Theosophical Independence Vol. 8 - 6 August 2009

Fundamental Guide To Living

Alienation

   Do you understand the way people behave these days? Do you want what most people want? Do you get much satisfaction from your work or your school work?  Do things makes much sense to you?  Are your values the same as society’s values?  Do you feel confused about the world?  Do you feel there is a purpose to life?  Do you feel your life has meaning, that most people have the same priorities you do?  If you answered NO to anyone of these questions, you may be in a state of alienation.  A definition of alienation is a separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object, position, family, or society.  Alienation may be physical, emotional or mental, and it can lead to feelings of dislike or hostile actions.  Ultimately, there can be a break in relationships between an individual and his or her community, family, or environment.

   The common denominator of all varieties of alienation is a psychological state of separateness.  Egoism is the awareness of self,
or identity, as being individualized and distinct from other beings. Egoism is recognized in our consciousness as “I am I” or
self-consciousness.   It is a state of awareness peculiar to the human being.  The sense of a separate personal identity develops out of the
capacity of egoism to develop a self-identifying attachment to conditions other than the essential self or “I”.

   Gradually, there develops the illusionary notion that I am this body with its characteristic features, passions, desires, memories,
emotional states and faculties of mind which collectively form the personality.  An inevitable result of this false idea is the equally
false idea that I am fundamentally different from other human beings.  The sense of separateness leads to concern for our personal existence and those family members, friends and acquaintances we personally identify with.  The concern leads to a liking for those objects, conditions and people who satisfy our personal desires and dislike for those who obstruct our fulfillment of personal desire.  Mental, emotional or physical alienation results from this dislike.

   The fundamental message of Theosophy is that we are not separate because the real Self of each is identical with and one with Deity, the
Self of all.  We are not separate because universal brotherhood is a fact in nature, there being interdependence in all the departments of
nature - physical, psychic, mental and spiritual.  The true state of affairs is universal unity, not separateness and isolation.

   How does one arrive at that self-conscious realization and make it a practical force in everyday life?  Theosophy provides a means to =0
D understand that the human soul is independent of the body and therefore has an origin, destiny, power and responsibility of its own.  We have seen that the mind becomes that which it dwells upon or identifies with.  If the mind dwells upon the “I” as the Self of all and
identifies with that Higher Self, the thinker will think, feel and act as a spiritual being identical with Deity and united with every other
being.  The First Fundamental Proposition of Theosophy presents the idea for the thinker to dwell upon in order to acquire the necessary
self-knowledge to accomplish the spiritual transformation.

   The First Fundamental addresses the concept of Deity - the eternal, omnipresent, infinite absolute source and sustainer of the manifested
universe.  As it is absolute and unconditioned it is easier to understand what it is not, than to comprehend what it is.   It cannot
be a Supreme Being outside the universe or separate from any being since such a being could not be infinite, omnipresent or absolute.  It
is, was and always will be the One Be-ness which is no being but all-Being.  It is, was and always will be the Supreme Self which is the
Self of each and all.  Although present in all beings, it is not consciously felt by all.  In the human kingdom, it wells up consciously
in the thinker as the feeling or awareness of “I.”

   The individualized thinker can dwell upon that “I” as the same “I” in all, and gradually transform individual egoic consciousness into
universal divine consciousness.  Such  human beings individually act for and as the Self of all and have compassion for all being.  They can
recognize that they have differences from other human beings but do not feel alienated from them.

Selections from The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I

  The first fundamental conception proposes:

(a) An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable Principle on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of
human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought — in the words of Mandukya, “unthinkable and unspeakable.”

   To render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set out with the postulate that there is one absolute Reality which antecedes
all manifested, conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal Cause — dimly formulated in the “Unconscious” and “Unknowable” of European philosophy — is the rootless root of “all that was, is, or ever shall be.” It is of course devoid of all attributes and is essentially
without any relation to manifested, finite Being. It is “Beness” rather than Being (in Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond all
thought or speculation.

   Man, unable to form one concept except in terms of empirical phenomena, is powerless from the very constitution of his being to
raise the veil that shrouds the majesty of the Absolute. Only the liberated Spirit is able to faintly realize the nature of the source
whence it sprung and whither it must eventually return. The matter-moving Nous, the animating Soul, immanent in every atom,
manifested in man, latent in the stone, has different degrees of power; and this pantheistic idea of general Spirit-Soul pervading all Nature
is the oldest of all the philosophical notions. The whole series of the numberless speculations of this kind are but variations on this theme.

   The ever unknowable and incognizable, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart — invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through “the still small voice” of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only sacrificial victims.

From QUESTIONS  ANSWERED  AT  AN  INFORMAL “OCEAN”  CLASS    in Theosophical Movement Magazine

     There is another side to this Theosophical Movement, an inner side. Every one of us knows how many people come to us telling their
troubles, seeking light, seeking understanding. That is where the real work of the Theosophical Movement is done — from mouth to ear. That is the contact of one individual with another. That is why it is so necessary for us to have true understanding.

     “Theosophical Independence”  is produced monthly by Associates of The United Lodge of Theosophists in Philadelphia located at 1917 Walnut
Street,   Philadelphia, PA  19103.   The contents of this newsletter are provided freely and anonymously.  It may be reproduced without permission.