Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00745)

Thanks to Erica and Paul for their comments about
the "uproar" over Vol. I of HPB's letters.

I would like to comment on "the hate mail campaign"
that Paul refers to.

I would not actually describe what I have 
read as "hate mail" although it has been "negative". 

Readers interested may look
at most of what has been written and published
on this subject by going to the following three
links:

http://www.theosophycanada.com/fohat_emails.htm

http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-5-8.pdf
pages 1 and 19

http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-5-8-supplement.pdf
page 26 

As to how the editorial committee must be feeling, I am
not aware that anyone on the committee is feeling any
"heat". Most of the "negative" comments have been
directed towards Dr. Algeo and in correspodence with
him I do not detect that he is hunkering down or anything
like that! If any of this is bothering Dr. Algeo, I am
unaware of it.

Personally, I am used to so-called "negative" mail from displeased
students of Theosophy, etc. Since about 1975 I have received
many such letters and emails. I have been called 
"a mere scholar", "nothing but an intellectual", 
"a trouble maker", a "fundamentalist", or that I have
been influenced by "Jesuits" or "dugpas" or "elementaries"
, etc. I have had my motives questioned and my
"character" analysed. Even Paul has done some
psychoanlysis on me! :)

But I guess I have a disposition which really doesn't
care what people think of me....especially persons who
know next to nothing about me. In my pursuit of 
Theosophy and Theosophical history, I did not enter
this "career" to make friends or please people or
vice versa. But humans are humans and you can't
please everyone and I don't even try to. I try to
deal as much as I know how with facts and evidence 
as I see them and I try to explain my reasoning for
making my statements or asking my questions. Some
people in turn try to actually have good serious
discussions with me but others get upset and view
me in this or that negative light. I am not 
responsible for their reactions and actions.

In the last few months since I published THE
ESOTERIC PAPERS OF MADAME BLAVATSKY I have received
more "negative" mail about this publication than
about Vol. I of HPB letters!!

How dare I criticize the work of Boris de Zirkoff,
or how dare I publish these esoteric documents, etc. etc.
A few ULT associates have been extremely upset with
me about publishing this volume.

etc. etc.

I am going to forward again to Theos-Talk my original
letter to FOHAT and also some of my comments about
Mr. Deveney's criticism of the HPB letters volume.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc

PS: It is hard to be in a negative frame of mind
with such a beautiful spring morning here in the
mountains of southern Arizona.
















--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "kpauljohnson" 
<kpauljohnson@y...> wrote:
> Erica wrote:
> 
> 
> > Recently Dr. Algeo published some letters related to the life of 
> > Blavatsky. Him and others involved in this publication are now 
> > targets of endless critics and attacks from the side of the 
> > Blavatskyan fundamentalists. 
> > 
> 
> John Algeo did not work alone on this; in addition to his wife 
Adele, 
> Daniel Caldwell, Nicholas Weeks, and Dara Eklund were members of 
the 
> committee that prepared this volume. The criticisms made by 
Deveney 
> in Theosophical History re the final product, and here by Dr. 
Tillett 
> re the process, have nothing to do with Blavatskyan 
fundamentalism. 
> They focus on scholarly integrity.
> 
> However, the hate mail campaign based in southern California is, I 
> believe, what you are describing above, with perfect accuracy. 
These 
> attacks are unfair, uninformed, evasive of the real scholarly 
issues 
> represented by the Letters, and entirely destructive without an 
iota 
> of constructive criticism. They are motivated by fanatical 
> fundamentalism, and are not just anti-intellectual but 
intellectually 
> dishonest. They debase discourse about Theosophical history, and 
> render it impossible to have civil discussions about these 
issues. 
> They reject not just the work but those who produced it, in 
bitterly 
> personal terms. Their rejection is not just intellectual, but 
> spiritual and social (in the sense of having organizational 
support.)
> 
> I KNOW JUST HOW ALGEO, CALDWELL, EKLUND, AND WEEKS MUST BE FEELING 
> UNDER THESE ASSAULTS FROM FELLOW THEOSOPHISTS. And while it 
doesn't 
> give me schadenfreude in the sense of *pleasure* that these 
> particular individuals are the targets of such abuse, I will 
confess 
> to a sense of relief. Maybe people do end up getting a taste of 
> their own medicine after all.