Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tt00009)

A QUESTION OF THE PARANORMAL: YOU BE THE JUDGE OF WHAT JOHNSON
WRITES

K.  Paul Johnson writes in his rejoinder to my HOUSE OF CARDS
about some of the cases that I quoted in Part II of my critique.
Here are Johnson's comments.  After his comments I quote the
cases Johnson refers to.  Please read these accounts and ask
yourself which case is more paranormal? Which case shows elements
of the paranormal? Compare these cases for yourself.  Which case
appears "more like paranormal visitations than normal physical
visits." Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to what my reply
would be to Johnson's comments?

Happy thinking!!

Daniel Caldwell

Johnson's comments are as follows:

> PART II
>
> In his case for evaluating all claims by Col.  Olcott about the
> Masters by a single standard, Mr.  Caldwell cites a letter in
> which Olcott reported being awakened from sleep in Ceylon in 1881
> by Morya, who made him take dictation for an hour.  He then goes
> on to describe a case where Morya "showed himself" to Olcott and
> HPB, and an "appearance" by Morya before six other people.  All
> of these are equated with the Ooton Liatto case, which is much
> more clearly one of *physically* present people conversing with
> Olcott.  But Mr.  Caldwell does not seem to recognize that these
> "appearances" sound more like paranormal visitations than normal
> physical visits.  How can he assume that such appearances, if
> genuine, were not Ranbir Singh, since he does not know whether or
> not the maharaja was capable of such phenomena? What does he know
> of other people who were, who might therefore be more plausible
> candidates for the Morya in these stories? This section of his
> argument shows naivete in conflating different categories of
> evidence.  The principle which seems to elude Mr.  Caldwell is
> that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.  My
> explanation of HPB's relationship with the Masters relies on
> ordinary factors and is based on ordinary historical evidence.
> Mr.  Caldwell is defending extraordinary claims about HPB and the
> Masters, on behalf of which he cites evidence of a far more
> dubious and ambiguous kind.

Now I quote Olcott's accounts as given in HOUSE OF CARDS:

CASE A:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING OOTON LIATTO.

> "...I was reading in my room yesterday (Sunday) when there came a
> tap at the door---I said 'come in' and there entered the
> [younger] Bro[ther] with another dark skinned gentleman of about
> fifty....We took cigars and chatted for a while....[Then Olcott
> relates that a rain shower started in the room.  Olcott continues
> the account:] They sat there and quietly smoked their cigars,
> while mine became too wet to burn....finally the younger of the
> two (who gave me his name as Ooton Liatto) said I needn't worry
> nothing would be damaged....I asked Liatto if he knew Madam
> B[lavatsky]....the elder Bro[ther]...[said] that with her
> permission they would call upon her.  I ran downstairs---rushed
> into Madams parlour---and---there sat these same two identical
> men smoking with her and chatting....I said nothing but rushed up
> stairs again tore open my door and---the men were not there---I
> ran down again, they had disappeared--- I .  .  .  looked out the
> window---and saw them turning the corner...." (Olcott's account
> is given in full in Theosophical History, Jan., 1994.)

CASE B:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA IN CEYLON

> "...on the night of that day [Sept.  27th, 1881] I was awakened
> from sleep by my Chohan (or Guru, the Brother [Morya] whose
> immediate pupil I am)....He made me rise, sit at my table and
> write from his dictation for an hour or more.  There was an
> expression of anxiety mingled with sternness on his noble face,
> as there always is when the matter concerns H.P.B., to whom for
> many years he has been at once a father and a devoted guardian.
> .  .  ." (Quoted in Hints On Esoteric Theosophy, No.  1, 1882,
> pp.  82-83.

CASE C:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA AT BOMBAY

In his diary for Jan.  29, 1882, Colonel Olcott pens this brief
entry:

> "M[orya] showed himself very clearly to me & HPB in her
> garden....  she joining him they talked together...."


CASE D: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF SEEING MORYA AT BOMBAY WITH SIX OTHER
WITNESSES

> "We were sitting together in the moonlight about 9 o'clock upon
> the balcony which projects from the front of the bungalow.  Mr.
> Scott was sitting facing the house, so as to look through the
> intervening verandah and the library, and into the room at the
> further side.  This latter apartment was brilliantly lighted.
> The library was in partial darkness, thus rendering objects in
> the farther room more distinct.  Mr.  Scott suddenly saw the
> figure of a man step into the space, opposite the door of the
> library; he was clad in the white dress of a Rajput, and wore a
> white turban.  Mr.  Scott at once recognized him from his
> resemblance to a portrait [of Morya] in Col.  Olcott's
> possession.  Our attention was then drawn to him, and we all saw
> him most distinctly.  He walked towards a table, and afterwards
> turning his face towards us, walked back out of our sight...when
> we reached the room he was gone....Upon the table, at the spot
> where he had been standing, lay a letter addressed to one of our
> number.  The handwriting was identical with that of sundry notes
> and letters previously received from him...." The statement is
> signed by: "Ross Scott, Minnie J.B.  Scott, H.S.  Olcott, H.P.
> Blavatsky, M.  Moorad Ali Beg, Damodar K.  Mavalankar, and
> Bhavani Shankar Ganesh Mullapoorkar." (Quoted from Hints On
> Esoteric Theosophy, No.  1, 1882, pp.  75-76.)

	From Olcott's diary for Jan. 5, 1882,

> "Evening.  Moonlight.  On balcony, HPB, Self, Scott & wife,
> Damodar....[etc]...M[orya] appeared in my office.  First seen by
> Scott, then me....Scott clearly saw M's face....M left note for
> me on table in office by which he stood...."


And just for the fun of it, I throw in Olcott's 1879 encounter
with the Master Morya at Bombay.  I quoted this case in Part I of
HOUSE OF CARDS.  Does this 1879 event have more paranormal
elements to it than the Ooton Liatto account?

> "This same Brother once visited me in the flesh at Bombay, coming
> in full day light, and on horseback.  He had me called by a
> servant into the front room of H.P.B.'s bungalow (she being at
> the time in the other bungalow talking with those who were
> there).  He [Morya] came to scold me roundly for something I had
> done in T.S.  matters, and as H.P.B.  was also to blame, he
> telegraphed to her to come, that is to say, he turned his face
> and extended his finger in the direction of the place she was in.
> She came over at once with a rush, and seeing him dropped to her
> knees and paid him reverence.  My voice and his had been heard by
> those in the other bungalow, but only H.P.B.  and I, and the
> servant saw him." (Extract from a letter written by Colonel
> Olcott to A.O.  Hume on Sept.  30, 1881.  Quoted in Hints On
> Esoteric Theosophy, No.  1, 1882, p.  80.)

YOU BE THE JUDGE. . . .