Well written. Thank You for sharing.

good to hear from ya!
bb
venerable man shing
aka rasputina
and of course da zentoad

“BTW, you said that your early development involved study of Oriental Occultists. I took this as a general reference, but I see on the Web that this term is associated with the teachings of Yogi Ramacharaka. Is this what you were into? If not, perhaps you could give some further details & names.”

My response:

The first generation Theosophists, Madame Blavatsky and company, used the terms Oriental Occultism and Occultism interchangeably in their teachings and publications. Occultism, as they defined it, was both a philosophy and a way of life, one that required a certain frame of mind and willingness to place themselves in a position of total service to humanity. Blavatsky states in the opening chapter of her work “Practical Occultism”, that anyone can become a Theosophist, but only a select few were capable of developing into practicing Occultist because most people in the West were neither prepared for, or capable of dealing with the onerous requirements that were placed upon the individuals who follow that path. As a result it is not surprising that there were a lot more Theosophists during this period than there were Occultists.

The second generation of Theosophists was the generation of Besant, Leadbeater, Gardner, and Company. This generation took the concepts of Occultism and found ways of making the knowledge, practices and benefits that could be accrued through the practice of Occultism more readily available to the average Westerner. This same time period, roughly the first third of the 20th Century, saw a number of parallel organizations come into existence; all based on the work of the first generation Theosophists, but not directly linked to the Theosophical Society itself. The Yoga Society, which published a series of books during this period by an author who used the pen name, Ramacharaka, was just one of these groups.

As this generation made the practice of Occultism more widespread, it paradoxically began to use the term Occultism less and less, and by mid-century it had became unwise to use it outside of the community, due to its misappropriation by Hollywood for use in Horror Movies.

In answer to the last part of your question, “is this what you were into?”, I associate being into something as having a fascination with, or possibly a preference for something that is external to your life. The field of Oriental Occultism is a field of study that you then integrate, to the best of your abilities, into your life.

If you would like to follow up with some additional reading on this subject you might want to check out some of the titles that are listed in no special order below.

“The Kybalion” by Yogi Ramacharaka
“Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy” by Yogi Ramacharaka
“Advanced Lessons in Yogi Philosophy” by Yogi Ramacharaka
“Science Of Breath,” by Yogi Ramacharaka
“The Astral Body, And Other Astral Phenomena” by Arthur E. Powell
“The Chakras” by C. W. Leadbeater
“The Aura” by Geoffrey Hodson
“The Devachanic Plane” by C. W. Leadbeater
“Clairvoyance” by C. W. Leadbeater
“The Etheric Double” by A. E. Powell
“Thought Power” by Annie Besant
“Karma” by Annie Besant
“Dharma” by Annie Besant
“Reincarnation” by Annie Besant
“The Mental Body” by Arthur E. Powell
“The Seven Principles of Man” by Annie Besant
“A Study in Consciousness” by Annie Besant
“A Study in Karma” by Annie Besant
“Thought Forms” by Annie Besant
“The Stanzas of Dyzan” by H. P. Blavatsky
“The Voice of the Silence” by H. P. Blavatsky
“Death and After” by Annie Besant
“Clairvoyant Investigations” by Geoffrey Hodson
“The Kingdom of the Gods” by Geoffrey Hodson
“The Personal Aura” by Dora van Gelder Kunz
“The Real World of Fairies: A First-Person Account” by Dora van Gelder Kunz
“Spiritual Healing” by Dora van Gelder Kunz
“The Chakras and the Human Energy Fields” by Dora van Gelder Kunz
“Invisible Helpers” by C. W. Leadbeater
“The Life after Death” by C. W. Leadbeater
“Man, Visible and Invisible” by C. W. Leadbeater “
“The Secret Doctrine” by H. P. Blavatsky
“The Monad” by C. W. Leadbeater
“Thought Forms” by C. W. Leadbeater
“The Key to Theosophy” by H. P. Blavatsky
“The Etheric Body of Man” by Phoebe and Laurence Bendit
“The Causal Body and the Ego” by Arthur E. Powell
“Isis Unveiled” by H. P. Blavatsky
“Mystic Christianity” by Yogi Ramacharaka

“You believe that “Our history and our future are shaped by individual choice” and “It is the choices of individuals, not divine providence or random chance that drives evolution”. This type of individuality, and the belief in individualism that springs from it, is what I specifically identify as the Faustian ego. People are more individuated now than at any previous time in history, and in my view there’s a big downside to it.”

My Response:

It is not a question of belief that our history and our future are shaped by individual choice, but an observation of the mechanics of human existence.

Whether we like it or not, while we tend to generalize and look at the human race as a whole, it functions as the result of actions taken by individuals. When we refer to the state of the human race, we are actually referring to an observed accumulative effect that results from the manner in which individuals function, and that is by making decisions in answer to a constant stream of questions. Do I get up now? What shall I eat for breakfast? Should I bother to vote, etc.? Therefore, the overall observed composite view of the human race is the result of individual decisions.

In the theory of evolution, the sustained health of a species determines whether or not that species survives. Species, that are weakened by change in environmental or external conditions and who cannot then adapt to the change, tend to die out. If the overall health of our species is the result of the individual decisions referenced in the last paragraph, then our evolution is being driven by the results of individual choice.

When considering the health of a person we create a fictitious entity that we label as “in good health’, or “sick” and treat it as if it had an existence of its own separate from the human body. The state of the person’s health is determined not by some composite concept, but by the sum total effect created by the health of individual cells. If we say that someone has cancer for example, what we are really saying is that there are a significant number of individual cells in that person’s body that have mutated to the point that they are disrupting the overall operation the body, but we address these individual cells as if they were one entity that goes by the name “cancer”. When we treat cancer, we kill these mutated cells, one at a time, not some composite concept.

During the time frame you reference in your article “Faust: The Mythical Key to the Modern Age”, there has been a shift in emphasis on the development of individual consciousness from one that looked inward, to one where external associations became the paramount concern.

The Human Soul cannot be split into ego and soul, at least not in the way the concept of ego viewed in early Theosophy. The Mortal Ego was simply the personality of the physical form of the individual. A strong ego or personality is essential for being incarnate, without it you do not continue to “live”. The Higher form of ego was that of the Divine Individual, what most would call the Soul, and as the Mortal Ego was the given the name “Personality”, the Divine Ego was called “Individuality”. To complete an incarnation required the continued development of Individuality, which in turn was the root source for the Personality.

Ironically, it is the development of Individuality that enhances human personality traits such as empathy, not the suppression of Individuality. I find myself for the second time this week composing a response where I have to point out the significance of the need for the “Doctor, heal thyself” phrase to be taken to heart. We cannot, as individual cells of the body of the human race, contribute to the overall good health of that body, unless we as individual cells or beings, are not first made healthy ourselves. Not working on ourselves first, leaves us open the possibility that we become the cancer cells of the body that we refer to as the human race. But, if while working on ourselves we are able to advance as Souls, we are making a valuable contribution to the health of the race as a whole.