Words of Eternal Life

12

Words of Eternal Life

Part 1

Communion

I consider the following quote from the Old Commentary, given by Djwhal Khul through Alice A. Bailey, to be the greatest words in his or any writings available to the public on the planet.

“When communion is established, words are forthwith used, and mantric law assumes its rightful place, provided that the One communicates the words and the three remain in silence.

“When response is recognized as emanating from the three, the One, in silence, listens. The roles are changed. A three-fold word issues from out the triple form. A turning round is caused. The eyes no longer look upon the world of form; they turn within, focus the light, and see, revealed, an inner world of being. With this the Manas stills itself, for eyes and mind are one.

“The heart no longer beats in tune with low desire, nor wastes its love upon the things that group and hide the Real. It beats with rhythm new; it pours its love upon the Real, and Maya fades away. Kama and heart are close allied; love and desire form one whole – one seen at night, the other in the light of day….

. . . . . . .

“When fire and love and mind submit themselves, sounding the three-fold word, there comes response.

“The One enunciates a word which drowns the triple sound. God speaks. A quivering and a shaking in the form responds. The new stands forth, a man remade; the form rebuilt; the house prepared. The fires unite, and great the light that shines: the three merge with the One and through the blaze a four-fold fire is seen.”

Treatise on White Magic, Pages 75-76

It may be interesting to take a closer look and see what we can gleam from this.

Here is the first paragraph:

When communion is established, words are forthwith used, and mantric law assumes its rightful place, provided that the One communicates the words and the three remain in silence.

What communion needs to be established? The beginning of all spiritual communication starts with the soul, or the Higher Self. Then later it reaches to the Monad, the Higher Self to the soul, our personal Father in Heaven.

There are, of course degrees of communion, but here it is referring to one who has made a solid link that can be tapped into at will when the attention is focused.

words are forthwith used”

Don’t we all use words whether we are soul infused or not? Yes, but this is not referring to just any words. These are “Eternal Words” and explained in my book of the same name. DK also calls them “words of power.”

He lets us know more about these words:

“and mantric law assumes its rightful place.”

So these words he is talking about are just mantras, right?

Not quite; these words are not just any mantra, but those that are in harmony with “mantric law.”

Many man made mantras are not in harmony with mantric law and even those in harmony with the soul must be spoken through spiritual impulse to be in accordance with mantric law.

Next he gives us the criteria that make the seeker in harmony with mantric law:

“provided that the One communicates the words and the three remain in silence.”

So here we see the key to personal words of power. The One, The Higher Self, must communicate or be the sender of the words and to receive them the three must remain in silence.

Who are the three?

The main three are the physical/etheric body, the astral/emotional and the mental. Another correspondence is the throat/sacral, the heart/solar plexus and the head centers which are focused in receiving mode.

The text continues:

“When response is recognized as emanating from the three, the One, in silence, listens. The roles are changed. A three-fold word issues from out the triple form.”

What is the response? There must be a registration to a communion with the Higher Self from the mind, the emotions and on down to registration in the physical brain. Then after conscious registration there must be a response. This is important because many messages from the Higher Self are either ignored or dismissed.

And what should be the response? There were words communicated to the lower self and all the parts of that self must cooperate and embrace and act upon the words.

Then we are told the response must be “recognized”?

By whom?

Of course, this is the Higher Self, but what needs to be understood here is the significance of the recognition. The Higher Self recognizing a response from all three bodies, as if they were one body, is very significant. This means the communication from the Higher Self was received, embraced and acted upon with no part of the personality in resistance.

Such a thing is a cause of celebration in the higher spheres.

“The roles are changed. A three-fold word issues from out the triple form.”

How is it that the roles are changed? Quite simple. Instead of the lower self attempting to listen and understand words from the Higher, the Higher is now focussing itself and concentrating to see what is coming from the lower. The first rule of white magic is at play here:

The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection.

And what is the Higher Self listening for?

“A three-fold word issues from out the triple form.”

This three-fold word must issue out from the triple form or from all the bodies of form, the physical, astral and mental.

So what then is the three-fold word?

To solve this mystery we must not look for a word as generally understood by humanity. Esoterically, a word is an encapsulated thought, or even the combination of thought and action.

The threefold word the Higher Self seeks to register is a harmonious vibration coming from the three bodies of form. These three words are like three notes that form a harmonious chord that is a part of a great musical composition. A three-fold word is created when all three bodies submit themselves and then act upon the true perception of higher will.

When the Higher Self listens and senses a three-fold vibration that is tuned to Spirit as well as itself a great event is witnessed:

“A turning round is caused.”

The disciple has learned to hold his mind steady in the light and understands that things eternal and spiritual are of much more value than the attractions of the material world. Therefore:

“The eyes no longer look upon the world of form; they turn within, focus the light, and see, revealed, an inner world of being.”

So, how is it that “the eyes no longer look upon the world of form?” Don’t we all, high and low, who live in this world have to pay attention to it?

It is acknowledged that the disciple is to live in the world but not be of the world. He has found the inner kingdom of God and realizes this is his true home and that is where his heart and focus is. The physical eyes and brain are aware of the material world and function in it but his focus has changed from the past. Now he is totally committed to seeing the spiritual and giving it priority over the physical.

By giving the inner his attention he becomes aware of the inner light and realizes that he must focus on it as well as focus the light itself if he is to dispel illusions. Through this focus he sees “revealed, an inner world of being.”

“With this the Manas stills itself, for eyes and mind are one.”

Manus is the mind and must still itself to see the inner world as well as the fact that the attractiveness of the inner world causes the mind to withdraw attention or be still to the outer world. “Be still and know that I am God” is the keynote here.

This paragraph ends with this curious phrase: “for eyes and mind are one.”

Few have considered the eyes and mind as being one. After all, the eyes are for seeing and the mind for thinking, right?

This is true for the average person, but as the pilgrim advances upon the path and taps into the higher mind he finds he accesses higher vision also and what is seen in the vision is instantly understood, and what is understood is instantly seen, for the eyes and mind are one. There is a lot of depth of meaning to this phrase and would be a good seed thought for meditation.

Part 2

Mastering Low Desire

The disciple is now at that the stage where he and the Father are one. The Will of God is manifest through his lower self on earth as it is through the Higher Self in heaven.

At this stage:

“The heart no longer beats in tune with low desire, nor wastes its love upon the things that group and hide the Real.”

Is there a difference in the beating of the physical heart of one who is soul infused and one who is not? There may actually be some subtle differences discovered if the subject were ever investigated, as spiritual influences do create causes that ripple down to the physical plane.

Obviously it is talking about heart energy which lies beyond the physical. Would this be the etheric heart center then?

That and more. It would be the heart energy as it extends from the etheric to the astral to the mental and yet more. It would be the whole of our energies that focus and cause our existence on the physical plane. The heart energies themselves are merely the epicenter and anchor of our life energy. Overall then the script is talking about our whole focus impressed by the heart.

We are told that at this stage “the heart no longer beats in tune with low desire.”

Obviously, it is the case then that in all but a few among humanity the heart does beat in tune with low desire. What does this mean and how is the beat and the rhythm different with low desire than with the one in harmony with spirit? Where does this beat of low desire originate?

The spiritual heart center can focus its attention upward to the higher heart center in the head or downward to the solar plexus. In the vast majority the focus is downward. Many looked upon as being spiritual leaders have more focus downward than upward.

Everything that is living has a rhythm or beat or oscillation. Conversely, the solar plexus has a beat and rhythm different than the heart center. When the heart energies are focused downward the rhythm of the heart then adjusts to its reflection rather than to its true reality and lower desire pulls it in its direction.

What is it about these lower desires that captivates humanity so? Shouldn’t these lower desires be so obvious that all sincere seekers should see through them and transcend them?

What many seekers do not realize is that the lower desires do not seem so low to the vast majority. While it is true that negative feelings are associated with the lower desires, so are numerous positive ones and herein lies the problem. The seeker generally gives the positive feelings of the lower nature priority and even associates them with the higher and is not willing to sacrifice them until many milestones have been passed.

The solar plexus has ten energy petals and each can manifest in a duality as follows:

  1. Romantic and Selfish Love/Hate
  2. Trained Conscience/Guilt
  3. Self-Esteem/Ego-Pride
  4. Happiness/Sorrow
  5. Friendship/Vengeance
  6. Desire/Repulsion
  7. Determination/Acquiescence
  8. Passion/Apathy
  9. Aspiration/Submission
  10. Sympathy/Loathing

Isn’t it a good thing that we hold on to the love of our lives, our friends, our passions and those things that make us happy in this world?

In most cases this is fine until any of these positive or negative feelings come in conflict with the path the disciple must tread.

If the disciple must choose between romantic love or the Path, then he must choose the Path, even if he loses the love of his life.

If the disciple finds that following the will of the Higher Self turns his friends and family against him then he or she must be prepared to lose them for this life.

If the disciple finds that the higher will requires him to sacrifice all that seems to bring him happiness then he must be prepared for that and willing to go a new direction.

If the disciple is willing to let all that seems praiseworthy slip through his fingers in order to focus on the higher in order to tread the Path then the turning round is caused and the heart no longer beats in tune with low desire.

No longer does he waste his “love upon the things that group and hide the Real.”

“Things that group” is an interesting phrase and apparently such things are a problem because they hide the real. Thus it is important to understand what they are.

Things that group are those that cause separation and it is important to remember that separateness is the only sin, says DK.

How are “things that group” associated with separateness?

It is not so much that grouping is a problem – as even Jesus had his group of disciples and the Masters have their groups of ashrams. The problem that hides the real is a grouping that creates an air of superiority. This type of identification with a group makes the person feel special and separate from and better, or more enlightened his brethren.

This attitude can manifest in a legion of ways such as a feeling of superiority or smugness because he associates himself with

(1) A certain religion or belief system

(2) A certain political party or ideology

(3) A club whose members seem elite.

(4) A certain income level

(5) A certain neighborhood

(6) A certain class, sex or race.

(7) It can even be a disadvantaged group such as the handicapped, the poor or people with a certain illness.

There is nothing wrong with participating in various groups. This is not where the problem lies. The problem comes from an attachment to the group and a feeling of being separate from one’s brothers and sisters who are not in the group.

It is our internal self that groups and creates a feeling of separateness that hides the real. This attitude must be negated and the disciple needs to see us all as souls being in the same boat together seeking our way home.

The mantra of unification says it well:

“The sons of men are one and I am one with

them. … Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.”

Part 3

Love and Desire

The text continues:

It beats with rhythm new; it pours its love upon the Real, and Maya fades away. Kama and heart are close allied; love and desire form one whole – one seen at night, the other in the light of day….

The downward focused eyes shift upwards rather than downwards and the seeker adjusts to a new rhythm. The old rhythm had much that was discordant. Many notes were either out of place or out of tune and this caused vision to be obscured and caused the seeker to come to many wrong conclusions.

By focusing upward and adjusting to the new harmony and rhythm love is seen in a new light and higher energies of spiritual love are released and is poured upon the Real, and Maya fades away.”

What is the real? It is pure truth not distorted by illusion or warped by the pull of matter and lower desire.

The disciple now looks for truth wherever it may be whether it is among the righteous or the wicked, the conservatives or the liberals, the rich and the poor, the famous and not so famous, the past and the present etc. Most important is that he looks in the direction of spirit and sees what is real there and brings the true realities down to earth. He links heaven and earth.

Next it says:

Kama and heart are close allied; love and desire form one whole.

“Kama” is merely another word for desire. Saying desire and heart and desire and love are two similar statements.

It is interesting that desire is often portrayed as a great evil that must be totally negated by many spiritual teachers, past and present. Here, however, it is placed in a positive light. We know for sure that heart and love are good things yet it says heart and desire are close allied and love and desire form one whole.

Haven’t we been told that we are supposed to kill out desire, put it behind us and only then will we move onward toward eternal bliss?

So what is the deal in linking desire with heart and love after the disciple has his feet solidly on the path?

What the seeker needs to realize is that it is not desire that is bad, as all lives in the universe have desire – even the One Great Life we call God. Why does this universe even exist? Because God desired it to be. We are lucky God had such a desire or we wouldn’t be here.

It should not be the goal to negate desire, but to master it and not let the lower grosser desires dominate over the higher and spiritual ones. What needs to be eliminated is not desire as a whole but wrong desire and too much attention on desires that are not of eternal importance. Each seeker needs to take inventory of his desires and arrange them in their true order of importance with the desire to return to spirit as being the number one as far as the end game goes.

It is interesting that an advanced soul has stronger desires overall than the average person. All ten of his energy/desire petals are unfolded in his solar plexus center while another may only have five or six completely active. The advanced soul thus has more energy in circulation that he has to handle. The difference is that he has mastered the energies and the less advanced soul has not. The proven disciple puts all desire in their right places and order.

The higher can fulfill the lower, but the lower cannot fulfill itself. Therefore when the higher energies and will control the lower desires there is peace because the lower and higher nature are both fulfilled.

How is it that love and desire are linked and form a whole? The answer is that the two form a duality and are interdependent wherever creation is manifest. Just like you cannot have one hand clapping you cannot manifest love without desire. The pilgrim merely must make sure it is accompanied by the correct selection of desire.

This paragraph ends with this curious statement:

“one seen at night, the other in the light of day….”

The question now becomes this: Which one is seen at night and which in the light of day? The natural inclination is to associate desire with the night and love with the light of day. After all, during the dark night of the soul lower desire dominates. On the other hand, what appears to be the obvious interpretation may not be correct.

Is the truth behind our desire nature and the order in which it must be arranged seen at night?

No. When the seeker is struggling to get to the light his desire nature is not seen clearly and gets in the way blurring vision even more. The disciple must see in the light of day to see the correct effect of his desires so he can put them in their correct places and master them.

On the other hand, love does not need light to be seen or understood. Love shared during the darkest night is felt and understood as it enlivens the soul. As the disciple transverses the valley of the shadow of death in the blackest pitch, a hand extending love is seen with overwhelming joy that could not be experienced in the light of day.

Part 4

The Revelation

In part three we ended with:

Kama and heart are close allied; love and desire form one whole – one seen at night, the other in the light of day….

Then the text continues:

. . . . . . .

“When fire and love and mind submit themselves, sounding the three-fold word, there comes response.

It is easy to overlook something of significance here. The line ending in “the light of day ends with a series of dots. This indicates that words are missing.

Then between the paragraphs we have a separating series of dots. This indicates substantial text is missing.

What do you suppose is missing and why was it left out?

To understand we need to look at an overview of the entire text. In as few words as possible the Old Commentary is telling us about the process of overcoming death.

The prime ingredient in this process is what is called the “turning round.” The seeker turns his attention from the lower self to the Higher Self. The entity goes through many stages in completing this process. First he acquires an intellectual interest in it. Then he starts acting on a few of the spiritual impulses. Then as he slowly acquires trust in them he acts on more of them until at long last the full turning round is caused and becomes a full fledged disciple, looking upon the real and maya fades away.

Looking upon and seeing the real is an important step but now in the next the disciple goes much further and that is a total submission to the spiritual reality that he has seen.

The journey between seeing the real and then totally incorporating it is extremely difficult and may take significant time to accomplish.

The text leaves out the words that tell us about the in between stage. Most probably it contained information reserved for initiates near this stage on the path.

The script leaves the stage of merely seeing, skips over a phase and focuses on the stage of total submission where, “ fire and love and mind submit themselves, sounding the three-fold word.”

Notice at this stage there is no duality is mentioned. There is no desire and love, but only love. There is no mention of the anything physical, but only fire. There is no lower and higher mind, but only mind. There is no mention of anything to do with form.

At this stage the essence of who the disciple is, that which composes his living self submits itself to pure Spirit, the monad, the Father in Heaven.

“Not my will, but thine be done” is the keynote.

This stage has nothing to do with submitting the desires of the lower nature. That has already been accomplished. Now the disciple must submit all the qualities of the soul nature to the still higher will of pure Spirit. He commits himself to use all his spiritual attributes in the service of the Great Plan while actually knowing what his part of the Plan is to be, while those farther back on the path want to be a part of the Plan but because of illusion often submit themselves to ideas that run counter to it.

But here’s the trick for this advanced disciple.

He must submit himself while “sounding the three-fold word.”

At the earlier stage a three-fold word issued from the triple form. This was an effect caused by raising his sight from the lower to the higher and following the highest he knew.

Now he must walk and chew gum at the same time. He must keep his focus on the higher, in a state of submission, while sounding the three-fold word.

Sounding the word at this stage is somewhat different as well and is more difficult than before. His three bodies must not only vibrate in harmony with spirit, but to complete the sounding of the word he must complete his revealed portion of the work that will advance the Divine Will.

This is a major task in the attaining of the fifth initiation, which is called The Initiation of Revelation. The disciple receives a revelation, or three-fold word, revealing to him a portion of divine will which he is to accomplish on three levels. When the work is then sufficiently initiated in mental, emotional and physical levels he has at that point sounded the Word.

After the word has been set in motion and becomes a living essence it is written:

“there comes response.”

The culmination of eons of effort has now arrived. The disciple here goes way beyond being soul infused to being truly one with the Monad, pure Spirit, God, the Father in Heaven, a link to the Source, the One Great Life.

This link, however, is not a one-way connection but two. The disciple is in the Divine Presence and as he approaches a great point of tension prepares to receive an astonishing gift.

Part 5

Overcoming Death

Finally we approach the climax of these great words:

“The One enunciates a word which drowns the triple sound. God speaks.”

The disciple thought he has heard the voice of God numerous times in his long journey. He has heard God speak through the still small voice, through inspiration, through the soul, through pure spirit, through dreams and maybe through visitation of God’s messengers.

This time, however is much different. God speaks in a fullness that few have imagined possible. The speech is described as “a word.” It is just one word that “drowns the triple sound” of fire and love and mind.

So, what word is it the disciple hears, or is it a word as we know it and is it heard in the normal sense? How does it drown fire and love and mind?

A hint may be available from DK’s description of the writing in the Old Commentary from whence the text was taken:

The words “the One enunciates the word which drowns the triple sound” are depicted by a shaft of light ending in a symbolic word in gold superimposed over three symbols in black, rose and green.

Treatise on White Magic, Page 76

When one reads DK’s translation he may get the impression that by drowning the threefold word that they may no longer exist, but this is not what happens. The Word is symbolized by golden light superimposed over the three words. The three words still exist, but are so overshadowed in this instant by this golden word that all that is now realized by the disciple is this one word.

The disciple finally has the prayer of the Gayatri answered:

Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun

Hidden by a disc of golden Light.

A word is sound and sound is vibration. Vibration is composed of wavelengths. A true word can be made of fine wavelengths such as light and sound or large ones such as repeated human activity or various cycles.

In this case the golden Word is much more than sound as we know it. When experiencing this Word the disciple’s whole being, body, heart and mind, are so saturated with the spiritual essence of his Source that nothing else seems to exist but this wonderful synthetic oneness of life of which he is now partaking.

As the disciple experiences this blending we are told, “A quivering and a shaking in the form responds.”

The form that responds includes the physical/etheric, the emotional or feeling nature and the mind. That which is particularly affected though is the physical/etheric. The physical, which is furthest from Spirit, is now merged with Spirit. Because the distance between the physical and Spirit is much greater than heart and Spirit or mind and Spirit, the impact of the drowning life energy seems greater there. The intensity will be so intense that the disciple will wonder if his body will just evaporate and be no more.

After the disciple adjusts to the experience he discovers that all parts of his being are still intact, including his physical body. Instead of it just going up in flames he finds, “The new stands forth, a man remade; the form rebuilt; the house prepared.”

To his amazement he finds that all that makes up his form has been rebuilt and he is rejuvenated. His body returns to the vitality of his youth and he is truly born again, though there may not be much change in his physical appearance. His life is now extended for at least another lifetime without tasting death. Then at the end of his new life cycle, if he continues to correctly sound the threefold word, he can repeat the blending and rejuvenation. He is thus a master of life and death and can extend his field of earth service as long as it serves a purpose.

Next it is written:

“The fires unite, and great the light that shines:”

This great light could extend to the physical, as demonstrated by the glowing Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it is mainly referring to the light in the etheric, heart and mind. The one great golden light, which is the One Word, gathers the lesser lights together as one and the disciple is able to see with a much higher angle of vision than before. The great light of understanding is the important gift here.

The Old Commentary ends with these words:

“the three merge with the One and through the blaze a four-fold fire is seen.”

After the merging these appear to be just one fire but if the disciple looks through, or within the blaze he sees that what seems to be one fire is really four fires. The fire of pure Spirit, of mind, heart and the physical fire by friction.

The disciple thus becomes a master and knows of a surety the truth of the words of Jesus:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. John 8:51

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” John 11:26

This achievement requires much more than some statement of belief. It requires the disciple to become the Path, the Word and manifest the life of God on the earth through incorporating the words of the outer and the inner Christ.

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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HPB, Handwriting and the Mahatma Letters, Part 4

HPB, Handwriting

and the Mahatma Letters, Part 4

The question now is, if I am correct that she did write the Mahatma letters in her own hand, what are we supposed to make of Madame Blavatsky? Was she then a complete fraud who should be totally rejected?

I certainly do not write her off, but instead look at her life and works as a whole. There are accounts in her life that testify that she must have had help at times from a supernatural source and her greatest work, The Secret Doctrine testifies to a knowledge beyond normal human understanding.

In addition to this, Djwhal Khul through Alice A. Bailey, acknowledged that she worked under the guidance of the Masters and performed a great work while at the same time realizing her flaw of forging the Mahatma Letters. He said:

The Master K.H., in one of the few (the very few) paragraphs in The Mahatma Letters which are genuine and not simply the work of H.P.B., gave a hint to aspirants of that time when He said that so many of them were so “spiritually selfish.”

Rays and Initiations, Page 342

It is indeed interesting then that DK tells us that only a few paragraphs of all the letters are the genuine words of a Master and the rest are “the work of HPB.”

Here is what I think led up to the fabrication. DK tells us that HPB was Count Alessandro Cagliostro in a past life and during that life did not live up to expectations in the service of the hierarchy, but yielding to glamour did much harm to the cause.

Evidently Cagliostro used some trickery and deception to promote his own agenda instead of the Hierarchy and this flaw carried over in part to her life as HPB. The difference was that she used some deception, not to promote her own will, but something greater than herself. She moved a step forward from the life of Cagliostro, but did not distance herself from all past flaws.

Here is what I think happened. HPB did receive some true contact from the Hierarchy and had a true sense of mission toward fulfilling a part of the Divine Will. As she went about her work she found it was difficult to gain and keep followers and the Hierarchy didn’t seem to be much help. She kept thinking that if they would just materialize a few miracles that it would be much easier to convince people. Unfortunately for her the Masters are not much into supporting glamour so they did not cooperate in the ways she wanted.

She therefore decided to give the work a kick in the pants by producing her own miracles. In her travels she had gained a number of secrets from various magicians and knew how to do a few tricks that would appear quite miraculous. She used her skill to make it seem as if the Mahatma Letters just materialized out of thin air as well as other tricks such as making other objects appear or be found at some strange location.

These seemingly outward miracles did help her convince followers that she was in contact with a higher source, but also had the negative effect of planting the seeds of glamour that affected many of her followers to this day.

You’ll notice that Alice A. Bailey working on behalf of DK did not ask for or produce any type of miracle that would appeal to glamour. She did produce one astounding miracle and that was to write many great words that were beyond her own intelligence to manifest. Thus the life of Alice A. Bailey did not plant seeds of glamor similar to HPB. That doesn’t mean all Alice A. Bailey students are free from glamour, but that she just didn’t feed such glamours.

Similarly, I think the one important miracle in the life of HPB was her connection to the Masters. I believe that most of her writings are in her own words, but she received many impressions and pictures in her mind of various words, quotes and sources for her writings.

I think the hierarchy understood Blavatsky’s flaws, but continued to work with her anyway because there was no one else that could get the job done.

None of the messengers or prophets of the past have been perfect. Look at the lives of David, Solomon, Jonah, Peter, Paul, Mohammed and others. They did great work despite their flaws.

Does this mean that I endorse their flaws?

No. We must all do all in our power to rise above such things for flawed people produce a work that will have seeds of its own destruction built in. Let the servants in this new age not let their own imperfection infect the work but move forward with no deceit in a spirit of harmlessness to promote truth verified by the Divine Self.

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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HPB, Handwriting and the Mahatma Letters, Part 3

HPB, Handwriting

and the Mahatma Letters, Part 3

The evidence so far indicates that HPB wrote the letters attributed to KH. Assuming this is true some of the differences in the look of the two handwritings could be explained merely by the fact that she wrote at a slower pace in order to make the script more readable. It also had the effect of creating a slightly different look than her normal handwriting giving some credibility to the idea that the handwriting of the letters did not belong to her.

A slowing down of the speed of handwriting may produce a less pronounced slant, larger middle zone and add or take away a few idiosyncrasies. The two writings do differ some in these respects.

What makes an analysis extra complicated here is that HPB was not consistent in her letter formations. She used different letter formations for the letters y, g, f, capital I, w, d, p and others. This shows she had a very versatile mind and it allows her defenders to point out examples of certain letters in the two handwritings that are different. For instance the f in the word “of” looks quite different here. Two KH samples are in the left and HPB on the right.

Sample10    

They overlook the fact that HPB was all over the map in letter formation and the KH samples had quite a bit of variety also.

Here are samples of the word “of” that are quite similar. Again KH is on the left with HPB on the right

Sample11

Then too HPB did make some looped fs as noted below:

Sample12

This same argument was made concerning the small letter p. KH seems to have a different formation than HPB, but if you look over all the samples you can find examples of similarities here also with the differences explained away by the writer using different writing speeds and attempting to produce some differences.

If a writer tries to make his handwriting look like that of another he may create a handful of differences, but there are too many ingredients in handwriting to cover all his tracks. We’ve already covered a number of fairly striking anomalies that are similar. Now let us compare some standard features. Links to samples of writing from HPB and the Mahatma letters are in the first part of this treatise.

(1) The Slant The slant of a writer may range from a backhand to being far forward. The general slant of both writers is moderately forward. This is quite common with about one out of three writers in this category. There are subtle ingredients in the slant we could go into but we want to keep this simple.

(2) The Middle Zone The upper zone are strokes like the small letter L that ascent above most letters. The lower zone are those such as the small G and Y that go below the baseline. Small letters such as he a, c, e, m are all in the middle zone. The middle zones are similar with that if KH being a little larger – which could be expected from a change in writing speed.

(3) The Lower Zone Similar though HPB did have considerable variety in the length of some of her lower zone letters.

(4) The Upper Zone Similar.

(5) Margins Both have small margins on the left and particularly the right with words going downward from the baseline when reaching the end of the page. This is unusual and in both handwritings.

(6) Spacing between words and lines Similar

(7) Evenness of lines Similar

(8) Hooks at the beginning of strokes Found in both writings.

(9) Letter formation Similar combination of angles and rounded letters.

(10) Break-away Strokes These are strokes that break away to the right instead of returning normally. These are in both writings. See samples below. HPB on the top and KH on the bottom.

Sample13

(11) Letter Connections. The most common writing has all the lower case letters in the words connected. Then you have writing with various degrees of breaks between the letters and finally you have printing where most letters are not connected. Both scripts are in the second category with a similar amount of breaks between the letters.

(12) The T Crosses The T crosses in both writings are placed on the average higher than normal and are longer and heavier than average.

(13) The Capital I In both the acknowledged handwriting of HPB and the KH letters there is a wide variety of formations of the letter I, most of them somewhat conventional looking and somewhat similar, but in one sample I have HPB breaks away and makes a very unorthodox I. It is interesting that the writer of the KH letters does the same thing. The HPB sample is on the left and KH on the right.

Sample14

(14) Signatures It is interesting to compare the signatures of HPB and KH. Below is a signature of HPB taken from the cover of the Secret Doctrine and below that is KH signing as Koot’ Hoomi Lal Sing.

Sample15

There are three significant similarities.

(1) Both end in a flashy loop

(2) The lines creating the loops both get stronger as they go ending with very heavy pressure.

(3) Both of them have extra and unnecessary dots added.

That should be enough to confirm that the evidence is very strong that HPB wrote the Mahatma letters and not just part of them but all of them for which I have samples.

It is true that one can find a few letter formations that are different the HPB writing and KH, but you can also find differences between the early and later KH handwriting within the Mahatma letters themselves. The degree of similarities are very strong in all the samples and it is my conclusion that they are all written by the same person – Madam H. P. Blavatsky.

So, does this mean that I think we should disregard HPB’s life and writings? No. That is not my thinking at all. We’ll assess HPB and her possible motives work in the final section next.

Go To Part 4

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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HPB, Handwriting and the Mahatma Letters, Part 2

HPB, Handwriting

and the Mahatma Letters. Part 2

If a person wants to disguise his or her handwriting from an expert he is up against a difficult task. The amateur will think that by changing one or two things that he can pull this off, but doesn’t realize that there and many different factors that are unique to a particular writing. The most common attempted change is in the slant. This can produce the quickest and easiest instant change but is unlikely to fool a handwriting expert. The complete slant is determined by the direction of all the upstrokes and an attempt to change the slant usually results in only the longer ones being affected leaving the shorter ones unchanged – and these are the majority of the strokes. Such a change will thus affect only a small percentage of the strokes in the handwriting and can fool some but not the seasoned analyst that takes a serious look.

Interestingly the slant is roughly similar in all the sample writings so there was no overt attempt to do this.

The next thing one may do is to change the speed of the handwriting. If one normally writes quite quickly and the writing is difficult to read then slowing it down will make it more legible and alter a number of characteristics. Many of us slow down the handwriting when addressing an envelope. One will want to make sure the post office can read the correct address so the writer slows down and makes a conscious attempt to write quite legibly. As a result the slowed down writing will look quite a bit different than notes he may take from a lecture. Even so, many similarities will show up in both samples.

The third thing a person can do is to alter certain letter formations so two scripts will have a different look as one compares them.

So, is there a change in speed in the various samples?

Yes, the samples attributed to KH are written at a slower speed and are more legible than Blavatsky’s handwriting. HPB wrote very quickly and her handwriting is difficult to read. If she did write the Mahatma letters it is only logical to assume she would slow her writing down, not only to change the look, but to make the letters legible enough to be correctly read.

Were there any unusual changes or differences in letter formations?

Between the writing samples I have of HPB and the 1880 KH samples there are no changes that couldn’t be attributed to a change of speed. However, the biggest changes on letter formations occurred within the Mahatma letters themselves.

Hodgson noticed this and pointed it out. He noticed that the small fs and the Ys and Gs changed in the letters as time progressed. The changes in the latter over a four-year period were most pronounced as you can see in the sample below.

    Sample4 KH Gs

Normally the writing of a seasoned adult does not change like this unless a conscious attempt was made to do so.

The Theosophists explained that KH may have had a scribe do part of the writing, but the evidence is strong that they were all written by the same person. And it doesn’t make much sense that KH would use a scribe.

That said let us take a close look at the handwriting of HPB and the letters, for if she wrote any of them she undoubtedly wrote all the samples I have.

When two handwriting samples are presented before me with the question as to whether they were written by the same person the first thing I look for are unusual characteristics not found in most handwriting. If even one thing shows up in common then this is evidence that I need to look further. If two or more show up then the chances become strong that the two writings were from the same individual.

Are there any such unusual traits in common between HPB and the 1880 Mahatma letters? Indeed there are. Let us look at a few.

In both samples the beginning capital T and some other letters begin with a large loop with the letter formations being quite similar. Take a look. The writing on the top belongs to HPB and the bottom KH.

Sample5

Another odd thing in HPB’s handwriting is she often begins her letters with a large hook. A small hook is quite common but a large one like hers is fairly unusual. Notice that the KH writing (bottom two lines) shares the same characteristic. Also notice the similarities between the capital As.

Sample6

HPB has the unusual habit of crossing two separated Ts with one stroke. Notice the KH writing on the bottom has the same characteristic.

Sample7

Some very unusual strokes show up in some of HPB’s small Ds. Normally her writing slants strongly to the right, but then her D ‘s make an abrupt swing to a backhand while incorporating a large loop. This change is highly unusual and this trait is also found in the KH writing. (Always on the bottom line)

Sample8

HPB’s writing has the unusual characteristic of having large gaps between letters that are generally connected within a word in a cursive script. Most of us have significant space between words, but not letters within a word. Now small breaks between letters are common in cursive, but not large ones. Take a look. The top three lines are from HPB and the bottom three from the 1880 KH letters.

Sample9

These and other similarities give pretty powerful evidence that HPB wrote the Mahatma letters with her own hand. It would be highly unlikely to find these and other anomalies in the writings of two different people.

Next we’ll look at some of the general characteristics of the two handwritings and see how they measure up.

Go To Part 3

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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HPB, Handwriting and the Mahatma Letters, Part 1

111

HPB, Handwriting

and the Mahatma Letters, Part 1

I was asked to check out the handwriting of H. P. Blavatsky with the Mahatma letters to see if the letters are in her handwriting or distinct enough to be written by someone else, such as the Master KH.

I am a good person to tackle this project as I have over 50 years experience in handwriting analysis and am not out to prove HPB is a fraud or otherwise. No matter what the findings reveal I see her as doing an important work and personally believe in the existence of the Masters.

I was surprised to discover that no serious attempt has been made since Richard Hodgson with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1884 to determine whether HPB or someone else wrote the Mahatma Letters. In consultation with a noted handwriting expert of the day he determined that HPB was the author of the letters – that the handwriting was from the same person. Then he also examined other phenomenon produced by her and determined fraud was used in some cases. Confessions and accusations made by those who turned on HPB did not help matters.

What did give him pause was this happening:

By the end of the first week of January, Hodgson, having little more to do at Headquarters, moved back to Madras and on the ninth he paid a call on Emma and Alexis who were living at Saint-Thome with a missionary family, the Dyers. In the course of a general conversation, about premonitions, Hodgson was just admitting he had no theory to account for them, when

“something white appeared, touching my hair, and fell on the floor. It was a letter. I picked it up. It was addressed to myself. M. and Madame Coulomb were sitting near me and in front of me. I had observed no motion on their part which could account for the appearance of the letter. Examining the ceiling as I stood I could detect no flaw; it appeared intact. On opening the letter, I found it referred to the conversation which had just taken place.”

From: Madame Blavatsky, the Woman Behind the Myth, by Marion Meade, Page 338

This unusual occurrence was not enough to change his mind as he suspected trickery.

The Theosophical Society never accepted Hodgson’s report but it stood as accepted by the SPR until 1986 when SPR member Vernon Harrison scrutinized the report and found various flaws within it. It appears that he investigated the report rather than refining an investigation into the handwriting itself. Amazingly, I cannot find anyone who has carefully compared Blavatsky’s to that of the letters since 1886. I guess then that it is about time that such an examination should take place.

I checked out HPB’s handwriting a few years ago, but at the time samples were scarce. All I could find on the internet was her signature and one ragged sample of regular writing. Now, fortunately, a few more samples are available, though not as many as I would like.

Fortunately, there is quite a bit of handwriting on the web from the Mahatma Letters.

I have a good selection written in 1880 and some others up to 1884. Curiously, while appearing to be written by the same person, the 1883 KH letters have significant differences in some letter formations from the ones from 1880. Such changes usually do not happen in an adult individual over such a short period unless a conscious attempt was made at making a change.

For my comparative analysis I will mostly concentrate on the 1880 samples of the Mahatma letters as they are consistent in style and I have plentiful samples of them. Here is the site from which they were derived.

For HPB’s handwriting I used all the readable samples I could find on the web. They are located at these links.

LINK 1  LINK 2  LINK 3  LINK 4  LINK 5  LINK 6  LINK 7

The question now before us is this. Were the samples I have of the K.H. Mahatma letters all written by Madame Blavatsky, or by K.H., or some by K.H. and some by a scribe? In other words were there one, two or three writers involved in the samples?

First let us put out the samples for the reader to examine. Here is one from HPB in 1882

Sample1 HPB 

Here is one from KH in 1880

Sample2 KH

And here is one from KH, verified by HPB as written in his handwriting:

Sample3 KH

The untrained eye will see that none of these are an exact match, but they do have similarities.

Few realize this but one of the first things a forgery expert looks for are two sets of writing that are very close to an exact match. If he finds such a thing then he can be 95% sure that a forgery is at work.

Why?

Just take a look at two or three of your signatures. They have similarities but they are not generally close to an exact match. Everyone’s handwriting will have some variation in it. Intelligent people will generally have more variation than the average person.

HPB was far above average in intelligence and, not unexpectedly, her writing varied much more than average. This is a good part of the reason that no one has been able to make a convincing case as to whether or not she wrote the Mahatma letters. She was a complicated person who was very versatile and adaptable. If she wanted to pull of a trick or two she would be quite good at it.

Now whether we love her or hate her we must take off the blinders and look at the evidence as it exists in the real world.

Go To Part 2

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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Discovering the New Age, Part 9

51

Discovering the New Age, Part 9

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

Risk and Judgment

The emotionally polarized person looks a risk much differently than the mental person. He reacts to risk because of how circumstances creating it makes him feel rather than the actual degree of risk. On the other hand, the mental person will react to risk according to the degree of danger involved.

For example, many emotional people will be against nuclear energy, not because they have studied the current data, but because of associations with the atomic bomb, alarming news stories or unfounded fears gained from watching the movie, The China Syndrome. Once the feeling nature is convinced nuclear energy is bad then the person will not accept any risk attached to it at all, even if the facts tell us the new generation of reactors are the safest source of power on the planet.

The mental person, of course has feelings also, but is not governed by them. He will examine the data, compare alternatives and make his decision on what makes the most sense. If the benefits outweigh the risk then he will accept the risk.

The emotional person is more black and white. If an endeavor poses a risk that negatively impacts his emotions he will often reject it completely. To accept a calculated risk does not enter his mind.

On the other hand, if something involving risk has not negatively impacted his emotions he is likely to ignore it altogether, even if the risk factor is high. Then if eliminating the risk takes time or money away from something he feels good about he will definitely ignore it as if it did not exist.

An example of a very high risk factor that is ignored by the emotionally polarized is the growing national debt. It is a mathematical fact that the current debt expansion cannot be sustained much longer yet because there are no negative repercussions seen in the present there is no fear or concern. He is completely unconcerned about borrowing money to sustain his pet projects that feel good to his emotional nature.

On the other hand, the mentally polarized will look at the numbers and voice grave concerns and seek to get people in office who are financially responsible. They realize that you can only borrow so much before a day of reckoning will come.

As we move into the new consciousness of the Aquarian Age we need to move beyond the emotional approach of either total rejection or acceptance of risk. The Aquarian person will realistically examine the risk involved and compare it to the benefits. He will then go with a certain amount of calculated risk.

People have different value systems so the risk vs. benefits will vary from one individual to another. There may be a risk of getting a concussion from playing football but the player may figure that the glory and the fun achieved are worth the risk.

There may be a small risk to owning a handgun but the owner may think it is worth it because of the extra security he has for himself.

The astronaut knows he is in a risky profession but the thrill of achievement makes it worth it.

We cannot eliminate risk, but we can put it in its right perspective. To do this the mind gathers all known data so he knows as close as possible what the risk is and then he balances that off with possible benefits and makes a judgment. For the Aquarian Age person that judgment will be reasonable.

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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Discovering the New Age, Part 8

73

Discovering the New Age, Part 8

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

Putting Risk in Perspective

The mentally polarized person puts risk in perspective whereas the emotional/astral person does not. The astral consciousness fears risk because of anecdotal evidence that is placed in front of him whereas the mental looks at all the data.

In other words, the way of the old age is to look at the piece and magnify it as if it were the whole and the new age vision is to look at all the pieces available to see the whole picture.

Let us go through several examples.

(1) Airline travels verses land.

When an airline crashes anywhere in the world tremendous news coverage is generated which strikes fear in the emotions of many causing the emotional impression that air travel is unsafe. But is it?

Let us put this in perspective for passengers on air travel in the United States.

Since 2009 only three passengers have died in a commercial flight taking off in the USA. That is about a half of a death per year.

How does that compare to auto deaths? Since that same time we have had 30,000-35,000 auto deaths a year plus untold suffering through injuries.

Yet how many people are nervous about boarding a plane but have no fear of getting in a car to go shopping?

Does not compute unless you factor in the unreasonable emotional factor.

There are many things more dangerous than boarding a plane in the United States such as.

Falls – most of them around the house, produce 30,000 deaths per year. In addition 38,000 died through unintentional poisoning.

Most people are not afraid of their doctor, but medical errors cause 250,000 deaths each year.

In fact you are more likely to be killed by a bear, or by taking a selfie than dying on an airline in this country.

The fact is this. When several hundred people die instantly in a dramatic air crash more publicity is generated than 50,000 people getting killed off one or two at a time.

Because of the publicity the illusion is created that air travel seems much more dangerous than it is.

(2) Racial tension.

Much of the recent racial tension is caused by the same type of illusion. Certain types of incidents get most of the coverage creating the illusion that such incidents are the norm.

For instance, there have recently been several shootings of black men by police that appear to be without merit. Most likely the cop involved didn’t wake up in the morning thinking he was going to seek out a minority to kill, but overreacted and made a mistake.

The fact is this. When you have over a million police officers in this country one or two of them are going to be making an error in judgment at any given time.

“But,” says the offended one, “It is obvious that the police, especially white guys, are biased toward blacks and it’s like they are picking them out for targets?”

And why does it seem this way?

For the same reason that it seems that air travel is so dangerous. Certain shootings, such as happened in Ferguson and Minnesota recently (2016) received more publicity than thousands of other blacks murdered during the same period. Taking two or three incidents out of thousands and giving them most of the publicity gives the illusion that the publicized abuse is the norm.

But is it?

Rarely.

Roland G. Fryer Jr., a professor of economics at Harvard, himself an African American, because of the lopsided media exposure had the impression that there was an unwarranted amount of black killings because of bias. He decided to do some research to find out the truth. The results surprised him.

Whereas he did find some evidence of bias in certain types of actions toward blacks this was not the case with police shootings. After examining data in ten cities examining 1,332 shootings between 2000 and 2015 the New York Times reported his findings that “officers were more likely to fire their weapons without having first been attacked when the suspects were white. Black and white civilians involved in police shootings were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon. Both results undercut the idea of racial bias in police use of lethal force.”

Next Mr. Fryer wondered about how eager police officers were about the use of force when it seemed justified in a dangerous situation. He was surprised to find that in such situations, officers were about 20 percent less likely to shoot if the suspects were black.

Fryer’s research, as well as other investigations, reveal that there is no wholesale war to take out African Americans. It is unfortunate indeed that the media gives such lopsided coverage that not only gives the wrong impression but produces anger and racial divide that has created a backlash creating a real danger for our police officers, most of whom are doing their best to serve the public good.

Some illusions are just threatening to our sense of truth, but others, like this one, can lead to much danger and civil unrest.

Again the mental person who is in harmony with the focus of the new age will not judge situations like this based on what the media tells him to think, but he will seek out the truth from real data and reasoning and come to conclusions that see through the hype of the media.

There are many other areas of life that are distorted by the media, Hollywood, politicians and various authorities. Instead of just swallowing what is placed before us, that may appeal to the feeling nature, the true Aquarian age person will seek out the facts and use pure reason to come to justifiable conclusions on such subjects as:

Gun control

Socialism

Capitalism

Communism

Free enterprise

Liberalism and conservatism.

Candidates to vote for.

Helping the poor.

Taxation and Federal spending.

Political Correctness

Climate change

Education of our kids

Religion

And many others.

May we rise up above the fog of emotional polarization and see things as they are through the clear light of reason is my prayer.

For Part 9 GO HERE

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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Discovering the New Age, Part 7

84

Discovering the New Age, Part 7

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

Dealing with Risk.

Emotional people are terrified of certain types of risk and others not so much. The risk that concerns them are those that are decreed to be dangerous by their beloved authorities.

On the other hand, the mentally polarized are concerned about risk based on data, reason and probability.

Let us take global warming, for example. We may hear some politician, who knows little about science, stating that “all scientists agree” with him on global warming and we must therefore do A, B & C or we are doomed.

The emotionally polarized and little children will fear and some even traumatized feeling the end is near unless we all drive a Prius.

Most of these people in a state of fear know nothing about exactly what it is the scientists agree upon or the proven facts involved. If they were to go back to the 1970’s 1980’s, 1990’s and read the various predictions on climate endorsed by politicians and activists and compare them with what has actually transpired they would find much comic relief as many of them were so far off that it is laughable. It’s kind of like reading psychic predictions in an old tabloid and then comparing them to what actually happened. It is kind of fun to see how off the mark they were.

We do not have time to go into the arguments for and against various climate change views, but we can say this. Based on the lack of accuracy of previous predictions we just do not know what the climate will do in the next 50 or 100 years.

Many geologists claim to have a better handle on climate change than climate scientists and tell us that we are due for another ice age soon and such an event would be much more devastating than a few degrees of warming.

Also overlooked by the fear mongers is that with or without government decrees technology on alternative energy is moving forward and clean energy will be available in abundant form in 50 to 100 years as long as we do not destroy civilization first.

Does this mean we have nothing to worry about?

Not hardly. We live in a world saturated with risk at every turn. With or without human influence the climate will change and devastation could occur. Whole continents could sink and others could rise. Farm land could become as deserts and deserts could bloom as the rose.

I’ve studied both sides of climate change and find I have much more concern about overreaction and illogical approach to it by politicians than I fear climate change itself. Economically it makes much more sense for humanity to invest in preparing to deal with it getting cooler or warmer rather than attempting to keep the earth at some perfect temperature through spending trillions of dollars.

So… if one switches from emotion to mind will he find others things that should be feared more than man made climate change?

Actually there are quite a few. Let us discuss some of them.

(1) Asteroids. We know as a fact that asteroids have wiped out most of the life on earth in the past whereas high levels of CO2 never have.

Why then do we not hear politicians sounding the alarm, warning us that we must invest in preventing such a thing? For a small fraction of what it would cost to change the climate we could develop the technology to detect and then alter the course of an incoming asteroid.

The politicians never bring up this danger, not because it is not real, but because they get no political mileage from it. They can’t use it as a means to pass new laws, regulations and taxes so the danger takes a back seat.

(2) Solar Flares. The question is not if, but when. In 1859 we were hit by one that knocked out telegraph systems all over America and Europe. Scientists say that we are overdue for another one which could knock out most of the electoral grid and many computer systems and storage. The result could be a collapse of civilization that could set us back decades or more.

This is a much larger threat to our way of life than climate change as such a coming event is quite certain. Again, preparing for it would only require a fraction of the cost of changing the climate. The electrical grid in the United Sates is out of date and needs to be replaced. If we replaced the current grid with underground wiring we could be protected from the next major flare.

(3) A Magnetic Pulse. This could be created by an atomic explosion in our atmosphere by a rogue nation and would produce similar results. A nation such as Iran or North Korea could knock us out with just a couple explosions in the atmosphere rather than many that would be needed in an all out war.

Again, rebuilding our electrical grid would give us much more protection here.

(4) Nuclear War. This should be the greatest concern of all thinking people and we have to do everything in our power to prevent it. This is number one on my list of concerns for humanity.

(5) Super Earthquakes and Volcanoes. There is not a lot we can do to prepare for these, but they indeed should be on our list of concerns for they do happen from time to time. One concern is the super volcano in Yellowstone. If it blew it could produce devastation that would reach for thousands of miles. Then, of course there is the danger of the San Andreas fault creating a megaquake of biblical proportions.

There is indeed lots to worry about, but should we allow risk to control our lives or should we move forward productively with a certain amount of calculated risk? We’ll discuss this next.

For Part 8 GO HERE

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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Discovering the New Age, Part 6

78

Discovering the New Age, Part 6

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

Acceptance of Reasonable Risk.

Risk is seen as a horrible thing by many of the black and whites in that it must be avoided at al costs. The mantra is, “If we can just save even one life, it will be worth the effort.”

To the feeling nature this sounds good and right, but not so with the one who uses the mind. To one who uses Aquarian reason this statement makes no sense and is counter productive in many circumstances.

Let us look for example into the cost of saving lives. “The Life You Can Save” organization says “According to the New York Times, in 2010 the US EPA used $9.1 million for the value of a life in justifying its regulations, the Food and Drug Administration used $7.9 million, and the Transportation Department used about $6 million.” LINK

When it comes down to specific endeavors the cost is much more. For instance, EPA’s rules on dioxin in hazardous waste costs $560 million per life saved. The nuclear regulator commission is willing to spend around $200 million per life saved on regulations on emissions of radioactive iodine. This is in addition to other safety measures built n a nuclear power plant.

Let us not go with the greatest number, but pick the average cost of a life saved thanks to the EPA, which is $9.1 million.

Is this reasonable?

Maybe not so much when one compares this to the cost of saving lives by other means. If one is really looking at the greater good and saving the maximum number of lives there are a number of very economical means, such as providing clean water in third world nations. Millions of people die each year or suffer immensely from drinking polluted water.

A company called Sun to Water has developed devices to use solar energy to take clean water right out of the atmosphere. They say that buying and distributing these can save lives at a cost of around $13 per person. LINK

Volunteers who provide dispensed water to the third world claim that if done at scale, costs a mere fifty cents per person per year per life saved – truly a bargain in human salvation.

Now instead of going with Piscean feelings let us use the mind and do a little calculating.

The EPA averages $9.1 million to save a life while the solar water people can do the same thing for $13. What is the difference in expenditure? Let’s see… $9,100,000 divided by $13 = 700,000. So our government through the blessed EPA spends 700,000 times as much to save a life.

What can we gather from this?

Actually the answer goes over the heads of the emotional black and whites which is this. Instead of saving one life for 9.1 million we could save 700,000 lives.

But that is not all. There are more shades of meaning to see here.

Let us suppose that you had $9.1 million in your pocket dedicated to saving lives and you were the decision maker between these two alternatives. Which would you choose?

Would you save one life or 700,000?

Another way to look at it is this. If you decide to save the one life, then 699,999 will die because of you. Do you want to be responsible for killing 699,999 people?

Putting it this way, all but the clinically insane would choose to save 700,000 lives.

If this is now so obvious to the reader the question becomes this.

Why do authorities in our government support such a waste in human lives?

Secondly, why do so many gleefully support our government’s wasteful efforts to protect us from risk?

Some may answer this way. “Our priorities are not third world countries, but our own. We need to make things as safe as we can here first.”

Okay… Sounds a little selfish considering the 700,000 to one ratio in human lives, but let us go with this for a moment.

It is true that in the United States it costs a lot more to save a life than in the third world. Few here starve to death or do not have decent water to drink.

However, there are thousands of poor elderly people who die from lack of heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. It certainly would not cost us millions of dollars per life saved there.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. Many of these depend on charitable refuges that save many lives from extreme weather and hunger and the cost per life saved there is very reasonable.

There are many ways to save lives everywhere that does not cost millions of dollars.

The point I am illustrating is that many people do not use their reasoning faculties in determining what they will support or how to deal with various risk factors. Many anti nuclear people are happy to see us spend hundreds of millions of dollars per life saved and as a result if you live next door to a nuclear power plant you get less radiation than you would from a luminous dial on your watch, or the bricks in your house.

That is more safety than we need . Many of those millions could have been better spent and saved thousands of lives.

Risk is a strange thing. Emotionally polarized people either get spooked by it and will support any amount of wasteful spending that claims to eliminate it or they will hide their heads in the sand and ignore the risk altogether.

We’ll discuss this further in the next section.

To be alive at all involves some risk.

Harold MacMillan

For Part 7 GO HERE

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

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Discovering the New Age, Part 5

70

Discovering the New Age, Part 5

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

Shades of Gray

There are two types of people on this planet. Those who see things in black and white and those who see shades of gray.

The first tends to categorize things as either all right or all wrong and the second is inclined to take all circumstances and data into account.

The first is the lazy man’s approach which requires little thought or contemplation. This is the Piscean Age of emotion approach as feelings tend to go one direction or the other with little thought of the in between. The second is the Aquarian mental approach which requires the use of the mind.

The black and white attitude is on display continually in politics and this tells us that we still have a ways to go before we get both feet in the Aquarian Age where mind is dominate.

The party or candidate is either all right or all wrong. If one disagrees with his mindset, he or she will be rejected out of hand and the accuser will defend his view as if all is in order.

The black and white attitude also shows itself when a candidate may agree with him in all matters except one that presses his buttons. In this case many black and white people will reject everything about the candidate. For many, the candidate must be philosophically pure to be accepted.

Many accept political issues based on black and white feeling rather than thinking through the total effects of their implementation. For instance, the previous subject of waste and inefficiency are often completely overlooked.

Here are some other examples of black and white thinking.

(1) Abortion is either all right or all wrong.

(2) Socialism, or any other “ism” is either all good or all bad.

(3) When there is a problem many will automatically support laws, rules and regulations as a solution rather than working with education that trusts in the people’s common sense.

(4) Politically correct speech is quite black and white as expression is limited to one correct way instead of multiple colorful and creative ways.

(5) Global warming. Many on both sides know nothing about the science but believe some sound bytes without questioning. Their side is all right and the other is all wrong.

(6) Spending. Many have a black and white support of spending on anything that sounds good without consideration of the debt or waste involved.

(7) Education. Many condemn or praise education as if all is bad or all is good.

(8) Risk. Many are willing to subject us to any amount of risk to get what they want but will accept no risk at all from policies of the opposing view.

And this brings us to our next topic – dealing with risk.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Eccl 3:1-8

For Part 6 GO HERE

Copyright 2016 by J J Dewey

Index for Recent Posts – Includes this series

Easy Access to All the Writings

Register at Freeread Here

Log on to Freeread Here

For Free Book go HERE and other books HERE

JJ’s Amazon page HERE

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