Theos-Talk Archives (May 2000 Message tt00165)

In a message dated 5/19/00 10:32:23 AM Central Daylight Time, 
davidgreen@hotmail.com writes:

<< 
 Also address Mrs Bailey's anti-Jewish remarks.  I find "unpleasant spirit 
 pervading" Mrs Bailey's words. Aren't you ashamed to defend Alice Bailey's 
 ugly words?  Or do you agree with these anti-Jewish comments?
  >>

Perhaps the issue is not the words themselves but whether or not the 
followers of Alice Bailey still ascribe to them.

Alice Bailey was a person of her time and her comments reflected a dark 
undercurrent of the esotericism of that time, repugnant as they may be to us 
and this is true of all writers, including HPB.

If we wish, we can find things in everyone that we find unpleasant, even 
horrifying, but that should not detract from the whole body of the work.

I am no fan of Bailey, in fact I don't particularly like her material, but I 
would not reject everything out of hand merely because of a peculiarity 
(stupid and vile as that peculiarity is) that I know is part of the time she 
was writing any more than I would have walked away from Theosophy after 
reading Jinarajadasa's First Principles of Theosophy which in many ways is 
much worse.

On the other hand, that such things were presented as part of a sacred 
teaching is horrifying and it is proper to question the rest of the teaching 
based on that.  Understanding does not mean acceptance.

Chuck the Heretic

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