Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00109)

Hi Eldon and all of you,

Thanks Eldon!
This was what I was getting at!

But if the theosophical groups was making a stronger effort on the issue of
"racism"
and a stronger effort on the importance of a "global culturally unbiased
perspective" for the theosophical newcomers - then that could make Theosophy
a more relevant and even a very important "player" on the Planet.

As it is now. Theosophy as such has some problems, which has to be dealt
with - rather sooner than later.

Martin Luther King Jr. holds a great torch when he states the following
(although to a different audience):

"Now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on earth, our
loyalties must become ecumenical rather that sectional. Our loyalties must
transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we
must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation
can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in
this world. Now the judgement of God is upon us, and we must either learn to
live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools."

Excerpted from "A Christmas Sermon on Peace", delivered on 24 December 1967
at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.

And what goes for an individual and a nation, that also goes for
Theosophical groups ("tribes") and organizations with their nit-pickings and
small-talks about other theosophical groups !!!

from
Sufilight with a happy smile...





----- Original Message -----
From: "Eldon B Tucker" <eldon@theosophy.com>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 10:14 PM
Subject: Theos-World colored by the culture of the time


> A few stray comments ...
>
> >From: Morten Nymann Olesen [mailto:global-theosophy@adslhome.dk]
> >Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 11:38 AM
> >To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
> >Subject: Re: Theos-World "Answering" Morten Nymann Olesen's
> > questions and points
>
> >Are anyone aware of if there is a particular reason to why the Mahatma
> >Letters (as originals) are not scanned in and put online on PDF-file or
> >another file-format ?*
>
> The Letters were given to the British Museum. I am not sure who the
> current trustees of the Letters are, but the question would be if they
> had the right to authorize such a scan or the Museum itself would have
> the final say.
>
> >Blavatsky and her book The Secret Doctrine should be
> >questioned on the issue of racism when read dead-letter. And
> Theosophical
> >groups ought to properly deal with the book on the issue RACISM and
> "races".
>
> Anything written in the 1800's would be colored by the culture of the
> time. Popular prejudices and misconceptions would be ingrained in the
> language, writing, and manner of speech that people used then. From a
> different standpoint, we can look back and see things of which the
> people of the time may not have been aware.
>
> If someone reads an older book, the biases of its time will show up. It
> is not particular to theosophical books. If we want something to appear
> as unbiased, we need to write something new that communicates the
> philosophy in modern terms. Even with that, later generations will look
> back on anything that we write in the 2000's as being biased in ways we
> do not currently realize, just as we do so upon the writings of the
> 1800's.
>
> Apart from appearing to be biased or not, there is the basic philosophy
> being communicated. Those with an interest and aptitude will pick it up
> despite any awkwardness of language in which it may be expressed. Any
> confusion by a student reading the works is overcome as the study
> progresses. Even so, I am all for having new introductory books
> expressed in a fresh, clear, vibrant manner.
>
> >Because of that - a dead-letter knowledge of when they were made public
> the
> >first time is of importance to the more down-to-earth reader!
>
> One thing that might assist the newest theosophical students would be a
> short introduction to the biases and cultural perspective of HPB's time.
> This makes it easier to see through to what was actually said. The
> intent would be to remove any cultural barriers that make it harder for
> a student to benefit from the philosophy.
>
> The intent is the opposite of what an opponent of Theosophy might do
> with the same cultural differences. An antagonist would look for things
> that could be misrepresented, painting Theosophy in a bad light, and
> making it harder for an inquirer to see and consider what it says. This
> is exactly what is done in a political campaign wherein a candidate
> looks for any bit of information about the other person running for the
> office, looking for things that can be used in attacks and character
> smears. The intent is not to be accurate, truthful, or fair, only to do
> as much damage as possible to the other's image, with the intent of
> getting people to come over to the candidate's side.
>
> I am for making it clear what the philosophy says, apart from the biases
> and idiosyncrasies of earlier writers and their particular period of
> history. The rest of the stuff is historical nit picking, although
> someone has to sort out the exact details of what really happened. The
> primary value in Theosophy, as I see it, is the philosophy and spiritual
> dharma that may go with it. It is not in its use as a particular obscure
> area of western metaphysics needing to be forced into some particular
> preconception and proven or disproved according to the bias of any
> particular historian.
>
> -- Eldon
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>