Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00505)

Dear Sufilight
Thank you for your posting.
At risk of supporting your comments from some hitherto, hidden 
egotistical motive, "your" proposition can be an accurate assessment 
of some.
Alternately, the motive(s) can be a desire for truth, accuracy, 
fairness, justice, honour, integrity etc.
As you explain, a knowledge of the motivation you expound has been 
well known and understood for long ages. Moreover, and in a more 
sinister fashion, its knowledge has been arrogantly and with 
disregard instilled in students to curb their challenges to the 
status quo effectively stifling individual freedom of thought.
Judging motives can be a hazardous occupation.
Regards
Nigel

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "M. Sufilight" <global-
theosophy@s...> wrote:
> Hallo all,
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a short story on irrelevant emailing...hostility and the 
like...
> :-)
> 
> 
> 
> CONFRONTATION AND SUPPORT
> 
> 
> 
> 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. 
> 
> 
> Morten Sufilight 
> 
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]