Theos-Talk Archives (March 2006 Message tt00447)

Before you decide to leave the list, could you help out with some 
questions.  Please?  Most of what I have seen in your posts is 
defense that denies allegations made against you.

Please tell me a little about what you do think, believe and feel 
before leaving.  In other words, be a little more proactive in 
stating your position.  This is for my benefit, so I never have to 
look back and wonder what Paul Johnson really thought.  I'm sure you 
have stated your position in other contexts, i.e., your book.  
However, would you be kind enough to elaborate a little?

We don't have a significant religious event to commemorate with a 
cease fire -- Christmas and Ramadan are not approaching.  
Nonetheless, we could call a cease fire for 24 hours with no attacks 
while we listen to what you have to say.  

We can think of this as the Ides of March Cease Fire.  The St. 
Patty's Day Cease Fire in honor of the fighting Irish might be good 
too.  Demilitarizing a zone for 24 hours never hurt anybody.

FIRST QUESTION:  You say below that you admire HPB and her books 
very much.  Will you elaborte on what it is that you admire about 
HPB?  

Thanks, Krsanna Duran

"I admire HPB and her books very much, and for close to 20 years 
freely shared my views of her and researches on her with fellow 
Theosophists with no problems.  No one ever suggested to me that I 
was not a Theosophist. In his introduction to The Masters Revealed, 
Joscelyn Godwin wrote: "Mr. Johnson's work occupies the middle 
ground.  He obviously has a great respect and admiration for HPB, 
but he has no illusions as to the mischievous and even dark sides of 
her personality.  He observes the convention without which 
scholarship would be impossible, namely that of not imposing one's 
own religious beliefs on the matter to be studied.  But he evidently 
believes that HPB and her Masters achieved something of tremendous 
importance for the human race."  That is just as true today as when 
he wrote it in 1994. It is clearly however not good enough to 
satisfy Theosophical inquisitors.  How many furiously antagonistic 
attacks does it take before one fears to express his views?"









--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "kpauljohnson" <kpauljohnson@...> 
wrote:
>
> Dear Anand,
> 
> As I have just learned, when I leave the list because of the 
recent 
> degradation of atmosphere I won't be the first to do so.  You 
wrote:
> >
> > Hello Paul,
> > It appears that some people don't like your work 'Masters 
Revealed' 
> > They are trying to make you go out of talk-lists. Unfortunately 
you 
> > seem to be surrendering by leaving this theos-talk.
> 
> To stay and fight would also be a kind of surrender; surrender to 
an 
> untheosophical atmosphere on an alleged theosophical list.  To 
stay and 
> not fight would be surrendering to abuse.  I don't see a good 
> alternative here.
> 
>  And even if you 
> > leave the list, they will try to demean you and your book. So I 
would 
> > suggest you to stay. 
> > Suppose you don't accept Blavatsky, why do you fear to say so 
> openly ? 
> 
> I admire HPB and her books very much, and for close to 20 years 
freely 
> shared my views of her and researches on her with fellow 
Theosophists 
> with no problems.  No one ever suggested to me that I was not a 
> Theosophist. In his introduction to The Masters Revealed, Joscelyn 
> Godwin wrote: "Mr. Johnson's work occupies the middle ground.  He 
> obviously has a great respect and admiration for HPB, but he has 
no 
> illusions as to the mischievous and even dark sides of her 
> personality.  He observes the convention without which scholarship 
> would be impossible, namely that of not imposing one's own 
religious 
> beliefs on the matter to be studied.  But he evidently believes 
that 
> HPB and her Masters achieved something of tremendous importance 
for the 
> human race."  That is just as true today as when he wrote it in 
1994.  
> It is clearly however not good enough to satisfy Theosophical 
> inquisitors.  How many furiously antagonistic attacks does it take 
> before one fears to express his views?
> 
> > It is not necessary that you should accept Blavatsky or anybody 
else. 
> > TS gives complete freedom to all. 
> > After coming in contact, I soon realized that Blavatsyans have 
> > problematic mental structure which was result of perhaps study 
of 
> > Blavatky's writing. 
> > AG
> 
> As Erica has just shown, there are abundant quotes from HPB that 
put to 
> shame all the hatefulness her supposed followers have expressed 
towards 
> those who don't share their beliefs.  I would suggest that rather 
than 
> HPB's writings per se, there is something problematic about the 
> association between esotericism and elitism.  "We know spiritual 
> secrets, and we're superior to those who don't" is bad enough when 
it's 
> a sentiment shared within a private club like the ES.  When it 
becomes 
> a *public* stance of contemptuous dismissal of everything outside 
a 
> narrow range of Theosophical orthodoxy, it becomes a total 
reversal of 
> everything HPB stood for.  As someone just wrote me in private 
email, 
> what theos-talk has become represents HPB's worst nightmare.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Paul
>