Long Words

From Pete Stieler

I find a great need to include some basics into this issue of our KALI YUGA RAG for the person who just happened to pick this up out of curiosity. Like me, you might be wondering what theosophy is all about. I remember that my curiosity was piqued when I read the following from the introduction to James A. Long's EXPANDING HORIZONS.  It might strike a chord with you, too.

“In every age men and women have pondered on the mystery of existence: where did we come from? why are we here? and what is our ultimate destiny? In our longing to find a philosophy that will prove valid, where can we turn?

If we are sincere in our desire to become an instrument for good in the world, the potency of our aspiration will inevitably lead us to the exact opportunities that will help us attain our goal. Perhaps a book, a magazine or a seemingly chance event -- some person or thing will set off a chain-reaction in our consciousness that will draw us, much as iron filings to a magnet, into an entirely new line of thinking and even of circumstance which, if followed through, can change the course of our lives.

Our greatest hope lies in the fact that Truth does exist. Through the millennia it has come down to us like a river whose source is in the Unknown. At times its current flows strong and clear over the surface of the earth, enriching human hearts. At other times, not finding a channel of receptive minds, it disappears and moves quietly underground, and the soil it once made fertile lies fallow. But always the river flows.

How has this "wisdom of the ages" been passed down to us? Has it not been through the lives and works of the great teachers of the past -- the Master Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Confucius, Lao-tzu, Plato and others? Each of them labored with one end in view: to revive in the consciousness of man a recognition of his divine potential and to restate the spiritual values embedded in the sacred traditions of antiquity. Each one, in his own way, helped the river of Truth to flow anew in the fields of human endeavor and to refresh the parched souls of those whose faith had become weakened.

Why do these barren periods recur, when at the core of all the great religions and philosophies we find the identic principles of right thought and action, the selfsame nucleus of inspiration? Was it the fault of the teachers or their teachings? Or was it the inability of their contemporaries to grasp sufficiently the portent of the message and pass it on in its purity? These and many other related questions are considered in the discussions that follow.”

This is just part of the introduction to this fascinating book that has served as a foundation in my quest for knowledge. Now, with the advent of Internet communications, this book is available (full text available electronically at no charge) at http://members.aol.com/tstec/hmpage/tup.htm along with many other books on theosophy. While you are online, you might want to visit http://www.centurytel.net/theosophy for more information on theosophy including links to the Theosophical Society and American Section home pages.