MATETIALISM & SPIRITUALITY

 

Much of human miseries are attributable to 1. blind and ambitious materialistic pursuits and possessions; and 2. religious beliefs and superstitions.  

 

This is an attempt to deal with first one - materialism as the opposite of spirituality.

 

Materialism is not confined to wealth. It includes anything wherein undue importance is attached to anything made of matter ignoring the spirit behind the role of what is made of that material stuff. Take the mother as an example. Motherhood is the spirit. But a mother ignores this spirit of motherhood and instead is obsessed with herself as the physical mother with not only treating her child as her possession but also by thrusting her expectations and demands in the relationship. 

 

Thought is matter, as J Krishnamurti profoundly stated, because thought is a product of the brain which is matter. Hence attaching importance to one's thoughts and those thought-generated desires, fears, self-importance, opinions, ideas and notions are all as materialistic as any worst form of materialism can be. 

 

One can apply the above to any number of situations and relationships wherein importance is attached to their material aspects while remaining blind to the spirit behind them or the spiritual basis of them.

 

 

Ramu

It’s not up to the Society or the leaders that the society is not multiracial enough. It’s up to the people themselves to join or not to join. At least that is my basic, uninformed opinion. 

Also, the previous President (now the President of the Theosophical Society Adyar), Tim Boyd, was black, or so looked to me. What more do you want?

On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 5:39 AM M K Ramadoss <mkr777@...> wrote:

American Theosophy now a Cult???

• Earmark stands out

• Claims Universal Brotherhood

• But lacks diversity after 145 years

• Have you seen black theosophists?

• Surely not accidental

• Leaders past & present silent on diversity

• Branches lack diversity

• Lack due to clever orchestration?

• Branches send their money to HQ forgetting local poor and needy

• Leaders on salary like salaried Priests

• Unnecessary secrecy on money matters

• Leaders personally pledged to Head of Esoteric Section – Heart of theosophy

• Any one joining Esoteric Section becomes silent – typical of cults

• Daily shrinking of followers with million dollar annual funding

• Secretly kicking out followers – some sixty year followers

• Good name of Theosophy gets ruined

• Should unselfish theosophists stay silent supporting status quo?

• USA Public don’t support cults – soon tax preference will go away

• Theosophists need to wake up soon

          Peace

American Theosophy now a Cult???

• Earmark stands out

• Claims Universal Brotherhood

• But lacks diversity after 145 years

• Have you seen black theosophists?

• Surely not accidental

• Leaders past & present silent on diversity

• Branches lack diversity

• Lack due to clever orchestration?

• Branches send their money to HQ forgetting local poor and needy

• Leaders on salary like salaried Priests

• Unnecessary secrecy on money matters

• Leaders personally pledged to Head of Esoteric Section – Heart of theosophy

• Any one joining Esoteric Section becomes silent – typical of cults

• Daily shrinking of followers with million dollar annual funding

• Secretly kicking out followers – some sixty year followers

• Good name of Theosophy gets ruined

• Should unselfish theosophists stay silent supporting status quo?

• USA Public don’t support cults – soon tax preference will go away

• Theosophists need to wake up soon

          Peace

BEBEFITS OF REALIZATION OF TRUTHS OF EXISTENCE. 

(PART OF 'NATURE OF EXISTENCE' SERIES.) 

 

As a living being, I have compulsive needs and many desires. These needs and desires form the motives for my actions. (or deliberate inaction which is also action.)The main need is self-preservation and the main desires are pleasure, comfort and security for myself and for those I am attached to. I am programmed to constantly strive to fulfill these needs and desires without endangering my existence or putting what I already have at big risk. 

 

(The so-called self-actualization and self-realization are not apart from these and may well be mythical goals set by the egotistic mind, being unable to be at peace with the realities and to accept harsh truths. And the 'higher self' is a false creation of the 'lower self' because the lower or lowly self does not like to be the low self. ("Most of us do not want to know what we are. We invent the higher self, the supreme self, and all the innumerable ideas, to escape from the reality of what we are". J Krishnamurti.) 

 

I come across opportunities and threats in the external environment for the fulfillment of those needs and desires. I am also programmed to strive to use such opportunities and to avoid or neutralise such threats to the best of my intellect.  Intellect is also shaped by the motives emanating from the needs and desires described above and at the best, only de-risks the fulfillment of those needs and desires.  

 

There is no freewill and self-efforts over and above these nor a self as a separate and distinct entity. The self is a notional center, a phantom, created by the mind for the above activities and of the related play of senses. 

 

The realization of the above truths and acting always rooted in these truths result in peaceful mental state and in the greatest virtue called humility, or at least absence of egotism (egotism is sense of self-importance, the basic cause of conflict) and these in turn help improve relationships - for nothing exists in isolation and life is interdependent and is a matter of relationships.


Ramu

 

 

LIFE IS A PARADOX. 

 

AND SO, HOW DOES ONE DEAL WITH PARADOXES?

 

The question itself is wrong. To think of dealing with paradoxes, not to speak of resolving them, is a fundamentally wrong approach. If it can be dealt with or resolved, then it is no longer a paradox.  Well, a paradox cannot even be understood and therefore when I claim understanding of life or existence, either I am deluding myself or lacking in much needed humility or at the best, I am being simplistic. 

 

Paradoxes deal with uncertainty and ambiguity. Life's paradoxes are the most so. There is no question of gaining familiarity, control, consistency, and the conclusion we often seek in understanding the aspects of life.  

 

People, who claim to be experts, have tried tricks like Polarity Mapping and Duality Mapping in the business management senarios to deal with conflicting pulls and pushes. But these exercises, or models based on them, have not worked in managing conflicting business goals with any element of certainty - not even short term goals.  

 

Paradoxical forces can not only be opposed, but also can cooperate with each other or complement each other and the best part is, they can change these positions. 

 

The Yin and Yang philosophy is based on the premise that everything in the world consists of two elements that can be potentially conflicting and as well as potentially complementary. I should qualify this with words like, 'unintended' 'unimagined', 'unanticipated', unannounced' or 'unexpectedly'. This and such other philosophies always leave you in a blissful suspended state. Blissful? Yes, if the mind is trained not to seek certainty, finiteness, conclusions and permanence. 

 

Nature's designs for existence seem to be made only of paradoxes. There cannot be any other way. I appear to exercise my freewill in my actions (or in my deliberate inaction which is also action) but I am actually forced to do so (so much for freewill!) and that too only to make some choices within limited options. And the outcomes and their impacts can be anybody's guess.  

 

Yes. Life is a paradox. Period. No further analysis.