Theos-Talk Archives (October 2003 Message tt00059)

This is a lot of nit picking baloney. Nothing more than a "tempest in a 
teapot" based on personal opinions. There is not one indication or statement in 
the essay by Merriott, or by anyone else, that shows that any substantial change 
in WQJ's rendition of the Voice of the Silence in any way has "taken the 
HEART out of it."  

In fact judge managed to keep the He Art in it. ("He" referring to the 
"creative" aspect of theosophical teachings. :-) Didn't HPB say we each have to 
rewrite our own Secret Doctrine in the language of our own age? Doesn't that 
also mean, in the case of Judge's transliterations, modern English as a first 
language? Besides, since when does a term used in the preface to a teaching, 
have anything to do with the teaching itself? Give us a break. 

I defy anyone to fault judge's rendering of the actual teachings in the Voice 
of the Silence when compared to the original HPB manuscript. There is no less 
Heart in it now than there ever was, and no matter what version you read, in 
whatever language, there is no difference in its fundamental yoga teachings.  
When HPB said she had to remember the Voice by heart, she meant the original 
Heart Doctrine teachings as given her by the Masters – which she had to later 
translate into her archaic version of English. It's to Judge's credit thathe 
did nothing to change that when he transcribed and very slightly edited the 
Voice of the Silence (mostly in the preface which has nothing to do with the 
body of the book, other than to tell us where it came from) -- with great respect 
for his teacher, confidante, and collaborator. 

This whole discussion does nothing but obscure the teachings of fundamental 
theosophy, still sounds like a vendetta against ULT and WQJ by certain 
disgruntled "organizationalists" -- and is a waste of all serious theosophical 
student's time and energy. (Although we might learn something we didn't know before 
in Peter's excellent articles on the etymology of the esoteric terms used by 
mystics and occultists.)

Best wishes,

Leon


In a message dated 10/05/03 12:22:46 PM, danielhcaldwell@yahoo.com writes:

>Tony versus Reed on "The Voice of the Silence" 
>
>Students of Mme. Blavatsky's writings and teachings
>who are NOT partial to any of the existing
>Theosophical groups might take note of the following
>two statements about one edition of HPB'S VOICE OF THE
>SILENCE:
>
>Reed Carson of BLAVATSKY NET writes as follows
>about the VOICE edition by the Theosophy Company:
>
>"The Voice of the Silence [was] translated from memory
>and annotated by Blavatsky - and later typographically
>improved by her colleague Judge. . . . Students of
>Blavatsky have great respect for this inspirational
>book and read and reread it."
>
>Compare and contrast the above with what Tony Maddock
>has recently written. Tony wrote:
>
>"Take a copy of the ORIGINAL 'The Voice of the
>Silence' and compare it to the edition edited by W Q
>Judge, and note a few of the differences in the
>two editions, and see what effect those alterations
>have on the meaning. Those changes take from the HEART
>of the voice of the silence. What was it that caused
>those changes to be made, and what are the resulting
>effects?"
>
>There appears to be "A GREAT DIVIDE" between Tony's
>and Reed's statements!!!
>
>I call the reader's attention to Reed's two words:
>
>TYPOGRAPHICALLY IMPROVED
>
>I find these words very misleading and unfair
>especially to INQUIRERS and NEW STUDENTS of HPB's
>writings.
>
>I have myself written before about the changes in the
>TC edition and many of these changes are MUCH MORE
>than typographical improvements.
>
>I refer readers to Peter Merriott's article on
>this same issue which can be found at:
>
>http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-2-10.pdf
>
>A reading of this article will show the impartial
>student that we are dealing with more than
>typographical improvements. In fact this is tampering
>with HPB's meaning and, in effect, her teachings.
>Other examples could be given.  
>
>One can start to understand why Tony wrote:
>
>"Those changes take from the HEART of the voice of the
>silence."
>
>Then consider Reed's other words:
>
>"Students of Blavatsky have great respect for this
>inspirational book and read and reread it."
>
>But unfortunately some students apparently don't have
>ENOUGH respect for HPB's VOICE to
>present "this inspirational book" as HPB's originally
>published this classic in 1889.
>
>Here in Reed's two words are telltale signs of a
>certain "mindset" that is serving as an obstacle to
>inquirers and new students who might want to actually
>read Blavatsky as she was originally published.
>
>It would appear that Reed is "pushing" this TC version
>over other versions. See his placement of this
>edition on his bookstore website. And I see that his
>link to a page listing other versions doesn't
>currently work.
>
>In summary, I find Reed's description
>["typographically improved"] to border on the
>misleading and the deceptive.