THE
OF
THEOSOPHY
A Definitive Work on Theosophy
By
William Quan Judge
CHAPTER
11
Karma
Karma is an unfamiliar word for Western ears. It is
the name adopted by Theosophists of the nineteenth century for one of the most
important of the laws of nature. Ceaseless in its operation, it bears alike
upon planets, systems of planets, races, nations, families, and individuals. It
is the twin doctrine to reincarnation. So inextricably interlaced are these two
laws that it is almost
impossible to properly consider one apart from the
other. No spot or being in the universe is exempt from the operation of Karma,
but all are under its sway, punished for error by it yet beneficently led on,
through discipline, rest, and reward, to the distant heights of perfection. It
is a law so comprehensive in
its sweep, embracing at once our physical and our
moral being, that it is only by paraphrase and copious explanation one can
convey its meaning in English.
For that reason the Sanskrit term Karma was adopted to
designate it. Applied to man's moral life it is the law of ethical causation,
justice, reward and punishment; the cause for birth and rebirth, yet equally
the means for escape from incarnation. Viewed from another point it is merely
effect flowing from cause, action and reaction, exact result for every thought
and act. It is act and the result of act; for the word's literal meaning is
action. Theosophy views the Universe as an intelligent whole, hence every
motion in the Universe is an action of that whole leading to results, which themselves
become causes for further results.
Viewing it thus broadly, the ancient Hindus said that
every being up to Brahma was under the rule of Karma. It is not a being but a
law, the universal law of harmony which unerringly restores all disturbance to
equilibrium. In this the theory conflicts with the ordinary conception about
God, built up from the Jewish system, which assumes that the Almighty as a
thinking entity, extraneous to the Cosmos, builds up, finds his construction
inharmonious, out of proportion, errant, and disturbed, and then has to pull
down, destroy, or punish that which he created. This has either caused
thousands to live in fear of God, in compliance with his assumed commands, with
the selfish object of obtaining reward and securing escape from his wrath, or
has plunged them into darkness which comes from a denial of all spiritual life.
But as there is plainly, indeed painfully, evident to every human being a
constant destruction going on in and around us, a continual war not only among
men but everywhere through the whole solar system, causing sorrow in all
directions, reason requires a solution of the riddle. The poor, who see no
refuge or hope, cry aloud to a God who makes no reply, and then envy springs up
in them when they consider the comforts and opportunities of the rich. They see
the rich profligates, the wealthy fools, enjoying themselves unpunished.
Turning to the teacher of religion, they meet the
reply to their questioning of the justice which will permit such misery to those
who did nothing requiring them to be born with no means, no opportunities for
education, no capacity to overcome social, racial, or circumstantial obstacles,
"It is the will of God."
Parents produce beloved offspring who are cut off by
death at an untimely hour, just when all promised well. They too have no answer
to the question "Why am I thus afflicted?" but the same unreasonable
reference to an inaccessible God whose arbitrary will causes their misery. Thus
in every walk of life, loss,
injury, persecution, deprivation of opportunity,
nature's own forces working to destroy the happiness of man, death, reverses,
disappointment continually beset good and evil men alike. But nowhere is there
any answer or relief save in the ancient truths that each man is the maker and
fashioner of his own destiny, the
only one who sets in motion the causes for his own
happiness and misery. In one life he sows and in the next he reaps. Thus on and
forever, the law of Karma leads him.
Karma is a beneficent law wholly merciful,
relentlessly just, for true mercy is not favor but impartial justice.
"My
brothers! each man's life
The outcome of
his former living is;
The bygone
wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes,
The bygone
right breeds bliss. . . .
This is the
doctrine of Karma."
How is the present life affected by that bygone right
and wrong act, and is it always by way of punishment? Is Karma only fate under
another name, an already fixed and formulated destiny from which no escape is
possible, and which therefore might make us careless of act or thought that
cannot affect destiny?
It is not fatalism. Everything done in a former body
has consequences which in the new birth the Ego must enjoy or suffer, for, as
St. Paul said: "Brethren, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for
whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." For the effect is in the
cause, and Karma produces the manifestation of it in the body, brain, and mind
furnished by reincarnation. And as a cause set up by one man has a distinct
relation to him as a center from which it came, so each one experiences the
results of his own acts. We may sometimes seem to receive effects solely from
the acts of others, but this is the result of our own acts and thoughts in this
or some prior life. We perform our acts in company with others always, and the
acts with their underlying thoughts have relation always to other persons and
to ourselves.
No act is performed without a thought at its root
either at the time of performance or as leading to it. These thoughts are
lodged in that part of man which we have called Manas -- the mind, and there
remain as subtle but powerful links with magnetic threads that enmesh the solar
system, and through which various effects are brought out. The theory put
forward in earlier pages that the whole system to which this globe belongs is
alive, conscious on every plane, though only in man showing self-consciousness,
comes into play here to explain how the thought under the act in this life may
cause result in this or the next birth. The marvellous modern experiments in
hypnotism show that the slightest impression, no matter how far back in the
history of the person, may be waked up to life, thus proving it is not lost but
only latent. Take for instance the case
of a child born humpbacked and very short, the head
sunk between the shoulders, the arms long and legs curtailed. Why is this? His
karma for thoughts and acts in a prior life. He reviled, persecuted, or otherwise
injured a deformed person so persistently or violently as to imprint in his own
immortal mind the deformed picture of his victim. For in proportion to the
intensity of his thought will be the intensity and depth of the picture.
It is exactly similar to the exposure of the sensitive
photographic plate, whereby, just as the exposure is long or short, the
impression in the plate is weak or deep. So this thinker and actor -- the Ego
-- coming again to rebirth carries with him this picture, and if the family to
which he is attracted for birth has similar physical tendencies in its stream,
the mental picture causes the newly-forming astral body to assume a deformed
shape by electrical and magnetic osmosis through the mother of the child. And
as all beings on earth are indissolubly joined together, the misshapen child is
the karma of the parents also an exact consequence for similar acts and
thoughts on their part in other lives. Here is an exactitude of justice which
no other theory will furnish.
But as we often see a deformed human being --
continuing the instance merely for the purpose of illustration -- having a
happy disposition, an excellent intellect, sound judgment, and every good moral
quality, this very instance leads us to the conclusion that karma must be of
several different kinds in every individual case, and also evidently operates
in more than one department
of our being, with the possibility of being pleasant
in effect for one portion of our nature and unpleasant for another.
Karma is of three sorts:
First -- that which has not begun to produce any
effect in our lives owing to the operation on us of some other karmic causes.
This is under a law well known to physicists, that two opposing forces tend to
neutrality, and that one force may be strong enough to temporarily prevent the
operation of another one.
This law works on the unseen mental and karmic planes
or spheres of being just as it does on the material ones. The force of a
certain set of bodily, mental, and psychical faculties with their tendencies
may wholly inhibit the operation on us of causes with which we are connected,
because the whole nature of each person is used in the carrying out of this
law. Hence the weak and mediocre furnish a weak focus for karma, and in them
the general result of a lifetime is limited, although they may feel it all to
be very heavy. But that person who has a wide and deep-reaching character and
much force will feel the operation of a greater quantity of karma than the
weaker person.
Second -- that karma which we are now making or
storing up by our thoughts and acts, and which will operate in the future when
the appropriate body, mind, and environment are taken up by the incarnating Ego
in some other life, or whenever obstructive karma is removed.
This bears both on the present life and the next one.
For one may in this life come to a point where, all previous causes being
worked out, new karma, or that which is unexpended, must begin to operate.
Under this are those cases where men have sudden
reverses of fortune or changes for the better either in circumstances or
character. A very important bearing of this is on our present conduct. While
old karma must work out and cannot be stopped, it is wise for the man to so
think and act now under present circumstances, no matter what they are, that he
shall produce no bad or prejudicial causes for the next rebirth or for later
years in this life.
Rebellion is useless, for the law works on whether we
weep or rejoice. The great French engineer, de Lesseps, is a good example of
this class of karma. Raised to a high pitch of glory and achievement for many
years of his life, he suddenly falls covered with shame through the Panama
canal scandal. Whether he was innocent or guilty, he has the shame of the connection
of his name with a national enterprise all besmirched with bribery and
corruption that involved high officials. This was the operation of old karmic
causes on him the very moment those which had governed his previous years were
exhausted. Napoleon I is another, for he rose to a very great fame, then
suddenly fell and died in exile and disgrace. Many other cases will occur to
every thoughtful reader.
Third -- that karma which has begun to produce
results. It is the operating now in this life on us of causes set up in
previous lives in company with other Egos. And it is in operation because,
being most adapted to the family stock, the individual body, astral body, and
race tendencies of the present incarnation, it exhibits itself plainly, while
other unexpended karma awaits its regular turn.
These three classes of karma govern men, animals,
worlds, and periods of evolution. Every effect flows from a cause precedent,
and as all beings are constantly being reborn they are continually experiencing
the effects of their thoughts and acts (which are themselves causes) of a prior
incarnation. And thus
each one answers, as St. Matthew says, for every word
and thought; none can escape either by prayer, or favor, or force, or any other
intermediary.
Now as karmic causes are divisible into three classes,
they must have various fields in which to work. They operate upon man in his
mental and intellectual nature, in his psychical or soul nature, and in his
body and circumstances. The spiritual nature of man is never affected or
operated upon by karma.
One species of karma may act on the three specified
planes of our nature at the same time to the same degree, or there may be a
mixture of the causes, some on one plane and some on another. Take a deformed
person who has a fine mind and a deficiency in his soul nature. Here punitive
or unpleasant karma is operating on his body while in his mental and
intellectual nature good karma is being experienced, but psychically the karma,
or cause, being of an indifferent sort the result is indifferent. In another
person other combinations appear. He has a fine body and favourable
circumstances, but the character is morose, peevish, irritable, revengeful,
morbid, and disagreeable to himself and others.
Here good physical karma is at work with very bad
mental, intellectual, and psychical karma. Cases will occur to readers of
persons born in high station having every opportunity and power, yet being
imbecile or suddenly becoming insane.
And just as all these phases of the law of karma have
sway over the individual man, so they similarly operate upon races, nations,
and families. Each race has its karma as a whole. If it be good that race goes
forward. If bad it goes out -- annihilated as a race -- though the souls
concerned take up their karma in
other races and bodies. Nations cannot escape their
national karma, and any nation that has acted in a wicked manner must suffer
some day, be it soon or late. The karma of the nineteenth century in the West
is the karma of Israel, for even the merest tyro can see that the Mosaic
influence is the strongest in
the European and American nations.
The old Aztec and other ancient American peoples died
out because their own karma -- the result of their own life as
nations in the far past -- fell upon and destroyed
them. With nations this heavy operation of karma is always through famine, war,
convulsion of nature, and the sterility of the women of the nation. The latter
cause comes near the end and sweeps the whole remnant away. And the individual
in race or nation is warned by this great doctrine that if he falls into
indifference of thought and act, thus moulding himself into the general average
karma of his race or nation, that national and race karma will at last carry
him off in the general destiny. This is why teachers of old cried, "Come
ye out and be ye separate."
With reincarnation the doctrine of karma explains the
misery and suffering of the world, and no room is left to accuse Nature of
injustice.
The misery of any nation or race is the direct result
of the thoughts and acts of the Egos who make up the race or nation. In the dim
past they did wickedly and now suffer. They violated the laws of harmony. The
immutable rule is that harmony must be restored if violated. So these Egos
suffer in making
compensation and establishing the equilibrium of the
occult cosmos.
The whole mass of Egos must go on incarnating and
reincarnating in the nation or race until they have all worked out to the end
the causes set up. Though the nation may for a time disappear as a physical
thing, the Egos that made it do not leave
the world, but come out as the makers of some new
nation in which they must go on with the task and take either punishment or
reward as accords with their karma. Of this law the old Egyptians are an
illustration. They certainly rose to
a high point of development, and as certainly they
were extinguished as a nation. But the souls -- the old Egos -- live on and are
now fulfilling their self-made destiny as some other nation now in our period.
They may be the new American nation, or the Jews fated
to wander up and down in the world and suffer much at the hands of others. This
process is perfectly just. Take, for instance, the United States and the Red
Indians. The latter have been most shamefully treated by the nation. The Indian
Egos will be reborn in the new and conquering people, and as members of that
great family will be the means themselves of bringing on the due results for
such acts as were done against them when they had red bodies. Thus it has
happened before, and so it will come about again.
Individual unhappiness in any life is thus explained:
(a) It is punishment for evil done in past lives; or
(b) it is discipline taken up by the Ego for the purpose
of eliminating defects or acquiring fortitude and sympathy. When defects are
eliminated it is like removing the obstruction in an irrigating canal which
then lets the water flow on. Happiness is explained in the same way: the result
of prior lives of goodness.
The scientific and self-compelling basis for right
ethics is found in these and in no other doctrines. For if right ethics are to
be practised merely for themselves, men will not see why, and have never been
able to see why, for that reason they should do right. If ethics are to be
followed from fear, man is degraded and will surely evade; if the favor of the
Almighty, not based on law or justice, be the reason, then we will have just
what prevails today -- a code given by Jesus to the west professed by nations
and not practised save by the few who would in any case be virtuous.
On this subject the Adepts have written the following
to be found in the Secret Doctrine:
"Nor would the ways of karma be inscrutable were
men to work in union and harmony instead of disunion and strife. For our
ignorance of those ways -- which one portion of mankind calls the ways of
Providence dark and intricate, while another sees in them the action of blind
fatalism, and a third simple chance
with neither gods nor devils to guide them -- would
surely disappear if we would but attribute all these to their correct cause.
With right knowledge, or at any rate with a confident conviction that our
neighbours will no more work harm to
us than we would think of harming them, two-thirds of
the world's evil would vanish into thin air. Were no man to hurt his brother,
Karma-Nemesis would have neither cause to work for nor weapons to act through.
. . .
We cut these numerous windings in our destinies daily
with our own hands, while we imagine that we are pursuing a track on the royal
high road of respectability and duty, and then complain of those ways beings so
intricate and so dark. We stand
bewildered before the mystery of our own making and
the riddles of life that we will not solve, and then accuse the great Sphinx of
devouring us. But verily there is not an accident in our lives, not a misshapen
day or a misfortune, that could not be traced back to our own doings in this or
another life. . . .
Knowledge of Karma gives the conviction that if --
'virtue in
distress and vice in triumph Make atheists of Mankind',
it is only because that mankind has ever shut its eyes
to the great truth that man is himself his own saviour as his own destroyer;
that he need not accuse heaven and the gods, fates and providence, of the
apparent injustice that reigns in the midst of humanity. But let him rather
remember and repeat this bit of
Grecian wisdom which warns man to forbear accusing
That which
'Just though
mysterious, leads us on unerring
Through ways
unmarked from guilt to punishment'
-- which are now the ways and the high road on which
move onward the great European nations. The western Aryans had every nation and
tribe like their eastern brethren of the fifth race, their Golden and their
Iron ages, their period of comparative irresponsibility, or the Satya age of
purity, while now several of them have reached their Iron age, the Kali Yuga,
an age black with horrors. This state will last . . . until we begin acting
from within instead of ever following impulses from without . . . Until then
the only palliative is union and harmony -- a Brotherhood in actu and altruism
not simply in name."
______________________
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THE PHYSICAL PLANE THE ASTRAL PLANE
KÂMALOKA THE MENTAL PLANE DEVACHAN
THE BUDDHIC AND NIRVANIC PLANES
THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA COLLECTIVE KARMA
THE LAW OF SACRIFICE MAN'S
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Nature is infinite in space and time --
boundless and eternal, unfathomable and ineffable. The all-pervading essence of
infinite nature can be called space, consciousness, life, substance, force,
energy, divinity -- all of which are fundamentally one.
2) The finite and the infinite
Nature is a unity in diversity, one in
essence, manifold in form. The infinite whole is composed of an infinite number
of finite wholes -- the relatively stable and autonomous things (natural
systems or artefacts) that we observe around us. Every natural system is not
only a conscious, living, substantial entity, but is
consciousness-life-substance, of a particular range of density and form.
Infinite nature is an abstraction, not an entity; it therefore does not act or
change and has no attributes. The finite, concrete systems of which it is
composed, on the other hand, move and change, act and interact, and possess
attributes. They are composite, inhomogeneous, and ultimately transient.
3) Vibration/worlds within worlds
The one essence manifests not only in
infinitely varied forms, and on infinitely varied scales, but also in
infinitely varying degrees of spirituality and substantiality, comprising an
infinite spectrum of vibration or density. There is therefore an endless series
of interpenetrating, interacting worlds within worlds, systems within systems.
The energy-substances of higher planes or
subplanes (a plane being a particular range of vibration) are relatively more
homogeneous and less differentiated than those of lower planes or subplanes.
Just as boundless space is comprised of
endless finite units of space, so eternal duration is comprised of endless
finite units of time. Space is the infinite totality of worlds within worlds,
but appears predominantly empty because only a tiny fraction of the
energy-substances composing it are perceptible and tangible to an entity at any
particular moment. Time is a concept we use to quantify the rate at which
events occur; it is a function of
change and motion, and presupposes a
succession of cause and effect. Every entity is extended in space and changes
'in time'.
All change (of position, substance, or
form) is the result of causes; there is no such thing as absolute chance.
Nothing can happen for no reason at all for nothing exists in isolation;
everything is part of an intricate web of causal interconnections and
interactions. The keynote of nature is harmony: every action is automatically
followed by an equal and opposite reaction, which sooner or later rebounds upon
the originator of the initial act. Thus, all our thoughts and deeds will
eventually bring us 'fortune' or 'misfortune' according to the degree to which
they were harmonious or disharmonious. In the long term, perfect justice
prevails in nature.
Because nature is fundamentally one, and
the same basic habits and structural, geometric, and evolutionary principles
apply throughout, there are correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm.
The principle of analogy -- as above, so below -- is a vital tool in our efforts
to understand reality.
All finite systems and their attributes are
relative. For any entity, energy-substances vibrating within the same range of
frequencies as its outer body are 'physical' matter, and finer grades of
substance are what we call energy, force, thought, desire, mind, spirit,
consciousness, but these are just as material to entities on the corresponding
planes as our physical world is to us. Distance and time units are also
relative: an atom is a solar system on its own scale, reembodying perhaps
millions of times in what for us is one second, and our whole galaxy may be a
molecule in some supercosmic entity, for which a million of our years is just a
second. The range of scale is infinite: matter-consciousness is both infinitely
divisible and infinitely aggregative.
All natural systems consist of smaller
systems and form part of larger systems. Hierarchies extend both 'horizontally'
(on the same plane) and 'vertically' or inwardly (to higher and lower planes).
On the horizontal level, subatomic particles form atoms, which combine into
molecules, which arrange themselves into cells, which form tissues and organs,
which form part of organisms, which form part of ecosystems, which form part of
planets, solar systems, galaxies, etc. The constitution of worlds and of the
organisms that inhabit them form 'vertical' hierarchies, and can be divided
into several interpenetrating layers or elements, from physical-astral to
psychomental to spiritual-divine, each of which can be further divided.
The human constitution can be divided up in
several different ways: e.g. into a trinity of body, soul, and spirit; or into
7 'principles' -- a lower quaternary consisting of physical body, astral
model-body, life-energy, and lower thoughts and desires, and an upper triad
consisting of higher mind (reincarnating ego), spiritual intuition, and inner
god. A planet or star can be regarded as a 'chain' of 12 globes, existing on 7
planes, each globe comprising several subplanes.
The highest part of every multilevelled
organism or hierarchy is its spiritual summit or 'absolute', meaning a
collective entity or 'deity' which is relatively perfected in relation to the
hierarchy in question. But the most 'spiritual' pole of one hierarchy is the
most 'material' pole of the next, superior hierarchy, just as the lowest pole
of one hierarchy is the highest pole of the one below.
Each level of a hierarchical system
exercises a formative and organizing influence on the lower levels (through the
patterns and prototypes stored up from past cycles of activity), while the
lower levels in turn react upon the higher. A system is therefore formed and
organized mainly from within outwards, from the inner levels of its constitution,
which are relatively more enduring and developed than the outer levels. This
inner guidance is sometimes active and selfconscious, as in our acts of free
will (constrained, however, by karmic tendencies from the past), and sometimes
it is automatic and passive, giving rise to our own automatic bodily functions
and habitual and instinctual behavior, and to the orderly, lawlike operations
of nature in general. The 'laws' of nature are therefore the habits of the
various grades of conscious entities that compose reality, ranging from higher
intelligences (collectively forming the
universal mind) to elemental nature-forces.
10) Consciousness and its vehicles
The core of every entity -- whether atom,
human, planet, or star -- is a monad, a unit of consciousness-life-substance,
which acts through a series of more material vehicles or bodies. The monad or
self in which the consciousness of a particular organism is focused is animated
by higher monads and expresses itself through a series of lesser monads, each
of which is the nucleus of one of the lower vehicles of the entity in question.
The following monads can be distinguished: the divine or galactic monad, the
spiritual or solar monad, the higher human or planetary-chain monad, the lower
human or globe monad, and the animal, vital-astral, and physical monads. At our
present stage of evolution, we are essentially the lower human monad, and our
task is to raise our consciousness from the animal-human to the spiritual-human
level of it.
Evolution means the unfolding, the bringing
into active manifestation, of latent powers and faculties 'involved' in a
previous cycle of evolution. It is the building of ever fitter vehicles for the
expression of the mental and spiritual powers of the monad. The more
sophisticated the lower vehicles of an entity, the greater their ability to
express the powers locked up in the higher levels of its constitution. Thus all
things are alive and conscious, but the degree of manifest life and
consciousness is extremely varied.
Evolution results from the interplay of
inner impulses and environmental stimuli. Ever building on and modifying the
patterns of the past, nature is infinitely creative.
12) Cyclic evolution/re-embodiment
Cyclic evolution is a fundamental habit of
nature. A period of evolutionary activity is followed by a period of rest. All
natural systems evolve through re-embodiment. Entities are born from a seed or
nucleus remaining from the previous evolutionary cycle of the monad, develop to
maturity, grow old, and pass away, only to re-embody in a new form after a
period of rest. Each new embodiment is the product of past karma and present
choices.
Nothing comes from nothing: matter and
energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but only transformed. Everything
evolves from preexisting material. The growth of the body of an organism is
initiated on inner planes, and involves the transformation of higher
energy-substances into lower, more material ones, together with the attraction
of matter from the environment.
When an organism has exhausted the store of
vital energy with which it is born, the coordinating force of the indwelling
monad is withdrawn, and the organism 'dies', i.e. falls apart as a unit, and
its constituent components go their separate ways. The lower vehicles decompose
on their respective subplanes, while, in the case of humans, the reincarnating
ego enters a dreamlike state of rest and assimilates the experiences of the
previous incarnation. When the time comes for the next embodiment, the
reincarnating ego clothes itself in many of the same atoms of different grades
that it had used previously, bearing the appropriate karmic impress. The same
basic processes of birth, death,
and rebirth apply to all entities, from atoms to humans to stars.
14) Evolution and involution of worlds
Worlds or spheres, such as planets and
stars, are composed of, and provide the field for the evolution of, 10 kingdoms
-- 3 elemental kingdoms, mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, and 3
spiritual kingdoms. The impulse for a new manifestation of a world issues from
its spiritual summit or hierarch, from which emanate a series of steadily
denser globes or planes; the One expands into the many. During the first half
of the evolutionary cycle (the arc of descent) the energy-substances of each
plane materialize or condense, while during the second half (the arc of ascent)
the trend is towards dematerialization or etherealization, as globes and
entities are reabsorbed into the spiritual hierarch for a period of nirvanic
rest. The descending arc is characterized by the evolution of matter and
involution of spirit, while the ascending arc is characterized by the evolution
of spirit and involution of matter.
In each grand cycle of evolution,
comprising many planetary embodiments, a monad begins as an unselfconsciousness
god-spark, embodies in every kingdom of nature for the purpose of gaining
experience and unfolding its inherent faculties, and ends the cycle as a self
conscious god. Elementals ('baby monads') have no free choice, but
automatically act in harmony with one another and the rest of nature. In each
successive kingdom differentiation and individuality increase, and reach their
peak in the human kingdom with the attainment of selfconsciousness and a large
measure of free will.
In the human kingdom in particular,
self-directed evolution comes into its own. There is no superior power granting
privileges or handing out favours; we evolve according to our karmic merits and
demerits. As we progress through the spiritual kingdoms we become increasingly
at one again with nature, and willingly 'sacrifice' our circumscribed
selfconscious freedoms (especially the freedom to 'do our own thing') in order
to work in peace and harmony with the greater whole of which we form an
integral part. The highest gods of one hierarchy or world-system begin as
elementals in the next. The matter of any plane is composed of aggregated,
crystallized monads in their nirvanic sleep, and the spiritual and divine
entities embodied as planets and stars are the electrons and atomic nuclei --
the material building blocks -- of worlds on even larger scales. Evolution is
without beginning and without end, an endless adventure through the fields of
infinitude, in which there are always new worlds of experience in which to
become selfconscious masters of life.
There is no absolute separateness in
nature. All things are made of the same essence, have the same spiritual-divine
potential, and are interlinked by magnetic ties of sympathy. It is impossible
to realize our full potential, unless we recognize the spiritual unity of all
living beings and make universal brotherhood the keynote of our lives.
Hey Look!
Theosophy in Cardiff
Guide to the
Theosophy Wales King Arthur Pages
Arthur draws the Sword from the Stone
The Knights of The Round Table
The Roman Amphitheatre at Caerleon,
Eamont Bridge, Nr Penrith, Cumbria, England.
(History of the Kings of Britain)
The reliabilty of this work has long been a subject of
debate but it is the first definitive account of Arthur’s
Reign
and one which puts Arthur in a historcal context.
and his version’s political agenda
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth
The first written mention of Arthur as a heroic figure
The British leader who fought twelve battles
King Arthur’s ninth victory at
The Battle of the City of the Legion
King Arthur ambushes an advancing Saxon
army then defeats them at Liddington Castle,
Badbury, Near Swindon, Wiltshire, England.
King Arthur’s twelfth and last victory against the Saxons
Traditionally Arthur’s last battle in which he was
mortally wounded although his side went on to win
No contemporary writings or accounts of his life
but he is placed 50 to 100 years after the accepted
King Arthur period. He refers to Arthur in his inspiring
poems but the earliest written record of these dates
from over three hundred years after Taliesin’s death.
Mallerstang Valley, Nr Kirkby Stephen,
A 12th Century Norman ruin on the site of what is
reputed to have been a stronghold of Uther Pendragon
From
wise child with no earthly father to
Megastar
of Arthurian Legend
History of the Kings of Britain
Drawn from the Stone or received from the Lady of the Lake.
Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur has both versions
with both swords called Excalibur. Other versions
5th & 6th Century Timeline of Britain
From the departure of the Romans from
Britain to the establishment of sizeable
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
Glossary of
Arthur’s uncle:- The puppet ruler of the Britons
controlled and eventually killed by Vortigern
Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Circa 450CE
An alleged massacre of Celtic Nobility by the Saxons
History of the Kings of Britain
Athrwys / Arthrwys
King of Ergyng
Circa 618 - 655 CE
Latin: Artorius; English: Arthur
A warrior King born in Gwent and associated with
Caerleon, a possible Camelot. Although over 100 years
later that the accepted Arthur period, the exploits of
Athrwys may have contributed to the King Arthur Legend.
He became King of Ergyng, a kingdom between
Gwent and Brycheiniog (Brecon)
Angles under Ida seized the Celtic Kingdom of
Bernaccia in North East England in 547 CE forcing
Although much later than the accepted King Arthur
period, the events of Morgan Bulc’s 50 year campaign
to regain his kingdom may have contributed to
Old Welsh: Guorthigirn;
Anglo-Saxon: Wyrtgeorn;
Breton: Gurthiern; Modern Welsh; Gwrtheyrn;
*********************************
An earlier ruler than King Arthur and not a heroic figure.
He is credited with policies that weakened Celtic Britain
to a point from which it never recovered.
Although there are no contemporary accounts of
his rule, there is more written evidence for his
existence than of King Arthur.
How Sir Lancelot slew two giants,
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
How Sir Lancelot rode disguised
in Sir Kay's harness, and how he
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
How Sir Lancelot jousted against
four knights of the Round Table,
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
The Theosophy Cardiff
Glastonbury Pages
The Theosophy Cardiff Guide to
The Theosophy Cardiff Guide to
The Theosophy Cardiff Guide to
The Terraced Maze of Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury and
Joseph of Arimathea
The Grave of King Arthur & Guinevere
Views of Glastonbury High Street
The Theosophy Cardiff Guide to
__________________
Camberley, Surrey,
England GU15 2LF
Concerns about
the fate of the wildlife as
Tekels Park is to
be Sold to a Developer
Concerns are
raised about the fate of the
wildlife as The Spiritual
Retreat,
Tekels Park in
Camberley, Surrey,
England is to be
sold to a developer.
Tekels Park is a
50 acre woodland park,
purchased
for the Adyar
Theosophical
In addition to
concern about the park,
many are worried about the
future
of the Tekels
Park Deer as they
Confusion as the Theoversity moves
out of
Tekels Park to Southampton,
Glastonbury &
Chorley in Lancashire while the
leadership claim
that the Theosophical Society will
carry on using
Tekels Park despite its sale to a developer
Anyone planning a
“Spiritual” stay at the
Tekels Park Guest
House should be aware of the sale.
Future of Tekels Park Badgers in Doubt
Party On! Tekels Park Theosophy NOT
Tekels Park & the Loch Ness Monster
A Satirical view
of the sale of Tekels Park
in Camberley,
Surrey to a developer
The Toff’s Guide to the Sale of Tekels Park
What the men in
top hats have to
say about the sale
of Tekels Park
__________________________
An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
The Three Great Truths Advantage Gained from this Knowledge
The Deity
The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man
Reincarnation
The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
______________________________
A B C D EFG H IJ KL M N OP QR S T UV WXYZ
Complete Theosophical Glossary in Plain Text Format
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What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
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History of the Theosophical
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Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical
Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the
Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical
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The Theosophical Order of
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Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
Index of Searchable
Full Text Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific
Essays Selected from "The Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the Twilight”
series appeared during
1898 in The
Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913 in The Theosophist.
compiled from
information supplied by
her relatives and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische Schriften Auf Deutsch
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Cardiff
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Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 – 1DL
_____________________________
Cardiff Picture Gallery
Cardiff
Millennium Stadium
The Hayes Cafe
Outside Cardiff Castle Circa 1890
Church Street
Cardiff View
Royal
The Original
Norman Castle which stands inside
the Grounds of
the later
Inside the
Grounds at
Cardiff Street
Entertainment
Cardiff Indoor
Market
Cardiff
Theosophical Society in Wales