Having an Eye for what is happening around Us

Fay van Ierlant – The Netherlands

In The Secret Doctrine we read that, as humans of this manifested Universe we belong to the Fifth Sub-Race of the Fifth Root-Race. The number five, points to the fifth principle in the sevenfold constitution of the human being, which is the mind. As a race, our possibilities to become more aware of our world lie in the nature of our mind.

Some Possibilities for a Better Spiritual Future

Roger Price – Belgium

In considering the condition of the world and what can be done to make it a better place with a better future it will help us to consider Plato’s famous observation “Ideas rule the world”  and the lesser known “Motive is everything” by the Mahatma KH. Together they reveal how our thoughts and motives guide and direct the results of our lives individually and also collectively as humanity.  It is important to realize that our thoughts and motives interact upon each other to take us consciously or unconsciously in the direction they create. Our thoughts and values give rise to our motives which in turn give rise to other thoughts to achieve the objectives of our motives. There is a cycle of thoughts and motives which feed upon each other forming the direction and outcomes of our lives.

In the World but not of the World

Terry Hunt – USA

Many people, when they first discover Theosophy, subconsciously recognize it as something they have known before. The tendency is often to bury ourselves in study and contemplation to the point that we ignore what is going on in the world around us. It is quite understandable that, once we have found something concrete and more real and, therefore, seemingly more important than the everyday world, we gravitate towards that which has by far the most importance for us.

MISSING, by Popular Demand: EDUCATION

Susan Ockerse – USA

Albert Schweitzer mentioned seven rights for every human being (food, water, shelter, etc.) The seventh was education. Every human being needs education as much as the other six essential rights. Education is as important as any other life sustaining need.

What is education? Each person on the planet probably has his own answer to that question. Does education mean the same as amassing knowledge? Aristotle and Plato differ fundamentally about that. Aristotle maintained that we come into this world an empty vessel and must be filled with knowledge. Plato, on the other hand, maintained that we come with a vast amount of knowledge that just has to be remembered.  After all, the word education means to draw out. Theosophists may favor Plato because he was an initiate and must know, but they also understand the principle of reincarnation, that we carry with us the faculties we have acquired from former lives. Through education the individual knows who he is, why he is, and what he has to do. He sees his place in the great scheme of things, the unfolding of life in all its complexity and ecosystems. He realizes that one voice can make a difference, but many united can make all the difference in the world. All this drawing out does not mean that new advances in math, science, technology, and the arts are not provided. The difference is the way in which the teachers present this information. The focus is on the individual. Unfortunately, Theosophists are in the minority. In the United States we have Montessori, Krishnamurti, and Steiner (Waldorf) education schools, to mention three, but compared to the vast number of the population, these schools reach very few. We can all hope that the students who receive Plato’s idea of education will be the ones to make those positive differences. Good education can only provide the foundation for the future, prepare fertile ground for the seeds to grow. As Krishnamurti said, all change must start with the individual.