Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00460)

Friends,

Daniel knew that the slanders against Masters and HPB were just such. 

And he knowingly  published them calling such a stuff "negative accounts", as if they were authentic accounts and not just shameful attacks against the movement, made for a bribe, at least in the case of the Coulombs. 

Later on, he helped Algeo to publish a larger collection of slanders as if they had been written by ... HPB herself. 

As Algeo is much more a politian than an Editor, I guess Daniel might have been the "brain behind the slandering editorial policy" of TPH.

As the very least, he helped.  Yet Daniel improved recently in Theos-talk and I hope he will improve much more in future. 

People do improve.  

Regards, Carlos. 


De:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Para:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Cópia:

Data:Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:16:57 -0000

Assunto:Theos-World To: Carl Ek ---- My Supposed "Slanders" of the Founders

> To Carl Ek,
> 
> I see in Carlos' posting to you, he brings up
> my supposed "slanders" about the Founders.
> 
> This all goes back to his Aquarian Theosophist/FOHAT
> reviews of my book THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME
> BLAVATSKY 
> 
> I don't know if you have read my book but below
> is my reply to the gist of his criticisms:
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> My Reply to Carlos Cardoso Aveline's Comments
> about my book THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY
> 
> In "The Aquarian Theosophist", Vol. V, #10, August 17,
> 2005, pp. 4-5, Carlos Cardoso Aveline in an article
> titled "The Embellishment of Truth: Understanding
> Self-Delusion in the Esoteric Movement" described my
> book THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY as a
> "disgusting volume"! :)
> 
> He wrote in part:
> 
> ===================================================
> "In the year 2000, the Theosophical Publishing
> House/Quest Books published the unfortunate volume THE
> ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY by Daniel Caldwell.
> This 452 pp. book is a collection of testimonies,
> false and true, about the life of H.P. Blavatsky.
> With this book, Daniel Caldwell inaugurated a new
> 'editorial policy' adopted by the Adyar Theosophical
> Society in America, [see his footnote below] which
> consists of publishing lies and libels invented by the
> old enemies of H.P. Blavatsky and of the theosophical
> movement as if they were authentic documents. The new
> editorial 'policy' also includes publishing these
> false accusations scattered amidst authentic
> documents, which makes it harder for the inexperienced
> student to identity the falsehoods whose effect - if
> unresisted - would be killing HPB's memory and
> destroying its spiritual vibration at the moral,
> ethical and occult levels, which are inevitably
> interconnected....In the disgusting volume THE
> ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY - while believing
> the editor has selected truthful documents -the reader
> will bump into many of the lies written against HPB.
> There he will see two texts by Emma Coulomb ... with
> no word from the 'editor" Daniel Caldwell admitting he
> is publishing documents which have no trace of truth
> in them whatsoever."
> 
> "Caldwell's book also contains two texts by Mr.
> Solovyov with attacks against HPB; one false testimony
> by Mr. Richard Hodgson, several false accusations
> against HPB made by Moncure D. Conway and many other
> unjust attacks AIMED AT HER WHO IS NOT HERE TO DEFEND
> HERSELF. The disgusting material includes utter
> disrespect for two Sacred Teachers and Their names, in
> one of the libels signed by Emma Coulomb. Its
> reproduction by a Publishing House which calls itself
> 'Theosophical' is something which surpasses and goes
> relatively far beyond the limits of absurdity...."
> 
> "It is true that the editor of THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF
> MADAME BLAVATSKY wrote at the preface of the book:
> 'These reminiscences by her relatives, acquaintances,
> friends, co-workers, and enemies give a vivid
> portrayal of Madame Blavatsky's personality and allow
> the reader to enter into the historical milieu of her
> time.' But he forgot the profound difference between
> an enemy and a liar. An enemy, says the dictionary, is
> an adversary or an opponent - often an honest person.
> A liar is a person who tells lies - or who KNOWINGLY
> HELPS PROPAGATING THEM. Enemies may say unpleasant
> truths and we should be able to learn from them. The
> problem is not with enemies, then, but with FALSE
> TESTIMONIES. The editor of THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF
> MADAME BLAVATSKY wrongly called "reminiscences" the
> old, well-known falsehoods and proven lies. He and
> TPH-Wheaton considered them beautiful enough to go to
> the public."
> =======================================================
> 
> MY REPLY TO MR. AVELINE'S ABOVE REMARKS IS AS FOLLOWS:
> 
> I find that Mr. Aveline's above comments contain a
> number of misleading and inaccurate statements.
> 
> In regards to Aveline's comments about the adding of
> negative accounts by Coulomb and Hodgson, etc. to the
> TPH Wheaton edition of my book THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF
> MADAME BLAVATSKY, it was MY decision to add them so 
> that readers could see what the charges against HPB actually were,
> ESPECIALLY since many of the other accounts by
> "friendly" witnesses 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.
> 
> 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 Theosophist,
> 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.?
> 
> In other words, let each reader read and compare the accounts by
> Coulomb and Hodgson with the accounts of other witnesses in the same
> volume --- then each reader can assess and come to
> his/her own conclusions.
> 
> And CONTRARY to what Mr. Aveline misleadingly asserts, some of 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 my 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 observatations 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." PLEASE NOTE WHAT IS SAID HERE CONTRARY
> TO WHAT MR. AVELINE STATES.
> 
> p. 264: "In 1963, Adlai Waterman....refuted Hodgson's
> contentions against Madame Blavatsky....Another
> refutation of some of Hodgson's charges against HPB is
> Vernon Harison's article...."
> 
> p. 406: "In May 1884, the Coulomb couple were expelled
> from the Theosophial Society for theft, attempted
> extortion and slander...."
> 
> p. 415: "At first, relations between the two were
> friendly but Solovyov turned against HPB and wrote a
> book....in which he attempted to protray HPB as a
> fraud."....Hasting, SOLOVYOFF'S FRAUD....
> 
> One might conclude that Mr. Aveline either didn't
> carefully read my book to know about these notes or
> else he did NOT want his readers to know that I had
> added such comments.
> 
> Surely the perceptive reader of these notes,
> etc. in my book will be able to see that one should
> take what these writers [Coulomb and Hodgson] say with
> a grain of salt. Or at least compare their statements
> with what the other witnesses said before coming to some
> conclusion.
> 
> Readers of Aveline's article should also know that the
> ONE selection by Solovyoff in my book is NOT an
> "attack" on HPB contrary to what Aveline contends.
> Did Aveline even read this selection by Solovyoff?
> 
> 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, they 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....instead of believing either Aveline
> or me!!
> 
> One more point.
> 
> Mr. Aveline wrote about "karma":
> 
> "The disgusting material includes utter
> disrespect for two Sacred Teachers and Their names, in
> one of the libels signed by Emma Coulomb. Its
> reproduction by a Publishing House which calls itself
> 'Theosophical' is something which surpasses and goes
> relatively far beyond the limits of absurdity....
> As to this kind of action, there are two levels of
> karma: the karma of actively publishing lies
> against the Masters and HPB, and the karma of anyone
> who knows about this and does nothing. This will not
> be the karma of earnest students...." [FOHAT, Summer
> 2005, p. 32]
> 
> Trying to understand Mr. Aveline's "reasoning" in this
> matter, I wonder if his above comments about "beyond
> the limits of absurdity" and the creation of karma
> ("bad" I assume) would ALSO apply to a 1995
> photocopied "reproduction" of Emma Coulomb's
> pamphlet??
> 
> In 1995, the Edmonton Theosophical Society (who is
> also the publisher of FOHAT where similar adverse
> comments by Aveline have appeared about my book)
> REPRINTED the ENTIRE 112 pages of Madame Coulomb's
> "disgusting" (to use Aveline's description) pamphlet.
> I only reprinted 3 or 4 pages of the Coulomb pamphlet
> in my book! :)
> 
> It should also be noted that there are no publisher's
> comments or notes appended to this ETS reproduction to
> indicate to readers that this pamphlet contains "old
> well-known falsehoods and proven lies" (again to use
> Mr. Aveline's phraselogy). At least I added some notes
> warning the reader! :)
> 
> So would Mr. Aveline ALSO conclude that the
> "reproduction [of the Coulomb pamphlet] by a
> Publishing House [ETS of Canada] which calls itself
> 'Theosophical' is something which surpasses and goes
> relatively far beyond the limits of absurdity...."????
> 
> Furthermore, would Mr. Aveline also agree that the
> Edmonton Theosophical Society as publisher of this
> reprint has generated "karma" for "actively publishing
> lies against the Masters and HPB"?
> 
> If Mr. Aveline can make the kind of comments he has
> about the Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton,
> Illinois, USA, is he also willing to castigate the
> Edmonton Theosophical Society for similar if not worse
> actions??
> 
> These are just some of the questions and thoughts that
> came to me as I seriously pondered on what Mr.
> Aveline's statements and reasoning actually mean.
> 
> Unfortunately, there are a number of other misleading
> statements to be found in Aveline's article. I will
> save my comments on these statements for possibly a
> future pamphlet concerning Mr. Aveline's views,
> research methods, statements, etc. as found of late in
> various articles published in both "The Aquarian
> Theosophist" and "FOHAT".
> 
> In the meantime, I suggest that your readers might
> want to actually read my book and judge it on its own
> merits instead of simply believing what Mr. Aveline
> has written about it.
> 
> [For more on my view on the Coulomb/Hodgson charges, see:
> 
> and
> ]
> 
> Daniel H. Caldwell
> Blavatsky Study Center
> http://blavatskyarchives.com
> ---------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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