Proposal One

I’d like to see the site help others. Going deeper and deeper into spirituality and post-spirituality is genuinely a very noble and worthwhile thing to do, but it seems sort of vain when the majority of the people around us don’t know anything about the search for truth itself. The way the world looks to me, the most meaningful and useful venture to be had in our day and age is promoting the search for truth, and in the process sway others to become explorers themselves.

There are many avenues that could be used to influence the public’s mindset. Before we would pursue those avenues, however, we would have to have our message and purpose refined and solidified into a working directive to disseminate. To do that, we would need to explain our perspective, and how we arrived at that perspective. We could take works of philosophy, religion, or science and digest them out loud (in writing) in such a way that an outside observer could clearly follow our lines of though, and understand why we see things the way that we do. It would take a lot of work, but the payoff would be that any moderately open-minded individual interested enough to follow our train of thought could arrive at the same places we ourselves have.

All of that would be step one. Step two would be marketing, something I know almost nothing about. Not necessarily marketing for this website itself, but perhaps for another website that we could create to house all of the work from "step one" laid out within it. And if we could spark a wider public interest in the search for truth, it would without a doubt transform the world.

This is where I’d like the site to go. My ideas are rudimentary, and possibly (sadly) even a little egotistical, but I sincerely believe it will elevate this world of ours higher. And what could possibly be more meaningful and worthwhile than that?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paige on August 29, 2013 at 11:44pm

Hey Seth, this was a well written out proposal/post. I had enjoyed reading it mostly because though I am very new to theospohy still, sometime in the near future I would loto be an active participant in something such as you have described here.

Some people do not like going deeper, but it would be a great cause to strive to make theosophy more publically aware to the masses who shy from it because of what they might have heard spoken about it. In a way, this proposal could help to gain more truth seekers which would definitely be a very cool thing, indeed. It is something that personally I feel should be there for others to at least have access should anyone have questions pertaining to theosophy.

I like the idea about marketing for another site such as this or maybe there could be marketing for both, but I am like you; I do not know much about marketing either. I do not see your ideas here as egotistical because you are not only thinking about yourself here, but thinking more on the lines of branching out to reach others so they too can have a chance for truth. That in itself seems like a very cool idea all in of itself. The ideas you have in reaching others out there to become explorers for themselves is a very noble thing alone. So, if people have that chance to be able to search for truth then I just think that is a very good thing!

Permalink Reply by Janelle Cranston on August 30, 2013 at 2:41am

Hello Seth,

I really like your post as I too am a bit of an idealist. How good would it be to transform the world... but here is where my pessimism shines through. I think that the seekers are already seeking and the rest just don't care and will never care. Those that want something deeper have a heart that is aching for knowledge, and when you connect with such people the conversation can last all night. The others, and there are more of them then us ( I feel) just change the subject as quickly as possible. What was on TV last night is more interesting.

The trouble with esoteric knowledge is that you just can't read something and understand. Its like maths, you cannot understand geometry or physics etc without learning the basics first otherwise these people will read something, take it in superficially and think they are the world's next guru or go around giving others false info. And that could be dangerous.

So what I think I am trying to say that where the website will be a fantastic tool to attract people and help them in the search for truth you will still only attract those with the passion. And where to start? So much information and so little time to learn. The marketing won't be hard but the "how to" will be. I'd like to be wrong in this as I would like to see it happen. A virus spreads from a single sneeze!

Having said all that, I truly wish my journey could have been shorter and I had a mentor to ask questions and help me with the right study, the right practice etc. In fact I could still do with a mentor, I am old, but not wise!

I know there are a lot of people smarter then me on this site so maybe with a lot of discussion it can be a reality. :)

Permalink Reply by Seth Edwards on August 30, 2013 at 4:17pm

When I was younger, I was always looking for a pattern to throw myself into. I would try to “become” exactly like the best of those around me, blindly believing that this was the purpose of life. If someone had been there to show me the emptiness of what I was trying to do, I would have immediately stopped and orientated myself toward finding actual meaning in my life. But no one showed me anything new. I spent a large chunk of my life whole-heartedly believing that there was nothing beyond my shallow Christian beliefs. I had no desire to look for anything further, because in my mind it was a pointless endeavor to do so. God created the world for us to find Jesus and that was it, the rest of my life was supposed to be a “test” (or torture) until death came to take us believers to heaven. This is what I was taught, this is what I believed. Now, if someone had approached me with logic that pinpointed the fallacies in my reasoning, I sincerely believe I would have changed my beliefs. But no one did.

I think it is mistaken to assume that everyone who isn’t an “explorer” right now cannot be persuaded or motivated to become one. In fact, if in reality there is nothing we can do to help people in this manner, I would go so far as to say my existence on this planet is pointless, and I would do everything within my power to leave this place… But I do not believe that is the case. I may be guided by ideals, but the work and changes I wish to accomplish are very much grounded in the gritty reality around us. People do change, and sometimes all it takes is a push in the right direction.

If only one is helped, then its all worth it.

Permalink Reply by PuzzleSolver on August 30, 2013 at 9:18am

I agree with all of you, I think Seth you have a great idea and I think it's pretty well shared over all if we think about it. The thing I see like Janelle said is that "the seekers are already seeking" I think that's how we all ended up here in the first place.. She's absolutely right about the people that never will care.. I'm sure we've all ran into someone that doesn't want to hear about a "spiritual" side of things or "esoteric" way of viewing things.. not even if you mentioned signs or synchronicities, they're too stuck on Facebook statuses and TV's.. and that's where we have something special... something very special, that goodness inside our hearts that wants to free other people of their falsities in life...

BUT here's where I think where Paige and Seth have a good point, about other people in where, they or us (the seekers) have so much information out there or are afraid of or not willing to go deeper and don't know where to start! On that part, Janelle's point about esoteric knowledge being difficult to understand is true, I myself even posted a blog asking why Theosophy was difficult to understand, because just like quite a few people here I'm just a beginner... I know a few experts in the field but the thing is, how do we get the common basics so we can get our roots?! I think that's what seekers lack, that starting point... actually that makes me think of my cousin, he's a seeker, he's always trying to prove or disprove something or figure out esoteric teachings, but one day I visited him to help his family put together an event, all day long he was on the internet pulling up dozens of pages on this and that, at the end of the day I asked him, so what did you get from all of that, he said.. "Oh man, I don't really know! All that info I don't know where to start" Maybe that's the starting point? How to figure out where to start?

In all actuality I can't say how I became a seeker, I just know that I am one. I've always been curious about everything, and those curious people that want to learn about the deeper meanings of life will always try to find out ways to dig it up.. the fact of the matter is, we all want to do it before we leave this earth. The question is how? Is there one specific book I can read or what about a specific practice I can take up? Things like this don't happen overnight but If we find out where and how, I know... that people will follow or come along for the ride!

And what a better light to shed than the light of truth!