Theos-Talk Archives (July 2004 Message tt00040)

In a message dated 06/30/04 12:23:04 AM, stevestubbs@yahoo.com writes:

>If theosophy is a joke and Blavatsky was a clown, which is what most 
>people believe to be true, then why take it seriously?

My tongue in cheek comment about what "I would like to think," doesn't say 
that I actually think (or know) she was a "clown" and theosophy a "joke." Those 
are your words. 

No matter what some "people" (I doubt if "most" can be backed up with any 
evidence) think or believe (without direct knowledge or study) about the teacher 
or what she taught -- theosophy stands on it own merits and has no 
relationship to the personalities of its promulgators. 

Besides, what reason is there to believe that HPB wasn't that sort of person 
(or worse) before she met her Master, became his disciple, and converted to a 
believer in the "esoteric Budhism" or theosophy taught by them. Wasn't 
Milarepa a nasty and evil black magician and a murderer before he became enlightened 
and a saintly teacher of compassionate Buddhism as well as Abbot of his sect 
in Tibet after his Master Tilopa died? 

So, even if HPB was a great jokester among her friends, and knew about and 
could reproduce all the tricks played by the phony psychics -- what has that to 
do with the inherent seriousness of the theosophy she transmitted (as coming 
directly from the mouths of the Masters), or her own seriousness in all the 
commentaries and articles she wrote about it? 

I'll leave it to Bart to speak for himself.

Len 

>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bartl@s...> wrote:
>
>> leonmaurer@a... wrote:
>
>> > Not to say that HPB would have had to stoop to such mundane 
>
>levels. But, I 
>
>> > like to think of Madame Blavatsky, in addition to her brilliant 
>
>mind and great 
>
>> > oratory, writing, artistic and musical skills, as being a real 
>
>hearty, down to 
>
>> > Earth type of character who liked a good joke and playing 
>
>harmless tricks on 
>
>> > gullible people. Since she easily exposed all the phony 
>
>phenomena of the 
>
>> > spiritualist tricksters -- as the old saying goes -- it takes a 
>
>good one to know 
>
>> > one. ;-) 
>
>> 
>
>> That is pretty close to my own thoughts on the matter, 
>
>although, in 
>
>> addition, I think that she used phenomena, real or faked, as an 
>
>> attention getter, kind of like a speaker may open a speech with a 
>
>joke 
>
>> to get the audience in a receptive mood for the real message.
>
>> 
>
>> Bart
>
>