Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00720)

Hallo all,

The following was written on connection with the thread on
communicating Theosophy.

Here it is:


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Confrontation and support
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One could ask what I think about people who confront me.

Confrontation as a form of behaviour can best be understood
by looking at it in conjunction with its opposite support: support. People
Who want to confront someone, and also those who have a
strong desire to support anyone, very often do so because they
have a desire for self-assertion which is not finding any other
Outlet.

It is for this reason that people who imagine that they are
gentle, relaxed or benign feel a need to confront or support. It
is most usually a matter of the underlying aggressiveness finding
An 'acceptable' outlet. This is well known to ancient as well as
modern psychologists; though less well understood by other
people, if they look at the apparent reason for support or
opposition, not at the mainspring of it.

The problem of making this clear is not eased by the fact that,
Since the desire to oppose, for instance, is so strong (it is an
Appette seeking satisfaction) one can generally not reason with
the sufferer.
Vanity and self-importance, if denied other outlets or if
Suppressed and not correctly refined to vanishing-point, will
further fuel this desire to attack or support.
The phenomenon is strongly marked in religious circles
Where the teaching has not acted correctly upon the individual
or the group. People who, for reasons of misapplied modesty
training have been denied self-expression in a way which will
Provide socially acceptable outlets, are especially prone to this
ailment. Is also occurs throughout history (with a wide geographical
Distribution) among those who feel that they have 
been rejected by a source of authority.

Theosophical teachers who have been unable to accept particular pupils
have often been targets for this behaviour: it is a version of the
'sour grapes' behaviour of the fable in such instances. It is usually
more harmful to whoever suffers from it than for the target,
because the misapplied emotion activates all kinds of desires for
power, envy and eventually results in unbalance. Such unbalanced
people, oddly enough, often influence others quite
strongly until they start to crack up. This gives us the emotional
cults which most people now know about.

This problem is one reason why Theosophical teaching tries to allow
self-expression while the lements of vanity are being refined.

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The Sour Grapes fable is available online. If any of you - needs - to read it I may post it again.


from
M. Sufilight with peace and love...

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