Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00354)

Dear Chuck,

Those two categories don't usually overlap much. Seeing this 
article inspired neither hurt feelings nor anger, just bewilderment 
that people can get so worked up about books they haven't read and 
an author who exists only in their imaginations. You wrote:

> Too many prunes.
> 
> If I did not know better, I would come to the conclusion from 
their writings about you that the ULT is made up of raving lunatics. 

How do you know better? When Smithsonian Magazine ran an article 
about the TS Founders back in 1995, the tone of many letters was so 
lunatic/raving that the editors worried about the possibility of 
Theosophical terrorist attacks on their building. (The article's 
author told me this at the time.) I suspect that ULT members were 
mainly responsible for the hate mail campaign because writing angry 
letters was being actively promoted online by ULTers at the time. 
You can be sure Smithsonian will steer clear of *that* subject from 
now on! (On the other hand, in personal encounters with ULTers I 
never saw anything like the lunacy and raving that has appeared 
online in recent years.)

Clearly the fact that 
> the attackers do not use their real names is evidence that they 
are at least total cowards.
> 
Not at all. They are just selflessly demonstrating the spiritual 
ideal of impersonality :)

> I'm tinkering with the idea of writing a novel lampooning the ULT 
and Theosophical fundamentalists in general. That should really 
give them something to scream about.
> 
Good luck. I wonder what Pico Iyer's present attitude towards ULT 
is. He was once seen by some as an heir apparent of his father, but 
AFAIK has no ties with the ULT now. (But then, they don't talk to 
me so how would I know?) I keep hoping he might write about it one 
day.

Looking back over that piece from November, I find it hard to say 
what is the most bizarre and misguided aspect of it. Certainly 
saying that the best way to evaluate the worth of an author is to 
analyze a *single paragraph from a website* is strange on the face 
of it. When the said para was not written by the person under 
attack, it's very strange indeed. It suggests that for some reason 
they are terribly afraid to read the books that anger them so. 
Which reminds me of one person who definitely did read them and 
seems to have *never gotten over it*.

But ultimately the ravingest lunacy is the assumption that an author 
who writes about the founder of a spiritual movement is *in 
competition* with the person they are writing about. All that 
business about the relative spiritual worth of HPB and KPJ is just 
so weird. It's as if anyone writing about Jesus historically were 
accused of claiming to be the Messiah! 

Cheers,

Paul