Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00041)

Dear Dallas,

It seems important to me, since this ongoing attempt at 
disparaging and discrediting HPB and her work is carried on under 
the heading of serious historical scholarship, that it be required to 
function in a serious scholarly way. Perhaps if we had the actual 
material we could come to a better understanding of what is really 
being said. It is not very interesting to me to read what previous 
detractors have said. But I would like to read what is being called 
"statements by HPB" on these matters. So far none have been 
offered. 

I came across the following in "August 1914" by Alexander 
Solzhenytsin which seems to apply to our current discussion. One 
of his characters is a teacher, who says: 

"History, my dears, is not politics, where one chatterbox repeats or 
contests what some other chatterbox has said. The stuff of history 
is not opinions but sources. And your conclusions are determined 
by the source materials, even if they contradict your preconceived 
views."

A student argues, "Surely for practical purposes all we need today 
is an analysis of the contemporary social environment and material 
conditions?"

And the teacher replies, "That would be so if the life of the 
individual really were determined by his material environment. It 
would be much easier then: the environment is always at fault, so 
all you have to do is change it. But apart from the environment 
there is also a spiritual tradition, hundreds of spiritual traditions! 
There is, too, the spiritual life of the individual, and therefore each 
individual has, perhaps in spite of his environment, a personal 
responsibility--for what he does and for what other people around 
him do." ( pp.630-1, Bantam edition, pub. 1974, Michael Glenny, 
translator)

I never heard that Solzhenytsin was a theosophist, but this little bit 
of dialog points to some theosophical principles. Our lives are not 
limited to our visible material existence. We have responsibilities 
on many levels of life, including responsibility to those around us, 
whom we contact in daily life. One of these responsibilities is to be 
honest in our dealings with each other. 

Theosophy has so much to offer to those who will investigate it with 
an open mind. You provide us with much material which illuminates 
this aspect of our study, and many others. Theosophy belongs to 
all humanity, and I am confident that there are many who respond 
to its teachings from their hearts as well as their minds, whether 
they are saying anything about it or not. Humanity is a vast 
brotherhood, and if we conduct our lives along the lines of the 
principles given by the ancient teachings, as revealed in 
theosophy, we will find, bit by bit, that our world is bigger than we 
ever suspected. But there are no little things in life either, and each 
thought, word, or deed or ours has tremendous importance in the 
larger scheme of life. 

Thanks for all you do,
Adelasie

On 3 Feb 02, at 14:35, dalval14@earthlink.net wrote:

> Sunday, February 03, 2002
> 
> Thanks Adelasie:
> 
> Also thanks for the questions you have asked of Steve. I think
> that is the right approach.
> 
> I have not been reading fully the posts by Brigitte or Paul
> Johnson -- they disgust me. I think I have said all that needs
> to be said earlier. But probably I will have to ad a couple of
> comments later on if it gets to bad. I thought that Bruce
> MacDonald wrote a very good rejoinder to Brigitte a few days ago. Sums
> it up well.
> 
> Best wishes, as always,
> 
> Dallas
>