Theosophy

[Ben Dhyan]

What is it that is aware?

Awareness is awareness, no duality implied, what's so difficult?

 

[SalixIncendium]

Awareness is awareness, no duality implied, what's so difficult?

We were having a productive discussion. I asked a simple question. No need to be condescending.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

We were having a productive discussion. I asked a simple question. No need to be condescending.

My apologies Salixlncendium.

 

[SalixIncendium]

My apologies Salixlncendium.

I accept your apology.

My point is that awareness...pure consciousness just is. It is the highest principle...or as @freelight said, primal Awareness itself. One can point to that from the perspective of transactional reality, but from the perspective of this pure awareness/consciousness, attempting to be aware of itself introduces duality...an I/other dichotomy, and this moves away from oneness.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

I accept your apology.

My point is that awareness...pure consciousness just is. It is the highest principle...or as @freelight said, primal Awareness itself. One can point to that from the perspective of transactional reality, but from the perspective of this pure awareness/consciousness, attempting to be aware of itself introduces duality...an I/other dichotomy, and this moves away from oneness.

True. There is a saying in Chan teaching pertaining to non-dualism, that the truth is there is in fact no true teaching, however nevertheless this teaching that there is no true teaching, is the true teaching. It is also the basis of the Taoist saying "He who says, does not know, he who knows, does not say."
When you try to explain non-dualism, the very explanation employs dualism, ie. conceptualization, but I do not dismiss it on that basis, for as the Chan saying goes, there is no other way to convey the teaching of non-dualism except through dualism.

 

[freelight]

True. There is a saying in Chan teaching pertaining to non-dualism, that the truth is there is in fact no true teaching, however nevertheless this teaching that there is no true teaching, is the true teaching. It is also the basis of the Taoist saying "He who says, does not know, he who knows, does not say."
When you try to explain non-dualism, the very explanation employs dualism, ie. conceptualization, but I do not dismiss it on that basis, for as the Chan saying goes, there is no other way to convey the teaching of non-dualism except through dualism.

Bingo

All language is symbolic, fractal and abstract......the fun and adventure is in using it to describe or point to whatever we are considerating, its all taking place within Awareness; so awareness is always the everpresent context of everything(contents). The complexity of existence (all forms and relations appearing) arises within the unicity at the heart of all, - it all unfolds and enfolds as an interplay of substance and form. Non-dualism co-exists with dualism, as we consider the ying-yang symbol (also in 'dialectial monism')....as the whole includes all or any parts appearing within IT...be they actual and/or potential.

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[freelight]

I accept your apology.

My point is that awareness...pure consciousness just is. It is the highest principle...or as @freelight said, primal Awareness itself. One can point to that from the perspective of transactional reality, but from the perspective of this pure awareness/consciousness, attempting to be aware of itself introduces duality...an I/other dichotomy, and this moves away from oneness.

We could also explore the question of awareness re-cognizing itself thru the lens of duality, in a way or medium that it could not recognize itself without that lens of duality or multiplicity of things and relationships. We can consider a template of 'Creator' and 'Creation' as well,....as the whole cosmic play of creation is the non-dual playing with itself thru duality and all its potentials/possibilties. (involution/evolution).

Sure, we can know by direct awareness that "I AM" (one's own god-identity/being) - with-in that knowledge includes the total of 'no-thing' and 'every-thing'.......so unity and diversity ever includes and concludes all. Infinity is the womb of all undefined and defined reality (in toto).....hence parabrahman is all in all, no matter how we define 'God/Source' in whatever concept or form, personified or not,......all there is is THIS that IS.....within form and without form. - its mind-blowing, but can be fun to contemplate and explore.

The first of the 3 fundamental propositions of the Secret Doctrine is the one universal absolute reality itself which is beyond any conception whatsoever, but the origin of all conceptions, so we see that language must serve to describe anything.

----o

The Secret Doctrine establishes three fundamental propositions:—

(a) An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable Principle on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought — in the words of Mandukya, “unthinkable and unspeakable.”
To render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set out with the postulate that there is one absolute Reality which antecedes all manifested, conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal Cause — dimly formulated in the “Unconscious” and “Unknowable” of current European philosophy — is the rootless root of “all that was, is, or ever shall be.” It is of course devoid of all attributes and is essentially without any relation to manifested, finite Being. It is “Be-ness” rather than Being (in Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond all thought or speculation.

This “Be-ness” is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two aspects. On the one hand, absolute abstract Space, representing bare subjectivity, the one thing which no human mind can either exclude from any conception, or conceive of by itself. On the other, absolute Abstract Motion representing Unconditioned Consciousness. Even our Western thinkers have shown that Consciousness is inconceivable to us apart from change, and motion best symbolises change, its essential characteristic. This latter aspect of the one Reality, is also symbolised by the term “The Great Breath,” a symbol sufficiently graphic to need no further elucidation. Thus, then, the first fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this metaphysical One Absolute — Be-ness — symbolised by finite intelligence as the theological Trinity.

It may, however, assist the student if a few further explanations are given here.
Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the “First Cause,”(*) which the Occultist more logically derives from the “Causeless Cause,” the “Eternal,” and the “Unknowable,” may be essentially the same as that of the Consciousness which wells up within us: in short, that the impersonal reality pervading the Kosmos is the pure noumenon of thought. This advance on his part brings him very near to the esoteric and Vedantin tenet.(†)
Parabrahm (the One Reality, the Absolute) is the field of Absolute Consciousness, i.e., that Essence which is out of all relation to conditioned existence, and of which conscious existence is a conditioned symbol. But once that we pass in thought from this (to us) Absolute Negation, duality supervenes in the contrast of Spirit (or consciousness) and Matter, Subject and Object.
Spirit (or Consciousness) and Matter are, however, to be regarded, not as independent realities, but as the two facets or aspects of the Absolute (Parabrahm), which constitute the basis of conditioned Being whether subjective or objective.

- 3 fundamental propositions (Theosophy wiki)


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[ginnysh]

In Australia we had a great theosophical bookstore, Adyar in Sydney. Unfortunately it closed down. Thankfully there is one in Melbourne which is a real gem for those wanting to deepen their esoteric understanding.

 

[HighSpinMfkzt]

The terms used by modern theosophists are defined well in this large Glossary:

Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary, G de Purucker ed. - Theosophy Resource

I'm reading the Esoteric Tradition by him now. He and Annie are my favorite so far. Also reading the Secret Doctrine but still need to start Isis Unveiled. I really want to go to Lomaland.