A perfect touchstone that we can provide others and that anyone can understand and use, is the idea of identifying with Oneness. In our every day life, are our thoughts and acts in line with the whole, or are they out of self-interest? And we can learn to identify with a larger and larger whole.
Expressing Truth and Beauty through Compassion
Why compassion is behind true Beauty And Truth
Erwin Bomas – The Theosophical Society Point Lama (TSPL) – B/avatskyhouse, the Netherlands
https:llblavatskyhouse.org
Introduction
In the Tao Teh King, Lao-Tse (verse 81) said:
Truthfu l words are not beautiful.
Beautiful words are not truthful.
This gives us a small excuse to start a bit ugly.
If you look at the world right now. At the disharmony, inequality, the inhumanity or shortly the avidya
or ignorance that is behind it.
And if you think at the same time of the Truth and Beauty of the TheoSophia, the Divine Wisdom that
is our inheritance, that holds all the answers to solve the worlds problems ..
If you have these two perspectives in mind, and if you are honest, you must admit t hat we have to do
a better job. And by we I mean the Theosoph ical Movement as a whole.
And I say this without disregard or disrespect of t he sincere work that is being done and of which we
discovered some great examples during the course of this week here at the International Convention
in Adyar.
We really have to do a better job. But how can we do that? We would like to share some ideas about
that with you.
Let me fi rst start by thanki ng the organizers of this wonderful convention for putting all this together
and also for inviting us.
And I say ‘us’ because we cooperated on this presentation with a small team, including my friends
Jenny and Bouke who are also present here.
When we heard about the main theme of this convention: Truth and Beauty – a field beyond we first
thought: how can we recognize this ‘field beyond’?
And our first point that we would like to address is that compassion is the expression of Truth and
Beauty.
The question that soon follows is: how do we express Truth and Beauty ourselves through
compassion? What does that mean?
That is what we would like to share.
But to start with, let us share a definition of Beauty and Truth. And I think it beautifully aligns with what
has been previously shared.
What is Beauty?
What is beauty?
We can be very much inspired by beauty.
For example, by the beauty of Nature.
When we experience a sunrise over the mountains.
The myriad stars of our Milky Way visible on a clear night’s sky.
A lotus flower in full bloom.
But also great works of human culture in art, music or architecture like the famous Lotus Temple of the
Bahai here in New Delhi.
Our home country the Netherlands has a rich culture of painting with masterpieces that are widely
known and appreciated. Sometimes they depict universal meaning or symbolism. Such as this
painting from the famous 17th-century painter Rembrandt called ‘the Philosopher in meditation’.
Do you recognize the yin-yang?
And the point in the circle?
Another example is this painting from painter Johannes Vermeer, also from the 17th century: the ‘Girl
with a pearl earring’, also called the “Mona Lisa of the North”. Vermeer’s paintings are full of “Sacred
Geometry”, golden ratios et cetera.
A more modern Dut ch artist was Piet Mondrian from the last century, also a Theosophist. With his art
he tried to inspire the viewer with the universa l teachings he got from studying the Secret Doctrine. It
is very abstract: with just vertical lines (standing for the spiritual) and horizontal lines (symbolizing the
material).
Finally, a fine and final example of a mix of Western and Eastern culture thanks to the Sil k Route.
And of course there are endless examples of the inspiring Beauty of a musical harmony or the Beauty
in I iteratu re.
But although my perspective is t hat these are examples of Beauty, there are always little differences in
who likes what. ‘There is no accounting for taste’ as we say. Why is t hat?
If we take the beauty of art as an example, there are three steps. First, the artist has an idea of beauty,
he receives some form of inspiration. Second ly, he tries to express the inspiration in a material form,
let’s say by creating a painting, but it can also be a sculpture, a musical symphony or the design of a
product.
Thirdly, an observer perceives the work and experiences something.
To find the origin of beauty you can ask yourself: where does the original idea of inspiration come
from?
Hierarchical levels
According to the Theosophia you can look at different hierarchical levels, visible and invisible. If we
make a threefo ld d istinction: t here is the spiritual world, the mental world and the material world.
The spiritual world is the kosm ic p icture gallery conta ining the symbolic ideals or original archetypes
on a very abstract level.
These spiritual and symbolic ideas are transformed in their passage amongst others through the
mental plane and the astral light.
We receive thoughts and feelings from the mental respectively astral planes that also leave an
impression on our human brains on the material level. And these impressions are further
communicated by us in the material world.
Now if we combine the first scheme of the idea, the art ist and the viewer with these three levels, we
can d ist inguish these levels of seeing and understanding for each of these.
The idea has a certain quality. It can be of a purely material beauty like a scene of nature or it ca n be
an elegant formu la, a beautiful ideal or even a mystic experience of oneness. Of whatever level t he
ori ginal idea might be, the art ist’s interpretation of the idea is of the level he is t he artist is at. Then
the art ist translates his interpretation into a piece of art.
And finally the observer viewing the piece of art experiences something depend ing on the level he is
on.
Now we Theosophists know that instead of three levels you can also use seven levels of seeing and
understanding for each of t hese three steps.
You see that there are quite some fi lters t hat determine how we experi ence the beauty of a piece of
art. This is why discussing bea uty is someti mes d ifficult . The technician’s perspective wi ll probably
differ quite a bit from that of the historian . But someone will also have a different experience himself
depending on his t houghts, t he t ime of the day or the size of the crowd in t he museum.
But, if the artist is able to translate his inspiration in a pure form and the observer is on a similar level,
the observer mig ht even resonate with the original idea.
So there are some cha racteristics of beauty that inspire almost universa lly. What are those?
- Beautiful nature, art or music show a certain harmony. There is a harmonious interrelation
between the parts and the whole. Think of the arrangement of flower petals, the use of
complementary colors in painting or the Indian raga music that is tuned to the season, time and
atmosphere. - Beauty in nature and art also express the imperishable, like the golden ratio, universal symbols or
eterna l motives such as the inner struggle that is used in literature, for instance in the Bhagavad
Gita, but also in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or in Harry Potter. - Finally, Beauty in nature and art makes us identify with someth ing bigger, it expands our
consciousness, it inspires us, uplifts us and opens us to t he universa l in ourselves.
BEAUTY is omnipresent, eternal, boundless and immutable
However in the end, all outer, manifested beauty is transitory, and will perish – sooner or later. That is
why we state that true BEAUTY with capitals is omnipresent, eterna l, boundless and immutable.
Outer beauty is only a reflection, a manifestation of th is BEAUTY and therefore the expression will
never reach t he ideal.
The golden ratio for example that we find in manifestation, in the re lation of our pha langes, the
relation of our hand to ou r arms, the ratios in our body and in our face; it is always an approximation.
It is never exact.
It is like the perfect circle or square. They only exist in the ideal, the spiritual world.
So you cou ld say there are three levels of Beauty.
- BEAUTY per se, with capitals. Universal, eternal and infinite.
- Beauty with a capital B. It is the highest expression of t he universa l BEAUTY.
- And finally, outer beauty. Very transitory and part of t he pairs of opposites. If our skin is white, we
like to have a tan. If we are coloured, we like to have a fair skin, etc.
Let us go on to the next subject: Truth.
What is Truth?
Does not the same hold true for Truth? We think so.
Absolute Truth is omnipresent, eternal, bound less, immutable as we ll. It is the “One absolute Rea lity
which antecedes all manifested, conditioned, being” as is so beautifu lly put in the Prologue of the
Secret Doctrine. It cou ld only be dwarfed by any human expression. The real Tao cannot be named,
Allah can not be depicted.
We can distinguish the same three levels here. First, there is universal TRUTH or Absolute TRUTH.
Secondly, the highest expression of TRUTH is Truth with a capital T and thirdly, our personal truths.
And those can rather be named for what they are: opinions.
We see the same applies for the perception of Truth as for Beauty. We can tune in on the world of
ideas. Depending on our focus and orientation on one of the seven aspects or a mix of these we
resonate with these ideas and form our relative perspective on truth.
But we are always a receiver and sender at the same time. We communicate our ideas even if we do
not express t hem as words. Those ideas are received by others depending on their focus and
orientation, be it emotional or intellectual or idealistic. Our ideas may resonate with others or not at
all.
So, in the same way that we value beauty each according to our level of perceiving we value truth
each according to our level of understandin g. So we could say: as beauty is in the eye of the
beholder, so truth is in the mind of the thinker.
Now because of this fact that we each have our own perspective on truth, some claim that therefore
The TRUTH or Absolute Truth does not exist. This postmodern idea is actually a misunderstanding of
TRUTH with capitals.
This general lack of vision on the universality of Truth leads to a lot of chaos and conflict, such as fake
news.
Understanding however that TRUTH is boundless, eternal and immutable implies a few very important
things:
The TRUTH - As The TRUTH is boundless there can only be ONE, because there are no two boundless
principles possible. Although some try very hard to convince others of their version of the truth
and try to force their opinions on others through modern media, the one TRUTH will ultimately
triumph. - As The TRUTH is boundless our understanding of it can and will always further develop. We
should never mistake our truth for The TRUTH.
If we would recogn ize that all we know is a li mited understanding of The TRUTH with capitals we
would be much more modest about our opinions.
The knowledge that we can never understand the entire boundless TRUTH in its ful lness prevents
us from dogmatism, crystal lization and fanaticism . But at the same time … - As part of the Boundless, we are in essence the Boundless, so we have all the potential to
progress in our understanding of the TRUTH. We wi ll get closer and closer to IT when we
progress to unfold our inner being.
So for the sake of clarification:
We used three levels before, but as we define The TRUTH as boundless we know that it is a
simplification. There is of course an endless number of levels.
You might say all inspiration comes from our inner Teacher, the inner bodhisattva. If we are able to
identify with this inner Teacher, that is our highest Truth with a capital T.
But that inspiration comes from the inner Buddha. And we can further develop to reach the stage of
identification with our inner Buddha. Then we have reached a higher Truth with a capital T. But
beyond that, there is the level of what you might call our inner divinity or god.
Following this line of the Hierarchy of Compassion, the link never ends and goes on to the Heart of
the Heart of the Universe.
So if we really understand the essence of TRUTH, the essence of BEAUTY, we see O NENESS.
We wi ll never reach the Abso lute TRUTH as it is boundless and we can always climb higher.
But, if we resonate on the highest, the Buddhic-Atmic level, on whatever step of evolution we are, we
are a link in this golden chain of Hermes and become a channel of inspiration ourselves, messengers
of Truth with a capital T.
We can now conclude that
- true BEAUTY is omnipresent, eternal, boundless and immutable;
- that the TRUTH is omnipresent, eternal, boundless and immutable;
- and that TRUTH and BEAUTY per se imply oneness.
In other words, if we see TRUTH and BEAUTY per se, we see Oneness, or rather we identify with the
One, with the whole.
And if we identify with the who le, our thoughts and acts will be always in line with the whole. That is
why we state that:
Compassion is the expression of TRUTH and BEAUTY
Compassion is the expression of TRUTH and BEAUTY.
Because if you see TRUTH and BEAUTY per se, you see t he Oneness of all life, you understand that
everything is ONE, and if you identify with all then Compassion is the sole motivation for anything in
life. Compassion then becomes the highest law of conduct. Like Blavatsky expresses in her ‘Voice of
the Sil ence’: it is the Law of Laws.
By expressing TRUTH and BEAUTY we are the instrument of this Law of Laws. We help Nature and
work on with her.
It is exactly how the Lodge of Wisdom and Compassion works. Identifying with Oneness, the one
TRUTH, BEAUTY or Theo-Sophia, our Teachers choose to share their wisdom with all living beings.
Compassion is their one motive, their rule of conduct, their law to spread their wisdom. And to share
their wisdom in its purest form they identify with us, to bring us the essence of what we need to help
ourselves.
Before and in the time of the Mystery schools they taught us the sciences, philosophies and forms of
art as part of the Wisdom-Religion or Theo-Sophia. In modern times they are sending us messengers
such as H.P. Blavatsky to spread TRUTH and BEAUTY through compassion . All with the goal to uplift
us to their level and beyond.
So now that we have discussed what TRUTH and BEAUTY are and why compassion is the expression
of TRUTH and BEAUTY, we can ask ourselves
How to express Truth and Beauty through compassion
How do we express TRUTH and BEAUTY through compassion ourselves? What does that mean?
It is worthwhile to look a little closer at the great teachers of mankind, the Messengers of TRUTH and
BEAUTY li ke Buddha, Lao-Tse or Plato, and to see how they worked.
Lessons from the Messengers of TRUTH and BEAUTY
They spread their wisdom in the most durable and compassionate form. Namely by showing us how
to find Truth and Beauty within ourselves.
It is the most durable and compassionate.
Because once we are awakened to the inner wisdom that is found in our heart we can find all
so lut ions to life’s riddles ourselves.
Second ly they brought wisdom in its purest form. They went back to the core principles of the
teach ings, bui lding upon and relating to tradit ional teachings to show the universality of what they
broug ht. That is what the Buddha did with the Hindu tradit ion, Jesus with t he Jewish tradition, Plato
with Pythagorean teachings etc.
And they adapted their presentation to the time and culture of their days. They used the language,
examples and metaphors to get t heir message across, but without sacrificing the original meaning
and intent.
By t he awakening of their inner faculties, their buddhi-manas, the messengers created a direct link
wit h the Hierarchy of Compassion. They have given up their own progress, in order to help us in our
evolution whenever we are ready to receive their inspiration.
When we real ly resonate with their compassion and wisdom or Theo-Sophia, they will enable us to
tap directly from the same source.
They help us with accelerating our self-directed evolution or, in ot her words, by initiation.
It is like electricity, and I know that it is still a thing that is being worked on in this country today.
Instead of just linking to a point that is near, we have to offer a good grid to link people direct ly to the
energy source, the power plants, so they will have a continuous source of pure power for themselves
that they can really rely on .
That is exactly our job as Theosophists! As we are inspired by the TRUTH and BEAUTY of the
TheoSophia, the Divine Wisdom, the highest knowledge of our hierarchy, and understanding
Oneness, we have to uplift the whole. We cannot keep it for ourselves. We have to work for uplifting
the whole. And understanding the position of our brothers who still suffer, because they fail to see
TRUTH and BEAUTY, we will only want to work harder. How to do this?
Our Duty as Theosophists
How to express Truth and Beauty through compassion and fulfill our duty as Theosophists?
Of course we can follow the example of our teachers exactly.
We develop a clear vision on how to solve the problems of today and share our knowledge. Not out
of feeling sorry for others, but by resonating with their highest aspects. Because when they connect
with their inner wisdom, they know what is right.
If we do our job well, we awaken the buddhi-manas of the other and by doing so the other can
become a channel for inspiration himself.
A perfect touchstone that we can provide others and that anyone can understand and use is the idea
of identifying with Oneness. In our every day life, are our thoughts and acts in line with the whole, or
are they out of self-interest? And we can learn to identify with a larger and larger whole. Maybe for
someone oneness means identification just with his own fami ly, for another it implies identification
with his city or country and another is even able to see and act from the idea of the oneness of
humanity. On whatever level someone is at, this is the never fail ing touchstone to answer what is right.
And if we think and act compassionately, we spread wisdom in its purest form. First by example, and if
necessary using words. And at the core of the TheoSophia, which means at the core of all great
religions and philosophies, are basic axioma’s, the three fundamental propositions. Or the ir
elaborated form of the seven Jewels of W isdom, such as the teachings of reincarnation and karma.
These are the principles that suffice to find solutions to all problems in life independently.
Our job is to translate these simple and beautiful ideas into modern language that fit to our time and
culture, in order to awaken others to the Truth and Beauty that is there.
And we really need each other to do this job to give Theosophy its place in the minds and hearts of
men. If Theosophist s join forces and cooperate we can do a better job.
One example of global theosoph ical cooperation is ITC.
lTC, standing for International Theosophy Conferences, is a platform where Theosophists from all
Theosophical organ izations meet. It is not another Theosophical organization, but a platform where
we support each other as Theosophists in doing our work.
Each year a conference is organized and this year it wi ll be at t he Headquarters of the Theosophical
Society (TS) of America, the Olcott center in Wheaton. It is p lanned just after the Summer National
Convention of the TS of America, so it makes a nice combination.
Why this example?
ITC is a working conference in which theosophical study is done in order to answer to todays
problems.
A hot topic is se lected, like the subject of depression, and we study to select the relevant
theosophical principles that can help to uncover the underlying causes and to formulate sustainable
solution perspectives.
We t hen translate these into modern language, so all Theosoph ists can use these to inspire others in
their public meetings, lectures and writings.
This time is the best for new yea r’s resolutions. The wisdom that Theosophy offers is more than
enough to solve all the worlds problems. We have all the knowledge that we need right here, right
now.
So let us work together to spread the Truth and Beauty of Theosophy in today’s world !
Thank you



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