Quest Magazine

Printed in the Summer 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Otto, Steven ,"Answering Back: How to Reply to Slanders against Theosophy" Quest 107:3, pg 28-31

By Steven Otto

This is a plea that we Theosophists take more care of our reputation. We should fight more against the lies about Theosophy and its protagonists.

Theosophy is committed above all to altruism and philanthropy, as well as reconciliation and the brotherhood of all nations and religions. H.P. Blavatsky was one of the most humane and most progressive individuals of the nineteenth century, and she is known not only as the founder of the modern Theosophical movement but of the modern esoteric movement as well. Numerous Theosophical associations and websites and uncounted Theosophists worldwide attest to these facts.

But in Germany today, Theosophist sometimes means racist and Nazi—even liar, conspirator, Satanist, supporter of genocide, sorcerer, necromancer, and anti-Semite. I think no more proof is needed that we live in the Kali Yuga.

Recently the website of the well-known German public-service broadcasting network Bayerischer Rundfunk published this under the category “right-extremism”:

At the end of the nineteenth century, numerous occult groups arose as well as their publications advocating racism, nationalism, anti-Semitism, and technological progress in a crude mixture of conspiracy-theory fantasies. These include, for example, the racial theoretical publications, such as The Secret Doctrine of the Russian occultist Helena Blavatsky.

This article is about hideous Nazi theories and criminals. An isolated case? Unfortunately not. And what is just as bad, the authors can refer to specialized works or “scholarly” literature! So let’s have a look at the allegations a little more closely:

The racism allegations are of course unjustified. Although HPB writes of races, for example, Root Races, this term means nothing else than humankind; according to the teachings, the present Fifth Root Race includes all people currently living. The term Root Race therefore has nothing to do with racism. It is true that in some cases HPB refers to the anthropology current in the nineteenth century, when it was unfortunately normal to speak of bastard races, lower races, and savages. Almost all anthropologists of the time did so, for example Edward B. Tylor, Louis Agassiz, and J.L.A. de Quatrefages—as, in the previous century, did Immanuel Kant—but they not known as racists. Practically the entire society of that time, as well as the media, also spoke in this manner.

Blavatsky often makes one point very clearly, and that was absolutely contrary to the prevailing opinion of her century: “In reality there are no ‘inferior races,’ for all are one in our common humanity” (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 8:406). This view is also evident in The Secret Doctrine: “Thus the reason given [the karmic cycles] for dividing humanity into superior and inferior races falls to the ground and becomes a fallacy” (Secret Doctrine, 2:425).

Today this point of view is common, but it was revolutionary in the nineteenth century, yet it was asserted by Mme. Blavatsky and by Theosophy.

Some scholarly literature comes closer to the truth. George L. Mosse, an acknowledged expert on racism who is of Jewish descent, writes: “Theosophy itself was not racist” (Mosse, 119).

Of course not! But even nowadays this is often ignored.

The Nazi accusation, a particularly sensitive issue in Germany, is no less stupid. It is repeatedly purported that the Nazis had an esoteric ideology and that Theosophy would have contributed ideas to their inhuman teachings.

Certainly you can read about Aryans in The Secret Doctrine, and the swastika is a part of the Theosophical Society’s symbol. Both of these concepts were abused abominably by the Nazis. The swastika, of course, is a spiritual symbol that has been used among many nations worldwide. Theosophical teachings use the term Aryan in the sense of religion (Zoroastrianism), linguistics (Indo-Aryan languages), and also in an ethnic sense, as well as in the meaning of the fifth root race, or present-day humankind. But the Nazis’ hideous notion of the Aryans as a Germanic “master race” has nothing to do with Theosophy; it has been traced back to the French diplomat Arthur de Gobineau. In his Occult Roots of Nazism, historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke makes this point: “The central importance of ‘Aryan’ racism in Ariosophy, albeit compounded by occult notions deriving from theosophy, may be traced to the racial concerns of Social Darwinism in Germany.” (Goodrick-Clarke, 14).

The inhuman “philosophy” of Ariosophy (a quasi-esoteric teaching current in Germany around the turn of the twentieth century focusing on the alleged Aryan race) would be the only connection between Nazism and Theosophy. But there is not even a direct and proven connection between Ariosophy and Nazism. Even if there were, Ariosophy abused Theosophical terms but did not hold to the Theosophical doctrine. This is the internationally recognized result of research. Furthermore, research also debunks the malignant idea that the Nazis were esotericists. We must keep in mind that during the Nazi era, all Theosophical associations were forbidden in Germany. Additionally, Theosophy teaches the higher development of mankind by the mixing of nations or peoples, not by isolating and eradicating some of them, as the Nazis did.

The accusation of Satanism comes from the false assumption that Theosophy worships the devil of the Christian church. These people forget that the church’s view of the devil is aberrant in view of the history of philosophy. Lucifer, supposedly equated with the devil, is the Latin name for the morning star. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus even speaks of himself as the “bright morning star” (stella splendida et matutina in the Latin Vulgate). This helps clarify the true Theosophical understanding of the metaphor of Lucifer, because Theosophy understands this in the sense of a light bringer, like the esoteric view of the Greek Prometheus, and not in the strange (and in ancient times unusual) sense, employed by the church, of eternal evil personified.

The ever unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart—invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through “the still small voice” of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence. (Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine 1:280) 

That, like the Theosophical teachings as a whole, sounds evil only to the ears of the devil.

As for the alleged Theosophical justification of genocide (which can be found even in so-called scholarly literature), this is mainly based on a false and malicious understanding of karma. If someone teaches the doctrine of karma in a fatalistic sense to excuse his own negative actions against other persons, or to say that it is unnecessary to help others in distress because it is their immutable fate, he is teaching neither the original doctrine of karma nor the Theosophical views of Mme. Blavatsky. When the doctrine of karma was taught properly, as she did, it always stressed personal responsibility and charity—things that false views of karma would never allow. Nor could the true doctrine of karma ever be used to justify genocide.

Theosophists are sometimes called proponents of sorcery and necromancy. This is wrong too, because Theosophical teachings strictly discourage the use of practical magic. HPB’s teachings say that even meditation is only a good thing if it helps one toward a more virtuous life. Certainly HPB played a role in early spiritualism, but she used it as a vehicle for introducing esotericism in the West, and she expressed a negative opinion of practical spiritualism after 1875 at the latest.

No less absurd, but just as common, is the accusation that Theosophy is involved in a global conspiracy that wants to irrevocably enslave humanity (keywords: “New World Order”; “conspiracy theory”). According to these views, this world conspiracy uses power, money, and sensual pleasures, along with fear, to subordinate people to it, consciously or unconsciously. But a true Theosophist, who lives a life of reason, virtue, and altruism, and who believes in the immortality of the human soul, would not put any faith in material possessions or sensual pleasures and would fear nothing, even physical death. Nor could such a person deceive or manipulate or suppress in any way. Therefore it would be a source of the greatest danger for the “dark forces” and the “world conspiracy” (even if they exist) if all men were real Theosophists.

Theosophy is also accused of anti-Semitism. It is true that HPB criticizes the Jewish religion, as she criticized other religions, and that in some very few cases she applied this criticism to the members of this religion. This should not be, because Theosophy also teaches that we should not judge other people. It is important to make this differentiation. I can, for example, condemn superstition. But that does not, or should not, mean that I condemn people who are superstitious, because they are more than mere superstition; they are human beings, and brothers and sisters in spirit. Anti-Semitism will have nothing to do with all that.

There is no anti-Semitism in Theosophical teachings. On the contrary, HPB spoke out against Jew baiting, for example as follows: “Quite clear and unmistakable this. The unfortunate, despoiled Israelites are plainly charged with abducting Christian children to behead and make oracular heads with them, for purposes of sorcery! Where will bigotry and intolerance with their odium theologicum land next, I wonder?” (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 7:222)

Indeed Albert Einstein, a Jew, was a student of The Secret Doctrine. In a 1935 conversation, Einstein said, “It’s a very strange book, and I’ve even told Prof. [Werner] Heisenberg, my fellow physicist, to get a copy and keep it on his desk. I urged him to dip into it when he’s handicapped by some problem” (Algeo, 327).

The basis of Theosophical teachings is often doubted. This is easy, because their roots are mystical, but the existence of the books of Kiu-Te, sources for The Secret Doctrine, has long been proven. There is also a significant evidence for the existence of the Book of Dzyan (see the work of David and Nancy Reigle).

The allegations of lies and fraud today have all been refuted. The allegations of the Coulomb, Coleman, and Cous affairs, and of the Hodgson Report, which claimed that HPB was a fraud, have been shown to be wrong, even if it has sometimes taken over 100 years to prove it. One who doubts should read the important work of Vernon Harrison or Sylvia Cranston’s biography of HPB. Nevertheless, these false accusations, like those of HPB’s illegitimate children (!), are still widespread today.

The enemies of Theosophy are still very active and very well organized. In 1986, the Society for Psychical Research retracted the Hodgson Report. But even today one cannot clearly read this fact on Wikipedia (in both the English and German versions). That these facts are missing from Wikipedia is not a coincidence, as I discovered during my own involvement with Wikipedia (I’m banned from the German section). We all should keep an eye on Wikipedia on behalf of Theosophy, and we should exert considerable pressure against falsehood, because Wikipedia is very widely visited. This is true of other sites as well. If you need help with this, feel free to contact me.

A lot has happened in the last thirty years. Public opinion of Theosophy has improved a lot. We can achieve further clarification only if Theosophists respond, whether with letters to the editor and comments to current websites, or on their own websites and social-media pages, against the lies. We should also involve ourselves in Wikipedia and learn its rules; then we may be able to change it. This is an important task, especially for the official representatives of Theosophy, including the Theosophical Society and related organizations.

We should keep the following quote from HPB in mind: “He who hears an innocent person slandered, whether a brother Theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defence as he would undertake his own—is no Theosophist” (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 8:171).

Let us act accordingly whenever we see lies about Theosophy, HPB, or other Theosophists.

Sources

Emphasis in quotes is in the original text.

Algeo, John. “Theosophy and the Zeitgeist.” In The American Theosophist 75, no. 10 (Nov. 1987), 322–32.

Blavatsky, H.P. Collected Writings. Fifteen volumes. Edited by Boris de Zirkoff. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1960–91.

———.

The Secret Doctrine. Three volumes. Wheaton: Quest, 1993.

Cranston, Sylvia, and Carey Williams. HPB: Life and Works of Helena Blavatsky, the Founder of Modern Theosophy. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1993.

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. The Occult Roots of Nazism. New York: New York University Press, 2004.

Harrison, Vernon. H.P. Blavatsky and the SPR: An Examination of the Hodgson Report of 1885. Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1997.

Mosse, George L. Toward the Final Solution: A History of Racism in Europe. New York: Howard Fertig, 1978.

Reigle, David. The Books of Kiu-Te or the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras: A Preliminary Analysis. San Diego, Calif.: Wizards Bookshelf, 1983.

Reigle, David, and Nancy Reigle. Blavatsky’s Secret Books: Twenty Years’ Research. San Diego: Wizards Bookshelf, 1999.

Steven Otto was born in 1976 in Saxony, East Germany. He studied computer science in media from 2001 to 2005 and is head of the digital-media department in a Munich publishing house. He has been an independent scholar of HPB’s Theosophy for over ten years. He is also an author, blogger, and publisher of a quarterly, international, noncommercial Theosophical newsletter, Soehne des Feuers, on his website, soehne-des-feuers.de/international-theosophy-news. A shorter version of this article originally appeared on this site: http://www.soehne-des-feuers.de/node/199. Contact: steven@soehne-des-feuers.de.

.

 Printed in the Summer 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Crawford, Don ,"Dimensions of Karma" Quest 107:3, pg 26-27

By Don Crawford 

The word karma, from the Sanskrit, is a term rather difficult for the Western-trained mind to clearly grasp in its full dimensions. The classic Christian expression of this concept is contained in the apostle Paul’s words: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). Other terms that express similar concepts are “destiny,” “just desserts,” and even “comeuppance.” The essence of the idea of karma is that whatever comes to the individual, physically, emotionally, or mentally, is due on the basis of past behavior or decision.

The idea of karma is supported by the belief that each individual creates his or her own life (or lives), now and in the future. The Divine has given each person irrevocable free will—the right to make choices from minute to minute. Each choice in turn carries its own consequence, just as the seed of a fruit invariably produces its own kind. Therefore the consequences of actions eventually and inescapably come home to their creator.

Occultists speak of karma as divine justice, and view it as part of the divine plan. As one of the Masters of the Wisdom expresses it, “Make and keep me every anchored in the justice of thy Plan. I am the epitome of perfection, living the life of God in Man.”

Our understanding of this cosmic cause-and-effect law of nature is complicated by its timing. Where the effect swiftly follows its cause, as when we stub our toe and instantly feel pain, the relationship is readily apparent. It takes a little more stretching of belief to accept cause-effect relationships with prolonged or delayed results, for example, after many years have elapsed, or several lifetimes.

Nevertheless, the idea that the conditions we harvest in our adult years were to a large extent sown during our earlier years is readily accepted, even by developmental psychologists. Is it that much of a leap to suggest that the harvests we accrue in one lifetime might be the results of the sowings of previous lifetimes? Admittedly, it does take more stretching of our capacity for belief, but this is relative to the degree of our open-mindedness.

Karma is also known to the occultists as the major law of manifestation. Nothing comes from nothing. For every effect there must be a progenitor—a cause. Everything in manifestation is in constant motion, and this motion creates imbalances. This is the basic cause of karma and reincarnation. From life to life, we learn how to reduce the number of imbalances we create through wrongful choices and decisions until we have reduced these almost to the point of nonexistence. At this stage, we have learned to live with poise, balance, and inner harmony regardless of external circumstances. When we learn to live in harmony within ourselves and balance in our relationships with others, we live within much more than we live without, and our incarnations on this planet come to an end.

For those who accept reincarnation as fact, it becomes readily apparent that at any given time we are simultaneously reaping and sowing karma. Every day we make decisions that will eventuate in consequences, while at the same time we are reaping the consequences of previous decisions.

Making decisions is in fact the most obvious process in living life. We could hardly get up in the morning, go to work, cook a meal, or watch TV unless we decided to do so. Prolonged and consistent choices readily become habits. It is obvious that many things come to us not of our liking—as when we drink too much the night before and wake up with a proverbial headache in the morning, and we utter the oath “Never again!” But only those who are immature and irresponsible would deny the role of their own decisions in the outcome. It could be intimated from this that when it comes to recognizing our own karma, we tend toward the immature and irresponsible. But we are also influenced by the timetable factor, that is, the gap in time that sometimes occur between decisions and consequences. Freud’s concept of projection also comes to mind here—accusing others of what we see in ourselves.

Another occult concept associated with karma is that of the transformation of energies. This holds that karma can be modified or mitigated if deemed undesirable. Dostoevsky wrote brilliantly about this idea in his classic Crime and Punishment. The hero, Raskolnikov, murders an old pawnbroker and her sister, believing himself to be above the laws of man. The clever detective, Porfiry Petrovich, knows that Raskolnikov did it but is unable to prove it, thus freeing him from any manmade punishment.

Dostoevsky places the karma, and rightly so, directly upon the consciousness of the creator of the dastardly act. Eventually, Raskolnikov confesses to the unprovable crime so that he can make amends for his transgression against nature and man. This is a classic example of the law of the transformation of energies. Raskolnikov chooses to expend a large portion of his available energies in atoning for his crime, and accepts exile in Siberia. We can all atone for our past deeds if we so choose: it is one way of balancing the books of negative behavior and consequent karma.

The concepts of reincarnation and karma lend themselves to the analogy of a school: in fact, there is an old mystical expression that says, “Life is a school for souls.” The rounds of different lifetimes are the various “grades” to be mastered, and reincarnation is the vehicle for returning the “pupil,” or the soul, to the school so that it can learn the required wisdom needed to move on to other domains after mastering this material plane of existence.

It has been claimed that each new life begins at exactly the point where the old one ended. Knowing this, the individual has the choice of either accelerating or retarding his or her “graduation.” But in a sense, even being aware of having this choice is a matter of karma , requiring one to have previously planted the seeds for this discovery. It is a matter of growth and consciousness expansion, which comes about through the digesting of life’s experiences, over and over, until one “gets it.”

The teachings of the Buddha were geared toward showing the chela, or disciple, how to put a quick end to the rounds required to attain liberation, or nirvana. He called the core of his teachings the Noble Eightfold Path, including, among others, right values, right thinking, right actions, right speech, and right occupation. “Right occupation” basically means work without doing harm to another. Harm to others, or himsa, is a major hindrance to spiritual growth. Ahimsa, or harmlessness, is a major contributor toward spiritual growth,

According to the Buddha, once all the individual’s karma has been worked out or transformed, meaning that all past sowings have been harvested and no new sowings remain, except those that help the individual to undergo the needed initiations, then that individual’s books are balanced, and the soul of that individual can go on to its just reward—in Buddhist terms, nirvana. Christians speak of  this as “return to the house of the Father,” or simply going to heaven. In the terms of ancient Gnosticism, learning all the worldly lessons is rewarded by ascension, whereby the individualized soul rises and reunites with the body of the One, the Universal, Absolute, or the Divinity, at least for a time.

Ascension comes about as the result of having attained mastery over each hierarchical initiation, related to the energy levels of the human organism. Initiations are analogous to the grades or rounds in our school above, and ascension represents the mastery of the school’s life lessons, and the return of the soul to the “house of the Father.” This is, in essence, the occult interpretation of the biblical story of the prodigal son.

The parallels drawn here are based on the idea that there is a common Ancient or Ageless Wisdom underlying all the world’s religions. If we could accept this common core and acknowledge the universal intelligence behind all of nature’s phenomena, perhaps, instead of focusing on superficial differences, which tend to alienate one faith or culture from another, we could find common ground on which to build a lasting brotherhood ( and sisterhood) and discover the unity of all that IS.

Don Crawford received his M.S.W. degree from UC Berkeley during the heyday of the sixties. During his forty-year clinical experience, he studied human behavior from a variety of positions. When he discovered Theosophy, he knew it to be the only philosophy he could accept and absorb. He has written a book entitled The Sage Institute, available for sale on Amazon. He is retired and continues to write for linkedin.post about the evolution of the human race. He has been published in both national and international journals.

Printed in the Summer 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Moss, Robert ,"The Grand Duke Calls My Name" Quest 107:3, pg 24-25

By Robert Moss

Sigmund Freud called dreams the “royal road to the unconscious,” but to author and dream explorer Robert Moss, they are more: portals to the imaginal realm, a higher reality that exists at the intersection of time and eternity. The traveler’s tales in his new book, Mysterious Realities, spring from direct experience in the many worlds, in places as diverse as the temple of the Great Goddess at Ephesus, Dracula country in Transylvania, and the astral realm of Luna. Below is an excerpt.

A story is calling to me, through my window in a stone tower in a dry wood, near the medieval French town of St. Martin de Londres. I hear sangliers—wild boars—snaffling and snorting and muttering red secrets. I reach behind my back, to the place above my left kidney, where a boar marked me in another country. The boar is part of an old, old story that snares me from time to time. I would prefer not to reenter that now.

A woman is laughing manically near the huge swimming pool, which was drained when the leaves started to fall. Her screech is enraging the boars and allows me little chance to sleep, even when I close the window and the door to my little balcony.

At last the woman goes to bed, or passes out, and the boars fall silent.

I drift on the bed, half in my body and half out of it.

Hours later, when the woods are silent under the Peak of the Sainted Wolf, a long cry reaches for me.

Hoooooooooo!

The cry is repeated, then veers into a popping, screeching, jabbing monologue. Somewhere in there, I hear my name.

The windows rattle, the bedside cabinet shakes, a door slams on the landing. The moody winds of the Midi are gusting wildly tonight.

Robert!

The cry is closer now, eerie yet seductive. My name is in there, no doubt of it. The accent is French: Ro-bear! In part of myself, I want to rise from my bed and fly out the window, to see what’s up. Perhaps I can join the night owl and share its vision. Owl eyes have helped me in the dark before.

Some instinct of self-preservation restrains me. Who knows what it would take to get back to my body? The Traveler in me is ready for the assignment. I feel him expanding, stretching my energy field, threatening to slide out from my feet if I won’t let him out from any other place. I am firm. I am not going to let my double leave the room. I need as much of me in the room as I can manage.

The owl that called my name is the chouette, or tawny owl. I know that in this corner of France, they call it the Grand Duc. I try to tame my situation by shaping a witticism: when you hear the owl call your name, it is a comfort to know that you got one at the top of the social register.

I don’t find this funny enough. My sense of humor is languishing. This always means trouble. I don’t want to leave any world or come back to one—without my sense of humor.

With a deep sigh, I lie down on my back, nose pointed at the ceiling. This is the posture, and the time of night, when I find that inner guides become available. There is one voice I have come to trust beyond all others.

Before I have framed my request for guidance, the voice cuts through my mental chatter, cold and sharp as a chef’s knife.

The time of your death is now.

I take a cold plunge. For a moment, I can’t breathe. It is exactly like falling into water half my body temperature. I am lost in a swirl of life memories, as I was when I nearly drowned as a boy.

I know the truth of what I have just been told. In the presence of Death, I think of all my unfinished business, of things I need to do, of promises not yet fulfilled, of people I love. I have told myself many times that I am ready to die any day, but tonight a protest rises within me. I am ready to go, but not yet.

I don’t plead, or rage, or try to make a deal. I just go over in my mind the things I will do if I have more time. I’ll make more time for family, for swimming, for loving. I’ll mend fences, make amends. I’ll do more as a teacher and healer, as best I can, for those I can help and inspire.

These calculations are met with supreme indifference.

I’ll create. I’ll bring new things into the world. I’ll tell better stories, and write them so more people will be encouraged to find their own bigger stories, and live those stories.

I feel an inner void. Has my visitor—I don’t want to name him right now—gone away?

There is a constriction in my throat. I am naked under the sheet, but it feels exactly as if a necktie—or a noose—is being tightened.

The time of your death is now.

He does not show himself. The pressure on my neck is slowly released. Ah, it’s not so hard to leave this body. My head, which I had raised against the pillows, droops over my chest. This is going to be so easy. I feel a tremendous need to rest, to sleep. I am letting myself go, not just the Traveler in me but all of me. It is done.

I raise up the body in the bed. The I that is speaking now is not identical to the one that just left, but indistinguishable from others and so very like my previous self that I don’t need to make out that I have changed. I died and came back, in a moment. And my world split. Another me, on a parallel road in the many worlds, has joined the countless selves that have died already. I wonder whether he has gone to that wonderful penthouse apartment in the scholar city that my traveling self loves to visit.

Dawn is breaking over the Pic St. Loup. It brings out the warmth in the red-tiled roof that slopes down below my balcony. The boars are still quiet.

The time of your death is now.

What’s this? It’s not over?

However, the sentence is suspended for now, pending further review. You know what you must do.

I go to the desk, pick up my fountain pen, and start writing, in my leather-bound journal, a story that I hope will entertain Death.

 Robert Moss is the author of Mysterious Realities and numerous other books about dreaming, shamanism, and imagination. He is a novelist, poet, and independent scholar, and the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. He leads creative and shamanic adventures all over the world. Visit him online at www.mossdreams.com. This excerpt is reprinted by permission from the publisher, New World Library, newworldlibrary.com.

Excerpted from the book Mysterious Realities. Copyright ©2018 by Robert Moss. Printed with permission from New World Library — www.newworldlibrary.com.

Printed in the Summer 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Hebert, Barbara ,"Healing Tragedy and Loss: The How and the Why" Quest 107:3, pg 21-23

By Barbara Hebert

One only has to keep up with current events to find tragedy and loss across the globe. None of us is immune from it. Surely all of us will experience tragedy and/or loss at some point through such things as death; abuse; neglect; homelessness; terrorism; poverty; aging; divorce; crime; illness; work and life transitions; pain; miscarriage; infertility; violence.

Dealing with tragedy and loss comprises two separate but equally important components: dealing with the situation in an emotionally healthy manner and understanding the why of the situation. In order to move forward in our spiritual journey, we need to work through tragedy and loss—emotionally as human beings and spiritually as part of the evolutionary journey. It is a profound process that requires time, effort, and insight.

It is important also to realize that healing may not occur on some levels. For example, someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness may not experience physical healing, but that does not mean that this individual can’t experience emotional healing and spiritual understanding.

The first component is dealing with the situation in an emotionally healthy manner. Doing this involves a process of several steps. It does not happen overnight, but  requires time and effort. Because it is a process, we do not take the various steps in a linear manner; we work on them simultaneously.

The first step occurs once we are over the initial shock of an experience. It focuses on the feelings elicited by the situation. We must allow ourselves to feel whatever feelings arise by simply allowing them to surface and experiencing them. This is not to suggest that we should wallow in the feelings, but we don’t want to suppress them either. Feelings are part of this human experience; therefore experiencing them and learning to deal with them are part of the process of becoming fully human.

What human components are involved, for example, in dealing with the loss of a loved one? Many people experience profound sadness, anger, loneliness, and possibly even guilt, just to name a few. Allowing oneself to actually feel these and any other emotions that arise, without judgment or suppression, comprises a critical part of healing. It is also important to allow ourselves to express feelings in a way that does not hurt ourselves or anyone else.

Listening to our internal self-messages is another crucial part of the process. In this step, we begin to observe ourselves and our thoughts objectively. What thoughts arise? After tragedy and loss, some individuals might think, “If I had only been a better [spouse, child, friend], then maybe this would not have happened.” Paying attention to how kind (or, more likely, unkind) we are being to ourselves with our thoughts provides us with essential information. It is important to examine these thoughts in an objective manner, such as, “Is it accurate to say that if I had been a better [spouse, child, friend], the loss would not have happened?” Very few individuals have the power to change the outcome of a given situation.

On  the other hand, none of us is perfect; therefore it is likely that we could have acted differently at times. At this point, it becomes imperative that we begin to accept our own imperfections and learn from them, which seems to be part of the human journey. If a loved one dies and a survivor has regrets about what has been said or done as well as about what has not been said or done, then he or she works to accept what has occurred and takes active steps to make sure that nothing is left unsaid or undone with others.

Accepting one’s imperfections goes hand in hand with the third step, which involves forgiving oneself for not being perfect. Self-forgiveness plays an extremely important role in this process. Most of us do not intentionally hurt others, yet we cause hurt unintentionally. We act in ways that we regret. We say things that we wish we hadn’t. Recognizing that we do our best, given the circumstances in which we are functioning, contributes to the process of self-forgiveness and ultimately helps us to deal with the painful events of life in a healthy manner.

Another step is to see ourselves realistically. As human beings, we tend to be self-involved. We tend to think we are the only ones who has experienced such an event, or we think we are the worst person in the world, and so on. These statements are simply not true. We are imperfect human beings, doing the best we can in a confusing and complicated world. All of us are learning, and no one is the only one, or the worst, or any other distortion our minds may concoct. We are emanations of the Divine, and as such, we are neither the best nor the worst. Tragedies and losses happen to everyone.

The final step in the process of dealing with difficult situations includes finding an empowering and uplifting support system. The importance of sharing heartache, pain, and suffering with others who can provide emotional support cannot be overstated. This support system may, and probably should, include a mental-health professional who can provide insight and guidance regarding the steps one needs to take.

The second major component of healing from tragedy or loss involves trying to understand the why. The Dalai Lama is purported to have said, “When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways—either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.” Metaphysical ideas, readings, and theories can be helpful in providing the structure, that is, the why in understanding and dealing with misfortune in a healthy way.

For many years, I worked as a mental-health professional, both as a clinician whose expertise was in child sexual abuse and as an educator who worked with graduate and postgraduate counselors. Inevitably these young professionals would encounter clients who had experienced situations that defied explanation. For example, one client was a young woman had been sexually abused by numerous individuals in her lifetime, abandoned by her father, and neglected by her mother. Another example: a teenage client whose stepfather took pornographic pictures of her and posted them on websites.

Not surprisingly, new professionals would at times experience their own secondary trauma in hearing about the clients’ horrific situations. My role as an educator was to help them put the situation into perspective so that they could facilitate the client’s healing process. My first question to the counselor was almost always, “What is your worldview?” That is, “How does your worldview help you understand why these horrible things can happen to someone?” My role was not to share my worldview, but rather to elicit the counselor’s. The answer to that question varied from individual to individual. Some new professionals had already contemplated this issue while others had not considered it at all.

Why is it important to understand a clinician’s worldview? From my perspective, helpers (professional or nonprofessional) must have some structure, usually spiritual or religious, that explains why. Without an understanding of why, many people will struggle with the intensity of the work, may have difficulty in facilitating the healing process, and may burn out. Furthermore, if the counselor has an understanding of the why, then it is easier to facilitate the client’s own understanding of why these things happened.

Therefore it is critical to clarify one’s worldview, especially in relation to why these dreadful situations occur. For me, Theosophy, or the Ageless Wisdom, provides that explanation and has enabled me to work with sexual-abuse survivors, both children and adults, for many years. The Ageless Wisdom teaches that we are on a journey of spiritual evolution in which we are expanding our consciousness so that at some point in the future (after lifetimes of learning and growth), we will become fully self-conscious human beings. We will have learned all that there is to learn in this phenomenal world about being human and therefore will have become perfected.

One aspect of Theosophy that has provided support through the years involves the belief that experiences are not attributable personally. That is, God (or whatever one calls that Ultimate Reality) is not angry at or punishing an individual. It is common for individuals who experience tragedy and loss to blame themselves. Even very young children (ages three to five) believe that they have done something to cause their pain or believe that they could have done something to stop or alter the situation. Adults also take on responsibility and self-blame for incidents that have nothing to do with them. One such example is a mother whose adult child was accidentally drowned. This mother was very angry with God for allowing the death to occur and was firmly convinced that if she had given more money to the church, her child would have lived. The recognition that incidents like this are not personal can provide a very important element in healing tragedy and loss.

Along these same lines, my belief in reincarnation—another major concept in the Ageless Wisdom—has provided support for me. The belief that we have multiple lives does not negate the importance of each one of those lives, but it does put each life into perspective.

It may be useful to invoke the age-old analogy of school: perceiving each lifetime as a grade in school (although there are certainly more grades than in contemporary schools). The ending of each grade is bittersweet for many: pride in accomplishments and lessons learned, excitement about moving onward, sadness about not seeing friends for the summer.

We can put unfortunate events in perspective by perceiving each lifetime and its tragedies and losses in the same light. Of course it does not obliterate the pain, which may remain for many years, if not for the entire lifetime, but we realize that the tragedy and loss is, from the perspective of many lifetimes, temporary.

The concept of karma also gives us answers to the why of tragedy and loss. Karma, from the Theosophical perspective, is a universal law based upon harmony. Everything that we think, say, and do impacts the harmony of the universe, and this law works to restore that harmony when it is imbalanced. H.P. Blavatsky writes: “Karma creates nothing, nor does it design. It is [the human] who plans and creates causes, and Karmic law adjusts the effects; which adjustment is not an act, but universal harmony, tending ever to resume its original position, like a bough, which, bent down too forcibly, rebounds with corresponding vigour.”

If we believe that we are here on this earth to learn and to grow—to transform ourselves spiritually—then it makes sense that our life circumstances facilitate this growth. It’s important to add a caution here: although karma facilitates the process of learning through action and reaction or cause and effect, we really do not have much of an understanding of this Universal Law. In The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, the Mahatma K.H. tells Sinnett, “You know nothing of the ins and outs of the work of karma—of the ‘sideblows’ of this terrible Law,” and later added,  “Have another look at Karma . . . and remember that it ever works in the most unexpected ways.” Although we speak about karma as if we understand it, we have only a vague grasp of its workings.

One might be inclined to consider unfortunate events as punishment or payback for misdeeds in a previous incarnation. This is akin to the earlier discussion regarding self-blame. It seems more realistic instead to view such incidents as opportunities for growth and expansion in light of the concept of harmony and balance, however little we may appreciate the opportunity at the time. Most individuals can look back and see that times of difficulty resulted in the greatest personal or spiritual growth. This realization reaffirms the Dalai Lama’s view that tragedy in life can challenge us to find our inner strength. Whether we encounter our own personal misfortunes or we work to help someone navigate their way through difficult circumstances, the Ageless Wisdom teaches that karma gives us the opportunity to grow.

Perhaps the Theosophical concept that has been most helpful to me in this area is the belief that each of us walks our own path toward becoming fully self-conscious human beings, and that each and every one of us will attain this goal at some point. We have no knowledge of where another person is on their particular journey, or of the specific challenges on which another person may be working, but we can trust that the end result will be the same for everyone. As the late TS international president N. Sri Ram wrote, “This concept . . . is perhaps the most inspiring truth of Theosophy.”

For example, a five-year-old child was sexually abused and through that abuse contracted a sexually transmitted disease. The child was terrified to talk about her experiences as well as about the person who abused her. Law enforcement investigated but was unable to identify a perpetrator. Counseling continued, of course, but the child maintained her silence.

When we look at this tragic situation from a Theosophical perspective, we begin with tremendous compassion for this child and those who love her. We also recognize that we don’t know anything about this child’s journey and what she has chosen to learn in this particular incarnation. We know that this is one step of the journey for this soul, and it will eventually result in spiritual growth and ultimately in full self-consciousness.

This understanding does not, however, mean that we accept abuse, nor does it mitigate the suffering endured by this child and her family. We must use our discernment, as discussed in At the Feet of the Master, to balance metaphysical understanding with an awareness of the pain. The balancing of understanding and awareness challenges us to engage in compassionate action. In 1907 Annie Besant wrote, “Your duty is to do all you can to help others. Do not take Karma as an excuse for indolence, as I am sorry to say many people do.”

In conclusion, dealing with tragedy and loss in a healthy manner involves two crucial components: working through the human response and finding a worldview that helps us understand the whys of the situation. In order to work through the human response, we must feel our feelings; observe and change our negative self-messages; accept and forgive ourselves for our imperfections; and find or create a support system. The second component incorporates the need for understanding why tragedies and losses occur. The Ageless Wisdom fulfills the second component through its teachings about the impersonal nature of situations; reincarnation and karma; and the soul’s evolutionary journey to becoming a fully self-conscious human.

Along with these elements, we balance healing and understanding with compassion. Healing and understanding underlaid with compassion allow us to deal with misfortune in a healthy way. As Jack Kornfield writes in Buddha’s Little Instruction Book, “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.”

Sources

Alcyone. At the Feet of the Master. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1910.

Barker, A.T., and Vicente Hao Chin Jr., eds. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in Chronological Sequence. Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.

Besant, Annie. Theosophical Lectures. Chicago: Rajput Press, 1907.

Blavatsky, H.P. “Reincarnation and Karma.” Blavatsky Study Center (website): http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/blavatskykarmareincarnation.htm; accessed Feb. 15, 2019.

Kornfield, Jack. Buddha’s Little Instruction Book. New York: Bantam, 1994.

Sri Ram, N. Human Regeneration. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1985.