Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt01201)

Here is a perspective from June,1930.  I have often  found Van der 
Leeuw's writings insightful.  Please read the whole article if you have 
time.


"It is curious to see how man dreads the thought of life being beyond 
explanation. He wants consolation, a drug which will dull his suffering 
or a soothing sleeping draught which will give him an illusion of bliss. 
The theosophist had such consolation and such soporifics. No suffering 
could come to him, but he would soothe his outraged humanity by a 
rationalizing process in which he proved to himself that the suffering 
had to come to him, and that it would be good for him. These attempts at 
explanations, however, blind man to the true meaning of things that 
happen to him; they tempt his attention away from the event itself, 
which again is the here and the now, and lead it to some imaginary cause 
or result. Thus the meaning of the event which lies in the actual 
experience, escapes him and he is no richer, no wiser for his suffering.

In a similar way, theosophy claims to have an explanation of the great 
problems of life: why the world was created and how, what happens after 
death, why man lives and what he will become. Here again, the process of 
rationalizing leads the attention away from the mystery of life which 
can only be experienced in the present. Life is not a problem to be 
solved but a mystery to be experienced. It is the consummate ease with 
which theosophy explained all problems and all events that has ever made 
true artists and thinkers fight shy of it. They know too well that life 
cannot be contained in any system, and that the purpose of thought is 
not to explain life but to understand it, by experience.

A system of thought always brings about a state of mental certainty and 
repose in which there remains only one fear, that of being disturbed by 
doubt. That is why there has been no place for thinkers in the 
Theosophical Society; a thinker is always a disturbing influence. 
Theosophy, by claiming to offer a system of thought that would explain 
life and its problems, has not only scared away thinkers and artists, 
but has attracted the mediocre mind that seeks intellectual comfort and 
not truth. This explains why the theosophical movement, in the fifty 
years of its existence, has been so singularly lacking in creative or 
original thought; these were excluded automatically."

excerpt from:
*Revelation or Realization:*


 The Conflict in Theosophy


   by J.J. van der Leeuw, LL.D.


     (Amsterdam: N.V. Theosofische Vereeniging
     Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1930)

Copied from:
http://www.tphta.ws/JJL_RRCT.HTM (Thanks Jerry Hejka-Ekins)