posted in Lucifer7, May 2006

http://lucifer7.katinkahesselink.net/i/2006/5.html

Some Advice for Daily Life (*)
Canadian Theosophist, Volume 23, #12 (1943)
In the early days of the T.S. (**) an accepted Fellow received with his diploma, a slip of paper on which was set forth some rules for his guidance to be lived up to by a member aspiring to discipleship. The paper was headed

The Course as a Beginner

To prescribe definitely your course as a beginner:

(1) a. Drink not intoxicating liquors, take not intoxicating drugs. b. Eat no meat. Destroy not any life.

(2) Refrain from unlawful sexual intercourse, if you cannot lead a life of Celibacy.

(3) a. Scrupulously avoid any kind of untruth. b. Take not that which is not given - i.e., avoid wrongful gain.

(4) Cease to long for money, position, sensual pleasures and the transitory objects of this brief earthly existence.

(5) Free yourself from the thraldom of passions. Endeavor to overcome anger and pride.

(6) Cherish not hatred or malice towards anybody. Gently advise those who are neglectful of their duties. Do away with your religious prejudices, if they prevent you from feeling a kind tolerance for the beliefs of others.

(7) Try your best to improve the moral and spiritual conditions of others. Love humanity with all your heart.

N.B.: Remember all earthly desires are the cause of sorrow. "Trishna" is the cause of all evil.

This Course is still the most effective way to prepare for Discipleship.

(*) The title of this piece is an addition by the editor of Lucifer7. She is very interested to hear of anyone who can tell her from original sources like archives whether the statement that starts this fragment is correct and this advice was really given to each new member of the Theosophical Society.

(**) T.S. stands for Theosophical Society.

Sounds like generally good advice for qualified aspirants, but I have never seen the list before.

Since there is this emphasis on Discipleship as part of TS membership, I suspect it was only in the Adyar TS. They have, with the CWL-AB leadership put Master-disciple stuff to the fore. Not a good idea, to my mind. Too much overheated & self-centered aspiration was likely to follow.

No, if I recall correctly there was from a lodge that had kept the old instructions about diet and stuff from the original New York TS of 1875. It's seen (again, if I recall correctly) as evidence on how the TS was organised in the very early days. This is still much of a mystery.

I'm not absolutely sure - these rules have obvious similarities to the current ES rules. But to have any rules at all (aside from organisational ones and manners) in public lodges is very much against standard TS Adyar culture.

KH,

This brings up an interesting topic -- how things used to be in the early TS, things that would surprise us now. I remember reading about how people had to be invited into the TS. I also remember reading about someone who wanted to join, but could not find a sponsor. Can you imagine?!

Well Nick the pilot (like that, by the way),

I think Nicholas could tell us something (if he would) on how difficult it still is to become a member of the TS Pasadena. Here in the Netherlands, from what I've heard, (only grapevine info, unfortunately) it is still pretty hard to join the TS Pasadena. You are mostly expected to just study on your own and becoming a member at all is pretty hard. There is no clear procedure that is communicated to people who would want to join.

I doubt the grapevine knows it own juice.

I have seen membership applications lying about when visiting their library. Also, under Theosophical Society, at their webpage is - (my underlining)

Let some non-member drop them an email and ask to become a member, then share the response with us here.

Nicholas,

Do you have a digital photo of the outside of the TS-Pasadena library? This would be a good opportunity to plug its location, hours of operation, etc. I know that the Pasadena location, for example, has a regular class on the Mahatma Letters, that people new to Theosophy might want to check out. (I would love to join that class, but I live too far away.)

And, in contrast to what seems to be going on in Europe, joining the TS-Pasadena from within California is a piece of cake.

No, I have no such pix nor competence to produce one. Why not contact them directly through their website?

I think it's probably country specific. (agreeing with Nick the Pilot on that).

We're all totally off-topic by the way :)