Self-Watchfulness,
a Decisive
Factor
in the Search for Truth
Carlos
Cardoso Aveline
One must learn to weigh and measure different aspects
of reality
Since Plato’s
time in ancient Greece, truth-seekers have had to resist and challenge once and
again the political power exerted by Sophists and pseudo-philosophers. [1]
Centuries after Plato, the New Testament legends would
coin the term “whited sepulchres” to designate those who are insincere. For centuries
the Gospel passages and platonic Dialogues which unmask “spiritual” hypocrisy
have been valuable tools for spiritual pilgrims. The occult struggle between
sincerity and falsehood is of great importance in esoteric philosophy, and
Helena Blavatsky wrote many a touching page about it.
She was not alone.
One century after Blavatsky’s birth, a letter was sent
in 1932 from Los Angeles to the associates of the United Lodge of Theosophists
all over the world. The document shows the difference between Sophist and
Theosophists, and must be remembered with humble gratitude in the present
century. [2]
Signed by “ULT”, the letter was written by John
Garrigues, one of the main founders of the United Lodge in 1909. It helps us to
better understand the attempts which emerge once and again to promote the unity
of the theosophical movement while avoiding any serious talk about its mistakes
past and present, and refusing to learn lessons from its failures.
Such superficiality paralyses the search for truth.
While examining the need for an active discernment along the path, Garrigues
writes:
“Pseudo-theosophy and pseudo-theosophists have at all
times wrought havoc to the Movement by deceiving and misleading the sincere but
unwary. Efforts conscious and unconscious on the part of individuals to make
capital for themselves by exploiting the teachings of Theosophy continue now as
during the lifetime of H.P.B. and Mr. Judge. And today the same need exists to
distinguish between genuine and spurious attempts at fraternity among
Theosophical Societies as to discern between genuine and spurious Theosophy.”
Garrigues has this to say on the politics of
artificial unification, which denies the need to learn from one’s mistakes:
“There can be no true basis of ‘fraternization’
between those, who not only add to and whittle away, but contradict the
teachings of H.P.B., and those who recognize in her ‘Secret Doctrine’ what she
said, that ‘it contains all that can be given out to the world in this
century’; that ‘it will take centuries before much more is given out’. But
there should be, and ever has been, genuine ‘fraternity’ felt and manifested by
all Associates of the United Lodge of Theosophists toward all fellow-students
of the Message of H.P.B., regardless of all minor considerations or
affiliation. That this true brotherhood was a prime factor in the foundation of
the United Lodge, its Declaration and history bear witness.”
However, the degree of discernment each one is
entitled to have depends on his inner commitment to the search for truth.
Garrigues says in the 1932 Letter:
“As new Lodges are formed and new Associates join the
ranks, self-watchfulness on the part of the Associates should not be abated.
Positive active devotion to Theosophical study and work, the deliberate and
conscious eschewing of the personal equation which all too often leads to
partisanship, the maintaining of the same fraternity toward others that one
would wish shown to himself, must result in a truer realization of the Self, a
profounder conviction of universal brotherhood. More our human devotion is
turned toward the Predecessors, more we shall become imbued with their
single-minded loyalty. They no longer exist as persons, but by that very token,
they are our safest and most inspiring Brothers and Companions.”
The lesson is of decisive importance for the present
century, and probably for the next ones, too.
NOTES:
[1] See for instance the
Dialogues “Sophist” and “Protagoras”, by Plato.
[2] The letter has two pages and is dated June 1st, 1932.
It is part of the compilation “The ULT Day Letters - 1931-1960”.
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John Garrigues
(1868-1944) is seen as a pioneer and source of inspiration for the work of the Independent
Lodge of Theosophists, which was founded in 2016.
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The article “Plato, Garrigues and the Need for
Discernment” is part of the August 2015 edition of “The Aquarian
Theosophist”, pp. 11-12. It was
published as an independent text in our associated websites on 14 July 2018.
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On 14 September 2016, a group of students
decided to found the Independent Lodge
of Theosophists. Two of the priorities adopted by the ILT are learning from the past and building a better
future.
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