Theos-Talk Archives (August 1999 Message tt00057)

Dear Art

>
>I appreciate your remarks about comparative religion and
>Theosophy...enabling people to better appreciate other religions, cultures
>is a good part of the stated goals of the Society!


Thank you for that.

I wrote:
>That's a beginning.  I know it won't appeal to liberal 'modernisers', but I
>>suspect that there will be a return to cultural conservatism in the next
>>century, in which Theosophy could have great intellectual clout.


You replied:.

>I think you need though to lower your back hairs about those liberal
>modernisers. Those modernizers are stealing the field in some respects and
>we can learn a lot from them, other wise we fall back to a reactionary mode
>and are branded as stuffy old fuddy dudddys... Please don't take that
>personally Aiden, I say this only only for discussion purposes...The World
>Parliament of Religions both I and II have set up ongoing committees that
>report continually... As the world does a shrinky dink we will all be
>compressed together and egalitarianism as much as we dislike it will be
>upon us I suspect..so what to do?  I say we join them and prepare ourselves
>rather than resist kicking and screaming,,,If we don't lead in this then we
>will be asked to get out of the way and be forgotten...
>I have a painful feeling when I say this ... but I think we should be
>prepared to throw out the baggage when it blocks the view, by that I mean
>adopt a more light weight and scientific attitude when there's a
>conflict... mind you... there is much about this that is personally painful
>to me, but I'm afraid we will have to relegate a great deal of theosophic
>literature to a historical status, focusing on how advanced it was for the
>time, but is of course now obsolete from a scientific standpoint! Only in
>this way, I feel can we relate meaningfully to people who are alive today!
>There... I've said it and it feels good!   - Art Gregory


I reply:
I have never disagreed with you that Theosophical ideas should be made
accessible to those with little formal education but inquiring minds.  Where
my emphasis differs from your is that I think you see things in terms of
'historical inevitability' - an onward, unstoppable progression towards an
egalitarian global village.  I see history, including or perhaps especially
the history of ideas, as a zig-zag pattern, or a patchwork of losses and
gains.  I think that at one level we are seeing a relentless push towards
globalisation, of the economy and culture, and with it a spurious
egalitarianism, although I note that the greater the emphasis on equal
opportunities' becomes, the greater the imbalances in wealth (nationally and
globally) and the less responsibility assumed by those who possess wealth.
That's the surface level.  beneath that, there is a growing understanding
that ;small is beautiful', that cultural diversity and its ecological
counterpart, biodiversity
are important to us.  There is a growing wish for a return to a society
organised on a human scale, for continuity, for permanence in personal
relationships and society.  This is cultural conservatism in the broadest
and most generous sense, which is compatible with radical ideas about
redefining the relationship between Western man and his environment.  here
the Eastern traditions of which you speak in your next posting play a useful
role, and give a spiritual underpinning to the revaluation of values' (to
borrow Nietzsche's phrase) that Western man must undergo.  Theosophy can act
as a bridge between these Eastern traditions and the neglected ancient
wisdom of Western civilisation, pre- and post-Christian.
Best Wishes.
Aidanr


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