It’s very common in today’s New Age Movement and other spiritual circles to hear people saying things such as –
“I know we disagree but you have your Truth and I have my Truth.”
“We can all say different things because we each have our own Truth.”
“I love the way you speak your Truth.”
“You may not believe that the Archangel Michael visited me last night and activated my chakras but that’s my Truth.”
“If reincarnation is your Truth then maybe you’ll reincarnate; but it isn’t my Truth.”
And so on.
The idea seems to be promulgated and widely accepted that there is no actual Truth, that Truth is something purely subjective and personal, little more than a matter of an individual insisting that what they would like to be true IS true, simply because they wish it so, and that therefore just about everything – no matter how wild, bizarre, disturbing, unphilosophical, or even dangerous and harmful – should be considered as being equally true and tolerated and even celebrated as such.
Can people not see the great danger and ignorance in this? Not only does it give carte blanche authorisation for, and authority to, the most ludicrous and self-destructive psychic delusions and mediumistic hallucinations, but it also shows a shocking – some might say disgraceful – contempt for the concept of Truth itself.
If one were to say “You have your belief and I have my belief” or “We each have our own belief, our own views,” we would refrain from our criticism. But to replace “belief” or “views” in such statements with “Truth” is quite another matter and much more serious. There would also be no problem if the phrase was “We each have our own concepts or ideas about Truth.”
No, we do not each have our own Truth, although we do certainly have our own beliefs, views, ideas, and concepts of what is true.
But Truth itself exists and is ONE. There is only THE Truth, not “my Truth,” “your Truth,” “his Truth,” or “her Truth.” The most ancient scripture known to man is the Rig Veda of Hinduism, which famously declares that “Truth is One, though the Sages call it by many names.” Only deliberate sophistry can twist this into saying or meaning that “Everything is Truth.” It plainly doesn’t say that but simply says that “Truth is One,” i.e. that there is only One Truth, although it can be presented, taught, and spoken about, using different systems and different terminologies.
One of the Eastern Mahatmas or Masters of Wisdom behind the Theosophical Movement founded by H. P. Blavatsky, namely the Master K.H., wrote that “Truth is One, and cannot admit of diametrically opposite views.”
If there is only one Truth, only one system of spiritual-philosophical-scientific teaching, only one Body of Knowledge which is fully and wholly reliable, accurate, and trustworthy – that is, fully and wholly true – where can it be found? Who has it? How can one access it? Where does it come from in the first place? What is it? What does it consist of?
The Master K.H. speaks in the same letter of “the primeval one Truth, taught humanity in the infancy of its races by every First Messenger,” whilst HPB says in her article “Spiritual Progress” that “all religions and all philosophies are but the variants of the first teachings of the One Wisdom, imparted to men at the beginning of the cycle by the Planetary Spirit.” One Truth, One Wisdom . . . where is it and what can it be?
“There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject whatsoever, in a world as finite and conditioned as man is himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make the best we can of them.
“In every age there have been Sages who had mastered the absolute and yet could teach but relative truths. For none yet, born of mortal woman in our race, has, or could have given out, the whole and the final truth to another man, for every one of us has to find that (to him) final knowledge in himself. As no two minds can be absolutely alike, each has to receive the supreme illumination through itself, according to its capacity, and from no human light. The greatest adept living can reveal of the Universal Truth only so much as the mind he is impressing it upon can assimilate, and no more. . . .
“Still each of us can relatively reach the Sun of Truth even on this earth, and assimilate its warmest and most direct rays, . . . On the plane of spirituality, to reach the Sun of Truth we must work in dead earnest for the development of our higher nature. We know that by paralyzing gradually within ourselves the appetites of the lower personality, and thereby deadening the voice of the purely physiological mind – that mind which depends upon, and is inseparable from, its medium or vehicle, the organic brain – the animal man in us may make room for the spiritual; and once aroused from its latent state, the highest spiritual senses and perceptions grow in us in proportion, and develop pari passu with the “divine man.” This is what the great adepts, the Yogis in the East and the Mystics in the West, have always done and are still doing. . . .
“Now, since truth is a multifaced jewel, the facets of which it is impossible to perceive all at once; and since, again, no two men, however anxious to discern truth, can see even one of those facets alike, what can be done to help them to perceive it? As physical man, limited and trammelled from every side by illusions, cannot reach truth by the light of his terrestrial perceptions, we say – develop in you the inner knowledge. From the time when the Delphic oracle said to the enquirer “Man, know thyself,” no greater or more important truth was ever taught. Without such perception, man will remain ever blind to even many a relative, let alone absolute, truth. Man has to know himself, i.e., acquire the inner perceptions which never deceive, before he can master any absolute truth. Absolute truth is the symbol of Eternity, and no finite mind can ever grasp the eternal, hence, no truth in its fulness can ever dawn upon it. To reach the state during which man sees and senses it, we have to paralyze the senses of the external man of clay. This is a difficult task, we may be told, and most people will, at this rate, prefer to remain satisfied with relative truths, no doubt. But to approach even terrestrial truths requires, first of all, love of truth for its own sake, for otherwise no recognition of it will follow. And who loves truth in this age for its own sake? How many of us are prepared to search for, accept, and carry it out, in the midst of a society in which anything that would achieve success has to be built on appearances, not on reality, on self-assertion, not on intrinsic value? We are fully aware of the difficulties in the way of receiving truth. The fair heavenly maiden descends only on a (to her) congenial soil – the soil of an impartial, unprejudiced mind, illuminated by pure Spiritual Consciousness; and both are truly rare dwellers in civilized lands. . . .
“To sum up the idea, with regard to absolute and relative truth, we can only repeat what we said before. Outside a certain highly spiritual and elevated state of mind, during which Man is at one with the UNIVERSAL MIND – he can get nought on earth but relative truth, or truths, from whatsoever philosophy or religion. Were even the goddess who dwells at the bottom of the well [i.e. as Truth appeared to Democritus] to issue from her place of confinement, she could give man no more than he can assimilate. Meanwhile, every one can sit near that well – the name of which is KNOWLEDGE – and gaze into its depths in the hope of seeing Truth’s fair image reflected, at least, on the dark waters. This, however, as remarked by Richter, presents a certain danger. Some truth, to be sure, may be occasionally reflected as in a mirror on the spot we gaze upon, and thus reward the patient student. But, adds the German thinker, “I have heard that some philosophers in seeking for Truth, to pay homage to her, have seen their own image in the water and adored it instead.” . . .”
– Excerpts from “What is Truth?” by H. P. Blavatsky
The literal meaning of the word “philosopher,” a Greek term coined by Pythagoras, is “Lover of Wisdom.” In olden times, “Wisdom” and “Truth” were synonymous terms. The first people to call themselves “Theosophists” were the Neo-Platonists of the Eclectic School of Ammonius Saccas in the 3rd century A.D. They also referred to themselves as “Philaletheians,” literally meaning “Lovers of Truth.”
Many people claim to be “seekers of Truth,” “lovers of Truth,” and so forth, but their actions show that they are in fact nothing of the sort.
Present a Christian with the undeniable facts showing that his religion and faith is built very largely upon a mass of lies, ignorance, and corruption, as is the Christian Church and its Bible and its theology, and he will either shut his ears or accuse you of being under the control of the devil. If particularly insecure in his false faith, he may even condemn you to an eternity in hell. In “Is Theosophy a Religion?” HPB remarked that “No genuine, so sincere searcher after truth can ever be found among the blind believers in the “Divine Word,” let the latter be claimed to come from Allah, Brahma or Jehovah, or their respective Kuran, Purana and Bible.”
Present a New Age “Lightworker” or “Ascended Masters” believer with the solid facts and evidence about the unsavoury, fraudulent, and deliberately deceptive nature of the whole “Ascended Masters” movement and those who began it, such as the con man Guy Ballard, and he or she will merely turn a blind eye and almost effortlessly flush such details and vitally important information from their mind and memory.
Present an “Adyar Theosophist” with the whole load of documented facts and supported references showing the lies and even sexual abuse of young boys perpetrated by C. W. Leadbeater and he or she will do much the same as the believer in so-called “Ascended Masters,” whilst at the same time presenting an even stronger – and thus more hypocritical – stance for Truth.
Show a student of the Alice Bailey teachings that the whole underlying system, terminology, ideology, and basis of her books is derived from the teachings and self-proclaimed clairvoyant revelations of Leadbeater and he or she will again do much the same, although most likely accompanied by a barrage of verbal assault, of the kind which tends to originate from a misguided and ignorant sense of authority.
People just do not want to know anything which may cause them to have to move out of their comfort zone. In her preface to “The Key to Theosophy,” HPB writes of those “who prefer to believe what is pleasant rather than what is true and who become very angry with anyone who destroys an agreeable delusion.”
To gain access to even a small degree of Truth requires sacrifice, effort, will, and constant and selfless determination. One must be ever ready to abandon all existing belief systems, ideas, religions, and personal preferences, no matter what the personal cost may be. One must be sufficiently humble to acknowledge one’s own ignorance before a glimmer of the golden light of Truth may shine for them and within them.
Some people say, “Nobody really knows the actual facts about things. Nobody really knows the Truth. The best we can hope for is guesswork and people’s ideas.” Theosophy, on the other hand, has the basic foundational premise that Truth exists and that there are “Those who Know.” “What I do believe in,” said HPB, “is (1), the unbroken oral teachings revealed by living divine men during the infancy of mankind to the elect among men; (2), that it has reached us unaltered; and (3) that the MASTERS are thoroughly versed in the science based on such uninterrupted teaching.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “What Shall We Do for our Fellow-Men?”)
At the close of the article 12 Things Theosophy Teaches we said:
“Theosophy teaches – that all religions are the same in their esoteric essence. There is one esoteric Teaching, a universal philosophy, a Secret Doctrine, which underlies all the world’s religions. It actually predates and transcends all religions. It is THE TRUTH itself. All religions contain some portion of the Truth, some to a greater degree than others. Hinduism and Buddhism are the two “truest” religions, yet even they, in their popular and public form, are sometimes distorted and misleading. The purpose of the Theosophical Movement is to teach Truth as it is, free from all limitations and restrictions of religious dogma, creed, and theology. The unadulterated universal philosophy has been preserved and guarded throughout the ages by the Initiates, Adepts, and Masters of certain secret Brotherhoods in Tibet, India, and the East. The voluminous writings and teachings of H. P. Blavatsky (founder of the Theosophical Movement) present, demonstrate, and prove this Teaching, to the full extent that was permitted by those Masters, who were her Teachers and Instructors. The “Truth” just mentioned has sometimes been called the Ancient Wisdom, the Ageless Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom. The word “Theosophy” is derived from the Greek word “Theosophia” which literally means “Divine Wisdom.”
“Theosophists are perfectly free to belong to any religion but they also know that it is not actually essential or necessary for them to belong to, or identify themselves with, any particular religion. The motto of the Theosophical Movement is “There is no religion higher than Truth.””
At this point, it’s important for us to emphasise and explain that we – students of Theosophy – aren’t claiming to personally know or have access to the whole Truth. Nor do we purport that the vast Theosophical literature embodies the whole Truth. Truth transcends the written word and even the spoken word and cannot be contained within a billion books, regardless of the loud and persistent claims of certain religions that their Bible or scripture is the one and only book fully containing the whole Truth, the so-called “Word of God.”
All we are saying is that those who are deeply sincere and committed to discovering THE TRUTH can do no better, in our opinion, than to begin by reading “The Key to Theosophy” by H. P. Blavatsky and then the two volumes of her book “The Secret Doctrine.” This will of course require a certain amount of effort. Truth speaks not to the mentally lazy, nor to those who expect everything to be handed to them neatly packaged on a plate. If these are too difficult at first, then start with “The Ocean of Theosophy” by William Q. Judge, “Answers to Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” by Robert Crosbie, and “Studies in The Secret Doctrine” by B. P. Wadia. After a while, you may wish to read “The Voice of the Silence,” translated by HPB from the Book of the Golden Precepts.
None of these books will give you the Truth but they can and will show you where it may be found. It is then up to you to tread the Path by becoming that Path itself.
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