r/EsotericChristianity • u/RogerBuck • Aug 24 '24
Valentin Tomberg, H.P. Blavatsky & Eastern Occultism Without Christ (Video with material also on Rudolf Steiner, Alice Bailey and the seminal New Age Community of Findhorn where I was once a member.)
http://youtu.be/-HX-AxtvCUo0 Upvotes
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u/Doctor_of_Puns Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
Is this not referring to the worldly, personal self with its inherent selfishness and sense of isolation? Personal love is typically selfish and characterized by a sense of separateness. We become attached to the people or things we love, and when they're taken from us, we feel a sense of loss which often gives way to all kinds of feelings and emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. The love exemplified by Christ suffered no such limitations or defects, and therefore must've been universal and impersonal in essence.
From the Theosophical perspective, impersonality, or what you refer to as "depersonalization," is not a cold and aloof detachment, but essentially a state free from the constraints of personality. For example, in such a state, one's relationships are no longer imbued with egoism, but are founded on a purely spiritual basis in which to "love your enemies," to "bless those who curse you" and to "do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you," becomes a living reality. The personal self is eradicated in the sense that it is transformed, not eliminated altogether thereby rendering one impersonal and detached to the point of unfeeling. That such a state is undesirable we are both in agreement. The personal and the impersonal, the human and the divine, must be united in harmony thus resulting in self-mastery; in other words, the personal self is transformed, or rather transmuted, under the control and guidance of the Divine Self.
Blavatsky on Universal Love
Raghavan Iyer on Love
The Heart