Theos-Talk Archives (March 2006 Message tt01678)

> It's hard to be more than general in a mailing but a wise 
> Pentecostal minister (yes, there are a few) once said, "When 
> doctrine conflicts with experience, you go with the experience."

Its hard to be more than general but we could always point to a source
for a fuller explanation.  As for doctrine and experience, my
experience is begining to tell me that I may be treading on a business
area - "Chuck's Super Deluxe Ouija Boards"? 

> In this case, the experience is the collected data of the last 100 
> years, the last 40 in particular and there is no question that the 
> older writers were talking through their hats on this subject.

Perhaps I was mistaken as to the nature of your business, now my
experience is indicating that the nature of the business might be
"Chuck's Vagaries" with the Company Motto, "A generalization to
dismiss any topic."  What source do you have for this notion that
dabbling in the psychic is virtually harmless?  It is all very nice to
repeat the statement but it does not make it any more true. Where can
I find these 40 years of data?  Perhaps you could educate the forum if
you would be so kind.

Sincerely,
Bruce


In a message dated 3/31/2006 2:05:07 PM Central Standard Time,
robert.b.macdonald@... writes:

Interesting analysis Chuck, but a little too generalized to mean
anything to me.

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Drpsionic@... wrote:

> The occult boom as we know it hit a little over 40 years ago and   
> since that time millions upon millions of people have been involved
> with various techniques  and methods and the numbers of people who 
> have reported any problem with are so  small as to be statistically
> non-existent.

I am not sure how one would verify that statement.   Would people know
to associate a particular practice with a later disease or moral
vulnerability?  Most of us can't count the number of succubi dancing
on a person's shoulder.  Your statement might be true, there are
few reported problems, but it might also be meaningless.

>They make the news because of  clowns like Jeff Rense (I did his show
> once and it was a disaster)but in the  great scheme of things they 
> really don't count for very much.

Rense is in a particular business, perhaps you weren't selling the
right product? Regardless, the moral level of our society is a
synthesis of the morality of all of its individuals - in our own
little scheme of things, the influences that people are subject to
might matter.

> As far as the Ouija Board is concerned, that thing is at least a
> century  old now and the world has not come to an end yet, the Gates
> of Hell have not opened, and to the best of knowledge there are no 
> demons in my backyard.

I thought I saw three demons in my back yard the other night dancing
naked in the moonlight.  I was afraid that the nuns next door had
gotten a Special Edition Ouija Board: Are you saying that I might be
wrong?

> Time has certainly proven that the DIRE WARNINGS that we find in our
> older Theosophical literature were nothing more than paranoid 
> delusion (and in  the case of the Masters probably outright lies) 
> and unworthy to be  taken > seriously, which is why no one outside
>the Theosophical Society  does.

A curious statement.  What kind of Masters deal in outright lies, and
what are these DIRE WARNINGS?

Bruce


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "robert_b_macd"
<robert.b.macdonald@...> wrote:
>
> I thought some people might be interested in the following link:
> 
>   http://www.rense.com/general70/ouija.htm
> 
> The story is about some young people attracting either an elemental or
> an elementary through the use of a ouija board.  The story raises a
> number of questions: What is the long term results of the ready
> availability of occult literature (in particular how to literature),
> especially to young people?, Are television and movies glamorizing
> witchcraft, etc.?, What is the message that Steiger is sending in his
> account of this story - is he adding to the problem?  Is there a
> problem?,  How can theosophy play a role in educating people or can
> it?, What exactly did these young girls attract?
> 
> Just a few of many questions.
>