Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00347)

Paul: "I've been thinking of the concern expressed by
Adelasie that HPB's writings speak for themselves, and
anyone who writes about HPB is thereby attempting to
compete with her as a spokesman for spiritual truth.

They do not speak for themselves, and the fact that
the most ardent fundamentalists do not understand them
correctly is proof of that. Some of the ideas they
contain are quite difficult to understand. 
Unfortunately, some people think Leadbeater was a good
exegete, whereas he was far more in the dark than
anyone on this list. Most of his books are downright
laughable, and people should be warned not to take
them without careful consideration.

Paul: "Underlying this, and various comments of
Dallas, would seem to be fear that somehow HPB is
going to be drowned out by contemporary authors who
write about her

The fear is not that she will be drowned out, but that
she will be found out. This, too, comes from
inability to understand these difficult texts and from
a suspicion that there is something guilty about the
truth. All those fears are completely unjustified. 
Anyone who attempts to explain that, though is
condemned as a "scholar" and told "I DON'T NEED AN
INTERPRETER." (direct quote)

Paul: "Second, it's clear that the reading public is
more interested in popular books critical of HPB
(Washington and Meade) than scholarly books trying to
give a balanced portrayal

Meade's book is anything but balanced. Well written
and well researched, but not balanced. What a pity
that people cannot see that.

Paul: "So if admirers of the Cranston approach to HPB
have anything to worry about in terms of competition,
it would be the not the scholarly works published by
university presses, but rather the popular critical
works by recent authors and the 
distorted and self?serving interpretations by past
authors like Steiner and Crowley.

What they are worried about seems to be a librarian by
the name of Johnson. Deveney, Godwin, Bechofer
Roberts, Symonds, Meade, and Williams never seem to be
mentioned. Why that would be so is a complete mystery
to me. Can anybody explain this?

Steve

--- kpauljohnson <kpauljohnson@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> I've been thinking of the concern expressed by
> Adelasie that HPB's 
> writings speak for themselves, and anyone who writes
> about HPB is 
> thereby attempting to compete with her as a
> spokesman for spiritual 
> truth. (Unless, implicitly, the author in question
> writes about her 
> in the adoring tone of Sylvia Cranston.) Underlying
> this, and 
> various comments of Dallas, would seem to be fear
> that somehow HPB is 
> going to be drowned out by contemporary authors who
> write about her, 
> that somehow people will lose interest in going
> directly to the 
> source.
> 
> Amazon.com lists 130 books under the keyword
> Blavatsky, and a list of 
> the top 20 shows quite clearly that HPB is more
> widely read than 
> anyone who writes about her. It also shows that
> Theosophical books 
> about her don't attract as many readers as more
> skeptical books. But 
> both categories are dwarfed by sales of HPB's own
> writings:
> 
> 1. Isis Unveiled (unabridged)
> 2. The Secret Doctrine (paper, TUP)
> 3. Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers:
> the Equinox
> (Aleister Crowley et al)
> 4. The Voice of the Silence (hardcover)
> 5. Madame Blavatsky's Baboon
> 6. Inspirations from Ancient Wisdom (contains At the
> Feet of the 
> Master, Light on the Path, and the Voice of the
> Silence)
> 7. The Secret Doctrine (hardcover, TPH)
> 8. Isis Unveiled abridged
> 9. The Millennium Book of Prophecy (Hogue)
> 10. Spiritualism, Madame Blavatsky, and Theosophy
> (Steiner)
> 11. Secret Doctrine Commenary: Stanzas I-IV
> 12. Madame Blavatsky y su teosofia
> 13. Millennium Book of Prophecy (paper)
> 14. Madame Blavatsky: the Woman Behind the Myth
> (Meade)
> 15. HPB (Cranston)
> 16. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine (Heindel)
> 17. H.P. Blavatsky Returns (Leichtman)
> 18. The Masters Revealed
> 19. Initiates of Theosophical Masters
> 20. Esoteric Philosophy of H.P. Blavatsky (cassette,
> Manly P. Hall)
> 
> Now, what can be discerned from this list? First,
> very good news tor 
> fans of HPB's writings. She occupies 6 of the top
> 10 positions (one 
> in part), including the top 2, and this has been the
> case ever since 
> Amazon has been publishing this information. This
> shows that there 
> is nothing to fear regarding the writings of recent
> scholars causing 
> people to miss out on her own writings. I would
> suggest rather that 
> her own sales have been encouraged by the success of
> books about 
> her. Second, it's clear that the reading public is
> more interested 
> in popular books critical of HPB (Washington and
> Meade) than 
> scholarly books trying to give a balanced portrayal
> (mine being the 
> only such to make the list)-- and that the
> commentary about HPB by 
> Rudolf Steiner and Aleister Crowley is more widely
> regarded than 
> secondary literature from her followers (e.g.
> Cranston.) Third is 
> that shallow occultist treatments (e.g. Leichtman
> communing with HPB 
> telepathically, Hogue cataloging prophecies) ride
> pretty high as well.
> 
> So if admirers of the Cranston approach to HPB have
> anything to worry 
> about in terms of competition, it would be the not
> the scholarly 
> works published by university presses, but rather
> the popular 
> critical works by recent authors and the distorted
> and self-serving 
> interpretations by past authors like Steiner and
> Crowley. But we 
> never read on this list any fears or concerns about
> any of this 
> secondary literature; only the scholarly stuff
> appears to set off 
> people's alarm bells. Why would that be? In any
> case, folks will be 
> reading HPB long after all her interpreters and
> biographers are out 
> of print, so her admirers ought to chill their
> anxieties 
> about "materialist attacks."
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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