On Buddhist Fundamentalism

[David Guyatt]

Thanks jan,

Yes,I've read through those threads a couple of times.And,they personally pretty much destroyed a belief system that I had earlier thought to be profoundly truthfull,and just plain,"deep as hell".hutup:

But I like Blavatsky....and can't come to a balanced position on her.Her volumes,"Isis Unveiled",along with "The Secret Doctrine",are rightfully occult masterpieces,whatever one thinks of the lady.

It's been a couple of decades since I read these books Keith, but I have to say that I was never really taken by Blavatsky or her Theosophy. I have a fairly extensive library of occult books and, some of them are very good. Others are less so. There is a lot of claptrap too. Many of the people writing back in Blavatsky's time - and some time after that also - derived from class structures and were imbued with the sense that occult secrets were for the privileged class, of which they were members. It's classic inferiority complex obviously, but this accounts for a fair amount of the hokus-pokus secrecy that envelops the occult.

This is not to say that some degree of secrecy is required, for a variety of sound reasons. But the main one is, in my opinion anyway, that it is necessary to ensure the tincture of mystery that cloaks the subject. We humans have enquiring minds and a deep mystery appeals to and energizes us. Those who have ears and eyes etc. Also, it is vitally important not to steal any sudden understanding or comprehension - that aha! moment - that a student of the occult reveals to themselves, through study and very difficult work. Those revelations are the gift of their labours.

In the final analysis all the occult amounts to - apart from quite detailed mind techniques - is a platform for growing consciousness. Or rather, that is the case in those schools who have genuine interest in furthering civilisation and assisting man to climb out of his own mire. There are any number of schools and lodges whose purpose is far more nefarious and opposed to these positive aims. The latter are concerned with the here and now and their own gratification and urge to power. Although they drag civilisation down into the mire, most are ultimately to be pitied. Imo anyway. There are others I would happily choke with a rope. But that's just me.