Theos-Talk Archives (May 2006 Message tt00311)

Delvers after Truth & "Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky"

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". . . . none but the logician, the investigator, the dauntless 
explorer should meddle with books like this. Such delvers
after truth have the courage of their opinions." H.P. Blavatsky,
ISIS UNVEILED, VOLUME 2, Preface.
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In regards to Carlos Aveline's comments about the accounts by 
Coulomb and Hodgson in my book, "The Esoteric World of Madame 
Blavatsky," I firmly believe that readers should see what the 
charges against HPB actually were, ESPECIALLY since many of the 
other accounts by "friendly" witnesses in my book refer to these 
charges, and even make comments about the charges, etc. 

I saw no good reason to hide the "negative" accounts from readers. 
One might conclude from his various comments that Mr. Aveline 
doesn't want readers to read these accounts for themselves and come 
to their own conclusions. 

Also by giving these accounts in my book, the reader can start to 
UNDERSTAND THE RELEVANCE of what the other witnesses say in their 
accounts. How can one understand the comments and the relevance of 
the comments of the "friendly" witnesses if one does not know what 
the "unfriendly" charges are?

Furthermore, I was motivated to include them in light of what Madame 
Blavatsky once wrote: 

"...Contrast alone can enable us to appreciate things at their 
right value; and unless a judge compares notes and hears both sides 
he can hardly come to a correct decision." (H.P. Blavatsky, The 
Theoso-phist, July, 1881, p. 218.) 

I wanted the reader to be able to compare notes and hear both sides. 
What is wrong with that? 

Doesn't Mr. Aveline want readers to do their own comparing of notes, 
etc.? 

And the editorial notes in my book do call the reader's attention to 
the conflicting testimony and even to the falsity of the charges 
against HPB. 

Here are some of the editorial notes to the readers: 

p. 185: "Her phenomena and the reality of her teachers were both 
controversial matters, eliciting both believing acceptance 
(sometimes with independent confirmation) and skeptical rejection, 
as the following selections will illustrate." 

p. 205 "Emma Coulomb later claimed that she collaborated with HPB at 
Adyar, as she had earlier in Bombay, in producing false phenomena, 
however her descriptions of what she did are not consistent with the 
observations of others, who witnessed the phenomena, both Indian and 
Westerners, as some of the following selections demonstrate." 

p. 263: "Meanwhile, a vicious attack on Blavatsky by two of her 
staff members at Adyar, Alexis and Emma Coulomb, was rapidly 
building up. . . . She wished to sue the couple, already dismissed 
from Adyar for their gross libel concerning her supposedly 
fraudulent production of psychic phenomena. . . . " 

p. 264: "The Coulomb attack, as was later evident, had no solid 
foundation whatsoever. It was based on forged and partially forged 
letters, purporting to have been written by H. P. Blavatsky, with 
instructions to arrange fraudulent psychic phenomena of various 
kinds." 

p. 264: "In 1963, Adlai Watermam refuted Hodgson's contentions 
against Madame Blavatsky. . . .Another refutation of some of 
Hodgson's charges against HPB is Vernon Harrison's 
article, "J'Accuse: An Examination of the Hodgson Report of 1885," 
published in The Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 
London, April 1986, pp. 286-310. . . .) 

p. 406: "In May 1884, the Coulomb couple were expelled from the 
Theosophical Society for theft, attempted extortion and 
slander. . . . " 

Furthermore, I specifically selected the material by Coulomb and 
Hodgson to put in JUXTAPOSITION with other accounts which show that 
what they (Coulomb and Hodgson) say about, for example, the 
appearances of the Masters, must surely be off the mark, to say the 
least or as I believe. . . wrong . . . false. 

If anything, the accounts by the above "enemies" of HPB found next 
to other accounts will make the reader . . . THINK . . . about the 
charges and their validity. 

And if they are perceptive at all, readers should (at the very 
least) conclude that the Coulomb/Hodgson charges should not be taken 
at face value WITHOUT carefully considering other material which is 
ALSO found in the book or what can be found in greater detail in the 
Waterman and Harrison books. 

Some of the thoughtful readers of my book may actually dig deeper 
and try to determine for themselves what really happened....Maybe 
one of those readers may one day write a comprehensive and 
definitive biography of HPB.

Let me end this posting with the same quote I gave at the 
beginning.  This quote is certainly one of my favorites quotes from 
H.P. Blavatsky:

". . . . none but the logician, the investigator, the dauntless 
explorer should meddle with books like this. Such delvers after 
truth have the courage of their opinions." ISIS UNVEILED, VOLUME II, 
Preface.

For more about my book, see:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/esotericworldam.htm

Daniel
Blavatsky Study Center
http://blavatskyarchives.com
http://theosophy.info