the modifications of the thinking principle.
30. The obstacles in the way of him who desires to attain concentration are Sickness, Languor, Doubt, Carelessness, Laziness, Addiction to objects of sense, Erroneous Perception, Failure to attain any stage of abstraction, and Instability in any stage when attained.
33. Through the practicing of Benevolence, Tenderness, Complacency, and Disregard for objects of happiness, grief, virtue, and vice, the mind becomes purified.
One could say that when in that centered state, the stars begin to appear, as when the sun sets, and the light focused on the everyday transient aspects of existence dim and the universe in its greater majesty begins to reveal itself. And when it does this, to some degree within ourselves, the stars of conscience (moral/ethical awareness), intuition (the capability to see things clearly as they are or might become), and imagination (the creative power of expression) begin to appear and are activated.
The balance that we must achieve in ourselves can be furthered through the teaching that though we are essentially spiritual beings and that growth like the opening flower moves from within outward, likewise we are a work in progress and that humility is an essential guide through the labyrinths and conundrums of life. We must shine the light of honesty upon ourselves recognizing our present limitations as well as the interdependent design of life as a whole.
All real teachers seem to point out that gratitude goes hand in hand with humility, for the efforts of others who have come before us have cleared the way so to speak for us, most specifically those great teachers of humankind, the beacon lights throughout the ages.
In every human being a point comes, has already or will in the future, that a commitment is made, a vow is taken to have the search for truth and a life dedicated to the service of others the paramount focus of their lives. This is sometimes called the Conscious Evolutionary Path. The assimilated experiences and skills developed over lifetimes will determine to a large degree the various forms of service one engages in, the most important aspects of whatever one does is rooted in the motivations and commitment “to live for and as the Self” in whatever expression one’s life takes.
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"Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other men; wisdom in minds attentive to their own"
Quote by William Cowper, English poet(1731-1800)