Theos-Talk Archives (September 1998 Message tt00192)

Paul Bazzer wrote:

> Consider the following extract from "The Letters of H P Blavatsky to A P
> Sinnett":
>
> "There are more secrets of initiation given out in the *Introductory* Chapt.
> than in *all* Isis.  And what comes after is still more interesting.  But I
> am utterly miserable about its *mechanical* arrangement.  I have written and
> re-written about twenty times this blessed Chapt.  I have cut off and
> shifted the paras: and passages and sections and sub-sections until I am
> sick of it".
>
> Why the MECHANICAL arrangement?  Why put poor HPB through such painstaking,
> "utterly miserable", until she is "sick of it", work cutting, shifting,
> arranging paragraphs/passages/sections? Why so? Why is the *mechanical*
> arrangement so important?  Why?

Daniel Caldwell replies:

(1)  It was ALWAYS HPB's habit (throughout her literary career from 1874
to 1891) to rewrite and rearrange (cut, shift and paste) portions of her
manuscripts. In fact many writers do this all the time.  I remember when
I was trying to put the finishing touches on my article ("The Myth of
the Missing Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine"), I found myself
cutting out various sections, rearranging sections, paragraphs, etc.

(2)  In the New York days, when HPB was writing and editing the MSS of
ISIS UNVEILED, she was ALSO concerned about the mechanical arrangement
of the manuscript.  Notice what Colonel Olcott writes about the ISIS
manuscript:

"Her own manuscript was often a sight to behold; cut and patched, re-cut
and re-pasted, until if one held a page of it to the light , it would be
seen to consist of, perhaps, six, or eight, or ten slips cut from other
pages, pasted together, and the text joined by interlined words or
sentences."  ODL, I, 205

Yet we ALSO know from HPB and from her Masters that ISIS contains
"misprints, errors and misquotations".  Regardless of her concern and
efforts regarding the mechanical arrangement of Isis, mistakes occurred.
The same can be said for THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

Now although there are misprints, errors and misquotations in ISIS and
THE SECRET DOCTRINE, please do not misunderstand me.  These two works by
HPB are REMARKABLE works.  What Theosophical writer since HPB's death
has written anything comparable?  Furthermore, I am not denying that
there may be great occult truths lying beneath the surface of both ISIS
and THE SECRET DOCTRINE.  In fact, my own experiences (for what they are
worth) confirm (at least for me) that much is hidden behind the outer
facade of HPB's words.  You read a selected text one time and understand
so much.  At a later date you reread it and you see a greater, deeper
meaning.  You reread the same text again and in light of what you have
read elsewhere in HPB's writings, you see an even deeper significance
and meaning.  Sometimes when doing this, you even have an insight that
may be hard to put into words.  Etc. Etc.  But having said that, I don't
believe that every "alleged" misprint or mistake in either ISIS or THE
SECRET DOCTRINE holds some occult meaning, etc.  The evidence would seem
to indicate that there are mistakes and misprints in HPB's writings that
are simply that:  errors. . . . typos. HPB and the Masters say as much
in many different places in their writings.

(3)  At the time when HPB writes about the mechanical arrangement of her
SD MSS, she is not necessarily talking about the mechanical arrangement,
physical layout, etc. of the finished product (the twp physical volumes
published in 1888).  Is she ?  She is talking about the manuscript.
What Blavatsky writes about is familiar to every writer, compiler and
editor. For example, maybe this 7th paragraph would be more fitting as
the introductory paragraph of this chapter.  Or these three paragraphs
(because of their subject matter) would be more appropriate in another
chapter. Or this section or sub-section would be more understandable at
a different place in the MSS.  And we could illustrate some of these
examples from HPB's own literary career. Etc. etc.