Quest Magazine

Originally printed in the Winter 2012 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Smoley, Richard . "From the Editor's Desk" Quest  100. 1 (Winter 2012): 2.

Most people avoid dealing with awkward sub­jects. For the writer of editorials, however, it's these issues that provide the richest material. In this case I'm referring to that curious part of the Theosophical lineage known as the Third Object. As you know, the Three Objects are statements of prin­ciple that you ought to agree with in order to join the Theosophical Society, but the third of these three puts Theosophy at an uncomfortable juncture.

The Third Object is (as you can see by flipping back a page to the masthead, where it is reproduced in every issue of Quest) "to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity." In prin­ciple there seems to be nothing wrong with this. And yet it points to an agenda that creates discomfort among many Theosophists today.

Because investigating these "powers latent in humanity" brings up the vexed issue of developing occult capacities. As Russell Targ's article in this issue suggests, paranormal powers such as telepathy, clair­voyance, and precognition are, surprisingly perhaps, skills much like piano playing or writing poetry: every­one has them in embryonic form, and they can be devel­oped easily enough (although, of course, some people will have more of an aptitude for them than others). But Theosophists often frown on this kind of development. The literature issues strong warnings against acquiring these powers for their own sake.

Well, then, which is it to be? Investigating the pow­ers latent in humanity or avoiding the investigation of these powers because of their spiritual dangers? You can't, it would seem, have it both ways, and the frequent result is to avoid the issue entirely. Unfortunately, this approach sets aside much of the Theosophical heritage, which has a long tradition of developing these pow­ers, whether it is a matter of seeing chakras and astral forms generated by the Christian sacraments, as with C. W Leadbeater, or, as with Dora Kunz, communicat­ing with nature spirits.

So what should we do about psychic powers? In try­ing to answer this question from my own experience, I see that my views are by no means simple or easy to articulate. On the one hand, the warnings are valid. Making occult investigations without the proper pre­cautions which include a clean way of life and motives that are reasonably pure is extremely dangerous. Indeed I would go further and say that it is dangerous even with the safeguards. Anyone who seriously tries to explore and develop these latent powers can probably expect to suffer some psychological and perhaps even physical damage as a result. This can occur even when there is no direct or obvious connection between the damage and one's investigations.

It would seem to make sense, then, to avoid these risks and simply cultivate your own garden lead a life of quiet study and service without attempting to develop any unusual capacities. And yet I find that I don't agree completely with this advice.

The fact is, the human race has never progressed merely by staying safe in its own little garden. Human advancement has always made ample use of adventur­ers, explorers, even fools and scoundrels, and the world of psychic investigation is no exception.

The best analogy I can think of is athletics. Cer­tainly it's possible to maintain a healthy level of fitness by exercising sensibly. This is by far the best approach for most people, and they can generally do this without being injured. But there are those who are not going to be happy with this prudent advice; they want to exceed and excel. These are the athletes; it is they who set the records, and it is they whose performances we so admire. But exerting yourself to this degree is fraught with dangers, and I suspect that there are few great athletes who have not had to cope with injury - often serious injury - at some point.

We aren't all going to be athletes, nor are we all going to be crack explorers of the astral realms. That will be reserved, as it has always been, to the small elite who have the talent and make the effort to surpass the usual expectations of what's possible for the human mind. But in my opinion it is as foolish to forbid such explorations as it is to pursue them carelessly.

If you are one of the few who do decide to investi­gate these latent powers, the most important require­ment is honesty. This would include being clear about what works and what doesn't as well as distinguish­ing what the books have to say from what you know through experience. Most important of all is an inner honesty a willingness to see into your own motives, good and bad, for the journey you have chosen to make.

This same quality is necessary in a collective body such as the TS. In this case it involves a willingness to see through old prejudices and ways of thinking that may have been useful a generation or two ago but are not what are required today. Most of all, it requires creating a safe space in which people can discuss their paranormal experiences ”both accidental and deliber­ately" induced. This is hardly alien to the Theosophical tradition as a whole; indeed it has often characterized the tradition at its best. Not all of us can be explorers, but we all can treat our explorers with respect and honor them for their daring and their discoveries. 

Richard Smoley

Originally printed in the Winter 2012 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Boyd, Tim. "A Problem with Spirituality." Quest  100. 1 (Winter 2012): 10-11.

By Tim Boyd
National President 

Recently a group of us at the Olcott center got together to plan an eight-week program called "The Essentials of Spiritual Practice." The idea was that during the course of those weeks we would address the elements of a holistic and effective prac­tice, making the necessary links between practice and the principles that support it. Our hope was that regardless of whether individuals had been practicing for years or were just beginning, they would leave feel­ing empowered to more deeply pursue their chosen paths. In the process of talking it through, it became clear that some effort toward defining our terms was required.

In contemporary culture we find the word "spiri­tual" popping up with increasing frequency. It has become common for people to say, "I am spiritual, but not religious" as a way of identifying their approach to the divine. More and more we hear people referring to their "spiritual practice." Spiritual leaders also seem to abound. And we now find ourselves exposed to Bud­dhist, Hindu, Kabbalistic, Gnostic, Native American, Druid, Mayan, and a host of other forms of spiritual­ity. All these currents of things spiritual can easily get muddled. It's enough to confuse a person.

Although we get a sense that spirituality is about something like religion, for most people the meaning of the word is unclear. The ordinary view is that spiri­tual things are otherworldly, removed from what is regarded as the "real world." If we were to look in the dictionary, the various definitions might not be a great help to us. The dictionary defines "spiritual" as "incor­poreal," "affecting the soul of man," "pertaining to God," "sacred or religious," etc. While all of this gives some shades of meaning, it does not give us much to work with in terms of defining our own approach to spirit. One useful hint is found in the word's etymology. The root for the word "spirit" is spiritus, the Latin word for "breath." At the most basic physiological level the breath sustains life. In much religious sym­bolism it is the breath (spirit) that actually brings life into being. In the Bible God "breathed the breath of life" into Adam. In Hinduism universes are breathed out and breathed in.

A few years ago I had become a little frustrated with the slide in meaning for the word. I had the sense that it was being overused to the point that it was becoming meaningless, a mere buzzword. I thought I was jok­ing when I predicted that at this rate, soon "spiritual" would become a marketing term. There would be spiri­tual clothing, spiritual gym shoes, spiritual spas. A few months later I found myself driving through a neigh­borhood that I had not visited for a while. As I turned a corner I looked up at the sign for a local business and there it was in bold letters "Spiritual Boutique."

So what do I mean by "spiritual"? Let me begin with an example. In the human body there are an esti­mated 75-100 trillion cells. It is an astounding num­ber, beyond our comprehension. It is a number larger than the number of galaxies in the universe, and even greater than the amount of the U.S. national debt. The cell is the basic building block of all living organisms. From the perspective of biology, it is the smallest living thing. Although we think of these cells as being a part of that greater something we each call "me," to the individual cell that "me" is irrelevant. Each of these 100 trillion cells that make up our bod­ies has needs and activities of its own. The cell needs nutrition. It is looking to reproduce. It seeks an envi­ronment that will be hospitable to its growth. Whether I have a good day at work, or enjoy the movie I am watching, or am mad at my daughter is of little conse­quence to the cell.

 If somehow one of these cells began to sense that it was a part of something greater, and felt an urgency to connect with or more consciously participate in that greater something, that would be a cell with a dawning spiritual awareness. If the cell began to inquire into the workings of that greater something, this would be spiritual study. If from the information that the cell acquired, it developed a discipline that enhanced its awareness of the greater whole, this would be its spiri­tual practice. if the cell became aware of other cells who had this same awakening and who had pursued it to a point where they actually were in harmony with the energies and patterns of that greater some­thing—cells who could say, "I and the 'greater' are one" —those cells would be spiritual teachers. You get the idea. Unity is the basis of spirituality, and all move­ment in the direction of a deeper experience of one­ness can be called spiritual.

The cell example, although impossible, makes a point. We, like the cells, "live, move, and have our being" within a greater life. The various ways that we describe that life indicate both the extent and the limits of our perception. In Shakespeare's Hamlet the state­ment is made, "There are more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of in your philosophy." This applies as much to our individual musings as to con­temporary scientific opinion or the formulations of the world's religions. Each of these attempts at knowing has a certain merit to it, but is at best partial. It could not be any other way.

It is no far-fetched idea for any of us to say that we live within an ever-expanding hierarchy of these greater wholes. The most obvious of these "greaters" are the connections we have with blood family mem­bers, the tribe or community, the nation, and, more and more, the planet. As human beings we all recognize ourselves to be a part of the human family. For a long time this observation, although self-evident, could be ignored. The farthest we had to extend our sense of relationship was the local community, or maybe to our particular nation. We could feel sufficiently comfort­able to think and act locally, only occasionally look­ing up to focus on a broader network of relationships. However, circumstances are such today that an aware­ness of our intimate involvement in things greater than ourselves is imposing itself on us. We don't have much choice. We have to wake up.

There are a number of other "greaters" which are perhaps less obvious, but which powerfully influence us. One of the most overlooked, but perhaps most potent, world we live in is the world of thought—not just our own thoughts, but the environment created by the combined thinking of all  of the people in the world. On one level it seems far-fetched to consider the possibility of being influenced by the thoughts of  people we have never encountered, people who are not the leading thinkers, or movers and shakers on the world scene. If the president says something, it probably will affect us. If a famous scientist says something, we might consider it. Poets and artists can move us. But to believe that we are influenced by the countless name­less, faceless people like you and me thinking their pri­vate thoughts might seem like a stretch. Yet in the book Thought Power Annie Besant comments, "Most people think along certain lines, not because they have care­fully thought a question out and come to a conclusion, but because large numbers of people are thinking along those lines, and carry others with them." She goes on to point out, "There are also certain national ways of thinking, definite and deeply cut channels, resulting from the continual reproduction during centuries of similar thoughts, arising from the history, the strug­gles, the customs of a nation. These profoundly modify and color all minds born into the nation."

The necessary companion of a broadening spiritu­ality is a broadening level of responsibility—for our actions, our feelings, and our thoughts. As we unfold we lose the option of saying, "It's not my fault." One of the greatest messages of the founders of the Theo­sophical Society, which we find echoed in the global message of the Dalai Lama, is compassion. The Voice of the Silence says, "Compassion is no attribute. It is the Law of laws." With the growing awareness of the abiding presence of the One Life, our responsiveness to the needs and suffering of the myriad individual lives participating in the greater whole must also grow. Spirituality is not merely a balm for the individual soul or a feeling of peace and harmony, although certainly these are some of its by-products. Spirituality exceeds the individual. This is a problem, but only in the sense that was expressed in the Christian scriptures, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." A sense of responsibility for the suffering of others, which is the hallmark of spirituality, is an uncomfortable mind-set for the immature personality, steeped as it is in self-admiration.

Fortunately, our level of control over this process is minimal. We are much like a gardener. Our role in all of this is not to manipulate the sunshine, or cause the sky to rain, but to nurture and provide the conditions for the seed to grow. As we wisely fulfill this role, within ourselves we witness the stirrings of new life. The seeds of compassion, kindness, and responsibility, which ultimately yield the fruits of the spiritual life, come alive and flourish. May this time soon arrive for all of us.

Printed in the Winter 2012 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Spangle, David. "Just Say No!" Quest  100. 1 (Winter 2012): 18-20.

by David Spangler

 This article is excerpted from the recently published Apprenticed to Spirit by the well-known spiritual teacher David Spangler. In it he discusses his twenty-seven-year relationship with an inner-plane entity, whom he describes as "a very wise, experienced, and very loving presence." At the outset the entity told him, "You may call me 'John.' It's not my name, as I do not have a name as you do, but I can see it's a name you like, so I'm happy to use it." Spangler also writes, "John often spoke of himself and his colleagues as a school on the inner [plane]." This passage offers some advice regarding relationships with inner-plane contacts. —Ed.

In beginning our work together, John said there was one basic rule he wanted to give me. It grew out of his perception of us as partners and out of his understanding of the role and relationship of a nonphysical being to a physical one. "In dealing with me," he said, "you can always say no." He went on to elaborate.

As a child of God, your freedom and sovereignty are vital. They cannot be infringed if we are to work together successfully. We must honor the sacredness in each other and the unique value each of us possesses, along with every other person and being. Therefore, if you have any question or concern about anything I might ask you to do or any suggestion I may make, you must say no. This is true for any inner being whom you may encounter, no matter how radiant or exalted it may seem. If you ever have any doubt or question, just say no.

This is very important. Along with love, it is the root of our relationship. You are not here to obey me, nor I you. We are here to collaborate together from our unique strengths. We are here to be partners. I take your willingness to cooperate for granted, but if I cannot also depend on your ability and willingness to stand in your own sovereignty, authority, and judgment and to make decisions for yourself, then our partnership will be impaired.

This may seem obvious. A relationship in which one party can never say no to the other is not a relationship at all but the domination of one person by another. But when it comes to relating to inner beings or spiritual teachers, relationships based on obedience are not at all uncommon. In fact, I've often found that there is an assumption that simply because it doesn't have a physical body, an inner being has access to divine wisdom and insight and therefore is an expert who should be listened to unquestioningly.

Once after a lecture a woman came up to me to ask my advice. "I'm in contact with inner beings," she said. "They're always giving me advice and information and telling me what to do. It's very confusing, and I don't know what I should be doing."

"That's simple," I said. "Just say no to them."

"Just say no? I can do that? No one's ever told me I could do that!"

This may seem silly, but I've run into this attitude frequently in my career as a spiritual teacher. Certainly among the metaphysical groups with which I was familiar in Phoenix in the early 1960s, establishing communication with nonphysical beings was considered a very desirable achievement; the idea of then saying no to what they had to say or treating them with anything other than reverence was practically unheard of.

This attitude has a long pedigree. From the oracles of ancient times to the spirit guides of modern spiritualism or the inner adepts of Theosophy, there has always been a sense that the inner worlds possess superior knowledge to what we can find here on earth and that we should relate to inner beings as teachers, guides, and experts.

This was definitely not John's point of view. He said at the beginning that he was not my teacher but a "colleague" and partner. At one point he said:

We who live in the higher vibrational worlds do not necessarily have superior knowledge than you. What we have is a different perspective, which may allow us to see further or more broadly and holistically than you. That perspective can certainly be valuable and helpful, particularly in knowing how an action or situation fits into a larger context. But our knowledge is not absolute nor is it always appropriate or accurate. Just as you may have trouble grasping conditions on the levels where I function, so I cannot always grasp conditions on your plane. This is why we collaborate and blend our insights and perspectives together.

At other times, he had other things to say on this matter.

The primary issue is not who has superior knowledge but who has responsibility and bears the consequences for decisions made and actions taken. Of equal importance is the right to learn and to grow. If you simply obey another, even if that other has greater wisdom and insight, you are not exercising the muscles of your own discernment and choice, from which your own wisdom and insights may come. Listen with respect and attention, yes. Obey, no. Make your own decisions.

The most important gift that a person has is his or her sovereignty. This is a gift, an anointing, from the sacred. To diminish or infringe upon another's sovereignty is to trespass on the most holy ground. You are not our children. You are our equals in the sight of God.

In all we do—we who serve the sacredness in you—our concern is to preserve the uniqueness, the integrity, and the will of those with whom we work. In our interactions, there can be no coercion or compulsion. The uniqueness and character of your will and your ability to make your own choices must be maintained and honored. Sovereignty should not be violated.

It is not our place on the inner to tell you what you must do. We are colleagues, not authorities. When you contact us, you are not enrolling in a military organization. We have no authority or right to compel obedience. No higher being will ever put your sovereignty or integrity in question or jeopardy. Should you ever encounter a presence that attempts to command you or abrogate your will, just say no and break the contact. Such a being is acting unwisely and against the principles that govern our interaction with your realm.

There are busybodies upon the inner planes as much as in your world. There are those who have a desire for control, not necessarily for what you would think of as evil purposes, but because of a lack of respect for you and to ensure that their vision of goodness is carried out. Such beings do not occupy the higher realms, however. If you keep yourself always aligned with the highest within you, if you honor and respect yourself, you will either not encounter them or you will dismiss them if you do.

Over the years, I've discovered that the power to say no enhances the capacity to say yes. Knowing that I'm under no obligation or pressure to agree or to obey, and that I'm respected by my inner contacts as a colleague, I have no resistance to their suggestions. I can evaluate them, and more often than not, I will accept because I have great respect for their wisdom and their caring. I feel empowered in this process. And it began with John's first lesson: Each of us has the right to just say no.

David Spangler is a visionary and spiritual teacher and is the author of several books, including The Call, Everyday Miracles, and Blessing. This excerpt is reprinted from his latest book, Apprenticed to Spirit: The Education of a Soul, by arrangement with Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright © 2011 by David Spangler.

Originally printed in the Winter 2012 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: The Bradenton Theosophical Study Center . "The Golden Stairs." Quest  100. 1 (Winter 2012): 33-35.

by The Bradenton Theosophical Study Center

The Bradenton, Florida, Theosophical Study Center received official certification in June 2010 with seven members. From top: Andre Clewell, Jeanette Rothberg, Judith Snow-Clewell (secretary), Navin Vibhakar, Gregoria Halley, and Rachel Garibay-Wynnberry. (Not pictured is JoAnn Nair.) This article is a collaborative effort on their part.

In 1888, H. P. Blavatsky presented members of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society with a brief set of precepts for living the Theosophical life. She called the precepts The Golden Stairs, and she said that it was taken "from the letter of a Master." Later The Golden Stairs was published and made available to the general membership.

As part of our opening at every meeting, the Theosophical study group of Bradenton, Florida, recites The Golden Stairs aloud. In order to internalize these ethical principles, we dedicated two meetings to group meditation on the meaning of each step. We shared aloud our thoughts and recorded them audially; then we selected some of the more memorable ideas and spliced them together into the following testament of our group exercise. The members of our group, which formed two and a half years ago, thought other Theosophists would find our exercise interesting.

At first we focused on the title itself. We thought that stairs represent an archetype symbolizing movement to higher levels. And of course they are architectural features in homes and buildings to move people from one level to another. Ladders represent a similar symbol, although they don't give the same foundational support as do stairs. So in choosing stairs as her teaching device, Blavatsky suggests the importance of a strong foundation to our spiritual striving, in which one level builds on the level below it.

Stairs suggest aspiration. Many songs use stairs as an image to beautify, lift, and inspire, such as in the lyric, "Let's build a stairway to the stars," and the gospel song "Walk Dem Golden Stairs." Stairs suggest ascension to higher spiritual life, steps to enlightenment, the beauty of spirit reaching for more.

In The Golden Stairs HPB urges us to a spiritually oriented life. Of course we may not always be moving up our stairs. Occasionally we take some steps down, but at some point in our many lifetimes on this earth we make a decision to stay on course and continue the upward movement.

The color gold, used in describing the stairs, is associated with that precious metal. It is warm and comfortable, pure, beautiful, bright, light, and valuable. We associate it with the sun, that life-giving entity, our Solar Logos.

The first step up the Golden Stairs is to lead a clean life. This is a broad ethic which in a sense includes all the rest. We associate being clean with being free from dirt. We wash our physical bodies regularly by bathing, but physical purity also includes healthful foods as well as low alcohol and chemical consumption. We can also wash our emotional bodies regularly by maintaining a peaceful nature. We can maintain mental cleanliness by removing the clutter and negative thoughts from our minds and replacing these with the virtues of life, including truthfulness, kindliness, and love. Our lives should also be free of hypocrisy and double standards. Meditation and the evening review (a daily recapitulation of one's conduct) are techniques to assist us on this step, both of which help us make decisions based on the higher good for ourselves and others.

The next step is to have an open mind. The symbol of a funnel above our heads is appropriate here, "open at the top." Also the idiom "living outside of the box" could be applied. It is the idea that we are not closed in our thinking, locked into old values or old life scripts. We are open to alternatives. We are secure in the awareness that we don't have all the answers. We consider others' beliefs and other aspects, sift through them for common ideas, and consider if we want a shift in perspective or maybe see that we have it right already. An open mind is balanced and free from prejudice. We listen to another's point of view, willing to walk in their shoes and seeing different ideas with new eyes.

A pure heart is the stair step of love. It is living with right motivations, living more from the heart and intuition than from the mind. The heart of a person is that person's very essence. So in our emotions, thoughts, and actions we ask ourselves if we operating with pure motivations, true altruism, and agape, or if we are putting conditions on our giving. A pure heart involves listening to ourselves and being honest about our purposes and intentions. The quote from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address comes to mind: "With malice toward none, with charity for all..."

An eager intellect is a mind striving to know, to understand. It is a mind asking questions and seeking answers and willing to change attitudes. It is a mind searching for knowledge through reading, experiencing, and searching from various teachers, seeking insights in order to establish the code by which we live. It is a mind curious about the world, people, science, and religion. It is a mind seeking to discriminate between the real and unreal.

An unveiled spiritual perception involves understanding the causes of events. In Theosophy it is piercing through to the buddhic or intuitional level. The raja yoga method of concentration, meditation, and contemplation leads us to this soul level of comprehension, bringing realization of universal principles.

Brotherliness to all (as some versions read for this step) refers back to the great teaching that we are all differentiated from one Source; therefore we are all related and presumably will all go back to that Source. In all our actions we have to take this into account because in reality every action we take has an effect on everybody else. This is expressed well in the concept of karma. In life this brotherliness manifests as respect for one another even if we disagree, as kindness and fairness to all, as awareness of others' feelings, and as trying to be a blessing to all we meet.

Readiness to give and receive advice and instruction has two parts, giving and receiving. Both are important, and the critical point is how we give and receive advice and instruction and when. When we give it, we should do so carefully and cautiously, humbly, gently, but most importantly when asked. In receiving advice, an open mind would be an important quality, because anyone can be our teacher. In fact we are one another's teachers in life.

Courageous endurance of personal injustice requires one to consider that there are three possible reasons for what one conceives as an injustice. One is that it is the result of karma, which is balancing out from previous thoughts or actions. A second reason is that the injustice could be a test of one's physical, emotional, and mental equanimity. A third possibility is that one is making a mountain out of a molehill, in which case one's lower-ego touchiness and inferiority are on display. Since life is a school and we have lessons to learn, we can ask our higher Self, "What does this mean, why is this happening, what thoughts or beliefs are being triggered?" And we should do what we can to remedy the situation without harm to ourselves or others.

A brave declaration of principles and a valiant defense of those who are unjustly attacked are closely allied ethics. They are movingly represented in this saying attributed to the German pastor Martin Niemller in regard to the Nazis: "First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."

If we have principles, we must do our best to defend them in regard to ourselves and others. In many instances, and in many countries, this can be very dangerous and may mean loss of occupation, life, and liberty.

A constant eye to the idea of human progression and perfection which the secret science depicts is living with a positive attitude. It is looking for the glass to be half-full rather than half-empty. Great progress has been made in the evolutionary development of humanity. Surrounding ourselves with books and magazine that acquaint us with human progress help us keep this positive attitude, which in itself contributes to positive human progress. There are many heroes and heroines in the world; there always have been and always will be, because human beings are guided by higher beings who have a peek at the Greater Plan. By daily meditation on the virtues, we attune to that Plan and help to manifest it on earth. Meditation also helps us live with joy and gratitude, thereby disseminating it to others.

These are the steps that lead to the Temple of Divine Wisdom, to the greater knowledge and wisdom held by the Source of which each of us is a spark. This doesn't mean that this wisdom is out there somewhere beyond our reach. It is wisdom to which we all awaken as we live according to the precepts of The Golden Stairs.

The Golden Stairs 

Behold the truth before you: a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience to the behests of Truth, once we have placed our confidence in, and believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection which the secret science (Gupta-Vidy?) depicts—these are the golden stairs up the steps of which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom.

—H.P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 12:503 (cf. 591).