Theos-Talk Archives (May 2001 Message tt00123)

Eldon:
You write:
<<<The heart of the book can be reached by reading between the lines,
not by looking at how the lines are typeset. It can be found by
tying together various threads of thought from different parts of
the book -- like Dallas is good at -- rather than trying to find
significance in particular spelling errors.>>>

The example used was "disk" "Disk" and "disk" all changed by Boris de Z to
"disk". This, right at the beginning of the PROEM. May we just look at
this specific example?

Is there any significance in Disk being spelled with a capital D? The fact
that it has been changed to a small "d" in the Wheaton edition, means
someone made a decision to alter it, and thought that it was an error. Why
is it an error? Is there significance in the use of capital letters in the
S.D.? If it is not significant, and not going to the heart of the book,
then why alter it in the first place?
There is a difference between the two, "disk" and "Disk", from reading the
text. And certainly a huge difference when it becomes disc (ending with a
c) on page 4, when illustrated (by a diagram)...in a Cosmic sense, rather
than a Kosmic sense as on page 1. Is there a difference between Kosmos and
Cosmos? Why did H.P.B. and the Masters sometimes spell it with a "K" and
sometimes with a "C"? Or are you suggesting it is of no importance whether
it is spelled Kosmos or Cosmos? H.P.B. and the Masters have gone to the
lengths of making these kinds of distinctions between the spellings:
disk/Disk/disc...and Kosms/Cosmos...and please note the "k" and "c" at the
end of disk/disc...and the K and C at the beginning of Kosmos/Cosmos?

This example is taken because it is at the beginning of the PROEM, and how
we interpret this will have a bearing on how we proceed through the rest of
the S.D. This is just one example, but how many others follow throughout
the S.D.?

In the example given above, the spelling alterations seem to be about
standardizing the spelling (the dead-letter), rather than reading the text,
thinking about it, and noting the different distinctions made between disk,
Disk, and disc, i.e., they are not the same thing, they all have different
meanings. That is the whole point of it. If it is about reading between
the lines only, why bother to read the text in the first place, and even
more so why alter it? If someone is prepared to go the whole way through
the S.D. altering the text throughout, how can that be considered reading
between the lines, or going to the heart of the S.D.? You yourself are
saying that you prefer the altered layout, because it is easier to read
those very lines, not between the lines. It is only by going to the
original text and doing it, that it can become possible to see it, because
it has all been wiped out in the Boris de Z Secret Doctrine.......YES, WHO
DID PLAY THAT TRICK ON H.P.B.?

Tony