Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00232)

Leon wrote: <<HPB never claimed any authority, 
and asked each student to think about and judge the 
validity of teachings for themselves. >>

I'm wondering about what kind of "for themselves" 
Theosophists in general might cultivate and regard as 
relevant, as per their notions about reasonableness, 
wisdom, etc . . . I wonder if there might be a kind of "for 
themselves" that would toe (ULT's, say?) generally 
accepted (formal, semi-formal, or informal . ..) guidelines 
in terms of "reasonableness" (say?) re such as "study 
methods" or "approach to Theosophy" . . .

I ask because my "speculative approach" (by which I 
mean "thinking for myself" as much as I can) seems to 
have met a rather deadly silence and/or elicited various 
forms of disapproval from Theosophists on these lists. 
Dallas, for example, wrote: <<No more what-ifs.>>
I tend to take that kind of comment to basically say that 
"thinking for oneself" ought to be limited to . . . what? . . . 
"generally accecpted guidelines in the form of generally 
accepted interpretations of Theosophics" . . . ? Or? That 
is, is it that Theosophy ought not to be considered as being 
open to interpretation "beyond a certain point," say . . . 
And one might wonder if that might be a "limit point" (or 
limiting point?) that might be generally regarded as one 
that "should be" clear enough and reasonable enough to all 
(or most?) of those who have taken an interest in 
Theosophy . . . 

Of course, in my case, I may have crossed some line, as by 
being too tangential, unclear, crazy, over-speculative, and 
whatever. Sorry about that, Dallas, etc. But, apparently, 
I'm not the only student of Theosophy who has a lifelong 
interest in theosophics (and thereby has developed an 
interest in Theosophy). 

Speculatively,
Mauri