Respectfully, Nick, I think you have missed much of the point of Theosphy, and I believe you have misread HPB on more than one account. Perhaps you might look again at what she taught regarding the Christ. You may also look up what
her own Master told her (unless it was KH, I forget) when she asked about a certain statue
of the Master Jesus.
And further, if you really want the right answers ... GO TO THE SOURCE.
What matters in the end is
not getting it right. It's far more important what we do with what we have learned, or what we
believe. Hence the emphasis on the Faith of those who *have not witnessed*.
I have never beheld with my own eyes
an Adept in his own physical vehicle that I was aware. Regardless as to the possibilities, should I toss out as unlikely or impossible
that the Mahatmas even exist?
No, and neither you nor I should forsake what we have learned about these subjects. But I would like to emphasize, on this occasion, that there are many points on these subjects, and we don't all need to agree. For me to suggest any other than what I have shared here would be a betrayal of all that I have experienced, learned or otherwise witnessed. I allow room for error more along the lines of
~ saying too much ~ than looking for what I have said here that is inaccurate.
You will find many
triangulations of the Truth, so to speak, when you are approaching it objectively. That is what I have come to believe. And although we must be careful
not to let others do our thinking for us - or, for certain, to accept blindly what we hear
even from sage teachers - I think there is also such a thing as beginning to "see how it all fits together."
Perhaps what fits together for us now will look somewhat different, even a few years from now. I like to think of it as a
big Mosaic ... and even while I do not expect to ever see
quite the whole picture, I do also believe, no
affirm, that what we call
holism, or Synthesis, beginning as Unity, exists on many levels. It is not appropriate to artificially force others, or as we both accept,
to attempt to bend wills ... and if there is one thing that most disgusts Freethinkers among the Human Family it is the kind of browbeating - however subtle - which might lead another to prematurely part with
his own ability & tendency to "make up his own mind," as also the budding discriminative Faculty {Buddhi & Viveka} which he will need in order to travel the Path.
To that end, I recollect the final teaching of
the Buddha Shakyamuni, as related by
one who knew Him well:
THE LORD BUDDHA HAS SAID
that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said; nor traditions because they have been handed down from antiquity; nor rumors, as such; nor writings by sages, because sages wrote them; nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption we may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on the mere authority of our teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing, doctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness. "For this," says he in concluding, "I taught you not to believe merely because you have heard, but when you believed of your consciousness, then to act accordingly and abundantly."
