Enlightened Learning
I was asked for advice from a new reader as to how to approach learning here.
As far as my writings go, overall they will be much easier to understand than the Bailey material. It will generally be helpful though to either start at the beginning of the archives and read some each day, or at least start at the beginning of the discussion of the current subject material and move up to the present. I attempt to guide each subject so a new person can read a few posts and catch up with the current thought.
During these past three years I have attempted to introduce some new concepts and clarify some old ones that will be useful to students in their quest for understanding. Therefore, those who have read all the archives have a fairly clear idea of where I am going with new material, but hopefully those who are new will catch on quickly and feel comfortable posting.
Whenever I introduce a word that is not known to most of the group I attempt to define it clearly, because words not understood can greatly hinder understanding.
On the other hand, reading Djwhal Khul is a different matter. He is writing for the serious student of the Ancient Wisdom and expects his readers to have already done some homework before taking him on.
Somewhere in the 24 books will be a definition of most of his terms, but you can often read hundreds of pages without getting a clear meaning to some of his words and phrases.
Therefore, an essential ingredient to accompany you in reading DK is a good glossary to Theosophical, Buddhic and Hindu terms. You can find this at: LINK
For those of you who are attempting to read the Bailey material let me give you some advice that would have greatly helped me if I had it when I first started studying the books.
Every time you come across a word you do not know make a note of it and look it up in the glossary. Keep a record of these words and their meanings so you can go back and refer to them when needed.
If you do this one simple thing it will not be that long before the Bailey material becomes as easy to read as Stephen King.
As you’re reading the material for the first time there will come regular intervals where you will feel it is all beyond your understanding and that you are wasting your time. Fortunately, he addressed this issue.
He tells us to not worry about the times we are reading his material and do not seem to be absorbing it. He encourages us to move along and continue reading anyway – that we are taking in more than we think and if we continue the day will come when the pieces will fit together and understanding will be realized.
This was certainly the case with me. I had to force my way through my first Bailey book (in the early Seventies) for I had no glossary and no knowledge of Theosophy and knew of no other person on the earth who had even read any of the books. But then after reading two or three of the books I started getting much more comfortable with the writing and they have continued to become clearer to this day.
Actually, reading Isaiah from the Bible may be even more difficult to adjust to than Djwhal Khul’s writings. I had to read him a half dozen times before I could start to make sense of those mysterious words. Then, of course, the Book of Revelation is more difficult still.
Those with an LDS background will relate to a light-hearted problem Mormon students have. In the church beginning students sometimes complain that the regular Christians have it easy. All they have to learn is one book – The Bible. But a good Mormon has to be proficient in four books of scripture – The Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.
Now for a seeker unfettered by Dogma, the Mormon problem seems like a piece of cake. Once the Bailey books are seen to contain great light you have 24 more books to incorporate into your learning, not to mention voluminous Secret Doctrine and dozens of other good books by various enlightened authors. Then there’s the Keys archives to keep you busy.
A true seeker would have it no other way. He would much rather have more material than he could ever learn than not enough.
Unfortunately, there are many in the churches of the world who find themselves in the midst of an illusionary famine. They’ve read their church materials and want more, but there is no more, so they read their materials again – not realizing that many outside materials condemned by their church as darkness is, in truth, light.
For the past couple months we have been working on the Bailey material and the present goal is to help the student understand some of the basic principles taught in the books
DK considered his teaching on the Rays to be one of his main contributions to the revealed teachings of the world and the understanding of the principles behind them is key to understanding many of his writings.
I hope that covering this and other core subjects will be helpful to many in their search.
Djwhal Khul once said something like this: The physician or engineer may spend many years in school learning their trade yet many seekers read a couple books and feel they are ready to be Masters. To become skilled in metaphysics takes even more knowledge than it takes to be a doctor or engineer. We should not expect to master the truths of the world overnight. But a thousand mile journey begins with the first step and if approached with the right attitude each step is an exciting one.
I personally find Blavatsky harder to read than Djwhal Khul. For anyone new into Theosophy and interested in easier reading to get some foundation teachings, here is a good starting place: LINK
Overall, the Theosophical writings are a good guide to knowledge, even though a number of their misconceptions have been corrected by Djwhal Khul.
There are many good Theosophical writings available online free, even so, I would still recommend reading the Bailey books first, but with the help of a glossary.
One thing on which I must commend the Theosophical Society on is that they have come up with a vast assortment of writings which help to clarify the works of their founder and offer additional speculation. Lucis Trust, the Publisher of the Bailey material, has printed or endorsed little except compilations of Bailey writings. There are a number of independent writings expounding on her though.
Djwhal Khul placed emphasis on not following him as a cut and dried authority, yet almost everyone who quotes him are diligent in not injecting any intuitive thoughts of their own.
This we seek to change here. We will do a minimum of tabulation for those type of things are available elsewhere. Instead we seek to lay a foundation for learning and then look at some of the teachings and take them a step further.
For instance, one current class goal is to get students to contemplate the three sub aspects of the Rays, something I have not seen done before.
When we come across an interesting quote, instead of just saying “run this by your soul and see what happens.” we have you go a step further. We say “run it by your soul and find more than is written there and share.”
If Djwhal Khul mentions “a point of tension” we ask what is a point of tension, what is the principle behind it and how can we apply it in our lives?
It is only recently that we have been putting emphasis on the Bailey writings. Overall if you read the archives, you’ll find I have probably quote the Bible more than any other book and much of the material is not presented clearly in any other book.
With your help and sharing of thoughts I hope to see the Keys as a unique place for accessing creative and original thought, an oasis in the midst of blandness.
Copyright by J J Dewey
Jan 10, 2002
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