I recently read Nikita's story and she mentioned that she briefly came across the religion of Theosophy in her travels towards of Dub-ism @ a young age (Thanks Nitkita :)
Her post reminded me of my studies of Madame Blavatsky, Colonel Olcott, Annie Besant, CW Leadbeater, etc., the founders of Theosophy. A book I recommend regarding Madanme Blavatsky is entitled "Madame Blavatsky's Baboon - A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America."
Anyway, the best thing that came out of this movement IMO is a Eastern Philosopher who renounced his involved with the organization by the name of Jiddu Krishnamurti. Admittedly, he was no angel, but I found his philosophy amazing. I recommend one of his many books entitled "Think on Theses Things."
Is anyone else familiar with Krishnamurti, Madame Blavatsky or The Theosophy Society?
Last year I wrote an article for a local paper talking about Krishnamurti and Alternatives in Education. Here are some excerpts:
"Jiddu Krishnamurti views of education would definitively be considered radical if not impractical in virtually any society. However, when viewed with an open mind, his observations might be worthy of our attention. Listed below are some enlightening quotes from Krisnamurti concerning education:
"The ignorant man is not the unlearned, but he who does not know himself, and the learned man is stupid when he relies on books, on knowledge and on authority to give him understanding. Understanding comes only through self-knowledge, which is awareness of one's total psychological process. Thus education, in the true sense, is the understanding of oneself, for it is within each one of us that the whole of existence is gathered." - Krishnamurti from Education and The Significance of Life (1953)
"Our present education consist in telling us what to think, it does not teach us how to think, how to penetrate, explore; and it is only when the teacher as well as the student knows how to think that the school is worthy of its name." - The Problem of Freedom from Think on These Things (1964)
"The moment you come to a conclusion as to what intelligence is, you cease to be intelligent. That is what most of the older people have done: they have come to conclusions. Therefore, they have ceased to be intelligent. So you have found out one thing right off: That an intelligent mind is one which is constantly learning, never concluding. " - The Problem of Freedom from Think on These Things (1964)
"So, it is a basic function of education to help you to find out what you really love to do, so that you can give your whole mind and heart to it, because that creates human dignity, that sweeps away mediocrity, the petty bourgeois mentality." - Ambition from Think on These Things (1964)
"You can learn from books, but that does not take you very far. A book can give you only what the author has to tell. But the learning that comes through self knowledge has no limit..." - Ambition from Think on These Things (1964)
"You see, most of us want an answer, we want to be told what it is all about, so we pick up a political or religious book, or we ask somebody to tell us; but no one can tell us, because life is not something which can be understood from a book, nor can its significance be gathered by following another, or though some form of prayer. You and I must understand it for ourselves." - An Open Mind from Think on These Things (1964)
"You know, if a teacher loves mathematics, or history, or whatever it is he teaches, then you also will love that subject, because love of something communicates itself...If a musician loves to sing and his whole being is in it, doesnt that feeling communicate itself to you who are listening?...But most educators dont love their subject; it has become a bore to them, a routine through which they have to go in order to earn a living. If your teachers really loved to teach, do you know what would happen to you? You would be extraordinary human beings." - Equality and Freedom from Think on These Things (1964)
"... The teacher is the most important person in a school, for on her or him depends the future welfare of mankind. This is not a mere verbal statement. This is an absolute and irrevocable fact. Only when the educator himself feels the dignity and the respect implicit in his work, will he be aware that teaching is the highest calling, greater than that of the politician, greater than the princes of the world. The writer means every word of this, and so please do not brush it aside as exaggeration or an attempt to make you feel a false importance. You and the students must flower together in goodness." - Letters to the Schools, Vol I
"But, you see, all the modern techniques and inventions are being used either for war, or merely for amusement, as a means of escape from oneself, and so the mind gets lost in gadgets. Modern education has become the cultivation of gadgets, the mechanical devices or machines which help you to cook, to clean, to iron, to calculate and do various other essential things, so that you dont have to think about them all the time. And you should have these gadgets, not to get lost in gadgetry, but to free your mind to do something totally different." - The Need To Be Alone from Think on These Things (1964)
"You see, when you are young you have abounding energy - energy that makes you want to skip over the hills, reach for the starts. Then, society steps in and tells you to hold that energy within the walls of the prison which it call respectability. Through education, though every form of sanction and control, that energy is gradually crushed out. But you need more energy, not less, because without immense energy you will never find out what is true. - To Seek God from Think on These Things (1964)
"Have you not noticed that your parents and teachers tell you that you must amount to something in life, that you must be successful like your uncle or your grandfather?...The function of education, then is to help you from childhood not to imitate anybody, but to be yourself all the time...To be yourself is very difficult, because you think that what you are is ignoble, and that if you could only change what you are into something noble it would be marvelous; but that never happens. Whereas, if you look at what you actually are and understand it, then in that very understanding there is a transformation...You see, you are not educated for this; your education encourages you to become something or other - but that is not the understanding of yourself." - The Problem of Freedom from Think on These Things (1964)"
Peace and Security - LL
Edited by - Larry on 1 September 2002 10:32:54