Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00377)

--- In theos-talk@y..., "Bill Meredith" <bilmer@s...> wrote:

> open mind? I have been wondering lately who on these lists has 
changed their mind recently or modified their position somewhat based 
on what they have read here?

All the time in small ways; recently in a very large one.

Would changing one's mind or position indicate the presence
> of an open mind?
> 
Hope so.

A small sense: Steve's ideas about the Liatto story intrigue me and 
while I read it and wrote about it without seeing what he sees in 
Olcott's account, now that he points it out it seems worth pursuing.
Plenty of times on this list, someone will come up with something 
(like Alexis's theory about the Maharaja of Varanasi being one of the 
Masters) that makes me think, "Gee, that makes sense; wish I'd a 
thought of that."

A big sense: Adelasie pretty much stopped my current writing project 
in its tracks. I intended to be working very hard, cranking out lots 
of pages of family/regional history this winter and having a finished 
manuscript with a couple to three years. But all that reproach about 
being an insensitive debunker with a low level of spiritual awareness 
reawakened basic feelings of being scared at how people would react 
to anything I write. The positive upshot of that is the realization 
that if I spend 6-8 years doing research and getting a deep grounding 
in the region and the family's history, the book will be much more 
worthwhile than if I hurry with a much more superficial and "more 
objective" account.

In other words, I won't write any more in the genre in which my 
previous books were written, because a more emic approach seems more 
appropriate this time around, and getting repeatedly bashed for 
writing etically was what stopped me in my tracks.

> 
> Finally, with respect to a published book written several years 
earlier,
> would it be fair to the author to quote from the book and assume 
that that
> which one quotes accurately reflects the current thinking of the 
author
> (assuming the author has an open mind)?

Absolutely not in my case!

I ask because there has been some
> speculation that HPB might have re-written some of her works had 
she more
> time. Also because Paul Johnson might today even make some changes 
to what
> he wrote giving his open mind. Perhaps if we truly wanted to be 
impersonal
> in our judgements, rather than say "HPB says in the SD" or "Paul 
Johnson
> says in ....." we would simply say that the 'SD' or 'The Masters 
Revealed'
> say such and such. After all those books do not have an open mind.
> 
Good thought!

My last book would come closer to a revelation of how I think, and 
what I consider important, than any of the ones on HPB. No 
Theosophist appears to have incorporated it into their sense of 
what "Johnson" is about. And yet my take on Cayce has evolved since 
1998, too.

Paul




















> > 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gerald Schueler" <gschueler@e...>
> To: <theos-talk@y...>
> Cc: <theos-l@l...>
> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 9:41 AM
> Subject: Theos-World Re to Andra - Laziness
> 
> 
> > <<<Dear Jerry,
> > What kind of laziness are you speaking about that holds us 
back from
> enlightenment?
> > In God's Love,
> > Andra>>>
> >
> > Andra, we are all a bit lazy. The Path to enlightenment is 
difficult, and
> requires a great deal of effort to be expended. We must sit and 
meditate, we
> must watch/guard our every thought and word, we must develop 
compassion, we
> must downplay our own ego while emphasizing the egos of others. In 
short, we
> have to change our lifestyle and we have to change our worldview, 
and even
> our personality. All of this takes countless lifetimes. But, and 
here is the
> thing, there is no way to know if we have already done most of this 
work in
> past lives or not, until we start here and now in this life. 
Probably the
> best example of what I am saying is the Tibetan yogic saint and 
poet,
> Milarepa. Milarepa was a black magician who used magic to kill a 
person in
> revenge. He then went on a spiritual quest, encountered a guru, and 
expended
> a huge amount of effort in purification and in changing his entire
> personality (developing humility was especially hard for him), etc, 
until he
> reached full enlightenment in a single lifetime (reaching 
enlightenment in
> a single lifetime simply means that most of the work was done in 
past
> lives). Tibetans use him and his life as a good example of what can 
be done
> if one works hard enough and is willing to change. They teach that 
anyone
> who has access to a guru (ie the core teachings) can reach 
enlightenment is
> they are willing to expend the required amount of effort. Any 
psychologist
> or therapist will tell you that changing one's personality or even 
one's
> mental outlook is extremely difficult, but possible.
> >
> > Jerry S.
> > --
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> >