Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00163)

Hello Bill,
Thanks for your comments. See some responses below:

Bill Meredith wrote:

> Hi Jerry, I have been following your discussion with interest. I have had
> similar discussions with Dallas in the past -- one quite recently. I see
> your points and I understand your view that "the future of Theosophy
> depends upon this kind of dialoguing." You asked if others might chime in,
> so I wish to offer these observations.
>
> Sometimes people are talking about different world-views even though each is
> prone to label his/her particular view Theosophy with a capital T or in
> Dallas's case THEOSOPHY with all capital letters.
Yes, and in my case I was a bit slow on the uptake. It wasn't until 
after Dallas stated that he defines THEOSOPHY as synonymous with TRUTH, 
that he was talking in terms of a divine universal, while I was 
discussing the texts. 
> In my opinion, some students may have fallen in love with a particular
> rendition of Theosophy. In such cases, one's thought processes become like
> the well-worn grooves in a phonographic record that lead logically and
> inevitably to the certainty one chose in the beginning. A lover's mindset
> is developed over time. One becomes deaf to the small "scratches" and minor
> "skips" in the object of one's adoration. Anyone else who notices the flaws,
> becomes at once out of touch with "reality," and more importantly, not
> harmonious with the words and music flowing logically and inevitably
> through the lover's phonographic mind.
Yes, well said. I've noticed that when someone talks to me about 
Theosophical teachings, by the time they get to the third sentence I 
have already identified which Theosophical organization they have 
dedicated themselves to. Of course, names live Purucker, Crosbie and 
Besant are giveaways, but also so are phrases like, "Original 
Teachings", "Jesus the Avatar", "Guruparampara", and "Nirvanic Plane." 
Students have a way of becoming text bound and falling into jargons, 
which, as you are saying, are repeated until they lose touch with the 
meanings. 
> The machinery can be bumped, but the jiggle seems only momentary before the
> diamond point settles into that well-traveled path again.
Great metaphor!

> In my discussions with various lovers of Theosophy I find that they
> "present" similar to lovers of Jesus or lovers of Nature or lovers of
> NASCAR. I have at times been able to embrace the thought processes of such
> lovers to satisfy my own desire to see the world from their view. In so
> doing I have felt myself on a roller coaster ride of thought that while
> exhilarating the first few times around the course quickly begins to settle
> into a repetitive cycle that winds in grooves round and round to the same
> logical and inevitable certainty again and again and again.
Yes, and what can we do to help people to free themselves from their 
"groovy" prison (pun intended), so that they can begin to use the 
information as a means to expand their understanding? On the other 
hand, perhaps some people are so comfortable in their prisons that it 
might be an act of cruelty to try to push them out into the open air. 
--j