Esoteric
Glossary
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D – E
Death Death
is an act of the intuition transmitted by the soul to the personality and then
acted upon in conformity to the divine will by the individual wll' the
will-to-harmonization; is undertaken at the direction of the Ego, no matter how
unaware a human being may be of that direction; it is the call of the soul too
strong to resist; a work or act of restitution; a process of at-one-ment (see
Principle of Liberation)
Desire The
force of the form nature; the reflection or distortion of love; attachment in
some degree or another; a generic term covering the outgoing tendency of the
spirit towards form life.
Detachment
The freeing of the soul from the thralldom of the form life, and the
subordination of the personality to the higher impulses.
Deva (Angel)
An angel; a god; a celestila being, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Devas
are divided into many groups and are called not only angels and arcangels, but
lesser and greater builders; the builders of the system; Devas are on the
evolutionary path, on the upward way,; the building devas are the Universal
Mind. They not only embody the Divine Thought but are that through which it
manifests, and its actuating activity. They are essentially motion. The lesser
builders are more particularly the material form which is actuated, and in
their cohorts are the substance of matter, considering substance as that which
lies back of matter. In sanskrit, a resplendent deity. Responsible for building
all forms, from nature to the solar system, which consciousness uses as a
vehicle - from a flower, to a human being, to a planet.
Devachan A
state of consciousness, reflecting, in the life of the personality, that higher
state which we call nirvanic consciousness, and which is brought about by egoic
action; consisting of mental matter, might be regarded as a centre, or heart of
peace, within the periphery of the sphere of influence of the mental unit
within the causal body.
Dharma That
which one must fulfill as an incarnate Being. One's duty as an understanding of
the Law. Divine law, ethical doctrine - justice, harmony, virtue.
Dhyani
Buddhas The 5 Buddhas - Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and
Amoghasiddhi. Same as Kumaras. See "Kumara".
Disciple One
who is pledged to serve humanity, who is beginnng to comprehend group work; who
realizes the Life or force side of nature; who is transferring his
consciousness out of the personal into the impersonal; who realizes his
responsibility to all units who come under his influence and to the Whole. (see
Reality)
Disciple
(Function of) The function of a disciple is to focus a stream of energy of some
special kind upon the physical plane where it can become an attractive center
of force and draw to itself similar types of ideas and thought currents which
are not strong enough to live by themselves or to make a sufficiently strong
impact upon the human consciousness.
Disciples
Initiated disciples have no interest in anything but the vision, the Plan and
its direction and materializing on earth. Accepted disciples are learning this
and in the meantime have to react to the vision in what might be called a
second hand manner; they are occupied with the Plan and with the distribution
of the forces which will materialize it. A disciple becomes an Accepted
Disciple when he starts climbing towards the vision, towards the mountaintop;
he can also register consciously what he has seen and then begin to do
something towards materializing it. Newly accepted disciples (who are only learning
to cooperate) are valuable as "agents for experiment." According to
their reaction to the imparted truths and Plan, according to their ability to
sense the need and to bring the need and the medium of release into relation
and according to their capacity to work with the world disciples (who are
definitely responsible to the master of the Ashram for some aspect of the Plan)
will be the success of the effort in the outer world.
Discrimination
The process of differentiating between the form and the Life, between the soul
and the body, between the sumtotal of the lower manifestation (physical, astral
and mental) and the real self, the cause of the lower manifestation; that
faculty whereby the self recognizes its own essence in and under all forms; one
of the highest faculties in man.
Dispassion
The attainment of that state of consciousness where balance is seen, and
neither pleasure or pain dominates.
Dual life A
life of outer activity and of inner sensitivity.
Dweller on
the Threshold The "shadow" or unredeemed aspect of the personality
that is built up over lifetimes - it can assume the shape of a grotesque
thoughtform; the sumtotal of forces of the lower nature as expressed in the
personality prior to illumination, to inspiration and to initiation; all that
the individual is, apart from the higher spiritual self. Humanity today is the
Dweller while the Hierarchy of Souls is the Angel and behind the Angel stands
the Presence of Divinity Itself, intuited by the Hierarchy and dimly sensed by
humanity but providing in this manner the threefold synthesis which is divine
manifestation in form. The Soul goes into battle with the Dweller at a critical
stage of its evolution, and eventually emerges triumphant. This process may
take several lives.
Ego The soul
as an individualised unit of consciousness within the greater ocean of
consciousness.
Egoic Groups
The "causal" bodies of individual men and women, as they exist on the
mental plane, as an expression of the Ego. They congregate in groups according
to ray colouring.
Egoic Lotus
The 3 tiers of petals (knowledge, love and sacrifice) that are opened over the
immense period of time that is the Soul's journey. Eventually the three petals
of the central bud (the jewel in the lotus) are opened when the individual
achieves "Liberation".
Elementals
The spirits of the elements of earth, water, fire and air. They are the lesser
"devas" or "builders". They can inhabit the residual
etheric/astral bodies of humans that are still breaking down after death, much
like a hermit crab inhabits a shell.
Esoteric That
which is hidden or veiled. It is subjective wisdom that can only be perceived
with the developed subtle senses.
Energies
Subjective energies are forces pouring from the soul (on soul levels) into the
form nature upon its own level of awareness.
Energy A
potency of life fluid circulating through the entire body of the Logos and
vivifying even the tiniest atom in that whole. The Tibetan uses the word
"energy" in reference to the spiritual expression, and the word
"force" to indicated the uses which are made of spiritual energy.
(see Forces)
Etheric body
The subtle part of the physical body. The physical plane is divided into 7
subplanes (as are all planes). The lower 3 subplanes represent the physical
body, and the higher 4 subplanes represent the etheric body.
Evocation A
response to invocative appeal. (see Invocation)
Evolution -
The unfolding of a continually increasing power to respond, the rpocess which
unfolds the life within all units, the developing urge which eventually merges
all units and all groups until you have the manifestation of what can be called
nature, or God, and which is the aggregate of all states of consciousness;
ordered change and constant mutation, and ever-increasing power to respond to
vibration, a steadily increasing sensitivity to light and illumination.
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Reincarnation
This guide has been included in response
to the number of enquiries we receive on
this
subject at Cardiff Theosophical Society
From A Textbook
of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The Slaughter of the
a great demand by the public for
lectures on Reincarnation
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
Quotes from the Writings of
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 100
It is only by the attractive force of the contrasts
that the two opposites — Spirit and Matter — can be cemented together on
Earth, and, smelted in the fire of self-conscious experience and suffering, find
themselves wedded in Eternity.
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 108
It is the motive, and the motive alone, which makes any
exercise of power become black, malignant, or white, beneficent Magic. It is
impossible to employ spiritual forces if there is the slightest tinge of
selfishness remaining in the operator .... The powers and forces of animal
nature can equally be used by the selfish and revengeful, as by the unselfish
and the all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to
the perfectly pure in heart — and this is Divine Magic.
Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 36
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 3, Page
14
Even ignorance is better than
Head-learning with no Soul-wisdom to illuminate and guide it.
The
Voice of the Silence, Page 43
Annotation - The
Path, May, 1888
The Secret
Doctrine , Proem [Volume 1], Page 35
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 210
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 134
incarnation of
his God; and when the sense of personal responsibility will be so
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 2, Page 374
It is the
motive, and the motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 498
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 36
From strength to
strength, from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the
greater beauty
and perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh
knowledge and
power in each cycle, such is the destiny of every Ego, which thus
becomes its own
saviour in each world and incarnation.
The Key to
Theosophy, Page 105
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 69
The mind
receives indelible impressions even from chance acquaintance or persons
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 311
The Key to
Theosophy, Page 228
A Student of
Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley (1847 -1929)Was the founder &
President
of the Point Loma Theosophical Society 1896 -1929
She and her students produced a series of informative
Theosophical works in the early years of the 20th
century
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation
Karma The Seven in Man and Nature
The Occult World
By
Alfred Percy
Sinnett
The Occult World is an treatise on
the
Occult and Occult Phenomena,
presented
in readable style, by an early giant of
the Theosophical Movement.
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
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