Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00140)

Hey gang,

Like Kym, I've felt strong disagreement with Dallas's repeated
claims to the effect that "without HPB the world would know
nothing of Theosophy."  But knowing that nothing I can say will
make a dent in his certainties or those of others who believe
this, I did not speak up.  However, when he replies to her
eloquent and well-reasoned objections to this claim with personal
disrespect, with a message to the effect "You're willfully
ignorant and therefore it's beneath me to engage your argument,"
I feel obliged to quote HPB.  She wrote, in the intro to the SD:

"These truths are in no sense put forward as a *revelation*; nor
does the author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore,
now made public for the first time in the world's history.  For
what is contained in this book is to be found scattered
throughout thousands of volumes of the great Asiatic and early
European religions, hidden under glyph and symbol, and hitherto
left unnoticed because of this veil.  What is now attempted is to
gather the oldest tenets together and to make of them one
harmonious and unbroken whole."

The only part of this passage which might possibly support
Dallas's extravagant claim on HPB's behalf is the phrase
"hitherto left unnoticed."  But in fact these ideas were not
hitherto entirely unnoticed; HPB was simply the first to
introduce them to a *vast international* public.  She deserves credit for that,
but *not* for being the first person who ever taught the doctrines
we know as Theosophy.  I find it interesting that she portrays
herself as *attempting* to "gather together" the oldest tenets and
"*make* of them" one harmonious and unbroken whole, which seems a
precise description of what she did.  But those who make wild
claims on her behalf would say that instead she didn't need to
attempt anything, didn't gather together anything, didn't make a
whole of them, because she was given the full doctrine on a
silver platter by a single authoritative source which had it all
already.

To whatever extent HPB did mythologize herself and her Masters,
she has been outdone ten times over by her overzealous
admirers.

Cheers,
PJ