Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00288)

Hi Brigitte,

I've not gotten involved in your "discussions" so far because my
historical knowledge of theosophy is not as strong as many who answer
you. This post has a number of general themes I would like to discuss
however.
Brigitte: it seems indeed that the 
> spiritual 
> world is all speculation as we can have no verifiable proof of any 
> of 
> it. 
Larry: But neither is there any proof it doesn't exist. You come from a
non spiritual background and have no direct experience in this area.
Those who Have had such experiences can never deny them and no amount of
intellectual arguing can persuade them otherwise. I know! End of
discussion. I can not convince you it is so, but you can never convince
me that it is not.

Brigitte:Which is why one version of it is as good as any other, is a 
> verry accurate statement. For anyone who takes the time to open a 
> dictionary on religions will soon find out that they are not similar 
> as Theosophy claims, but are verry different. 

Larry: Now I don't want to nitpick with you and I understand you have
some English language difficulty, but surely you don't mean "dictionary"
Other that define some terms, a dictionary tell one practically nothing
about religions. Did you mean to say "encyclopedia'
That would be better, but even there, the articles are written to point
up the differences, so that a student can differenciate between them.
Those articles are short and consise and are not going to delve into all
that is important. Those who have spent a lifetime studying religion know
that when you get really deep, brushing away all the gloss, there really
ARE a great many similarities. Again, you can see it as you wish, but the
facts are their. I don't understand how you can have read Isis and SD and
come away not seeing this. Do you only look at those books for the flaws
you can find and never concider the wisdom contained therein. Would you
look at a masterwork in an art museum only to take a magnifying glass to
point out--see, a smudge-- and never stand back to view the beauty of the
whole.

I'm sorry, but you really seem to be missing something Brigitte. It pains
me to think you can cull no good from these things.

While I'm at it--

You spend a lot of time with Adelasie about this drug issue. At first
look it would seem that there are only two positions

1-HPB used drugs and so her work is nothing but a wild trip!

2-There is no evidence that she really used drugs

I believe it isn't important. If she did, so what! There are those who
believe that drugs may help ease one into a state that lends to spiritual
experiences. Alan Watts taught this. He felt after taking several drugs
himself that there was no difference between those experiences and those
achiecved through meditation. I have people I know who took drugs in the
sixties but have since turned drug free spiritual. But they claim drugs
helped them get that way. Now, I've never taken ANY drugs. As a Mormon I
never even smoked, drank alcohol or used coffee or tea. So I don't know
myself and I still belive it's not good to use drugs and would never
suggest anyone do. But those who have report these things. So to me it
just doesn't matter if it turns out HPB did or not. It detracts not an
iota for me to think she may have.

Another matter. We have these books. Isis and SD. They exist. They are
ponderable. How did they come about? Masters dictated them to HPB?
Material was culled from 100 already existing books? Somthing inbetween?
It's what in those books that really matters, not how it got there
exactly. Did HPB go to Tibet? Did Tibetans have a colony in North India.
Did some Indians have a collection of ancient writings? I don't care. We
have the books and the knowledge. HPB didn't make it up out of her head.
That fact that it exists in other forms only supports that knowledge. If
the finders of the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Nag Hammadi Library claimed
that an angel showed them where those caches were located make the
findings any less real. they exist. As does Isis ans SD. Again, its the
material that's important not the method.

Now I enjoy historical delving. I think it's good that we do so. But it
doesn't detract nor annul that which is important.

Larry 
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