Theos-Talk Archives (September 2006 Message tt00346)

Daniel, Friends, 


Thanks. 

I respect your commentaries below, Daniel. Sooner or later, many things relating to the movement will get much clearer than they are now. 

If people only talked to those who think like them -- and sometimes they try to do just that -- many an important issue and problem to solve would remain unknown for long, indefinite periods of time. This avoidance of debate may be harmful. 

As to the "pictures of Masters" published in the excellent book "The Judge Case", by Ernest Pelletier -- a book  which I highly recommend --  I would like to say a few things:

1) No book that I  know is perfect,  and I did not say or think  that Pelletier's book is so.

2) "The Judge Case" is an excellent book, but not  because it publishes "portraits of Masters".  It is an excellent book in spite of that.

3) Experienced theosophists know that they are not supposed to think alike in every question and issue.  They do not stick to "party lines" or "corporative thinking".  They stick to general principles which each person must express in his or her own life as he or she finds best. One of such basic principles, which I have in common with Ernest Pelletier and many others around the world,    is  -- RESPECT FOR THE FOUNDERS OF THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT. That includes H.P.B. and William Judge. 

4) Although I would prefer not to see "portraits of the Masters" in the book
"The Judge Case",  it is necessary to see that the Edmonton Theosophical Society, which edited that remarkable work, did not put those portraits at the Internet, as long as I know.  Nor does it publishes them everyday in its  magazine FOHAT.   

5) More: the book is not aiming at great numbers of readers.  Its content and its price (of  90 US dollars or more)  do not make it a best-seller.  So, in practical terms,  the book can hardly create any  great impact in terms of the vulgarization of those portraits. 

5)  In one thing, you are right,Daniel. As a reader, I would be happier to see in the next edition of that work the absence of any "Mahatma portraits". I am sure many a student around the world (a few thousands at least) would prefer that too. It remains, then,  as a friendly suggestion to Ernest and our Edmonton friends. 

In another posting today, I have written more about the process of disrespect regarding sacred names and portraits of Masters, which, of course, was not the intention of Ernest Pelletier.  It has been rather a historical phenomenon,  which can be reverted in due time, or at least contained within certain limits.

 

Best regards,   Carlos. 







De:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Para:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Cópia:

Data:Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:43:47 -0000

Assunto:Theos-World Masters' Portraits in Pelletier's Book & the Theosophy Co.

> Reproductions of Masters' Portraits 
> in Pelletier's Book THE JUDGE CASE
> 
> Mr. Aveline has said many negative things
> about the publication/circulation of the Masters'
> portraits and has characterized any
> interest in these portraits as
> on the level of "personal gossip", lower
> mind interest, etc.
> 
> Yet in a book that Mr. Aveline has
> HIGHLY recommended the portraits
> of Masters KH and Master M have
> been reproduced! I am referring
> to THE JUDGE CASE by Ernest E. Pelletier.
> 
> If you turn to the photographic
> plates inserted between pp. 240 and 241
> of Part 1 of this book, you will find 16 pages of
> photographs of early Theosophists. [more
> personal gossip material??]
> 
> ONE WHOLE page is devoted to the reproductions
> of the Masters' portraits with the following
> labels:
> 
> 39. Mahatma Koot Hoomi
> "Master KH"
> 
> 40. Mahatma Morya
> "Master M"
> 
> Smaller reproductions of the Masters' portraits
> are ALSO included on the back cover of the above book!!
> 
> Now consider the following:
> 
> Carlos Aveline in a posting just the other day on
> Theos-Talk, wrote to me in a negative vein as follows:
> 
> "...thanks to Adelasie, you are not QUITE ALONE [caps added]
> in the abuse and vulgarization of the sacred 
> names and Masters' portraits, something which, by
> the wat, was rightfully and bitterly denounced 
> for EVERYONE TO KNOW by Ms. Helena Blavatsky in 
> the final chapters of 'The Key to Theosophy'." 
> 
> So will Mr. Aveline ALSO include Mr. Pelletier
> and the publisher of his book (Edmonton Theosophical
> Society) in the same category as Adelasie and me
> and say that they TOO are guilty of "abuse and 
> vulgarization of the sacred names and Masters' portraits"???
> 
> Seems like the crowd is getting larger....and I may
> not be quite alone. :)
> 
> Also consider the following:
> 
> When the Pelletier book was first published a year or
> so ago, Dallas Tenbroeck posted an announcement of the
> book on Theos-Talk and said that copies could be bought
> from either the Edmonton Theosophical Society or
> the Theosophy Company of Los Angeles.
> 
> From a reliable source I am told that the officials
> of the Theosophy Company when they decided that they
> would sell copies did NOT know that the portraits of
> the Masters were reproduced in the Pelletier volume.
> 
> Apparently the Theosophy Company ordered some 50 copies
> of this book to sell. At some point in time, some ULT associate/
> Theosophy Company official found out (apparently to their 
> dismay/horror!) that the Pelletier volume had the reproductions 
> of the Masters' portraits.
> 
> I am told that when this was discovered apparently a 
> decision was made to still sell the book but remedy the
> "situation" by cutting out from each copy of the book the 
> photographic plate containing the Masters' portraits.
> 
> So it would appear that many of the volumes sold thru the
> Theosophy Company had a missing photographic plate! 
> 
> One might conclude that the TC officials considered the 
> publication of the Masters' portraits in the Pelletier book
> as adding to "the abuse and vulgarization of the sacred names and 
> Masters' portraits" and took the "editing" step as a means
> of avoiding this "abuse and vulgarization."
> 
> IF this story is true about the Theosophy Company "cutting" out the
> reproductions of the Masters' portraits, at least six questions 
> have occurred to me:
> 
> (1) Did the Theosophy Company officials/workers add a note to 
> the "edited" book telling the buyer/reader that the copy had a page 
> cut out???
> 
> (2) By cutting out a page from the book, does this make the book
> "used" instead of new? 
> 
> (3) What happened to all those cut out pages with the Masters' 
> faces on them? Were these pages destroyed or do they remain 
> somewhere in the Los Angeles area? 
> 
> (4) Was the Edmonton Theosophical Society as publisher of the 
> Pelletier book notifed of this "cutting" and "removing"?
> 
> (5) Did those "edited" copies STILL have the smaller reproductions 
> of the Masters' faces on the back cover of the book? 
> 
> (6) And if the Masters' faces remained on the back cover of the 
> book, does this in and of itself constitute further "abuse and 
> vulgarization of the...Masters' portraits"? 
> 
> Daniel
> http://hpb.cc
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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