Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00532)

Dear Paul,

Friday, February 18, 2005, 5:34:56 PM, kpauljohnson wrote:

> Primarily an attempt to identify the individuals who were HPB's
> spiritual mentors and sponsors. The format is a chronological series
> of biographical sketches of 32 such individuals; the approach is
> historical rather than polemical.

Well, _if_ the book simply tries to trace HPB's teachers to some
historical figures, whether successfully or not, I don't see why
theosophical people should be so much upset.


> Thirdly an attempt to understand how these historical mentors and
> sponsors were fictionalized in her writings, and the causes and
> consequences of this fictionalization.

Correct me if I misunderstood you, but this means you assert that HPB
lied about her teachers. And in this case your answer to my first
question looks weird:

>> 1. Are you trying to prove that HPB lied about the nature of her
>> teachers, who really may have existed?
>>
> Of course not. At the outset my motivation was more the opposite--
> trying to prove that the Masters were not entirely fictional as her 
> critics had long supposed.

So please finally answer "yes" or "no" to this simple question. Or you
may say "I don't know" and that would mean "no". But then what did you
mean by "fictionalization" above?


>> Are you interested in transitory persons or in knowledge which is
>> supposed to last much longer?
>> 
> False dilemma: both.

Sorry, I should have written "more interested". Anyway I have no
objections here. And may I infer from this that theosophical teachings
themselves are beyond the scope of your research?


> So just go to http://www.amazon.com and enter "The Masters Revealed"
> in the search box.

OK. Thanks.


Best regards,
Vladimir