Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00100)

Dear Adelasie,

And a happy new year to you! You bring out a point that I thought 
about mentioning but didn't-- what does it mean to "accept" anyone's 
conclusions about anything. Whether on the basis of scholarly 
expertise, scriptural authority, or paranormal claims, when 
we "accept" another's conclusions, that falls far short of *knowing 
for ourselves.*  

So to clarify, and on this we can perhaps approach agreement, 
whatever we "accept" without personal knowledge should be held  
lightly, regardless of the source. It's closer to "suspend judgment" 
than to "unquestioningly endorse," in the way Martin is suggesting 
it, I think. It is the opposite of "reject," yet weaker than related 
terms like "embrace" or "adhere to." Those go beyond "I suppose it's 
probably true" to "I am personally attached to its being true"-- and 
that has a way of setting us up for a fall. In Theosophical terms, 
accepting an idea/doctrine is manasic whereas embracing it or 
adhering to it is kamic, perhaps.

Cheers,

Paul

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "adelasie" <adelasie@s...> wrote:
>
> Hi Paul,
> 
> Happy New Year!
> 
> I can't resist:
> 
> > Of course it can be comfortable and ego-enhancing to claim to know
> > better than the experts on the basis of psychic revelations or 
sacred
> > texts. But that is not in the spirit of the theosophical 
enterprise
> > as defined by the Founders, however much it might have become a
> > prevalent attitude of Theosophists in the 20th and 21st centuries.
> 
> Comfortable and ego-enhancing it may be, or, contrarily, 
> devastatingly humbling, but as I understand it, the founders of 
> Theosophy enjoined erstwhile students to take nobody's word for 
> anything, but to investigate according to their (the students') 
> lights and arrive at conclusions that are satisfactory to them. My 
> personal experience suggests that these personally arrived at 
> conclusions are subject to adjustment, as the years roll by. But 
one 
> has the comfort, with such conclusions, that they are one's own 
> responsibility. It is not necessary that anyone else share them, 
nor 
> is it necessary that one accept anyone else's conclusions. So much 
is 
> not known that we might feel quite justified in pursuing our own 
> investigations, as long as we maintain an open mind, as the next 
body 
> of evidence marches down the road. 
> 
> All the best,
> Adelasie
>