Theos-Talk Archives (September 1998 Message tt00196)

Due to a mixup, Darren Porter was subscribed to both theos-talk
and theos-talk-digest, and he only unsubscribed to one of the
two. I was unaware of the situation, and did not hear from him.
Seeing his message, I've checked his situation and removed him,
which is as he wanted.

He mentions a few useful points, slightly colored by his anger
and frustration at continuing to get messages from the list way
after he though he had unsubscribed. Putting the points more
mildly:

1. With a little judicious editing, it's possible to cut out
most of what someone else says, when replying to them, and not
repost large portions of the message being replied to. A good
rule of thumb might be one or two lines quoted for every line
of comment that one is writing, although circumstances vary
with the particular message.

2. The propagation of the fundamental ideas/doctrines/practices
of Theosophy is far more important than the typography of a
page of classic theosophical literature, far more important than
if the word "milliard" or "billion" is used in a particular edition.
Are we more concerned in the spreading of the ideas, or to paying
homage to certain artifacts, like printed books, that are but one
way of embodying the ideas?

3. Are we spending too large a percentage of our time studying
together and preaching to the choir, rather than taking our
special knowledge to the streets, making people in other schools
and backgrounds increasingly familiar with it?

-- Eldon