Thomas said:
The Christian Trinity is the Mystery of that Indwelling Principle, not a doctrine of subsequent and subsistent relation, which all other triunes are and this is where your argument confounds itself. A confusion of level.
No, Thomas. Allow me to clarify.
The Divine Wisdom posits JUST THIS SAME
Mystery as does Christianity. It is a case of the kid with the lollipop, except that we only
think we can yank the lollipop away from the other kid. That MYSTERY is
not subject to qualification, massaging and manipulation -
either via, or at the hands of, Catholic authorities, or Theosophical.
You see? None can claim this
Mystery for his own, save for the acknowledgement
- a tautology of sorts - that it EXISTS FOR ALL. True, we can build a religion
around it.
Yet it is the same `Mystery,' whether we call it GOD, Brahman,
TAO, or LIFE (as Theosophists prefer,
thereby avoiding anthromoporphization - {Hey, a syllabic septenate!}).
TAO will do just fine, and in ancient texts, we find it referenced in COUNTLESS ways. It has
always been symbolized, outwardly, as the
SUN (Sol Invictus!) ... yet the Ancients knew that
the Golden Disc only
veils the "Hidden God," as we see in the
Hindu Gayatri: "Unveil to us the face of the true spiritual Sun,
hidden by a disk of golden light,
that we may know the truth and do our whole duty,
as we journey to Thy sacred Feet."
Thomas said:
Why does Theosophy continue to miss this mark?
As I have just pointed out, it is not
Theosophy which misses the mark, or at least, no more so than Christianity. Neither is a
perfect expression, as both are but
human efforts to bridge the
experiential gap between our outer, phenomenological consciousness ... and (THAT of) the Divine. Both fall (and as yet,
fail) under the category of attempts to
`bind us back' to Godhead (wouldn't the term,
`Godheart,' serve better?).
We may only speak of
the latter, the DIVINE (Consciousness), as already PERFECT in Realization. What I have often tried to suggest, though only to see such an idea
shot down again, and again - usually thanks to semi-skillful
straw-manning - is that Deity
does express as Perfectly as is possible, for Deity ... given the very NATURE of the worlds
in which we live, and move, and have our being.
The ancients spoke of the
"Imperfect Gods," vs. the
"Perfect Elohim;" it's just
not in vogue it seems. Could it have anything to do with the fact that
Earth, as yet, belongs to the
former category? And to the fact that
Humanity - and even the whole of the Planetary Life
(in Whom we live, and move ...) - is undergoing a great,
Expansion of Consciousness?
As a student of the Wisdom Teachings, I say yes. And what this means, in terms of the
Trinity, is quite significant. Whereas
the Eastern Avatar, the Buddha
, brought to us before the
LIGHT - anchored in the East,
yet for ALL of Humanity ... so the Western Avatar, the Christ, brought for us the
LOVE - anchored in the West,
but likewise for all of Humanity.
These are the
3rd, and
2nd Aspect of the Trinity, respectively. It matters not if we know them as
Trimurti, Trikaya, Tripitaka, Triad, Triune Deity, `Three in One,' Threefold Divinity, and so on. If our belief is that God has a threefold expression, then it will be easier to recognize that
Christ's Aquarian Role is
different than
His Piscean Role ... not because LOVE is no longer a part of the Divine Emphasis (or Light, similarly so) - but because the WILL, or
Purpose of God, is what is now being made manifest to our GLOBAL Society.
Christianity may
own the historical Jesus, and may serve Her Brothers worldwide, by helping to show the Unity-in-Action which Christ Jesus preached before. What she
cannot do, is claim the
World Teacher as coming
exclusively to small, privileged group of
"faithful." This epithet,
and the idea of loyalty, spiritually speaking, has an esoteric significance ... and there are those who will
make signficant spiritual progress, in the present, even subsequent, lifetime - owing to the presence within the world today of a
WORLD Teacher. This is ever the case, whether it is a Buddha (Christ's future office), or a Bodhisattva (His
current one).
We KNOW that there is a
Divine Center, corresponding to the
1st Aspect, or
WILL of God, which relative to our little planet - and to Humanity - is called by many terms, across the world. It has been called
Shamballa, or
Shangri La, in the East, where it is known
as a state of mind, consciousness, or Being - and not a
place. It is not unrelated to the Highest Heaven of Christianity, referenced in Revelation, and called by Christ,
"the Father's House." It is the "Head Center" of the Planetary Logos,
though only in terms of His physical body - which contains our Seven Planes ... but this only has meaning for the esotericist. In simplest terms, it is
the Purpose, or WILL of G-D.
What might any one of us
KNOW of this Ultimate, Inscrutable Will? Again, only that it includes Loving, Selfless Service ... with respect to
ALL members of the Human Family. We know that it is BEYOND Unity -
for in Unity, there is still recognition of Distinctions, even though separativeness and division is increasingly resolved/harmonized.
Purpose, or Will, connotes SYNTHESIS.
And yes, to the Western mind, even to one which has been submerged in a partial Samadhi/Satori
... Synthesis may still seem frightening, unappealing, or even impossible. It is
objectionable, only because we
cannot fathom how God's consciousness can
somehow TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION or ACCOUNT,
each and every ONE of us ... yet ALSO be WHOLE.
But is this not so?
I have to get off this box now.
But however foolish, I am, at least, smiling.
One of us may
cordon off a great deal, and relegate it to this
category over here, which we call `Mystery' (or
`the lesser mysteries,' if I may be so bold) ... while yet another says,
aha! - this is something I am familiar with!
But we may be assured that
for as many of us as there are to understand the mysteries ...
there are also that many ways to Know them! Yet all as part of the Divine Expression,
HOW MANY Mysteries are we really talking about?
I do not mean that this is purely subjective,
BUT HOW ELSE can anything I am even intimating be suggested, I begin to wonder (?). After all,
that which doesn't agree with one's canon, or catechism, is apt to get swept under the rug without even a cursory glance. Here, where at least it has the
opportunity to come into the Light of Day (as a
thousand million additional opportunities -
let us LOOK AROUND), we find that AT BEST, my
faulty & incomplete presentations will be subject to the usual criticisms
, sophistry and casuistry!
Quoting from the famous
Maha Chohan's Letter of 1881 ... "
Between degrading superstition and still more degrading brutal materialism the white dove of truth has hardly room where to rest her weary unwelcome foot ..."
He goes on to say, in summing up His letter:
"The true religion and philosophy offer the solution of every problem. That the world is in such a bad condition, morally, is a conclusive evidence that none of its religions and philosophies, those of the civilized races less than any other, has ever possessed the truth. The right and logical explanations on the subject of the problems of the great dual principles, right and wrong, good and evil, liberty and despotism, pain and pleasure, egotism and altruism, are as impossible to them now as they were 1880 [or 2007] years ago. They are as far from the solution as they were; but to these problems there must be somewhere a consistent solution, and if our doctrines will show their competence to offer it, then the world will be the first to confess that there must be the true philosophy, the true religion, the true light, which gives truth and nothing but the truth."
Thomas said:
I think it is not difficult to see, in this attempt at syncretism,
Yes, indeed, and here we see - as I rightly predicted - the familiar
charges, leveled against us again ... which only
demonstrates that you are talking
past me, and not TO me. For if you had listened to one word I had said, regarding what
Theosophy teaches, what I believe, and what I advocate ... you would know well by now, that I argue for a common ROOT, underlying all world religions.
Thomas, you make it sound as if I am somehow suggesting that
every single leaf of the tree of world philosophies and faiths (or at least its major branches)
... was fast bending itself toward one another, in some kind of gnarly (sic!), contorted, preternatural effort ... to abolish heritage, and HOIST a new flag, with foresworn allegiance.
If this is the image that you have allowed to crystallize in your heart and mind,
either with regard to Theosophy, or the Sophia Perennis, then I only hope it may be swiftly -
though voluntarily - shattered. For it is an abomination.
But as I say, I have never
indicated this, as I think the idea is patently offensive on its very basis. To advocate for
Interfaith dialogue, exploration of respective Faith Traditions, and even practice a form of Syncretic Religion that one has deigned APPEALING to oneself, of one's own accord ... now that is another story. But that is not Theosophy, nor esotericism
per se, and it is not what this thread is about.
In the end,
the exoteric side of things will appeal to most folks here -
especially as this isn't even the
Liberal Christianity forum ...
I have merely wanted to indicate that there is another way to approach the idea of the Christian Trinity,
or the notion of a Triune Deity (if we must be particular) ... and this I have done, even if I have been - as usual - misrepresented.
You would
think, that as we begin to
fathom the IDEA of the fractal ... even just visually, and mathematically ... a tiny little door would open somewhere -
suggestnig to us that there may be
Trinities within Trinities, each reproducing the
pattern of
an Ultimate Threefold Deity - though with increasing degrees of
imperfection as the nature of the reflecting medium
clouds the `Original.' You would
think.
But we have a pat answer for that, a ready response, and that will be, "Oh Heavens, no, we can't allow for this! This is
Gnosticism! And that, too, is on the
"forsaken, heresy" list."
So again, the wave of the hand ...
Meanwhile, that fractal is still there. And Jacob's ladder goes
up, as well as down.
A Tower, did I hear? And wings of wax? Of course. Thus we have
the function, office, role and Purpose of (a) Christ. Is this not infinitely
impersonal, as well as intimately
personal? I think it is both.
Purpose will mean little to me, while
Christ's Love is not personal, at least in the application. And Purpose will mean nothing for
Humanity, as a Whole, while
Christ's Love cannot be understood (and experienced) to be
Infinite, Impersonal. We usually only want one of these, but both are necessary for Revelation. {And that's why, I'm guessing, it's possible to
stand so close, yet also remain so distant - so far away.}
But please feel free ...
to dismiss my out-loud musings with the rest of it.
~Zag
