Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00162)

Pedro, thanks for your comments. 
It appears that we have no shortage of advocates for both the 
belief-based and the inquiry-based views. I prefer the ladder.

Can you give me some examples of absolutistic statements in the SD and 
the Mahatma Letters?

--j



prmoliveira wrote:

> Jerry:
>
> I have followed with interest your dialogue with Dallas. Perhaps you 
> go a bit too far when you say that "the future of Theosophy depends 
> upon this kind of dialoguing". I would suggest that it is our 
> understanding of it that depends on such a dialogue for Theosophy, 
> as a Wisdom Tradition, exists in its own "svarupa", unaffected by 
> time and social conveniences. As I see it, one of the critical 
> aspects in this discussion is the need to find out if, IN OUR 
> UNDERSTANDING OF IT, Theosophy is a belief-based teaching or an 
> inquiry-based one. 
> Perhaps, because there are a number of absolutistic statements both 
> in "The Secret Doctrine" and in "The Mahatma Letters", the tendency 
> to believe them intrinsically, considering their sources, supplants 
> the need (as well as the advices contained in both the works 
> mentioned above) to inquire into their teachings for oneself. When 
> there is no inquiry, the theosophical teaching may become nothing 
> more than a description instead of an exploration into an 
> unchartered territory.
>
>
> Pedro
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