Quest Magazine

By Dan Noga

Originally printed in the Spring 2010 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Noga, Dan."The Theosophical Community Online." Quest  98. 2(Spring 2010): 72.

In April 2008, the Theosophical Society in America established its official online social network, the Theosophical Community. Since then, more than 700 people have joined and set up profiles. The Community is a place where Theosophists can come together online. It shares many of the main features found on other major social networks: forums for online discussion of relevant topics, blogs for the online publication of articles, the means to share photos and videos with other members, and more.

It has been a wonderful journey to help establish what has really become a community of fellow Theosophists, true to the network's name. The"TC" (as it is called by those who refer to it often) has thus far done a good job of embodying the spirit of brotherhood in the realm of cyberspace.

It has attracted worldwide attention of Theosophical Society members as well as nonmembers. At present, TC membership draws from at least fifty different countries. What was originally intended as an online meeting place for TSA members has become an international community.

With all the Web-based tools and gadgets available throughout the site, the TC can fulfill a number of different functions, limited only by the amount of personal time and energy that can be devoted to each one. For starters, it is an ideal way for members at large to connect and interact with others in the Society—from the individual level, through the levels of local groups, federations, the American Section, to the international sections. It is our hope that as the network grows, its ability to help members at large find each other and form new local groups will become one of its strongest roles.

One feature of the network that lends itself especially well to the aid of existing study centers is the"groups" feature. In the groups section of the site, any member can form a subnetwork, complete with its own discussion forum and"text box" for posting anything from meeting notices to videos, images, and even widgets (small Web-based applications). This is one quick and easy way for any local group to establish a presence online with minimal work and technical expertise. (Most of the time and energy involved in one of these online groups is tied in with the initial setup.) Several local branches have already set up their own online groups, including Denver; Phoenix; Besant-Cleveland; Atlanta; and Covington, Louisiana.

The Theosophical Saturdays program, which has been meeting in the Olcott Library in Wheaton, has made great use of the groups feature to make study materials and ideas available for local projects. Lodges and Study Centers may benefit from these, or choose to share some of their own material with the TC in a similar manner.

Of course, every online community has its share of problems. The Internet has a tendency to become a playground for some personalities, and even the most well-meaning people can be caught off guard and wind up in a virtual altercation. For this reason, the Theosophical Community is a moderated site, with concise rules aimed at fostering safe and respectful interaction among its members. It is moderated by a committee of staff at Olcott, who form a consensus before taking any permanent disciplinary action. When such action is necessary, the moderating team can step in and delete offensive posts, lock discussions, or even ban troublesome members. The Theosophical Community is not a free-for-all where anything goes, though its rules are designed so that they are not overly restrictive—a balancing act that is necessary to ensure that the Community prospers.

Joining the Theosophical Community is quick, easy, and free, requiring only an e-mail address in order to sign up. Visit today at http://theosophical.ning.com. (Update December 2012 - After declining in user participation The Theosophical Community was taken offline and is no longer functional.)

Dan Noga is membership coordinator for the Theosophical Society in America.

By Lawrence LeShan

Originally printed in the Spring 2010 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: LeShan, Lawrence. "What Do We Know about Psychic Phenomena?." Quest  98. 2(Spring 2010): 66-69.

What has come out of the last hundred-years-plus in which a great many men and women, often of the highest caliber, have studied psychic phenomena? This is not the place to review the voluminous literature of this work. This has been well done elsewhere, and references at the back of my book A New Science of the Paranormal will lead anyone there who wants to go. What I will do is summarize what we know to be true from this extensive exploration and what we believe extremely likely to be true. We do know much more than we think we know. Let us take a hypothetical situation.

There are two pairs of individuals. The first, Joe and Jim, are both corporate lawyers, both are six feet tall, both have one brown eye and one gray eye, and both have a dog named Spot. One lives in New York, the other fifteen hundred miles away in Chicago. They have never heard of each other and have never crossed paths. The second pair is Harry and Lucy. He is an artist, she is a scientist. He likes the opera, she prefers baseball games. He is five feet, eleven inches tall; she is five feet two. He lives in Baltimore; she lives three thousand miles away in Los Angeles. Ten years ago they had a brief, intense affair and have not spoken to or heard anything of each other since then.

One person dies unexpectedly in an automobile accident. The other person in the pair sees a deathbed apparition of the other. The one who dies suddenly appears to the other in a form so real that the living one believes he (or she) is actually seeing the person, then makes some sort of eye or other contact and disappears just as suddenly.  The number of such well-attested cases is so large that we have pretty much stopped publishing them in the psychical research journals.

In which pair does the deathbed apparition appear—Joe and Jim, or Harry and Lucy?

For anyone with any experience in this field, and for most of the rest of us, there is no question. It is clearly Harry and Lucy.

We do understand certain aspects of the paranormal. Research over the past hundred-plus years has led us some distance. The following facts have emerged and now can be considered definitely proven.

1. Sometimes people unequivocally demonstrate having specific, concrete information that could not have been attained through sensory channels or from extrapolation of data achieved through the senses. If this information was known to any other individual at that time, we arbitrarily label this phenomenon telepathy. If the information was not known to anyone else but existed in some testable form, we call the phenomenon clairvoyance. If the information does not yet exist in clock-calendar time, we call the phenomenon precognition.
2. Space or other physical factors (such as walls or the curvature of the earth) between the source of the original information and the person who demonstrates having it is not a factor. Telepathy seems to operate in about the same manner whether it comes from a thousand miles away or from only as far as the next room.
3. Emotional factors are the major (and indeed only) factors we know of linking the apparent origin of the information and the person who demonstrates having the knowledge. But there are almost certainly other kinds of links that we do not now know about.
4. Many people become anxious when they hear or read of examples of psi, or encounter affirmations of the existence of psi.

The strength of this anxiety should not be underestimated. It has led to the wholesale rejection of the data of parapsychological research by a large number of people in terms far more extreme than they would use in other areas. Consider, for example, the early nineteenth-century natural philosopher Alexander von Humboldt, one of the greatest scientists of recent centuries. He stated that no matter what the evidence for the existence of psi was, he would not believe it: "Neither the testimony of all the Fellows of the Royal Society, nor even the evidence of my own senses, could lead me to believe in the transmission of thought from one person to another independently of the recognised channels of sensation. It is clearly impossible." He chose to give up his lifelong attitudes toward science and the scientific method rather than consider changing them. Here is a great scientist stating that he knows so much about reality that the universe holds no more surprises for him. No doubt this is a comforting and reassuring belief, but it is an astonishing one for a scientist to hold.

In any event, this is all we know for certain about large, meaningful psychic events. At this point we must be very careful about the ways we formulate this knowledge. Terms such as sender, receiver, energy, transmission, and many others carry a heavy baggage of implications. These can unconsciously influence our thinking and our attempts to solve problems.

So much for what we know in psychical and parapsychological research. After more than a century of study, the verdict is in on these facts. Whoever questions them simply has not done his or her homework.

Other particulars in this field are less certain. These are particulars that anyone familiar with the field regards as almost certainly true, but about which a small doubt remains. These include:

1. Neither of the two most widely talked-about hypotheses to explain the data is adequate. The first hypothesis, referred to as "super-ESP," is that all the evidence can be explained by some form of telepathy or clairvoyance. The second hypothesis is that the evidence can be explained by the existence of discarnate entities. That these two, or either of them, might or might not be valid is not the point here. Neither of these two precludes the other. Each seems to be a reasonable explanation for some of the events, but together or separately they are far from satisfactory as a way to formulate or explain all the events of which we have solid evidence. A third explanatory system is needed, which might conceivably include either or both of the first two.
2. Relative physical motion between the source of the information and the person who acquired it is not a factor.
3. Large-scale psi events are related to the constellation of emotions surrounding the person or thing involved.
4. The laws sometimes said to apply to magic (in the sense used, for example, by J. G. Frazer in his classic study The Golden Bough) do not apply to the psychic. These primary laws of magic are:
The law of similarity. If two things resemble each other in one way, they resemble and affect each other in other ways also. If a plant has heart-shaped leaves, it can affect the heart. If I sprinkle water on the ground in the proper ceremony, it is likely to bring rain.
5.The law of contiguity. If two things were once connected, they are always connected. If I put your discarded fingernails on a doll and stab the doll, you will feel the pain.
These two laws do not govern the formation of large-scale psychic events.
6. The time barrier can sometimes be breached. In both large-scale and small-scale studies, people have shown knowledge of events that could not have been extrapolated from presently existing data and that had not yet occurred in clock-calendar time.
7. If a person has information that he or she very much desires to keep secret, it cannot be attained psychically by other persons.
8. If a person attains psychic information and knows that it came from another person, the recipient cannot tell whether it was on the surface of the other person’s mind or was far from her present awareness.
9. Under rare conditions, the specifics of which are unknown, psychological intent can affect the movement of matter.
10. There is something in or relating to the human personality that does not cease to exist at the moment of bodily death. (A large percentage of deathbed apparitions occur a measurable interval after the death of the body.)

A fascinating suggestion was made by two of our most knowledgeable and careful workers in the field of psi, Justa Smith and Charles Honorton. Although new (at least to me), and not accepted in the field to the degree the other concepts listed here are, it has such potential that it seems worth adding to the list. At the very least, I believe it would make most students of psi deeply thoughtful.

Justa Smith, a biochemist, had been working with a very well-reputed psychic healer named Oskar Estebany and some other healers. They were trying to influence enzymes in test tubes. To her surprise, if the enzymes had been in a human body, the effect in each case would have been to improve the person’s health. Smith commented, in part:

We used three different enzymes with all the healers. Each had their own samples. We used trypsin, NADH, and glucophosphotase. The trypsin was increased in effect which would be a helpful thing. The phosphotase decreased its activity which would be helpful in a positive direction. The NADH was not affected, but NADH is in balance so any change would have been unhelpful. My conclusion is that the effect on enzymes by a healer is always in a positive, helpful direction. The healers did not know which enzymes were being used or in which direction change would be helpful. None of them had any training in enzymology.

Honorton observed:

That sounds extremely important. When we are working on PK [psychokinesis, or mentally influencing physical objects] with a random generator in the next room, the effect on the generated series of numbers is in the direction of greater order. When the participant shows evidence of PK, the random numbers become less random and more orderly. It does not matter what the source of the randomness is, thermal noise, radioactive delay, etc., the ordering is in a positive direction. It seems to be goal-directed.

Everything we know, including all the data from psychic healing, seems to indicate that psi effects have a positive, goal-directed orientation. Furthermore, this direction goes beyond the learned knowledge of the participants. Knowledge of medicine, for example, does not help people get better results with psychic healing.

If you are a participant in any developing field of human knowledge and you survey your colleagues, you will find that they fall into three classes. On your left are those who believe more than you do (the wild-haired, soft-headed group). On your right are those who believe less than you do (the rigid, uptight conservatives). Immediately in front of you is a small group of colleagues who agree with you on what to believe and disbelieve (these are the intelligent, knowledgeable people!).

This is certainly true in the field of psychic research. Nonetheless, I strongly believe that the centrist approach outlined here is in agreement with the overwhelming majority of those who have studied this area. Some may wish to move one or more of the statements from the "probably true" list to the "already proven" list. But I do not think that anyone seriously conversant with the field would move any of the statements in the opposite direction or take them off both lists. This, then, is the present state of affairs in our knowledge of psi. We do know a good deal. It is a solid base from which to set out on the next phase of our foray.

Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D., is the author of the best-selling How to Meditate and many other works on psychotherapy, cancer treatment, and mysticism. This article is adapted from his book A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of Psychical Research, published by Quest Books in 2009.

Originally printed in the November - December 2004 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Bland, Betty. "Dust Matters." Quest  92.6 (NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2004):202-203

By Betty Bland

One of the inexorable matters of life is dust. It creeps in under windows and doors. It manufactures itself in the air. It is basically invisible until it has already produced a fine covering over everything around. As soon as it has been removed, dust resumes its march of conquest, defying any efforts to have everything "just so" even for a moment.

My mother who, at 91 years of age, has earned the family nickname of the "Eveready Bunny," has been an energetic householder all her life. Busy with an array of creative and service activities, she always viewed dust as a major nemesis. Although it is one of the lighter of housekeeping chores, it is one of the most odious to her and many other housekeepers.

During my growing-up years, Mother was fortunate enough to be able to hire someone to take care of the dusting, so I grew up unaware that dust actually collects on exposed surfaces. I assumed that it only accumulated in hidden corners and behind the books on my shelves. What a shock it was to this inveterate neat nick to discover, in my early married years, that relentless blanket gently smothering everything.

Every one of us encounters this same plight, within and without. Just as physical dust collects on our belongings, psychic dust blocks our access to the realm of spiritual clarity. Life experiences are the important ingredient in our human existence, providing the lessons we are here to learn. These experiences, necessary as they are, catch us in a karmic web of spiritual blindness. Things happen. We react in ways that we think will make our lives more to our liking. We become ensnared in our own little worlds. In other words, we have followed the natural path toward maturity by first becoming self-centered individuals.

Like the particles of dust swirling in the air which make the sunbeam visible, these experiences bring into focus our dharma, our purpose, the calling of our soul's pilgrim journey. The human predicament is to become fully invested in matter (life on this physical plane) and then to begin to clear away the emotional debris in order to wend our way home again.

Our humanity must reach the level of development at which we can learn how to dust! Inner dust is the accumulation of all the particles of experience that color our personality—the desires and avoidances. These are often referred to as attachments or patterns of desire, and are the emotional levers whereby karma works its power on us. In Hindu philosophy they are called the skandas, or the bundles of characteristics and predispositions that we carry with us from lifetime to lifetime.

The skandas are the third element in the nature or nurture argument concerning why people develop as they do. Anyone who doubts that a child arrives in this world with its own set of predispositions has only to experience the parenting of two children. Two children from the same gene pool and living in the same environment will be affected quite differently by the same event. One may remember a ride on an elephant as a major event, while the other barely takes notice, and so on. Even identical twins can reveal marked contrasts in personalities from the very start. One might imagine that the mirror of each child's soul has its own areas of stickiness, so that the dust collects more heavily in one area or another.

Wherever the dust is thickest, however, the fact remains that everyone has plenty of housecleaning to do. In The Voice of the Silence, H. P. Blavatsky speaks of the necessity of life experiences, or dust, in order to develop soul wisdom. But she says that the wisdom gleaned from life's lessons is only accomplished through regular dusting:

Although HPB uses the Buddhist idiom in this passage, in this instance the Buddha nature can equally be expressed as the Christ within, or the higher self. This nature is always within us just as a clean surface always resides beneath the dust, but it is beyond our awareness. In order to begin the cleansing process, we first have to be still, sitting quietly so that the gentle soul breezes can find their way into our hearts. Stillness is a beginning, but the sweeping requires the effort of objective self-observation and correction, and reliance on something higher or beyond the personal self—its foibles being the source of the dust. Separative and selfish attitudes cloud the mind-mirror and block our vision. In a little note at the end of letter 71 in the Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, Mahatma KH defines an enlightened being as one from whom:

And so dust we must. If we want to peer into our mirror mind, we have to clear the normal accumulation of personal attachments on a regular basis. Perhaps you can even use this metaphor when you have to clean dusty objects in your outer environment, to remind yourself of the need for removing self-serving matter from your inner world. This is the matter that really matters.

By Betty Bland

Originally printed in the NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2006 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation:Bland, Betty. "Too Much of a Good Thing." Quest  94.5 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2006):186-188.

"Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it," we often hear. In the middle of July, we wish for cold, and in mid-February, we long for hot summer days. If we are suffering a drought, we long for rains, but in flood conditions we cannot bear to see any more rain. This also is true for rest and work, depending on whether we are fatigued or bored. And so the list goes on. We are rather like Goldilocks when tasting the three bears' porridge. Papa Bear's was too hot; Mama Bear's was too cold; but Baby Bear's was just right, not extreme in either direction.

There is truth to the saying that evil is an exaggerated virtue. Knowledge is good, but too much theory without practical understanding leads to either dullness or fanaticism. Balance and proportion are crucial for the welfare of the whole. Although the underlying unity of the cosmos is undeniable, the list of apparent opposites in this manifested universe is endless: pliable and rigid, dark and light, strength and gentleness, etc. The tension between these opposites holds the whole system together and provides the field for our consciousness and growth.

FATHER-MOTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED TO SPIRIT (Purusha)—THE LIGHT OF THE ONE DARKNESS—AND THE LOWER ONE TO MATTER (Prakriti), ITS (the Spirit's) SHADOWY END; AND THIS WEB IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES MADE IN ONE, WHICH IS SWÂBHÂVAT (self-becoming or unfolding out of itself).

The Secret Doctrine, Stanza III, sloka 10

Our universe requires a dynamic and complementary tension between the opposite forces called yin and yang, as illustrated by the Chinese symbol. Each of the equally divided dark and light portions of the revolving circle contains a germ of the other within its segment, showing that each aspect depends on the presence of the other in their eternal cosmic dance.

These energies, yin/yang, female/male, receptive/assertive, negative/positive, etc., are a part of this grand drama in which we, as participants, have to figure out how to find harmony and balance. Each of us has both types of qualities, but manifesting as male or female; we express one or the other more strongly. Yet either quality requires the mitigating presence of the other. This is true within our selves as well as in society. Protective fortitude is as necessary as sustaining nurturance. Because the masculine aspect has been overemphasized for several millennia, today, the need for finding balance through increased appreciation for the feminine is gaining expression.

Consider the image of the potter and clay. Being the clay or material to be shaped unto a useful vessel, we have to undergo the molding process. So that we may contain the feminine aspect of receptivity, we are shaped into a hollow that is open to spirit. Yet our substance has to be strong and resistant enough (a masculine quality) to be able to form and maintain a sturdy shape. When the clay is too wet and soft to be worked, it will collapse in on itself and be unable to function as a vessel. A balance in strength and pliability is needed.

We cannot promote one aspect of our nature over another. We have to be receptive to pine spirit, but we also have to present robust material for the potter's use. Therefore we need to develop a self-responsible, self-reliant strength that does not crumble under whatever energy happens our way. In order to be whole in our development we require strength of identity and purpose, while at the same time maintaining a gentle receptivity. If one day, we are to serve as teachers and masters of wisdom, we need to balance equally the masculine and feminine qualities within.

The chalice, a symbol of the feminine because its concave shape provides it with a potential for being filled, has always been a part of the Christian tradition. In spite of its importance in the sacrament of communion, however, the chalice has not held a prominent place in religious iconography. Possibly the chalice's low visibility has been symptomatic of the Church's limited acknowledgement of the feminine.

In fact, the West's long love affair with the Arthurian grail legends may have been spawned by this lack of feminine empowerment. The stories abound with brave and gallant knights charging in quest of the elusive grail. Nevertheless, it turns out that it is not bravery which wins the goal, but a receptive, purity of heart. Moreover, woven throughout the tales of adventure are encounters with powerful women who must be reckoned with along the way. The knights were seeking and being challenged by the feminine.

In the Hindu tradition, we find another story which prompts the audience to rethink and honor the feminine. Long ago there was a young aspiring yogini who longed to be the disciple of a great teacher. She approached him several times but was not even allowed past his outer devotees. In spite of rebuffs and ridicule, she persisted and finally gained audience with him. He promptly dismissed her youthful enthusiasm with the pronouncement that he did not accept females as his students. After persistent supplications on her part however, he accepted her argument that "all humanity must become feminine, or receptive, to pine spirit." He recognized in her argument a truth that resulted from an inner experience of wholeness and spiritual maturity.

Consideration of the feminine principle does not mean that we should promote one quality over the other, but that we should enhance that quality which has been most lacking in empowerment and acknowledgement. In doing so, we can achieve greater balance, in both our personal lives and in society around us. Equal appreciation of both qualities generates wholeness and encourages the full expression of humanity. Just as we would not choose to use only one eye, one leg, or one hand, so we should not choose to strengthen one of these aspects over another.

Whichever quality is less in your comfort zone is the one to pursue. Honor the receptiveness within your self, that you might be open to others, to nature, and to the Spirit that pours its power into our inner sanctuary; develop your strength of character, self-assertion, and action so that you might be of greater service to the world. Develop the mettle to hold the form, and the emptiness to become the receptive hollow. Be whole in both weakness and strength.

In Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart, edited by Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield, on page 283, the following illustration is given in a repertoire of the Dalai Lama's parables. Once, the spirit of a famous guru appeared in order to heal a small, discordant community of monks. All the monks had seen the spirit come out of the wall long enough to utter just one word. But each monk had heard a different word. The event is immortalized in this poem:

The one who wanted to die heard live.

The one who wanted to live heard die.

The one who wanted to take heard give.

The one who wanted to give heard keep.

The one who was always alert heard sleep.

The one who was always asleep heard wake.

The one who wanted to leave heard stay.

The one who wanted to stay, depart.

The one who never spoke heard preach.

The one who always preached heard pray.

Each one learned how he had been

In someone else's way.

Originally told by Pierre Delattre

That which makes us whole, will be neither too much nor too little, but just right.