Theosophy

 Boris de Zirkoff – USA

THEOSOPHIA
A Living Philosophy For Humanity

Volume VIII
No. 2 (44) - July-August 1951

[Original cover Photo: H.P. Blavatsky in her forties. (From Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky, by A. P. Sinnett. 2nd ed., London: Theos. Pub. Society, 1913.)]

Face to face with the appalling conflict of ideas which rages on the historical stage of the twentieth century, the student of the Ancient Wisdom is in duty bound to refrain from taking sides and to try to appraise the existing situation in the light of ageless principles of thought.

This is no easy task. It is one indeed in which every student will find himself faltering at every turn of the road, and mistaking shadows for realities. He will be drawn by powerful magnetic attractions and impelled to become attached to one side or the other, and to espouse causes which, in their very nature, have no permanency at all. He will be called upon to transcend his personal predilections, and to penetrate behind the outward veil of the seeming, into causal factors which are ignored by the casual observer with no philosophy of life.

The student will have to keep in mind the fact that none of the participants of the world-wide conflict of ideas is wholly right or wholly wrong. Their individual and respective causes and objectives have elements of both truth and falsehood, and their vehement and often violent actions are due, not to inherent evil, but to a lack of mutual understanding and absence of wisdom. It would indeed be an easy solution were it possible to limit all the evil-doing and all the blame to one or another party, and to eliminate this party from the world of men. But the complexity of human nature and the inextricable karmic web of past and present action necessitates that human problems be worked out on the basis of understanding, sympathy and self-forgetfulness - lessons hard for the aggressive, self-centered and conceited type of men to learn.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Thus, as expressed in the Stanza, the Watchers descended on Earth and reigned over men – “who are themselves.” The reigning kings had finished their cycle on Earth and other worlds, in the preceding Rounds. In the future manvantaras they will have risen to higher systems than our planetary world; and it is the Elect of our Humanity, the Pioneers on the hard and difficult path of Progress, who will take the places of their predecessors. The next great Manvantara will witness the men of our own life-cycle becoming the instructors and guides of a mankind whose Monads may now yet be imprisoned – semi-conscious – in the most intellectual of the animal kingdom, while their lower principles will be animating, perhaps, the highest specimens of the Vegetable world.

Radha Burnier – India

[Recognizing regeneration as the kernel of all Theosophical work, the International Theosophical Centre at Naarden, the Netherlands, jointly with the Federation of Theosophical Societies in Europe, organized two seminars in July 1990, with a number of office bearers, workers and members of the Society from different countries as participants. Proceedings of the seminar were published as a book under the title Human Regeneration: Lectures and Discussion (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij der Theosofische Vereniging in Nederland, 1990). This chapter (discussions) is here slightly revised.]

INDIVIDIAL AND GROUP WORK FOR REGENERATION

One of the preliminary documents about these seminars proposes the creation of a European Federation of Young Theosophists, Is there any intention in the President's mind to promote such a division?

RB: The intention was not in the Presidents mind, because the President knew nothing about it.

CB: Perhaps we should not try to form a federation or to organize the work of the young; let them come and be with us. They will find their own activities which we need not organize.

Now we exchange letters as equals interested in the same things, To separate people just on grounds of age is just as wrong in my view as to separate them on grounds of race, creed, sex, caste or color and thus we should add age to our first object. Let there be no discrimination on any ground at all.

IH: I would disapprove heartily of any attempt to organize younger people as a separate group with their own meetings. I see no reason for it at all and regard it as divisive. As we have had some autobiographical discourses, I will add to them. I also began to read theosophical books at fifteen and on my sixteenth birthday I was given Life in Freedom, by Krishnamurti, During the following year, I, of my own sweet will became a vegetarian. This was very useful for the improvement of my French, because in my senior class at school we had a French lady who persuaded us to converse in French. So I seized the opportunity. I was a militant vegetarian and a militant reincarnationist and so I learnt to express myself on these subjects in French. I made no converts, but I continued in this way during my university years. Every meal became a debate about the virtues of vegetarianism. When I began to go to theosophical meetings, my mother was not too happy, not because I was officially a Roman Catholic, but simply because of the clothes that some of the old ladies wore! You may have seen some pictures of Dr. Besant, wearing what seems a hybrid between a sari and a nightgown! During the last twelve months, I have been able to admit to the Society two schoolboys. One was only fifteen when he first wrote. He had read a great many books on theosophy and kindred subjects.

More recently I admitted another schoolboy. Now we exchange letters as equals interested in the same things. To separate people just on grounds of age is just as wrong in my view as to separate them on grounds of race, creed, sex, caste or color and thus we should add age to our first object. Let there be no discrimination on any ground at all.

[This article appeared in the April 2019 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html ]

Male and female differ in their behavior and abilities. For instance, it is believed that men are good at map-reading, but they are good at doing only one task at a time. Females, on the other hand, are good at multi-tasking, and are more intuitive and empathetic than men, but are poor at logical thinking. But it appears that men and women are distinguished also by their brains, so that women are not found suitable for certain kind of works. It is also believed that the differences between women and men in ability, behavior, temperament and even lifestyle choices are on the basis of genes, genitals and gonads. But such assumptions are questionable, because our brains are plastic, capable of being moulded in different ways. Early explanation of brain differences often centred on size and weight of the brain. Women’s brains, on average, being ten per cent or about 140 grams lighter than men’s, women were considered inferior. Later, the differences were based on specific structures of the brain. In the early 1980s, came the idea that the corpus callosum, which connects two halves of the brain being larger in women than in men, enabled her to access both the sides of the brain, almost simultaneously, and to this was attributed greater emotional awareness and the multitasking abilities in women.

“There are good reasons to think that such studies are chasing shadows,” writes Gina Rippon, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Aston in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She points out that there is no evidence to suggest that bigger brains are better brains, because, for instance, human beings are cognitively superior to sperm whales and African elephants, that have far larger brains. Moreover, now it is accepted that our brains are the product of the lives we have lived, the experiences we have had, and our education, occupations, sports and hobbies. Any regular activity, be it playing a certain game, or learning juggling or origami, can change our brains. Thus, men or women’s ability for a particular activity will be determined based on which of them were more engaged in that activity. We need to challenge assumptions behind the hunt for differences between male and female brains, writes Rippon.

John Algeo – USA

The author in a characteristic pose

Theosophy is a contemporary expression of the timeless Wisdom of humanity, a Wisdom originally derived from teachers greater than us in knowledge and insight.

That timeless Wisdom has had many expressions over time and across cultures, and it will have many more in the future. But contemporary Theosophy is an expression uniquely adapted to the concerns and needs of our time. Yet, as it was intended for a particular cultural milieu, it must adapt itself to changes in that milieu. It must be rearticulated for each generation in language appropriate to that generation, while preserving the essence of the underlying timeless Wisdom. Theosophy in its various articulations must indeed preserve the timeless Wisdom, but not in formaldehyde. Rather its preservation must be of the sort used for a living, growing, and therefore changing thing. All living things change, at the same time preserving their own inmost identity or dharma. And so must Theosophy.

Joy Mills – USA

Joy speaking at a summer convention, probably around 1954

As is well known to all students, the word “Theosophy” has never been defined in any official document of the Theosophical Society, but this does not mean that Theosophy itself is simply an amorphous “something” nor is it a “catch-all” term for anything one wishes to believe. Rather, then, than saying what Theosophy IS, I prefer to suggest certain distinguishing characteristics of the term.

First, Theosophy as a word which can be explored either in terms of its roots or in terms of whatever has usually been understood as its content. Second, as a “doctrine” or “teaching,” a philosophy or a metaphysic embracing a specific worldview. And third, as a way of life, a mode of being in the world. Each of these characteristics may be examined separately or seen as interdependent, one leading to and including the others.

As a word, then, Theosophy is usually defined in terms of its Greek origins, THEOS and SOPHIA. Theos we consider as the basis for such words as god, the gods, divine, sacred, but when examined more deeply, we may note that its verbal root has the essential meaning of that which grows or expands from within, a creative energy or force. Sophia as wisdom or discriminative intelligence is then inherent in the creative process, and one may recall the Scriptural text that “By wisdom God created all things,” which by implication tells us that not only did intelligence or wisdom come first but that it inheres in all that exists in a manifested universe; hence all things are sacred. This has always been, for me, the fundamental premise of Theosophy: the universe and all that it contains is not only one substance, one “thing,” however diverse may be the forms through which that one-ness exhibits itself, but in its manifoldness is everywhere sacred, participating in the divine.

Leon Maurer – USA

The author

Someone might say that theosophy is a method of dealing with life. True, but it also is a body of thought based on fundamental principles. It concerns the origin and genesis of the Cosmos, its reflection in the evolution of humanity, and the nature of being in general. One does not have to believe in it without thoughtful consideration, but rather verify it as a true synthesis of science, religion and philosophy. How does one do this? One looks within, studies the fundamental ideas about the actual metaphysical nature of reality, practices “living the life” and fulfilling one's duties – while also meditating on those truths in relation to one's own inner nature – all the time empowered by self-devised and self-determined efforts. Through these means, one finds and follows one's Teacher of the art of living and being that is one's own higher self – the direct reflection of the all wise and all-knowing universal soul. Otherwise, one might spend a whole life following the gurus and doing good works only to find in the end that the real teacher is within.

The theosophical experience leading to an understanding of Universal Brotherhood and its expression in relationships with others can only come about following a budding relationship with that true Master within. That is the only learning system of value in the end. “Theosophy is as theosophy does” and ”Physician, heal thyself” perfectly reflects this.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Tim Boyd

I would like to discuss the Theosophical Society, the organization that came into being as the vehicle for the communication of “Theosophy”, a word that has never really been defined. Sometimes it makes things a bit difficult for us when people ask what is Theosophy. On occasion I have thought that it would be nice to have a brief, concise answer. But we have not been given that, and probably, it is good that we have not.

This is not to say that certain definitions have not been put forward at different times, particularly by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (HPB). I am drawn to two in particular: the one where she speaks of Theosophy as being the “accumulated wisdom of the ages, tested and verified by generations of seers”. That sounds very specific and concise. Certainly, it addresses the experiential nature of Theosophy, because it is verifiable and can be tested. But then, the question arises, what is this “accumulated wisdom of the ages”? If we are not calling it “Theosophy”, we are calling it by some other name, but still leaving it undefined.

HPB also made the comment on one occasion that Theosophy is “altruism, first and foremost”. This takes it to a more practical level. The practice of conscious, compassionate activity, which we identify as service, might come close to defining applied “Theosophy”. By its very nature, Theosophy is limitless, not bound by time, by particular concepts, or the language by which it has been expressed throughout time. To some extent it is easier to speak about what Theosophy is not, than what it is.

Barbara Hebert – USA

The author “in action” at Olcott

The first object of the Theosophical Society is “To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.” This object provides one of the most important tenets in the theosophical teachings and is one of the reasons for the founding of the Theosophical Society. In Letter #12 (chronological) of The Mahatma Letters to AP Sinnett, the Mahatma KH writes “The Chiefs want a ‘Brotherhood of Humanity,’ a real Universal Fraternity started; an institution which would make itself known throughout the world and arrest the attention of the highest minds.” Furthermore, the Mahatma KH writes in Letter #5 (chronological) “The term ‘Universal Brotherhood’ is no idle phrase . . . It is the only secure foundation for universal morality. If it be a dream, it is at least a noble one for mankind: and it is the aspiration of the true adept.”

We remember Sri Raghavan Iyer (March 10, 1930 – June 20, 1995)

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil (compiler)

In previous issues of Theosophy Forward we’ve honored Theosophists such as Dr. Richard Brooks, Ianthe Hoskins, Einar Adalsteinsson, Shirley Nicholson, Paul Zwollo, Dora van Gelder-Kunz, John H. Drais, Dara Eklund, Geoffrey Farthing, Sylvia Cranston, Danielle Audoin, Victor Peñaranda and Ted. G. Davy. 

Sri Raghavan Iyer

As I mentioned on other occasions, it is imperative to work towards a future. One cannot simply live in the past or only care about the here and now. The present is our domain to create appropriate conditions for those who come after us, and who consequently will live in that “future.” Countless good people who lived in our past, and are no longer with us have left us precious tools with which we are able to build, create and deepen our understanding of the eternal truths that surround us. That is why TRIBUTES have their value, because by looking back we come to understand where we came from. When we have become conscious of that knowledge, we know where we stand now, and from that point onward we can build landing strips into the future. In this respect I must always think of what KH stated, it was a kind of hint, in that very first Mahatma Letter: “Madmen are they, who, speculating but upon the present, willfully shut their eyes for the past, when made already to remain naturally blind for the future.” (The Mahatma Letters, Nr 1)

Showing gratitude through honoring, highlighting and underscoring all good things that have come to us, best described as our sacred heritage, we learn, become aware and show our deepest respect.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

[From Hermes, December 1975.]

The crucial insight that we gain from Tibetan teaching is that immortality is not something to be achieved or won, not a prize to be awarded to a favored few. Immortality is nothing but another aspect of mortality. Even now we either live immortally or live mortally. We either die every moment or we live and thirst, depending on whether we are focused upon the nirvanic or upon the samsaric aspect of embodied consciousness. If we are constantly able to sift the meaning of experiences and to see our formal vestures for what they are and pass from one plane of perception to another, then indeed it may be possible, when blessed with the vision of clear, pure light – the great vision of sunyata – to enter straightaway into that vesture which enables us to remain free from the compulsion of return to earthly life. But this cannot happen unless it flows naturally out of the line of life's meditation. It cannot happen all of a sudden. It is not some kind of special dispensation. It is itself a product of the working of Karma.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

[Printed in the pamphlet: LONDON, EAST AND WEST LTD., lecture given in London, 1961.]

I must warn you at the very outset that I propose to speak to you this afternoon not as former President of the Oxford Union, nor as an Oxford don. I want to abdicate this role and speak to you as a seeker and a pilgrim, because that was the way in which I went to the Dalai Lama. That is the only justification for my trying to tell you what he said to me during that memorable and moving interview which he graciously granted me last March, exactly a year after his exile from Tibet into India. I feel that I must share with you my recollections of what he said to me, particularly in view of his own feeling about this country. He regarded England as a force for good in the world of today, as playing a most unique role in the West. He said that London was the spiritual and ethical centre of Europe and when I asked him whether this meant that many wise souls had begun to take incarnation in this country, he assented. He also stated that even the Government in this country was more aware of the position of Tibet than perhaps in any other country of the West. I feel, therefore, that I ought to tell a sympathetic audience of this sort, as faithfully as I can recall it, what the Dalai Lama said to me in answer to a number of questions that I put to him.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

[October 8, 1971, Presidential Address - North American Theosophical Convention, Toronto. Published in Hermes, June 1976.]

Adepts, Mahatmas, and Universal Beings are not here to consolidate anyone's pet ideas, pet likes and dislikes, but watch over those who can appreciate and enjoy what is involved in the gait of a noble elephant, who will accept it like children, who will cling to nothing. Yet many people, because of fears that are understandable enough, want to save something and therefore there is sectarianism. Coleridge put the problem very well in regard to Christianity, but it is true equally in regard to Theosophy. He who loves Christianity more than every other religion will love his own sect more than every other sect, and in the end love himself best of all. There is a logical and psychological connection between egocentricity and claims on behalf of the uniqueness of institutions or of formulations. This much is by now clear in relation to each other's orthodoxies and isms, and every man is desperately wanting to get out of the problem within himself in some way. But there is no technique. Authentic solutions involve a redefinition of self, a breakthrough – from the realm of kama manas, the psychic self, with its elaborate and boring history of likes and dislikes, fears and personal memories – to the sphere of the noetic with its golden moments of freedom of awareness, which every human soul has and which may be threaded together on a single strand.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

[From Parapolitics].

Who cares for the fraternity of mankind? If some enlightened beings had not cared for the extension of freedom and had not shown the spirit of fraternity, there would have been no extension of liberty since the eighteenth century. All such extensions of political liberty re-enact parapolitical teachings and movements toward mental, psychological, and spiritual freedom. If some men had not been willing to meet the costs of commitment to extending opportunities to others, the process of equalization would never have begun.

Those few who had enough did much for many who had little. A few men worked for the freedom of women; a few who belonged to the ruling nations worked for the freedom of the ruled; a few members of the upper classes, aristocrats or anarchists, worked for the freedom of the very poor. Those who so labored were truly aristocratic in spirit, full of an inner confidence beyond the meanness and narrowness of the bourgeoisie. They appreciated the absurdity of external tokens. The wisest always recognized that Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité were sacred, but also saw that while their politicization and secularization in the realm of human limitations was necessary, it was liable to be costly and that many would come to be enormously disappointed with the resulting political infrastructure. That is exactly the point we have reached. We must recover the elements of transcendence in every notion so that we can see beyond “isms,” institutions, rules and roles, and especially see beyond the passing panorama of shifting shadows on the wall of the Cave.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

[From The Jewel in the Lotus, edited by Raghavan Iyer].

Spiritual Teachers always point upwards for each and every man and woman alive, not for just a few. They work not only in the visible realm for those immediately before them, but, as John reminds us, they come from above and work for all. They continually think of and love every being that lives and breathes, mirroring "the One that breathes breathless" in ceaseless contemplation, overbrooding the Golden Egg of the universe, the Hiranyagarbha. Such beautiful ideas enshrined in magnificent myths are provocative to the ratiocinative mind and suggestive to the latent divine discernment of Buddhic intuition. The only way anyone can come closer to the Father in Heaven let alone come closer to Him on earth Who is as He is in Heaven – is by that light to which John refers in the first chapter of the Gospel.

Raghavan Iyer – USA

Commencing on June 19, 1902, and having completed its first degree, the Aquarian Age has already brought about an unprecedented heightening of self-consciousness, and it holds a tremendous potential for the future. Something of the fundamental significance of the Aquarian Age can be glimpsed by recollecting that the year 1902 was not unconnected with the increasing concern to fly in the air.

“The Aquarian Elixir” Hermes, September 1982

When probing the meaning and significance of the Aquarian Age or any of the major and minor cycles of human evolution, it is helpful to retain a sense of mystery as well as an undaunted resolve to sift essential insights gleaned through an alert Manasic intelligence, whilst shedding vested illusions. The potential mystery pervading the present epoch is archetypally represented by soma, and the formative forces of the emerging cosmopolis may be glimpsed through contemplating the zodiacal transition from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age. Soma is the arcane symbol of initiation. The zodiacal ages indicate the alchemical transmutation of the meta-psychological elements underlying formative change. If initiation is to be understood as individuation through the universalization of consciousness, it must also be retained intact with increasing continuity of consciousness through the etherialization and specialization of the vestures needed for effective incarnation.

“The Aquarian Elixir” Hermes, September 1982

Harmony is the central idea in Aquarian thought. Compassionate sacrifice and intelligent suffering are the necessary means to an understanding of harmony; their eventual fruition is noetic self-knowledge. Spiritual growth is epitomized by the image of the silent, ceaseless construction of the Temple of Truth, precipitated in its crystalline splendour by meditative action out of the Akashic waters of life. True spiritual will, the conscious direction of energy by intelligent ideation and self-conscious volition, is the supreme criterion and sovereign talisman of Aquarian humanity. Opposed to this vision are the irrational and involuntary forces of blind desire, the persistent and obscuring veil cast over human perception and action through lives of thoughtless involvement with the grosser fields of material nature. Aquarians can readily grasp this problem, but they are few and far between. The therapeutic Aquarian standpoint depends upon a fundamental appreciation, through meditation, of the metaphysical structure of all reality and Nature, of God and Man.

“Aquarian Harmony” Hermes, October 1983

Radha Burnier – India

Rare photo of Radha (in the snow) in Christchurch, New Zealand June 1979

[Recognizing regeneration as the kernel of all Theosophical work, the International Theosophical Centre at Naarden, the Netherlands, jointly with the Federation of Theosophical Societies in Europe, organized two seminars in July 1990, with a number of office bearers, workers and members of the Society from different countries as participants. Proceedings of the seminar were published as a book under the title Human Regeneration: Lectures and Discussion (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij der Theosofische Vereniging in Nederland, 1990). This chapter (discussions) is here slightly revised.]

INDIVIDIAL AND GROUP WORK FOR REGENERATION

Can a lodge regenerate as a group?

RB: No group can become regenerated as a group because transformation has to take place within each individual, in its own way, at its own pace. But lodge activities can help individuals who come to it to realize the necessity for regeneration, clarify what it means, and what way of life should be adopted. These are questions which can be discussed by members in the lodge.

Minimalism

[This article appeared in the February 2019 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html ]

There are multiple aspects to the concept of Minimalism. Traditionally, we resort to periodical cleaning and decluttering of our houses of unwanted objects, and such a practice does help to clear up our minds also, to a certain extent. But then we clutter our minds by collecting ideas, by borrowing concepts from the books we read, and by seeking new experiences by travelling, and so on. We are “bound” when we seek objects or experiences, and of late our focus has shifted from seeking objects to seeking experiences. Also, such pursuits fail to produce a sense of fulfilment. We may come to a stage where we stop seeking objects and start seeking knowledge. Then we may buy a lot of books and clutter our minds with borrowed ideas and concepts. Our entire life would not be sufficient to even turn the pages of the books available these days. We have to learn to rely on our own experiential insight.

Damodar Mavalankar – India

Damodar Mavalankar

Last night just as I was about to go to rest, the voice of Kunala called me from outside and there I went at once. Looking steadily at me he said: “we want to see you,” and as he spoke he gradually changed, or disappeared, or was absorbed, into the form of another man with awe-inspiring face and eyes, whose form apparently rose up from the material of Kunala's body. At the same moment two others stood there also, dressed in the Tibetan costume; and one of them went into my room from which I had emerged. After saluting them reverently, and not knowing their object, I said to the greatest, “Have you any orders to give?”

“If there are any they will be told to you without being asked,” he replied, “stand still where you are.”

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

[Editor’s note: written in 1950]

THEOSOPHIA
A Living Philosophy For Humanity
Volume VII
No. 1 (37) - May-June 1950

[Original cover photo: Valley of the Indus River, Below Tarkati, in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir State, India. (Photo by Vittorio Sella, Biella, Italy.)]

As we pass the seventy-fifth milestone of the modern Theosophical Movement, many thoughts come up for consideration, and many ideas suggest themselves.

We see today an entirely different world from the one which was familiar at the time when H.P.B. laid down the age-old principles of the Ancient Wisdom in terms adequate to the present age.

By the editors of Lucifer – the Netherlands

[This is a reprint from Lucifer – the Messenger of Light, an original publication of I.S.I.S. Foundation, i.e. International Study-centre for Independent Search for truth. The editor is grateful for the permission given to make this important paper available for all readers of Theosophy Forward.]

One does not only find the seven Jewels of Wisdom in the four religions that were discussed here:Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, but in all great philosophical and religious systems. Here follow some indications in relation to Plato and Taoism for the student who wants to do further research.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

The author

One of the consistent experiences of people who have had a near death experience (NDE) is the life review where in one form or another the important actions and pattern of a lifetime are made clear. During the review it is often the case that what in one's ordinary life had appeared meaningless or insignificant, is shown to be vitally important. Frequently this review of the events of an entire lifetime takes place in a few seconds of “real time”. The immediate aftereffect of this experience is commonly a sense of purpose and direction. This extraordinary capacity for a vision which sees the whole and unerringly illumines with the light of a wholistic understanding is one expression of the spiritual intuition – in theosophical terminology, Buddhi. While this expansive and illuminating intuition is an ever present potential for us, in our normal lives it seems inaccessible, or at best, sporadic.

Certainly the drama and intense clarity of the NDE review will not be the norm for many of us, but our access to intuitive insight is perhaps more common than we acknowledge. It has a way of appearing in unsought moments and subtle ways. Probably the usual way people access this part of themselves is in those moments of gratitude, absorption, or admiration - of the colors of Fall, a sunset, watching a baby take its first steps - or in moments of crisis, or even despair, those times when we momentarily stop recycling our list of worries, wants, and frustrations, allowing the blinding constraints of self-centeredness to briefly slip away. In those moments what is unveiled is a very pure vision – a dimension of the illumined mind (manas taijasi) – an inherent quality of the mind that knows without knowing why, unobstructed by the noise and activity of our usual personal emotion and thought.

When we look closely we can sometimes become aware of a mysterious pattern in our lives. Intuitions, synchronicities, promptings – the many forms for the whisperings of the inner self – seem to mark our lives, revealing a web of connection with a greater life. In recent days I have found myself thinking about a time when the workings of this unconscious knowledge subtly, but profoundly affected my own life.